10Th Anniversary Trip

Simi and I spent the better part of 2017 planning for our ten year anniversary trip. With a quick study of the Formula 1 calendar, we agreed to take advantage of back to back race weekends at two of the sport's most iconic tracks, Spa and Monza. Both located in central Europe it was Simi's amazing hard work and tenacity that 17 days were filled out for another epic adventure.
Our trip began leaving Columbus with 4 bags and a friend giving us a lift to the airport for a quick flight to Charlotte. From Charlotte we flew to Heathrow, Simi had taken the gamble to book me a window seat with an empty seat next to it, the fuselage makes a great headrest for my lanky frame. The seat next to me was open just until the flight was about to take off at 10pm. A reroute from the airline meant our plane filled up and the lady that was now next to me was going to greatly limit my ability to get any extra leg room. The lady was lost on the touch screen programming of the in flight movie having repeatedly hit the "bong" to call the flight attendant. This went on for the majority of the flight. She didn't sleep, and despite me behind medicated to sleep, I didn't get much shut eye either. A rough start, but time to just suck it up and after 8 hours in the air, we had a nice English breakfast in London's Heathrow.

Our stop there was just a layover, as we had our sights on Brussels in Belgium. Three back to back flights, and both Simi and I were on fumes. Excitement of the trip just kept the blood flowing. We were picked up by Steve at the Brussels airport. He was the guy that helped us when we did our honeymoon trip in 2008 with assistance with F1 race weekend's transportation, lodging, and tickets that decade prior. Steve's unmistakable handlebar moustache was a welcome sight for two weary travelers. Steve's rockin' rental van drove us to Maastricht in the southeast portion of the Netherlands. We were given keys to a studio apartment on the 2nd floor in the heart of the city's dining and shopping areas. Another shot of adrenaline hit of being in a whole new place and Simi and I were out walking the cobblestone streets, people watching, and exploring the city.

Trip Highlights Reel - https://photos.app.goo.gl/0Y7q2f3zVYxdjPKq2

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

8/30 Lucerne

Wednesday was started off with a breakfast buffet and then a quick with a walk down to the boat docks where Simi had booked us on a Golden Route Tour. We boarded the boat and went on take a nice leisurely cruise across Lake Lucerne while gazing off in the distance the soaring Mount Pilatus - were we'd be standing at the top of in a few short hours. The boat stopped at a few docks to unload some passengers. Our boat dock stop was at the base of the world's steepest cogwheel railway to take us to the top. A rail car with big windows and bigger teeth grab the specialized train track as the little engine chugs up the side of Pilatus. The teeth prevent the train from jumping the tracks or giving in to gravity as the slope maxes out at 48%. That's steepness near impossible to walk on, but if you are adventurous and don't mind the exercise, you can walk the hiking switchback filled trail to the top in a mere 4 hours. The cog is about a 40 minute clickity-clackity ride to the
Read more

9/4 Modena/Marinello/Bologna

Monday we had our cake for breakfast again because we could and then it was onboard a train bound for Bologna, Italy. The big luggage bags were dumped in a storage locker and our next stop was from Bologna to Modena, the home of Ferrari. At that train station a bright Ferrari red bus lined with wood floors and leather seats took us to the Enzo Ferrari museum. Ferrari has two museums. One is dedicated to the man who founded the company and the other to the company itself. Within the Enzo museum all the best cars are displayed and there's a movie that plays showing the impact the company has had on pop culture. All the celebrities drive Ferraris. Next to the Enzo building was a giant glass and brick shed decorated like an old garage. This building was dedicated to the engines that power the Ferraris, past and present. There were a few Ferrari races cars that had retired into living in the museum as well as the test mules that the factory used to develop their latest models. The
Read more

9/7 Florence

What better way to recover from a long arduous day on the feet than to agree to tackle 463 steps right up to the top of a church tower? The next morning started off meeting a tour guide digesting more information than thought possible on the Florence Duomo (Cathedral). We viewed more pure gold ceilings with historical scenes followed by the guided tour of the museum where the original solid gold doors to the Duomo were kept restored and under a vacuum. At the time, the use of gold on everything for construction wasn't enough and the way to make a city stand out from the crowd was to build bigger and bigger churches. The Florence Duomo was constructed so massive that for years there was a giant hole in the roof as no one had yet figured out how to create it's 300 foot high domed ceiling. The city held a contest to see who could come up with a solution and after a long time of searching they had a contractor. His name was Brunelleschi and for the 16 years it took to build he
Read more