Our big road trip, with some piccies - last part now on page 2!
02-07-2008, 10:04 PM
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Our big road trip, with some piccies - last part now on page 2!
Hi all
As some of you know, Rachael and I recently went on a bit of an epic trip in the Porsche, having returned last Sunday. For those that are interested, I wanted to share a little of the highlights, and a couple of the snaps.
In brief, the itinerary was as below,
Sat 14th Exeter (Engerland) - Nurburgring (Germany)
Mon 16th Nurburgring - Stuttgart (Germany)
Tue 17th Stuttgart - Lucern (Switzerland)
Wed 18th Lucern - Chamonix Mt Blanc (Switzerland)
Thu 19th Chamonix - St Remo (Italy)
Fri 20th St Remo - Monaco (Sort of France!)
Mon 23rd Monaco - Cannes (France) (and Antibes)
Tue 24th Cannes - Avignon
Wed 25th Avignon - Generac (near Nimes and Montpellier)
Fri 27th Generac - Narbonne
Sat 28th Narbonne - Calais (by train)
Sun 29th Calais to home
I will try to give a brief outline of the best bits of the trip, and the snaps that accompany it. We honestly did soo much that I cant get it all in one story. I will give you the highlights, though in stages - I may have to come back to it tomorrow! I took loads of photos, as it was a great way to get used to my new toy, my Canon EOS 400D, which was used in conjunction with just two lenses - the stock lens, and a 200Xzoom telephoto lens that I also have (Tamron for those interested). This is a selection of those shots taken.
For those not interested, then I recomment the pretty little red x in the top right of your screen!
I find this can often solve many many problems.
We covered a total of 2,500 miles in the car, as well as the 800 odd miles that the train did getting us back from the south of france up to calais. Thats quite a fair trip for a two week holiday! Some of the photos are quite large, so sorry!
Sat 14th June
We left Exeter in Devon (from now on called home) with my cousin and good friend Paul in his new (to him) M3, and met up with my lifelong friend Ant in his SL55 AMG (stupidly fast car!)
Car in Tunnel - the last time it would look shiney for two long weeks - the poor thing had no idea what was waiting for it!
First destination - Nurburgring!
Sun 15th - At the Ring
Well, having finally got here and got out of the shit hole that is Liege, we find ourselves here at the same time as the World Superbikes! I was aware that we had chosen this weekend, but only long after we had booked it all up. It did explain why accommodation was soo hard to find!
Free advice - if you do choose to go to the Nurburgring on the same weekend as the World Superbikes championship, then you need to know the following:
1. The hotels will be full, and as such you will be forced to spend Sat night in a terrible terrible place such as Liege in Belgium. James's free tourist advice - If you have to stop in Liege - don't!
2. When you get there, the track will be surprisingly quiet! That is because everybody else is watching the superbikes on the new track next door!
3. If you were expecting to get loads of really nice photos of your car from those nice chaps that normally take snaps of the cars on the Touristfarting (deliberate misspelling) - forget it. Somewhat unsurprisingly, they were all taking photos of the superbikes! Go figure!!!
The place was absolutely buzzing! Whilst the area was really really busy, a real surprise was that the track was dead quiet. This was in no small part due to the fact that the track was also wet (or at least partly wet) for most of the day.
Interesting fact number 1 - If you go to the Nurburgring when there is a major event on the new track, they reroute you through the old pit lane on the Nordschlieffe!
This was cool for two reasons - firstly we got to go through the pit lane of the old track, and two, it encouraged all of us to leave the stopwatches in the bag, and concentrate on having a little more fun!
The above gives you an idea of the wetness! We arrived in typical form to a closed track - a familiar position for any regular ring-goer.
That gave good opportunity to explore the car park a little. The highlights on the first day had to be these to bad boys -
Brand spanking GT2 - Nothing says "I have money" like taking your brand spanking new £130,000 to a race track!
This was one of those rather tasty Merc CLK AMG Blacks - at least we think it was. If it wasnt, it was at least the colour black!
The below is a piccie of my extremely long suffering wife! Anyone who knows Rachael knows that she puts up with a great deal with a cheery smile! She was an absolute angel on this trip, and when she wasnt in one of the cars with us, she happily stood guard at the cafe!
Soooo - the track did open, and this gave me a whole new experience - Nurgy with the engine in the wrong place!!!!
