On our way to the bus station we actually witnessed a motorcycle accident. Our group had just crossed the crosswalk of a major street when I heard a screetching sound behind me. I turned around to see an out-of-control motorcycle skidding towards us. The motorcycle and the driver then slid through the intersection and cross walk and hit an older man holding a young girl about 2 years old. The man had his legs taken out from under him, went into the air and landed on the asphalt head-first. The girl flew out of his arms and hit the cement curb. The girl started crying immediately, while the older man was unconscious, still in the middle of the street. You could see that the motorcyclist was injured as well, but he had been wearing a helmet, so he was okay in comparison to the other two. Sarah lent a man her cell phone to call the ambulance and I gave him tissues because the man's head was bleeding profusely. Luckily, he did eventually come to consciousness. Our group stayed until the ambulance arrived and waited to make sure they didn't need us for anything and then left. For about the next 15 minutes no one said anything. We were kind of freaked out. People in Nice ride motorcycles and mopeds everywhere and even on the small streets where cars can't fit. I've never been a fan of motorcycles because people drive like idiots, but this sealed the deal on my initial feelings.
Anyway, we arrived at the bus station, fought for our seats and began the hour long journey to Monaco.
Some interesting facts on Monaco:
1. It's no bigger than 1 square mile.
2. The casino and tourism business have made the small principality so wealthy that the Prince of Monaco abolished taxes 1870.
3. Grace Kelly was princess of Monaco until she passed away in 1982.
When we arrived the first thing we did was visit the Palais du Prince and eat! Our eating experience was a little strange only because the waiter tried to joke with us and ended up offending our group. He kept saying "please only speak French" to Sarah and when she pointed to me and told him I didn't speak it he said in French "it's ok, she'll learn." Sarah replied, "are you serious?" and he said no...but if it was a joke he didn't smile or laugh. The French sense of humor is not like ours.
We visited the Musee Oceanographique (the aquarium) first; we saw all kinds of exotic sea animals as well as an exhibit on Antarctica and global warming. The ironic thing about the fish was that I probably saw some of them snorkeling in the Philippines over a month ago and now I'm seeing them in an aquarium.
After the aquarium we took a bus through the country and went to the botanical gardens of Monaco. The botanical garden is really pretty, but essentially is a mountain-side with all different kinds of cacti on it.
We took the train back to Nice and Sarah and I went grocery shopping for dinner. Sarah has this funny thing going on with the security guard there, she calls him "inter marshe man." He's this attractive security guard at the grocery store that also lives across the street from her; I guess both of them are trying to pretend not to acknowledge each other's existence, but steal glances at one another...it's kind of weird and I don't understand it, but it's funny to watch. I don't know if I would necessarily consider this man attractive, but he doesn't have a mullet and his pants aren't too tight so I'll give him props for that.
After a long day of walking around Sarah and stayed in for dinner and just hung out. We ended our evening with girl talk in the bunk beds =)
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