Grand Prix de Monte Carlo!

Trip Start May 14, 2008
1
12
14
Trip End May 28, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of Monaco  ,
Sunday, May 25, 2008

Not having the "je ne se qua" to spend $1500 for tickets to the actual race, we decided to travel to Monte Carlo on race day anyway, and it turned out to be a great day.  We took the train and arrived about 1 o'clock--the race was scheduled to begin at 2.  We found a brasserie up the street from the harbor and the starting line and sat down to eat lunch.  All around us were booths selling hats and shirts and flags and drinking mugs for the various racing teams (mostly Ferrari, it seemed).  As race start time approached, people started running toward the stands scattered around the city.  We started to hear the distant whine of the engines as they drove to the starting line and it was the most eerie sound--kind of like the dinosaurs screeching in the distance in Jurassic Park.  At precicely 2 all the engines revved at once and we heard the sound bouncing off the stone building all around us.  For the next two hours the sound of the race cars (which was LOUD) was moving all around us as we walked around the streets "I think I see a car over there!"
"I think I see a car over there!"
 .  After  we ate, we walked down toward the main stands at the harbor and tried to sneak a peek, but no way.  As we were down there, though, we got a sense of how loud the race was and why they were selling ear protectors everywhere (with the Ferrari label, of course).  The sound was the most unbelievable high pitched scream we had ever heard (the engines rev as high as 19000 RPM) and we could only stand a few minutes that close (we were about 30 feet from the track).

We wandered around Monte Carlo and tried to find someplace where we could at least get a glimpse of the cars--the city is very good a putting up steel panels to block anyone who hasn't paid up to see anything.  We did find a place way up high on the hill where we saw the cars across the harbor on a small part of the track  We ended up walking all over the city trying to get to the casino, but it was across the race course and they hadn't opened it up yet.  But we did see more cool cars in one afternoon than ever before--Ferraris, Maseratis, Bentleys, Rolls Royces.  Mercedes are the taxis in Monte Carlo and everything else is used by peasants only.  This was definitely the land of the rich and famous.  Being below peasants ourselves, we finally trudged to the train station where we waited with about 10,000 people for the 1-hour-late train to Nice.  Somehow we all got on the train and made it home pretty tired, but we had a unique and unforgettable experience.
Slideshow Print this entry Monte-Carlo hotels