Nostalgia of Merci Beaucoup Trip

Our trip to France and Monaco brought back fond memories of a trip I (Joy) took a few years ago with 19 'close' church friends.  So, I thought I'd post some old pictures to reminisce the fun trip.  We decided to take a day trip to Monaco from Nice on Thanksgiving Day (2006) and had a memorable day.  We started the day sightseeing the city and ended the day running for our lives to catch a train back to Nice because our bus never showed up!  What made that night even more exciting was the fact that the James Bond movie (Casino Royale) just opened in Monaco.  We just HAD to watch the movie (when else would we have the opportunity to watch the movie from the place it was inspired?)!  The movie ended a little later than we expected, so all 15 of us (crazy Americans) stood up to run out of the movie theater as soon as the credits started rolling.  As if 15 Americans running through the movie theater in Monaco wasn't ridiculous enough, we then quickly realized that we don't have a last bus back to Nice.  That's when we had to run again... this time through the streets of Monaco, uphill, to the Monaco train station.  As we were approaching the train station, we heard the screeching stop of a train.  Not knowing if that was our last hope to make it back to Nice, we all ran as fast as we could, in hopes of catching the train.  We saw a few locals cheering us on too!  Being the 'good' citizens we were, we stopped to buy 15 train tickets before boarding the train.  Unfortunately, the kiosks didn't take our credit card and the ticket counter was closed, so all 15 of us had no choice by to sneak onto the train without paying for a ticket.  We fully intended to pay the train conductor for our unpaid tickets, but he never showed up.  It may have been our 'miracle' that evening.  Regardless, we definitely had the most unforgettable Thanksgiving day and still live to talk about it!

A few of the group pictures in Monaco with the gang.

I found the infamous cinema and bus stop when I went back to Monaco.  Ah, the memories!

Also, since we had our own chaotic train situation - I had to push through closing train doors to get Dan onto the train; I thought I'd re-enact catching the bus that infamous Thanksgiving evening of 2006!  :)