It has been bloody ages since I had the inclination to scribble something on this notepad. Goodness knows why.. Despite my ever growing stack of half-read books that sleep beside me at nights, inspiration has been rather thin of late.
But i recently got a nice hello on twitter all the way from the Dominican Republic. Though I know no one from there, it put a nice wee small smile on my face though I was literally drowning in work. That tweet and the 40+ hour motorsport marathon over the weekend (that produced a warm fuzzy happy feeling watching someone I think of as a friend win the 24Hours of LeMans); a wet and soggy Silverstone MotoGP race as well as truly long drawn-out race in Montreal; and a series of work trips, I thought.. OK let's revisit this notepad.
Despite my vehement protests I've somehow managed to clock up quite a bit of mileage on my passport that I'm already dangerously close to being out of pages and facing the prospect of renewing that little red book.
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| Hola Barcelona! |
Back in the Eurozone
May 2011, my work travels had flung me across into the Euro zone into Espana, Barcelona specifically. It was my second time, though I am not quite sure if the 72 hours in February counts as a visit once you've discounted the jetlag, etc...Anyway.. this trip was truly memorable on so many accounts.
May 2011, my work travels had flung me across into the Euro zone into Espana, Barcelona specifically. It was my second time, though I am not quite sure if the 72 hours in February counts as a visit once you've discounted the jetlag, etc...Anyway.. this trip was truly memorable on so many accounts.
I had the pleasure of working with a certain rider plying his trade in the MotoGP, who was a guest to a certain F1 grand prix event. In the course of the discussions - some good, some not so good - someone asked me which of the personalities from the two worlds I preferred working with... Without batting an eyelid, my heart chose the former over the latter, but what came out of my mouth was, "they're different and it would be unfair to compare them in that manner." The person read between the lines and got the gist of what my heart chose.
Two weeks later, I found myself back in the Eurozone, this time.. Italia. I had not been back since Monza in 2006. As a kid and through the late 1990s; I realised that most of my travels to Italia had taken me to the western side..
This time, the group I was traveling with were taken across an almost 5 hour road trip to the Eastern side of the boot, on really challenging terrain that is the E35 and A1 Autostrada del Sole. The great ancient Roman highways are really well preserved with virtually no upgrades in the past two millennia.. only the methods of travel must adapt to the terrain.
*Note: if you own a vehicle with more than 2 horse power and intend to use it in Italy; marry a mechanic or invest in the mechanical repair industry.
Sleeping through most of that road trip, we eventually arrived in Forli and in the next days spent a lot of time in Faenza and Brisighella. It was my experience in these two little towns that drew me to this notepad.
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| Two time zones on the Faenza clock tower? |
While the crew busied themselves over angles, lines, scripts.. and me keeping a watchful eye for undercover hey-touristfolks-you-are-not-allowed-to-film-here-and-will-shoot-if-you-do-not-obey-capiche?-cop .. a smartly and neatly dressed man in his fourties on a bicycle stopped right in front of our host and me and said with a huge smile .. "Hello! Welcome to Faenza! You are filming here? Good! Enjoy your stay!! Ciao!" and rode off..
I was half expecting a citation or a little black notebook, or .. nevermind.. I simply stared in disbelief with one hand in the air doing a semi-wave back to him..
Medieval Marvel
Medieval Marvel
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| A view of Brisighella from above |
Later that day, we found ourselves in a quaint little medieval town of Brisighella. If one ignores those horse-powered machines with four and two wheels, the communication towers atop the gorgeous rolling hills lined with olive and fig trees.. not a thing has changed since the 12th century. As is typical in some medieval towns, the characteristics of the town includes a sanctuary, a fort and clock tower. If you need a visual-feel to the place.. think "Under the Tuscan sun".. the movie.. cobbled streets.. narrow and uneven lined buildings.. minus Raul Bova..
But, what was even more gorgeous was this wonderful young lady who walked up towards us to point us in all the right directions. After climbing up the hill to the top of the little town, we met the young lady again.
Look up "nice and friendly people" in the dictionary and you will find "Brisighella"... Seriously.
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Farah's Formaggio
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On the penultimate day of our trip we found ourselves back in Brisighella, but sadly that day was also the one day she shuts the Osteria.. so I didn't get any olive oils to bring home.. Nevertheless, my producer and I decided to sit in a hotel cafe nearby while the rest of the crew went about finishing their shoot.. After the event we attended had finished, the town went back to its regular routine bustling about at an eighth of the pace we city-folks are used to.
The waiter came and we ordered. After observing his demeanor, my friend and I came to the conclusion that here was the town's odd one out. The hair, earring and dress sense was too city-like and concluded that Mr. Waiter was dating the goth Miss Waitress with funky flame red dreadlocks from Chiara's Osteria. As he came back with our orders, I put on my tourist cap and asked about where we could source some nice extra virgin olive oil.
BOOM.. he transformed into the tour-guide pointing us to many different directions. Turned out Mr. Waiter was also the local tourist information kiosk. As if that wasn't enough, he went back in to answer the phone at the hotel reception. I am sure in the morning he does housekeeping at the hotel; every other day the postman; the summer months the tour operator; owner of a vineyard and the town's medieval festival coordinator.
After letting my imagination go off tangent, I realised we weren't the only customers there. There was a rather sharply dressed gentleman, who chose to sit at the table next to ours. Striking up a conversation with us, Giorgio (I think and someone will correct me here) turned out to be a really pleasant fella who is in the antique coin minting business. As a traveling salesman I kept thinking how he would meet loads of people along his travels but few end up as friends. We talked.. about coins.. and he figured out what us odd looking folks were doing in Brisighella. He got up half way through his brunch, left everything on the table dashed to his car.
His excitement ached me so I indulged him. He whipped out his ipad, showed me a video presentation on the rare minted Enzo Ferrari 1:18 scale model his company made. Only 300 pieces in the world at Euro 35K. OK.. I was convinced it was made out of platinum.. We went on our way eventually, and once again Giorgio was all alone again.. I really hate seeing people eat alone..
Un viaggio di emozioni
On the final day, realising that Imola was only 40kms away.. i had to .. please??!!! Off we went to Imola. When we got there, the dude at the cafe right across the entrance to the Imola grandstand pointed us to where we wanted to go. He was so nice despite his really scary looking 6foot 5inch tall girth.
After some 500metres walking through Imola's really beautifully manicured Acqua Minerale park, we were at Tamburello corner... Honestly, flashback to that May Sunday in 1994.. as my elder sister sat with her jaw on the floor and my late younger sister in the garden of our student home in England.. If Monza is La Pista Magica, Imola è un posto molto emotiva.
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| Imola è un posto molto emotiva |
All in all, it was a pleasure meeting all these people and hats off to these hard working folks! Best of luck to Jorge, Gavin, Hector, Ricky, Albert, Chiara, Giorgio, Mr. Waiter-tourguide-postman-dude and his goth-girlfriend, the lady at the Sanctuary; Franco; Mr. Bandini's sister; the bartender, waiter and waitress with the funky cool hair in Faenza.. may lady luck cross your paths and stick around with some good mojo..
Grazie.
Grazie.
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