Rossi country
Trip Start
Mar 12, 2010
1
24
31
Trip End
Apr 24, 2010
Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Everything was going fine until once again our trusty GPS got us lost, taking us through some backwater town in the middle of nowhere. We finally got that sorted and were back on track with only 45kms to go. We get to the base of this mountain where there is only one road to go over and we see a sign with a big red circle with a line though it - in Italian of course. After referring to our trusty Italian-English dictionary we are only able to decipher half of it - “journey interrupted” - the rest of the sign says something about 14km 306 to 18km 805 or some such rubbish. Matt and I look at each other and think - hmmm do we or don’t we and then a car comes down the mountain so we think, ok lets do this.
Driving over the mountain I couldn’t help but think that if these are the type of roads Rossi learnt to ride on, its no wonder he can ride so well. The road was so windy, I think the longest straight stretch we drove on was about 100m - and they were few and far between let me tell you!. There’s not much room for error on theses roads - the walls of the mountain on one side and a very large drop on the other side! So we are driving along admiring the view, about 20kms from our final destination, we come round a corner and there it is - a barrier across the road. So I guess now we know what the sign meant - Road friggin Closed. So close, yet so far!!! Around we turned and headed back down the mountain in not too happy a mood I can tell you.
Wondering what to do we decided to go into Arezzo, ………..
We got into the town but discovered our route was blocked by the remains of the weekly market so we had to take an alternate route, without the aid of the GPS, figuring we’ll be right as long as we head to the spires. Eventually we found somewhere to park, fed the meter and headed off.
So what can I say about the place, not a lot really - one thing we hadn’t thought about was the fact that the smaller towns in Italy actually shut up shop on a Saturday afternoon so pretty much everything was shut except for a few cafes, souvenir shops and bars. We didn’t find a lot of sights of interest either so after about an hour we decided to call it a day and head home.
Walking back to the car we came across a video store and bought a couple of cheap DVD’s figuring we’d watch them on Monday while sitting around waiting for the Dell Technician to turn up and fix my laptop - slight problem we discovered when we got home. No remote control for the DVD to enable us to get sub-titles, and no controls on the DVD player itself other than open/close and play/pause - awesome! The perfect end to the perfect day (she says with much sarcasm!) - even the sunset, usually so spectacular, was not up to par!
So it was more reading - I’ve read 2 books so far, onto my 3rd and a very quiet evening to a very quiet day - but at least we had the lovely villa to come back too!
Oh, something that I had forgotten about our drive back to Arezzo - roadside prostitutes! We're driving down the road and we see this young girl on the side of the road, in a rest stop, talking on the phone and wearing a skirt so short you could literally see her underwear (at the front) when she walked. Thought it was trashie but nothing else. Then, at the next rest area there are 2 ladies, all dressed up, one sitting on a plastic chair and no car around. Bells started ringing at this stage, then we saw the 3rd rest stop with the fancy women in it this confirmed our suspicion! Aparently the down turn in the economy has forced a lot of ladies into the oldest profession! Who'd a thunk eh?
