Monte Carlo, April 18

We had a full day of tennis today and...were darned lucky in many respects.
  First of all, the train strike did not prevent our train from arriving. It was 25 minutes late, but we had plenty of wiggle room time. And, it is such a smooth ride.
   We arrived at the train station in Monaco and followed the crowds as they disembarked and...went up up up in elevators to the ground level. Monaco is so steep. From there, we followed people and met up with an English woman who had gone to the tennis matches the day before and she told us to follow her and get on the #4 bus. It was free if you showed your tennis tickets as a way to get around the strike. (When there is no train strike, the train goes right to the tennis venue.)

     So, we did just that. Then, we followed the crowds into the stadium and were there just minutes before the gates opened. Our English guide told us to be sure to retrace our steps afterwards, back to #4 bus. Getting there early was another stroke of luck. We went into a tourist shop selling t-shirts and we each bought one as the day was getting hot and we knew that we were overdressed. (We changed into them about 2 hours later after realizing that we were way overheated.)
     As the venue was still uncrowded, we easily bought sandwiches to eat. (Overpriced, as always at a venue - 8.50 Euros each)
     Our first match was Danlil Medvedev from Russia versus Kei Nishikori. Nishikori dispatched the younger man quite easily in 2 sets. By the end of the match, we were overheated and left to find toilettes and some shade, as well as to try our new shirts.

     The second match was between 9th seed Novak Djokovic who has fallen in ranking due to injuries. He took on Croatian Borna Coric who we saw a few years ago in Indian Wells. While Coric took Djokovic to quite a few deuces, eventually Djokovic prevailed in 2 sets, but it took him over 2 hours.
     The third match was between #1 seed Rafa Nadal and Slovenian Aljaz Bedene. Again, Bedene had a few moments and did break Rafa a few times, Nadal prevailed in just over 1 hour.

    By the time the final match of the day began it was past 5 o'clock and we knew that we would not stay for the finish and miss our train. So, we watched most of the first set of #2 seed, Marin Cilic, versus Fernando Verdasco and it was pretty clear that Cilic was going to win handily.
   The venue at Monte Carlo is stunning. Our seats were in the top row with the sea behind us. We could see the stunning cliffs behind the town and watch construction going on way up high.

    The bathroom facilities, however, are woefully inadequate with huge lines and narrow stairways that we jammed with 4 lines of people (men and women's lines going up and down) in a stairwell meant for 2 lines. And, the ability to buy food/drinks was also problematic. In order to simply get a bottle of water, you have to wait in a line with people ordering meals. We did buy a Coke and a water that way and then refilled the water bottles (we had taken one) in the bathrooms. The Coke, by the way, was 5.5 Euros. Typical of venues.

    Our luck continued on the way home. Most of the people filed out to busses taking them back to the center of town. The wait was very long as there were 100s of people. We followed our English woman's advice and retraced our steps and found, by luck, the right stop. We got on the first bus and then painstakingly worked our way back to the train station in gridlock traffic.

   No information on our train was apparent at the station and all the information booths were closed. But, we followed the crowds and figured out that we needed platform C. More luck. We got to the train with 4 minutes to spare. It came in on time AND were were able to get seats. More good luck

    By good fortune, we sat next to a lovely man, a native of Monaco, a Monagasque. We had never met a true Monagasque. He explained the Monaco is actually a nice small and not very busy community with 2 big yearly events that clog up the city - the tennis tournament and the Grand Prix. He said that usually the traffic is not so bad. Hmmm. He was en route to meet his wife at the airport in Nice. He was getting off in Nice and taking a bus as he said that the train to the "airport" is actually a 15 minute walk from the station. Another wealth of information and a real gentleman.

    So, we arrived home by 8, tired and hot, but feeling incredibly lucky for our ease of travel, our good seats and our adjustment to the heat. (It got to 76 degrees apparently.) The day ended with a chat back home to David and to Nick.
    Jane and Norman evidently had a nice day in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.