Just a quick side note, while we're in Germany tonight was the football game between Turkey and Germany and Germany won, and the streets are alive with celebration! Very cool.
All this week we have seen tons and tons of people with German flags on their cars and such to support the team. It's not quite as crazy as Buckeye Fans, but it is just a little more orderly celebration.
Secretly i wanted Turkey to win cuz they were the underdogs.
Good night.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wow... I can breathe again.
Not sure if anyone is reading this, or if we're just typing to ourselves ;)
It's been nice having the web since we're both able to blog and give our perspectives, tonight will be the lat night we have it till London.
Today was, as expected to be, an INSANE day. We took it easy in the morning, got our last bit of Euro $$$ traded into smaller bills (hence the pic); then we went got lunch (burger and chicken nuggets from a little local joint), then went to find the castle in the city that we see on top of the hill. For whatever reason the road that leads up to the castle is under construction; and it seems to be the ONLY way to get there. We ended up driving around in vain, and for parts of it ON A BIKE PATH! OOPS! haha. It was a rainy day and kind of a bummer because this is the day we had the track rental :(
After not finding the castle we had a date with the Nuburgring Ring Cam (aaron had told friends to look for him at a certain time on the web cam at the entry to the track). We stood there for about 20 minutes hoping someone would catch screen prints of us (thanks BEN!!!). We will upload those in our pic album later.
After that we went to the track rental location, filled out tons and tons and tons of paperwork; during this time the BMW we had rented was getting it's brakes bedded in, kind of funny coincidence since when Aaron proposed it was all about brakes as well, since we were bleeding them on the STi then... ok had to have a weird girly moment, over it :D
Got the car to the track, and the owner of the car gave us a ride around the track as an instructional session. I sat in the back, and I thought it was going to be a calm ride. HOLY MOLY was a WRONG! I had been feeling a lil sick to my stomach all day, and then getting the ultimate roller coaster ride around the track REALLY did me in. I felt like vomiting while in the car, and was just 100% miserable. There was very few people our driver didn't pass on the track, he's got 4000 laps around the track so sure, he knows it well and can drive it to the ultimate, but wow I didn't need that!
After that I was done, and 100% sure I wasn't going to ride with Aaron or drive myself around the track. I just wanted to be on the ground. I happily took pix of Aaron going around, he did four laps. I held my breathe waiting for him to come back from his first, but after that I knew he would be fine, and was having a blast! During his third I had a heart to hear with myself, and basically told my self to get over it and not pass up a chance of a lifetime. So i went and bought my self a ticket to do a lap. Put on my helmet and waited for Aaron to get back.
He rode along with me, and though I didn't go super fast I still was pretty scared. It was very intense and I noticed I was doing what could be considered "normal high way speeds" but just knowing how insane the track was scared me.
I am SO GLAD i did the lap. It was really an awesome 20 minutes (exaggeration, but you get my point). It's a 21 kilometer track, just HUGE.
We filled up the race car with gas, and returned it.
We got some food, and now are beyond exhausted.
Thankfully the days rain was gone by the time it was our turn on the track, and now we can both officially say we have driven the Nurburgring; a pretty cool accomplishment, even if I do say so myself. Thanks to everyone who peer pressured me before we left the States to make sure I did it, and didn't come back without having driven it.
:D
It's been nice having the web since we're both able to blog and give our perspectives, tonight will be the lat night we have it till London.
Today was, as expected to be, an INSANE day. We took it easy in the morning, got our last bit of Euro $$$ traded into smaller bills (hence the pic); then we went got lunch (burger and chicken nuggets from a little local joint), then went to find the castle in the city that we see on top of the hill. For whatever reason the road that leads up to the castle is under construction; and it seems to be the ONLY way to get there. We ended up driving around in vain, and for parts of it ON A BIKE PATH! OOPS! haha. It was a rainy day and kind of a bummer because this is the day we had the track rental :(
After not finding the castle we had a date with the Nuburgring Ring Cam (aaron had told friends to look for him at a certain time on the web cam at the entry to the track). We stood there for about 20 minutes hoping someone would catch screen prints of us (thanks BEN!!!). We will upload those in our pic album later.
After that we went to the track rental location, filled out tons and tons and tons of paperwork; during this time the BMW we had rented was getting it's brakes bedded in, kind of funny coincidence since when Aaron proposed it was all about brakes as well, since we were bleeding them on the STi then... ok had to have a weird girly moment, over it :D
Got the car to the track, and the owner of the car gave us a ride around the track as an instructional session. I sat in the back, and I thought it was going to be a calm ride. HOLY MOLY was a WRONG! I had been feeling a lil sick to my stomach all day, and then getting the ultimate roller coaster ride around the track REALLY did me in. I felt like vomiting while in the car, and was just 100% miserable. There was very few people our driver didn't pass on the track, he's got 4000 laps around the track so sure, he knows it well and can drive it to the ultimate, but wow I didn't need that!
After that I was done, and 100% sure I wasn't going to ride with Aaron or drive myself around the track. I just wanted to be on the ground. I happily took pix of Aaron going around, he did four laps. I held my breathe waiting for him to come back from his first, but after that I knew he would be fine, and was having a blast! During his third I had a heart to hear with myself, and basically told my self to get over it and not pass up a chance of a lifetime. So i went and bought my self a ticket to do a lap. Put on my helmet and waited for Aaron to get back.
He rode along with me, and though I didn't go super fast I still was pretty scared. It was very intense and I noticed I was doing what could be considered "normal high way speeds" but just knowing how insane the track was scared me.
I am SO GLAD i did the lap. It was really an awesome 20 minutes (exaggeration, but you get my point). It's a 21 kilometer track, just HUGE.
We filled up the race car with gas, and returned it.
We got some food, and now are beyond exhausted.
Thankfully the days rain was gone by the time it was our turn on the track, and now we can both officially say we have driven the Nurburgring; a pretty cool accomplishment, even if I do say so myself. Thanks to everyone who peer pressured me before we left the States to make sure I did it, and didn't come back without having driven it.
:D
4 laps...
I took a ride in a Golf with a guy who owns the rental. Simi rode in the back seat. We both were sick feeling as the guy, with over 4,000 laps experience waxed every car he could and drove holding a conversation, and occasionally double apexs with one hand on the wheel, one on the window, and looking over his shoulder at Simi in the back seat. The ride was INSANE. It made Simi REALLY sick feeling, a fear of death perhaps. I shook it off, and grabbed my 3 series, gutted, caged, race buckets, and 150 hp and headed out. The first lap was pretty scary, really. No video game does justice to bumps, or elevation changes. Gran Turismo taught me a lot about where to go, and what to look for, but the "ass-to-eye" coordination of feeling what the car is doing and looking around helps in leaps and bounds. The Bimmer handled fantastically well, and was perfectly setup for the course, but it was certainly lacking for power. I topped it out at 205km but it really ran out of steam about 180km. Maybe that's a good thing that I didn't go stupid fast, cause there are many turns in which you see seemingly fresh skidmarks that run a 90 degree angle to the Armco. Ouch.
First lap, felt the car out. Returned to the paddock, hands shaking, blood flowing, and a smile I couldn't hide. The 20km of one lap is about 10 minutes worth of tire squeal, and just insanity. I was driving the 'Ring. Second lap was a little better but on blind fast sweepers, I was still braking and loosing the precious momentum. 3rd lap was even quicker, and 4th lap was right after the 3rd. The car started to get really squishy on it's tires as I had a downhill on camber decreasing radius turn that was a nice heart pounding 4 wheel drift on greasy rubber. Slowed the driving a bit, let a GT3RS whoosh by and kept on going. Passed a Boxster, TT and surprizingly a handful of motorcycles. More bikes than cars at the circuit. I got waxed buy the previously mentioned GT3RS, a M3, a RS4, and many many bikes. The track only had 12-15 cars, and about 30 bikes as it was a rainy afternoon here, drying up around 5pm, and of course the billion people watching "football" Euro 2008. Germany vs. Turkey.
So, 4 laps down, and about 40 minutes of driving. Maybe less, but that's just wishful thinking. 10 minute laps are pretty fast, maybe quicker driven on a video game, but if you screw up, the reset button is easier to push. I returned on my 4th and final lap to find Simi with her helmet on and a smile and ticket ready to go. I didn't want to push her to drive, but she recovered from the roller coaster earlier, and I rode with her, telling here where to go faster and where to not. She did GREAT!
