Our earliest morning since arriving back in La Colle. We rose at 7 am so we could do all the jobs and be out early.
We had arranged to meet Madeleine and Tom in Monte Carlo Grimaldi Forum. Rather than drive we decided to test public transport and take the bus from La Colle and the train from Cagnes-sur-mer.
Mad and Tom had already purchased tickets for the Monet Exhibition entitled ‘Monet En Pleine Lumiere‘ (in Full Sight) and we bought tickets as well. The bus arrived just as we walked up to the stop at 8:30. We pulled into the station at 8:45 for the 9 am train. The train was busy but we managed to grab seats together.
We passed along the coast through Nice and, at times almost touching the sea before we arrived at Monte Carlo. The last time we came to the town we quickly dropped Vikki at her hotel and drove on, and must be at least two years ago. I have never been keen on the principality, so congested, so immaculately clean and so full of the rich who hate paying taxes. We walked with all the people who service the rich and can’t afford to like in Monaco away from the station.
We descended down to the famous Casino in the heart of the city.
The casino dates back to the 19th Century and is only one of a handful of buildings left that haven’t been redeveloped. All around high-rise buildings dominate. They are even reclaiming land from the sea to extend the real estate of the city.
We arrived by foot at the Grimaldi Forum, another modern creation, where the exhibition was held. We arrived early and waited for Madeleine & Tom. I walked around the area and wandered into a garden created in a Japanese style but with mediterranean plants, Princess Grace Japanese Garden. Unfortunately the adjacent construction work destroys much of the serenity that one expects from a typical Japanese garden.
As soon as Madeleine & Tom arrived we queued to enter the Monet show. Madeleine had hurt her foot while on holiday in Puglia and walked with a boot and sticks very slowly. She couldn’t make it in up the stairs so we taken up via the back entrance and via the lift.
I didn’t realise how much of Monet’s work belonged on a chocolate box. So much of it is just pretty. He worked all through the first world war and we never get a hint of the destruction taking place not far from where he lived.
The exhibition cost €12, much better value than a similar show in London. Much of the display concentrated on his time on the Riviera, from Antibes to Bordighera. Like many of his contemporaries he enthused about the beauty of the light beside the Mediterranean. Monet’s garden in Giverny took up another section of the show. I didn’t realise that when he planted the water lilies for this garden they were a new import into France. I have always assumed that lilies are native to Europe.
We all left after about 90 minutes and walked along the nearby promenade and down to the beachside where we found a number of restaurants. Tom and I selected one that didn’t seem to be too expensive and the girls walking behind soon joined us. The Neptune looked attractive and the staff met our expectations on the friendliness front, but the food didn’t match. I had a beef gyros which had been cooked to a a dried up mess with chips which had so much salt plastered over them that I couldn’t eat them. Maggi complained afterwards about her food but nonetheless she ordered a tiramisu for desert. I tasted it and it lived up to the other course.
After leaving The Neptune we walked up to the street level again and because Madeleine’s so slow walking Tom departed to pick up the car and Maggi and I waited for Tom to pick come back. I thought there might be a chance Tom would offer to give us a lift to the station. Nothing doing. Thanks for waiting with me Madeleine said and off both of them drove. We walked back to the station and missed our intended train but a couple of minutes.
We waited 30 minutes for the next train and as we did so the platform became busier and busier. Eventually the train came in and it surprised me, because it was already fairly full. Maggi and I both managed to sit but not together. Fortunately I sat on the sea side of the train so the views improved from the morning.
The pressure of people eased when we arrived in Nice and we made it home without any problems.