Back onto traveling. Now this one was a journey and a half! Bus from St Feliu De Guixols, train to Figueres, train to Narbonne, train to Montpellier, train to Antibes, then bus to accom. All in all 10.5 hours. Some trains were 19min and 26mins apart, so they had to be on time. First train was 7mins late, the next two trains were spot on time. But the last one was over 30mins late, luckily that was our last train, so it didn't matter so much. Most of the trains were about an hour journey, except for Montpellier to Antibes which was just over 4 hours. I love the trains over here, so easy to relax. Very easy for Liz too, she slept on every train and bus! And yeah i woke her for every stop too, how nice of me!!! Found our accommodation in Antibes pretty easy. I've been pretty good when it comes to finding what and where I'm going, very well prepared, google maps, and street view help a lot. I generally load the map on my phone the night before, the 3G signal will display a blue dot (even the direction I'm facing) and follow the yellow brick road. Sometimes the little blue dot says that I'm in the middle of the Mediterranean!! I do have to check, nope my shoes are still dry. I had a laugh while on the train to Antibes, and we head through Cannes, all I could think of was the second Mr Bean movie (the funny one). Did my best Bean impersonation, "Cannes" and "beach."
I'm glad Liz informed me of what is down in the south of France. While I was planning I had 2 days between Spain F1 and getting to Nice. She told me that Antibes had Marineland, a marine park with Orcas, dolphins and seals etc. So once she decided to come along for the yurop part duex trip we had to go. We booked a VIP package through their website which was mostly in French! We made it..... An hour early as Liz didn't want to be late. It cost €169, so not the cheapest, and no photo or DVD included! But we spent a good three hours doing a tour of the park, mostly before it opened and interactions with a seal, dolphin and got close to a killer whale! The price even included entry. I know sea world back home TFAD program includes more little things but misses the big stuff. $500 TFAD program + entry $69. We had a tour from one of the senior trainers, she spoke French and english, had breakfast in the restaurant that looks into their penguin exhibit, showed us more of the exhibits explained some of the animals and a good background of knowledge (she had been there over 15 years). She'd worked with the Orcas and then asked to change to the interactive dolphin/seal area. It was a great day. A park not massive in area, but a good walk around. Maybe similar to SW but not in a straight line. They had a great polar bear exhibit, and the bears had some very similar pattern behaviors to ours. The seals and dolphins for me weren't the highlight for me, we have similar species and the training is the same principle, though different hand signals. Their seals were very switched on and they were very well behaved, either in the show or in the interactive time we had. In the seal show they had some very cool new behaviors which I'm keen to describe to our seal team back home. All the shows are very enthusiastic, lots of colour, and heaps of energy from the trainers. The music is pumping too, and really gets the crowd involved. The dolphin show had some cool different behaviors too. They wouldn't get the massive numbers we might get at sea world but they don't need it. They have no rides in the park, and the park is well signed and themed. It has a clear identity. The stores are simple, not cluttered with junk and the products are very impressive. No hot wheels, transformers or generic named stuff. They did have a Lego type product, but it was all marine themed. I really liked the 3D postcards and some of their photos were well presented and framed.
So to come away, I think back home we need Stellar sea lions and Orcas. Stellar sea lions are massive. I first saw one at a friends park in Holland. Adek was his name and he was 900kg! He'd lost 300kg too! The ones we saw were from that park too. Over 700 kg mammoths and they are eating 40kg of fish everyday! I think the Orcas are the drawcard for sure, we could use a new massive stadium that could house these beautiful animals. How ever much it costs would certainly be worth it, and no doubt you'd get your money back. Just to emphasize I'm not talking wild Orcas either, but captive bred animals. The orca show was very cool, and man are those animals big. I think with dolphins and Orcas you have their eyes, mouth etc quite close together at the front. It looks big but nothing too massive. But you have no real appreciation for size unless they are out of the water. And then you get to see just how big and impressive they are. It's funny since I have never taken photos of these guys before, you would see the hand cues and pan to the area they are being prompted....... Wait....... Wait........ Wait some more. It takes a long time, and a lot of energy to get themselves out of the water to jump! Great music, great energy and some very nice people too! So thanks to Katia and the team at Marineland in Antibes, we had a great day, memories to last a lifetime, and some nice shots too!!
Antibes is a beautiful place, nice and relaxed and close to nice, Monaco and Cannes. And probably only an hour from Italy! Not far from our hotel we found a shopping centre, most of it was closed except for a shop called carrefour. Holy shit this place is massive! Picture a big w with woolies and a dan murphys under the one roof! Goodluck finding plastic cutlery, gave up after about 15-20mins! On our departure day we had a bit of a sleep in, then lugged our baggage down to old Antibes, a gorgeous part hidden away behind the old town wall. I saw a bus that was going to Super Antibes, man that place must be awesome. Most of the places I wish I had a bit more time to study the area and find the stories behind each place, but F1 in Monaco calls..... So goodbye Antibes, thanks for beautiful weather, great views and marineland!
