Nothing quite prepared the touring party for the weird and wonderful world that is the principality of Monaco.

If gawping at ridiculously beautiful (or grotesque) cars is your thing, then look no further than the squeaky clean streets of Monte Carlo. I haven't been here since we played the principality with the Straits but I suppose like most male visitors, you find yourself navigating your way around the streets based on knowledge of the F1 GP circuit. This of course can lead you astray as some of the so familiar corners are not so evident when the Grand Prix circus is not in town. A walk through the famous tunnel on our way to dinner on the day off is awesome as you it dawns on you that an F1 car will take this flat right-hander at approaching 170 mph. Astonishing.

Monaco's population is unusual in that the native Monegasques are a minority in their own country. The largest proportion of residents are French nationals (47%), followed by Monegasque (16%), and Italians (16%). The remaining 21% belong to one of the other 125 nationalities that make up Monaco's international population, an estimated 32,000. The Monégasque language is expected to experience a revival in the near future following a recent decision to teach it to all children in Monaco's schools. It took me a while to realize that this is what we were hearing on occasion at the hotel pool, to me it sounded like a strange mixture of Dutch, French and something else.  Monaco belonged to Genoa Republic and the Principality was created by the Genoise Grimaldi family: the Monegasque comes from the Genoa's dialect with strong French influences, and Genoa's dialect came from a mixture of Italian and Portuguese of Brazil, due to important commerce, with ships sailing from Genoa to Brazil

The day off was welcomed greatly by the crew who only arrived here at 5pm on the day off. Not quite a proper day off admittedly but the fact that they were booked into the Monte Carlo Bay hotel along with the band and most of our wives too meant that almost everywhere we went during the day in the resort, we bumped into various crew members. A day off and two shows meant it was an opportunity to fully relax in the hotel's resort facilities. A swimming pool complex to die for, the sandy-bottomed main pool area was perfect.



BUT, the real treat for me was the little public beach right next to the hotel. The Monte Carlo Bay hotel is in fact the last building in Monaco as the border is quite literally there as soon as you walk out of the hotel. This meant that the 30 yard walk to the beach was a walk onto French soil and a swim in French waters. Oddly and annoyingly, the hotel would not allow guests to swim in the sea off the jetty, doubtless some health and safety rubbish about boats and propellors. Every time I looked over the balcony in the room I saw hotel guests blatantly disobeying this ruling, so Laurie and some of the other girls joined in the fun too..only to be told off by the security man. That coupled with the fact the we managed to break the ice machine on our floor and drag sea water across the hotel lobby on more than one occasion meant that I'm sure the hotel was glad to see the back of us musician types.

A swim in the ocean here though is a truly wonderful experience as the waters are crystal clear and the fish are abundant.



We had been invited to play tennis at the Monte Carlo Country club by fan and tennis man, Patrick. It was another opportunity not to be missed and Dan, Pete and myself made the most of the invite, AND the location...800 yards from the hotel...in France of course. The only problem was the heat so we had to take great care.

A 356 and a Maybach. Not something you see every day. What you DO see here every day are Ferrari's, Porsche's, Bugatti Veyrons, Maserati's, Audi R8's etc. etc. oh... so boring.



some buildings



some bikes



The famous Casino Square



Our resort hotel was actually adjoining the venue for the two Monaco shows so travel to and from the gig wasn't difficult. The gig could not have been more different to the rest of the tour, with ticket prices including a dinner and cabaret support act, it was more like a casino crowd...or dare I say it, a wedding. Nevertheless, there were a lot of fans in the audience and although we had a lot of trouble hearing any of the feedback from the small, wined and dined crowd, we learned later that the atmosphere was electric. The after show runner was possibly the shortest runner in history as Bernie and the team drove is the 50 yards or so to the hotel lobby.

Pete serves us drinks for the encores..



A great stay in the sun and I think everyone benefitted from the amount of relaxation time. Nothing heals quite like the sea and sun.