I will never forget the line I believe that I read on the bridge to gantry website - "Porsche GT3s are magnetically attracted to the barriers at the Ring". Anyone who has been there regularly will have seen at least one Porsche dragged off, and I really didnt want to be another on the list! So right up to the first corner, I was really well behaved, but that was sadly how long it lasted!
I have always had a real fear of the ring in the wet - mainly because the 2wd cossie that preceeded the porker was supremely bad in the wet! The track was half dry by the time we got out there - and the wet first hits you halfway down the hill (before you get to the other entrance near Adenau). Pretty bad place to suddenly and spectacularly lose traction!
When I first got to the wet stuff, I celebrated the fact with a very poorly timed down change whilst applying brakes. This led to a rather anus-clenching aqua plane of sorts (nice way of saying skiddypoo). Fortunately, my brain operated fast enough for me to sort out before we arrived at the next corner. Thereon, the car was absolutely sublime! The 4x4 combined with the electronic gizmos made light work of it, and I really started to enjoy myself out there.
The above shows me following a black porker identical to mine bar for tyre choice - he went for Michy Cups - stunning in the dry, but useless on both wet and somewhat more surprisingly also mildly damp tracks. This basically meant that in the beginning through Hatzenbach (dry) he was quicker than me, and pulled away. When it got wet, I was back on him big style. As the track dried (near the show-boat corner where the photo was taken) I seemed to weirdly keep my advantage, and was all over him till I eventually overtook him and carried on. Hurrah for me and my intermediate Pirellis!
Paul in his new M3 was having a cracking time, and loving every minute. Anyone who has been there will tell you that the M3 bang-for-buck is one of the most competent cars you could choose. He loved every minute
Ants SL is one of the funniest cars in the world. People simply have no idea how fast it is! This leads to a good deal of porsches totally underestimating it, and suffering often at his hands.
Day 2 - dry weather!
Sore heads from a few beers the day before, but nothing serious. We shared the hotel with some of the guys from the Honda Superbike team - top lads, who needed to nurse a poor result with the use of beer!
Arty shot of the track from the car park!
There was a good deal of serious metal out on the monday, and to be honest for a lot of the time, it was just too damned busy!
Interesting Information 2 - If it is too busy, keep the faith. More than 75% of the attendees tend to leave about two hours before the end of the day - best laps are to be had then - and you can get a few in!
The most impressive driver for me was the guy in the white GT2 - he was absolutely on it. Drove away from anything anywhere near him.
Second prize goes to the guy in the Black CLK AMG, who couldnt drive for shit, but in the wet put soooo much faith in the toys - the car was all over the place, but never found a barrier!
This is us all smiling for the camera. I lost the "hold your stomach in competition" - as per usual!
A couple of other shots of guys on and around the track......
The below is possibly my favourite photo of the whole weekend.
Finally - guess the car competition.....
At this point, we said our goodbyes to Ant and Paul, who returned home. We ventured on just the two of us in the Porsche...... For the sake of poor Passionford, I will continue the story in another window thingy
JJ
As some of you know, Rachael and I recently went on a bit of an epic trip in the Porsche, having returned last Sunday. For those that are interested, I wanted to share a little of the highlights, and a couple of the snaps.
In brief, the itinerary was as below,
Sat 14th Exeter (Engerland) - Nurburgring (Germany)
Mon 16th Nurburgring - Stuttgart (Germany)
Tue 17th Stuttgart - Lucern (Switzerland)
Wed 18th Lucern - Chamonix Mt Blanc (Switzerland)
Thu 19th Chamonix - St Remo (Italy)
Fri 20th St Remo - Monaco (Sort of France!)
Mon 23rd Monaco - Cannes (France) (and Antibes)
Tue 24th Cannes - Avignon
Wed 25th Avignon - Generac (near Nimes and Montpellier)
Fri 27th Generac - Narbonne
Sat 28th Narbonne - Calais (by train)
Sun 29th Calais to home
I will try to give a brief outline of the best bits of the trip, and the snaps that accompany it. We honestly did soo much that I cant get it all in one story. I will give you the highlights, though in stages - I may have to come back to it tomorrow! I took loads of photos, as it was a great way to get used to my new toy, my Canon EOS 400D, which was used in conjunction with just two lenses - the stock lens, and a 200Xzoom telephoto lens that I also have (Tamron for those interested). This is a selection of those shots taken.
For those not interested, then I recomment the pretty little red x in the top right of your screen!