A short 15mins train trip and we are in Nice. I did only go through here on my last visit, but now we have a fee hours to check in and check this Nice place out. Let's just say, if you yearn for the smell of urine, come to Nice, you wont be disappointed. In my book it's the pissiest city in europe! It smashed Naples! Liz will be exploring Nice, have a day trip with me to Monte Carlo (on the F1 rest day/party day) and then head into San Remo to explore the home of gluten Italy! Apparently 30% of Italian children are diagnosed with gluten intolerance. So Liz will test her stomach with a hit of gluten from Italy! She may be in bed the next day, so she has no plans. For me, it's Monaco, Monaco, Monaco, Monaco!
I think the first F1 race I remember watching was the Monaco F1 race. It's the jewel in the F1 crown. It's slow, it's dangerous and it really doesn't show off the true ability of a formula one car. But this race has prestige, history and every driver wants to win it! Mark Webber won it last year, he's won in F3000 and F1! And boy did he celebrate last year by jumping in the harbour! He's always been quick around here, so fingers crossed, in fact cross everything! It will be on back home at 10pm on one HD, if you're up, check it out and cheer him on.
Wind myself back to Thursday, up nice and early. Monaco runs F1 on thurs, sat and sun. The only place that does. I have everything organized, tickets to be picked up and train travel there! On my way I notice a bit of an F1 officiando, Tom Clarkson, writer for F1 racing magazine among other things. He did a ride from the top of the UK to the bottom with Mark Webber in I think 2001...? As we were pulling into Monaco train station, I introduced myself and we just walked and talked for about 10mins. I got to pick his brain and just have a good chat with a genuine nice bloke. Thursday was a bit surreal, it's hard to put into words my emotions. I am here, Monaco, the toughest street course in the world with some of the famous corners, sections in the world. I walked the track and I said I had to come back when the cars are here. Well six months later and I'm seeing them come around the left hander of massenet (corner name at the casino) then right hander called casino. A great change of direction after the cars go flying up from st devote and beau rivage! Those who know F1 will know those corners. If not watch an F1 onboard clip via YouTube. For photos it's a little bit difficult when you are sitting in a stand and if I use my big lens I will wamp the guy in front of me with it when I pan. So I decided to give myself a challenge, mega blur shots, handheld 50-500mm lens shooting 1/10th and 1/20th sec. I knew I wouldnt get much that would work, but getting a formula one car still is easy, showing speed isn't....especially without a monopod to keep my lens on a stable horizon whilst I pan. About every half hour I was shaking my head in disbelief, Monaco F1! This is more about watching cars than photos anyway. Last weekend proved I could take a good formula one photo, this week is all about the event, the location and the grandeur. If I was working it, it'd be totally different. For such a dangerous track, the photographers can get very very close, and for photographers, the closer the better. Our Gold Coast event is so anal about safety. The inside of hairpins and 90 degree corners should be fence free for photographers. Have the fence behind them for spectator safety. You'd get much better photos and coverage of the event, you sign a waiver at the start of the weekend anyway!! Thursday done, and it still feels surreal. I've been keeping my eyes out for Mark Sutton, F1 photographer, so I can give him a portfolio of my motorsport work over the years. I did see his brother Keith, but he was on the other side of the track.... I had the disc ready. It's gotten a bit banged up over the travel, I hope that isn't held against me if I see him! I did manage to see Darren Heath too, another F1 photographer, he's a bit of a guru, cares too much about his hair, and has a sweatband. But the guy has some pretty good clients and always produces spectacular images. The kind of images that are art gallery type! You'd hang them on your wall and not know that it was an F1 car.
Friday-F1 free day. And the track will be open for walking at 1-1:30. There was some racing earlier in the day but rushing there wasn't our major concern. We made it in and I dragged poor Liz around the majority of the track and explained why it's the bees knees of F1. If you went to F1 with the same track design as monaco nowadays you be laughed away. It's about racing heritage. It's so unique most teams have to specially design components just for this race. Pitlane is open to anyone with a grand prix ticket, ooh lucky I have two! I've never been down an F1 pitlane, needless to say neither has Liz. Just outside the entrance there are drivers signing autographs. I lifted Liz up to see some of them, but she didn't know who was who anyway, I was even pointing to Mark Webber but she was looking for someone with redbull gear on and missed him. I gave her my spare ticket and headed in to the pitlane. As soon as we arrived in Webber had finished his session of photos. So he walked right past us, Liz saw him this time. I've met Mark many times over the years in Melbourne and he seems so much more relaxed in Europe. In Australia every journalist, tv station and radio want a piece of him while he's home, and after Melbourne his schedule eases up massively. Maybe that's why he has struggled in previous years? Too much on his plate! He stopped for every photo, signed every autograph. Hopped the pitlane fence, not to avoid people but to go easily down pitlane and sign something for everyone. He was extremely relaxed, had a joke with a kid, even fixed his hat up so the photo would look good. I managed to get Liz's brand new Monaco hat a signature and a photo with him. Behind him you can see other drivers avoiding the fans yelling out their names. Everyone is so happy that a driver of Mark's calibre is happy to take time to sign autographs and pose for photos. I told him he's doing Australia proud "thanks mate" was his response. He's been a bit off form and his team mate has lifted the bar this year, but he keeps trying and never gives up. Aussie grit!
