Tuesday 17th May
After a good night's sleep in our luxurious Ibis accommodation we made our way onto the autostrada aiming to get the easiest way out of Italy. We came across a few toll booths as we bypassed Milan (Decided to have a lay in and head straight for Monaco rather than battle with Milan and its infamous traffic) and then as we took the exit to Genoa, we were faced by the most scary thing ever... A random toll booth with only a slot for a card, no information for paying and no english instructions. Oh crap! We were watching from the back of the convoy as James began to frantically press buttons. He first pressed the assistance button hoping for someone to come to his rescue but he was obviously still in bed. Next, in a moment of desperation as the locals started to queue behind our convoy, he pressed the scary big red button which we had no idea what it did. It spat out a ticket and lifted the barrier! Panic over!
So with that down we pressed on, nice easy driving. Stopped somewhere for some fuel where a local actually filled the car up for you. Weird. Before long we were on the riviera and the 'Autostrada dei Fiori' (IIRC that translates as motorway of flowers?) which was just a continuous line of tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge (repeat x100 for the next 80 miles!) with the sea in full view on our left. Much fun! And then as we came out of the final tunnel and looked down to the coast we got our first glimpse of Monaco. We left the autostrada and the road twisted and winded it's way off the side of the mountain down into the principality. Before long we were parked (on the 7th floor of a nuts multlistorey) and ready to explore.
We soon found our way down past the local Ferrari dealership and onto the start of the circuit and set about doing a lap on foot. Straight up the hill we found casino square. Money all owa! Rolls Ghost, mad aluminium brushed S5, California, more exotica that I can't even remember!
We continued down, past Mirabeau, round the hairpin and to the entrance of the tunnel. We made a withdrawal and then it was McDonalds time! We were majorly impressed that it was no more expensive than the UK, came to us straight away and was piping hot. Brilliant!
Before continuing our lap, we took a stroll to the beach, James kindly looked after the baggage as I and everyone else launched ourselves into the ever inviting Bay of Monaco! This was the first time in the trip so far that we were able to just chill out for a few hours and it was much needed.
We completed our lap (via McDonalds again), and then returned to the cars, ready for a driving lap. Other than James almost running a couple of people over, it was epic. I have a good video of our laps too so ill try and upload them.
We left via a batcave tunnel to Nice, paid a few more peages (tolls!) The trip back to Nice was cheered up by seeing a Maserati and a 458 Ferrari racing each other through the tunnels.....oh the noise!!!!! We arrived in our seedy F1 up a back alley just in time for a beach stroll, a few beers and to watch the moon rise over the horizon.
After a good night's sleep in our luxurious Ibis accommodation we made our way onto the autostrada aiming to get the easiest way out of Italy. We came across a few toll booths as we bypassed Milan (Decided to have a lay in and head straight for Monaco rather than battle with Milan and its infamous traffic) and then as we took the exit to Genoa, we were faced by the most scary thing ever... A random toll booth with only a slot for a card, no information for paying and no english instructions. Oh crap! We were watching from the back of the convoy as James began to frantically press buttons. He first pressed the assistance button hoping for someone to come to his rescue but he was obviously still in bed. Next, in a moment of desperation as the locals started to queue behind our convoy, he pressed the scary big red button which we had no idea what it did. It spat out a ticket and lifted the barrier! Panic over!
 | This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 42KB. |
So with that down we pressed on, nice easy driving. Stopped somewhere for some fuel where a local actually filled the car up for you. Weird. Before long we were on the riviera and the 'Autostrada dei Fiori' (IIRC that translates as motorway of flowers?) which was just a continuous line of tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge (repeat x100 for the next 80 miles!) with the sea in full view on our left. Much fun! And then as we came out of the final tunnel and looked down to the coast we got our first glimpse of Monaco. We left the autostrada and the road twisted and winded it's way off the side of the mountain down into the principality. Before long we were parked (on the 7th floor of a nuts multlistorey) and ready to explore.
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x540 and weights 80KB. |
We soon found our way down past the local Ferrari dealership and onto the start of the circuit and set about doing a lap on foot. Straight up the hill we found casino square. Money all owa! Rolls Ghost, mad aluminium brushed S5, California, more exotica that I can't even remember!
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 83KB. |
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x540 and weights 104KB. |
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x540 and weights 120KB. |
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 102KB. |
We continued down, past Mirabeau, round the hairpin and to the entrance of the tunnel. We made a withdrawal and then it was McDonalds time! We were majorly impressed that it was no more expensive than the UK, came to us straight away and was piping hot. Brilliant!
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 84KB. |
Before continuing our lap, we took a stroll to the beach, James kindly looked after the baggage as I and everyone else launched ourselves into the ever inviting Bay of Monaco! This was the first time in the trip so far that we were able to just chill out for a few hours and it was much needed.
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 75KB. |
We completed our lap (via McDonalds again), and then returned to the cars, ready for a driving lap. Other than James almost running a couple of people over, it was epic. I have a good video of our laps too so ill try and upload them.
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 72KB. |
| This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x482 and weights 55KB. |
We left via a batcave tunnel to Nice, paid a few more peages (tolls!) The trip back to Nice was cheered up by seeing a Maserati and a 458 Ferrari racing each other through the tunnels.....oh the noise!!!!! We arrived in our seedy F1 up a back alley just in time for a beach stroll, a few beers and to watch the moon rise over the horizon.
No comments:
Post a Comment