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Richard & Michelle Hamilton's Travels
Today was all about the car, the brand, the man, Enzo Ferrari. We were off mid morning after a breakfast prepared for only us as we are the only ones staying at this six room hotel currently. First stop Maranello, which took about an hour to get there due to the driver making a navigation decision between two options. Let's just say of the two female voices available to him he choose the one with a thirty year relationship. We had a pleasant scenic trip, interrupted by the obligatory Ferrari going the opposite way down the road and then ten minutes later screaming up behind us where it was stuck behind Donkey for a few minutes. The window of our car was opened, as the Ferrari passed both us and the truck in front, screaming through the gears, driver wearing his Ferrari gear, showing no respect for the local speed limit. The Maranello museum occupied R for over an hour, whilst M walked the surrounding streets. The museum was small compared to the massive Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi, but was interesting for its one-off specials and prototypes. Eric Clapton's special one-off design was displayed using the original full sized clay model for example. R walked a few blocks to see the factory gates and attempted to get a look over the fence at the test track, but had no success. He then evaluated the test drive options at €100 for ten minutes drive, and decide against it. Another day. There was no lack of options with three different companies surrounding the museum offering a range of Ferraris in different colours. Green for anyone? Next stop Modena, the birthplace of Enzo, and another Ferrari Museum. This one had elements of Ferrari World from a design perspective, but had some interesting videos and material about Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati, all now part of Fiat. There were some lovely cars on display. R was one of only a few people in this museum, apart from a very large Ferrari Partners group, which is another way of saying owners of Ferraris. They were all getting goodie bags and had a sumptuous buffet lunch. Somehow I could not convince them that I might be a potential owner! (Lego Ferrari car owner not an option either) Another day maybe. We then walked around Modena's old town centre. Another surprising city, which was empty! The Cathedral in the Piazza had a massive slump at one end and the bell tower along-side was on a large lean. This is what happens when you decide to build on very old Roman foundations. We eventually found lunch which was not easy, and wandered back to our car at the Ferrari Museum (only after R got a lecture from an old Italian lady about where the able-body toilets were, to which he responded with a few 'si's' (yes, yes). Back to Bologna, this time on the autostrada, (4 lanes in one direction, one or two lanes for the many trucks, one for the average Joe Bloggs driver and the left outside lane for the 'put foot to the floor & go for it' drivers), arriving back around 5pm. This gave us another few hours to explore Bologna. A city which has surprised us, in a similar way to Split. We love the vibe of Bologna and would recommend it to anyone travelling this part of Italy. The older buildings are unique and the 'columned' footpaths make for an atmospheric environment to walk though. Pleased we came. We will say though that we had forgotten how bad the smoking culture is here in Italy. R in particular has been struggling with hayfever and the smoke getting up his nose (literally). It's hard to sit down or even walk outside and enjoy the atmosphere for all the smoke that is emitted. I wonder how long it will take to change this aspect of Italian (and Croatian) culture. Tomorrow off to Verona for three nights, staying in the historic centre.
- comments
Terry Do you think 3 Maisto Ferraris would secure a goodie bag??