Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Set off for Modena this morning - Ferrari country!!!! Actually, the region is home to Lamborghini, Maserati, Bugatti and Ducatti as well, and so I was hoping that our visit to the Enzo Ferrari Museum would give me enough time for a decent look around! We have spent eons looking at ancient churches, castles and buildings etc. and as lovely as they are, I am totally over them!!!!
So I endured an hour of central Modena with its large Cathedral and cobblestones, before we found a ripper farmers markets where we decided to get some lunch. Mumsie and I chose a chunk of cheese, some mixed salad and a few breadsticks, grovelled a plastic knife and fork from the vendor and then found a park bench in the Grande Piazza to enjoy our feast! Superb!
Later we visited one of the local balsamic vinegar wineries where we had a very interesting lesson on how it is made and the various ageing processes, where the licensed product has to be matured for 12 or 25 years before it can be bottled! No wonder it is so expensive! We then had the chance to taste all the varieties they produce - it was delicious!
We then headed out to Maranello, stopping for a peek at Pavarotti's grave site, then arriving at the Ferrari factory. There were crowds of people about - also lots of Ferraris in the streets as well - it's a very popular tourist attraction. Sally had mentioned that they offered rides in the cars - at a cost - and as soon as we got our museum tickets Mumsie and I shot over to the place and requested a spot. I quickly discovered that for a "price" you could actually drive a Ferrari of your choice and while I was thinking about it Mumsie whipped out the credit card and said "which one do you want to drive?" Onya Mumsie! I chose an F458 Italia and then the girl said there was quite a wait for the drive - over half an hour! We only had an hour in total at the place!!!!! But after some good old Aussie charm and a lot of pleading we waited only 5 minutes and then the guy came out, chucked me the keys and told me to get into the gleaming red machine!
A lifetimes dream was about to come true, and after a brief rundown and strapping on the 6 point harness I hit the start button and 585 horses screamed into life! What a sound! Ferraris are all semi automatic these days and with it set on Auto, I inched out of the park and onto the street, and set off for my 10 minutes of heaven! Left hand drive, rough roads and lots of traffic were totally ignored once I flicked the lever to Manual and used the paddle shifters to encourage to horses to get their act together! The next minutes flew past so damn quickly as I was told to "use the gas" by my guide and gave the beast some stick! For a rev head like me, it was total bliss listening to the screaming V8 and using the instantaneous shifters to up and down the 7 speeds!
All too soon we were back in the parking lot and my dream was over! But it was something I'll never, ever forget! Thanx Mumsie! All that standing outside shops waiting, was worth it!
I had about 7 minutes to race around the amazing museum before the coach took us back to Riva Del Garda. I was pretty pissed off that we only got an hour there - I was quite happy to miss the museum to get my drive in - but it would have been nice to able to spend a few hours in this famous place! Pretty obviously Trafalgar don't cater for rev head ex-farmers!
- comments