I find this can often solve many many problems.We covered a total of 2,500 miles in the car, as well as the 800 odd miles that the train did getting us back from the south of france up to calais. Thats quite a fair trip for a two week holiday! Some of the photos are quite large, so sorry!
Sat 14th June
We left Exeter in Devon (from now on called home) with my cousin and good friend Paul in his new (to him) M3, and met up with my lifelong friend Ant in his SL55 AMG (stupidly fast car!)
Car in Tunnel - the last time it would look shiney for two long weeks - the poor thing had no idea what was waiting for it!
First destination - Nurburgring!
Sun 15th - At the Ring
Well, having finally got here and got out of the shit hole that is Liege, we find ourselves here at the same time as the World Superbikes! I was aware that we had chosen this weekend, but only long after we had booked it all up. It did explain why accommodation was soo hard to find!
Free advice - if you do choose to go to the Nurburgring on the same weekend as the World Superbikes championship, then you need to know the following:
1. The hotels will be full, and as such you will be forced to spend Sat night in a terrible terrible place such as Liege in Belgium. James's free tourist advice - If you have to stop in Liege - don't!
2. When you get there, the track will be surprisingly quiet! That is because everybody else is watching the superbikes on the new track next door!
3. If you were expecting to get loads of really nice photos of your car from those nice chaps that normally take snaps of the cars on the Touristfarting (deliberate misspelling) - forget it. Somewhat unsurprisingly, they were all taking photos of the superbikes! Go figure!!!
The place was absolutely buzzing! Whilst the area was really really busy, a real surprise was that the track was dead quiet. This was in no small part due to the fact that the track was also wet (or at least partly wet) for most of the day.
Interesting fact number 1 - If you go to the Nurburgring when there is a major event on the new track, they reroute you through the old pit lane on the Nordschlieffe!
This was cool for two reasons - firstly we got to go through the pit lane of the old track, and two, it encouraged all of us to leave the stopwatches in the bag, and concentrate on having a little more fun!
The above gives you an idea of the wetness! We arrived in typical form to a closed track - a familiar position for any regular ring-goer.
That gave good opportunity to explore the car park a little. The highlights on the first day had to be these to bad boys -
Brand spanking GT2 - Nothing says "I have money" like taking your brand spanking new £130,000 to a race track!
This was one of those rather tasty Merc CLK AMG Blacks - at least we think it was. If it wasnt, it was at least the colour black!
The below is a piccie of my extremely long suffering wife! Anyone who knows Rachael knows that she puts up with a great deal with a cheery smile! She was an absolute angel on this trip, and when she wasnt in one of the cars with us, she happily stood guard at the cafe!
Soooo - the track did open, and this gave me a whole new experience - Nurgy with the engine in the wrong place!!!!
I will never forget the line I believe that I read on the bridge to gantry website - "Porsche GT3s are magnetically attracted to the barriers at the Ring". Anyone who has been there regularly will have seen at least one Porsche dragged off, and I really didnt want to be another on the list! So right up to the first corner, I was really well behaved, but that was sadly how long it lasted!
I have always had a real fear of the ring in the wet - mainly because the 2wd cossie that preceeded the porker was supremely bad in the wet! The track was half dry by the time we got out there - and the wet first hits you halfway down the hill (before you get to the other entrance near Adenau). Pretty bad place to suddenly and spectacularly lose traction!
When I first got to the wet stuff, I celebrated the fact with a very poorly timed down change whilst applying brakes. This led to a rather anus-clenching aqua plane of sorts (nice way of saying skiddypoo). Fortunately, my brain operated fast enough for me to sort out before we arrived at the next corner. Thereon, the car was absolutely sublime! The 4x4 combined with the electronic gizmos made light work of it, and I really started to enjoy myself out there.
The above shows me following a black porker identical to mine bar for tyre choice - he went for Michy Cups - stunning in the dry, but useless on both wet and somewhat more surprisingly also mildly damp tracks. This basically meant that in the beginning through Hatzenbach (dry) he was quicker than me, and pulled away. When it got wet, I was back on him big style. As the track dried (near the show-boat corner where the photo was taken) I seemed to weirdly keep my advantage, and was all over him till I eventually overtook him and carried on. Hurrah for me and my intermediate Pirellis!
Paul in his new M3 was having a cracking time, and loving every minute. Anyone who has been there will tell you that the M3 bang-for-buck is one of the most competent cars you could choose. He loved every minute
Ants SL is one of the funniest cars in the world. People simply have no idea how fast it is! This leads to a good deal of porsches totally underestimating it, and suffering often at his hands.
