Probably not the one you were expecting, lol

Recently got back from a southern EU vacation. Figured the namesake on this one fit the forum well. It's the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco. Absolutely beautiful place! Picked up several (small) souvenirs for the name.




Also walked a bit of the Monaco F1 circuit, pic below from the Fairmont Hairpin turn with a GT3 on it:



Honestly I rather hate this track on the F1 roster (not that I watch much racing) - practically zero passing. After seeing how tight it really is in person, Im surprised there's any passing at all. Probably would be much better suited to slower / smaller cars to have any sort of back and forth action. But no doubt still awesome to see an icon in person.

 

Awesome pics! I bet the trip was awesome! It is pretty cool to see recognized race tracks/locations in person. Just in that pic, the turn looks very tight! I hope you got to see and enjoy lots!

 

You seem to make it to all the neat places. Made a visit to the Monte Carlo casino too, you are killing it. Took a minute to read up on it, quite the history goes with it. One thing I read, locals are forbidden entry into the gaming rooms, odd if true. I never watch racing either, would rather watch the highlights and still have accomplished a few tasks. Anyway, lucky you, making a go of life, getting out and about the world, neat pic of ther Monte Carlo we were not expecting...

 

Thats so awesome man. Mainly the Monaco part. Ive been spending quite a bit of time practicing the 1972 version of the track on my sim. Dramatically different than what you saw (IN PERSON!) and what Im used to racing, virtually. Driving a Ferrari 312PB though..

 

Doing some reading, it looks like that corner in a real F1 race (not the higher speed qualifying) is about 40-45 kph - so 30ish mph. That's a pretty serious bend to slow down crazy racing machines like that so much!

Id heard the same several times when we were out there, although Id imagine the impact is probably somewhat irrelevant today if they even enforce it anymore. Back in 1865, Id think that would've set a pretty onerous bar for the average person to be able to legally gamble given the available travel methods at the time. In 2025 (especially given how wealthy residents tend to be relative to other countries), Im sure the average resident could easily book a plane ticket somewhere that they could gamble if they really wanted to.

I bet it's an absolutely gorgeous place to race with all of the traffic closed off! Probably even more so back then when it was less built up / commercialized. That whole coast has stunning natural beauty.

 

Wow this is really cool, my daughter and grand kids went to Europe in July this year and were in Monte Carlo also then they were on a cruise boat. They were in Paris, and went to Rome as well.
I gave them my camera to use but haven't seen any of the photo's that were taken.
I got to take them to the Airport when they left, Then I got to pick them up when they returned. Late night driving for that one.
Oh yea, I also got to go over to her house and take care of the Cats and all the house plants and Mowed the lawn. haha

 

Nice! We did Rome on this trip also, ended up doing 3 days there. I could've easily spent a week. We certainly hit the highlights but barely scratched the surface in terms of all the things to do. It's amazing how much preserved history is there.