Lifestyles of the rich and famous

We drive over the Maritime Alps from Piedmont to Cap d'Ail, which is in France but rammed up against Monaco.  Well, I drive and Scott chews his fingernails while Bella GPS does her best to keep us all calm.  Actually driving over the Alps is fine.  There are lots of hairpins and switchbacks and one extremely long tunnel at the top, but it's a good road.  The issue is descending into Menton and across Monaco to our marina-side apartment.  It is all tunnels, roundabouts, cliff top narrow roads, or one way systems where everyone else knows where they are going - in their Ferrari, Bentley or Maserati.  I'd hate it if it wasn't all so glam!

Musée Océanographique de Monaco

Steep cliff or flat water

It seems if it isn't water, it's vertical.  As a pedestrian, once you get yourself oriented and organised, there is a wonderful arrangement of escalators and elevators running up and through the rocks, taking you from one street level to the next.  This proves a godsend in the 29 degree heat.  
On the first day we go to the famous Musée Océanographique de Monaco - the museum and  aquarium - which is perched on the side of a cliff.  As we slog our way up a million steps I am surprised, and relieved, to see strategically positioned defibrillators!  I could have used one on the drive in.

Trust me - I'm trained in first aid!

We arrive red faced and gasping at the top of the steps at 11.55am, bang on the stroke of the changing of the guard at the Prince's Palace.  What luck.  However it isn't as impressive as Buckingham Palace, nor does it have the pompoms and Ministry of Funny Walks style of the Greek Parliament - the changing of the guard, not the politicians.   


After a day or so we recover from the trauma induced by our drive into Cap d'Ail and I have forgiven Bella for her sometimes contradictory instructions. She too is confused by the tunnels and roundabouts and one way streets. We pay 19Euro a day to park her in our apartment garage so she has a relaxing holiday while we walk everywhere.  The Grand Prix was 10 days before we arrived, and they are still dismantling the barriers and stands. It takes six weeks to set up and three weeks to break down after the races. I can't imagine how busy it is here then, as the place is crawling with tourists now.  Yes, we go to the Casino and fight our way through the 4 Ferrari, 1 Aston Martin DB9 and 2 Bentleys parked at the front door. We love the glitz of the interior decor, all the while knowing of it were Vegas we'd be scathing!  We fail to spot any high rollers.  I suspect they are protected from hoi polloi and hang out in the private rooms.


Our apartment is literally on the Cap d'Ail marina.  When not impeded by luxury yachts, our view is out to the marina entrance; otherwise it is of and into the aft decks of the super-yachts parked in front of us.  It is very entertaining.  Anyone who yearns for a job as crew on a super-yacht, yearn no more.  All we see is washing down, cleaning and polishing, sanding down to re-varnish, and washing and cleaning some more.

The view from out apartment deck

The boats in the photo are about 45 metres long, and have about 6 to 8 crew.  We get a great insight into the ups and downs of crew life when we catch up with a young friend who is second officer on a mega super-yacht. We are lucky enough to have him show us the boat as there are no guests at the moment.  This baby is 75.5 metres with a crew of 22,  valued at around 150 million Euros. To fill the tank takes 170,000 litres of fuel - and I don't think they use supermarket discount coupons.  The interior is truly sumptuous and it is also the ultimate water-sports boat. The toys, such as the fleet (yes, fleet) of jet skiis and surfboards, windsurfers etc etc takes our breath away.  Sorry, folks, these are for the guests, not the crew, but you too can live the life by chartering this boat for about 770,000 Euro per week - plus the cost of fuel and supplies.  See http://www.yachtanastasia.com/  Oh, and by the way, the owner has just taken possession of a sister yacht, 88 metres. That's what life is like when you are in the Forbes top 100 billionaires.

All yours for less than a couple of hundred million Euro

No food blog this time: too overwhelmed by everything else, and also don't experience anything new or exciting in a cuisine capacity.  We are now in the Camargue at the mouth of the Rhone and there are some interesting new dishes to be sampled.