Ferrari's

As we had 3 nights in Bologna we had planned to spend one of the days visting Modena, home of balsamic vinegar and just a short hop from there is Maranello, home of Ferrari.

Now I am not bothered about cars in general, and I was not particularly fussed about going to the Ferrari museum, but being the good wife that I am I was happy to go along as Mr was quite excited about the prospect of getting up close and personal with these dream machines.

So up early, and straight on the train the to Modena, a more successful start than the day before, I should add. According to the Lonely Planet guide it was a simple case of getting off the train in Modena, walking up the road to the bus station to jumping on bus 800 to take the many pilgrims to home of Ferrari, Maranello.

I should state that this day was f***ing boiling hot, no rain today!! We walked over 1 km to get to the bus station where we managed, with my rudimentary Italian, to book some tickets and work out what the hell to do and where on earth to get the bus from. 45 minutes on a very hot bus later we arrived at Marenello, we only worked out we was there due to the signs on the road for galleria Ferrari, once off the bus however there were no sodding signs and considering this is the only reason people come here it was a complete nightmare to find. We walked around for probably at least half an hour before finding it.

We paid €13 each to get in, looked about 24 cars (mostly racing cars), were’nt allowed to touch anything, weren’t allowed to sit in them and then half hour later we were at the exit surrounded by bloody tons of Ferrari merchandise. Seriously, why would you want Ferrari Perfume??? Or a €100 tie with the prancing horse on it? If you buy anything from Ferrari, surely it would be a Ferrari?

But anyway it was an experience; although we’ve probably seen more flash cars out on the roads in general though in all honesty without the 2-hour journey and expense. And actually there were companies doing test drives all around the museum, €100 for 10 minutes, so there were more cars outside!

After finding our way back from Ferrari land we got to Modena early afternoon where we had planned to have lunch, It was a close call, we managed to find somewhere but the whole bloody place was shut. It was Tuesday, 2pm. Shops, tourist information, cafes, shut. Were we back in france???

Had a wander round the closed city center, which was quite nice actually, much nicer than Bologna had it been open, then we went to a little deli, bought a pic-nic of sorts, including the best breadsticks and Zoppa ham I have ever tasted in my life, to take back for our tea, got back on the train and went back to our hotel to get ready to leave the following day, something I have to say we really was not sorry about!