Since I was always a Formula One fan I really wanted to visit a F1 Grand Prix. We decided to book a bustour + camping and entrance tickets for Spa-Francorchamps. We left from Eindhoven busstation and stayed at a camping not very far from the circuit. On friday we visited the training and that was probably the best day to visit, because it was not at all crowded and you could watch all around the circuit. The most amazing thing about Spa-Francorchamps is that there is so much nature, while walking around the circuit you sometimes don't have the idea you are at a place where Formula One cars are racing, untill you hear one :).

It was very misty that friday, so the training started a bit later. I knew formula one cards sound loud, but it was a lot louder that I imagined! After watching the training we went back to the camping. On saturday it was already a lot busier at the circuit, because of the qualification. But we could still walk around and watch everywhere we wanted. We also tried to find a good place to sit on sunday, so that we could walk straight to that point in the hope to have a place (so seats, because we had Bronze cards, which means you are allowed to sit everywhere, but not on the seats, I would regret this later :P).

On sunday we arrived at 7:30 at the circuit, and it was already VERY crowded. We found a place in the rocks in the Pouhon corner and decided to stay there, because if you moved, someone else would take your spot. There were first some other sportscar races and the F1-warmup, and finally at 14:00 the race started. It was a great experience, but if you really want to follow the race you can better watch on TV because we did not have a clue who was the leader. But the atmosphere was great!

Getting There:

Brussels Noord: Take the train to Verviers Centrale (it actually goes to Antwerp or something, but stops at Verviers).

Verviers Centrale: Take the train to Spa.

Spa station: Take bus 744 to the very end, and then take the next bus that arrives on your side of the street, which goes to Francorchamps.

Getting Back:

heh.

I made it to the Renault World Series (which had Formula 2, Formula 3.5, Clio Sport and Clio V6 races, all of which were fairly cool) with some drunken Flemish kids (they taught me "zoller" [zaul-er], meaning "way cool maaaan!/awesome!"), and it was pretty good. Mildly boring, so I set off to try and find the karting track. That was life-threateningly scary, but fun. I've had this running enfatuation with motorsport, and I wanted to try karting to see if I should still entertain my dreams of being a racecar driver. Karting makes you realize how fully insulated you usually are from any sort of displeasure when you're in a normal car. I don't think I've ever really felt G-forces until I took that 10 minute rent-a-kart session... and it wasn't terribly enjoyable. It was in that sort of white-knuckled, adrenaline-pumping way, but I've got paintball for that, which is mildly less dangerous and fills my quota of aggression management well enough. Hoorah. So yeah. I'll be hanging up the racing gloves it seems. I also ran into another group of drunken flemish people who offered to buy me a drink. I declined. haha

By the time I got back to the bus stop, it was close to 7, and me, being the innocent and trusting young chap that I am, just sorta assumed that there'd still be some sort of way to get back to Spa (and my train) via public transport. Not so, as yet another group of twenty-something flemish kids and I found out. I tried hitchhiking for a bit (reminder: bring felt pen next time you go to Francorchamps), then started walking, and ran into them again. They'd given up on a taxi (2 hour wait), so a walk was had. It was actually a good time, despite the ache from walking. To be fair though, I kinda guessed this might happen, an entry in my blog-note-cum-journal-book-thing put it quite well:

"Of concern to me, however, is how the hell I am going to be able to get back into Brussels so late... Hopefully the buses & trains are still running (oh god I could use some food)."

It would be 10 kilometres before I'd get to the train station just in time for the last one, and then another 2 hours before I would make the most packed baguette sandwich the world has ever seen. I did have a victory plum though, as you can see in the photos. It was really quite OK though. I met some great people, had some great conversations, ended up with great photos, and now have great definition in my calf muscles. If everyone's as nice good-natured as they are in Belgium, I'm going to have a great trip.

We stapten weer in “la voiture” en zetten koers richting Spa. Wie schetst onze verbazing toen de route ons over een gedeelte van het circuit van Francorchamps bracht, en wel het stuk langs de eretribune. Nou, dat was lachen.

In Spa aangekomen zochten we eerst naar een fatsoenlijke parkeerplaats en daarna gingen we naar een bron midden in de stad. We mochten hier wat van het water proeven, maar het smaakte vreselijk naar ijzer, dus dat was niet zo’n succes. De andere bronnen in de omgeving van Spa waren niet zo ijzerachtig maar helaas waren die alleen open op werkdagen. We zochten weer een terrasje op en besloten hier maar meteen de ansichtkaarten te schrijven. We liepen hierna nog even wat verder en kwamen zo langs het beroemde casino van Spa. Ook zochten we nog een brievenbus, en dat was niet gemakkelijk want hier waren ze zeer dun bezaaid.

Two days left

Waiting for Monday with impatience, one day in Paris with my friends before leaving for Quebec on Tuesday morning.

Time Table :
8:00 Departure from Spa
11 AM arriving in Paris
11:30 Leaving to Orleans for removal
18:00 Back to Paris
.....