Monaco

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week, the maison d'Onstott served as a French language institute. On Friday, Elyse had to give a 10 minute presentation in French class and we all helped her prepare by listening to her speach. Nicolas had to study for a major French test. While he had no problem with the basic vocabulary, we had to help him know how to spell each word, know where the accents belonged, and have the proper conjugation (his French teachers do not award points if any of these things are wrong). Julie kept Joe updated on the things she's studying in her advanced French class and even stubborn Nathaniel joined in fun by throwing out a French phrase here and there. Finally, there's the house rule, which is if you're asked a question in French, you must respond in French.



In order to take a break from all of that great learning, we travelled to the far south-eastern corner of France to visit the tiny country of Monaco and its spectacular oceanographic museum. Monte-Carlo, Monaco's main city, is squeezed between mountains and the Mediterranian Sea. Nevertheless, Monaco is a very beautiful and rich country, with the highest per-capita income in the world. It also hosts the Monaco Grand Prix, which shuts down its streets a couple of times a year.



After a two-hour drive, we got off the motorway and drove down winding streets and through rocky tunnels to get to one of the city's many parking garages. We then found our way up a path traversing the cliffs to the reach the base of the fortified walls surrounding the old city. We were all a little winded by the time we climbed the steps leading over the wall. As fate would have it, though, we found an escaltor at the top that lead down to the garage.



The museum is divided into two parts - the oceanographic museum and an acquarium. The acquarium is located in the basement floors and houses both large and small displays of Mediterranian and tropical fish and sharks.



As this was our first trip to an acquarium as a family, the kids were facinated and wanted to know the name of each fish. Their opinion of dad took a dive when they discovered that we was not able to identify every creature to their satisfaction.



One of the most interesting aspects of the museum is that it houses the oceanographic institute run by Jacques Cousteau for over 30 years. A model of the Calypso was of particular interest to Joe, who grew up watching Jacques' television shows and even painted a picture of the famous explorer in high school art class.



Among the displays in the museum were whaling relics, including whaling boats, spears, and skeletons. There was also a life-sized model of a sperm whale hanging from the ceiling, which Julie thought put Jonah's sojourn in a little better perspective.



Monaco is famous for being the home of Princess Grace Kelly, who lived here for many years until her death in an car acident in 1982. The chapel is the location of her marriage to Prince Rainier.



Monaco remains a Monarchy and is currently run by Princess Grace's son, Prince Albert. The kids had fun playing on the cannon that surrounded the palace. However, Nicolas was very concerned that the palance couldn't defend itself against modern weapons... We are now looking more closely into the amount of time he plays "Rise of Nations" each week.



Before heading home, we walked through one of the city's many exotic gardens and enjoyed the view of the city, yachts, and ocean below.

Though short, we loved our visit to Monaco and consider this one of the best places on the Cote d'Azur.

Bonne Semain!

Joe, Julie, Nicolas, Elyse, and Nathaniel