b'AROUND THE WORLD | THE IRELAND FUND OF MONACOTurtle BunburyEvery time I walked back to the apartment, I wenta different way. Id learnt that it doesnt matterwhich way you go in Monte Carlo. Youll still getthere.Solongasyouknowtheapproximate location of the place you are heading to, all youneed to do is fasten onto an angle and walk withdogged persistence in that direction. You mayhave to walk through a tunnel or a shopping mall,or whoosh up a cliff encased in a metal box, orclamber up a thousand steps. But you will getthere. Apart from once when I found myself face toface with an elderly lady in a pinstriped suit whowas filling a bright red kettle. She smiled, even asher eyelashes fluttered wearily. I was evidently notthe first to spin off piste and wander into herkitchen. ThereisaprofoundjoytowalkinginMonaco. My preferred commute from my quartersin Beausoleil to the Princess Grace Irish Librarytook me past the Casino de Monte Carlo, downthe hill towards Eglise St. Devote, then westwards around the bay to the ancient steps running up from FortAntoine. And then, ruddy-cheeked and wet-kneed, I would pile into the Princess Grace Irish Library anddo my best to distract fair Judith, gentle Geraldine, kindly Sle and courtly Claudine from whatever tasksthey were otherwise engaged in. I am presently writing a history of the world as it was back in the year 1847. I actually addressed thefriends of the PGIL on this peculiar subject in 2010. And that was the crux of what I was writing during myfour wonderful weeks in Monaco in the sun-drenched autumn of 2011. I think it important that my kind patrons at The Ireland Fund of Monaco understand just how far theirgenerous bursaries can sometimes go. In one particularly eventful stretch, I managed to elope with a Jesuit priest across Argentina, climbed the Great Pyramid of Giza with Werner Siemens, started and finished the Swiss Civil War, killed Mendessohn, slept with a Swedish soprano, enjoyed a circus for the Benefit of Mr. Kite, beheaded a Kazaki Sultan, and established a jewellery shop in Paris in the name ofLouis-Francois Cartier. connect 2012 | 98'