natjtan There’s nothing like starting the week with cold rainy day! That pesky gulf stream ain’t shifting from it’s new path. While the UK is getting the brunt of the rain, Europe is getting wet too with flood alerts in place.
Saturday started with an amazing sunrise followed by an hour of warm sunshine, only for it to chuck it down the rest of the day! That didn’t put a damper on our plans. We finally made it to Monaco Aquarium!
I rocked out a strength circuit with 3 rounds of 30 seconds mountain climbers and plank to sumo squats thrown in. Ankle and knee fine. I’m still not after last weeks drama back to 100% normal intensity. More like 85% but it’s enough to take the edge off going crazy!
The car sat nav took us on the scenic route off the A8 into Monaco. Ok, back route in with a lot of hair pin bends coming down from Le Turbie! When we finally entered Monaco we abandoned the sat nav and took the route we knew. I think we’ll stick to TOM TOM from now on. We get more lost ‘are you sure this is the right way?’ with the cars own sat nav. TOM TOM has never let us down!
Monaco is a maze of hills, with lifts and stairs to virtually every level. We took the stairs up to the Aquarium and left the umbrella in the car…bad move!
The aquarium it’s self is smaller than I thought it would be. The building though is amazing and it’s built right on the cliff. Despite the rain it was busy.
The fish looked happy enough, but I did feel sorry for them, especially the turtle and sharks. I now have mixed feelings about aquariums. I’m sure fish have feelings and I wouldn’t want to be coped up in tank when I know there’s the sea. Aquariums may soon be the only place we find certain fish. Living museums. I was surprised how small it was compared to the ones in London and Barcelona. Some fish were acting like bears in a zoo swimming the same route over and over again.
First tank up is the shark aquarium with a freaky ray. The aquarium houses Mediterranean sea life, growing it’s own coral with the stars being the cast of Finding Nemo.
Please excuse the quality of the photos. An iPhone wasn’t made for snapping fish!
My favourite shot. Nemo in the Clownfish nursery. The coral above is actually florescent pink.
The museum upstairs had an impressive cabinet of curiosities (pickled fish, crabs, a stuffed polar bear and a Dr Who baddie) with two rooms leading off. One focused on the science of studying the sea, fish and mammals (including whale hunting) and the other featured a Shark Exhibtion and suspended from the ceiling, whale skeletons looking like like the machines in the Matrix.
For a treat afterwards, we went to the recently opened Starbucks for coffee. Even though it was still tipping it down, it was busy. Starbucks in the South of France is a still a novelty with only 3 opened in the last 6 months! The best bit was parking afterwards…10 cents!!! We swapped carparks for coffee (lazy, but Paul knew the way from the port. It’s easy to get lost which hill level you’re on) and weren’t expecting to pay 10 cents for an hour parking! It hasn’t been the first time either there!
Sunday we woke to sunny skies that stayed! For a change we decided to run from the house and bike in the park later. Less temptation for me to run hills! I ran 7km and Paul powered against the wind to do 10Km in under 49 mins…Go Paul! My 7km, my body wasn’t cooperating! It was one of those so so ones, that you have to take every now and then.
We made it to the park late afternoon, with just enough light left for one round. I had fun even though the gears along with a pedal jammed. Covered in mud we washed the bikes off at the car wash, to see if anything was stuck. It still played up but was ridable! So much for my first time trailing biking in 6 months!
Not my usual attire trail biking. It was cold and I didn’t want to get cold. Cycling with frozen feet isn’t nice. Plus it was dark so no one saw me! Who else takes their bike to the car wash?!
Do you think aquariums are good or bad? Do you think fish have feelings?