Misadventures in Italy

[Betty]

First the disclaimer/preamble … anybody that has tried to carry a conversation with me will know that I am pretty boring but once I get started I get even more boring and keep rambling on with inane crap that nobody really … oh yeah the point: you may want to stop reading now. I apologise in advance for all the carry-on but will try and include a decent amount of Ducati content but mostly focussed on ‘the incident’. But I fear many of you have already heard it all by now - so as we go if you have any queries just let me know.


PART 1

Well for those of you that don’t know Julie and I ventured out of the South Pacific for the first time last May/June - and our destination … Italy! It was to be one of those ‘once in a lifetime’ type holidays but we had a few hiccups along the way, a couple of disappointments and a bit of a disaster just to top it all off.

We put quite a bit of time into the planning (besides my anal retentive mood swings) because we wanted to get everything right with a brief outline being:
•   Land in Rome and spend a couple of days finding our feet
•   Spend most of the next two weeks on a coach tour taking in as many of the tourist hotspots as we could
•   Then spend a few days in Cinque Terre taking it easy and enjoying the coastline of the Italian Riviera, possibly get a dive in the Med
•   The climax of the trip was to be a week riding Ducatis through the Tuscan Hills including a trip to the factory and museum before heading back home.

But before we even left we had a few issues to deal with such as a coach tour being cancelled about four weeks before departure. A further frustration was having to pay for the trip (much of it in euros) and purchasing our foreign currency when the Australian dollar was at its worst. However, that was not enough to dampen our enthusiasm because this was going to be the trip of a lifetime.

So if I haven’t already bored you with all the details, it’s about to get worse … much like a slide night at Mark & Julie’s without the pretty pictures. Our first couple of days were hectic trying to take in all the hysterical sites of Rome and we covered most of it on foot … much of it more than once. We also enjoyed a Segway tour which is a fantastic way to see the sites … bloody good fun too. Unfortunately the season (and pollution) was taking its toll on the Boss and she was suffering from the world’s worst case of hayfever … it was a gamble we had to take to avoid the summer heat of July/August, but summer came early … just for us. On occasion the temperature climbed into the forties, in May!

One of the most disappointing things for us was the lack of Italian bikes on the road (or side of the road). We thought it disgraceful that we saw (and heard) more Harley Davidsons than Ducatis. With regard to the Ducatis that we did see we weren’t surprised that the most popular model was the Monster … almost exclusively 600 series Darks.

It also won’t surprise you that the streets are dominated by scooters - unfortunately very few of the traditional two strokes … with only a few Vespas spotted and one Lambretta from a bus window. The majority of scooters were Japanese ‘Maxi’ scooters - you know the Honda SilverWing type. As the motoring public is obsessed with anything to do with Valentino Rossi, the most popular ‘Maxi’ seemed to be the Yamahas because they are just like Vale’s … umm, factory … ah, well, umm … they have a tuning fork symbol on the front.

.... to be continued ....

[FIFO]

  Do go on ,with pictures please

[Betty]

Rob I thought you wanted only 5 words a day.


.... and who said anything about photos .... whaddya thing I am Vasilescu or something

[Spider]

yep, so few ducatis.....and guzzis...and mv...and ferrari's......and not a single zonda....or a benelli....it's all a bit industrial. I supect transport is transport and not a status symbol!

I honestly believe you'd make a million friends riding a symbol of there country around.....and if the polizia caught you speeding, I suspect they would ask you to go faster!

ready for the pictures and the next chapter, I have the popcorn ready! 

[heatherp]

Do carry  on Betty 

[mattyvas]

.... whaddya thing I am Vasilescu or something

Ummmm yeah you did buy a Canon G camera so we all expect photos.
And something more than the dotted line, I do remember seeing some pics sometime.

[Jukie]

Do carry  on Betty 

i thought he already has, and you still want more

[mattyvas]

But we love Betty-ism's

[heatherp]

lets me know what to expect in  5 weeks time at Turismo   

not long to go now.

[Betty]

So just in case there was a crappy snappy or two (thousand) in existence - what did you want photos of?

[Dannog]

Betty, youhave been busy writing this. Waiting for the next chapter

[heatherp]

So just in case there was a crappy snappy or two (thousand) in existence - what did you want photos of?

HOT Italian men?  

[Betty]

HOT Italian men?  

Those that saw the Mo may be surprised to hear that it was not a subject I was all that keen on. As the story unfolds I will keep your requests in mind ... I need to keep them in context ... no promises though you understand.

[Betty]

How is this Heather? You will notice there is always an ulterior motive for taking a piccy of a bloke ... as for their relative position on the temperature scale - that is for others to decide.

On the streets of Rome:





The open shirt and handbag must count for something

[heatherp]

Ha ha - well done Betty