Monaco ?
My day began with an error in train travel. I bought a ticket to Villefranche sur Mer and was told that the train would leave at 12:26 pm. The final destination for the train was Vintmille. I then noticed that the 11:15 train to Vintmille was running late. Since the 12:26 Vintmille train was stopping at V.S.M., this one will be stopping there also; right ? I ran to the platform for the belated 11:15 train. As I jumped aboard, I asked the passengers if the train was going to V.S.M. They said yes. What they should have said was that the train was stopping at a station on the outskirts of V.S.M., not the actual V.S.M. station. So, the first stop was at a station whose name begins with a B, which I can neither spell nor pronounce. At the next station, I expected to see a sign that said V.S.M., but no ! I had ended up in Monaco, which is technically, a different country than France ! Were they going to ask for my passport ? I got off the train and rode the escalator up to the modern, luxurious train station. The schedule said that a train to Nice would be arriving in an hour, so, I decided to go into town and look around.This small country exhibits even more conspicous consumption than the city that I was in yesterday. There were more Rolls Royces and Ferraris parked here than in Cannes.
Next to the waterfront is a small race track with race cars racing and an announcer announcing in French. It did not seem like a professional race, but rather like a glorified go cart track with race cars instead of go carts. Perhaps some of you readers know more about this than me. Is this event a hobby for rich people ? I bought a souvenir for my mom and walked back to the train station.
Villefranch sur Mer later,
I.C.