Musée Océanographique de Monaco | Monaco

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Musée Océanographique de Monaco is one of the most visited marine science museums in Europe as well as one of the oldest. It was founded by Prince Albert I in 1910, who wanted to have a palace dedicated exclusively to art and science. Markus found out that Jacques Cousteau was the director at the museum for 31 years. Markus has loved and admired Cousteau since he was a kid and watched his program on PBS.  So it was a given that we would visit. The actual building itself is quite stunning and picturesque and is situated high on a cliff that overlooks the Mediterranean.

Our favorite part of the museum was Oceanomania, "the biggest collection of marine world curiosities." The beautiful "Cabinet of Curiosities" is straight out of a Wes Anderson movie and unlike anything I've seen in real life. It's the sort of thing Markus and I thrive on. We love the old, weird and interesting. We spent a majority of our time at the museum scouring through the collection of skeletons and fossils, models, diving equipment and antique books.  After we finished exploring the museum, we headed up to the roof.  There we found breathtaking views of Monaco as well as the Mediterranean. There was also a surprisingly good restaurant on the roof where we ate appropriately ate a delicious seafood lunch of moules et frites and a seafood pasta. I'm so glad that Markus insisted that we visit Monaco and Musée Océanographique, because it ended up being one of the best memories from our trip!

Monaco City, Monaco

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Stopping in Monaco was a last minute decision when we were in Nice. Markus wanted to visit the Musée Océanographique. So I obviously agreed to a day trip to Monaco, which is only a 32 minute train ride away. The ease of travel makes it the perfect day trip and almost criminal if you spend more than four days in Nice. Many people don't know that Monaco is actually a separate country and only slightly bigger than Vatican City. 

Unfortunately or rather fortunately, it was an overcast and rainy day when we visited. So I didn't feel too bad missing out on a beach day. Since I grew up in Florida, I'm not easily impressed by coastal or beach cities, but let's be real, Monaco is not Florida. Obviously the country is a stunner. I loved the pink and coral hues of the buildings as well the beautiful architecture. We only had enough time to hike up to Monaco City before we headed to the museum. The trek from the train station was a bit arduous in sandals, but it was worth it for the views of the city and the water! I wish that we had just a tad bit more time in Monaco, but I'm grateful we still made the trip.