Bologna, Day 2

Bologna, Day 2

Considering how much fun we had last night, neither of us was overly excited to get up and be ready for our 8:30 pickup this morning.  We did eventually manage to get vertical and even choked down a little breakfast before we walked over to the Neptune statue to meet today's guide.

Lyle and I were standing there, looking suspiciously at every passerby and speculating on how to pick out Francesco.  Yes, his name was really Francesco.  Yes, Lyle spent the whole day making Lightning McQueen comments.  Lyle suggested that, this being an Italian car tour, he'd be wearing new sunglasses and a racing jacket.  At precisely 8:30, up walked this fashionable young Italian guy wearing, you guessed it, new sunglasses and a racing jacket.  He introduced himself and we went back to the van to pick up the rest of the tour people.

The rest of the group was at the train station, and unfortunately, two of them had not checked in, as we did last night, to see if they could bring their luggage and leave it in the van during the tour.  Since we did ask, we knew that there wasn't room, and one time the van was broken into during a tour, so now they have a strict rule about no left luggage.  The guys who didn't know this had to take their bags to the train station luggage deposit, and since we had a schedule to keep, they got left and had to take a cab to catch up to us later.  Good job me for asking first.

Since I was the first one in the van, I strategically positioned myself up front in the middle, hoping to avoid car sickness.  Car travel will never be my favorite mode of transportation, but we made it through the day with no puking.  Yay for me.

Our first stop was at the Ducati factory.  We started in their museum. (Did you know that Ducati made radios and other electronics before World War II?  Neither did I.)  Their first engine was designed to be attached to a bike, and I want one.  

Lyle says something something internal Ducati racing engine can rev much higher something something.  He'd like to get his hands on one to putter around with someday.  Or just ride them, ride all of them.  Ducati makes a bike called "Superleggero", which we learned means "super light", but that does not mean it is a small bike that would be good for me, it means it's one of the high end racing bikes (well, high end by Ducati standards, by our standards, they're all high end).  

Their "starter" bike is called "The Scrambler" and we have agreed I could upgrade to that from my Rebel.  Lots of really cool motorcycles, quite a bit of interesting history, and an extremely competent tour guide who clearly gives this tour (in English) all the time.  

From the museum, we went onto their factory floor.  Before we left the museum, all cameras had to be put in cases, and if you didn't have a case, they actually put a sticker over your lens.  No photos on the factory floor!  I think Lyle actually cared about the parts and engines and other car words, but I was absolutely fascinated by the mechanics of the assembly line.  How things move, who works on what, how things get delivered to the right spot at the right time... an absolute marvel in logistics.  I was also kinda shocked that they let us just walk around while they were in the middle of production.  I am pretty sure OSHA would not approve of that.

After Ducati, we got back in the van and rode to the Ferrari factory.  We both slept, and then Francesco insisted on driving around small city streets in circles pointing things out.  Here's a pic that Lyle obviously took, since it was from inside the vehicle.

I was not a fan of the extraneous driving around, but finally we got dropped off at the Ferrari museum.

  

We had about an hour to spend and even I wanted more time there.  SO MANY AWESOME CARS, and so much interesting history and stories too.  

Trivia tidbit:  why are Ferraris usually red?  Because back when racing started, each country got assigned a color, and Italy's was red (this is also why Ducatis tend to be red) and later, when sponsorship became more important than nationality, most teams changed their color scheme, but Enzo Ferrari felt that Ferrari was symbolic of Italy, and so they stayed red.

We did not get to go on the factory tour, because you have to own a Ferrari to do that, and sadly, Matchbox ones don't count.  The museum rotates the cars displayed every six months, and the current cars are mostly Formula One cars.  I was a little bummed they didn't have an Enzo (even though we saw one in Vegas a couple years ago) and Lyle was a little sorry they didn't have any of the mid-seventies or eighties models (328s, 348s, F40, or Boxer, be impressed I managed to get all that from him).  They did have a bunch of really cool concept cars, including one that was just a clay maquette.  

They also had some kind of Daytona coup (Lyle says 250GT or something like that) valued at 40 million Euro, that Francesco specifically warned us not to touch (not that you're allowed to touch any of them).

