Maice was up first and in the shower by 4.05am. I thought I’d have an extra five minutes in bed but the urge to use the facilities took me to the downstairs closet, using my mobile phone light as a guide. Of course, light switches are available but not wanting to wake everyone up I resorted to my trusted phone to light the way down the stairs. Locking the door behind me, I did what I had to do and as I went to vacate said closet, found that the lock was stuck and the door wouldn’t open. After numerous attempts to break out of said closet it was apparent there was no easy means of escape. There was no way this lock was going to unlock......so, what to do? A regroup for one was necessary, so I had a discussion with myself and decided that as I had my mobile phone with me I would ring Maice.....surely she’d be out of the shower by now. ‘It’s Angela here’ I whispered when she answered the phone...’I’m stuck in the downstairs loo and need help to get out’. After giving her directions on how to find the downstairs closet, which for some reason she couldn’t quite compute in her brain; a simple walk down the stairs and it’s the door on the left, she managed to find it, had a quick fiddle with the door handle and voila, the door opened and out I came. It was as simple as that!
Slowly but surely the rest of the group started to emerge from their all too brief slumbers, did what they had to do and made it out to the waiting taxi at 5.15am all that is except for Shirl, who seemed oblivious to the fact the taxi had arrived.......must have been the noise from the hairdryer! With damp hair and lack of make-up she finally made it to the waiting taxi and off we went on our journey to the airport. How exciting, we were finally on our way to Monte Carlo.
Whether it was because it was too early in the morning we all seemed rather indecisive, not quite knowing where to go or what to do next. A regroup pointed us in the direction of Pret-a-Manger although we eventually ended up in Wagamuffins for breakfast. We thought something was up when we spotted a fire engine approaching the terminal building with its lights-a-flashing. Next thing we know a group of burly firefighters were outside the restaurant rescuing some people stuck in the lift. Don’t you just love a good drama!
The queue at departure gate 564 was long, and we were stuck at the back of it, this being due to some ‘shades’ suddenly in desperate need of purchasing some last minute provisions!! Fortunately for us EasyJet were still trying to locate a crew for the flight so we still arrived at the gate with time to spare. It being a full flight and us ‘shades’ being at the back of the queue meant our hand luggage had to be stowed in the hold of the plane, never mind, hopefully it would be first onto the carousel at the other end.
I must say, it was rather a bumpy take-off but once in the air and with a few bottles of wine to consume (that was Anne, Maice and I on the back row) it was an uneventful flight. In fact it was plain sailing all the way to the hotel. We took the local bus, and whilst Abi was engaging in dialogue with the ticket office clerk, using her best schoolgirl French, Shirl was applying full make-up. How remarkable, she looked like a new woman!
We arrived at our hotel, The Columbus Monte Carlo, currently in the process of being refurbished and checked into our, wait for it, top floor Junior Suites. Amazing. For some reason we’ve all been upgraded from the deluxe rooms that we’d booked. Of course some of us fared much better than others........Abi and Tan had two balconies, Anne and Shirl had one balcony and Maice and I had two windows to look out of!!! It was a no brainer really, Abi and Tan would be the ‘go to’ host room. I must say, we were all very taken with our suites which were all brand new, with walk in wardrobes, a lounge, a bedroom, and a bathroom with a door into the loo, another door into the shower, double sink unit and a huge bath and large sumptuous bathrobes. It was lovely to look through our two windows out to sea, whilst the others had the luxury of standing out on their balconies looking out to sea, but not to worry, we’re not really envious, I mean, it’s far too cold to sit outside on the balcony. We popped round to Abi and Tans (A&T) room only to find them lounging outside on their balcony, it was that warm!
After unpacking and spending at least thirty minutes walking round our suite, amazed at the enormous amount of space we had, we regrouped at A&T’s to deliberate our next move. We decided to have a wander to get our bearings and ended up round the corner in a very nice bar-restaurant where we consumed two bottles of wine, beer and three pizzas. It was just what we needed!
We found the local ‘Carrefor’ supermarket and purchased some provisions for our groupings, tonics for the Gin, coke-cola for the Bacardi, wine plus some nibbles and ended up back in Suite 901 where we continued with our drink fest. Before we knew it, it was time for supper. We only wanted something light and not wanting to venture far, we managed the 100 steps to the hotel restaurant and ordered from the very limited menu. What arrived however was not what you’d call a ‘light supper’, but we managed to consume it all .........well we had walked some 13,846 steps! By ten o’clock we were all tucked up in our beds, totally exhausted from our travels and looking forward to a decent nights sleep.
Tomorrow, Friday, we’re going to explore Monte Carlo/Monaco. We think we’ve got a plan of sorts, whether or not we stick to it, only time will tell!
Night all........AAMAST xxxxxxx
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