Monaco GP Race Day

We've been a bit slow updating the blog... but when we got back we said we were going to finish it, so hopefully we'll be able to knock it out now that some of the craziness of the last 2 months is over.

On to Monaco...

We started the morning hunting for some French pastries to fuel up for a day at the track. Just a couple blocks up the street from the hotel we found a very authentic cafe. As we later discovered was the norm in France, breakfast was a Prix Fixe (fixed price) menu, where you get to choose one item from several categories. After sitting down, the proprietor brought our coffee (David and Jami) and hot chocolate (Amy and I), then told us it would be just a couple minutes for our croissants. We figured this meant he was waiting for a fresh batch to come out of the oven, but no, he left his shop unattended, jumped on his moped and took off down the road! We were pretty puzzled by this, but he came back a few minutes later with fresh croissants, which were pretty much the best any of us had ever had. We finished up breakfast and started the walk up the hill to the train station.

We thought we were pretty clever staying in Nice, with just a short train ride over to Monaco in the morning. However, if we're clever than so are thousands of other people from around the world. There was a huge line extending in both directions from the train station, and all of a sudden we weren't feeling so smart.  We did at least order our tickets ahead of time, and were allowed to go pick them up before taking our places in line.  Not long after I realized I left my passport back in the hotel, so I got to make a jog/walk to go get it. Fun.  When I got back the other Tripsters hadn't made it very far.  Jumping ahead, we made it through the line and onto a very crowded train, and emerged into the center of Monaco, playground of the rich.  We followed the signs to Secteur Rocher with all the other peasants, walked up past the final turn... and up... and up... before finding an open space on the road leading to the Prince's palace where we could see a piece of the track through the trees.

 

 

Our distant viewing spot

Well I'll admit I wasn't too happy about our seats, but at $100 apiece with grandstand seats starting at $400 apiece, I don't see how else we could have done it. We showed up about as early as reasonable, and it seems like you would have needed to camp out overnight to get really good seats.  We were far enough away we didn't even need earplugs. Amy and Jami did a great job holding our seats against the encroaching mob while David and I hunted for better seats and picked up lunch from a food stand.  Compared to many others we had good seats, we saw plenty of people sitting directly behind trees, and others so far up the hill that you'd need a telescope to see, so all in all we didn't do too badly.

After the race we hung out for a bit and let the crowd clear before the police started kicking everyone out. We set out in search of a restaurant to grab dinner, and asked a local volunteer where we could find one. He looked at us like we were crazy and said derisively "Everywhere...". Well we walked up hills and down hills and didn't find a damn thing until we headed back down towards the post race party near the track, where we stopped in a convenience store type place and had some pasta out of a cardboard box. 

The highlight of the day (for David and I at least), came after dinner, and made the decision to come to the race worth it.  We went down by the main straightaway and saw that it was open to the public, with people walking the track.  We weren't going to miss this opportunity so we took off towards Turn 1.  We ended up walking the full length of the track, including the makeshift bars and restaurants set up in the final section.  It was very interesting to see how narrow the track is, and see the bumps and camber changes the drivers deal with.  It is hard to imagine the speeds they're driving on a narrow two lane European road built decades ago, surrounded by walls. No margin for error at all, and makes you understand why the Monaco GP is one of the most prestigious events in all of sports.

Turn One at Monaco

After walking the track, we jumped on the train back to Nice, where the hotel clerk pointed us towards the ocean for a selection of restaurants.  It was all pretty pricey (it is the French Riviera after all), but we found a bar with reasonable food before turning in for the night.  We needed some rest before a very busy driving day that will take us all the way to Switzerland!