Returned the now bug splattered, tires feathered, brake dust sodden BMW, filled with gas, and with 6km over the 130km driving limit, which they waived, and shared some stories. Stopped at a local bar for pizza a stones throw from the entrance to the circuit. Simi found sign out front said "Pizza Ricer" so we laughed and went there. Great pizza as fans slowly arrived for giant mugs of beer to root on Germany. Now, typing this, in the hotel watching the game, and just thinking about those 4 laps. Just 4, but holy hell was it FRICKEN INCREDIBLE.
First lap, felt the car out. Returned to the paddock, hands shaking, blood flowing, and a smile I couldn't hide. The 20km of one lap is about 10 minutes worth of tire squeal, and just insanity. I was driving the 'Ring. Second lap was a little better but on blind fast sweepers, I was still braking and loosing the precious momentum. 3rd lap was even quicker, and 4th lap was right after the 3rd. The car started to get really squishy on it's tires as I had a downhill on camber decreasing radius turn that was a nice heart pounding 4 wheel drift on greasy rubber. Slowed the driving a bit, let a GT3RS whoosh by and kept on going. Passed a Boxster, TT and surprizingly a handful of motorcycles. More bikes than cars at the circuit. I got waxed buy the previously mentioned GT3RS, a M3, a RS4, and many many bikes. The track only had 12-15 cars, and about 30 bikes as it was a rainy afternoon here, drying up around 5pm, and of course the billion people watching "football" Euro 2008. Germany vs. Turkey.
So, 4 laps down, and about 40 minutes of driving. Maybe less, but that's just wishful thinking. 10 minute laps are pretty fast, maybe quicker driven on a video game, but if you screw up, the reset button is easier to push. I returned on my 4th and final lap to find Simi with her helmet on and a smile and ticket ready to go. I didn't want to push her to drive, but she recovered from the roller coaster earlier, and I rode with her, telling here where to go faster and where to not. She did GREAT!
Returned the now bug splattered, tires feathered, brake dust sodden BMW, filled with gas, and with 6km over the 130km driving limit, which they waived, and shared some stories. Stopped at a local bar for pizza a stones throw from the entrance to the circuit. Simi found sign out front said "Pizza Ricer" so we laughed and went there. Great pizza as fans slowly arrived for giant mugs of beer to root on Germany. Now, typing this, in the hotel watching the game, and just thinking about those 4 laps. Just 4, but holy hell was it FRICKEN INCREDIBLE.
June 25th, Nuburgring, Germany
So it's about 1:30 here and we're relaxing at the hotel (Hotel Blaue Ecke - Nürburgring) that we've spent the last 2 nights in. It's raining outside, and nice and peaceful.
Later today we have a "track car" booked for rental to take out on the track. We've spent Monday evening, and all day Tuesday here exploring the region, catching different parts of the track (it's a 21km track) and seeing all kinds of taped off, cars driving around the track without emblems on.
Today we get to do the same in a BMW 3series with a roll cage and all. Everyone on the track has to wear a helmet and such. I'm a little scared! I will probably only do one lap so Aaron who knows more and is a better driver can get more laps in during the limited time window of the track being open to the public today. He's done a billion laps of this track on Play Station, it's like a huge deal to swap from PS2 to Real Life. The track has massive amounts of elevation change and I'm excited but nervous and intimidated as well. We'll check with our track rental car people today about 4:30.
Otherwise this area is AWESOME! It's like Hocking Hills meets Mid Ohio, the roads even off the track are pretty crazy, all kinds of bikers out in full gear (no one is even remotely stupid enough to not ride without FULL gear) just having fun. But at the same time it's lush, has huge rolling hills, and cute little towns with shops and such. Very cool mixture. By far a few of the most relaxing days we have had, a good way to recharge before the last two weeks of our vacation are over (hehe most vacations are 2 weeks, yet we're just a little over half way to the end of ours!).
Last night we walked the local town Adenau which is where our hotel is located. Did some shopping and a lot of looking at cool memorabilia and the like. Every store no matter what it is, be it a bakery or a hardware store or a book store embraces the racing history of the area and has cars or bikes and such in it's storefronts. So very cool. There is less soccer stuff around here, even though Germany is in the top four of the Euro 2008. Tonight is that game, against Turkey, I expect all the beer houses will be packed!
We had dinner at a Chinese place night, Sweet and Sour Chicken (much better then the stuff we get, even at high end places), and Beef Chop Suey. The Chinese lady that owned that place spoke great English, and German and Chinese. Pretty cool. We were just happy the menu was in English! Even this restaurant had racing pictures up in it's lobby.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the region, we got to hang out in the paddock of the Ring, see some film crews covering a concept car, saw the 4 door Porsche that is being developed, an R8, all hanging out in the paddock, and then we later were lucky enough to also see them on the track! So neat. From there we went to the main track entrance, found the web cam that Aaron watches every once in a while, saw some guys waving to the camera, kind of like we plan to do today!!! They called friends and told them they were at the camera, we don't have the luxury of a phone, but we've scheduled some time with some friends, so we'll do what we can. We had lunch at the Green Hell Restaurant, and watched more cars. After that we came back to the hotel, napped, and then took our walk around Adenau.
It's really HOT in Europe compared to what we thought, and everyone who is local is like What the Heck is going on! It's hard for us to sleep since there is no air or fans, since this is not normal. The only other thing that makes it hard to sleep here in Adenau is the church bell that is next to our hotel, it's crazy, it not only rings every hour on the hour, but at noon and midnight it rings about a hundred times, Aaron counted 247 rings at midnight the first night, I thought he was kidding (i slept through) but then I heard it last night, lol.
Otherwise that about catches everyone up on whats been going on with us.
Tomorrow after the track time tonight we'll sleep in (not too late, we have to wake up early enough to get some AWESOME breakfast from the Hotel buffet, it's GREAT!) and then pack our selves up and head to Heidelberg. There we'll be without net, but we have 2 days, Friday and Saturday to explore as much as we can. After that Sunday is basically a travel day, we are taking the high speed train from Germany to Paris, and then from Paris to London.
We'll have web access in London, we'll spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in London and then head to Oxford on Thursday for the British Grand Prix . . . the last hurrah before we're back to the States.
Eek, winding down. All our pics thus far are uploaded: Link in Aarons post below.
Well off to find some lunch and prepare for the track, the rain seems to be clearing out. Yay!
Later today we have a "track car" booked for rental to take out on the track. We've spent Monday evening, and all day Tuesday here exploring the region, catching different parts of the track (it's a 21km track) and seeing all kinds of taped off, cars driving around the track without emblems on.
Today we get to do the same in a BMW 3series with a roll cage and all. Everyone on the track has to wear a helmet and such. I'm a little scared! I will probably only do one lap so Aaron who knows more and is a better driver can get more laps in during the limited time window of the track being open to the public today. He's done a billion laps of this track on Play Station, it's like a huge deal to swap from PS2 to Real Life. The track has massive amounts of elevation change and I'm excited but nervous and intimidated as well. We'll check with our track rental car people today about 4:30.
Otherwise this area is AWESOME! It's like Hocking Hills meets Mid Ohio, the roads even off the track are pretty crazy, all kinds of bikers out in full gear (no one is even remotely stupid enough to not ride without FULL gear) just having fun. But at the same time it's lush, has huge rolling hills, and cute little towns with shops and such. Very cool mixture. By far a few of the most relaxing days we have had, a good way to recharge before the last two weeks of our vacation are over (hehe most vacations are 2 weeks, yet we're just a little over half way to the end of ours!).
Last night we walked the local town Adenau which is where our hotel is located. Did some shopping and a lot of looking at cool memorabilia and the like. Every store no matter what it is, be it a bakery or a hardware store or a book store embraces the racing history of the area and has cars or bikes and such in it's storefronts. So very cool. There is less soccer stuff around here, even though Germany is in the top four of the Euro 2008. Tonight is that game, against Turkey, I expect all the beer houses will be packed!
We had dinner at a Chinese place night, Sweet and Sour Chicken (much better then the stuff we get, even at high end places), and Beef Chop Suey. The Chinese lady that owned that place spoke great English, and German and Chinese. Pretty cool. We were just happy the menu was in English! Even this restaurant had racing pictures up in it's lobby.
The rest of the day was spent exploring the region, we got to hang out in the paddock of the Ring, see some film crews covering a concept car, saw the 4 door Porsche that is being developed, an R8, all hanging out in the paddock, and then we later were lucky enough to also see them on the track! So neat. From there we went to the main track entrance, found the web cam that Aaron watches every once in a while, saw some guys waving to the camera, kind of like we plan to do today!!! They called friends and told them they were at the camera, we don't have the luxury of a phone, but we've scheduled some time with some friends, so we'll do what we can. We had lunch at the Green Hell Restaurant, and watched more cars. After that we came back to the hotel, napped, and then took our walk around Adenau.
