My Furball Story - Day 3

Cannes, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Waking up in the direct sunlight by the roof top pool with other hotel guests having their morning swim, isn't an experience i'm keen to repeat. The combination of a late late night, quite a few drinks and two hours of morning sunshine isn't the best way to start the day. Opting out of the return leg up the N85 I grabbed a few more hours sleep in the room and came downstairs feeling very shabby indeed. I managed to grab some leftover breakfast and a couple of very strong coffees. We then took the short blast along the coast road to Monaco, some great scenery if a little built up. Parking the car in the underground carpark(about 91 million kilometers from the hotel !) we then checked in feeling a little hot and sweaty. The hotel room in Monaco was the best of the trip with two HUGE double beds and a truly lovely view over the city and the pool. First stop was the pool and a couple of cold beers. Bit of high jynx in the pool and my co-driver realises that his shorts are totally "not" swimming shorts and had gone entirely transparent and so has to change out of them under his towel by the poolside. Well if you know anything about the Loonies then you know this is a Grade A1 bad idea. Sure enough the towel, the shorts and his pants all got removed in mid change and about 2.5 million of Monaco's inhabitants saw him as only his mother or wife should have. (Oh and maybe one of the Furballers) Plans were afoot for a top night out in Monaco and rendezvous arrangements were made for the evening.

Coming downstairs was like descending into a James Bond convention. Black ties and evening dresses were the order of the day, and my first thoughts were "Wow! Don't the Furballers Scrub up well!" We were then transported to a beautiful restaurant with the most incredible views over Monaco via a rather swish coach. Something about coaches brings out the schoolboy in me and i had to treat the entire coach to some nice(?!) rugby songs. Dinner was fantastic and the whole atmosphere was truly amazing, we all felt part of something very special and gave our thanks to the guys when they'd finished their little address.

Once we were finished with dinner we moved onto general sodding about (including getting hold of the camera from the film crew and doing some home movie style footage!) We then returned to the hotel and made our way to the Casino to rinse some cash! To be quite honest the Casino was singularly disappointing, totally lacking in atmosphere and devoid of people. The interior architechture was breathtaking, but too much like a mausoleum for my taste. Given the choice i'd have gone for the more Vegas-Style of the casino in The Fairmont.

The night went uphill from there though and we visited several different bars and clubs and had a really top night. As the video and photos show !! Another late night and a sense of dread at the early morning call!

Day 4

Monte Carlo, Monaco - Bologna, Italy.

Another hangover, another day. We decide that a blast through the tunnel is the best way to clear our heads and with hindsight this was a staggeringly bad idea. The policeman who stopped us was very civil and also very stern, i did my best to look contrite, but when asked for 22.50 Euros I couldn't help but think that laps of the Ring were 18 Euros a go, and for 22.50 a lap of the Grand Prix Circuit of Monaco seemed like a bargain, I jokingly offered to pay for three laps only for this suggestion to be met with a very stern stare and a disapproving comment.

The rest of this day is a bit of a blur of tunnels and noise, the 911's Europipe exhaust is fantastic and i love the sound it makes. But after 100+ tunnels even I got bored with opening the windows and listening to it. Shocking i know. The drive was fun as it was nice to be back on some big fast roads, but the Italians think nothing of putting a very very tight hairpin on their motorways, this comes as something of a shock at 150-160 kmh, but it's nothing the Porsche couldn't cope with. Being in convoy with The Loonies' F355 was a treat, the noise from that exhaust/engine combo is as close to Formula 1 as you can get on a road car! Awesome!

Arriving in Via Reggio we trawled up and down the streets looking for our lunch rendezvous. We found the garage mentioned and decided to try and clean the cars. I put lots of Euro coins into the machine and instead of operating the jet wash it made the machine with the big round brushes kick into life. Well this was too much of a good opportunity to miss and the Loonies and I got ourselves involved !! (Video to follow eh Phil ?) We never did manage lunch and by the time we left the sea front we had collected four cars. The short route out of town and onto the Autostrada, saw us lose one of the cars (A TR6) and by the time we were on the Autostrada we had lost the Skyline of JJ and Hollow Legs (John) .

We made it to Bologna without further incident and parked the car up and managed a quick shower and a nap.

Reconvening in the bar, we started to share some stories about the day over the by now traditional beer. The barman was superb and for the first time in the tour we found a man who knew what furballers wanted - lots of great drinks served quickly and politely !! Top work that man !! Dinner in the steak house saw me struggle to find a vegetarian dish, and so caving in with the best of them, I grabbed a really gorgeous T-Bone Steak. A bit later after fighting the bill monster, I'd organised our table's bill and we left for a rendezvous back at the hotel. On arrival at the Hotel car park I found the huge fibre glass bull from the restaurant. This by now famous incident was of course down the to the one and only Loonies and was the subject of much mirth.

There then ensued one of the better nights out on the Furball, details need to be omitted to preserve the reputations of those concerned, but suffice it to say, many many stories emerged from this night and not one or two photos for evidence!! Burn baby burn!!