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- first_sight.jpg
It isn't much more to get a "balcony" room on the QM2, and it has the charm that you arrive in the early morning hours so you have these amazing sights out your window when you wake up. My first view of Monaco: an absurdly expensive yacht against the tiny, crowded nation.
- monaco_yachts.jpg
Moments later, another one sailed past it, also looking to be north of ten million.
- yacht_harbour.jpg
On the other side of the QM2, the harbour was filled with the things, scores of them - a good billion on the hoof.
- lowering_tender.jpg
For all that, it isn't a "real" modern harbour - the QM2 has to unlimber its tenders to ferry people ashore.
- view_in_tender.jpg
There are 8 of them, taking 120 people at a time from two side-ports in the ship, able to unload the whole 2000+ of us in an hour or so. They handle wheelchairs, even.
- castle_across_valley.jpg
Aside from the hillside of tight-packed apartments and seaside ring of businesses, plus Monte Carlo, the hilltop casino/hotel/Gucci-Prada-etc mall, this is Monaco.
- one_old_street.jpg
That is, about six square blocks with the old castle, cathedral, "government" buildings, and this one old European street, plus about 3 more like it. A fairy-tale principality indeed.
- lady_moara.jpg
But, because of the climate, the casino, the glamour provided by Grace Kelley, hundreds or thousands of very rich people hang out here to show off to each other, like the Arab prince that owns the 3-story, $100M-ish "Lady Moara" here for the yearly yacht show.
- monaco_harbour.jpg
That part, we found repulsive. So we enjoyed a cappucino in the one nice cafe beside the castle, enjoyed the view of the harbour from it, and headed, gratefully, back.
- return_2_qm2.jpg
The view of the QM2 from the water right below, through the tender window, is very dramatic indeed. I realized how she must look to all the rich yacht owners. So, "Hey! Rich Boy! Check out MY ride!"
There's nothing wrong with most of it, I suppose. Most fortunes in our time
are from hard work and innovation, not oppressing the peasants, though for every
fortune, there's generally one or two that earned it and a dozen in the family
that simply show it off. I'm probably reacting to the unending fascination with
Paris Hilton, to name one such. I'd rather not join it.
The previous day's tour of Guele Park in Barcelona, a place of fantastic
architecture and art created by Gaudi with the notion of making a bit of a
fairy-tale neighbourhood himself, never attracted buyers and was finally
donated as a park, because, as the guide said, rich people mostly like to
hang out with other rich people; "The Right Crowd, and No Crowding" as the
original first-class Cunard passengers used to say. So they stayed together
in downtown Barcelona and his park two miles off sold about two houses.
Monaco is the "society" concept writ large; a couple of thousand ultra-rich,
surrounded by a many more thousands of medium-rich hangers on, hoping to be
noticed. And, of course, tens and hundreds of thousands of tourists gawking
at them. I just wanted out so as not to be mistaken for somebody crossing their
fingers in hopes of seeing Donald Trump in the flesh.
In conclusion, my reverse-snobbery compels me to say, Fuck Monaco.
It isn't much more to get a "balcony" room on the QM2, and it has the charm that you arrive in the early morning hours so you have these amazing sights out your window when you wake up. My first view of Monaco: an absurdly expensive yacht against the tiny, crowded nation. 
Moments later, another one sailed past it, also looking to be north of ten million. 
On the other side of the QM2, the harbour was filled with the things, scores of them - a good billion on the hoof. 
For all that, it isn't a "real" modern harbour - the QM2 has to unlimber its tenders to ferry people ashore. 
There are 8 of them, taking 120 people at a time from two side-ports in the ship, able to unload the whole 2000+ of us in an hour or so. They handle wheelchairs, even. 
Aside from the hillside of tight-packed apartments and seaside ring of businesses, plus Monte Carlo, the hilltop casino/hotel/Gucci-Prada-etc mall, this is Monaco. 
That is, about six square blocks with the old castle, cathedral, "government" buildings, and this one old European street, plus about 3 more like it. A fairy-tale principality indeed. 
But, because of the climate, the casino, the glamour provided by Grace Kelley, hundreds or thousands of very rich people hang out here to show off to each other, like the Arab prince that owns the 3-story, $100M-ish "Lady Moara" here for the yearly yacht show. 
That part, we found repulsive. So we enjoyed a cappucino in the one nice cafe beside the castle, enjoyed the view of the harbour from it, and headed, gratefully, back. 
The view of the QM2 from the water right below, through the tender window, is very dramatic indeed. I realized how she must look to all the rich yacht owners. So, "Hey! Rich Boy! Check out MY ride!"