Mon 14/09: Nice & Monaco

Today was a nice bludge day in Nice. Similar to Luzern, we were given a few suggestions as to things we should try out. Instead of trying to do lotsa stuff, I relaxed for a change.

Wandered down the main shopping strip, bought a pair of thongs for the beach.

Ran into a couple from the tour group and had lunch with them - fantastic food!!! I had an eggplant pannini (is that how you spell it???).

After lunch, I then sunbaked out on the beach, resting on a deck chair with a bottle of sparkling water... lazed on the beach enjoying the sun and sights (3 very liberated, topless women!). Mindful of getting sun-burnt, I slowly made my way back to the Hotel; along the way - bumping into out tour group friends. I made the effort to do something nice for the planned night at Monaco by buying a leather jacket (110 euros). This complemented well with my slacks and coffee-coloured shirt.

I ate at a cafe a very large tortellini pasta dish, no dessert!

We left as a group at 5pm from the hotel for Monaco. Our first stop was on the cliff-top for a group photo overlooking the amazing Mediterannean sights. The next stop was at Monaco itself the Rock district with the over-water aquarium/museum and the Royal Palace. They really have excess canon balls!!!

On the way to the casino areas (Monte Carlo, American and another one... Royal??) we saw the famous hair-pin bend of the GP circuit - our appointed meeting place. With a hour or so of free time I immediately ventured into the famous Monte Carlo Casino (passport & 10 euro entrance fee,). In stark contrast to the large-scale of Melbourne's Crown Casino, this casino was a series of 4 rooms, each imbued with the class and elegance - limited playing areas for craps, roulette and even the poker machines. After "studying" the 6 roulette tables, I joined one. From my limited experience, I knew to split the odds and placed a series of 10 euro bets on neighbouring numbers. This paid out 3/4 times, each time I siphoned away the nice green chips (yellow chips being the lowest denominator). Tipping 10 euros at the end, I walked away with 5 green chips - which ended up being 250 euro!!! (Basically I had made 200 euro from my initial 50 euro outlay)

Feeling generous, and a little bad that I seemed to be the main winner, I decided that I would share my winnings with the group who had spent most of their free time in a bar outside the casinos... after all, I had actually set aside some money (100 euros) with the intention of gambling it away - so I was actually 300 euros up for the day/budget...

I think that night, particularly my shouting a round of drinks at the bar definitely ensured that the TopDeck group would remember me, and our host did say that I was by the far the biggest winner ever that any of her tour groups had had...