And Outside The Rain Fell...

Tired out of my senses, I spent the previous night, sleeping on a hard wooden floor with a blanket underneath and Pritesh pushing me into the wall for company. 10 of us squeezed into a large apartment of our friends from IIM B, I still think it was amongst the most comfortable sleeps I’ve had. Having easily walked at least 15kilometres, especially across uneven terrain, climbing up and climbing down, sleep came in less than a jiffy.

Waking up early morning at 5, we were out of home by 7.30. Today, it was fantastic Monte Carlo and then Cannes. Both home for the super rich and super famous, we arrived at Monaco, a short 20 minute ride from Nice.

My friends joked when they found that in that short journey, I read 3 more pages of my book (Nightmare on Wall Street) as well as caught up on a nap.

Monaco is a ludicrously small country, a 1.95 sq km area packed with cafes, luxury stores, palaces, and an aquarium and bordered on all sides by the most fantastic yachts you'd see. There was even a broker I saw who bought and sold yachts. A 7 day old yacht was for sale, at a price that I’d rather not convert to INR.

Patwaji had a swollen leg (all that walking, and the beach full of pebbles, sigh, I wouldn't blame him at all) and took the bus to the aquarium, first on our itinerary. We decided to walk and the shortest and probably the most scenic way was up the hill, across the royal puppet palace and down the cathedral into the aquarium.

Walking again with heavy backpacks (well, you eventually start hating them no matter how good they are), the three of us trudged along, up the stairs to the hill. Several vantage points gave us a panoramic view of the city-country, and I can now proudly say that I saw all of country in a single day. Well, almost. I missed the iconic tunnel since we were not driving and famous U-turn, both immortalized by F1.

Busts of formula 1 greats, along with their cars in stone lined the streets of Monte Carlo, and Fangio along with his ancient 50's car immediately brought about a smile on my face. To think of the Argentinean great driving the same streets where I was today was an amazing feeling.

Formula 1 also seemed to everywhere, including dedicated F1 souvenir shops, a Ferrari store and F1 routes marked on the city-country's boards. We quickly walked past the royal palace, which I for some reason found comical, like a theme park for a rich kid. Howitzers with hundreds of cannon balls lined the outside, a tower turret rose out of place against the facade, and the azure blue Mediterranean stretched till the eye could see.

We reached the aquarium to find it closed. Hungry, we had the last of our apples and carrots for breakfast, and waited at the aquarium park waiting for the aquarium to open. Amongst the first to buy tickets early morning (at 6.5 Euros), the aquarium was a rare treat, with huge tanks that housed entire ecosystems. The real coral reef housed in the biggest fish tank I’ve ever seen was the highlight of the aquaria-museum for me, with brightly coloured fishes swimming in and out of the reefs, while the sharks, their pointed fin et al patrolled about the tank. The bottom was lined with a giant ray, and the ecosystem was carefully designed, with several vantage points to give the feeling of total immersion.

We saw many exotic fishes, a fish that changed sexes at will, well camouflaged paper thin fishes that masqueraded almost invisibly as sand at the sea bed, a horizontal fish that can be used as a knife once it is dead, even luminous fishes that gave off a dazzling glow in the tanks. Housed in two major flanks- Mediterranean and tropical, I totally loved it. Q would say, well, you must, you're a Piscean after all. I couldn't disagree this time.

We walked up to museum, housing Prince Albert’s schooner models, giant fossils of weird fishes from an archaic age and a several god-knows-what, for personally I was too tired to notice anything more, thanks to PritS' nonchalant persuasion, I proceeded to the palace to watch the change of guards ceremony. Attitudinally challenged, I couldn't see much anyway, so instead parked my bags and admired the Toyota Prius and Audi A8 standing by the side.

Continuing, we skipped the cathedral and walked across the market place to find a super market. Armed with bread now at exorbitant rates, we sat at Gare du Monaco, surviving on bread and waiting for our train to Cannes.

Cannes was brilliant. Sun clad beaches; we had subs for lunch on Palm Beach. Speaking to mum, I told her how everyone seemed to be tanning themselves here, and for 4 young guys, that can be a mighty pretty sight. It was. Hehe. It really was.

Azure waters, sandy beaches and the bright sun, it was a perfect way to spend the rest of the day. We had no other plans, chill out on the beach till evening fall and go back to Nice then.

And we did exactly that. Basking in the sun, I had a quick swim in the waters, coming out and lying on the beach on a blue towel, taking in the waft of the sea, reading my book. Especially funny was PritS, who was tanning himself while being fully clothes, trousers, caps et al, a book on his chest and the cap drawn over his eyes! The both of us had a little sand fight, and absolutely hated it because his clothes got all screwed up. I just took a shower again, but felt extremely apologetic about my behaviour.

Both of us walked across the promenade, watching colourful sights on the way, a potpourri of music, smell and sight. An old man playing typical Mediterranean music on a piano accordion, the waft of bread, ice-cream and coffee filling the air, and skaterboys, street painters, old women with ornamental dogs and couples walking hand-in-hand filling the promenade. The beach was lined with private beaches by the super luxurious hotels on the other bank of the street.

We returned to Nice, with Tards and me going on a grocery shopping spree to buckle up for tomorrow and pass some time. Boarding the train to Toulouse, I now sit reclined on a comfortably couchette, writing, reading and thinking. Comfortable. Content. Happy.