It’s where the F1 racing drivers have their after party, and where top celebs, and the 'beautiful people' go to relax and have fun. I am still not sure exactly where the Amber lounge was, but I got dressed up to the nines in my dinner jacket and smart open necked shirt, and followed the others through the streets of Monaco, we all looked like some weird dinner jacketed, ray ban wearing tribe.
We got to the Amber lounge and everyone was given their pass to get it, well everyone except me, unfortunately we were one ticket short. As luck would have it, a man in the queue had one ticket too many, and after a quick exchange of a small wad of Euros, I was walking through the main door of the club.
The Amber lounge is simply amazing, I have been to nightclubs all around the world, and somehow this seemed so special. Not least because of the huge open air pool surrounded by comfy lounge sofas that you sink right into. Another advantage with this nightclub seemed to be that once you had paid your extortionate fee to get in, the drinks were 'free'. The Stolichnaya Vodka and the Krystal Champagne flowed like water. We all danced in the little space behind our sofa, just a few inches from the edge of the pool. How nobody fell in, I don't know.
By 3am the Vodka and champagne had taken its toll, several of the guys were snoozing on the sofas; we all headed back to the apartment. When we got back to the apartment, the security people had all gone, the place was deserted. There were ten of us guys, and two lifts. "Listen" said cousin "Six people can go in this lift, and you four can go in the other one" Despite there being a large notice in French saying "Maximum 4 Personne" six of us burly and slightly inebriated guys all got into the lift at once.
I pushed the button for the top floor. The lift went up in the air by about 20 feet then stopped. It was 3am in the morning, with six burly, heavily perspiring, slightly inebriated guys in a small lift built for four, and we were stuck.
I pressed the panic button for the 'Pompier' (firemen). We were all trying not to panic, it was incredibly hot and sweaty, you could literally see the sweat oozing from our pores like water from a sponge. We all tried making jokes, the time ticked by and we tried not to think of suffocating to death in this tiny lift. After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 20 minutes, the doors of the lift were forced open by the Pompiers.
The fresh air that wafted into the lift smelt like pure oxygen. The firemen were not too impressed by 6 stupid Anglais in a lift built for four. We thanked them profusely and walked the rest of the way up the stairs. The party was finally over, and we had made it back alive, what a weekend!
The Monaco Grand Prix Page 3