It’s nearly over

We’ll look we did. The view was great, even when the weather closed in the next day. The glug closed in on me too – I got quite a heavy cold, and it was using a gps to get around my system, so a quiet day was called for. About all we really did (apart from some more shopping!!) was drive down the western side of Lake Garda – fascinating and breathtaking for a whole bunch of other reasons. You remember the cliffs I was waxing lyrical about in the last entry? Well, they fall straight into the water, so to get through them, you have to go through them. Tunnels. We did the James Bond thing (only in a lime green Fiat, and with no gun totin’ clowns in Alfas), before finally retiring to our villa for an early night.

Feeling much better the next morning, we decided to head for Reggio Emilia, where Mik’s conference is to be held. We programmed the GPS, whom we have named “Kowalski” – because there’s always a Kowalski. I have my reasons, which all my mtb buddies will instantly get, and the kids like the Kowalski character in the Madagascar films – a very talented penguin who is forever fixing things – hence the appropriate nature for our little savior on the windscreen. We popped past another castle at the bottom of the lake – there are pictures – then told Kowalski to ignore the toll roads and had a fascinatingly rural trip down to Reggio.

Checked in, and a bit of a wander around the old town, we for some reason couldn’t find a restaurant. Plenty of cafes, and the odd Chocolate Salon (ask Indi and Sash about the Reggio hot chocolate!!!) – before much to the children’s delight, returning to the hotel for room service, videos, internet and bed.

Next day, the last full touristic day, we asked Kowalski to find the Ferrari museum, and she obliged. All things red, with prancing horses, come from Maranello, and it’s a cracker! From really really really old Fiat precursors, right through a huge posse of F1 cars and the ‘consumer’ model right up to 2008, there’s some hardcore in that place! There were also a heap of engines (like 20) sitting alone, all alloy and carbon fiber – and of course a shop!

The adventure home took us to Modena, which was kinda busy with something we didn’t quite get, so we got Kowalski to take us back to Reggio, via an Itallian megacoop. That’s a huge supermarket. It’s always good to check the consumer goods – even if we’re not actually too sure what’s in the box.

We gathered some supplies, us for the 4hr road trip back to Rome tomorrow and Mik for the next week doing the conference thing. Four star hotels are all very well - till you want to eat, etc.

So this is probably it till we’re back. I’ll add a bunch more photos when I get my head around the thousand or so on my camera, not to mention the other couple thou on Mik, Indi and Sash’s. Then I’m sure you’ll get to see a slide show down the track if you’re so inclined.

Ciao!!