ED Memories: July 26, 2023

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Venice day!

Up early to grab breakfast before heading out. I didn't sleep that well again(!), as the bed was super hard and Andrew was snoring a lot. So I'm a bit grumpy this morning, I can tell. A spot of breakfast and a coffee will help. 

On the road and heading to Venice :-) Moods have improved all around, the sunshine has come out, tummies have breakfast in them, and we pull off the highway to give the cars a good wash. Amazingly, there is a washcloth rinsing and wringing-out station. Never seen one of those before, but most welcome :-) The car is looking picture perfect, so #detailluke is happy :-) and Andrew is very pleased that I brought all the right stuff to clean them up with. There also is a separate vacuuming / cleaning station just for floor mats. Guess the Italians really know how to take care of their cars.

We now descend down out of the mountains and into the valley of the Po, which is a super-wide, formerly massive river delta. This stage kind of defines the first phase of our trip from the second phase. We will be heading southwest towards Imola, where we hope to see the memorial to Ayrton Senna, who died at that racetrack back in 1994. The countryside will change for the next while into flowing, curving roads over open countryside, a chance for the GTSs to stretch their legs a little bit as opposed to the tight switchbacks of the Dolomites. I think it will be rather relaxing.

I am a little bit apprehensive about Andrew's IBM colleague Andy joining us for a few days, although I did obviously meet him in Ottawa and he seemed super-nice. The good thing is that he will ride with Andrew 99% of the time and I can enjoy my alone time in the Boxster. We make it in time to the airport to pick him up and Jenn jumps in with me for the ride to the train station. We decide to accompany her the one train stop into Venice proper, so that we can take in the entrance to Venice (it's quite a sight) and have a bite to eat as well as meet her friend who is coming from Ireland.

Jenn correctly identifies that since Andrew now has his work buddy along with him, the dynamic will be quite different than with Jenn around. Sure enough, within the first half an hour I think Andrew chitchats more with Andy than with Jen or I on the whole trip so far (ok I'm exaggerating, but it is noticeable). Glad to see him loosening up a bit there, and grins abound! I think it will actually be great for the trip to have Andy riding with Andrew for the next few days. Just to help Andrew relax and enjoy a bit more.

From Venice, we head out on the autostrada for a little bit towards Bologna, although we will be turning off there to head in the Imola direction. Andrew wants to capture some 718‘s crossing broad swaths of countryside as we cross the valley of the Po. And we already have a hotel booked in Imola for the evening, so we can relax and have a nice dinner somewhere.

South towards Bologna, through a little town called Marero. It's easy, cruising country, with nice surfaces through many small towns, with orange or lemon groves (I think?) off to each side of us. And huge fields of corn and other produce. Clearly this is an incredibly fertile area. I need to read up on the valley of the Po as something tells me much larger portions of this entire area used to be underwater, but now the river is a shadow of its former self. But I'm not sure. Research tonight!

We make it into Imola at dinnertime, so after some parking challenges here initially, we finally find good spots in the underground parking. From there, it's just a 2.5 km walk to a nice restaurant in an old underground wine cellar.

A delicious dinner, great conversation, in a very unique (to me) setting -  a perfect way to end the day.

~ Luke

p.s. You can read the full, no-holds-barred accounting of this day at gtschronicles.com.