boats, beautiful women and very fast cars.. This is THE place ! Even cooler than the 3 Enzo's that we saw, was the Maserati MC12. Or maybe the MEGA motoryacht. Or the track itself and how close we could get to everything... My girlfriend and i rode one of my bikes down from Milano and i have never been passed by so many cars and bikes in my life. I really think that about 80% of the vehicles passed me. Europe is a GREAT place to ride or drive.. i figured that 85 mph or 90 was fast enough, what with the bike loaded and the tunnels and bridges.. but my fellow travelers where flying past me. On this trip, we didn't see any police on the highway. What a gas, i highly recommend it..
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i finally have one of my sites up and these are the first pics..
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http://scassellati.com/blog/2005/06/...o-trip/#more-2
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i did not post the beach photos as i figured that the topless might be inappropriate for this site.

 

go to a site like www.imageshack.com or www.photojerk.com and upload the pictures. Then get the URL of the pictures and post them in a thread like so [img]place the url here[/img] and repeat for each picture with each pictures unique URL.

 

I really want to make that trip one day. I have heard it's great but just bring your pocket book and be ready to pay.

 

It sounds like you had an awesome time. Anxious to see some pix when you get a chance. What kind of bike were you riding?

 

JDN, i usually have between 5 or 6 bikes. Two of them are Yamaha FJR 1300's, very fast sport tourers. (one of which i keep in Europe and the other in CA) It is the BEST way to travel in Europe, especially in traffic, or traffic jams, cause bikes rule there, meaning they can do pretty much whatever they want, lane splitting and shoulder riding. Because of my cargo, (girlfriend and luggage) and the bridges and tunnels, i took it easy (85mph to 90) and EVERYONE passed me. But when we hit a jam up on the Italian autostrata/expressway (stopped traffic, after the race) , i caught all the Ferrari's, Lambos, Porsches and Maserati's and passed them back.. i am having my computer associate ready one of my web sites to host some pics, very soon.

 

I agree that bikes rule.
Some of those guys are incredible drivers. I find it a bit hard to get used to, even for a good US Porshe driver, on the 2 lane country roads, those bikes fly where no one else can (and where I'd never dare to).

 

great place, albeit the most boring F1 stop as far as the race goes...he who has pole and does not break down wins race. There are really no opportunities to pass...

 

Very true.. .. the race itself is almost secondary to everything else that goes on... the race is the icing on the cake..!
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riding there from Milano was quite the adventure and very fun. And that was just part of the journey....
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What a place!! i am going back..

 

It is inappropriate that you did NOT post them.
Very nice pics! Thanks for posting.
Regards,
Luis

 

Monaco is an awesome place... back in '91 when the Modena and especially Spider was still a rare sight in the states, I was there with my wife, and we saw a few of them parallel-parked in the streets... they definitely take it to another level there. Very quaint experience... in fact, the entire French Rivera is a memorable place to visit.

I've not been to the Spanish Rivera, but I hear that's a great experience as well... more of a partying atmosphere.

 

I have been to Monaco many times but always shyed away from going to the race because of the crowds. Were the crowds overwelming? Were you albe to get into resturants? Where did you stay, in Monaco or out of town? If you stayed out of town how were the roads going to the race? Sorry for so many questions but next year I am thinking of combining the race and the Cannes Film Festival.

 

I'm intrigued by the fact that you keep a bike in Europe. Do you have a home there, or do you store it through some other arrangement?

 

Ritchie and FDB,

i bought the bike in Paris in July of 2003 to follow/chase the Tour de France bicyclists back to Paris from Bordeaux. I kept it in a hotel garage for about 8 months. On a another trip, as we traveled from Paris to Florence to Milano, we stopped in Provence and Monaco for a recon., because i wanted to do a Monaco Grand Prix trip. As soon as i saw the Monaco, i knew that i would be back. We stayed in Nice as we booked too late to stay in Monaco. (book now for next year) .. But as it turned out, Nice was great. It has a interesting city and besides the beach, has many attractions. The coastal road to Monaco is really cool, for bikes or cars. There were some areas where scooters were driving faster thru corners than i was. It didn't matter if it was a night ride back to our hotel or a morning ride to Monaco, it's one of those rides like the coast highway from San Fran. to L.A. . Really great.! Challenging and beautiful.. There is nothing wrong with staying in Nice and you are closer to Cannes. And, schedule wise, the two almost or do, overlap. The ride from Milano to Monaco and back is equally fun, as every drives very fast on the autostrata. If i had my turbo, i might have picked the pace up a bit. But when a couple of traffic jams stopped the flow, we hit the shoulder, more than once. ALL motorcycles were on the shoulder or lane splitting, as the cars just sat there. .. i keep the bike in Milano at a shop called Mototouring. There are several guys from Chicago who keep their bikes there. The gentleman who runs it is Eligio Arturi. His main business is motorcycle tours ALL over the world, but he takes care of my europe bike as well. Additionally, you can rent bikes from him. In September, i will fly into Rome, pickup my bike that he has delivered for me, and ride it back to Milano thru Florence and Venice. There is nothing like riding in Europe. The roads are great, they are fast and the cars are extremely respectful as everyone has a motorcycle or scooter. For anyone who rides, it is the place to be, plus, you can park them anywhere. . i will be back to Monaco as it was so much fun. We sat on the palace bluff for 40 euros. It was a great location and the crowds weren't that bad. Monaco is small but handles the crowd fairly well. We didn't have much trouble finding available restaurants or a grocery store to buy some food. The prices were on the high side but it's Monaco. Look at the money in that harbor. Since i live near chicago, i need to spread some bikes around, so i keep one in Palm Desert as well. The riding out west CA or AZ is pretty great as is Baja. please contact me if you would like further info. .. JR