Monaco

I probably was lucky and unlucky at the same time.
Without checking the bus schedule, I arrived at the gare routiere just 5 minutes before the departure of an express bus to Monaco.
Great! So I hopped on, thinking that I would get there sooner than expected.
Then I realized that probably the bus wasn't the best idea because kids just started their summer vacation, and on top of that, it was the grand opening of the Tour de France from Monaco!
So we went quite slow on the highway for a while...
but, the lucky side is that I got to see how crazy people were of this event!
People would wait in the sun for the racers to come by, just to cheer then for 5 seconds. Still, it was pretty impressive. I am not sure if the race actually takes place in the same place as Formula 1, but it's pretty much the same area.

So I arrived there, and without waiting for the racers to come, I headed for my destination-the Palais Princier.
At this palace, there are guards outside that change every once in a while (I hope).
But at precisely 11:55am everyday, a special changing of guards takes place, when about 20 or so guards have some kind of march, with a higher ranked guard/general saying something like "left, left, left right left" in french of course.
They would march along with their long rifles, in their white uniforms (in winter, they are in black). There would be some drummers and music as well.
Lots of people gather to see this...it was interesting to see but I hope they don't put on this show just for the tourists or something.

Then I went to the Cathedrale de Monaco. It was a nice cathedral with more candles than some smaller ones. There are even signs in 6 languages, including japanese.

After that, I went to the Musee Oceanographique, where there is a floor of aquarium, some exhibitions, and restaurants up top.
The aquarium was nice, but I have to say that the Japanese are much better at this.
The best thing though, was that at the end, I got to see the cutie puffer fish that looked right into my camera! ^^

After that, I took a walk around Monaco ville, but there were too many people on this day of tour de france~!!