Day 2 - dry weather!
Sore heads from a few beers the day before, but nothing serious. We shared the hotel with some of the guys from the Honda Superbike team - top lads, who needed to nurse a poor result with the use of beer!
Arty shot of the track from the car park!
There was a good deal of serious metal out on the monday, and to be honest for a lot of the time, it was just too damned busy!
Interesting Information 2 - If it is too busy, keep the faith. More than 75% of the attendees tend to leave about two hours before the end of the day - best laps are to be had then - and you can get a few in!
The most impressive driver for me was the guy in the white GT2 - he was absolutely on it. Drove away from anything anywhere near him.
Second prize goes to the guy in the Black CLK AMG, who couldnt drive for shit, but in the wet put soooo much faith in the toys - the car was all over the place, but never found a barrier!
This is us all smiling for the camera. I lost the "hold your stomach in competition" - as per usual!
A couple of other shots of guys on and around the track......
The below is possibly my favourite photo of the whole weekend.
Finally - guess the car competition.....
At this point, we said our goodbyes to Ant and Paul, who returned home. We ventured on just the two of us in the Porsche...... For the sake of poor Passionford, I will continue the story in another window thingy
JJ
Last edited by JjCoDeX75; 06-07-2008 at 09:35 PM.
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02-07-2008, 10:42 PM
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Soooooooooo onward with our journey.
Tue 17th June - Stuttgart
Anyone guess why we went to Stuttgart? No - you're wrong, it wasnt for the football or the beautiful architecture. It was in fact to do the Porsche Factory Tour!
No photos are allowed in the factory sadly, so I cant show you much from there - needless to say it was like an Anoracks wet dream! As such, I loved it! Was great to see how they put the cars together, and in particular the engines. Nice to know that there is a separate line dedicated to only 911 GT2, GT3 and Turbo engines! Also, interestingly, even though it is a production line one man will completely assemble one engine, as opposed to just doing one bit. This way it ensures that they are accountable for their work.
Interesting fact 3 - Each engine number can be traced to the chap who built it, but only by Porsche!
Best photo was actually from the Stuttgart Porsche dealership - a 911 Turbo cut away to show how it was put together! How cool eh! 100 grand car cut in half! Only those crazy germans!
Also - the best sign in the world was found in Stuttgart. Anyone who knows me will understand the importance of this kind of hospital
Interesting fact number 3 - If you go to a dealership in Germany, they dont try to take your money for no reason!
I had convinced myself that one of my rear tyres was a little low on tread on the inside edge. As such, I had booked it into porsche Stuttgart for a pair of rear tyres (better safe than sorry given the roads). When we got there, the guys actually checked the amount of grip on the tyres. When he did, he announced that I was worrying about nothing, and that there was plenty of grip left. As such, his recommendation was that I shouldnt change the tyres! Wow!!!
I can absolutely guarantee that a main dealer in this country would not have even checked the tyres - simply changed them, and taken your money. What a refreshing attitude!
An opportunity for some spare parts!!!! (Mine on the left - donor on the right!!!!)
After this, we dove down to Lucern, in Switzerland.
First view of rather a large hill
For those that dont know Switzerland (and that included me), Lucern is a pretty amazing little town, set by a lake, and also by the start of the Alps. It is picturesque beyond belief. Photo below is part of the town.
The timber walkway was properly old - cant remember how old, but Google will doubtless assist in this for those that must know! I can tell you that the tower used to be used for many things, including water butt, and torture chamber! It also benefits from apparently being the most photographed buildling in all of Switzerland (or so they told me!) Naturally, we took a photo!
The Swiss really really really really hate cars. If you go there, be prepared to travel the speed limit. If you are caught doing 15kph over the limit, that is an instant ban, and they remove your licence there and then. I am glad to say, (notwithstanding camera tickets that we arent aware of) that we avoided this, but a lesson for all!
From lucern, we made our way over the Alps. The photos below really speak louder than words........
Talk about small world - half way up a frigging mountain, and we meet a couple from blighty mad enough to tow a caravan over the alps with an F reg 205! All credit to them!
As you get near the top, the snow surrounded the roads, though the roads stayed wonderfully dry and clear.
Rach showing me how to prepare the perfect snowball - little did I know it had a rock in it! - Oh how that sweet innocent face can fool!
