Saturday 2nd September – Into Italy

The check-out time from the flat was flexible (there had to be one advantage!). We wanted to get some photographs of the scenery so by the time we’d done that in the town and near the local lake we didn’t get on the road until the afternoon.

There was no repeat of the queues we had getting over the French border as we progressed smoothly into Italy without having to stop at all. The stunning Alps scenery continued (below) and Simon enjoyed throwing the car around the winding mountain roads.

The view from our apartment into the square

We timed it perfectly getting into Monza.  The qualifying for the Grand Prix had been delayed severely due to torrential rain so there were still road blocks in place for the departing traffic. We found our Air BnB along with a very scarce parking space in a modern complex.  In contrast to our experience of the last couple of nights, this flat was immaculate.  The owner, Alessio, met with us and explained that he had only moved out 3 weeks previously (hence the good conditions) and couldn’t do enough for us.  There were bottles of cold water and wine for us in the fridge and a flat screen TV for Simon to catch up on the results of qualifying before we found out through spoilers on social media.  We settled in with a couple of beers before going for a wander to get our bearings before the big race tomorrow. 

When in Italy....

There was a pizzeria which was absolutely packed to the rafters but produced tasty, very cheap pizzas for us.  I have struggled for the last couple of days trying to remember to speak French instead of Spanish. Well, tonight totally finished us off!  We have no Italian vocabulary whatsoever so we must apologise to our European friends for speaking a cobbled together gobbledygook combining at least three languages whilst expecting them to understand us clearly! After our delicious dinner (and another bottle of red), we opted to return to make the most of our pristine accommodation with a few drinks and an early night in preparation for the main event tomorrow.