The Monaco Rallye - Back to WRC

For the past few years, the famous Monaco Rallye left the World Rally Championship competition and was part of the International Rally Championship.  Not a good idea...not a "name brand" driver in sight.  This year, it was Back to WRC!  And what a difference it made...the service parks were back on the quay, the media was out in force, and the attendance was up.  Well-known drivers in abundance and unlike many racing series, they're easy to see.

This year also marks the return of the Mini to Rally, and several were entered:

Sebastian Loeb, from France, is the crowd favorite wherever he goes.  No surprise, he's been the series champion for several years running.  His co-driver, Daniel Elena, is from Monaco, so as they moved the car over for service, they attracted plenty of attention.

After servicing, the teams left town (right through the city traffic) and headed up toward the little town of Sospel for their first rally stage of the day.  Gordon caught some up-close video:

We went back over on Sunday to watch the teams arrive after their final stage.

Sebastian Loeb Passes San Devote in Monaco After Completing The Final Stage

The Popular Peter Solberg Arrives in Monaco

The Media Scrum Greets the Winner, Sebastian Loeb

For some strange reason, we were not invited to the gala, so our final function of the day was to attend the awards ceremony at the Prince's Palace.  The teams all drive up the Rock to the palace for the prize-giving, and Prince Albert II was in attendance.  Here's Loeb passing us on his way to the podium.

We have lots and lots more pictures, but we thought we'd spare everyone.  Sebastian Loeb won the rally and the Mini's made a fine showing with Dani Sordo, in Mini #37, finishing second.

Next weekend, more cars to take pictures of as the Monaco Historic Rally arrives in town.  The Historic is always fun and entertaining, and of course, we'll be there! 

Hiking in Monaco

We're writing this on January 28, 2012 and it's the first day that we've seen rain since we arrived on January 2.  The weather has been just wonderful this year, sunny and 55 to 60 degrees.  We decided to take advantage of the opportunity to get some hiking done, so we took the bus over to Monaco and  headed up the famous Via Alpina path, which begins at the Palais Princier in Monaco.  To save at least some uphill climb, we joined the path from the Moyenne Corniche.  There are three roads between Nice and Monaco:  the lower road (Basse Corniche), which is the "local bus" road; the middle road (Moyenne), which is the road mostly traveled; and the one that's way the heck up there, the high road (Grand).  We opted to take the path up the Cap d'Ail side of the Tete de Chien.  It's pretty much straight uphill, but using a lot of switchbacks and with wonderful scenic views of the area.  It also passes the Barre Loubiere, where brave (or crazy) people are rock-climbing.

It takes about two hours to climb up to the top, but it's worth it for the view.  We stopped for a picnic lunch (sandwiches...no, we didn't carry a bottle of wine up there), then returned to Monaco via the town of La Turbie and the Chemin Romaine path.  This last path is good going if you're going down...one does not want to climb up.  It's really straight uphill!

Gordon took some video:


And Pati took some pictures: