Today was among the highlights of the trip for me for sure and I will say for anyone searching and finding this post if you are on a limited budget but want to visit Monaco on race weekend get a Thursday ticket in the stand of your choice if you really want to see the F1 cars then come back on Friday you can sit wherever you like but most importantly they open the track to pedestrians and cars at 2pm or just a bit later.

We started late today and had a good sleep in before heading to the train station to pick up our rental car. We grabbed muffins on the way to eat and when we got to the rental car place they didn’t have any cars available as I had put noon on the reservation thinking we had something else to do this morning. We killed some time and grabbed a snack and a drink at a local cafe before returning to get the upgraded car they had wanted to charge over double for about 45 minutes to an hour earlier. We ended up getting a Pugeot 308 hatch back which seems to be a really cool car so far (I love hatch backs). It turned out to have navigation so that helped though it was all in French. We managed to plug in Monaco (with an initial intended stopover in Eze but we decided for that another day) and travelled the Moyenne corniche (middle corniche) which is the middle of three roads between Nice and Monaco. The views along the route are spectacular but soon we were entering the Principalty of Monaco and as we headed down the hill we navigated over toward Monte Carlo and the famous casino as we hadn’t been on this side of the country yet. We found parking after a little confused driving around and quickly changed into nicer clothes (the casino has a dress code) and came out just a few blocks from the Casino with one problem if you know the track. We were on the outside of the circuit and the casino is on the inside so we had to find a place to cross as action was still taking place on the track. We searched a bit and after a few false starts found our way across the track to the casino area. We passed by the famed Cafe Paris and headed toward the entrance to the casino. We went in and looked around the stunning foyer area and after realizing we had both left our passports and there was a 10 euro entrance fee to even step into the casino we decided we had seen what we cared about. We then went to see if we could get to a location to take some pictures of the famous hairpin but it was blocked off for 20 more minutes so we turned around and found the entrance to the “American” casino which is basically two floors of slot machines but is free. Neither of us are much into gambling so we basically looked around then decided it was time for lunch at Cafe Paris. Cafe Paris is very expensive but for lunch you can get out with your shirt so we had a salad and some spaghetti bolognese and the experience of saying we ate there.

When we finished we could see they had opened the track and this started the part that was so amazing for me. We began our walk at Casino Square and walked backwards down the hill towards Sainte Devote (where we sat yesterday) taking pictures along the way. BTW for exotic car lovers go to my smugmug as about every third car in Monaco is a Ferrari, Porsche or Mclaren. We could walk along the actual track for all but just a little and that section we were just outside the armco barriers. We got down to Ste. Devote and turned onto the main straight away and got some pictures at the start/finish line and other famous spots then tried to go into the pits when we realized another thing we forgot. The pit walk itself is only open to ticket holders and as you don’t need a ticket otherwise we hadn’t brought ours. I did get to see the pit lane and as you walk along the front straight you can see into the back side of several of the teams areas so it wasn’t a total loss. When we got down to the pit entrance at the other end they were also checking for tickets but after seeing the crowd in there and knowing I will be sitting across from the pits tomorrow it wasn’t much of a bummer. We headed down to La Rascasse corner and took a picture of the famous bar the corner is named after. While standing there Becky was grabbing a beer at a stand and we heard a bit of a commotion so I moved over toward it and it was Felipe Massa who was soon followed by his teammate Valtteri Bottas! I got pretty clos up pictures of both as they passed within about 5 feet of me. We continued on through the swimming pool complex, which after the track opens turns into a HUGE pedestrian only street full of bars and is basically one big party. We continued up the hill past the marina with all of its ridiculous yachts to the Nouvelle Chicane and on to and through the famous Monaco tunnel. Once you exit the tunnel it is pretty steeply uphill and winding including the most famous feature of the Monaco track the hairpin. I went through the middle of the hairpin and had becky go around the outside to take some pictures of me there. She continued up the stairs to The Fairmont hotel and the casino area while I finished out the track walk along its path up the hill and back to Casino Square.

When we met up at the Cafe Paris again and walked back toward the casino where I saw two almost identical McLaren MP4-12c’s. One was parking and actually had a sign in several languages saying do not touch. He must have been a pretty high roller (the car for one) but he was allowed to park literally right by the entrance to the Casino. At this point we decided we had seen what we could see so we headed back to the car and I came back down the hill toward the casino and drove from basically Casino Square through the hairpin and to the tunnel which was blocked to auto traffic. I got to go through the hairpin again when we turned around to return to Nice. On our way out of town I basically saw a person turn left so I pulled up to the intersection and looked both ways and even had Becky checking out the far lane traffic to be sure and when I had an opening I went. Unfortunately due to the odd (to us) location of traffic lights in France and Monaco I had missed that I couldn’t just turn left at will as it was a red light. This led to an angry police woman stepping out and chiding me for turning on a red. I apologized but she had me pull over anyway and checked my vitals (where I was born and my occupation?) and let me go with a warning. After this I tried (though it is hard sometimes) to be more cognizant of where the traffic signals were. This time leaving Monaco we drove the Grande Corniche (the highest of the three corniches) which is also basically what we would consider a interstate. Turns out it was also a toll road but luckily we had change and got back to Nice relatively quickly using both the french speaking car navigation and the ever helpful google maps.

After a quick drop off of stuff from the trip we headed to dinner at one of the restaurants directly on the beach called the Castel Restaurant. The views were amazing and the food was great if a little pricey (the view made it worth a little extra. We stayed and enjoyed a coffee and chocolate after as we watched the sun set. We finished off the evening with the short stroll back to Old Town and of course with a new flavor of ice cream.

Tomorrow Becky and I will have truly separate stories as I will be heading back to Monaco to watch Qualifying in the afternoon and Becky will be finding an adventure on her own back in Nice.