Monte Carlo or bust

(posted by Elizma)

Leon and I went to Monte Carlo (Monaco) this weekend for our 4th wedding anniversary. What a fabulous weekend we had!

I was responsible for the arrangements - and Leon will have to work very hard to beat it - even if I have to say so myself!

We flew into Nice on Friday morning, where a helicopter waited to transfer us to our hotel in Monace - the Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo. The hotel was absolutely amazing (picture below)! They offered to upgrade us to a junior suite, but had none available so they upgraded us to a £1100 per night(!) suite. It came complete with champagne, chocolates, fresh flowers and candles and rose petals around the bathroom (which was bigger than our bedroom back home) in the evening. We were probably the 'poorest' people in the whole hotel.




The view from our room was stunning - I took the picture below lying on our bed. It had floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall windows.


The hotel is situated on the Casino Square in Monte Carlo with the Grand Casino (obviously), Hotel de Paris and the beautiful gardens.


We spent the weekend strolling around stopping for a coffee or people-watching at Cafe de Paris. We visited the Aquarium, the palace and gawked at the huge yachts.

On Friday we had dinner in a wonderful little Italian restaurant Il Terrazzino, which was almost in itself worth the entire trip: over the course of the evening we managed to get through about nine dishes. They just kept bringing food! It is a family-run restaurant and quite small - there are only about ten tables in all - but the food was simply to die for. The tables are all on top of each other and we met a lovely British couple, Keith and Yvonne who were celebrating their 40th anniversary. We shared a lovely evening with them. They stayed in the same hotel as us and we bumped into each other quite a few times during our trip - sharing a last cocktail at Cafe de Paris before our departure on Sunday.

Monte Carlo will definitely see us again for another celebration - actually any excuse will do and it is highly recommendable. Click here to see some more of our photos...