Yesterday we spent the day in Monaco.

My boss’s father lives there and he had a problem with his accounts software. On Tuesday this week he’s off to his retreat in Switzerland so he really needed to finalise his accounts before going. We couldn’t resolve the problem over the phone so we decided to go to Monaco ‘en masse’ and whilst I fix his accounting problem Carine, Audrey & Liam could wander around the Metropole Shopping Centre. We also felt that it would be a good idea to treat Audrey & Liam to a trip to the Musée Océanographique de Monaco.

We arrived on the Rock at about 10h30. We spent an hour or so wandering around the little streets and parks and went to the Palace to see the changing of the guards [missed that though] and to take some photos. There were litterally hundreds of tourists in the square [it was a beautiful day; about 27°; perfect blue sky] especially since there was a cruise ship anchored off the main Monaco port. We decided to quickly find a restaurant before everyone esle had the same idea. Good job too because by 12h15 every table in the restaurant we’d chosen was taken and people were being turned away.

After that we marched off to the museum.

As with all things Monegasque if you’re going to do something, do it well, do it right and, most importantly, make it interesting.

I have to say that both Carine and I enjoyed the day as much as the kids. A very well orchestrated visit taking in everything from giant turtles to sharks; from tiddly little coral reef fish to huge 2 metre long congers.

After the visit we went to our old town of Menton to meet up with a friend. After a couple of beers we decided to stay longer and go and eat in Italy. After all what with all the building work at home it would be better than eating dried pasta for the fourth consecutive day. So we went to La Vecchia in Dolceaqua where we had Audreys baptism. Still great food, although way too much and a great atmosphere.

Some pictures for your perusal. Please note that the quality isn’t that good because we’re not allowed to use flash photography and the fish are behind very thick glass!!!: