on the road to monaco with yvonne
why monaco?
Attending the Monaco GP had always been one of my dreams; you really don’t know how excited I was on May 22 when my journey and adventure was about to start.
Monaco – a place for the rich and the beautiful. That’s what you think when you see it on TV. But once you’ve spent some time there you will soon realise that that is not really true. Yes, you do see some fancy cars driving around, and yes, you can find expensive boutiques and restaurants in Monte-Carlo, but most of the restaurants, shops, and supermarkets actually have similar prices to Germany. Nevertheless, everything seems to be a little more glamorous than anywhere else. Monaco is a beautiful country, no doubt about that, and being able to walk the track every night when you know that a couple of hours earlier the cars drove exactly where you are walking, gives you an incredible feeling. I loved how close you get to the F1 action, I don’t think you can get closer anywhere else. Usually, the F1 paddock is an area that you don’t get to see as it is completely isolated. This isn’t the case in Monaco, because there simply isn’t enough space for such a huge paddock complex. The only thing that separates you from the drivers and the F1 personnel is a fence. Also, the track is open every evening, so you can walk around the city / the track and see the pit lane and everything close-up. Besides the F1 action, Monaco has awesome beaches and bars / pubs to offer. There seem to be parties going on everywhere, and if you are up for a couple of drinks and a bit of dancing, ‘La Rascasse’ or ‘Brasserie de Monaco’ are the places to be. The atmosphere in those places was amazing every night! |
did you meet any f1 personnel?
We managed to meet a couple of drivers before the real ‘action’ began. The first F1 driver I met was Narain Karthikeyan when he appeared at my gate at Frankfurt airport which was kind of cool, I’d never been on the same plane as an F1 driver! On our first evening in Monaco, we bumped into Pastor Maldonado while walking to a camping store to buy chairs for the weekend (yes, if you decide to buy tickets for ‘Secteur Rocher’, make sure you arrive early to set up some camping chairs, that will ensure you an awesome spot for the whole weekend!)
On Wednesday morning, we ran into Rob Smedley while walking around the harbour. Also, some of the drivers walked the track and we decided to walk it with them. We saw Pastor Maldonado again, then met Heikki Kovalainen, Vitaly Petrov, and Nico Huelkenberg and Paul di Resta cycled past us. And in the evening, while going to La Rascasse, we met Jake Humphrey.
On Friday, there was a pitwalk which we attended. We got to talk to Timo Glock and saw some other drivers, such as Charles Pic, Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg, and Kimi Räikkönen.
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What about the cost?
Getting to Monaco isn’t that expensive. I flew with Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Nice, which cost me around €150. From Nice, we caught a bus to Monaco which cost €13. However, you can also go to Nice train station by bus and then go to Monaco by train, which will only cost you €5 but take considerably longer.
The weird thing about Monaco is that you have to buy separate tickets for every day, so there are no ‘weekend’ tickets. We only had tickets for Saturday and Sunday, and they gave us access to ‘Le Rocher’, which is a hill overlooking the last corner and the pit lane entrance. The tickets cost €40 and €70 respectively. The most expensive thing if you want to stay in Monaco is accomodation. We rented an apartment in Monaco, and paid €500 each for 8 days. If you want to keep it cheap, you can also stay in Nice and go to Monaco by train every day. However, the last train is quite early, so you cannot really enjoy the night life of Monaco. |
What advice would you give about attending the monaco gp?
When you go to Monaco, be prepared to climb loads of stairs. Monaco is a lot steeper than it seems on TV (at least it never seemed as bad to me). Even after a week, we still felt very exhausted every day when we got home.
If you have some spare time, you should go and see the Prince’s Palace. It is located on top of a hill and you get an amazing view over both sides of Monaco. The way up there is quite long and steep, but well worth it, especially at night time as Monaco looks awesome with all its lights and the reflections in the sea. There is a restaurant called ‘Stars ‘n’ Bars’ which is located right next to the paddock. Go check it out, the food is good and affordable, plus you may even meet some drivers there. ;) And last but not least, never leave the house without an umbrella. I don’t know if that was just the case this year, but it rained almost every day, and quite heavily too. What was your highlight of the weekend?As you may know, the Red Bull Energy station is not located inside the paddock, so Red Bull can offer tickets to the Energy Station. We were lucky enough to get invitations for the Energy Station Party on Saturday, which was undoubtedly my highlight. Awesome music and drinks for free, what else would you want? =)
To ask Yvonne more about her trip drop her a tweet to @Iceladyy . |