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. These were lined up next to engine stands that had the motors yanked from the cars, given a spit shine and were on full display. I think I could have stayed in this building for days.
Our museum ticket included a bus pass to get us to the other Ferrari museum in Maranello which was about 20 miles away, but the bus wasn't scheduled to arrive for another hour. To eat up the time, we used the wifi hotspot to hunt down a local diner near the Enzo museum for lunch. After arriving I told Simi that I coined the place "Reverse Olive Garden." This place served burgers and fries, and malts and was decked out like it was a 1970s American diner. It was full of Italians on their afternoon lunch break, and they were bobbing their heads and lip singing to the Beach Boys that played from the jukebox. In the same way we go to Olive Garden for some spaghetti and Pavarotti they go to a place like this for a cheeseburger and "Barbara Ann".
Leaving stuffed we walked back to the bus stop just to in time to catch our ride for the 20 mile trip to Maranello. This is where the other Ferrari museum is. There are concept cars, clay models, and exhibits on how they make the cars at the factory. They had some amazing displays with hand sketches of future models and wind tunnel testing miniatures. Portions of the facility were devoted to the classic cars of the 60s and 70s, and it all then progressed along time to showcasing their modern cars. The racing cars room made a statement with one entire wall as a display case for all their racing trophies. We wrapped up the museum and were waiting for the bus to take us back to the train, we enjoyed the afternoon on a park bench under a tree. It was odd yet totally acceptable that about every 5th car that drove by happened to be a Ferrari.
We had booked a 7 hour window having no idea how long we'd be drooling at the cars in the two museums. That meant our train was still several hours out back at the station. It was decided to just ignore that ticket and spend the whopping $3 per person to get the train early back to Bologna. Arrival there was a brief walk around Bologna. Simi found a great little pasta shop in which they were making the ravioli by hand right there as you walked in. Talk about fresh pasta! Lunch in Bologna, and then went back north where we'd end up in Venice.
The train left the main continent and out our train windows was only water. Off the train, and down the steps was a scene from a movie as Venice's Grand Canal welcomes you first thing. It was the golden hour with the sun setting and that perfect time of day for pictures. It was another exhausting day of travel which meant we'd get our share of the Venice charm first thing in the morning. Plus that just meant we were one step closer to some more breakfast cake.
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