At the top of our road, we were at about 2,200m high, and surrounded by deep snow, and frozen lakes! We stopped to have lunch at the top with a couple doing a similar adventure from the Netherlands in their Corvette, which we had a lot of fun with going up the mountain pass.
The rest of the photos likewise speak louder than words - the roads were just incredible. Best bit? No power for speed cameras! Also - no cars! It was like our own private road.
After a good number of hours later, we finally arrived in a little village called Les Houches, just next to Chamonix Mt Blanc at the foot of Mt Blanc. One of the most beautiful places in the world, as I think the photo below shows. The hotel was straight off a chocolate box, and the views were astounding.
The hotel
The view!
The place was owned by a French family, and the cooking and the company was fantastic. Really warm memories of these guys, and I would certainly go back.
Thu 19th June - To the coast!
How surreal is this? We started just a few days ago in cold Exeter in Devon, and by lunchtime, we will be eating in San Remo - a city on the Med in Northern Italy!
We dove through the Mt Blanc Tunnel, which is quite a feat of engineering, but very very dull. So here is us exiting it!
Our first site of the mediteranian. As I type this, I cannot tell you how excited we were about this - we have taken a serious long cut to get to the med, and I have never driven to it before. It honestly was such an amazing moment when we saw the med!
Interesting fact number 4 - if you are good, the road from the Mt Blanc Tunnel down south to the med in italy is almost constantly downhilll. As a result, we managed to achieve a rather silly average mpg...... (this is not faked!!!!)
San remo was a nice little town, but not really truthfully noteworthy. Stayed in a great Golf Resort - got to play golf, but the best bit was the drive up the hill to the resort.......
The car by the Med - a major milestone achieved on the hols!
Ooooo - tomorrow we are in Monaco! More to follow people!
JJ
Tue 17th June - Stuttgart
Anyone guess why we went to Stuttgart? No - you're wrong, it wasnt for the football or the beautiful architecture. It was in fact to do the Porsche Factory Tour!
No photos are allowed in the factory sadly, so I cant show you much from there - needless to say it was like an Anoracks wet dream! As such, I loved it! Was great to see how they put the cars together, and in particular the engines. Nice to know that there is a separate line dedicated to only 911 GT2, GT3 and Turbo engines! Also, interestingly, even though it is a production line one man will completely assemble one engine, as opposed to just doing one bit. This way it ensures that they are accountable for their work.
Interesting fact 3 - Each engine number can be traced to the chap who built it, but only by Porsche!
Best photo was actually from the Stuttgart Porsche dealership - a 911 Turbo cut away to show how it was put together! How cool eh! 100 grand car cut in half! Only those crazy germans!
Also - the best sign in the world was found in Stuttgart. Anyone who knows me will understand the importance of this kind of hospital
Interesting fact number 3 - If you go to a dealership in Germany, they dont try to take your money for no reason!
I had convinced myself that one of my rear tyres was a little low on tread on the inside edge. As such, I had booked it into porsche Stuttgart for a pair of rear tyres (better safe than sorry given the roads). When we got there, the guys actually checked the amount of grip on the tyres. When he did, he announced that I was worrying about nothing, and that there was plenty of grip left. As such, his recommendation was that I shouldnt change the tyres! Wow!!!
I can absolutely guarantee that a main dealer in this country would not have even checked the tyres - simply changed them, and taken your money. What a refreshing attitude!
An opportunity for some spare parts!!!! (Mine on the left - donor on the right!!!!)
After this, we dove down to Lucern, in Switzerland.
First view of rather a large hill
For those that dont know Switzerland (and that included me), Lucern is a pretty amazing little town, set by a lake, and also by the start of the Alps. It is picturesque beyond belief. Photo below is part of the town.
The timber walkway was properly old - cant remember how old, but Google will doubtless assist in this for those that must know! I can tell you that the tower used to be used for many things, including water butt, and torture chamber! It also benefits from apparently being the most photographed buildling in all of Switzerland (or so they told me!) Naturally, we took a photo!
The Swiss really really really really hate cars. If you go there, be prepared to travel the speed limit. If you are caught doing 15kph over the limit, that is an instant ban, and they remove your licence there and then. I am glad to say, (notwithstanding camera tickets that we arent aware of) that we avoided this, but a lesson for all!
From lucern, we made our way over the Alps. The photos below really speak louder than words........
