MONTE CARLO
Our first day in Antibes, Jean-Claude asked us very casually if we would like to see Monaco.  Sure.  “Great, my friend has a restaurant there.  I’ll set it up.”  A brief cell-phone conversation later and it was all arranged.  The twist?  Jean-Claude’s friend turned out to be Alain Ducasse, and the restaurant?  None other than world-renowned Louis XV Alain Ducasse at Hotel de Paris.  There’s only one word for Jean-Claude’s Monte Carlo:  Wow.  It was magical.  If the rest of our trip with the Novaros was a treat, here we were truly spoiled.  Jean-Claude drove us down the windy road into Monaco so we could see the spectacular view down the mountainside.  That’s Cap Ferrat in the distance.  The lobby of the Hotel de Paris is truly spectacular.  Equally impressive are the amazing kitchens.  Here are Barry and Jean-Claude with one of the many chefs we met, all of whom were excited to see Jean-Claude.  The battalion of waiters, however, belonged to Joseph.  You can see them behind the table in the group photo and also in the photo of Barry and Jean-Claude.  When they weren’t standing watch over the tables, it was obvious they have deep affection for Joseph.  He had free run of the restaurant, and they would play with him, show him things and lift him high up in the air.  The fresco of the heavens on the ceiling is extraordinary, and it is surrounded high up on the walls by portraits of “Louis XV’s women,” among them Marie Antoinette.  I couldn’t help but wonder if the portraits are so close to heaven because these women met the same fate as Marie.  Is it a rogue’s gallery?  Beautiful, nonetheless.