Open Wheel Racing Returns to Milwaukee

Early in June, we went (once again) to Rossburg, Ohio for the annual Prelude to the Dream charity race at the Eldora Speedway.  For once, the weather was absolutely perfect for their "one perfect night".  We didn't take any pictures this time, because we didn't want to get the camera as covered with mud as we were.  The speedway will usually post pictures and information at www.eldoraspeedway.com

Came home, repacked and headed for Milwaukee for the IndyFest at the historic Milwaukee Mile.  Every year, we have to find some excuse for the annual run to the outlet mall at Pleasant Prairie (sock and underwear restock) and enjoy a Friday fish fry.  Then as usual, race day starts out with breakfast at our favorite Milwaukee diner.  Massive quantities of excellent food at way reasonable prices.

We started attending races at the Milwaukee Mile the first year we moved to Illinois.  We went to Champ Car races and also to NASCAR races.  But then, open wheel racing kinda fell apart when Champ and IndyCar split, and after a few years NASCAR just plain split and didn't return to the Mile.  This after they had just refurbished the entire track and built a beautiful new grandstand.  The track hasn't been used for much in the past few years except testing and the annual Millers at the Mile event (see our previous posts).  Recently, IndyCar has gotten its act together and it's turned into a decent racing series again.  A couple of drivers that we enjoyed in Formula 1 are now in IndyCar:  Rubens Barichello and Takuma Sato. 

It was great to see the track back in action.

It was a pretty good race.  Our drivers have handled the transition from F1 to Indy fairly well:  Barichello's still an excellent driver and Sato still runs into stuff.  On the return home, we somehow managed to avoid a stop at the world-famous Mars Cheese Castle.  It wasn't easy, passing up those cheese curds as we headed back across the cheddar curtain.
  

George Washington Masonic Temple

Back in May, we made a quick trip to the Washington, DC area.  Gordon was going to a Washington National Airport FAA reunion with a bunch of other geezers from the late 60's and early 70's.  As always, we also spent some time with friends and family.  Dropped by to see Gordon's Uncle Carl and his wife, Alberta.  Carl's in his 90's now and has lots of good family stories to tell.  We had dinner with Gordon's childhood friend Nancy and her husband Jerry, as well as with Gordon's cousin Amy and her husband, John.

We had a free morning, and we had just seen something on TV about the Masons.  Gordon remembered that when he was a kid, his school class went on a field trip to the George Washington Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Virginia.  He recollected a huge hanging tapestry that was hand-knotted by children in someplace like India and wanted to show Pati.  Off we went for the guided tour.  The temple's website is www.gwmemorial.org.

The inside of the temple is interesting, especially the elevators in the tower than slant inward.  They start out at the bottom, one of each side of the large central room...when they reach the top, they're next to each other.  It's a wierd feeling.  Once you're at the top, the view is outrageous:

                                      Looking out King Street toward the Potomac River

                        View of Washington, DC with the Washington Monument and the Capitol

We enjoyed our time there, but we both had issues as we finished the tour.  First, Pati's interested in Masonry, but women can't be Masons!  'Cause they think girls can't keep a secret!  Pooey!  And when Gordon enquired about the tapestry, which we had not seen on the tour, the guide said it had been removed...seems that its origins had been misrepresented.  And they didn't even have a stinkin' snack bar.

Another Wild Side Walk

Another seaside segment of the Sentier Littoral begins (or ends, depends on your mood) on the Promenade near the casino in Beaulieu, France, circles Cap Ferrat, passes through Villefranche and heads for Nice.  Having taken the bus to Beaulieu, we followed the Promenade past David Niven's house (no kidding...he really lived there).  From there, we passed through the Nouveau Port and continued south toward the tip of the peninsula. 

Leaving town, sidewalk gives way to pathway.  First, the path goes through an area that seems like it should have been developed a long time ago, but is mysteriously vacant, except for some trash, dog poo, and an abandoned bar.  We never have figured out what gives with this...maybe it's contaminated and we'll all start glowing, especially the dogs.  Then, the "moonscape" begins as the Sentier approaches the tip of the peninsula near the lighthouse.

   
See why we call it the moonscape?  The path through this area is actually cement and very easy to enjoy.

On the west side of Cap Ferrat, looking toward Villefranche and Nice

On the west side of the peninsula is a low point, Pointe Passable, which sports a nice beach and of course the beach bar to go with it.  Leaving the beach, it's a bit of a climb up the road and you're actually very close to where you started because the north end of the peninsula is really skinny.  We found a little plaza and stopped for our picnic lunch of St. Agur cheese on Toni Pain.

