Beach Bums

Since we've been in Nice we've done pretty much nothing other than work on our tans and learning how to properly apply sunscreen (Andrew slightly burned a part of his stomach and I slightly burned one of my shoulders). We haven't been bringing our camera to the beach for fear that it might get stolen while we are swimming but the beach is beautiful. The beaches are covered in what tourists books call pebbles, but they are really just fist sized (the biggest of them at least) rocks. They aren't the most comfortable to lay on, but we are too cheap to buy chairs or cushions or to pay to get onto a private beach for the use of their lounging chairs.

After our days on the beach we have been enjoying the World Cup. We quickly realized that soccer players are no UFC fighters with the amount of crying they do and dives they "perform" (which drives us CRAZY!!). Right now Andrew and I are cheering for Mexico because the game that we saw the Mexican players weren't diving and because they just recently beat France. Right now Italy is annoying us.

Yesterday (June 19) was a little on the cold side (around 20) and a bit cloudy, so after spending some time on the beach we went for a walk to Parc de la Colline du Chateau. It was a really good lookout point and we got some good pictures.

Today (June 20) we went to Monaco for a quick day trip. We read in our book that when we go to Monaco we should not miss the changing of the guards at the Palais du Prince. Andrew and I almost killed ourselves laughing when we saw it for ourselves. The procedure took maybe 20 seconds and the guy walked out of the little hut and someone came to replace him. I guess Red Deer tourism should start advertising changing of the security guards at some of the buildings downtown, because the changing of the guards in Monaco got a lot of attention.

After this we went walking through one of the harbours and looked at all the boats. I wish we could do this every Sunday. These boats were some of the biggest I have ever seen. They had at least 4 different levels, motorboats and jetskis attached and a boat crew cleaning every spot on the deck. We are also pretty sure they loaded their BMWs, Aston Martins, Rolls Royces, etc into them, because each boat had one or two of these sitting beside them on the pier.

Then we went to the famous Monte Carlo casino. We were lucky enough to get there when it opened (we were surprised they ever closed - they open at 2pm). Once we got in we had to check our bags at the door, no cameras allowed and then we got to the casino and saw a sign that to get inside it was 10 euros each. So we picked up our bags and left. Why even bother!? As Andrew said when we were leaving: "They've got it all wrong. You don't charge to take people's money." But I guess in Monaco they do. We think they could learn from Vegas: never close, and never charge admission.

Monaco was a really nice country/city. It was really clean, which nowadays impresses me and Andrew. It was built right into the mountain and there were public elevators everywhere in order to get to the streets below.

Tomorrow we are on a mission to find sandy beaches, so we are going to go to Cannes. Hopefully there will be some there. Andrew and I have vowed to try an espresso and a crepe while we are in France, so tomorrow might be the day for that too. As for now we have big plans: New Zealand and Italy are playing right now and Brazil and Ivory Coast are playing tonight. We are keeping our supper cold until we are ready to eat (Andrew has created a fridge out of duct tape and our AC unit to keep our Camembert cold for a couple of hours).