Eze, Italy
May 10, 2011

..... 5/10
As we left  Monte Carlo this morning – I took a few more photos from our hotel room showing the Palace and the preparations  for the 69th Grand Prix Race of Monaco which will be held on May 26 – 29, 2011.

You can see the blue grand stand seats which have been built for the race fans and miles of barbed wire fencing around the course of the race.  The Circuit de Monaco is a street circuit through the city streets of Monte Carlo and La Condamine around the harbour of Monaco. Preparation and building of this infamous circuit begins six weeks before the big event and then takes a further three weeks of dismantling when it's all over.  Again, we are really pleased that our visit to Monte Carlo did not occur during this event!  We will enjoy watching it on TV and reliving our visit without the massive crowds.

 

We then drove along a winding coastal road high above the deep blue Mediterranean to the Village of Eze.  Situated on the Moyenne Corniche (RN7), Eze is between Nice and Monaco.  It is a thousand-year-old pedestrian medieval village with no access for modern day automobiles and elevators, more than 1300 feet above the Mediterranean Sea.  The ancient fortified village is still crowned with the ruins of its 12th-century fortified castle (torn down in 1706), sitting on a narrow rocky peak.  The village forms a circular pattern around the base of the castle. The old buildings and narrow streets are very well restored, with high stone walls and narrow roadways of red-brick centered stone.  There are numerous small arts and crafts boutiques….some of them are like tiny caves dug out of the rocky hill-side. 








  
We enjoyed lunch overlooking the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea, a perfect way to end our stay in this area.




We then drove the 198 miles from Eze to Milan without incident – Tom did another fine job – and checked into a hotel at the airport for our early morning flight back to Champaign (via New York City and O’Hare, before landing in Champaign).  It will be nice to get home after a month of travel…..but what memories we have of a glorious vacation AND 60th birthday celebration for me.

 





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