Our pilot had no problems landing, but we heard from another Best of IBM attendee that his pilot missed the landing the first time around, and had to circle around for a second try. Luckily they got safely on the ground the second time.
And here is the airport as viewed out the airplane window, safely on the ground:
Once off the plane, we went to baggage claim for our luggage. Then, we sort of stood around, lost. There weren't any obvious signs for BOI attendees, as we'd expected. There were a couple of people standing around with a generic logo on small signs, so we went over to ask if they were there for BOI. They said yes, they were. Hurray! We weren't lost any more.
We followed one of them to buses parked outside the airport:
We were apparently among the first to arrive, so there were only 3 or 4 other couples on the bus with us. Once they had everyone they expected to arrive on the bus, and had sorted out who went to which hotel, we were off on the 45 minute bus ride through Nice to Monte Carlo.
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| Toll Booth on the road from Nice, France to Monte Carlo. |
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| Nice, France as seen through the bus window en route to Monte Carlo. |
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| Almost to Monaco! |
Our hotel for the event was the Fairmont, Monte Carlo. It is right next door to the Monte Carlo Casino, as well as on the race course for the annual Monte Carlo Grand Prix Formula One race.
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| Entrance to our hotel. The stacks of tires are part of the safety barricades being put up for the Monte Carlo Grand Prix. |
Our bus driver was quite the character. His names was Gilles (Pronounced like "zheel"). He told us amusing stories and interesting facts about Monaco and Nice during the 45 minute ride. He was also our bus driver for various entertainment ventures over the next couple of days. I wish I'd thought to have a picture taken with him, or at least gotten a picture of him. I think I may have a picture of the back of his head in the bus, but that's all!
As we were pulling in to the hotel, Gilles pointed out several antique cars being driven out of the hotel parking lot. He explained that these were from the Historic Grand Prix race that had been held the weekend before. This is a race held every other year on the Grand Prix course, but the cars are all antiques from the era of the beginnings of the race.
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| Antique Grand Prix cars leaving the hotel parking lot. |
We were both hungry, so we walked around the hotel trying to find out the day's schedule of events and how to get food. We were told conflicting things. One person said the "hospitality suite" would open at 11am with refreshments. Another said 1pm. One person said registration would be at 1pm on the ground floor. We later found out it was at 4pm on the top floor. Very confusing and frustrating. We went back to our room to check the room service menu, only to find out it cost €40 ($50 USD) for just a hamburger. No fries, no drink, just the burger. Um, no.
We went back downstairs to ask the concierge where to go for food. We were given a wonderful map, and recommendations on the best food within walking distance. Finally! We walked a couple of blocks uphill alongside the race course, to Le Tip Top restaurant, and had delicious hamburgers, fries, and bottled water for about €28 ($35 UDS) for us both. Expensive but, we were in Monte Carlo. While there I tried to keep count of the Ferraris, Boxters, Jaguars, etc., that drove past but quickly gave up. There were far too many!
After our meal, we walked back to the hotel. We noticed a conference room with many many pieces of luggage in it, and a lot of people sitting around the hospitality suite nearby. We later learned these were the people that had to wait for their rooms to be ready. One such person was half of the entertainment for the second business session - Bernadette Peters. She was NOT happy to have to wait to get a room. I overheard her telling the staff, "I stay in hotels all the time, all over the world, and I have NEVER been treated so badly." And later that evening, when we were back in the hospitality suite, she again had a complaint - she and her companion (husband? I'm not sure) had been put in a room with two twin beds instead of a king size bed. And the hotel personnel had the nerve to tell her, "You can just push them together to make a king size." Oh. My. Goodness. I thought Ms. Peters was going to slap them. Fortunately someone from the Best of IBM staff ran over and apologized profusely and promised to make everything right. Whew.
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