Talk about small world - half way up a frigging mountain, and we meet a couple from blighty mad enough to tow a caravan over the alps with an F reg 205! All credit to them!
As you get near the top, the snow surrounded the roads, though the roads stayed wonderfully dry and clear.
Rach showing me how to prepare the perfect snowball - little did I know it had a rock in it! - Oh how that sweet innocent face can fool!
At the top of our road, we were at about 2,200m high, and surrounded by deep snow, and frozen lakes! We stopped to have lunch at the top with a couple doing a similar adventure from the Netherlands in their Corvette, which we had a lot of fun with going up the mountain pass.
The rest of the photos likewise speak louder than words - the roads were just incredible. Best bit? No power for speed cameras! Also - no cars! It was like our own private road.
After a good number of hours later, we finally arrived in a little village called Les Houches, just next to Chamonix Mt Blanc at the foot of Mt Blanc. One of the most beautiful places in the world, as I think the photo below shows. The hotel was straight off a chocolate box, and the views were astounding.
The hotel
The view!
The place was owned by a French family, and the cooking and the company was fantastic. Really warm memories of these guys, and I would certainly go back.
Thu 19th June - To the coast!
How surreal is this? We started just a few days ago in cold Exeter in Devon, and by lunchtime, we will be eating in San Remo - a city on the Med in Northern Italy!
We dove through the Mt Blanc Tunnel, which is quite a feat of engineering, but very very dull. So here is us exiting it!
Our first site of the mediteranian. As I type this, I cannot tell you how excited we were about this - we have taken a serious long cut to get to the med, and I have never driven to it before. It honestly was such an amazing moment when we saw the med!
Interesting fact number 4 - if you are good, the road from the Mt Blanc Tunnel down south to the med in italy is almost constantly downhilll. As a result, we managed to achieve a rather silly average mpg...... (this is not faked!!!!)
San remo was a nice little town, but not really truthfully noteworthy. Stayed in a great Golf Resort - got to play golf, but the best bit was the drive up the hill to the resort.......
The car by the Med - a major milestone achieved on the hols!
Ooooo - tomorrow we are in Monaco! More to follow people!
JJ
Last edited by JjCoDeX75; 02-07-2008 at 10:44 PM.
02-07-2008, 11:48 PM
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On to Monaco!!!!
This was one of the highlights of the trip for us - Neither of us have ever been to Monaco before. Also, we now welcome back into our little Story cousin Paul, though this time accompanied by his Fiance, Charlotte! They flew down to meet us for the weekend in Monaco.
If I had to sum up Monaco in one word, that word would be EXPENSIVE!
If I was allowed to use a few more words, I would use these; Expensive, Exotic, Clean, Fascinating, amazing, unconventially charming.
I was totally blown away by Monaco - of course anyone who has watched motorsport will have a vague idea about the race track bits, but nothing prepares you for the opulence.
As with all places, there are two sections - the cheap bit (which is kinda more expensive than Chelsea!) and the expensive bit (just dont ask! Dont even think to ask).
The expensive bit is the area by the Casino Royale, including the Hotel de Paris, and the Cafe de Paris. I have no idea what it would cost to stay in the Hotel de Paris, but I can tell you that in the restaurant, one of the main courses was over 450 Euros! In uk money that still equates to about 400 quid for a dish! Arty snaps of the Car outside each.
The casino
The Hotel De Paris
and what a car park! The tiny car park was crammed with brand spanking Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, and the like. The Porsche was starting to look a little long in the tooth!
For the F1 Guys, I present the following photos:
The starting grid
By Casino
The big hairpin
That bit by the wall
Going under the tunnel
La Rascasse (last bend before pit entrance). We actually ate there - it was very very nice (and obviously expensive!)
The main thing that strikes you with the people in Monaco is that they can actually afford the toys that they buy. I saw an Enzo there that was clearly being used like a car! (as opposed to a museum piece) - pulled up by a restaurant, parked badly and went for his meal!.
Rach and I did our bit, and dressed up a little to go to the Casino on the Sat night. This is us - not a great photo, but taken with a little camcorder, so best we had.
The casino was amazing! - I have only been in a casino once before, and I am not one of lifes gamblers. I went in with 100 euro, and actually came out in profit at the end of the evening, with 155 euro. It is just such an experience though, the Croupiers are just amazing. In Monaco, all the chips are the same colour for all the players, and only different colours for amounts. That means one thing when playing roulette - remember what you bet on!
