As I woke up early, I had a peek through the curtains to see if I might catch any of the sunrise. Not quite facing the right direction here of course.

Later on in the morning, by which time it already felt hot!

Breakfast in our hotel.

My extremely French breakfast.

The view from our balcony again, after returning from our morning swim in the hotel pool.

En route through Monaco to Le Rocher where we would be having lunch. I liked the view of the mountains in the distance.

Walking up the path leading to the top of Le Rocher. This tall tree reminds me of a previous visit when it was very windy, and it was bending over sidewards.

Views of Monaco from the walk up to Le Rocher.

What a pleasant time any would be invaders would have had casually sauntering up these ramparts.

In front of the Prince's Palace now.

Erika and Chie in front of the Prince's Palace.

Our table for lunch at Castelroc. This was a lovely spot with nice sea views through the trees.

Erika said in this suit I "look like a Monaco person". Nobody else was wearing anything like it.

Possibly I enjoyed the Champagne aperitif more than the actual food, but still overall it was a very pleasant experience.

My starter, was hoping to have the traditional Monegasque Barbajuans, but here they apparently have meat in (that's not the traditional recipe I believe, which is just cheese and swiss chard). So more mozzarella (well technically burrata) and tomatoes instead. Didn't actually take a picture of my main course - a risotto - which was slightly underwhelming if I'm honest.

Close up on the view down to the sea.

On the way to the loo I leaned out of one of the windows to take this picture of the terrace.

A wasp was unfortunately determined to try and spoil our otherwise very pleasant and relaxed lunchtime. Chie eventually managed to trap it under a glass, but only after that did we discover the restaurant had this rather terrifying device for dealing with the problem.

After lunch, we went to look at the nearby canons.

Another picture of Chie and Erika and the Prince's palace.

Walking back down the path which had led us up to Le Rocher.

Me posing rather spivvishly at one of the gates.

More views of Monaco.

On the way to the Exotic Gardens. Lots of steps involved!

A helicopter, I took particular interest on this trip as we'd be getting in one for our return to Nice on Wednesday.

Almost at the Exotic Gardens now. Views down over Monaco and out to sea.

We were trying to figure out what this was down in the bay - perhaps something to do with the planned land reclamation?

In the Exotic Gardens now, lovely views down to Le Rocher.

Chie and Erika in the Exotic Gardens.

Le Rocher.

Le Rocher and Fontvielle.

Having recently got a new garden tap at home, the catalyst for much merriment, I've developed a bizarre fascination with these objects.

The entrance to the caves.

More views over Monaco while we were waiting for our tour of the caves to start.

Another garden tap.

The view from the entrance to the toilets. Not bad.

More helicopters.

Le Rocher and lots of sky.

Going into the caves now.

Slightly unnerving here.

Me and Erika in the caves. I look really sinister here.

So many stalacties and stalagmites.

Back in the fresh air now, and Erika is trying on my sunglasses.

More lovely views of Monaco combined with exotic fauna.

I loved the Exotic Gardens, "wild" spaces like this are obviously in short supply in tiny Monaco, and it was surprisingly large.

This picture (taking with my phone) and the next picture (taken with my camera) demonstrate why I could do with getting a new phone.

Much more like the real thing.

Nearing the end of our tour of the Exotic Gardens now.

We took a bus back to Le Rocher, and then from there walked back towards our hotel. The route took us through this shopping centre, where Erika tried out a helicopter.

Went by way of the restaurant the people in the hotel had recommended for dinner to check the menu.

After getting back to the hotel, while Chie and Erika were having a rest in our room, I headed out for a pre dinner stroll, in the hope I might find somewhere for an aperitivo perhaps. Alas there's not much in the little harbour in Cap d'Ail, especially on a Sunday. So I just wandered along the harbour wall and took in the views.

We were actually very close to the Heliport, so I watched some helicopters taking off and landing.

Some superyachts.

This one - Le Pharoan - was actually for sale - a mere 14 million Euros!

Me and Erika at Amici Miei where we had dinner.

In Fontvielle harbour.

...with views up to Le Rocher and the Prince's palace.

Chie and Erika with their spaghetti alle vongole, which they shared, despite the protestations of the owner.

Me and Erika with Le Rocher behind us.

Chie and I swapped places so I could see the view for a bit.

Back at our hotel, the moon seen over the harbour from our balcony.