It's really HOT in Europe compared to what we thought, and everyone who is local is like What the Heck is going on! It's hard for us to sleep since there is no air or fans, since this is not normal. The only other thing that makes it hard to sleep here in Adenau is the church bell that is next to our hotel, it's crazy, it not only rings every hour on the hour, but at noon and midnight it rings about a hundred times, Aaron counted 247 rings at midnight the first night, I thought he was kidding (i slept through) but then I heard it last night, lol.
Otherwise that about catches everyone up on whats been going on with us.
Tomorrow after the track time tonight we'll sleep in (not too late, we have to wake up early enough to get some AWESOME breakfast from the Hotel buffet, it's GREAT!) and then pack our selves up and head to Heidelberg. There we'll be without net, but we have 2 days, Friday and Saturday to explore as much as we can. After that Sunday is basically a travel day, we are taking the high speed train from Germany to Paris, and then from Paris to London.
We'll have web access in London, we'll spend Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in London and then head to Oxford on Thursday for the British Grand Prix . . . the last hurrah before we're back to the States.
Eek, winding down. All our pics thus far are uploaded: Link in Aarons post below.
Well off to find some lunch and prepare for the track, the rain seems to be clearing out. Yay!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
PICTURES!!!
Click here for LOTS of pictures. We are uploading more groups of pictures daily.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Simi.Ritch
Thanks!
http://picasaweb.google.com/Simi.Ritch
Thanks!
'Ring worm
So, it's certainly been a while since I've typed. Simi's been blogging and keeping updates, and she's done great. I've been soaking in the day, enjoying it as best I can and savoring it as I know we are in the back half of our vacation as the countdown clock ticks away.
Paris was Paris. Stereotypes of French people are based on facts. Is that' the definition of a stereotype, I guess? Bad service, decent food, and a general dislike for anyone who isn't French. They love their bread, as they carry around sticks of it that could be used as a Louisville Slugger.
Magny-Cours is the MidOhio of F1. A GREAT track, as our seats spotted a timed 40 second portion of the 1:15 lap times. Come to the hairpin, and away, around the inner loop, and back to another sharp turn, then again away towards the paddock. Fantastic track, nothing near by but feilds of grain, and a sprinkle of farm houses.
Our stay the French GP weekend was in a former knights castle chateau. Built in the early 100s AD (yes, hundreds) then rebuilt in the 1,000s AD and a castle for knights, then burnt in 15th century wars, then rebuilt again as a hospital. Certainly no modern medicine, so very likely many people died there, and the owners had stories to tell.
The owners, investors, and multi-lingual globe trotters were fantastic people. Loaded is an understatement. I ask the owner about the land he owned there, as the view from the balcony was outstanding, seemingly seeing forever across the French countryside. He said further than I could see.
A HOT Saturday qualifying but entertaining and enjoyable ice cream snacks. Dinner was a ant picnic, and food that seemed more like they were trying to hard to spruce it up, and hence produced worse results.
Sunday was the race, and was great to watch as the mentioned view of the track was great. Radio commentating and great action. Trulli had a great race, and the Ferrari's looked untouchable. Montreal GP was loud, boisterous, a party, while the French GP was more of a "ah, le race cars... nice... let me sip my wine, and kick back and enjoy the race..."
Sunday night dinner in the chateau which was outstanding, and learned more (ghost stories) from our hosts. Was a great time. Slept well, and up to get a ride back to Paris. Then taxi ride to our specific train station, and attempted to figure out the schedules. Nothing in the Paris area is user friendly. No one is available to help. No park benches are available to sit down on to find a moment to gather yourself and figure it all out. It just was un-fun.
Decent train ride to Frankfurt, and found the Germans are GREAT. Straight up, up front, fast paced, precise. All describing our rental car. The guy spoke English without hesitance, and was happy to help with a smile. We drove towards The 'Ring. (...with a poorly designed Hertz supplied GPS navi system as at 150kph it would say take the fork to the left, and stay left, then say, take the fork on the right, and that was after the concrete retaining wall passed by, and we had to drive to the next ramp and loop around. At first I thought it was from being tired, but it happened repeatedly and frustratingly. Saving face is the thing was really really cheap thanks to AAA discount.)
150kph is about what the rental car will do, but the BMWs/Benz/Audis go screaming by at about 200 kph. It's comical to say the least. We made it to a Burger King - a familar name in attempts to get food that is to be sure that we know what it'll taste like. Good burgers, and 70km from our hotel. On the B-roads surrounding the 'Ring, and Simi stopped and pointed our a portion of the track. We stopped and took some pix, and walked a bit of the track. It almost seems unreal.
Slept well, and had great complinmentary breakfast. Took the rental around the area just trying to find what we could find. Discovered the GP circuit, gift shop, and a couple other places in which we could watch people run their heavily camo, flat black, taped off cars around the track. We spotted a future Benz, likely a SL on steriods, maybe with gull wing doors. Their was a blue prototype Porsche 4 door behind us on a B-road, and beeped at me as we waited just a second too long at a stop sign. A heavily camo-ed Porsche 4 door was hot lapping the 'Ring along with a flat black Audi R8 that had a shrill almost of that of something around 8-9,000 RPM. It was running clean, easy 8 minute laps.
Back to the hotel to conect to the world again, and power nap. Plans later are to walk the little village streets for some little shops we saw, and find a great little place for some dinner.
Paris was Paris. Stereotypes of French people are based on facts. Is that' the definition of a stereotype, I guess? Bad service, decent food, and a general dislike for anyone who isn't French. They love their bread, as they carry around sticks of it that could be used as a Louisville Slugger.
Magny-Cours is the MidOhio of F1. A GREAT track, as our seats spotted a timed 40 second portion of the 1:15 lap times. Come to the hairpin, and away, around the inner loop, and back to another sharp turn, then again away towards the paddock. Fantastic track, nothing near by but feilds of grain, and a sprinkle of farm houses.
Our stay the French GP weekend was in a former knights castle chateau. Built in the early 100s AD (yes, hundreds) then rebuilt in the 1,000s AD and a castle for knights, then burnt in 15th century wars, then rebuilt again as a hospital. Certainly no modern medicine, so very likely many people died there, and the owners had stories to tell.
The owners, investors, and multi-lingual globe trotters were fantastic people. Loaded is an understatement. I ask the owner about the land he owned there, as the view from the balcony was outstanding, seemingly seeing forever across the French countryside. He said further than I could see.
A HOT Saturday qualifying but entertaining and enjoyable ice cream snacks. Dinner was a ant picnic, and food that seemed more like they were trying to hard to spruce it up, and hence produced worse results.
Sunday was the race, and was great to watch as the mentioned view of the track was great. Radio commentating and great action. Trulli had a great race, and the Ferrari's looked untouchable. Montreal GP was loud, boisterous, a party, while the French GP was more of a "ah, le race cars... nice... let me sip my wine, and kick back and enjoy the race..."
Sunday night dinner in the chateau which was outstanding, and learned more (ghost stories) from our hosts. Was a great time. Slept well, and up to get a ride back to Paris. Then taxi ride to our specific train station, and attempted to figure out the schedules. Nothing in the Paris area is user friendly. No one is available to help. No park benches are available to sit down on to find a moment to gather yourself and figure it all out. It just was un-fun.
Decent train ride to Frankfurt, and found the Germans are GREAT. Straight up, up front, fast paced, precise. All describing our rental car. The guy spoke English without hesitance, and was happy to help with a smile. We drove towards The 'Ring. (...with a poorly designed Hertz supplied GPS navi system as at 150kph it would say take the fork to the left, and stay left, then say, take the fork on the right, and that was after the concrete retaining wall passed by, and we had to drive to the next ramp and loop around. At first I thought it was from being tired, but it happened repeatedly and frustratingly. Saving face is the thing was really really cheap thanks to AAA discount.)
150kph is about what the rental car will do, but the BMWs/Benz/Audis go screaming by at about 200 kph. It's comical to say the least. We made it to a Burger King - a familar name in attempts to get food that is to be sure that we know what it'll taste like. Good burgers, and 70km from our hotel. On the B-roads surrounding the 'Ring, and Simi stopped and pointed our a portion of the track. We stopped and took some pix, and walked a bit of the track. It almost seems unreal.
