I visited Monaco on a daytrip from Nice in October 2004. I didn't know much about it, but discovered there is much more to Monaco than a casino and a race track :)

Our first stop was the Palais du Prince, it's funny to watch the guards walk up and down :) The statue is of Grimaldi (this is the name of the royal family of Monaco) disguised as a monk to take power of Monaco in 1297.

These are some views from the top of the hill (where the palace is). It's an incredible place and in a very beautiful location, but I wouldn't want to live there, so many high rise buildings! The views from them must be amazing though...

We also visited the Cathédrale de Monaco, which the Lonely Planet describes as unspectacular but interesting because it has the grave of Grace Kelly (she was a Hollywood filmstar who married Prince Rainier in 1956 but died in a car crash in 1982). I thought the church was quite pretty though!

We were on our way to the Musée Océanographique, which is really impressive! It's located in a beautiful old building on top of a hill (with very good views!) and apart from the museum about ocean exploration, there is a huge aquarium. Unfortunately we didn't manage to see everything before the museum closed, there was so much to see!

Of course we couldn't leave without seeing the circus at the casino... I have never seen so many rich cars together!! It certainly is worth watching. On the one hand there are the rich people going to the casino (and wanted to be seen), on the other hand there are the tourists drewling over the expensive cars and watching the rich people... one couldn't do without the other ;) Here are some photos of the casino and the cars:

After watching this, we had to leave cause we still had to get back to Nice. It's only 16 km from Nice though, it takes 20 minutes by train. I paid only 3 euros for the ticket... definately worth the day trip!