I managed to see Mark Sutton in the paddock, but the F1 rights owner and billionaire Bernie Ecclestone had just walked in a grabbed his attention. Dammit, how am I going to get the disc to him.... I'll have to try saturday or sunday. We walked through the tunnel and saw the tyre debris just after one day of running! Liz has a part of F1 tyre now to take home. The new pirelli tyres degrade more and leave heaps of tyre debris (marbles) on the track. Why marbles, well if you go offline and they stick to your tyres, driving after that is like driving on marbles. On our last section of the lap I caught a glimpse of Keith Sutton again, this time in a restaurant. Should I wait, go in and bother him. Nah I'll wait. Bit stalker'ish but there is an innocent motive. So there is more than one exit out of this restaurant.... So down the hill we go, try and beat him down and intercept, like an ambush. Liz has thought we've missed him. She was even giving me hand signals as to where he was (very cute), but I knew exactly where he was. Intercepted, disc delivered and a big sigh of relief. He seems likes nice guy too! I hope he gets a look at my work too! Ah everything accomplished. All to do now is turn up Saturday and Sunday and enjoy what I've travelled this far for. The 69th (hehe) running of the Monaco grand prix!
An early start on Saturday after a long night of watching movies on my iPad. Due date was a very funny movie! A movie with a masturbating dog has to be a winner every time! Liz and I make our way to the trains, she'll be heading to Ventimiglia and then onto San Remo. Me, no surprises Monaco. I want to get there to support Daniel Ricciardo, James van der Drift and kiwi Brendon Hartley in the European Renault 3.5 series qualifying. Daniel had been quickest all weekend, he didn't disappoint me by grabbing pole just ahead of the kiwi. So they will race tomorrow before the F1 race. The days have been perfect, the sun has been out, turning all poms bright red and keeping me lathered up in sunscreen. I'm not looking forward to the cool weather when I get home. Temps here at the moment are 19-29! Last practice before quali, and it's littered with incidents and red flags (session stop). Nico Rosberg and Vintantonio Liuzzi try to beat the walls, but no surprises the walls kick their ass. Unfortunately in practice the clock keeps ticking, though in qualifying when a red comes out the session stops. And the session certainly came to a stop! Sergio Perez came out wide of the tunnel (he's got marbles now) and instead of backing off he still attacked the corner. When you run wide especially at Monaco, you have to back off or else you will tear corners off your car and make your team spend all night fixing or putting together a new car. And don't forget the fact you could seriously hurt yourself! His car pitched straight in the wall, tore off a couple of corners of the car and then went ploughing into the barrier side on. Session stopped and it took them approx 15mins to extract him from the car. The car was a mess and he's ok which is the main thing. I'm sitting directly opposite swimming pool, two tricky corners followed by a difficult chicane. You can see into the pitlane too. I've wanted to be in this spot ever since I saw F1 at Monaco. It's so quick and you can easily see how hard the drivers work in these corners. And you can tell who's quick and who's about to make a mistake. Hamilton made the mistake. Went in to deep and cut a corner, there goes pole! And it went to Vettel, again! Webber in 3rd. Not bad, clean side of the track and hopefully a good start might see him gain a position or two. Monte Carlo is very pretty and you get an awesome view of the mountains, cliff faces, real estate and the massive yachts/boats parked in the marina. The two behind my stand are owned by billionaire Vijay Mallya, these are massive!! Time to go home at watch the champions league final! Liz is keeping me informed of her movements throughout the evening, she's missed a train then had a mix up with times, but she got home safe and full of gluten and her hands filled with bags! Half time and it's 1-1. Liz chatted to me in the background as I watched the second half, Barca were out playing Man Utd and soon it was 3-1. Somethings aren't meant to be. But it's great to watch it in the evening and not at 5am back home! Liz, well she thought Man Utd won (even though I wasn't jumping around). "oh, so they won?!" No, they didn't babe. "Oh I thought that was Man Utd." I had to recall to her all of the shops, balconies and people walking around Barcelona in the red and blue of Barcelona. "awww yeah, that's right!" I was in a particularly dry mood after seeing my team get beaten by the best in the business, but it did give me a chuckle.
I go to bed tonight knowing my Monaco F1 experience ends tomorrow. It's pretty sad, but at the same time it's the crescendo that I've been waiting for. Sit back, relax and enjoy the race!
I know I will!
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