Slept well, and had great complinmentary breakfast. Took the rental around the area just trying to find what we could find. Discovered the GP circuit, gift shop, and a couple other places in which we could watch people run their heavily camo, flat black, taped off cars around the track. We spotted a future Benz, likely a SL on steriods, maybe with gull wing doors. Their was a blue prototype Porsche 4 door behind us on a B-road, and beeped at me as we waited just a second too long at a stop sign. A heavily camo-ed Porsche 4 door was hot lapping the 'Ring along with a flat black Audi R8 that had a shrill almost of that of something around 8-9,000 RPM. It was running clean, easy 8 minute laps.
Back to the hotel to conect to the world again, and power nap. Plans later are to walk the little village streets for some little shops we saw, and find a great little place for some dinner.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Catch UP time...June 23
So I've got LOADS to share, we didn't have web but I still typed!
Copy and pasting took place and mostly caught up.
Right now we are in Germany, i have to say i LOVE it. It rocks the socks of France. If it wasn't for the 2 races I would have said France was pretty much a TOTAL waste.
Thankfully the races were great so France was ok, but wow, I fear we aren't going to have enough time in Germany!!!
We rented a car in Frankfurt, drove to Nürburgring . . . amazing drive, just very very pretty. We even got to see some of the track just while driving to the hotel. Really tired, thankful for Germany teaching it's citizens English and really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!
More later :D
Enjoy catching up on the last few days at work on Tuesday!!!
Copy and pasting took place and mostly caught up.
Right now we are in Germany, i have to say i LOVE it. It rocks the socks of France. If it wasn't for the 2 races I would have said France was pretty much a TOTAL waste.
Thankfully the races were great so France was ok, but wow, I fear we aren't going to have enough time in Germany!!!
We rented a car in Frankfurt, drove to Nürburgring . . . amazing drive, just very very pretty. We even got to see some of the track just while driving to the hotel. Really tired, thankful for Germany teaching it's citizens English and really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!
More later :D
Enjoy catching up on the last few days at work on Tuesday!!!
June 23 Train Trip to Frankfurt
Monday June 23, 2008
There ARE plugs in second class on the train.
After about a 2.5 hour train ride from France to Saarbrucken (eventually on the way to Frankfurt this just happened to be a stop along the way) without any computer (I had wanted to catch up the blog (just typing it) not getting it posted, while things were still fresh in my mind, we had a guy get on and sit in a seat near us and plug in under the seat!!! I watched amazed, I had just assumed that since we were in second class we didn’t get the same luxury of a plug (or an evil French woman trying to play footsies with me) and had just tried to veg/sleep for the duration of the train ride. For the most part live and learn has been a theme for our trip and it seems to continue to be prove it self.
This morning we woke up about 6:00, and Steve took us and the Canadian couple back to Paris in the rental van. He was flying out from Charles De Galle and said he would get us that far and from there we could figure out how to get to the train station we needed to be at to catch our train to Frankfurt. We happily took the ride instead of the train again from St. Amand.
We had done our research with the Paris info we have to establish there was a direct route of some public transport that took us from the airport to Gare de Est (the east train station). Unfortunately when we arrive at the airport and get to the area the public transport leaves, and I wait in line to ask the info desk where to catch, the person in front on me asks their question, gets their answer and moves along. As it’s my turn the help window closes, uh… ok. It was a shift change for the help desk worker. I smile and wait patiently as the lady who replaces the guy who seemed pretty nice makes a big to do about getting settled and comfortable before she reopens the help window. And when she does she doesn’t really answer my question but gives me a vague non committal answer and dismisses me to get to the next person. Right, very helpful. Not! So we weigh our options and decide for a taxi. For the first time there is no line to wait in to catch one! Something going our way perhaps? Perhaps.
We get into a C Class Mercedes cab, and tell the driver where we’re headed, he says no problem, tells us there will be some traffic but we’ll be there shortly. Uh, yeah. Let me tell you the map we used to make the decision about taking the cab was NOT to scale! Our taxi ride ended up being quite long, and pricey! Oops, it didn’t help that traffic was totally chaotic in Paris. At least our taxi driver drove aggressively, not like our previous two taxi rides, and that at least made us feel like he understood our pain. He spoke enough English to get by, and kept saying sorry about traffic. There were for sure some crazy moves he pulled, cutting people off, driving 100 in the middle of Paris in the BUS lane and being one of the triple left turners, just adding to the insanity of Paris.
After we got to the station, gave him his tip he gave us ours, hehe he told us to have a safe journey, a happy marriage and basically to get on with having kids cause they are the best things in the world. He went on (off the clock of course) to tell us he had four and that at the end of the day when he finished work and went home to them and saw them they made all his troubles disappear, is it wrong for me to think in the complete opposite perspective that thinking of feeding them, and educating them and caring for them is also likely a big concern of his and so really an addition to his worries? I’m sure the parents that are reading this can debate with me on it, and I don’t doubt that parent hood is great, but I guess I don’t need my taxi driver to tell me to join the ranks of being a parent :p
Wow that got deep for a bit.
Moving along to the train station. We went in followed the signs down to where the trains were to leave from, only to find out that really we were already on the right floor. Hungry, a lil cranky, and obviously tired and annoyed to be back in Paris we spent about 15 minutes just wandering around looking actively for SOMEONE who could help. Being Paris, that was not long enough to seek out someone. We kind of just figured we had to be in the right place, found a place to sit and I guarded the baggage as Aaron got us lunch. After we had eaten we got some of our “fight” back in us, and we discovered which gate we were to leave from. So we proceeded to get on the train. Find our seats, in second class, and squish together (Poor Aaron and his lack of leg room). I fell asleep; Aaron took pics and just tried to entertain himself in general.
Now we’re on the last leg of our journey to Frankfurt. And I haven’t been online sine Thursday the 19th. Hopefully everyone understands the lack of internet in the middle of the French country side and no one is worried since we haven’t been in touch, via e-mail or blog.
There ARE plugs in second class on the train.
After about a 2.5 hour train ride from France to Saarbrucken (eventually on the way to Frankfurt this just happened to be a stop along the way) without any computer (I had wanted to catch up the blog (just typing it) not getting it posted, while things were still fresh in my mind, we had a guy get on and sit in a seat near us and plug in under the seat!!! I watched amazed, I had just assumed that since we were in second class we didn’t get the same luxury of a plug (or an evil French woman trying to play footsies with me) and had just tried to veg/sleep for the duration of the train ride. For the most part live and learn has been a theme for our trip and it seems to continue to be prove it self.
This morning we woke up about 6:00, and Steve took us and the Canadian couple back to Paris in the rental van. He was flying out from Charles De Galle and said he would get us that far and from there we could figure out how to get to the train station we needed to be at to catch our train to Frankfurt. We happily took the ride instead of the train again from St. Amand.
We had done our research with the Paris info we have to establish there was a direct route of some public transport that took us from the airport to Gare de Est (the east train station). Unfortunately when we arrive at the airport and get to the area the public transport leaves, and I wait in line to ask the info desk where to catch, the person in front on me asks their question, gets their answer and moves along. As it’s my turn the help window closes, uh… ok. It was a shift change for the help desk worker. I smile and wait patiently as the lady who replaces the guy who seemed pretty nice makes a big to do about getting settled and comfortable before she reopens the help window. And when she does she doesn’t really answer my question but gives me a vague non committal answer and dismisses me to get to the next person. Right, very helpful. Not! So we weigh our options and decide for a taxi. For the first time there is no line to wait in to catch one! Something going our way perhaps? Perhaps.
We get into a C Class Mercedes cab, and tell the driver where we’re headed, he says no problem, tells us there will be some traffic but we’ll be there shortly. Uh, yeah. Let me tell you the map we used to make the decision about taking the cab was NOT to scale! Our taxi ride ended up being quite long, and pricey! Oops, it didn’t help that traffic was totally chaotic in Paris. At least our taxi driver drove aggressively, not like our previous two taxi rides, and that at least made us feel like he understood our pain. He spoke enough English to get by, and kept saying sorry about traffic. There were for sure some crazy moves he pulled, cutting people off, driving 100 in the middle of Paris in the BUS lane and being one of the triple left turners, just adding to the insanity of Paris.
After we got to the station, gave him his tip he gave us ours, hehe he told us to have a safe journey, a happy marriage and basically to get on with having kids cause they are the best things in the world. He went on (off the clock of course) to tell us he had four and that at the end of the day when he finished work and went home to them and saw them they made all his troubles disappear, is it wrong for me to think in the complete opposite perspective that thinking of feeding them, and educating them and caring for them is also likely a big concern of his and so really an addition to his worries? I’m sure the parents that are reading this can debate with me on it, and I don’t doubt that parent hood is great, but I guess I don’t need my taxi driver to tell me to join the ranks of being a parent :p
Wow that got deep for a bit.
