Day 6 - Would Sir Like Diamonds with those Chips?

I so am annoyed! Yesterday the great Food and Beverage Manager gave me a Partagas Series-D Number 4 to smoke and it gave me so much pleasure that I saved half of it to enjoy this evening BUT I have come back to find that the maid has chucked it out of my ash tray!

After a wee jog and some breakfast, our first port of call was the heliport for a piece to camera. Saturday morning is quite quiet in Monaco, so we managed to get everything done in just a few moments with the help of our hotel driver Jean. The heliport is next to the Columbus Hotel, owned by David Coulthard and Ken McCulloch of Malmaison Hotels fame, just on the border of Monaco and France. I have always flown by helicopter from Nice to Monaco because the journey is only 7 minutes and is the same price as a cab.

Our next stop was The Casino for one of the most surreal experiences of my life. We were there to meet and interview Bernard Lambert, CEO of SBM. We were shown into a private room, The English Room, where croupier Monsieur Leduc stood. They also had a full box of real chips that are used everyday in the Casino - these were being guarded by a couple of very heavy-set chaps. Anyway, the chips start at 5 Euros and go up to 200,000 Euros. I was given 300,000 Euros in chips and Bernard and I played roulette for 'real'. While he played the game for real, I played the 'red' or 'black' game i.e. if the ball lands on red and you have gambled on red, then you double your stake. I was up 1.3 million Euros when Tim told me to stop as he could see that I was about to have a quadruple bypass. I can see why gambling is so addictive; I am not going back into the Casino this evening! Del, if you are reading this, I was thinking of you all the time in the Casino!

SBM was set up in 1864 with Casino and Hotel de Paris, and now has the HP, the Hermitage, MC Bay, MV Beach Hotel, the Mirabeau, the Cafe de Paris, Jimmyz (nightclub), Les Thermes Marins (Spa), Sun Casino, Country Club, Opera - the list goes on! Also SBM is set to extend itself out of Monaco too! Phew!

After a quick lunch we ventured down to Fontvieille for a small feature that I did not expect to be up to much. As it turns out, it was excellent! 105 cars spread out over 4000 square metres of The Prince Rainier III's personal car collection. It's not a museum and the cars there were all selected by him because they are all classics. The cars dated back from early 1900's and finished with a 'modern' Lamborghini Countach. There was a Ford Model T, 1936 Jaguar, a Ferrari 250 GTO (The Ferris Bueller) but my favourite is the Fiat 600 from 1963 complete with a canvas roof, wicker chairs, 1 wing mirror and a rope barrier instead of a door! I am not a car-nut, but I loved it.

It's an early evening as we are out first thing tomorrow. Tonight I will dream of the roulette wheel and my babies!

Weather: Purrrfect!

Song of the Day: The Fool on the Hill (The Beatles)