Living it up after dark in .NET

Generating UCC - 12 in .NET Living it up after dark

Nice offers some of the best nightlife on the Riviera You can go to the opera, hang out in an Irish pub, party at a disco, or wander along the Promenade des Anglais, where itinerant musicians jam til the wee hours For happenings about town, check out the free guides Le Mois Nice and L Ex s and also La Semaine des Spectacles and L Officiel des Loisirs C te d Azur (all are available at newsstands) For highbrow entertainment, attend the Op ra de Nice (4 rue St-Fran oisde-Paule; % 04-92-17-40-00), an early-1900s palace designed by Charles Garner, architect of Paris s Op ra Garnier Op ra de Nice presents a full repertoire of opera and concerts, with tickets ranging from 7 to 85 ($910 $111) On the other end of the scale are the 10 pm Vegas-style shows on Fridays and Saturdays at the Casino Ruhl (1 Promenade des Anglais; % 04-97-03-12-22) The casino is open for slot-machine gambling 10 am to 4 am; the more formal gaming rooms are open Monday to Thursday 8 pm to 4 am, Friday and Saturday 5 pm to 5 am, and Sunday 5 pm to 4 am Entrance to the formal rooms is free If you play the slot machines, you don t need a passport, but for the formal gaming rooms, you do Men are not required to wear a jacket and tie, but sneakers are frowned upon Nice has many bars in the Old Town where Americans will feel right at home, including the Scarlett O Hara Irish Pub, located on the corner of rue Rosetti and rue Droite % 04-93-80-43-22; Wayne s (15 rue de la Pr fecture; % 04-93-13-46-99); and William s Pub (4 rue Centrale; % 04-93-62-99-63), which has live music If you d rather hang out with French people, try La Civette, a popular spot for ap ritifs (29 rue de la Pr fecture; % 04-93-62-35-51) Nice also has a big gay scene the most popular club is Blue Boy (9 rue Spinetta; % 04-93-44-68-24) One of Nice s most in-vogue nightspots is Le Klub (6 rue Hal vy; % 04-93-16-27-56), where gays, straights, and hipsters of indeterminate gender and sexual preferences congregate, dish, dance, flirt, and create a brouhaha

Visitors flock to the principality of Monaco to ogle the ultrarich gamblers, watch the changing of the guard at the Grimaldi Palace, and stroll through the exotic gardens Looking for a quaint little place on a sliver of coast near the border of Italy, most people are struck by the overdevelopment particularly the densely packed skyscrapers This tiny country, with 40,000 residents and 150 hectares (371 acres the size of a small town), is built into the side of a steep ridge The roads and streets are in vertical layers that are difficult to navigate, so elevators take people from one level to the next But most people don t bother to use them they drive Monaco and its Mon gasques absolutely adore the automobile (the famous Grand Prix in late May or early June is the year s biggest event) The town is crisscrossed by fast roads with no sidewalks or very narrow ones If you don t have a car, the best way to get around is by bus Besides cars, the other thing worshiped in Monaco is money The Mon gasques don t pay income tax, and the whole principality, with its wall-to-wall condominium towers and casino culture, seems obsessed with lucre filthy or otherwise Two-thirds of its hotel rooms are contained within government-rated four-star deluxe hotels, so Monaco has always been a destination for the rich and famous You can find pockets of beauty here and a number of interesting sights Orange trees line rue Grimaldi, the main road through the region s center, and you can catch a glimpse of the yacht-filled harbor from almost anywhere in Monaco The Old Town surrounding the palace has narrow cobblestone streets and charming restaurants and shops The parks and gardens of the principality, especially the Jardin St-Martin with views out to sea, are spectacular And if you re willing to scrub up and plop down a 10 ($13) cover charge, you can wander around the famed Monte Carlo Casino, with its gilded columns and frescoed ceilings, or have a drink at the terrace bar in the H tel Hermitage with breathtaking views The Grimaldi family, originally from Genoa, acquired the lordship of Monaco in 1308, and since then, the title Prince de Monaco has been bestowed on the heirs Prince Albert II is the current head of the family His father married American actress Grace Kelly in 1956 She died in a car crash here in 1982 The European tabloid press follows closely the exploits of Albert and Grace s other two children: Caroline and Stephanie Many visitors go to Monaco s cathedral (4 rue Colonel Bellando de Castro; % 93-30-87-70) to pay homage at Princess Grace s burial site Monaco has a heavy police presence, and rowdiness isn t tolerated in the principality You can assume that most men you see riding scooters in Monaco are police The benefit of that, of course, is that Monaco is the safest place in Europe Lots of security forces are around to protect everyone s money, and the streets are safe at all hours