Moving along to the train station. We went in followed the signs down to where the trains were to leave from, only to find out that really we were already on the right floor. Hungry, a lil cranky, and obviously tired and annoyed to be back in Paris we spent about 15 minutes just wandering around looking actively for SOMEONE who could help. Being Paris, that was not long enough to seek out someone. We kind of just figured we had to be in the right place, found a place to sit and I guarded the baggage as Aaron got us lunch. After we had eaten we got some of our “fight” back in us, and we discovered which gate we were to leave from. So we proceeded to get on the train. Find our seats, in second class, and squish together (Poor Aaron and his lack of leg room). I fell asleep; Aaron took pics and just tried to entertain himself in general.
Now we’re on the last leg of our journey to Frankfurt. And I haven’t been online sine Thursday the 19th. Hopefully everyone understands the lack of internet in the middle of the French country side and no one is worried since we haven’t been in touch, via e-mail or blog.
June 22nd Dinner _ PLACE HOLDER_
I didn't get a chance to type up our wonderful dinner recap from Sunday night after the race, keeping this post as a place holder, come back and check it Later!
Sunday June 22 The French Grand Prix
We had a very busy day on Sunday. I’m going back through my memories and recapping. We woke up early in order to beat traffic into the track even though there wasn’t a whole lot going on at the track early. It made sense, thee just wasn’t great desire to wake up early!
It was raining pretty hard when we awoke, with the knowledge that that could make for interesting race conditions we went ahead had another great breakfast and headed to the track. By the time we got to the track with our rain gear and eager race day energy the rain had stopped but thankfully the day was overcast and there was not much sun to deal with.
We enjoyed the GP2 race, and a Porsche Super cup race before the pre race activities for the F1 race occurred. The Drivers parade was really cool, they had each of the teams with the drivers in the same car, and the cars were old models of the make of the car they drive. The cars were mostly from the 1920’s or so, there was a super old school Honda for Button and Barichello, and etc etc. They all were drove around the track and cheered and they waved to the crowds. Some cool things from the drivers’ parade:
The race corner workers ran out to meet the drivers, some shook hands with them as the cars went around their corners, others gave them their hats and the drivers signed them for the workers, it was a very nice moment to see the drivers and the workers interact. Something you don’t usually get to see.
Another cool thing was the car that Lewis and Heikki got to drive, it was a two seat and so they couldn’t have a driver so Heikki drove it, it had a HUGE steering wheel and just looked hilarious driving around the track in this car!
Race day is always more “real” then pre race days. When I’m sitting in the bleachers watching a qualifying or practice sure it’s exciting, but the feeling of the actual real race day just is electrifying. Can’t explain how or why, just the cars seem louder and crazier!
Magny Cours was very much like Mid Ohio, in the middle of no where or in this case the Middle of France, instead of the Middle of Ohio. And surrounded by countryside. It was a great track, and we had awesome seats. There was no moments of the race other then the start that we couldn’t with our own eyes see a car on the track, and many times the end of the pack would be going by, as the lead cars would be coming back around. Made for great viewing enjoyment.
We had a pair of binoculars with us that we used to view things, like detail on the tv that was in front of us, and in the row ahead of us in the bleachers there was a 4 or 5 year old kid who was watching the race with his dad. He was entertained for the first 20 minutes or so of the race, but after that he started to get bored. After we had used the binoculars to our amusement I decided he would also probably enjoy using them. And likely his dad would be glad for his kid to have a distraction so he could enjoy the race. So we gave the binoculars to the kid and he and his dad were immensely grateful. They kept the kid entertained for quite some time, and made the race more enjoyable for the dad. Really it’s the little things, and it was nice to make the experience enjoyable for two other people just by sharing a set of binoculars we got for free from Autoweek!
My few comments about the race; it was nice to see Lewis Hamilton trying too hard and it NOT working. Yes, as you all likely already know I’m not a Lewis fan. Oh well. Ferrari started out on pole and pretty dominated form there for the whole race, since there was no safety car periods, there was no way for the rest of the cars to catch up. Kimi had some car troubles, we didn’t know exactly what but caught something about the exhaust or the manifold, it wasn’t debilitating enough to cause him to leave the race, but enough for him to loose the lead to Massa and have Massa on pole (though I’m not a Ferrari fan I do like Massa for his demeanor and how he is always trying to be a nice happy guy). Otherwise sucked for Alonso that he was driving a little too hard and had to give up a position to Piquet, but at least it was for the same team. Finally Piquet gets a point! Sad times to see Force India still just at the back of the pack, but I guess budget wise I can say Honda is more pathetic to be at the back of the pack with Force India, who only has a fraction of the budget as Honda.
After the race we all gathered at the van to head back to the Chateau, many of the roads were blocked off to make traffic flow easier while leaving the track, somehow we got mixed up/lost leaving the track, and since there were barricades up and no way to turn around we ended up taking a VERY long route back. The time I would have liked to use for a nap and relaxing we were in the got to see a lot of the French countryside, very lush and big rolling hills; got to look at the bright side of the situation as opposed to thinking we were cooped up in the van for probably 2 hours longer then we needed to be!
It was raining pretty hard when we awoke, with the knowledge that that could make for interesting race conditions we went ahead had another great breakfast and headed to the track. By the time we got to the track with our rain gear and eager race day energy the rain had stopped but thankfully the day was overcast and there was not much sun to deal with.
We enjoyed the GP2 race, and a Porsche Super cup race before the pre race activities for the F1 race occurred. The Drivers parade was really cool, they had each of the teams with the drivers in the same car, and the cars were old models of the make of the car they drive. The cars were mostly from the 1920’s or so, there was a super old school Honda for Button and Barichello, and etc etc. They all were drove around the track and cheered and they waved to the crowds. Some cool things from the drivers’ parade:
The race corner workers ran out to meet the drivers, some shook hands with them as the cars went around their corners, others gave them their hats and the drivers signed them for the workers, it was a very nice moment to see the drivers and the workers interact. Something you don’t usually get to see.
Another cool thing was the car that Lewis and Heikki got to drive, it was a two seat and so they couldn’t have a driver so Heikki drove it, it had a HUGE steering wheel and just looked hilarious driving around the track in this car!
Race day is always more “real” then pre race days. When I’m sitting in the bleachers watching a qualifying or practice sure it’s exciting, but the feeling of the actual real race day just is electrifying. Can’t explain how or why, just the cars seem louder and crazier!
Magny Cours was very much like Mid Ohio, in the middle of no where or in this case the Middle of France, instead of the Middle of Ohio. And surrounded by countryside. It was a great track, and we had awesome seats. There was no moments of the race other then the start that we couldn’t with our own eyes see a car on the track, and many times the end of the pack would be going by, as the lead cars would be coming back around. Made for great viewing enjoyment.
We had a pair of binoculars with us that we used to view things, like detail on the tv that was in front of us, and in the row ahead of us in the bleachers there was a 4 or 5 year old kid who was watching the race with his dad. He was entertained for the first 20 minutes or so of the race, but after that he started to get bored. After we had used the binoculars to our amusement I decided he would also probably enjoy using them. And likely his dad would be glad for his kid to have a distraction so he could enjoy the race. So we gave the binoculars to the kid and he and his dad were immensely grateful. They kept the kid entertained for quite some time, and made the race more enjoyable for the dad. Really it’s the little things, and it was nice to make the experience enjoyable for two other people just by sharing a set of binoculars we got for free from Autoweek!
My few comments about the race; it was nice to see Lewis Hamilton trying too hard and it NOT working. Yes, as you all likely already know I’m not a Lewis fan. Oh well. Ferrari started out on pole and pretty dominated form there for the whole race, since there was no safety car periods, there was no way for the rest of the cars to catch up. Kimi had some car troubles, we didn’t know exactly what but caught something about the exhaust or the manifold, it wasn’t debilitating enough to cause him to leave the race, but enough for him to loose the lead to Massa and have Massa on pole (though I’m not a Ferrari fan I do like Massa for his demeanor and how he is always trying to be a nice happy guy). Otherwise sucked for Alonso that he was driving a little too hard and had to give up a position to Piquet, but at least it was for the same team. Finally Piquet gets a point! Sad times to see Force India still just at the back of the pack, but I guess budget wise I can say Honda is more pathetic to be at the back of the pack with Force India, who only has a fraction of the budget as Honda.
