Occasionally in our travels and out of sheer exhaustion, we've pulled off some seriously questionable moves. One of these occurred on a New Year's Eve, when we'd been driving all day from Tuscany and landed around 4:30 PM in la Place du Casino, the main square of Monte Carlo.
We plowed all the way into the crowds gathering for the festivities before we realized that it would take us hours just to get out of the square. But there, in front of us, next to the most famous gambling palace in the world, sat the Monte Carlo Casino's beautiful Hôtel de Paris.
Before going in, Glinda asked what our budget was, but we were beyond that. When she reappeared 20 minutes later, we had the last room available (we get a lot of that), one floor down from the Royal Penthouse, with a breathtaking view of the Royal Palace, the Royal Yacht Basin, and the Mediterranean. What's more, our specific room card gave us entrée to the Salles Privées of the Casino (as if we had any money left over for that—at one Baccarat table, the smallest chip we could see was 10,000 euros!), along with dinner and dancing at one of Prince Albert's three New Year's Eve parties.
Neither of us normally manages to stay awake on New Year's Eve (or any other Eve) past 9:00PM, but we sucked it up and celebrated the festivities of a lifetime. Having just spent six months in Swing and Salsa lessons, we owned the dance floor. Afterwards, we were hanging out on the steps of the hotel, watching the Prince leave through the police cordon around the us, when a horde of paparazzi rushed up and started snapping our picture—at least until we glanced behind us and found one of the top pop music stars of France laughing at the madness.
The next morning, we must have been the only sober guests at the hotel. When we walked through the tunnel to the spacious indoor saltwater Olympic pool overlooking the Mediterranean, we had the entire place to ourselves.
This is by no means a recommendation or an example of how we normally travel. But sometimes, you just have to let things happen. At least when it comes to travel, you never know when an impending screw-up might turn into the experience of a lifetime.
To reserve a room…
Find the official hotel website here.
Or call the hotel direct at: +37798063000
Ask for a harbor view, or stay on the city side and gaze out at the Grand Prix course.