A Day in the Life

After spending a few days in Paris, we flew south to the French Riviera for the main purpose of our trip. No, we weren't there to be paparrazi and groupies at the Cannes Film Festival, even though that was happening while we were in town. Instead, we were there to be groupies at the Monaco F1 race. We stayed at Juan Les Pins because we couldn't find a decent hotel in Nice. Boy were we glad we weren't in Nice. Although Joy loves Nice, as she's been there before; Nice isn't as nice when there are too many tourists attending the Cannes Film Festival AND the Monaco Grand Prix. It also didn't help that the trains were on strike, and we had very limited train service that week. So, everyone had to cram into the less frequently run trains. What a way for the train union to show their power! Nonetheless, our quaint little town of Juan Les Pins was perfect for our stay. We got to enjoy the beautiful Riviera and never had issues finding seats on the train headed to Monaco each morning. Unfortunately, we never made to Nice, even for a quick visit. Until we visit again...

Our one and only picture of us at the beaches of Juan Les Pines.

Day 1:
Dan is usually pretty laid back and never in a rush to walk anywhere. Well, that wasn't the case that morning! He was out the door and waiting for the 7:50 am train by 7:35 am. As we were getting closer to the Monaco train station, he couldn't keep his cool or contain his excitement. Once we finally made it out of the train station, everything was so perfectly maintained that Dan said, "This place is like DisneyWorld." Joy's response, "Oh, this will be YOUR Disney World Dan."

You can sense everyone's anticipation and excitement as we all got off the train in Monaco

Our great seats on the first day!

Ten minutes after we sit down, there was an incident - a spectator fell through the seats.
There's never a shortage of orange suited guys ready to take care of business.

Alonso and Vettel during first day of Practice, before it started raining.

There was quite a crowd and a lot of Ferrari supporters.

Our amazing view!

Day 2:

Technically this was an off day because no F1 races were going on, just the other supporting races. But, Friday turned out to be our most exciting day in Monaco! We were allowed to sit anywhere on the track, so we went grandstand hopping. Plus, we got to walk the entire track, start to finish, so we could get a perspective of what the drivers see during their drive (kind of, in super slow motion).

Can't get a more classic Monaco F1 view than in front of Monte Carlo!

Next grandstand, view of the entrance to tunnel.

After the supporting races ended, we accidentally went to the wrong entrance to visit the pits.

That mistake worked out in our favor. We found the safety cars and a few more unexpected surprises.

We quickly realized we were at the entrance where the drivers were arriving to walk to the pits. Yes, Dan and Joy became F1 groupies, calling out the driver's names as they walked by so we can get a good picture. Here are a few of the famous drivers we saw: Hamilton, Masa, Schumacher, Button, and Alonso.

After seeing so many famous drivers, Dan said it would be amazing to see one of his favorite driver, Kimi Raikkonen. But, knowing Kimi's personality to always avoid the limelight, Dan said he would never show up at these kinds of events. Then, the unthinkable happened. Dan felt a shove behind him, and Kimi Raikkonen was standing right next to him. Kimi decided to follow an unconventional route to the pits, through the crowd of spectators and over the barriers. Of all people, he chose to shove Dan! Dan was so star struck that the only thing he could do was pat Kimi on the shoulder and tell his favorite driver, "Kimi, Good Luck!" Joy had to remind Dan to take a picture of his favorite driver! That moment was the highlight of the trip for Dan - meeting his all-time favorite driver. On the way out, Kimi went for the unconventional route again, and we caught it all on camera this time.

After playing paparazzi, we decided to actually walk through the pits. There were a ton of people there, but Dan managed to get a few good pictures. Dan was so enthralled watching the mechanics work on all the cars. This is his definition of 'heaven'.

As if the day hadn't been exciting enough, we then walked the entire track. The road was open to regular traffic, but that did not stop Dan from walking the course. He made sure we started from the pit exit and that we actually walked on the road. Walking along the road on the sidewalk didn't count! Joy wasn't too excited about the walk initially, but it turned out to be one of her favorite event of the trip. The green light, exit from the Pit, was our official 'Start' of the walk around the track. Although he's typically risk averse, Dan saw no problem walking along the road with all this traffic. We were literally the only walkers during this initial busy section. We eventually found more walkers as we walked past Monte Carlo.

Joy thought that barrier meant the police would stop us from continuing. Instead, the police made the cars turn around and let us continue walking into the tunnel! We encountered another friendly face (Jaime Alguersuari on a leisurely jog) and a cool car (Bugatti Veyron) while on our walk.

Another cool car encounter during our walk, this time it was a Koenigsegg.

We made a slight detour to checkout a crowd by the big yachts and discovered the RedBull and Mclaren party boats. And by pure dumb luck, we accidentally ran into 'real' paparazzi photographers and saw Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger.

We saw the famous 'Hill' where people have to fend for themselves for seats to the race. It was essentially an homage to Alonso. There, we also had our only 'sightseeing' opportunity - we saw the Prince's Palace where the Rainer family lives from afar. We ended our walk with our signature pose at the Start/Finish line. Overall, a fun walk for both Dan and Joy.