Even so, amazingly there wasnt a single argument or disagreement - it was astonishing! The biggest bet I saw was 10,0000 Euro that was put down on a single number on the roulette table. It was gone as quickly as it was put down as a different number rolled in! The guy did not bat even an eyelid! Other world.....
We stayed in the more modest Mariot, which overlooked one of the ports - I am quite a boat fan, and these things were huge! The big difference in Monaco is that the super rich actually use their boats! On the Saturday, the bay was filled with boats, and the port empty. This was quite a refreshing change - I have stayed on a boat in Majorca before, and the large boats there just stayed put almost permanently - what a waste!
View from hotel room
A couple more big boat shots for those that share my passion.....
Nice little speed boats
Nother one
Col De Turini
Back to driverland. No trip to Monaco would be complete without a trip to the Col de Turini! This was well covered by our friends from Top Gear, that recently took a trip down to this road on the first episode of last series. Look out for the repeat - the one with the Green GT3 RS, the Lambo (orange I think), and the stripped out Aston Martin. To be fair their budget for filming was higher than mine, so it would probably give you a better impression!
Paul scored a bit of a result on the hire car - it was this little Alfa, whilst diesel showed significant prowess on these amazing mountain roads.
Some more snaps of the Col de Turini route
Near the bottom - an amazing old and now redundant road structure
Some of the views
Interestingly, this was where Clarkson and Hammond waited for May on the video - a fact I only became aware of when we returned home. Seriously, that is important - honest.
At this point, Rachael pointed out that I had taken more photos of the car than her. I told her that that simply wasnt true....... and quickly took some snaps of her to prove the point......
Interesting fact number 5 - The col de turini road that they use on the montecarlo rally is the road to and from the col de turini. It is NOT the road that ascends to the top of the mountain from that point.
The above may seem obvious to most sensible minded people, but not to me! As a result, we took this one way road up to the peak! A mistake that all too quickly became made obvious by the landrovers we encountered! Nonetheless, with very very careful progress, we made it all the way around, though with some pretty incredulous looks form our off roading neighbours! Did make for some great views though.......
The way down was equally fun, having taken respite at the top for a brief bite. On this occasion, I can wholeheartedly confirm that Top gear had chosen well, and I would absolutely recommend that any driving enthusiast must at some point take this drive! Oh, and if you want to go to the top - take someone elses Porsche!
The cleanliness of Monaco is just outstanding. You have to turn a blind eye to the costs, else it would just dominate your holiday, but for those that want to know, some sample costs include
hotel cost us 750 euro for three nights bed only (ie no meals).
A meal in the hotel for four of us cost 225 euro
Even so, it was well well worth it. Some more snaps of Monaco streets, and Paul, Charlotte and Rach.
With another fond goodbye to Paul and Charlotte on the Monday, Rachael and I were now off to Cannes (location of the famous film festival, though gladly not whilst we were there!)
The rest of the hols I will update tomorrow, once I have had a little kip! Enjoy
Last edited by JjCoDeX75; 03-07-2008 at 12:02 AM.
02-07-2008, 11:58 PM
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Thanks for all the kind words guys! It was really great! As always, the photobucket thing doesnt really do the snaps justice - some of them I was really pleased with - especially the one pointed out by Philram - same photo at a higher quality after this...
Chip - I hope that you are right, bud - it was just brilliant, though I hemorrhaged money, and have a little saving to do before we go again!
This is a thumbnail for the sake of the site - clicky for a better size image! I am particularly proud of this photo.
JJ
Chip - I hope that you are right, bud - it was just brilliant, though I hemorrhaged money, and have a little saving to do before we go again!
This is a thumbnail for the sake of the site - clicky for a better size image! I am particularly proud of this photo.
JJ
03-07-2008, 12:02 AM
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bloody awesome write up!
i am so very very envious... looks like an amzing road trip!!!
i LOVE that black GT2 and th TWAT number plate!
the scenery looks just incredible!
thank you for sharing!
i am so very very envious... looks like an amzing road trip!!!
i LOVE that black GT2 and th TWAT number plate!
the scenery looks just incredible!
thank you for sharing!
03-07-2008, 12:13 AM
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03-07-2008, 05:41 AM
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Amazing pictures. What a cool trip to do in such a nice car! The hotel de paris starts at around 450euros and goes up to 8500euros! My boat was in Monaco for the last 2 weeks so I loved it. Everynight get to see the stunning cars but yes its expensive in some parts.
