Road Trip

Saturday and we agreed to meet early.  Well I was up early and they reckoned they'd be a little while later - we needed to get the car away before 8 and be on our way to Milan.  We were on the motorway when my Nephew said there was a police car coming up really fast.  It turned out to be a  Lamborghini Gallardo - painted blue and with aerodynamic blue flashing lights.  Amazing - only in Italy eh.  We then found out it was driven around the circuit at Monza before Qualifying and the Grand Prix itself much to the amusement and cat calling of the Tifosi....

Here are some images from You Tube of the car.  

We got to our Hotel in Milan and dropped off our luggage.  They suggested it would be easier for us to drive to Monza than take the train.  We managed this with a few traffic jams, mainly caused by the locals arguing with the Police about where to park.  It was quite well organised and we got bussed into the circuit but still had long walks either side.  However, we were there to see the Porsche Super Cup qualifying followed by the GP qualifying and then there were a series of races.  Lots of people left the circuit after quali and so we had a good run of the place and got to see about 3/4s of the circuit trying to work out the best place to view the race.  

We managed to get really close and saw some stunning driving.  We got back quite late and then went out into Milan for the evening we started by tram and got some of the way but invested in a Taxi to take us further in to Moscova area of Milan which was amazingly lively.  We managed to sit down at a Pizzeria at 10:15 so we again got back at about 2am.  We needed to leave early the next day and check out.  We kind of managed to do that and had breakfast (which was included) and again left our luggage there.  We arrived some 25 minutes later nearer the circuit and were able to park close to the bus and so by about 9:45 we were arriving inside the circuit, this time having bought our water supplies outside of the circuit saving 2 Euro a bottle!

Well, the whole experience was I can safely say awesome and a little emotional.  I got quite choked up when we invaded the track at the end of the race - the only race in the calendar where this is allowed - it was something quite strange a feeling quite unlike anything I've had before.  Perhaps it was the bit I'd dreamed about doing for a long time.  I've promised myself to go to a GP for years and years and this time finally made the decision to do it where I've procrastinated before. 

The ear splitting noises of the races and the passion of the fans, the whole experience and the warmth of an early autumn Grand Prix race where you are so close to the action all wove their magic.  We stayed behind after the ceremony for the winners and then looked at the old banked track.  Many people had made their way home already and we stopped off and had some more water and also had some beers sat watching the people stream away home.  The car was almost on its own when we returned and we drove back to the Hotel, collected our stuff and were then a little surprised to find that our Hotel that we felt was a lot nearer the centre of Milan turned out to be a few minutes from the Hotel we were in :-)  The nice thing was it was a Raddison and so we had great rooms and showered and changed and went into Milan after a few beers in the bar.  We went to a great Restaurant which I have no idea where it was but we asked the waiter to recommend the dishes for us.  It was great sitting outside, trams going past and lots of people drinking in a large square nearby.  Guess what?  The meal for the three of us came to 150 Euros yet again (coincidence??).  We gave a good tip to the waiter as the choices were inspired and very nice.  

We wandered across the road and had a beer and got home about 1am this time.  Interestingly on the way back to the Hotel there was a massive party going on.  It was the Red Bull party and unbeknown to me, the boys about turned and went back to see what was going on.  Apparently it was a 3000 Euro entrance but they managed to blag their way in via a side door and one of the bouncers for a lot less than that.  Apparently it was very expensive but the ticket they got gave them a free drink.  We were due to meet at 10 the next morning so we could get on to Verona before heading home.  At 10:10 I phoned them and they finally got out around 10:30...

Some Sunday and considering that we had been going for 4 days with perhaps 6 hours sleep a day we weren't doing too bad.