On the last night of the cruise I met a very sympathetic young American. When I went to Antibes he had gone to Monte Carlo and he said he noticed that most of the most expensive cars seemed to have Ukrainian number plates.
This is what Donald Trump Jnr said recently but my interlocutor had not heard that.
So it is true.
Rather than spend money on a cruise I feel I should have given the money to the poor but I suddenly remember an upper class English girl saying she gave all her money to the poor because she spent it on clothes.
She said that the rag trade employed the poorest of the poor.
My cruise employed hard working people from all around the world, but most from Indonesia and the Philippines, so there is that.
I think the story about the luxury cars in Monaco is not true. I go to Monaco four-five times per year (I live 50km away -- in Antibes by the way) to attend some concerts. I traverse the city and park at the Grimaldi Forum. It is an underground public parking that also rents out many places to residents. I pass the rented out places on my way out of the parking. I do see a lot of luxury cars there and almost all of them have Monegasque number plates. I see fewer luxury cars on the streets but they too have Monegasque number plates. Actually I do not remember seeing one single McLaren/Ferrari/Aston Martin/etc with Ukrainian number plates and I looked for them on purpose. There was/is a light blue Rolls Royce with Ukrainian number plates in Antibes, but that is the only case I know. Sure, there are plenty of expensive cars with Ukrainian number plates (big German SUVs, Mercedes, Audi, etc) but no real supercars of the type that make heads turn.
ReplyDeleteAnd let me tell you a "secret" that everybody on the French Riviera seems to know: It seems to me that all expensive villas on the Cap d'Antibes in front of which are parked reasonably expensive cars (Mercedes, Range Rovers) with Ukrainian number plates are owned by Russians. They've just changed their number plates. I've been biking there three times per week for years because it is quiet and there's not much traffic. Before the war I used to see cars with Russian number plates, hear Russian, see minivans (with Baltic states number plates) bringing and fetching Russian-speaking construction workers to the villas (for renovation, extensions, garages, etc). After the start of the war only the number plates have changed. Same owners, same Baltic states minivans, same workers coming and going. I met a man working as tax inspector at the Nice tax office at a social event. He confirmed my hypothesis that the owners are the same as before the war.
My feeling is that the Russians keep a low profile on the French Riviera. But there is a sizable expats community in Monaco and they are quite at ease, self-confident, I notice them at the Philarmonics.