Dear Shaded Viewers,
As you know, the festival of Cannes opened last night. You might enjoy visiting these two sites in order to keep yourselves up to date:
www.festival-cannes.fr( in French and English)
http://www.ecrannoir.fr/ (French only)
I am off to London today for the Gumball rally. In fact it does not begin until the 14th. If you are in London, please come to Tralfalgar Square around l7h30 to see the cars off. I will be in the support team for Eley Kishimoto. Mark Eley will be driving a VW GTI with Jason Maclean as co-pilot. Friday the 13th will be the global premiere of the Gumball Movie 6 days in May directed by Ruben Fleischer documenting last years event. The Sunday Times listed the party that follows the screening as the event of the year.
On the 14th the 120 cars taking part in the event will be on display from 11h-18h at Waterloo Place, off Pall Mall, seconds from Trafalgar Square. The 3,000 mile route goes through Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Sicily and Rome. Crossing the finishing line on the evening of Friday 20th in Monte Carlo’s Casino Square. After the 3000 mile everyone will relax on the ‘Gumball Super Yacht’ in Monaco’s harbour.
June Vanity Fair has a 17 page Gumball feature which I’ve been told that after reading it may well put you off from taking part. Supposedly the route is far safer this year than the wilderness of the Moroccan desert.
If you are in any of these cities along the way, please pass by to cheer on Eley Kishimoto and his equip:
Saturday 14th 23h – 2h00 cars arrive at checkpoint in Belgium at the Chateau D’Acoz, located near Acoz not far from Brussels
Sunday 15th – cars will be arriving all day at the Hotel Carlo IV in the Centre of Prague
Monday 16th – 10-13h cars arrive in Vienna – checkpoint Horfburg Imperial Palace, Josefplaz
14h-18h Cars arrive at the Hungaroring F1 Circuit Checkpoint Budapest
18h-20h Cars will arrive at the Kempinski Corvinus Hotel in the centre of Budapest
Tuesday 17th 13h-all day – cars arrive in Taromina (Sicily) cars will be on display all day in the Town Centre
Wednesday 18th – 13h-all day – cars arrive in Rome and park at the Hotel Boscolo Exedra in Piazza Della Republica.
Thursday 19th 18h-22h -cars arrive at a Checkpoint in Firenze Piazza Michelangelo, La Loggia
18h-22h – Cars will cross the finish line in Monaco’s Casino Square
Mark Eley would like to come back with the spirit of the Gumball award, wish us luck. I am thrilled that I will not have to go through a ton of airport metal detectors along the way. That is about the only thing that I do not like about travelling. You know, too many hair pins drive the metal detector insane.
My friend Laura Calder, author of French Food at Home (Harpers Collins, 2003) will be house sitting for me and promises a home cooked meal of my choice when I return.
My dear friend Robb Young will be celebrating his 30th birthday on Friday the 13th. I look forward to seeing him for a birthday lunch.
Take care, Diane
