CHAPTER 14
With ten days to call Menton home, we had plenty of time to do a few day trips, the first of which was a train ride to the glimmering city-state of Monaco. After a slightly confused exit from the labyrinthine underground Monte Carlo rail station, we found ourselves walking the streets of the recently run Grand Prix. Bleachers and barriers thwarted our rhumb line route to our primary objective for the day- the Musée Océanographique de Monaco, curated for four decades by my personal hero Jacques Cousteau. They display an enviable cabinet of curiosities, one which I strive to emulate someday with our own bric-a-brac from our many travels past and future: the Musée du Monde Renfroe. They also have a pretty mean aquarium exhibit, and a roof top playground, complete with a chromed out great white to keep the kid’s behavior in line, which provides stunning panoramic views of Port Hurcule, Port de Fontvieille, and the Mediterranean at large. Its easy to walk down hill when its hot outside, and we soon found ourselves meandering along the harbor wharfs, ogling at the mega-yachts and freeloading on the AC escaping the propped open sliding doors of the Yacht Club de Monaco.
