Episode 8 – Monte Carlo

It is a wonderful town. It is small and yet it smells money. You have to count your dollars when you do things here. The Hotel de Paris is off limits to tourists. Somehow we managed to sneak in. It was grand but it was old and traditional. I could not imagine people paying 6000 Euros and up for 1 night of service here.

The car racing was finished. We missed it. Not that we could afford to go and watch it. We stood by the dock and watched this yacht “Lady Moura”. It is ranked #7 in the world and owned by some Arabian Shih. It baffled my mind when money could be used in a more proper way.

We went onto the village of Eze which was in the French territory. It is a quaint little village and there are narrow paths and walkways. Everything had to be transported to the town by human labour. A plumber came by and he was grumbling about he had to work. It is a very strange place.

I had a discovery that the French people are imaginative with their avant garde thinking. During our Provence trip, the public toilet provided us with much excitement. This public toilet has an automatic operating device where you have to deposit the exact change before you can use it. It also gives change if you are lack of exact change, but coins only, no bills. The toilet works on a time limit. After you deposit the exact change, you open the door and you do your business. But if you stay over their time limit, the light will shut off. The genius designer, with his divine wisdom, demands the toilet to be cleaned for the next person. So, after the light shuts off, water would pour in to clean the floor. This was what happened the last time at the Provence AGV train station. The designer steps up with his creation and put in mobility to the toilet this time. The ones in Eze, after the light shuts off, the toilet boil would retract inside the wall and water would spray down to clean the whole device before it assumes its original position. Alor !! there you have it.

A few of our travelling companions decided it was wise and economical not to shut the door and let everybody benefit from it without depositing the 0.40 Euro. The last person who used the toilet had the thrill of her life. Just imagine a moving toilet. This is a scene for “back to the future”. I paid my 0.40 Euro. I heard the scream from the next cabin too. I sniggered but I did not laugh. Sometimes knowing nothing is better than explaining.