914 : Road Trip to Italy

[911hillclimber]

That's a long time in the seats....
You are supposed to smile for the camera!

Hope to make time to see the sights.

[jeremyg]

Sounds like an airbandb place Neil where they don’t quite manage to give a full description.. never mind, the trip’s the thing. Have a great drive.

[neilbardsley]

A very long day yesterday. We started the trek to the car about 9am and got into our place in Verona at 6;20.

First I replaced the H4 bulb. I've never seen one smash like that before.

The car ran very well and we had good weather all the way. The only hiccup was that our data roaming didn't work in Switzerland. Google decided we should go on a train rather than driving over the Simplon Pass. We had to ask a local.

The Pass is stunning. The car idles at about 60% of it's normal in the thin air

Once we got into Italy the traffic gets faster. I approached a lane merge, around some roadworks. It suggested 30kph. I slowed to 90/100kph and cars came zooming past me!

Parking in Verona is a pain. We are staying just opposite the castle.

First nice meal but the desert was disappointing.

This morning on the train to Venice

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[neilbardsley]

Yesterday we visited Venice. Which I believe has to be visited but maybe only once. I truly wonderful city but too busy to enjoy. My son pointed that the way to enjoy the city is to jump on a fast water boat to one of the quieter islands. Nevertheless we did get out of the Grand Canal. Interesting as our house is above one of the Grand Union Canal tunnels in the UK. Saying that Dudley has more canals than Venice isn't true

Up before Mrs B woke and I walked 400m to visit the Arena. Hopefully, I will be back some day or the August Operas.

Then a wet drive to Bologna. We seem to have raced ahead of the clouds. The car continues to run well.

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[neilbardsley]

We have arrived in Firenze via some very long tunnels and Bologna. There are some very impressive buildings in Bologna with a very grand Piazza. There is a Quad like the library in Oxford. With different doors to different schools. Of course I tried some Bolognese Pasta.

The smaller of the 2 towers has been closed because it's lean has become very pronounced.

Florence is pretty small. Maybe 3 days will be too much here but perhaps we can take a train to Lucca or Senna.

Bought a spare H4 headlight for the car. Speed limits seem to be completely ignored here. As long as I move to the left lane after overtaking I don't have car 1m from my rear bumper. Not that the 914 will not cruise at good speed but I prefer to leave a save distance to the traffic Infront

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[Lightweight_911]

.
You certainly seem to be making good use of your short time there Neil - Florence is a great city with some wonderful architecture & lots of cultural heritage.

Glad the car is going well - hope it continues to do so.

.

[911hillclimber]

Been to Venice 3 times, once work, twice hols. Never go when it is hot, the world is there.

Got to go to Lucca!

Good luck as you go. Italian driving is crazy as you are finding out, we did not like the motorways at all, rest was good.

[Nine One One]

You can go to Pisa via train from Florence

Or

https://florencetour.com/tours/ferrari- ... -day-tour/

[neilbardsley]

Very pretty at night

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[anglophone1]

We rent an apartment in Venice for a week every February - its busy and not busy daily - like the tide!
After a day you get into the local vibe- very relaxing.............great for the soul.
Trip out to lagoon for lunch at Gatto Nero mandatory.
Opera at La Fenice.
Venice jazz club.
Walk lots, ride the water bus,
Read the Brunetti novels..................
Florence fab - drop south to San Gimignano and Siena, west to Lucca.
Like all of old Europe-Italy needs time............
C

[stretch]

Great trip Neil. Highly recommend taking the train to Lucca, visit Puccini's birth house and take in the Opera in the church in the evening.

[Winston Teague]

+1 for Lucca recomendation, lovely, there's also an excellent tool hire shop on the ring road, who's fabulous hydraulic puller made light work of removing our Frazer Nash rear hub, to repair a broken brake pivot! Have fun, W

[neilbardsley]

I tried to have a walk this morning to get some exercise to start the day but the city is very busy. I mostly just tried not to get run over.

Today we visited David. Truly amazing but I can't help but think of Uriah. For me David is the man that had everything and needed more. Total power can corrupt even the best of us. it cost £100 to skip the queues with a guide. It's costing another £100 to visit a museum tomorrow. Think of all the car parts I could be buying

Got some great views of the city. We have one more day here and will visit Lucca the day after for a few hours then onto Genoa.



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[neilbardsley]

Via Pisa, we tried to drive pass the Tower but didn't realise it was behind a wall. We stopped in Lucca. Unfortunately, so did thousands of Cosplay and Comic fans so the city was completely crammed. We didn't stay long because it was raining we then moved onto Genova passing through some of the heaviest rain I have driven in.

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[neilbardsley]

Genoa wasn't quite what we hoped. A taste of the Italian Riviera. We should of chosen a smaller place but got a busy port city. Double unfortunate was that our local food tour guide cancelled. The place we stayed in was very strange. It used to be a grand office building but now quite ran down (unfortunately like the bits of the city we saw).

We had an amazing drive for about 4 hours. Dry, quiet roads with stunning mountains. I think I saw a ton and there was much more to come but we had already spent enough in petrol. We must of paid 100+ euro in rolls today. One tunnel was 55! The last 2 hours were quite wet so I decided to pay for underground parking to let the car dry out a bit. Last night it sat outside in the storm but started first time.

Nice meal scheduled at Pierre in Macon. The guide is very excited about his cooking. Let's see if we can appreciate it

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