Monaco

In 1980 we drove to Monaco to find a hotel room for our 29th anniversary. Tried the Hotel de Paris, but they have no rooms—would have been frightfully expensive if they had any (the building almost right in the exact center of the photo). Hotel Mirabeau did have a room with a king size bed, and on a Monaco TV station, we watched the televised version of the Pope’s visit to Paris.

We went out to dinner to celebrate our 29th anniversary. We had looked around and tried to select a good restaurant, and decided on the Loews Hotel (this hotel now has a different name). This hotel, on the left of the photo, is built on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. There’s an expressway tunnel going through the Loews Hotel at what would be the top of the cliff, so traffic can get from here to there.

The Monaco Casino is the building with a small tower on each side of the dome. It was designed by Charles Garnier, the legendary architect who also built the majestic Paris Opera, and was built in 1863. With its frescoes, bas-reliefs, sculptures, caryatids, and an astonishing gold and marble atrium, the architecture exerts an unforgettable emotional impact.

The Monaco Palace is to the right, almost hidden behind the tall building.