Took the train to Monte Carlo today. Katie’s first train ride I think.
She was meant to sleep on the train journey, we had planned the times especially. Katie had other ideas!! Too much going on to be missed with this sleeping nonsense..
Needless to say, it all ended in tears, a tired baby on a train is no fun. Oh well, the return journey was much worse!! J
Arrived in Monte Carlo and were immediately lost, not a good sign!!
Monte Carlo is built on a mountain, a sheer face cliff, actually.
Well the train station is ¾ the way up this cliff face and the place you want to be is down at the bottom…
So, first of all we couldn’t even find our way out of the bloody station, having done so, eventually, we were faced with two options. 1. Find a way down this mountain which doesn’t include walking. ( going down hill with a pram is one thing, coming back up is quite another!)
Or 2. Find out how everyone else manages to do it, clearly folk wouldn’t walk up and down everyday??
Well we found the answer.. Lifts.
The trouble is, lifts don’t do diagonal movement, so you find one lift , get in, play Russian Roulette with whether your going up or down (floor 14 is the basement, we discovered ,and 0 is the top floor!) then get off that lift and find another and repeat the whole game again.
Most cities in the world would connect the different lifts by way of signage, passageways, marked pavements…something. No, not Monte Carlo, you simply have to fumble around the streets until you find a shinny silver door or a very small arrow saying ‘public lift’
All good fun, we got there eventually..
Very busy place, usual marina town, with the exception of the boats, which are huge. These things are lined up like Cal Mac ferries. I don’t suppose they leave harbour too often but they are a good feature!!
Apart from that, the place is just how you would imagine it to be.
Once again, nice to have seen it, but unless I get a VERY good street map (lift cycles included) I wouldn’t rush back.
I would like to see how they conduct a rally in those streets though. These roads are hair pin bends going up this mountain and every available inch has been built on with high buildings. You couldn’t see the corners, forget what’s around them!!
She was meant to sleep on the train journey, we had planned the times especially. Katie had other ideas!! Too much going on to be missed with this sleeping nonsense..
Needless to say, it all ended in tears, a tired baby on a train is no fun. Oh well, the return journey was much worse!! J
Arrived in Monte Carlo and were immediately lost, not a good sign!!
Monte Carlo is built on a mountain, a sheer face cliff, actually.
Well the train station is ¾ the way up this cliff face and the place you want to be is down at the bottom…
So, first of all we couldn’t even find our way out of the bloody station, having done so, eventually, we were faced with two options. 1. Find a way down this mountain which doesn’t include walking. ( going down hill with a pram is one thing, coming back up is quite another!)
Or 2. Find out how everyone else manages to do it, clearly folk wouldn’t walk up and down everyday??
Well we found the answer.. Lifts.
The trouble is, lifts don’t do diagonal movement, so you find one lift , get in, play Russian Roulette with whether your going up or down (floor 14 is the basement, we discovered ,and 0 is the top floor!) then get off that lift and find another and repeat the whole game again.
Most cities in the world would connect the different lifts by way of signage, passageways, marked pavements…something. No, not Monte Carlo, you simply have to fumble around the streets until you find a shinny silver door or a very small arrow saying ‘public lift’
All good fun, we got there eventually..
Very busy place, usual marina town, with the exception of the boats, which are huge. These things are lined up like Cal Mac ferries. I don’t suppose they leave harbour too often but they are a good feature!!
Apart from that, the place is just how you would imagine it to be.
Once again, nice to have seen it, but unless I get a VERY good street map (lift cycles included) I wouldn’t rush back.
I would like to see how they conduct a rally in those streets though. These roads are hair pin bends going up this mountain and every available inch has been built on with high buildings. You couldn’t see the corners, forget what’s around them!!
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