Day 353 (Saturday)

Happy 12^th wedding anniversary to us!

We met the two Pauls and Tamsin (from last weekend) at the station and it was pretty busy and a member of staff advised us to walk to the end of the platform because the front carriages would have seats for us and when the train arrived we were happy to get seats together. The station was absolutely packed when we got off at Monaco/Monte Carlo and the atmosphere in the streets was wonderful. We were amazed to see street vendors selling food and beer at really reasonable prices; we’d assumed that the mark-up would have been ridiculous today but it wasn’t. I’m so glad we were with the two Pauls and Tamsin because we wouldn’t have found the restaurant in a million years on our own. Okay Huw probably would have found it but with great difficulty. The restaurant was very big and very beautiful with a big terrace where we found our table reserved under Louise’s name.

 

There were 17 of us altogether and the atmosphere was great as we ate our breakfast. A few of the lads and Louise had a breakfast beer but we politely declined until it was time for lunch. There was an early race after breakfast and it was pretty noisy and the terrace of the restaurant had provided some steps so that we could watch them go around a hairpin bend rest next to the restaurant.

Huw managed to get this shot because he could reach over the fence but all I managed to get was this one through the fence.

I have to admit we were a bit disappointed with the location of the restaurant because since last year the principality of Monaco have erected a new building/venue for the event right in front of the restaurant we were in. We were the only newbies there and they all kept saying how much better it was last year! To be honest it felt a bit claustrophobic sitting in front of this new building but the atmosphere was still great and we managed to sneak to the front of the fences to watch the cars take the hairpin bends.

We also expected there to be more action on the track. When we arrived the first Formula 2 race was just finishing and then we had to wait until noon before the Formula 1s came out for their practise session. Then there was a two-hour wait until the main event of qualifying started at three. We tried to get to a vantage point but it was packed so we returned to the table and watched it on one of the many big TVs they had around the restaurant.

 

Next up came lunch and the food displays were magnificent

Lunch started at around 12 and you could go up as many times as you like and you can have as many courses as you like until 3.30pm.

The only advantage of our location was that the drivers had to walk past our terrace to get to their cars and we saw Jackie Stewart and Niki Lauda (the only names I know other than Hamilton). There were fans standing on steps becoming as excited as if Tom Jones were walking by and they meant nothing to me whatsoever!

This apparently is Nicky Lauder

   

A lot of food and wine was consumed by all and this is our table

Louise’s son Sam had worked till 2am this morning in a pizza place, poor bugger, not surprised he needed a snooze.

 

And this is Frankie, Kev’s son who is a young boxer possibly heading to great heights

 

As we couldn’t see very much I decided to take photos of the TV screens to give you an idea of what we couldn’t see, which was rather frustrating to say the least.

At 220€ a head our restaurant was the cheapest location in town – I wonder how much these people paid.

 

Apparently it takes the principality six weeks to build the infrastructure and then two weeks to take it down. All this for a race that isn’t a race because it’s virtually impossible to overtake so unless something horrible goes wrong like a crash, it becomes a procession which is exactly what happened during the actual race on Sunday. Maybe when the race was first started it was different because the cars were much smaller and they could pass more easily. Anyway it’s still the Grand Prix the drivers all want to win because of the heritage and prestige attached to it even though to us it looks like just another excuse for the rich and famous to visit our beautiful part of the world.

When it was all over most of our party were moving onto a bar called Slammers, which is the usual after-party event during the Grand Prix. We decided we’d had enough excitement for one day and Tamsin joined us and went home. The atmosphere on the streets by now was electric and we decided that if we go again next year this is the place to be – on the street with take away food and beer! We had no problem catching the train and on our way home we bumped into Kevin and Angie and Angie’s niece so we had a glass with them in Market Square at the Palmier bar (there are so many bars called Palmier in this neck of the woods) and we also saw Beth and her new partner Philipo and also Paulo and Steven. It was gone 1am when we finally got home – what a pair of dirty stop outs!