Casino Square, Monte-Carlo

What have you done ? The refurbishment has turned what was a incredible sophisticated area into something you would see in a Spanish town. I wanted to reserve judgment until I had seen it in the flesh which I did a few weeks ago. At least the sky mirror is still here.

While opulent and gorgeous, the casino was a real let down during my trip to Monaco. It didn’t feel fun, like a more modern casino, but rather boring and a waste of time. The craps table was sad, with no bonuses, and a grumpy pit boss. The roulette table is probably the best feature of the casino, since there’s only one zero on the wheel. Very hard to find something like that in Vegas. The casino charges admission, but if you’re staying at one of their properties as I was, they waive it. There is a dress code and they do enforce it! But I did see people walking around in shorts and short sleeves too, so I’m not exactly sure how consistent they are about it. Outside the casino, people slowly drive around in flashy cars while onlookers ooh and ahh. It seemed pretty pretentious and silly frankly, but maybe it’s a tradition…