Don’t you just love meeting people? It’s one of my favorite things about travel. It doesn’t matter where I go, I always meet interesting…and sometimes not so interesting…people. Ever since my first work-related travel experience, I seem to attract people who just NEED to tell me their stories. Back then, it wasn’t my favorite thing. Tired from work and hearing all the stories (and excuses) from those I worked with, I had little room for any other stories. Now that I travel for fun, though, I just love it. Everyone has a story to tell.
On the first day, we learned the stories of our wine tour guide and our wine tasting buddies. Last evening, we learned about a young couple in the restaurant where we had dinner. We ended up in a very touristy place, which is surprising for us. Hey, it happens. The young woman of the couple was so disappointed in her meal, that she leaned over and told me that we should go somewhere else. “Really”, she said, “this is a horrible place to eat.”
After we established that we were too far in to leave, we had a very pleasant chat. after they left, we met an Egyptian psychiatrist living in the UK, who was attending an international congress on psychiatry. After he analyzed us, we analyzed him. He shared a lot of information about himself and the healthcare system in England. What a mess that is! The government subsidizes all of the healthcare expenses for the citizens, and they are running out of money. The government there is very generous. Some people have never worked, yet receive free healthcare and are given an average of 24,000 pounds for living expenses. WOW! No wonder they are in dire finanacial straights!
After this psychiatris left, two more from the US showed up and talked to us about some very random things. They were also here for the ocngress, but had decided not to attend the sessions. They were there to party! Very fun!
Today, we met a woman in line as we were buying tickets for the train to Monaco. She was from Chicago, but has lived in London for the last three years with her husband and two children. We met the children as well. Very precocious kids. I think they were happy to have some Americans to talk to. Later today, we took one of those hop on hop off tours in Monaco and Mike made friends with the bus driver, which led us to a very nice lunch with the working class locals of Monaco. I just love people!
Our study of people today included a tour through Monaco and a look at the people who live there and visit there. What an interesting mix. There were a fair amount of people there who were just like us…common folks who were taking in the sights. Then, there were the working class citizens that we had lunch with who ran the tours and worked in the concessions. There were also some citizens who were clearly part of the local upper crust social set.
Then, there were the tourists who come to take their chances at the Casino. Some of them come in on their yachts and some of them come in by other means and stay at the five star hotels so they can spend money at the Nonte Carlo Casino and the other high end shops that surround the casino. Mike calls them the “moneyed set”. I don’t know if you have seen the ads for Patek Phillipe watches. This ad is geared to the “moneyed set” and is particuarly troubling to Mike. The ads suggest that the men buy these expensive watches so that they can be passed down through the generations. As Mike says, his Timex watch keeps time just the same as the Patek Phillipe. Why do these people need watches such as these? It’s a mystery, but this is the target group for the Monte Carlo. You get the idea.
The Casino is the most important feature and revenue producer in Monaco. It basically supports those who live in Monaco by subsidizing anything they would pay in taxes. So, the people of Monaco are basically tax free thanks to the Casino and the “moneyed set” who use it. Citizens of Monaco are not allowed, by law, to gamble in the casino. So, they rely on those outsiders who gamble to provide for them. What a deal!
Back in the day, somewhere in the 1800s, the prince of Monaco, who would be about Prince Rainier’s great grandfather, realized that Monaco was broke. Business man that he was, he went about trying to figure out how to create a revenue stream for the country. He knew about a successful German casino, contacted the owner for advice, hired the same architect to develop a casino for Monaco and then created a marketing strategy to bring this “moneyed set” in to gamble. It worked and “voila” Monaco lives as one of the most high profile casinos in the world! A really amazing succcess story when you get right down to it!
The casino is fabulous and very upscale as you might imaging. Only the ritziest of the ritz can even enter the casino. That may not be entirely true, but Mike and I were not allowed to go in because I had a cell phone, he had a camera and I was wearing my neon white gym shoes. Mike did not have a sport jacket with him, which is also a rule for entering. How silly….we may have had some money to spend. But, they don’t care unless you are dressed properly and are unable to take pictures of the dignitaries that are there with their mistresses. Oh well….we saw enough. The campus was like the castle at the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland com[lete with a garden and a play ground for the “moneyed” children. I can honestly say that I have never seen so many well-coiffed people and expensive cars in one place at one time. The only cars we saw were in the ranks of Rolls Royce, Bentley, Mercedes, Ferrarri, etc. Quite something. There was also a large collection of very large yachts at the port. I’m guessing that at least some of those belonged to the gamblers.
Interesting dichotomy to tell you about, though. We had one of the least expensive and best cups of coffee there that we have had on the trip. Go figure!
In addition to the casino, we also viewed the palace and heard the fairy tale story of how Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier, fell in love, married him and became Princess Grace. There are many things in the country that are named for Grace….a very nice tribute. The palace was, as you might guess, palatial. It looked like an old fashioned castle with turrets. There are guards at the doors and a changing of the guard ceremony is conducted daily at noon. We missed this because I had to have 15 minutes more sleep this morning and we got a late start. But, the children we met with their mother this morning had seen it and said it wasn’t as good as the one at Buckingham Palace. That made me feel a litte better.
We traveled from sight to sight today on the hop on hop off bus, which was a great way to see the country. It is small, but a little more walking up steep inclines than I could manage. So, we let the bus take us and talk to us about the country. It really was fasciniating and beautiful. The views from the palace and the port were just spectacular and, of course, the stories were terrific.
All in all a great day. I highly recommend that you visit if you get the chance. It was well worth the time.
I would post some pictures of our visit here, but I still can’t figure out how to do it. I should be able to use iCloud to download from my phone. But, I’ll be darned if I can figure it out. So, if you want to see pictures, I will be posting some on Facebook. Check in there from time to time. If we aren’t connected send me an invite and I’ll loop you in.
We are off to dinner now to meet some more people…and to have a French/Japponais meal… I’m guessing there will be few tourists there, as the restaurant is far from the crowds and a bit of an unusual combination.
Bon Appetite!
Travel With Betsy 
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