Memory of April 19th 2018

Google Photos threw up some memories from a couple of years ago. Thanks to Google Timeline I could relive the experience of what was one of the most eventful days of the 21 days long trip to Europe in April 2018.

The day started with tension. We were staying in a studio apartment with zero provisions. We had to check out early in the morning since there was loads of things to do that day and the travel for the day isn’t even sorted yet. The breakfast coupon provided by the accommodation was at a cafe nearby called Bar Trani. We went rolling both our big suitcases to the tiny cafe, got our breakfast done in a flash and started booking the cab to Ciampino Airport, because Leornado Da Vinci airport was out of cars to rent. Why couldn’t I have booked this before, I was kicking myself. We are losing precious time going out of the way to another airport on the southern side of the city and the whole cab ride I was furious and not in the right mood. 

We reached the airport Hertz counter at 8AM only to learn that the category of car I booked was sold out. Being a Hertz Gold member and having paid upfront, he had no choice but to upgrade me for free (booking direct always helps). He tried the next two higher categories, even those were sold out. Finally he had to upgrade me 6 categories after having a word with his manager who still hasn't come to work yet by the way, and hand me the keys to a brand new Land Rover Discovery Sport. 

All the frustration from morning disappeared as soon as I saw the car in their garage being wiped clean before handover. I couldn’t hide my smile and was grinning ear to ear just moving the car out of the parking lot. Out on the highway, the next stop was Bologna to visit all Italian auto museums. 5 hours of continuous driving got me to Bologna with our first museum visit being Ducati. 30 minutes was my limit, was out in 45. :) boys toys drooling takes time. ;)

Our next stop Museo Lamborghini was at least an hour away. Reached there at 3 PM, and both of us spent a good hour and a quarter exploring every milestone till their latest creations. It was already 4.15 and museums shut early and I still had one more museum to go to. FERRARI. How could I miss that. To my dismay, I figured there are two museums one in Modena and one in Maranello. I had to choose one as I can’t do both. Next day is my flight out of Milan, so I can’t even stay back in town. After a few calls made, we decided to ditch Modena (which was more F1) in favour of Maranello (which was more history). Reached Museo Ferrari at 5.30 PM with just an hour and a half for closure time.

We left at 7 PM, and headed towards Milan with dinner target time of 8PM. Mind you, we still haven’t booked accommodation, and we haven’t even figured out which town we are going to stay. We reached a town called Casalgrande, and found a restaurant to eat by 8.30 PM. We had to book since it was already late, and most staff would leave for the day and we need to inform we will be further late. All the possible accommodation options we had short listed in nearby towns were sold out. We were shitting bricks as if worst case we had to spend the night in the car. 

We found a property called Ca’ Maera B&B in a town called Ponte Dell Olio which was a good 40 km off the highway to Milan. We had no choice, the price was great, it was last minute, so we took the risk. Little did I know we would reach the property at 12.30 in the night. Once we went off the highway, for almost 10km, we had proper highway roads, which then became local highways, and then tiny roads, and then just broken roads. The property was atop a hill. Zero lighting around, the last 5 miles was literally heart in mouth. There were no signs, except for one tiny half broken board with the property’s name.

It was half pointing in one of the directions of a Y fork we reached. A gut feel said left, so we went ahead. Half a mile into the road, we figured it was going nowhere. I have a big ass car and a single lane road with no place to even turn around. Pitch dark I have to reverse 800 metres, without falling off the road, one side being a cliff. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened had I got that budget car instead of this Land Rover. Heartbeat well over a 100 bpm already, reversed the whole 800m with just the feeble light from the reverse LED. You could stop me here and ask, why didn’t I call the host and ask where the B&B is, well, mobile network was nil. Proper Rural Italy. 

Our host was patiently waiting for us, as the clock ticked half past midnight, made sure we are comfortable and offered us biscuits in case we were hungry after the early dinner. A pleasant end to an eventful day. We were totally exhausted after a long day, but somehow couldn’t get to fall asleep immediately, as there was an eerie silence. I wonder if the ambient noise was close to zero decibel. It is so unusual for us not used to such an environment. Finally managed to sleep by 1 AM. Following are pictures from the next morning.