Day 3:

By now, we had our morning routine down. Leave the hotel by 7:30 am to stop at the patisserie to purchase 4 pain du chocolate, 2 other pastries for Dan, and two large bottles of water before heading to the train station. We would then enjoy our breakfast during the 50 minute train ride to Monaco and then off to the races!

Our seats on Day 3 were right next to the Pits where we could see a lot of action on and off the track.

While Dan went to get a better look of the pits and the pit crew preparing for Qualifying, Joy stayed back to save a spot on the top row, because we 'technically' weren't supposed to be in those seats. She's hidden amongst the men.

A highlight that day was Michael Schumacher qualifying for pole position. It was his first pole qualification since returning to F1 after his second retirement. Unfortunately, he had a 5 grid penalty, so he didn't get to start in pole position. But it was so cool to see one of the winningest F1 driver make history, while we were in Monaco! And, we even ran into some of the Mercedes crew members at the grocery store and celebrated with them!

Day 4:

Last day of the race and everyone could feel the excitement! Our seats were by the water and the big yachts, with a great view of the entire city!

Amazing views of Monaco from our seats

These yachts are literally bigger than the house we just bought!

Although not typically a hotdog fan, Joy couldn't resist trying out hotdogs in a baguette.

Before the start of the race, all the F1 drivers take a ride on the Mercedes truck to see the fans and for interviews. Our favorite response came from Kimi Raikkonen after being asked what his chances are for winning the race: "Ah, not so good." So Kimi-esk!

Race begins and the entire city is watching. Every window and balcony with any kind of view was packed with people watching the race!

A closer view of our favorite driver - Sebastian Vettel.

Webber, Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel

Mark Webber's victory lap. The sixth winner in six races... what an exciting 2012 F1 season!

After the race, the chaos begins. It started raining, and it took FOREVER to leave. In the midst of the chaos, Joy ran into Antonio Banderas (who is very short). We also saw a few more celebrities...

George Lucas and his girlfriend

Prince Rainer of Monaco and his family. Yes, he is driving his own "dumb Pirus"according to Dan.

We eventually made it to the Automobile Club of Monaco, sponsor of the Monaco F1 race.

We found the Fanzone where they have games for the spectators. Dan tried out the computerize/makeshift F1 car to drive two laps around the Monaco course. He was one of the few who didn't crash and actually made it through the entire course. Of course, most people probably don't get as much 'practice' driving fast as Dan does.

Final picture in Monaco and the Riviera before heading home to reality. We both didn't want to return home after such a fun and exciting trip. But, one thing we know for sure, we will DEFINITELY be returning to the Monaco Grand Prix and the French Riviera!

A few more miscellaneous pictures from our trip...

Can't believe we saw these just walking through the mall and along the streets.

A few of the tasty meals we had there..

These signs got us where we needed to go everyday!

Our cute little inn. See you again in a few years!

We spent a few midnights (literally) in the beautiful city of Paris. Joy had been to Paris a few times before, but it was Dan's first time to be in Europe. Although we only had 3 days in Paris, we took advantage of every minute and saw as much as we could. We saw the key tourist sites, visited the palace in Versaille, walked along the Seine at midnight, and ate a lot of croissants and crepes. Ah, Paris!

Day 1:

We walked from our hotel to Montmarte to view the painters in action, then went to visit Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge.

Afterwards, off to Trocadero to view the Eiffel Tower. Joy has always wanted to take a cool picture with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same plan and didn't move out of the way for our photo op. Maybe next time...

It was just our luck that only one of the four elevators to the top of the Eiffel Tower was working that day. Since the lines were ridiculously long, we opted for the shorter (still long) line to walk up. We only walked up to the first two observation areas. We decided that the view was good enough so we didn't feel the need to head to the very top.

Day 2:

Before we left Houston, Dan saw a show on the NatGeo channel that talked about the history and famous paintings of the Louvre Museum. So, he was really excited to see everything he had seen on TV in real life. It was a rainy day, so everyone had the same plans to visit the museum. However, we were able to bypass the super long lines (thanks to our museum pass) and see all the famous paintings and statues. Good thing Dan is tall so he could take all our pictures.

After spending a few hours at the Louvre, we walked to Notre Dame. We made it to the top of the Tower, walking up circular small steps, to see a great view of Seine and the city.

There happened to be a big tent outside Notre Dame, and we discovered it was a bread tent. When in Paris, do as the Parisians... eat a baguette!

We happened to walk along this bridge as we were leaving Notre Dame and noticed all the locks with couples names on them. Looks like this is the 'love' bridge. :)

Latin Square is where we found cheap food and more importantly cheap crepes. We visited the same bakery everyday to eat nutella crepes. It was delicious!!

Day 3:

We didn't think we'd have time, but decided last minute to visit Versaille. King Louis XVI really knows how to build palaces. This place is so ornate and perfectly manicured.

After spending most of the day in Versaille, we managed to make it to Musee D'Orsay in the nick of time to see some impressionist paintings. Joy loves this museum because it is housed in an old train station. Then it's off to Champs Elysee and Arch de Triomphe. We had some great views of the bustling city.

Since we had not seen enough of the Eiffel Tower, we decided to return to Trocadero to get one last view of the tower at night. We're so glad we did because we got some cool pictures and got to enjoy our last midnight stroll in Paris.