The veiw from our bedroom window was once again spectacular.
I set about getting the days blog away. You See what I have to put up with to get the story out to you guys. I hope you appreciate it.
The breakfast spread was quite impressive considering we were proabaly the only guests.
I cant belive the obsession us wogs have in cleaning our feet. We gave ours a quick wash, loaded the bike and set off.
Our destination for the morning was the city of Bologna and the Ducati factory. Quickest way was via the Autostrada. A daunting thought, but it had to be done.
The speed limit on the autostrada is 130kmh, however if you choose to travel at this speed you will surely be killed by the cars speeding past at whatever speed they liked. I set the cruise control at 150 and we were still being passed by everything from Fiat panda's to 7 series BMW and Ferrari's
More proof that speed doesnt kill, going too slow does. Perhaps someone should tell Anna Bligh that.
You see some strange things on the road. The woman on the back of this monstrosity was fast asleep.
If Buzz was with us he would have wet himself over this.
The Ducati factory is a fairly innocuous looking building in one of the inner suburbs of Bologna.
We didnt have a booking for the tour and for a few minutes it looked like they were not going to let us in, but I used all my Italian charm on the pretty tour guides and after getting down on my knees and begging they felt sorry for the Aussie idiot, and squeezed us in. Another group of Aussies that had actually booked the previous day wer'nt so lucky. I felt a bit guilt for a second. Oh well bad luck mate.
This chick is actually a test rider. She randomly selects a bike and goes for a quick spin around the block. Here she is testing a new Diavel. Nice work if ya can get it eh?
The foyer has one of each of Vales and Nicky Haydens current race bikes.
These chick was from Califonia and is a huge Rossi fan obviously. She had nice legs.
Then it was into the museum proper where they had examples of Ducatis early work.
A film projector.
Thier first attempt at a bike.
They had an impresive line up of bikes on display and the tour guide was gorgeous.
Mike Hailwoods TT Bike. First bike in the world to feature Lhs gear change. Done especially to accomadate his broken foot. All other manufacturers followed suit afterwards as they discovered it was easier to engineer the motor this way
Ducati used silver whenever they wanted to commeratate a special event.
The legendary 750ss is very special.
The 851on eof my favourites.
The ducati ice racer. Check out the tyres.
Possibly my favourite bike on display and its not even a ducati. Cagiva owned Ducati at the time that Hubert Aurial rode this bike in the dakar. Was an awesome bit of kit.
Too many bikes to show individually.
The 916 was voted the worlds sexiest motorcycle. Ya kinda have to agree.
There was a whole display dedicated to troy Bayliss's bikes. He is considering a god around here.
And rightly so. I reckon they should put him on the current Moto GP bikes. He could show those southern shandy drinking poofters how to sort a bike.
A ducati supermono. One of only 60 ever built for super single racing. Real exotica.
Casey Stoners world championship winning bikes. They didnt like it when I said they should put him back on it. No sense of humour these wogs.
Then it was in for the factory tour. Photography is expressly frobidden, however i tried to sqeeze off a few stealth shots. Unfortunatly this one is the only one that even came close to working.
I was also surprised to learn that Rossi and Hayden have only ever visited the factory once. Would have thought that the way the bikes are going this year they would have been there at every opportunity to try and sort them out. The staff are all hoping he will visit next week after the Mugello GP.
We were able to peer through a small window into the race team area which is off limits but to the select 230 people that work in there. Its no wonder they cant win a race. The pricks dont do any work. They all just stand around talking and smoking. Wouldnt happen on my shift.
This is next years model moto gp bike. Freaking dinosaurs.
It was about 37 degrees in the shade so we decided a swim in the Adriatic sea was in order. Headed for the beachside resort town of Rimini and found ourselves a deck chair to sit on. There were plenty to choose from.
Had a quick refreshing dip in the sea.
Then promply got booted out cause they wanted 15 euro each to use their private beach. Told them to get stuffed, then used the shower and change rooms and headed off for a cold gelati. Pity really as there were plenty of pretty girls on the beach wearing next to nothing. Couldnt get any shots because we were hunted but got this shot of 2 topless girls.
If eating Gelati and watching pretty girls on scooters in mini skirts was an olympic sport, I would be world champion. Who knew knickers came in so may colours.
I think Sams lemon sorbet was a bit sour.
She seemed pretty happy with Gelati boy though.
Next stop was the little town of Tavulia. Home town of Valentino Rossi. He is also treated as a god and the whole town is devoted to him with flags and pictures everywhere. We visited the officila fan club and the Pizzeria that he owns. The pizzeria is run by all his school friends and these are the guys you see on TV when Rossi wins a race and pulls his stunts. Great bunch of guys. we had a great time here chatting to them about Rossi etc. The pizza was awesome as well.
Unfortunatly we missed Vale who was here yesterday but was now in Mugello preparing for this weekends moto GP.
It was time to head for Florence where we are couchsurfing with Marco.
The Tuscan hills looked spectacular in the afternoon light.
Had another short stint on the Autostrada
Then turned off to have a quick look at the famous Imola race track.
The pace was a bit slower than usual today.
then with the sun setting it was a fun blast through the hills to Florence where we are staying in Marco's ultra cool penthouse apartment.
Was a huge day today. Tomorrow we are going to check out tuscany. Marco who is a fellow strom owner has mapped out what looks like a brilliant a loop for us. Pity he has to work.
We do appreciate the effort mate
keep up the good work :-)
Posted by: john | July 04, 2011 at 07:21 PM