Soooo ...

THE INTRO

Many of you will know we recently had a little expedition to Italy. Most of you will also know that we tried a similar thing 3 years ago but all did not go according to plan (accident, emergency surgery, organ removal, hospital stay, etc, etc â€" for those unfamiliar).

The plan was to do things a little differently this time. The Boss was not prepared to put her life on the line again by riding ... and I decided I would be tempting fate if I did not do the same, so we decided a car was the best option. We looked at hiring (would have loved a Fiat 500) but we could get no guarantees on what car we would get ... so we leased a car from France (even though we were only going to Italy).

I had considered trying to do a track session or something â€" just to say I had ... and the DRE would have been the best bet. Luckily the timing didn’t really work so I didn’t have to decide which organ I would have to sacrifice for the payment. But we had coordinated the timing to suit World Ducati Week â€" all we had to do was get tickets ... but more on that later.

Because of my social inadequacies I often find that I fluctuate between extremes of saying/typing too much and saying/typing too little. Then of course there is the fact that my attempts at humour are often misunderstood or too peculiar which only shows on the internet that I am a half-wit with a delusional sense of self-importance. So you will be relieved (if still conscious at this point) to know I will try to refrain from providing a blow-by-blow account of our trip.

I thought instead that I would simply try to recall a few of our experiences ... the observations of an uncultured, socially inept, tea-totalling, introverted Aussie bloke abroad. Hopefully my delightful travelling companion may be able to chime-in on occasion with her well considered clarifications of the way things are/were rather than what just resides in my pea-brain.

Actually, scratch some of that. Since there has now been a request for all the detail ... I will expand on my plans. Perhaps just a brief run-down of the places we visited â€" if there is anything more you want to know post up and we can try to elaborate further. Of course I’ll expand on our experiences to do with bikes and vehicles in general but I will still try to break it up into bite-sized chunks to make it a little more digestible.

We’ll see how we go. If you want me to shut up ... say so â€" or just don’t look at the thread. If you want to ask questions ... feel free â€" but I can’t promise any satisfaction.

More more.

PHOTOS

Since some of you have been requesting photos and considering the audience includes some professional, semi-professional, highly skilled amateur and some downright ordinary photographers ... I need to set an extremely low level of expectation. Yes I took some photos (the Boss even took some as well), but there are very few that can be considered OK ... if you are expecting ‘good’ photos please look elsewhere.

My photos are simply holiday happy-snaps. I don’t have the talent (and hence the motivation) to try too hard to take a decent photo.

We were on holidays so the photos are what you may expect lots of things that are different to me but when you get them all together all pretty much look the same. As I go along I will try and post some photos relevant to the words.

Italian Girls.

Shut up!

Type!! (and link photos)

Progress with the verbage please!!!     

I was starting to wonder whether people were interested.

BRIEF RUNDOWN

There were some places we wanted to re-visit, others which because of circumstance we couldn’t visit as planned last time and a little bit of extra adventure this time if we could find the time. Of course there was that little event known as World Ducati Week we thought we might check out if we could â€" this presented us with the opportunity to meet up with a couple of international DMFers and share the love, so to speak.

As I mentioned the other day, I thought I’d give a very brief outline of where we went. I will enhance this a little for the places we visited with a motoring slant. Most places we visited we simply enjoyed ‘taking it all in’ ... as you all know we are not fashionista, foodies or coffee drinkers, so this was typically accomplished by aimlessly wandering about. Well to me that’s what we did ... but my travelling companion no doubt sees it differently … however by now she has become used to living with the anally retentive dickhead with schizophrenic OCD tendencies.

We have developed a mild fascination of old churches ... partly because they are cool (figuratively and literally), generally large and often spectacularly embellished, regularly the largest building in town and quite possibly the centre of the community. We felt compelled to climb big structures (despite Jukie’s fear of heights and her claustrophobia). On rare occasions I also took the opportunity to sample some of the local gelato â€" I know that will surprise some of you. If there is anything you would like me to elaborate on, just let me know ...



... and no Paul, she is not Italian.

keep typing...............
and post more photos!


please

^^^^^
agree!

I spoke to Jeff and Marie this morning on a ride and they said they met a couple at WDW that know me from this forum!   

Quote from: monsta on July 14, 2012, 11:39:09 PM
I spoke to Jeff and Marie this morning on a ride and they said they met a couple at WDW that know me from this forum!   

Veterans of this sort of thing apparently. It was great to meet some other Aussies amongst all those people - interestingly they grew up in the same area as us and used to live near where we live now. Obviously nice people!

The question is, have they recovered from spending time with Jukie?

Quote from: Paul on July 14, 2012, 02:30:22 PM
Italian Girls. BOYS

please 

Rome

As our landing and take-off point it made sense to spend a little time in Rome â€" if you allow yourself the opportunity to just ‘take it in’, it is a good place to just wander about. A few of the touristy places we visited were: Piazza del Popolo, the Corso, The ‘Wedding Cake’, Piazza del Campidoglio, the Colosseum, the Ferrari Store and plenty of churches, etc, etc.

Staying in Rome gave us the chance to climb the dome at Pete’s Place and visit Jukie’s ancestral sisters in the Central Courtyard of the House of the Vestal Virgins amongst the ruins of the Roman Forum.

The "Wedding Cake":


Piazza del Campidoglio:


the Colosseum:


Pete’s Place (on approach):


Pete’s Place (overlooking the square):


Pete’s Place (at night):


Jukie amongst the Virgins:

Quote from: heatherp on July 15, 2012, 01:31:08 AM
please 

Sorry Heather I generally don't take photos of blokes ... I did however make an exception for this fine specimen:



Hope you approve.

  Just happened to notice the lovely,voluptuous curvature of the Italian grid girls at Mugello and not to put to fine a point on it could you please stop torturing us and just post the make the beast with two backsing chicpics !   
 

I said boys not grandpas Betty.  geez.