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Tue Aug 14 2007: On the road again to Merano |
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Even though the dealer said to come by around 11AM, the plan was to wake up around 9PM and camp out at the dealership at 10, maybe they'd feel pressured to get the bikes done if we were waiting. It's shame leaving the hotel that early as we've booked into a nice place overnight. We got there at 10AM and to our surprise the bikes were already done! Sweet, we're back on the road! By the time I dropped the rental car off, got back and had lunch we were on the road by around 11:30AM.
So this is what the car looks like with the top down. Shame I'm on the way to return it.
Neda had an interesting conversation while I was dropping the car off. She was speaking to the Groupe Rold BMW receptionist (who was quite nice to us while we were camped out at the store the last couple of times we dropped by) while she was having a cigarette break and she asked Neda, "How do you like Monte Carlo", to which Neda answered, "It's very beautiful!". The receptionist then asked her, "Don't you find it a little fake?". Neda replied, "We're from North America. Everything's fake!". Too true! I really have to commend all the people at BMW Groupe Rold, especially Alain, the service advisor and the receptionist. Despite the language barrier, they were very friendly and helpful and got everything done when they said they would. Very pleasant experience!
They even washed the bikes for us! How nice!
Monte Carlo is on the side of a very steep hill and on a map or GPS, the roads are a mish-mash of lines that seem to intersect and cross each other, when actually, the roads don't meet, they're actually so close, one on top of the other as they climb back and forth up the hill. It took a lot longer than normal deciphering the GPS directions to get out of Monaco. Although I now always factor in time lost due to GPS-ineptitude, I don't think I would have stayed sane if my vocabulary of four-letter words wasn't that expansive.
Whohooooo! Back on the road again
It's 12:30 by the time we're on the series of highways that leave Monaco. As you can see from the map above, this is the third time we've done the 500 kms into Italy, past Milano. The first time was going to Croatia in a car and the second was coming back. Co-incidentally, we stopped at the exact same petrol station we visited when we went with the car the first time! The first 200 kms are along the coast and the roads are twisty with occasional views of the shoreline from above the steep hill. It's funny that even the 130 km/h highway is more picturesque and twisty than just about any road in North America!
It feels really good to be back on the bikes again. We felt like we'd left behind a member of the family when the GS was at Paul's garage and then both bikes were at the Monaco dealership. Everything we've brought with us: the bikes & the luggage, all form some kind of traveling show that we carry from city to city, country to country. Whenever we leave one or both bikes behind, there's a sense of incompleteness and a nagging urgency to make the family whole again.
Tyrolian Alps loom in the distance
Past Milano, we made our way north towards the Italian Alps. The scenery changed dramatically with mountains rising from either side of the valley that the highway ran along. It was all very beautiful until we rounded the corner to Balzano, where the actual Alps began. A huge mountain stretching to above the clouds loomed ahead of us in the distance. That's what we're going to climb tomorrow. I'm so excited!
Our welcome committee in Merano
Our destination for tonight is the closest town to the Stelvio Park which we're going through tomorrow. It's called Merano and when we arrived, we were quite surprised at the number of tourists milling around. Apparently, it's a very popular destination for Italians when they take their month-long vacation. Merano is around 50 kms sound of Innsbruck and is a beautiful ski resort town in the winter and a great place to stroll around the old city with it's shops and restaurants in the summer, with the Tyrolian mountains ever present in the background.
Stopped in the main square and knocked on several hotels in the area to no avail
The view from our hotel room
It's a blessing and a curse that we stumble upon such a beautiful town on our way through the mountains. On one hand, we're seeing places that not many North Americans know or have heard about, even though this is one of the popular vacation destination for a lot of Europeans. The absence of any Americans was so refreshing, being able to walk around and not hear any English made the European experience that much more authentic! I kinda hope their dollar stays low for a while... So I can shop for cheap across the border, that's what I meant... :)
Everywhere in the city, the Tyrolian mountains are ever present
As I mentioned, the downside to arriving in Merano is that every single hotel in the downtown was booked solid. We stopped in the centre of the city and I walked from hotel to hotel knocking on doors. An older couple from Verona saw our Canadian flags on the motorcycles and stopped to talk with us for a while. The woman lived in Kingston when she was younger and they now owned a summer home in Merano. They suggested that we go towards Lagundo, a couple of kms outside of the downtown. There, we happened across a gorgeous German-style hotel, overlooking an orchard just at the foot of a tall hill. Again, another stroke of fortune!
Kids playing with the water displays
Crowds in Merano
We checked in and then rode back to Merano for dinner. Most of the year, this northern Italian town is composed of mainly 70% Germans, due to the shifting border over the last few centuries of conflict. But in August the city is vibrant with Italian tourists, dancing to live music on the streets. The shops stay open later in the night offering their wares to party-goers taking a break from drinking and making merry. There was a theme going on in the town, some of the staff in the hotels and restaurants and stores dressed up in Medieval clothes. Even traveling minstrels, walking around the streets playing instruments from that time.
Interesting ad in a shop window
Medieval theme happening in the city
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