So Germany "celebrates" two obscure Catholic holidays this week and next. Add a couple of vacation days, and you have time for a nice little trip.
I looked into doing Formula 1 racing because they stopped doing it in the states. It was prohibitively expensive, but Andi found practice day tickets that were more reasonable. So we drove down to Monte Carlo. This took us through or very near:
- Germany
- Austria
- Liechtenstein (technically we only saw it)
- Switzerland
- Italy
- France
- Monaco (technically we just drove past it yesterday)
Monaco is the smallest country in Europe outside of the Vatican. I think Andi said it is one square km, very tiny. We did not see much of it today, just the train station and a bit of the track. Maybe one day we come back without kids, wear a tux, and go to the casino and pretend to be James Bond.
The Monaco Grand Prix is simply amazing. I have never been to a NASCAR race, but I am sure it is exactly the same. :-) The cars were super fast and super loud. We had double ear protection for the kids. Our seats were in stands right by the water, so we could see all the multi-million dollar yachts watching the race across the track from us. Behind the stands is the longest straightaway, where they really get going. The technology is amazing. We saw two 90 minute sessions, so we probably saw more Formula 1 than on race day. They had other training sessions running as well for other races they run this week. The other neat thing is they run it just on normal roads, so the F1 cars are driving over parking spaces and past bus zone signs. We wandered around and could get different views and right up next to the railing. The second session we spent in the front row where you could see the cars for about 300 yards and about four seconds.
It was moderately hot and we ran out of water, so I had to buy some inside the track. I had to pay 2.70 Euro for half a liter, which I think works out to $28 per gallon. For water.
Peroni on tap near the race - Very good.
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