Up at 6 with the sun. I went for a jog around the Principality and was amazed at the number of people doing just that. I was overtaken by many a person twice (and I am sure in one case thrice) my age.
Breakfast in Le Cote Jardin on the terrace. From between the trees you can just see La Condamine (the harbour) complete with the odd super-yacht.
0830: Time for a meeting with all the good and the great PRs of Monaco. Present are the lovely Maxime, who has for the past few weeks been putting everything together from the tourist board side and the equally lovely Celine from Societe des Bains de Mer. Together we beef up the show with yet more wonderful features. It's also my first meeting with Hotel de Paris General Manager, Dominic Bachofen. I leave the meeting feeling very good!
1030: First piece to camera of the shoot. The hotel has 187 rooms; 75 suites and 1 Presidential Suite named after Sir Winston Churchill.
Varun getting ready for his close up
I am now moved to a HUGE suite -number 613 and 614- a one bedroom suite. The suite is massive with mahogany wood and Hungarian oak flooring! The bedroom is stunning but the view is AWESOME! In the distance I can see the Delphin, the ship on which Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt signed the Treaty of Versailles.
1200: Boys are filming around the hotel.
Lunch again at Le Cote. DELICIOUS!
1400: another piece to camera. The hotel was built in 1864, 3 years after the Casino. There's a hotel in Paris called The Grand, HP was meant to be "better than the Grand"; it certainly met that and exceeded it. There a statue of King Louis X1V in the hotel foyer, its tradition that if you touch it you will be lucky in the Casino; yeah right!
1500: off to the Cave, the home of wine. It boasts 1.5 kms of wine (600,000 bottles) from a few Euros to priceless bottles. Old friend, head sommelier Patrick Frank, helped me taste through a bottle of 1993 Chateau Margaux; it was heaven! That touch on the statue must have worked!
Varun in heaven
The hotel has a wine dating back to 1835 and a cognac to 1800. I was allowed to get up close to these bottles, but nothing more than a touch.
1600: Edouard Grosmangin, F&B Manager of HP talked me though a bottle of local wine from Nice! Not a Margaux but still lovely!
1830: Interview with Dominic in the Grille. The Grille has "only" one Michelin Star! Its sister downstairs, Alain Ducasse's Louis XV, has a whopping three stars.
Anyway, Monsieur Bachofen, Swiss by birth, has been here for three years and is obviously proud and happy with his job! His insight into the history was very interesting and will make a good piece of television.
1900: The Bar Americain, Monaco's Front Lounge, a place to chill, have a cigar and a nice champagne mohito. We are all so tired that we don't stop for a drink; just film and run.
Exhaustion is setting in so time for sleep. Have just eaten a superb Club Sandwich -with a bottle of water- it cost around thirty pounds, but hey, I AM in Monaco!!
Weather: Hot!Hot!Hot!
Song of The Day: Hot!Hot!Hot! - The Cure
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