Bonjour,

Monaco is the second smallest country in the world (behind the Vatican) with only .78 square miles. Monaco is also either the most densely populated or the second most densely populated country in the world (depending on the web page I visited), yet it only has some 37,000 people. Monaco is surrounded by France and the Mediterranean. On our drive into Monaco, the road was so crowded that I could have walked the last mile or two faster than we drove it. Our visit to Monaco was about a half day but that was plenty for me. During our visit, the Rolex Master tennis tournament was under way and they were also setting up for the Monaco Grand Prix, their Formula One race. We also saw a lot of major construction projects.

1. The first photo gives you a good sense of my first comments: that Monaco is very small and very crowded. On the left, you can see a small part of “the Rock of Monaco” which was the old city of Monaco from earliest times.

2. The second photo was taken from atop the rock of Monaco in the old city. The Monaco Harbor is a central feature of Monaco. If you look along the waterfront, you can see that they are setting up the grandstands for the Grand Prix race. We drove the course and it is only .2 miles long. Our local guide said the race was not for speed as much as for technical driving ability.

3. This is the House of the Prince of Monaco. Quite frankly, I was a bit disappointed in it. We didn’t take a tour but we saw many more striking buildings in France.

4. This is one of the streets in Monaco City, atop the Rock of Monaco.

5. What would you do if an industrial truck driver in Monaco did something to really tick you off?

I would just tip his truck over. I was thinking about it in this photo. These must be for hauling goods down those very steep and narrow streets.

Voila,

Bill