The final day

So Friday was our final full day in Monaco and the day was left for us to do as we wished.

A small group decided to take the train to Italy as it was only half an hour away.  Now I LOVE Italy and Italian food and everything but I couldn't justify going to Italy when I had only walked across the road in Monaco.

The lovely Julie said that she wanted to go and see where Princess Grace was buried so we decided on a leisurely saunter around the Grand Prix track over to the Rock!

It was another gorgeous day (stupid weather report - heavy showers indeed!) and we had quite a stroll around the harbour / marina.  It truly was gorgeous and the mix of designer shops and small windy roads truly was a treat.

We went through exotic Gardens and met Shelli and Sterling - they are such a lovely couple.  So warm, friendly and just "normal", they have the skill of making you feel completely at ease which is just lovely.

All four of us then walked around the cathedral and saw where Princess Grace was buried.  I was expecting something a little grander than a concrete slap in the floor with a dead rose on top!!!! But there you go, sometimes I obviously just expect too much LOL!

Julie and I then had a look around the tourist shops for some gifts and decided to plonk for lunch.  We found a very reasonable restaurant and sat and had a leisurely lunch - goats cheese salad, some tarte tartin and a beer were the order of the day.  I think Julie was just happy she didn't have to eat fish again :)

We then caught a little tram / train back to the hotel as it was quite a walk we had done and our feet were a little weary.  It's only once the tram started that I had this terrible thought that it wasn't a tour that we could get off of.  You were supposed to stay on for the duration of the tour.  Needless to say, that when it pulled up at the Casino, we opened the safety chain and did a runner without looking back LOL!

A couple of hours sitting in the sun and a dip in the pool (had to be done) was the order of the afternoon before we had to get poshed up into our cocktail dresses for our final dinner together.

(If you are wondering where the photos are in this post, would you believe that my fully charged camera run out at the end of Day 2 - duh - it normally lasts for months!)

We all walked across the road from our hotel to the Hotel De Paris.

Here is a photo of us all glammed up stolen from Shelli's blog.

The Hotel De Paris was just beautiful and two small lifts took us up to the eighth floor to the restuarant that looked over Monaco - just gorgeous!  But not just the "normal" restaurant for us, no siree - Private Dining, don't you know was the order for us Stampin' Up! laydees!

The view was spectacular, the food was fabulous and the company wasn't bad either LOL!

A few of us had wanted to go to the Casino, so all dressed up in our posh frocks, we walked to the Casino.  When I was in Las Vegas, I gambled $20 so when in Monaco, I had to do the same.  10 Euros on Black at Roulette - yay - I won - 20 Euros - I know how to live the high life LOL!  I did succumb to put another 5 Euros but lost that.  Was happy that I came out on top though.

I did feel pretty stupid with my 10 Euros considering a early 20 something girl was betting between 20 - 40,000 Euros each spin of the wheel.  When we arrived at the table, she had 40,000 Euros.  We saw her go up to 90,000, back down to 20,000 but after watching for an hour, she left the table with 150,000 Euros!!!  Dawn Silver who said that it was like watching paint dry, took some dragging away by the time this girl had finished.  I think she understood the gambling bug by the end of it!

So, by 1 o'clock in the morning, it was time to bid farewell and retire for the evening.  Back at the room, we were greeted with yet another pillow gift:

A fabulous black patent handbag!  How on earth were we going to get all this home, don't  they know they booked me on Easyjet with the rigid 20 kilos and one hand luggage policy!

The next morning I had a little lie in, packed at leisure, checked out, had breakfast and said goodbye to those that hadn't left earlier in the day.

It was such an amazing trip and one that I would love to repeat - so it's all out for the next three months to achieve the trip to Prague next summer.

There aren't many companies spoiling their "employees" with 5* trips away in this recession.  I consider myself very very lucky and whilst I worked hard to earn it, without my customers and my team who worked hard too, I would never have achieved it, so from the bottom of my heart - thank you! 

Now what are Stampin' Up! goodies do you need in the next three months - we've got another trip to earn LOL :)