After the race we all gathered at the van to head back to the Chateau, many of the roads were blocked off to make traffic flow easier while leaving the track, somehow we got mixed up/lost leaving the track, and since there were barricades up and no way to turn around we ended up taking a VERY long route back. The time I would have liked to use for a nap and relaxing we were in the got to see a lot of the French countryside, very lush and big rolling hills; got to look at the bright side of the situation as opposed to thinking we were cooped up in the van for probably 2 hours longer then we needed to be!
June 21
June 21
Saturday ended up being pretty nuts, and VERY long.
Woke up about 6:30 am. At 7:30 we enjoyed a huge breakfast, croissants, coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, pastries, sunny side up egg, and got on the road about 8:30. We got to track, and it was hot and sunny, at least 80 degrees, if not maybe even a few more. Our parking lot worked out to be directly behind our bleachers (awesome!). We enjoyed the third and final F1 practice session. Then Aaron and I explored the area around the track, did some “shopping” I got some sweet Renault stuff, including a messenger bag, and a Renault F1 sweater, but it’s not obnoxious or anything, so when it’s cool enough for it I can likely wear it to work, and no one will even know (except me of course!). Aaron got a few t shirts, mainly because they were cheap, and white (his t shirts that were packed were darker colors and with the heat it just wasn’t working). Happy with our purchases we headed back to the bleachers, watched qualifying (Ferrari pole, blah, but at least Alonso will start third!!!). After qualifying we walked into the F1 Village area, checked out the team displays and realized we were way hungrier then we thought we were. We got a “Sandwich American” which was grilled steak pieces on a really chewy baguette. It had decent flavor, wasn’t ham, and worked well enough to feed us. Feeling better we caught some more racing, including a GP2 race.
Surprisingly the atmosphere at the track wasn’t a big party; it wasn’t madness like it had been in Canada or Le Mans. This may have to do with the track location, being so far from a big city, but it was calmer and more laid back. Good for us since we were able to soak it all in without madness.
After the GP2 race we headed back to the van to meet the group. The lady who was from ING in our group was able to go into the Renault pits with her husband to smooze with the team, and play the hospitality part, which was the reason she had come in the first place. It was funny in the car driving back to hear them speak in total amazement at all the stuff that as a fan of the sport is pretty common place knowledge. Things like that the cars have tire warmers, and that each drivers car is set up differently, and other “common” things. It was odd to think that someone who didn’t have this basic understanding of the sport would travel half way across the world to some random little town in France to watch it. I guess when it’s not coming out of your own pocket entirely it’s easier to do it. Not sure I would travel to Spain or Germany for a “football” game, even if it was the world cup, I just don’t have the interest. Anyway they shared their amazement at things that the rest of us were already well aware of, and proceeded to call Alonso Alofonso and mispronounce Renault; much to our annoyance.
They got gear signed by Piquet, but apparently Alonso wouldn’t sign anything, and they thought that was pretty poop of him. Thinking about it I honestly wound’s sign stuff for people either unless I knew they were true fans, and not just people who were going to get my signature and sell the stuff on Ebay for profit. Maybe I say that just because I like Alonso, and can defend him J
We left the track about 5:30, got to the chateau, had some down time, and then went to dinner at about 8 (too late for me, but when with the group you just gotta go with the flow). Dinner in France is a big to do, and a LONG one. We went to a restaurant that we heard had good food, and were hopeful. We found out our party had been seated out side when we got there. The table was under a huge weepy tree, that had little particles falling off it every so often, and after we sat down we also found there were lil ants all over the place, on the table and such. Rather UN appetizing, but apparently not a problem unless you’re a snooty American. After making the best of situation, we proceeded to swat at the ants, and smash then when we could.
The menus arrived and again we got a play by play, nothing really appealed to me, and the prices were HIGH, so I decided for a salad, as a safe and hopefully economical solution to dinner. Aaron saw beef on the menu and went for that; the beef was served with “chips de pommes de terre” which I wasn’t sure what it was, I know pommes are apples, and I know chips. We got our meals and wow they were nothing like what I would have expected. The beef was basically uncooked bacon-esque beef and potato chips (apparently potatoes are “apples of the earth” in French” and mine had some decent lettuce with a really oddly cooked tomatoes, and some other weird vegetables which I couldn’t recognize, so of course didn’t eat.
We didn’t order desert because when we translated individual words they didn’t sound appetizing. One of the others in our group ordered a desert that consisted of legumes, uh beans for desert? When he got it it came out on a floor tile, literally, and he simply described it as “weird.” To say the least. His stomach or pallet must have been more adaptive then ours though because did clean his plate. Where as our food was left basically untouched. The restaurant didn’t seem to see any problem with this and offered no alternative or apology for crappy food. We paid the exorbant bill, went home and had peanut butter and bread. Not only was it a late night, but one with really crappy food. We would have been more ahead of the game if we had stayed home, save money and energy by having peanut butter and bread, and gone to bed at a decent time. Not sure why people rave about French cuisine. In my book they seem to try too hard to make things seem better then they are, they don’t cook their meat enough, and like to eat lots of duck, cheese, seafood, fish, rabbit, and other things I won’t touch with a 9 foot pole; or maybe it’s just all the wine they drink that makes up for the lack of goodness of the food!
Anyway, that sums up Saturday. :D
Saturday ended up being pretty nuts, and VERY long.
Woke up about 6:30 am. At 7:30 we enjoyed a huge breakfast, croissants, coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, pastries, sunny side up egg, and got on the road about 8:30. We got to track, and it was hot and sunny, at least 80 degrees, if not maybe even a few more. Our parking lot worked out to be directly behind our bleachers (awesome!). We enjoyed the third and final F1 practice session. Then Aaron and I explored the area around the track, did some “shopping” I got some sweet Renault stuff, including a messenger bag, and a Renault F1 sweater, but it’s not obnoxious or anything, so when it’s cool enough for it I can likely wear it to work, and no one will even know (except me of course!). Aaron got a few t shirts, mainly because they were cheap, and white (his t shirts that were packed were darker colors and with the heat it just wasn’t working). Happy with our purchases we headed back to the bleachers, watched qualifying (Ferrari pole, blah, but at least Alonso will start third!!!). After qualifying we walked into the F1 Village area, checked out the team displays and realized we were way hungrier then we thought we were. We got a “Sandwich American” which was grilled steak pieces on a really chewy baguette. It had decent flavor, wasn’t ham, and worked well enough to feed us. Feeling better we caught some more racing, including a GP2 race.
Surprisingly the atmosphere at the track wasn’t a big party; it wasn’t madness like it had been in Canada or Le Mans. This may have to do with the track location, being so far from a big city, but it was calmer and more laid back. Good for us since we were able to soak it all in without madness.
After the GP2 race we headed back to the van to meet the group. The lady who was from ING in our group was able to go into the Renault pits with her husband to smooze with the team, and play the hospitality part, which was the reason she had come in the first place. It was funny in the car driving back to hear them speak in total amazement at all the stuff that as a fan of the sport is pretty common place knowledge. Things like that the cars have tire warmers, and that each drivers car is set up differently, and other “common” things. It was odd to think that someone who didn’t have this basic understanding of the sport would travel half way across the world to some random little town in France to watch it. I guess when it’s not coming out of your own pocket entirely it’s easier to do it. Not sure I would travel to Spain or Germany for a “football” game, even if it was the world cup, I just don’t have the interest. Anyway they shared their amazement at things that the rest of us were already well aware of, and proceeded to call Alonso Alofonso and mispronounce Renault; much to our annoyance.
They got gear signed by Piquet, but apparently Alonso wouldn’t sign anything, and they thought that was pretty poop of him. Thinking about it I honestly wound’s sign stuff for people either unless I knew they were true fans, and not just people who were going to get my signature and sell the stuff on Ebay for profit. Maybe I say that just because I like Alonso, and can defend him J
We left the track about 5:30, got to the chateau, had some down time, and then went to dinner at about 8 (too late for me, but when with the group you just gotta go with the flow). Dinner in France is a big to do, and a LONG one. We went to a restaurant that we heard had good food, and were hopeful. We found out our party had been seated out side when we got there. The table was under a huge weepy tree, that had little particles falling off it every so often, and after we sat down we also found there were lil ants all over the place, on the table and such. Rather UN appetizing, but apparently not a problem unless you’re a snooty American. After making the best of situation, we proceeded to swat at the ants, and smash then when we could.
