Has anybody been to the Monaco GP

[Richard]

My wife and mother in law had a short break a couple of years ago in that area. They stayed in Nice because there is a good choice of hotels, but their favourite place for a peaceful relaxing time was Antibes. Your mum might like to go there. There is also a rather good Picasso Museum there http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... %26hl%3Den

As for walking the circuit, I think many street circuits have short time slots when the circuit is closed to traffic, but the public can still walk/cycle the track. That's when you can crouch down in the middle of the road to get a driver's eye view. That sort of thing requires asking someone with a little local knowledge.

By the way, the "beach" in that part of the coast is a tiny strip of pebbles at the bottom of a cliff, so don't be tempted by hotels with private beaches!

[West]

I purchased a harbor ticket a few hours ago. Expensive but probably worth it. I'm still trying to get the travel details done.

[Germanengineering]

I would like to go one day. I would stay in Nice because it's a lot less expensive and very close to Monaco.

[ben_watkins]

I went 2 years ago & had an amazing time.

We traveled from the UK by Eurostar & TGV to Nice, France. We had a small inexpensive hotel near Nice airport. Bus to the train station and local train to Monaco each day.

Very easy, very inexpensive, apart from race day tickets!!

[Lurk]

wow, UK-Nice by train!? It takes at least 10h!

Nice or Antibes (or Menton) should be great for accomodation, preferably near the train station. Monaco is well served, about 2 trains/hour on each direction. Maybe there is special trains during race weekend but I can't confirm...

Antibes is the farthest of these 3 town, it cost 7€ (one way) and 1h to join Monaco. But if you're at the window, landscapes are great, especially after Nice!
Nice is twice closer, and Menton is the closest but it is on the other side of Monaco (next to Italy).

If you're looking for fun, there's a lot of pubs on the Old Nice (which is just at the end of "Promenade des Anglais") and on the Old Antibes (between "Le Cap d'Antibes" and the main harbour). You could find lots of english people on these pubs.

For your mum, Monaco oceanographic museum is great, Menton is a beautiful city. If you want, near Antibes and Cannes there is Biot which is famous for its glassworks and Grasse which is capital of fragance. I know you can visit glassworks and perfumeries but I never try... Be careful, Grasse is a real mess, even for its citizens!
Cannes is next to Antibes and Festival de Cannes began May, 12th. Red carpet ceremony is famous but you have to come 3h before the start if you want to see something... But La Croisette is great to walk and there's some activities on it during the festival.

There's a lot of others things to do but I'm not a good guide. You should easily find websites which tells you what you must see
Just after Italian border, you could visit San Remo.


I can't help you for Paris, but things you must see are Eiffel Tower (of course), Les Champs Elysées, Place de la Concorde, Jardins des Tuileries, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Jardins du Luxembourg, les Invalides, Trocadero and Arche de la Défense. The easiest way to move in Paris is subway. Visit http://www.ratp.fr for any information, it is the official website of Paris subway


@richard_leeds: thx for the link on Picasso Museum, I don't know there is one at Antibes until today!


ps: if you come to Nice, there is a ice-cream maker called "Fenocchio". He had 2 shops on Nice and his icecreams are awesome

[raceman]

To all folks going to Monaco GP:

everyone tries to get great photos of a GP and surroundings (beautiful girls included )! It would be nice if someone can post pictures that are a bit unusual, but still are related to the GP and surroundings.....

you blokes got what I mean to say??

[Richard]

I can't help you for Paris, but things you must see are Eiffel Tower (of course), Les Champs Elysées, Place de la Concorde, Jardins des Tuileries, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Jardins du Luxembourg, les Invalides, Trocadero and Arche de la Défense.

... and crowds!

Go inside the Arc de Triomphe to climb to the roof up a narrow spiral stair. Try the Musée d'Orsay instead of the Louvre (unless you have a desperate urge to see Mona Lisa through the crowd).

A boat trip on the Seine is essential to orientate your geography, the Metro can be a it disorientating. We tend to use the cheap water bus rather than the guided tour boats. They go to near enough the same places at something like half the price! Finally, Paris is a relatively compact city, especially in the strip along from Arc de Triomphe to Notre Dame. This means you can fill a day doing a lot of tourist stuff in one area within walking distance without having to get on and off the Metro.

Also, it is possible to pre-booked tickets to many Paris Museums & Galleries. Most hotels sell the tickets and it means you can jump the queues!

[mep]

A must see in Paris is definitely le Musée du Louvre but take your time there.
You will need almost a day to see most of the stuff. It is really big and there is much more to see than Mona Lisa.
Then of course you can also go to Les Invalides to see the grave of Napoleon and you can visit the military museum there. The military museum takes like half a day. Then you can maybe go to Sacre Coeur, Catacombes Champ Elysees or les Galleries Lafayette (nice for your mom). You don’t need to go to la Defence and le grand Arch. I think it’s quite boring place.
Don’t forget about Versailles. It is very close to Paris and another day trip per train.
During evening and night you can go to the area near Boulevard St. Michel. There are nice restaurants, bars and clubs.

