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Trip report: Umbria and Tuscany August 2002

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I know I know, who the he** goes to Italy in August? The queues, the heat, the traffic. But hey. I live in London, I love crowds. I suffer from agoraphobia at the merest mention of a field. Besides, it had been at least 6 weeks since my last break and I was in need.

So me, Elaine (Lard to her friends, more to do with her love of English breakfasts than her actual waistline), Dave (can we stop for cigs? I need to stock up. Is it time for an aperitiv? My mother's Italian you know. Er no, I don't speak Italian. But I know a great restaurant in Milan) and Tamara (blond and works in PR, you have to with a name like Tamara) set off to Stansted for our cheapo flight with GO to Bologna.

London Stansted. What a civilised experience after Heathrow and Gatwick. Few people, bright, airy, leisurely, a civilised 12:10pm flight, the perfect start.

So to Bologna, and for the first time I hire a juggernaut rather than a Tonka car. Ok, it was a station wagon, but I'm so used to hiring toy cars on holiday that the space, the aircon, the power stearing felt like a limousine. Good start.

Much strife driving out of the airport (remember I'm used to the "other" side of the road in the UK) plenty of "watch the curb" "you just scraped that bush" "where's the handbrake gone", whilst dodging the oncoming overtakers - you have to admire, I think, the Italian road sense. They comfortably overtake through 1 inch gaps, reassured in the knowledge that you as the oncoming vehicle with veer into the ditch to let them through. They clearly didn't know I'd only been in the car 5 minutes. Trusting souls.

And boy are those autoroute lanes narrow! Or maybe it was just me and my fat car ("Kate! Will you watch the curb! I'll be eating olive trees soon" Yeh yeh.)

So we're on route for Gubbio. Will we make it in time for Bruschette with Truffles? Or will we be stopped for speeding and end up in police cells in Rimini on the way? What is the speed limit anyway? Back later....

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