A "NICE" Experience - Monaco

After 4 days of training in Nice, I and my manager were extremely thrilled. Thrilled - for two reasons - first, we had a good feedback from the participants. They thought we were adept at training and had helped them learn quite a lot about our software. Secondly, one of our participants (lets call him A) had agreed to take us on a guided tour of Monaco. Monaco is a principality in South France, bordering Italy.

We went back to our hotel rooms, freshened up and were ready to leave for Monaco. At about 6.30 PM I, my manager and two other Irish participants who stayed at the same hotel as us waited for A to pick us up. Shortly, we all were comfortably seated into A’s Saab. Tell you what; it’s an awesome car. 25000 Euros is what it cost him. It took us about 15 minutes to get out of the traffic in Nice. Once we reached the freeway A stepped on the gas and that’s when I realized the power of Saab. Soon we were zipping along the picturesque South France freeway, to our destination; Monaco.

Half an hour later we were in Monaco. The parking was 5 floors below ground level. Excellent space management I must say. We got back on GROUND by taking an elevator. Then we started our tour de Monaco - on foot. The Mediterranean looked majestic from a fort like structure we were standing on. To the right of the sea was a bay with the famous Monaco yacht-yard. They were in all sizes. All of them looked magnificent. I was told; they belonged to some of the richest people in the world. Monaco citizens don’t have to pay income tax. So the rich use it as an investment hub. The weather was cool, and we continued walking until we reached the Monaco formula one circuit. The feeling of stepping on to that tarmac was exhilarating; a dream come true. There was more to come.

We then walked on further, and saw a palace. It belonged to the prince of Monaco. Then we carried on walking until we reached one of the posh localities of Monaco. A 5 star hotel, a grand casino and some real posh stores stood there. I stood there mesmerized. Amidst that I heard A call out my name. I looked towards him and he pointed me to something.

What I saw next, will remain etched in my memory forever. A shining black 4-seater car with an emblem one would die to even see on TV. I went ahead and touched that car. The emblem of course, was a prancing horse and the car was a FERRARI. That’s my dream car. Goodness gracious me! I was literally ogling at that beauty. I took at least 6 different photos of that splendid automobile. If that wasn’t enough I next saw an Aston Martin parked there, then a BMW convertible, Porsche Carrera, Mercedez Benz limo et al. I have never seen a more expensive car parking.

We also went inside the Casino. No, we didn’t put any bets there, but just the mere interiors of that place were stunning. Lit up, as if electricity was free, it was resplendence at its very best. We loitered around and then moved out, and continued our sight seeing of Monaco.

I didn’t want to get out of that place, but had no choice. After having dinner at a roadside café, we moved into A’s Saab and started back to our hotel. The next morning we had to start another trip; a trip to the fashion city; Paris.