Monday, 1 July 2013

Va Va Voom!




Monaco Grand Prix and Cannes Film Festival 2013


Our son, a car enthusiast wanted to go to the Monaco Grand Prix as part of his trip home to see us. “Why not?” we thought, until we looked at the normal Grandstand prices. The seats on Sectuer Rocher seemed affordable. Further reading revealed the reason. Basically we had booked patches of ground on a hillside. Armed with inside knowledge from previous visitors we planned to catch the 730 train from Nice (where we were staying) to Monaco. It so happened that the Cannes Film Festival was on at the same time. We drove down to Cannes and had a wonderful evening posing in front of the red carpet. Later we joined hundreds of others to catch a glimpse of Hollywood stars, Steven Spielberg, Nicole Kidman, Roman Polanski and his wife Emmanuelle Seigner (revealing her décolletage in a red gown).


The following morning we climbed up the hill to find that it was already packed. Eventually we installed ourselves on a sloping piece of hard ground and there we sat for the next eight hours. There was never a dull moment. Several Pre Formula 1 races took place which whetted our appetite for the main course. Ears plugs were essential as the F1 cars roared along the circuit. Smoke rose into the air as one car caught fire and they had to stop the race for a while. Shouts of “drapeau rouge drapeau rouge” indicated a collision. N Rosberg won the race.

It was an exciting day and after the race we walked along the circuit stepping across tire marks. We watched the cars being dismantled and loaded up into large trucks. A rave was going on in full swing at Rascasse situated on the circuit which opened up after the race. 


Travel tips: Take an early train to Monaco. Avoid going to toilet. Buy your food and drink before in Spar at the foot of Secteur Rocher. We sipped water all day and then had large beers afterwards

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