[manchild]

Renault Museum

rue des Abondances, 92100
Paris (Boulogne)
Phone 33(0)1 46 05 21 58

Admission Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2.00 p.m to 6.00 p.m

-------------------------------------------

The National Museum of the Car and Tourism

Le Musée National de la Voiture et du Tourisme
Château de Compiègne
Place du Général de Gaulle
60200
Compiègne
France

Telephone: 3 44 38 47 00

http://www.placesinfrance.com/musee_nat ... risme.html

[vyselegend]

One thing or two about Paris.

First, the bad stuff:

-As a tourist, be very carefull with you wallet & such stuff while in "tourist places" like Effeil tower etc, and especially in the metro. It's not as bad as in Rome but close.

-Be also carefull in the northeast of the city (Montmartre, Belleville, la Villette etc, basically the district 18,19 and 20). For comparison, it could be seen a bit like NY's Queens and Harlem kind of places (in terms of criminality) although I don't want to make things worse than they are, honnestly in such places lots of people live everyday without problems, it's more a matter of avoiding bands and obviously not getting involved in any kind of illegal activities and street violence. Maybe one or two streets should be totally avoided, like "Barbes" and "la goutte d'or". You won't be missing anything there anyway.

-If possible avoid using a car in the city, this is an everyday nightmare because the traffic is so dense, and really there are some days I came VERY close to commit murder because of that. This is a jungle really, although I guess it's more or less the same in every big city of the world... Metro smells bad and feels shady but it goes everywhere in unbeatable time (unless there's a strike, which happens rather often... )
Also, fuel is incredibly expensive here.

As for the good stuff:

-First, the one thing that French can be proud of is the food! I love food from lots of country, but in France there are thousands of thousands of great place to eat, not necessary expensives, and basically the french food is such a rich book that you'll need a life time to explore everything.

-And... Well that's all! But the food is great I told you, so don't complain!

Joke appart if you're interested PM me I'll give you some good restaurant adresses.

And most importantly:

Enjoy your trip, the race and everything! Don't forget to share pics and vids too!

[Richard]

Good points from mep except ...

You don’t need to go to la Defence and le grand Arch. I think it’s quite boring place.

Yes, la Defence is dull. I enjoyed the Arch de Triomphe though, probably because it fitted in with some other stuff that day and the climb inside is interesting. Also, as someone new to Paris who has only seen the pics, there is an element of "OMG its huge" that you can only get by walking up to it, and then trying to fit it in your camera lens! You get a similar "OMG" feel on the roof when you see all the boulevards pointing straight at you and realise the monumental scale of Haussmann's renovation of Paris (link).

Unfortunately, the walk down the Champs-Élysées to the Seine is a procession of global branded shops. The compensation is that about halfway down you do get a chance to get up close and personal with an F1 car in the Renault showroom.

http://www.atelier.renault.com/atelierr ... .aspx?id=1

[West]

Just an update... I didn't see this thread viewed for a while so I kinda left it alone.

I will be in Milan for about a week before the race. I will visit Venice and the Ferrari Museum; possibly Switzerland and/or Austria should money and time permit. After my stay in Milan I will fly to Nice for a few days for the race.

If anybody has some suggestions for Milan, let me know. We're still trying to find a place to stay near the hotel.

[mep]

Good points from mep except ...

You don’t need to go to la Defence and le grand Arch. I think it’s quite boring place.

Yes, la Defence is dull. I enjoyed the Arch de Triomphe though, probably because it fitted in with some other stuff that day and the climb inside is interesting. Also, as someone new to Paris who has only seen the pics, there is an element of "OMG its huge" that you can only get by walking up to it, and then trying to fit it in your camera lens! You get a similar "OMG" feel on the roof when you see all the boulevards pointing straight at you and realise the monumental scale of Haussmann's renovation of Paris (link).

Unfortunately, the walk down the Champs-Élysées to the Seine is a procession of global branded shops. The compensation is that about halfway down you do get a chance to get up close and personal with an F1 car in the Renault showroom.

http://www.atelier.renault.com/atelierr ... .aspx?id=1

Ah I think we are speaking about different things.
I was talking about le grand Arche, you know the big modern building in la Defence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arche


It seems like you are talking about le Arche de Triomphe. It's the smaller and older building from Napoleonic ages which is definitely a must see in Paris even when you not climb on top of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_de_Triomphe

[NeonXray]

i was 2007, fantastic!!!!!!!!

[manchild]

Ok, now we're talking Paris. There I've been (unlike Monaco).

Now, Louvre is great of course, but unless you have a whole day to spend for Louvre, than I'd suggest quick visit to must see places like Eiffel tower, Montmartre, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Les Invalides, Concorde Square, Moulin Rouge, Pigalle.

There are masterpieces in Louvre of course, and the castle itself is worth seeing, but a museum is a museum, you're indoors.

So, if you want to experience Paris and France, rather to gaze at paintings and sculptures, to breath French spring, than take a walk down the Champs d'Elise, make pauses at cafes, try local cuisine, walk trough backstreets streets that are not crowded with Japanese tourists.

I've seen all those places, but for what I remember it is the spring in the air, the trees, the skies... So, if you're into spiritual experience more than classical, make few snapshot near each "must see" place, and move on. The more miles you walk, the more air your breath - the more of it will remain in your memories.