Ferrari is releasing a new FF model, which is a four door, four seater with 4WD.  I want one.  Lyle says if we get a Ferrari, we are not getting a sedan.  Oh well. 

We got yanked out of the museum, too soon, to walk over a block or so to a little Italian place for our pre-ordered lunch.  We both had pasta, mine ala Bolognese, and Lyle's hotter with some kind of pepper finish to it.  And then gelato.  This is clearly all part of the tour and baked in and all that, and it wasn't the best food we've had in Italy, but it was better than what you usually get in the States, even at "good" places.

After lunch, the chef offered to give us a quick tour of their basalmic preparation and aging rooms along with an explanation of the process.  Mind you, people come to Bologna and spend their whole week learning about this, so we don't know much, but it was cool to see the barrels (they move the vinegar to progressively smaller barrels as it ages).  Basalmic vinegar has to age a minimum of twelve years, and is typically (typically here anyway) aged 25.   We got to sample a little of the "good" store brand and then some of what they produce there.  The store stuff was better than any basalmic I've ever had, but their stuff blew it out of the water!  Super excited to get my hands on some of this stuff when we're home.  The ten year old Londoner on our tour, however, was decidedly unimpressed.  I told him it's possible that his tastebuds need to be at least as old as the basalmic in order to properly appreciate it.  Here's a pic of Alex and his immature tastebuds.

After lunch the Argentines (also known as they of the late luggage) went off to do a short drive.  We could have done that, but I have ridden with Lyle driving a Ferrari, and I have ridden in cars on Italian roads, and we decided that those two things were probably best not combined.  If he wants to drive a Ferrari again, I am on board, but I think somewhere where his license is valid and he's familiar with the local conventions is probably the way to go.  Here's what you'd see if you did take a test drive.

When everyone was done at Ferrari, we got back on the bus for a nap en route to the Lamborghini factory.  This time we did get to go on the factory floor again (even though no, we do not own a Lamborghini either, much to Lyle's dismay).  They didn't put stickers on cameras, they made everyone lock their bags, cameras, and jackets in lockers in the museum before taking us over to the factory.  They only produce 15 cars a day from this factory, 10 Hurican (Hurricanes) and 5 Aventor (which looks like the batmobile).  Each car is produced on demand, meaning it's destined for a particular owner before production is even started.  After you place your order, there is a seven month waiting period for delivery.  Everything is assembled by hand (no robots), the factory was immaculate, and the people working there seemed a lot less annoyed than I would be if groups kept walking by me staring over my shoulder while I was trying to write code.  They all wear shirts or sweatshirts that say either "Productione", "Logistica", or "Qualitata".  The tour guide here, while obviously very knowledgable, wasn't as good as the one at Ducati.  Some of that may have been attributable to the fact that we had headsets at Ducati, so no problem hearing, and at Lamborghini, even with a smaller group, it was harder to hear and understand her.  There is a countdown timer visible from all stations that shows how much time is left for a given car, and there's a little conveyor system that moves the cars along, including putting them on a rotisserie (like a chicken, our guide pointed out) when necessary to access the undercarriage.  Near the end of the tour, one of the Aventors moved off the line to ignition testing, and they drove it right in front of us.  The only noise was the tires squeaking on the floor, because they have these crazy exhaust silencers that they use.  

When we were done being voyeurs, we went back to the museum and ogled a bunch of gorgeous old Lamborghinis on the first floor.

And then a bunch of amazing new ones.

And some concept cars on the second floor.  

They had some unusual things, including a Hummeresque vehicle.

And a police car.  

Lyle says they also had a nice display of their V12 engines.  I am pretty sure he means random big blocks of bulky metal that were along the walls and in the corners, but I can't be sure.  

He says we need to build more garage space.  We stopped by the gift shop on the way out and then it was back in the van for the ride back.

We dropped everyone else off at the train station, and then Francesco took us back to the meeting place from this morning, but he said, "Since you are honeymooning, I can wait here for you to get your bags and then take you back to the train station."  We love how excited the Italians are for our honeymoon, and we were delighted to take him up on his offer rather than having to find one of Bologna's four cabs.

We got to the train station about an hour and a half early, but, as usual, that is a story for another post.

Stay tuned,

Marty and Lyle