Cheers for sharing the pictures with us!
Cheers for sharing the pictures with us!
03-07-2008, 07:26 AM
#26
What an amazingly articlulate and well illustrated write up. Well done James. Looks amazing, a trip to remember forever, i am admittedly quite Jealous. 
Rachael looks stunning as always, and how come your mates are as big as you? I bet not many people know that rachael is about 5'9? and your 6'5?
Rachael looks stunning as always, and how come your mates are as big as you? I bet not many people know that rachael is about 5'9? and your 6'5?
03-07-2008, 08:01 AM
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What an amazingly articlulate and well illustrated write up. Well done James. Looks amazing, a trip to remember forever, i am admittedly quite Jealous.
Rachael looks stunning as always, and how come your mates are as big as you? I bet not many people know that rachael is about 5'9? and your 6'5?
Rachael looks stunning as always, and how come your mates are as big as you? I bet not many people know that rachael is about 5'9? and your 6'5?
Thanks for the kind words!
As far as the height thing - it is a good question! I reckon it is something they put in the water down here in Exeter!
JJ
03-07-2008, 08:29 AM
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Lovely write up JJ and some fantastic pictures there mate! I think you've done pretty well with the camera there! 
I'm sure that was a holiday to remember! Very envious of you!
I'm sure that was a holiday to remember! Very envious of you!
03-07-2008, 08:51 AM
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Looks great - very jealous! I am off driving to the Alps next Friday, but only taking the Laguna Estate as i''ve got to fit the bikes and the snowboards in as well so probably won't sample so many driving roads!
03-07-2008, 08:57 AM
#33
Testing the future
looks awesome 
reminds me of my roadtrip to switzerland last year in the S2000. get the right car and the mileage becomes a pleasure rather than a chore and a worry.
looking forward to the next parts
reminds me of my roadtrip to switzerland last year in the S2000. get the right car and the mileage becomes a pleasure rather than a chore and a worry.looking forward to the next parts
03-07-2008, 09:01 AM
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Thanks for all the kind words guys - however the compliments to wifey will make her unbearable when she reads it!
More will follow, but sadly I am at work all day and out tonight, so hopefully either later tonight, or tomorrow. Watch this space!
JJ
More will follow, but sadly I am at work all day and out tonight, so hopefully either later tonight, or tomorrow. Watch this space!
JJ
03-07-2008, 09:07 AM
#35
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Best thread Ive seen on any forum for weeks. Well done and one day hopefully will do something similar myself.......although probably not with my missus.
The last set of pics dont work for me either, just got red x's......if everyone else can see them can someone enlighten me as to get them to work for me too, if it was'nt such a good thread I would'nt bother but I need to see the pics
The last set of pics dont work for me either, just got red x's......if everyone else can see them can someone enlighten me as to get them to work for me too, if it was'nt such a good thread I would'nt bother but I need to see the pics
03-07-2008, 09:13 AM
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Awesome pictures and a very well written account of how it actually was. Trully stunning scenery and probably some of the best roads in the world.
Thanks for sharing.
Matt
Thanks for sharing.
Matt
03-07-2008, 09:17 AM
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So very envious mate - would love to do this in a proper car like the Porka!! Excellent pictures - love the one showing the mountain road winding up & round.
Nice one!!
Nice one!!
03-07-2008, 09:28 AM
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That is a great writeup with some great photos of what must have been an excellent trip. How comfortable was the Porsche over that kind of distance and how did you find getting 2 weeks luggage into it?
03-07-2008, 10:33 AM
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Being 6ft 5", I had serious concerns on the space and comfort, but it was just ace! The only slight snaffoo was on really long parts of the journey if I wanted to straighten my leg, I had to work my foot between the brake and clutch pedal. Porsche leave acres of wasted space beyond the pedals! I think that they use this space better on the 997 models.
Luggage space in the car is laughable at best. Under the bonnet there was room for one soft bag, and a little bit of oil just in case. The majority of our stuff (ie rachaels stuff) then filled the back seats. The key was to use several soft bags that were carefully wedged, and then covered using two pillows with black covers on. That way you couldnt see any of the junk when we were on tour! I only insisted that the stuff did not exceed the height of the back seats, and also that it was wedged firmly so it wouldnt slide around.
So whilst laughable, if you improvise well with the back seats, it is actually quite reasonable!!!!
JJ