The view from our picnic area over the bay at Villefranche

Leaving Cap Ferrat and heading west, the path passes behind some fabulous homes, any of which we'd be happy to inherit (because who can afford to buy 'em?), and on to the beach at Villefranche.  After passing through town, it's another climb up to the road that leads toward Nice.

Looking back at Villefranche from the road to Nice

From the Sentier, arrival in Nice is near the Port.  When we got to the port, it was filled with police and firefighters.  Sadly, the multi-million dollar yacht "360" had caught fire at the quayside, doing something like three million bucks worth of damage.  A week later, it was towed out of Nice, probably headed to Marseille for repair.  Not a good year for ships, considering the two episodes with Costa Cruises.

A Walk On The Wild Side

Not too many tourists ever hear about the Sentier Littoral, much less get out on it.  The Sentier runs along the water from Nice almost to Ventimiglia in Italy.  In some areas, it's actually a sidewalk along the road, but in others it's a fabulous walk along the rocks.

Here, we've started from Plage Mala at Cap D'Ail (just west of Monaco) and walked to and through Monaco.  The Sentier continues at the extreme eastern edge of Monaco and follows the Cap Martin peninsula to Menton, France.

Here, we look back to Monaco and Roquebrune as we start out onto the Cap Martin peninsula.

The Sentier Littoral follows the sea.

The castle and chapel at the perched village of Roquebrune.

After passing below the train bridge, we continue toward the tip of the peninsula.

Beautiful!

Around the tip of Cap Martin and here's Menton!

From here, the path continues into town and along the waterfront and beaches seen in the photo.  It continues out the other side of Menton, toward Italy.  We didn't have quite that much ambition this day.  We took the bus back to Nice and had a glass of wine.

 

Nice Carnaval 2012 - Le Roi du Sport



We'll not bore ourselves with details this year.  Here are some of the highlights from Carnaval!

The King

This year's mascot.  As always, he was all over town.

The Queen

Figure this one out for yourself.

We found that one way to get good photos of the floats and characters is to catch them on their way to the parade, instead of in it:

Floats on their way to the Flower Parade

Preparing for the Flower Parade

A salute to the Dakar Rallye, sort of.

Live, at the Corso Carnavale, we have here, uh, something...

The Royal family, on their way to the 2012 Olympic Games

The other Royal family, on their way back to Place Massena

And France's favorite footballer, Zidane

Monaco Historic Rally 2012

This year marks the 100th anniversary of auto rallying around Monaco.  Similar to the WRC rally, the historic cars take over the quay after their journeys.  They start from several distant cities such as Barcelona, Warsaw, Turin, and Reims, and arrive in Monaco five days later.  This year, the "poster child" was the 1950's Saab, and we were lucky enough to photograph the same car that's on the poster.

We're not certain how many teams participated this year, but the parking area was filled to the brim, as usual.  The weather in France had been just great for the entire winter...until the week of the rally.  Cold temperatures, rain, and snow hit the entire area, and the rally teams had a lot of trouble with the "neige" and the "glace" (snow and ice).  Studded tires and front-wheel drive were their only weapons, and for most, damage was unavoidable.

Uh, Oops...

Oh, Sh...........

And yet another tribute to the unending utility of duct tape:

For the 100th, the Principality was obvously planning extra press coverage, and they had their on-the-spot reporters out to interview the winners.  We joined the media scrum as they converged on a top finisher...

Poland was surprisingly well represented this year.  With six Fiats entered, they must be pretty good drivers, because they all finished with no damage. 

Odd, they all looked pretty clean, too...

Gordon is the first one to admit that he wastes an enormous amount of brain power on knowing lots of worthless information about cars.  The rally field was filled with the usual suspects:  Renault Alpines, various Fiats, lots of Citroens, and even a Toyota or two.  Gordon's immense knowledge base summoned up identification of one mystery car, a Wolseley.  But the Wartburg got by him.  Sadly for the Big Brain, he actually had to look it up.  You can too, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartburg_(car)

Rally Wolseley.  It's in a class all its own.  Literally.

So much for automobile things for a while.  The City of Nice is gearing up for Carnival.  This year's theme is King of Sport, and the fun starts in 10 days.  We're headed for the store for supplies of armament, cans of silly string.

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!