The menus arrived and again we got a play by play, nothing really appealed to me, and the prices were HIGH, so I decided for a salad, as a safe and hopefully economical solution to dinner. Aaron saw beef on the menu and went for that; the beef was served with “chips de pommes de terre” which I wasn’t sure what it was, I know pommes are apples, and I know chips. We got our meals and wow they were nothing like what I would have expected. The beef was basically uncooked bacon-esque beef and potato chips (apparently potatoes are “apples of the earth” in French” and mine had some decent lettuce with a really oddly cooked tomatoes, and some other weird vegetables which I couldn’t recognize, so of course didn’t eat.
We didn’t order desert because when we translated individual words they didn’t sound appetizing. One of the others in our group ordered a desert that consisted of legumes, uh beans for desert? When he got it it came out on a floor tile, literally, and he simply described it as “weird.” To say the least. His stomach or pallet must have been more adaptive then ours though because did clean his plate. Where as our food was left basically untouched. The restaurant didn’t seem to see any problem with this and offered no alternative or apology for crappy food. We paid the exorbant bill, went home and had peanut butter and bread. Not only was it a late night, but one with really crappy food. We would have been more ahead of the game if we had stayed home, save money and energy by having peanut butter and bread, and gone to bed at a decent time. Not sure why people rave about French cuisine. In my book they seem to try too hard to make things seem better then they are, they don’t cook their meat enough, and like to eat lots of duck, cheese, seafood, fish, rabbit, and other things I won’t touch with a 9 foot pole; or maybe it’s just all the wine they drink that makes up for the lack of goodness of the food!
Anyway, that sums up Saturday. :D
June 20th, evening.
June 20th, evening.
So it’s the end of June 20th now… we arrived in St. Amand train station and thought we’d have a cab waiting for us, no such luck, there was one cab there and it was waiting on someone else… so we put together some random French words and got the train station ticket guy to order us a cab. Ten minutes later we get a cab coming up to us, and lo and behold it’s the same cab from 20 minutes ago, she’d gone and done her last run and came back for us (yes I know we weren’t going to take women cabbies but we did what we had to do). After about a 20 minute cab drive we arrived at a very gothic chateau (of course after the lady took one wrong detour or two). It’s very cool, very old, well decorated, and just very old school feeling. I feel like I’m in a castle. The architecture style reminds Aaron much of the style that they are currently designing for the high end homes in Columbus, too bad we can’t write this off as a business trip!
So we got here and our “tour group” was out watching Friday practice, so we without really having had breakfast, or lunch because we were literally in the middle of no where in France (think Mid Ohio for those of you who have been, minus the race track and concessions, yeah nothing there)!. So I do they only thing I could do which was attempt sleep, lucky for me it worked, Aaron fell asleep for about 45 minutes as well, until this fly comes into our room and you would have thought it had a microphone attached to it cuz it was SO loud (I can only assume it was so loud because everything else was so quiet), anyway that woke Aaron up, he went on a mission to kill it; once he nabbed it he was too awake to go back to sleep, he made some bread and peanut butter lunch for us (yeah for grabbing bread at the quickie mart in Paris). I ate a piece and happily went back to sleep. Aaron explored the grounds of our chateau, he walked through the garden and explored the house it self. I say house loosely, mansion is more like it, and castle might even be the proper term! This place is HUGE! He found the library, and bunch of formal dining rooms, a terrace, a gazebo and tons of other very neat rooms with collections of stuff like cars, and “fabrage” eggs and the like. Just amazing. He also took some pictures and we’ll be sure to take some more. In the hall to our room the rafters are about 5.5 feet from the floor and Aaron has to duck to get through, but the ceilings them selves are very high. Very very neat!
Anyway back on the story, so about 3 hours after getting here I decide to wake up since I just couldn’t sleep anymore and Aaron told me about the grandeur of the place and how there are signs about getting “dressed” for dinner, and how a jacket and tie are compulsory for dinner…. I was freaked! We are back packing through Europe, be it not as basic as it sounds we certainly don’t have formal wear with us. I was having second thoughts about what kind of tour I had gotten our selves into and if we were going to blow all our money just to “keep up with the Jones’s” while eating dinner and such.
Thankfully when Steve our tour guide with F1tours.com arrived from practice he was able to clue us in that everything was going to be low key, true “Race fan style” phew! We met the other 6 people in our group, a family of four from Mississippi and a couple from Canada. The Canadian couple hit F1 in Indy every year it was an option as well as the Montreal grand prix, they also had been at Le Mans the week before, they had there with a tour as well. It was fun to share the experience we had versus theirs. The family from Mississippi was two college age sons and a husband and wife, the wife works for ING and had been asked to attend the GP from a hospitality perspective so they “made a trip of it/”
After enjoy juice and appetizers we all exchanged basics about the status of practice and such that we missed that day and then went to dinner. The place was a nice little restaurant in the middle of I don’t really know, being on the tour makes it so we don’t have to pay attention to what’s going on, and where we’re going, freedom in some sense but also a little disengaging at the same time.
We all couldn't read the menu, Steve spoke enough French to translate things, and we (Aaron and I were so thankful to not the be only “picky ones”) picked our meals. Aaron got a rumsteak, and I got turkey (or so I was told), though I think it was chicken and man was it good!
We had a good meal, enjoyed good company, and looked forward to enjoying practice and qualifying the next day.
So it’s the end of June 20th now… we arrived in St. Amand train station and thought we’d have a cab waiting for us, no such luck, there was one cab there and it was waiting on someone else… so we put together some random French words and got the train station ticket guy to order us a cab. Ten minutes later we get a cab coming up to us, and lo and behold it’s the same cab from 20 minutes ago, she’d gone and done her last run and came back for us (yes I know we weren’t going to take women cabbies but we did what we had to do). After about a 20 minute cab drive we arrived at a very gothic chateau (of course after the lady took one wrong detour or two). It’s very cool, very old, well decorated, and just very old school feeling. I feel like I’m in a castle. The architecture style reminds Aaron much of the style that they are currently designing for the high end homes in Columbus, too bad we can’t write this off as a business trip!
So we got here and our “tour group” was out watching Friday practice, so we without really having had breakfast, or lunch because we were literally in the middle of no where in France (think Mid Ohio for those of you who have been, minus the race track and concessions, yeah nothing there)!. So I do they only thing I could do which was attempt sleep, lucky for me it worked, Aaron fell asleep for about 45 minutes as well, until this fly comes into our room and you would have thought it had a microphone attached to it cuz it was SO loud (I can only assume it was so loud because everything else was so quiet), anyway that woke Aaron up, he went on a mission to kill it; once he nabbed it he was too awake to go back to sleep, he made some bread and peanut butter lunch for us (yeah for grabbing bread at the quickie mart in Paris). I ate a piece and happily went back to sleep. Aaron explored the grounds of our chateau, he walked through the garden and explored the house it self. I say house loosely, mansion is more like it, and castle might even be the proper term! This place is HUGE! He found the library, and bunch of formal dining rooms, a terrace, a gazebo and tons of other very neat rooms with collections of stuff like cars, and “fabrage” eggs and the like. Just amazing. He also took some pictures and we’ll be sure to take some more. In the hall to our room the rafters are about 5.5 feet from the floor and Aaron has to duck to get through, but the ceilings them selves are very high. Very very neat!
Anyway back on the story, so about 3 hours after getting here I decide to wake up since I just couldn’t sleep anymore and Aaron told me about the grandeur of the place and how there are signs about getting “dressed” for dinner, and how a jacket and tie are compulsory for dinner…. I was freaked! We are back packing through Europe, be it not as basic as it sounds we certainly don’t have formal wear with us. I was having second thoughts about what kind of tour I had gotten our selves into and if we were going to blow all our money just to “keep up with the Jones’s” while eating dinner and such.
Thankfully when Steve our tour guide with F1tours.com arrived from practice he was able to clue us in that everything was going to be low key, true “Race fan style” phew! We met the other 6 people in our group, a family of four from Mississippi and a couple from Canada. The Canadian couple hit F1 in Indy every year it was an option as well as the Montreal grand prix, they also had been at Le Mans the week before, they had there with a tour as well. It was fun to share the experience we had versus theirs. The family from Mississippi was two college age sons and a husband and wife, the wife works for ING and had been asked to attend the GP from a hospitality perspective so they “made a trip of it/”
After enjoy juice and appetizers we all exchanged basics about the status of practice and such that we missed that day and then went to dinner. The place was a nice little restaurant in the middle of I don’t really know, being on the tour makes it so we don’t have to pay attention to what’s going on, and where we’re going, freedom in some sense but also a little disengaging at the same time.
We all couldn't read the menu, Steve spoke enough French to translate things, and we (Aaron and I were so thankful to not the be only “picky ones”) picked our meals. Aaron got a rumsteak, and I got turkey (or so I was told), though I think it was chicken and man was it good!
