19.10.10

For the last 4 days, Zoe and I have been with her dad George for the Go Kart World Finals at Desenzano Del Grada, Italy. Apparently I had the spelling wrong in my previous blog entries. We caught a bus from Milan to Milano Malpensa airport to meet George who was on an Emirates flight from South Africa via Dubai. After we met him at arrivals, we arranged a hire car (With additional insurance given that we would be driving on the wrong side of the road) and we headed off on a 1 hr 40 min trip to Desenzano Del Grada. The town was nothing like we expected it to be. Zoe had told me that it was a small fishing village but it was in fact a nice town with lots to do alongside the largest lake in Italy. Our first stop was the Go Kart track where we would be meeting the people we would be saying with. We were supposed to be staying at a small farm for 25 euro a night for all three of us. At about 6.30 p.m George had a change of heart and we went to see if there were any vacancies in the heart of town. We settled on Hotel Riveria which had the lake right on its doorstep. The guy at the front desk was quite unsettled by George's negotiation skills but George managed to work the price down from 140 euros per night to 100 euros per night for two rooms including a breakfast each morning. It was quite funny, because the guy who welcomed us at the door also showed us the room, brought us towels, served us at the bar later that night and served breakfast. It was definitely a one man band. There were lots of other South Africans in town for these Go Kart finals and it was good to hear Afrikaans again, especially in Italy! George's friend the "Dutchman from Boereville" was staying at our hotel and hy was baie vriendelik! The first night we walked down the old cobbled streets looking for a nice place for dinner. After a long time without service, Zo stood up to go get us menus. The waitress came to our table shouting at the top of her lungs! I think she said something to the effect of sit down and be patient, I will serve you when I'm ready! But I can't be sure. For the next few days we spent alot of time a the track to Zoe's disgust. She hates the track and loses interest very quickly. I on the other hand was fascinated by the amount of time, money and effort that goes into 4 days of racing and I also learnt alot about slicks, wet tyres, building engines, changing pistons, water on spark plugs etc.... The parents of the drivers work non-stop on maximising the Kart's horseower and performance and the kids show very little interest until it is time to race. The average spend for the 4 day event was R170,000. My dad got shocked when he had to buy me a new pair of Rugby boots each season! These guys are racing at this cost every single weekend. They are constantly buying parts to improve performance! All this went out the door on the last day when it rained! Instead of relying on horsepower, the outcome lay on the shoulders of the individual drivers. We saw big crashes resulting in a driver starting from 24th position on the grid taking a win, but all this came after again modifying the Karts for the rain with new tyres and what not. We could not get the coffee ordering right! After ordering a latte in Milan and ending up with warm milk, we tried to order a cafe latte at the track and got an espresso shot which was extremely strong! We were told that we need to order a cafe latte americano and even that was wrong! We could not win so we either settled on hot chocolate or a straight cappacino. Zoe was pleased when we got a break to explore the town. We walked the place flat in search of a bicycle hire (Pretty ironic!). After visiting a number of supermarkets that fascinated us with all the interesting food sorts on offer, we settled for a Aqua Fizzante and a salad with Poscuitto which we ate in the park next to the water. Across Lake Garda (150KM wide) you could see beautiful snow-capped mountains. We also visited some of the big shopping centres. I ended up with a really nice leather jacket which George paid for (Apparently I look after his daughter well!). All in all, it was a great 4 days! We had plenty of time to relax, enjoy the scenery, eat, drink and be merry! We enjoyed many drinks with the dutchman from Boereville and the vodka orange juices were an absolute treat. I'm sure the barman thought that he was only supposed to get 3 drinks from a bottle of vodka, but they were great value for moneey at 3 euros a pop. We also managed to stay well ahead of our budget as George looked after the majority of the expenses. After a two hour wait on a bench yesterday, a kind italian woman taught us to verify our train tickets before we emabarked on a 2 hour train ride to Venice! It was like de ja vu when we climbed onto the train!! Firstly my bag got caught on the door of the train and I felt it unzip! I thought that the guy behind me was trying to open my bag to steal stuff but in fact he was only trying to unhook me. I felt terrible as I turned to shout at him. I am just very concious of pick pockets and thieving gypsies in this country! We then started to look for a seat when we realised there weren't any! It was like my life flashed before my eyes back to 2004 on our train ride from hell (Rome) to Bolzano in Northern Italy. Zoe and I were now standing in the exact same position! In the gangway, directly opposite the toilet! I could not believe it, but I tried to stay calm! This particular train ride was only 2 hours long. I had experienced much worse in the past. Before we knew it however, we were stopping and I saw a couple stand to disembark. I tapped Zoe on the shoulder and we ran down the passage to secure the seats before anyone else had the same idea. When we sat down, we breathed a sigh of relief and had a laugh about the experience. Finally we had achieved value for our 8 euro tickets! We had been told to stop at the Informasion office at the station. Before we even got there, we were approachedby a guy who wanted to show usa 1 star hotel in Venice for 60 euro a night. We knew we couldn't get too much better than this, as even hostels are normally more expensive. This offered an on-suite bathroom and breakfast daily. We had a quick look at the room and we were satisfied. It ticked all boxes especially seeing as though it met our accomodation budget. It was definitely no Thailand, Fiji or Malaysian hotel that we have grown used to but it served its purpose. It was semi clean, the bed was comfy and it had water views (Although I think all rooms in Venice have water views!). We walked Venice flat as we looked for the Rialto Bridge. We looked at all the markets and the quaint buildings that lined the waterways. Everyone wanted to give us a gondola ride but it didn't meet yesterdays budget. It might be a possibility today! We are off to go find a laundromat before exploring the town a bit more! We might head back to the bar in central Venic for Happy Hour! We got 4 drinks last night for 9 euros and the roof of the bar was lined with bras of those who had left them behind. No plans of where we will be heading next, but we are thinking Austria, Germany/Switzerland before heading back to the U.K.