Monaco: Midget Haven

Monaco is smaller than Central Park.

"The City" portion of London--the area inside where the town walls used to be--is only 1.12 square miles.

[quote] I cannot even picture it!

I know. It drives me crazy!

Monaco seems like a big estate, like Manderlay.

ley

[quote]do they even have a post office??

La Poste Monaco is operated by French company Groupe La Poste. There are seven post offices in Monaco.

I used to hang there with my Middle Eastern friends. Sometimes anchor offshore on a magayacht too big for the dinky marina. I enjoyed the sunny lux, crass boring shady vibe. We would go to Jimmy'z to gawk at the whores, genuinely gorgeous, yet quite whorey. The Grand Prix is a total rat fuck, yet no drama on the stupid course. The Red Cross gala where 60 year olds are "young" walkers. Everything and everyone is second best.

[quote] What are other towns of midget proportions?

Monaco is a country, as well as a city.

Does it have a large gay community? A tacky gay ghetto with filthy old pride flags everywhere? Reassuring pride stickers in shop windows so the gays know the business is an all-inclusive safe-space? And what about their pride parade?

Monaco doesn't even have middle-class housing. If you go up the coline half a dozen avenues you enter France, Beausoleil, and there are service neighborhoods to be found.

The median age is 54.

OP, I had a similar reaction about Europe, when I learned that it's about the same size as the US.

Many of the US states are equivalent to the Euro countries.

Like France and Germany are the size of Texas.

The UK could fit inside California.

The distance between Los Angeles and New York City (2,790 miles or 4,490 km) is slightly longer than from Madrid, Spain, to Moscow, Russia (2,559 miles or 4,118 km).

Like, you could seriously see all of Europe in one summer.

Let's try this link instead.

Wow R12, Wtg. You seem like that one special child at the science fair, excellent presentation.

Next year, perhaps go back to the baking soda volcano.

[quote]Like, you could seriously see all of Europe in one summer.

And most Americans try to do it in a week.

Yes Europe is technically small compared to US but it is so varied—terrain, architecture, culture, language—that it seems huge.

[quote] And most Americans try to do it in a week.

And succeed

Monaco may be small in terms of land mass, but it is HUGE in terms of money laundering, tax evasion and gambling. In fact, there is probably more hidden wealth in Monaco than there is legitimate wealth in many countries, which is why it is such a popular hotspot with the millionaire class, even though it is a joke of a principality.

Read the history of the Grimaldi family and you will see that they are crooks through and through. Thus, I guess that Rainier's merit is that he rescued the principality from bankruptcy by establishing links with shady "businessmen" that have allowed him to turn the city into a financial hub, as opposed to resorting to open piracy, as his ancestors often did.

[quote]Monaco is a country, as well as a city.

Monaco (country) and Monaco City (Monaco-Ville) are not coterminous. Monaco City is one of four traditional [italic]quartiers[/italic]. The others are La Condamine, Monte Carlo, and Fontvieille.

Monaco...A sunny place for shady people!!

Always was...always will be!1

Not much too it other than the palace and casino and hotels.

I think it would be a nice place to visit but not live full-time.

I wonder if Grace Kelly was bored crazy there?

^^ reportedly she was. She never learned to speak French, for one thing (her fault.) But her husband was also a philanderer and the chilly palace staff resented her as an outsider. So, she really only had a good time when friends and family visited from America.

One of Kelly’s friends wrote that she turned into kind of a conservative crab as she aged in isolation.

[quote]I wonder if Grace Kelly was bored crazy there?

Yes she was. That's why she lived in Paris for the last decade of her life.

Caroline's second husband, Stefano Casiraghi, was reportedly involved in shady business dealings with the mob. After his death, his crypt was broken into and his coffin was stood up, a sign of disrespect among the mafiosi. He was killed in a speedboat race when he lost control of his boat.

Those daughters were a disgrace. You didn’t have to be an isolated, conservative crab to see that.

[quote]After his death, his crypt was broken into and his coffin was stood up, a sign of disrespect among the mafiosi.

That's really creepy!

I felt so sorry for Caroline when he died. At least he left her good-looking kids.

Well, R9, there is Dafydd.

The daughters had the absolute *worst* taste in men. The only difference between them, really, is that Stephanie consorted with a lower class of men, though I don't think any of them hit her. Wasn't Ernst rumored to have become violent with Caroline at least once while drunk? Stephanie's rough life shows on her face. Caroline looks reasonably well preserved for her age.

When all the capes in the world can’t hide your ennui

[quote]How do they have room for a palace, a casino, residences, a market… do they even have a post office??

Also, enough room for F1 races?

Or cemeteries. The old guard have family crypts that have been there for generations. I wonder what percentage of residents are dual passport holders and remains get sent back to country of origin.

Small and densely populated.

If the Upper West Side is about 2 square miles, then Monaco would be the equivalent of W. 59th Street to W. 84th Street (?)

The architecture is quite awful. Are supermarkets, banks, etc or other public spaces packed? Is the area geologically active? An earthquake there? Yikes.

Princess Caroline married up; Prince Ernst of Hanover is an HRH-300th in line to the British Throne. he's a drunken douchebag, but he's gonna Die soon, str8 up German alkie, liver is shot. Massive health issues.

Granted, all that Grimaldi $$$ puts those crazy Grimaldi royals in a different category.

R8

Monte Carlo is the city, Monaco the country.

I guess the architecture is a mish mash, but the setting is beautiful, as are the views if you're up high.

Someone upthread said there's also a district called "Monaco City."

[quote] The entire country is one big city.

R30: "When all the capes in the world can’t hide your ennui"

MARIE!

The Principality of Monaco used to be bigger until the rebellious towns of Roccabruna and Mentone seceded in 1848, and hoped to join the Kingdom of Sardinia. Instead they remained free cities for the next ten years, administered by the House of Savoy, until Victor Emmanuel ceded the entire County of Nice, along with Roquebrune and Menton, to France, in exchange for France's help in unifying Italy.

r16 Exactly. It doesn't really matter that the US is so much bigger geographically because so much of it is empty, and what's not empty outside of large cities is mostly populated by hicks. So, the tourist attraction is pretty much just the natural beauty. Also, you've seen a handful of US cities and you've seen them all. Meanwhile, cities in Europe inside any one country are like small countries unto themselves, heritage- and character-wise.

Honestly, this whole size of the country thing is what has over the centuries driven the Russians as mad as they are today, it's not anything to be proud of. Just look at the size as a quirk of history instead, much like your own height is the accident of your birth. And it's not like it's gonna last forever either.

[quote] until Victor Emmanuel ceded the entire County of Nice, along with Roquebrune and Menton, to France,

That wasn’t very Nice of him!

I think Americans have always had a distorted view of what Monaco is. For us it was Grace Kelly marrying a prince! Glamour, the casino, the Grand Prix, the Mediterranean!! European sophistication in one neat package. It wasn’t until that awful wedding with fat Albert in his ice cream suit and girlfriend crying into her wedding bouquet that I realized it’s just a tacky little principality full of Eurotrash.

The Princely Family recently celebrated Monaco National Day. So much to be proud of Monaco! A great nation rich in history and cultural heritage

Monaco’s Long History Of Land Reclamation.

It even has its own teensy-weensy language!

My uncle's Missouri farm is larger than that, and most of the ranches I know out west took 4-10 square miles.

Of course none of them had a cathedral, as Monaco has.

R47 sea level rise will take care of that.

Would those children have turned out differently if Grace were alive? I doubt it.