We had a good meal, enjoyed good company, and looked forward to enjoying practice and qualifying the next day.
June 20th morning.
June 20th morning.
Now it’s June 20th, the good nights sleep didn’t happen because all night we kept thinking oh no we over slept and missed out train. We’re now on the train to Magny Cours and I’m being played footsies by an annoying French Lady who is sitting across from me. I think in general I’m really annoyed by France right now, or at least French people. They really seem to suck. Lol. Yeah I realize it’s a bit harsh to say that but you haven’t had the morning I’ve had, and it’s only 9:27am. Still a long day ahead of us, but thankfully after the race this weekend (which shouldn’t require too much interaction with the French since our tour guide is an American man from Florida) we are DONE with France for the most part other then coming back through to catch our train to London.
So far this morning I have had to deal with really apathetic train company workers who realize you don’t speak French and immediately write you off as unworthy of their time, even if you are nice to them and smile and attempt to understand what they are saying! We made it through that situation, validated our tickets for today, and then I got in another line to try and sort out our ticket situation while in Germany and from the way back from Germany (so I could book our ticket to London since time wise everything “builds” on each other); the person behind the counter there didn’t even know that Frankfurt was in Germany…. So... yeah you can imagine that that did not work. I’ll just have to resolve it at another point.
Otherwise, now we’re on the train, and the lady sitting across from me also must be having a bad day because she didn’t get on the train till about a minute before it left, Aaron and I got on about half an hour before it left; so of course there was no room for her luggage, and she had to squeeze past the aisle seat for the window seat and so after banging around luggage and such she’s finally stopped moving and trying to invade my leg space. Also the person across from us has their ipod going louder then I would listen to music alone in my car so the whole train seems to be able to hear her music, and it’s really not that good that I would want to hear it.
Did I mention I am so glad we’re almost done with the French part of our trip?
Really looking forward to the grand prix this weekend, interacting with some American people, even though most of the time I don’t think they are any better then the French people here who seem to be lazy and rude and just plain unhelpful, I assume the people on our tour will be nice, fun, share a common interest and above all else speak English!!!
Now it’s June 20th, the good nights sleep didn’t happen because all night we kept thinking oh no we over slept and missed out train. We’re now on the train to Magny Cours and I’m being played footsies by an annoying French Lady who is sitting across from me. I think in general I’m really annoyed by France right now, or at least French people. They really seem to suck. Lol. Yeah I realize it’s a bit harsh to say that but you haven’t had the morning I’ve had, and it’s only 9:27am. Still a long day ahead of us, but thankfully after the race this weekend (which shouldn’t require too much interaction with the French since our tour guide is an American man from Florida) we are DONE with France for the most part other then coming back through to catch our train to London.
So far this morning I have had to deal with really apathetic train company workers who realize you don’t speak French and immediately write you off as unworthy of their time, even if you are nice to them and smile and attempt to understand what they are saying! We made it through that situation, validated our tickets for today, and then I got in another line to try and sort out our ticket situation while in Germany and from the way back from Germany (so I could book our ticket to London since time wise everything “builds” on each other); the person behind the counter there didn’t even know that Frankfurt was in Germany…. So... yeah you can imagine that that did not work. I’ll just have to resolve it at another point.
Otherwise, now we’re on the train, and the lady sitting across from me also must be having a bad day because she didn’t get on the train till about a minute before it left, Aaron and I got on about half an hour before it left; so of course there was no room for her luggage, and she had to squeeze past the aisle seat for the window seat and so after banging around luggage and such she’s finally stopped moving and trying to invade my leg space. Also the person across from us has their ipod going louder then I would listen to music alone in my car so the whole train seems to be able to hear her music, and it’s really not that good that I would want to hear it.
Did I mention I am so glad we’re almost done with the French part of our trip?
Really looking forward to the grand prix this weekend, interacting with some American people, even though most of the time I don’t think they are any better then the French people here who seem to be lazy and rude and just plain unhelpful, I assume the people on our tour will be nice, fun, share a common interest and above all else speak English!!!
June 19th, Day 3 in Paris
June 19th, Day 3 in Paris, we started out slow and did some laundry. For breakfast we hit up a local bakery which was probably the first time we had any kind of authentic “French pastry” they weren’t labeled but what we ended up with was a croissant bread twisted together with chocolate chips and some sort of filling, it was amazing!!! Very much worth “trying something new” After laundry we repacked our stuff and then decided to go to the L’Defense area, from the brochures it was supposed to be the ultimate shopping and eating facilities, also the Grand Arche which is a more modern arch that looks down to the Arch d’ Triumphe. The architecture was definitely worth it, the shopping and food not so much, maybe because in Columbus we really do have quite a bit of shopping, and restaurants for that matter, but I wasn’t impressed or even taken in by the area from the goods it offered.
The grand Arch was pretty cool it was a very contemporary building surrounded by other very neat looking buildings. Somewhat worth the trip over. We made the mistake (being weary as we were from all the touristy stuff) of taking a taxi from the hotel to the La Defense area and we got probably the world’s worst cab driver. She was a 50ish woman who barely seemed to enjoy driving let along driving a cab :p She was slow and very timid in her driving style, I really don’t think her feet reached the accelerator or she just didn’t know what it did; because she didn’t use it half as much as we thought she should have.
The coolest part of the whole trip was likely the Royal Bank of Scotland tent with a Williams Toyota display. They had a mock F1 car with a game simulator in it. Very cool again to see companies spending more money to make their sponsorships be known and supporting them.
Anyway after making it to the area, taking pix, trying to eat lunch but that failing miserable since the Ching N’ Ling noodle/pad Thai place we went to seemed to be out of anything with chicken in it and I wasn’t really a fan of the beef (or should we say beoff). We did some more walking around, and decided to brave the metro back to the hotel. For whatever reason we hadn’t yet taken the metro yet in Paris.
It was a little confusing just trying to figure out where to get the tickets to get on the train, but once that was resolved the trip was pretty painless. And for a fraction of the cost of taxi ride. Win Win!
Once we got back to the hotel we figured to have an early dinner and get to bed early since we had a 9am train to catch to get our selves to the tour group for the French Grand Prix.
We walked around the hotel neighborhood, trying not to repeat a meal at the same restaurant we had the killer lasagna, but after a walk around a few blocks, and getting sprinkled with some rain we decided to go with what was tried and true as opposed to another sucky meal. This time I had spaghetti and Aaron had a steak pizza. Instead of getting a pizza with lil chinks of steak he got a pizza with a huge slab of steak in the middle (10oz or so); so essentially getting two meals in one.
So good meal, good service and headed back to the hotel. With attempts to get a good nights sleep.
The grand Arch was pretty cool it was a very contemporary building surrounded by other very neat looking buildings. Somewhat worth the trip over. We made the mistake (being weary as we were from all the touristy stuff) of taking a taxi from the hotel to the La Defense area and we got probably the world’s worst cab driver. She was a 50ish woman who barely seemed to enjoy driving let along driving a cab :p She was slow and very timid in her driving style, I really don’t think her feet reached the accelerator or she just didn’t know what it did; because she didn’t use it half as much as we thought she should have.
The coolest part of the whole trip was likely the Royal Bank of Scotland tent with a Williams Toyota display. They had a mock F1 car with a game simulator in it. Very cool again to see companies spending more money to make their sponsorships be known and supporting them.
Anyway after making it to the area, taking pix, trying to eat lunch but that failing miserable since the Ching N’ Ling noodle/pad Thai place we went to seemed to be out of anything with chicken in it and I wasn’t really a fan of the beef (or should we say beoff). We did some more walking around, and decided to brave the metro back to the hotel. For whatever reason we hadn’t yet taken the metro yet in Paris.
It was a little confusing just trying to figure out where to get the tickets to get on the train, but once that was resolved the trip was pretty painless. And for a fraction of the cost of taxi ride. Win Win!
Once we got back to the hotel we figured to have an early dinner and get to bed early since we had a 9am train to catch to get our selves to the tour group for the French Grand Prix.
We walked around the hotel neighborhood, trying not to repeat a meal at the same restaurant we had the killer lasagna, but after a walk around a few blocks, and getting sprinkled with some rain we decided to go with what was tried and true as opposed to another sucky meal. This time I had spaghetti and Aaron had a steak pizza. Instead of getting a pizza with lil chinks of steak he got a pizza with a huge slab of steak in the middle (10oz or so); so essentially getting two meals in one.
So good meal, good service and headed back to the hotel. With attempts to get a good nights sleep.
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