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Old 2007-09-21, 06:27 PM   #1
MattR
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Real Name: Matt
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 10,660
 
Car: 2012 Toyota Tacoma
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Default Our trip to Europe and the Belgian GP

Well, as you all know, Carrie and I got married on Sept 8th, and left promptly Sunday Sept 9th for our honeymoon in Europe which included a stint in Belgium to see the F1 GP. I will post pics gradually, I figured I'd get some track pics up first, since I know that's all most care about. Truthfully, I could not get a decent pic of an F1 car on track, because from our seats in the Eau Rouge Corner, they were carrying too much speed for my camera.

Short story, I've been an F1 fan since I was about 9 years old, that's when I started my love of racing and since that time I've always wanted to visit the Spa circuit. When Carrie and I decided to go to an F1 race as part of our honeymoon, the choice was simple. Off To europe we go and I finally get my chance to explore the Ardennes Forest!!!!

We Left Reno at 6 AM Sunday the 9th, flew to LAX where we grabbed a flight on a KLM Airlines Boeing 777 ( a plane I have yet had a chance to ride on) We had a nice flight to Amsterdam, where we then connected to a flight to Milan Italy. In Milan we hopped a train and headed for Florence Italy where we would spend our first few nights. After a along day of travel and two hours of sleep the night of our wedding, we crashed. We spent a few days in Florence, Lucca and Pisa, Italy, before flying to Brussels, BE to begin our trek to the race. Friday morning of GP weekend, we hopped a train to Liege, BE where I rented a sweet car and drove to Spa. We managed to find a nice Bed and Breakfast to stay in Spa, which was a 5 minute drive from the circuit, definately a good move. We rolled into the track in time for Practice 2 Friday afternoon and found our seats at Eau Rouge.

SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA SPA

The circuit is more stunning than I could have imagined. The variation in elevation is 10x's what it appears to be on TV. Check out some of the pictures. Anyway, we would get to the track before 8 am on Saturday and GP sunday to ensure we could park within 2 miles on the track so we were able to see all the Mini Copper Challenge races, GP2 races/ qualifying and all Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup series events. So there always seemed to be some action on track. In the down time, I wanted to find some of the old circuit, not far from where we sat, I found a bit of road that was once the diversion around Eau Rouge. And there are clues from the tracks past all over the place.

Anyway, the races were great, and we had a fantastic time. Monday after GP weekend, we went to the Spa Circuit Museum in Stavelot. What an amazing experience that was. I'll put some of those pics up too. We finished up our trip with some time in Amsterdam and then headed home. I'm tired but glad I made the trip.
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