OK, better late than never. After the race I could only do e-mail on the Internet a couple of times. We traveled twenty plus hours on Saturday and got into Brussels in the afternoon in time to have a meal and walk around the old section of the city. My wife, who had been trying to separate Italian phrases from French phrases, immediately got confused by the all the French in Brussels. In the evening we plotted the route by train and bus to Spa-Francorchamps.

The train station was a madhouse but Julie's ability in French came in handy when buying the tickets. At first we ran into lots of English fans who had crossed the channel. But then huge groups of Tifosi seemed to be everywhere. We talked with some young Australian guys on the train ride who had been to practice on Saturday and said that the place to pick up tickets was not the location listed in the F-1 e-mail, but that it was really about a mile away from the gate across from the media center.

We got off the the train and took the the bus on back roads to the track. It went very smoothly as we passed gridlock on the main highway but then slowed down 5 km from the village and the gates to the track. Oh well, Some people got off the bus and started walking. But I was trying to figure out the location of the will-call booth. Unfortunately I missed it and we ended up near the main gate. Got lots of bad information but eventually hiked back and found the tent. However, the information from the Aussies did save us some time as I was able to locate the media tent and the ticket booth.

Ran back to the gate as it was getting near the start time so we missed one of the entrances I was thinking of using - we had the cheap, roaming tickets. Went back and forth behind the main grandstands and finally went up a hill to be able see La Source and a little bit of the straight. This was not a bad area to watch the start and the first few laps.

(Note to self: Next time go to practice one day and get the layout of the track and where you can navigate easily.)

TC was right! The F-1 engines are incredibly loud and high pitched. The McLarens and Ferraris sound like screaming banshees. We plot a way to the infield and then get a view of Eau Rouge between the grandstands.

Between his perfect line and bravery, Kimi was fastest through Eau Rouge.

Sim games and televised races do not begin to accurately portray how steep that turn is.

The back of my head as I am gawking at Eau Rouge.

We watched the next third of the race there and then went underneath the track to get to the infield. We ended up on the hillside above Pouhon amongst the Tifosi.

We could hear the announcements when were close to the main grandstands but there was nothing really to help us follow the race on the hillside.

After the race Julie took a picture a guy laying down with his arms spread out on curb of Pouhon. We decided to walk back along the track to the gate at La Source. Again the elevation changes are just amazing....

On the way down there were a lot of parties going on at Eau Rouge and people were picking up marbles and putting them in little baggies as souvenirs. And I used to think sim racers were a little weird....