It was a 4am start on Wednesday morning to
get to Gatwick for our flight to Nice. It did not help with the A13 being
closed and then an accident at Lakeside diverting everyone a different
way. We arrived at the Long Stay car
park and dropped the car off, then there was a long wait for the bus, this was
going to be the story of the day. A bus had broken down and they were now
behind schedule. Eventually we checked
in and made our way to the security queue. They have a new security area which
is even slower and appears smaller than the previous one.
The British Airways flight was running
late, nothing new there, but we boarded and sat there. As I had been up early I
went to sleep. We arrived in Nice around 1050 (0950 UK time) and then collected
the case. We are staying in Monaco and
there is a bus that goes directly there every 30 minutes, but only 1 an hour –
I couldn’t work it out either. There is a timetable, but it does not appear to followed,
you turn up at the stop and wait, if you are lucky a bus comes along, if you
are really lucky it goes to your location. We waited an hour, not really an
express bus!!
Finally it arrived and we got on and the
journey was ok. It took about 40 minutes to get to Monaco centre, it takes 7
minutes by helicopter but costs a lot more. The helicopter pad was very near
our hotel. It was about 20 minute walk
from the bus stop to the hotel, we had seen a Starbucks so we stopped there to
use the internet and check the walking directions.
The Hotel Columbus is in the business
district, but it is where the winners of the Grand Prix often stay. We had a
deluxe room with a balcony. Linda did ask for a kettle as they was not one in
the room, she needs her regular input of tea. We dropped our bags off, changed
into our shorts and then went off to see the local area. Monaco is reasonably hilly, great for
running, but as we were at the bottom on one enclave, it meant walking up steps
to get to the main part.
We wandered around looking at the yachts, some big ones, some even bigger, but no one
invited us aboard for drinks. We walked along the front past where the Grand
Prix went and back into the main commercial centre. We stopped for a small bite
to eat before wandering back to the hotel. We spent the evening siting on the
balcony enjoying the view and warm weather. We had walked about 7 miles in
total.
On Thursday I was up at 0730 and went out
for a run, disaster struck my running watch ran out of battery, so I couldn’t
record my splits accurately. However, I ran along the front, up the hill where
the Grand Prix goes, past the Hotel du Paris and the Casino and down towards
the beach. I did see a Starbucks on route but didn’t have time to stop. I turned around at the
beach as a few more metres and I would have been back in France. I then
followed the Grand Prix route back, through the tunnel, around the chicane and
back to the hotel – about 4 ½ miles down. It was rather warm and I was nice and
sweaty.
Linda had woken up by now so after
showering we went for breakfast. The breakfast was a buffet and had great
choice, so I got stuck in. The sun was shining so we went for a walk to see
some more of Monaco, it is about 8-10 years since we last visited. First we
went to the heli port and watched the helicopters arriving and departing, there
was film crew there, obviously hadn’t been a murder as they didn't want to
interview me.
We wandered up the hill, past Starbucks and
to the harbour, then caught the electric boat to the other side. I then took
Linda on the route I had run in the morning, showing her all the sights. We
stopped at the best Starbucks I have been too, it had great views and we could
sit outside and watch the world go by, those walking, those on yachts and the helicopters.
After this we went for a walk along the
promenade, the beach was very sandy and quite busy. We walked past all the
attractions and into France. We then turned round and walked back into Monaco.
Our next stop was the café opposite Hotel du Paris in Monte Carlo where we can stop and watch all the Ferraris,
Porches, Maserati’s go by, our
entertainment for the afternoon
We had walked about 7.5 miles by the time
we got back to the hotel. The evening
was spent sitting on the balcony reading, surfing the net and relaxing.
On Friday we got up and had another great
breakfast, before going for a walk. We went to the Old Town which is
unfortunately at the top of another hill, more steps. We walked around the old
cobbled streets, saw the cathedral and the palace before stopping for a coffee.
We watched the changing of the guard from a distance, well most of it as a
tourist bus decided to stop in front of our table and blocked the view.
After that we walked back to the hotel and
collected our bags and then to the bus stop to play wait for the bus game. We
had to wait about 30 mins (technically it was either 40 mins or 10 mins late) and
then we got the bus back to the airport.
We had allowed time to check in and
security based on the fact Nice was on a high security alert, but there were no
queues at either. It was quickly through
and into the lounge for some food. The flight is delayed so somethings never
change.