Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9.

Getting to the track on race day wasn’t quite as simple as the day before. We set off at around the same time, but traffic ground to a halt about 2km before the motorway exit we needed to take. The first kilometre took us over 90 minutes and the second even longer! Eventually we got through and this time were directed into the village of Spa, which was much handier as it meant we would simply have a short walk along the level to get into the track.

However, time was getting tight, so we quickly found a space for the car and started walking down through the village. It seemed that the rarer the car you had driven to the track, the more prominent the parking space you were afforded. We finally made it into the track and began to hurry - the cars were already formed up on the grid and we didn’t want to miss the start!

There were some new faces in the row behind us that day - we had been graced with the presence of the Red Bull Formula Unas - ten glamorous and beautiful ladies who were competing for the Formula Una ladies award - complete with their brand new PSP’s.

As the grid revved away waiting for the five red lights to turn off, most people were watching the second row of the grid, rather than the red cars at the front. That is where the real story was happening.

Off the line Alonso was slightly slower and edged across to the left to try to stop Hamilton gaining an advantage. That was unsubtle but it was OK in the modern way of such things. What happened after that was considerably less sporting. As they went around La Source Hamilton was on the outside and had more momentum. The two Ferraris were gone but as Hamilton tried to take his team-mate Alonso turned to the left and Lewis had to swerve outwards to avoid an impact. Alonso kept the place, but the manner in which he did it revealed a little of the desperation that has at times characterised his driving this season.

On lap 31 David Coulthard pulled his Red Bull-Renault off the track directly in front of us and retired due to loss of throttle control and power steering. Kimi Raikkonen won in dominate fashion in a Ferrari 1-2 with his team mate Felipe Massa finishing 4.6 seconds behind. Fernando Alonso finished third, some 14.3 seconds behind and finally fourth place went to Lewis Hamilton. Because of the penalties handed out in Paris that week, Ferrari clinched the 2007 Constructors’ Championship at this race.

After the race we again joined the track invasion and this time made it up to the podium in time for the presentation and champagne (George even caught a photo of Massa spitting his champagne towards his pit crew!). It’s the first time we had ever been close to the post-race celebrations and we were on a real high. I texted the Scottish guys that we had met in Stezzano to tell them where we were - who knows, they might have been able to see us on the TV…

Unfortunately, the text that came back changed the mood somewhat as they told me that it was a day of mixed emotions for them as Colin McRae had died the day before. It was the first we had heard of this and I immediately began scanning the crowd to see if there were any Scottish fans about. I spotted a group of guys in kilts and ran up to them to see if they had any details.

They told me that all they knew at that point was that Colin had been killed in a helicopter crash and some passengers had been involved too. I immediately called Grannymar and asked her to look it up on the news, and sadly she confirmed that Colin’s young son Johnny, Johnny’s friend Ben and a family friend Graeme Duncan had also died in the crash.

Slightly demoralised, but still on a high from the race, we headed back to our car to join the traffic heading away from the track. In order to make it easier on us, we had decided to spend another night in Maastricht before heading back to Amsterdam for the last few nights of our honeymoon.

Amsterdam was pretty pleasant, except for the hotel we had booked. Faced with grumpy staff and a disgusting smell of damp in the bathroom, we decided to check out the next morning and move to the 5* Amsterdam American hotel next door. We got a gorgeous suite with views over the canal which made for a delightful last few days in the city.

We dropped into our usual Amsterdam routine, and all too soon it was time to head back to the car park at Schiphol airport and collect our car to begin the 1000km drive back home. We broke the trip once again in the lovely Holiday Inn Calais Coquelles for our last night, before taking the early morning Channel Tunnel back into England and beginning the drive to Holyhead. Luckily, traffic was much lighter this time and we made the ferry with plenty of time to spare.

We arrived home in the late evening and sat back to contemplate the journey we had just undertook. 4,209 miles covered, 9 countries and 12 cities/towns visited, 2 Grands Prix and a tour of the Nordschleife and we were still fighting over who got to drive the car each day, which says a lot about the comfort of George’s Civic TypeR!

We learnt a lot of valuable lessons during the trip, such as the fact that continental european petrol stations do not have air for your tyres, but some of them do stock 100 octane petrol - and yes, it does make a difference. We left being well prepared and carrying everything that we thought we needed and used the majority of it!

We had planned our honeymoon with the intention of it being the trip of a lifetime, and reflecting on everything that had happened, we agreed that we had attained our goal.

But most importantly of all, at the end of the trip we were still talking and enjoying being in each other’s company, and we were, if anything, more in love than ever!

——————–

If you’ve managed to read through all of this then congratulations are in order - you’ve just read nearly 9,000 words of my memories!

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8.

The next morning we left Maranello behind, heading along the Riviera towards Aix-en-Provence, on the way to Troyes. We didn’t have the time to stop off in Cannes or Monaco as we had planned, but the drive was smooth enough. Reaching France also meant that I was able to buy nice menthol cigarettes for the first time in a week.

Our hotel was just outside Aix-en-Provence in the middle of a pine forest. It was a beautiful setting and I decided to cool off from the drive by taking a quick dip in the pool - and it certainly was quick as the water was cold! We dined in the hotel restaurant that night, feasting on the best of French cuisine and wine - and George even let me eat his foie gras amuse-gueule!

The next day saw us arriving in Troyes, where I attended university for a year. It’s a beautiful town nestled in the middle of the Champagne region, about two hours south east of Paris. The streets that form the centre of town are actually in the shape of a champagne cork!

We were staying with my good friend Martine for the night in her pretty little house just outside the town centre. This was one address that I didn’t need the GPS to find!

Martine had invited Janine to join us for dinner and we had planned on raclette. The evening started with an aperitif as normal and then we moved on to wine with dinner. Raclette is a traditional dish in which raclette cheese is melted on a special apparatus, accompanied by potatoes, gherkins, mushrooms and a selection of dried meats. We washed all this down with a delicious Pouilly Fumé provided by Janine.

We chatted until late into the night and caught up on all the news of friends and family before retiring to bed for a good night’s sleep before our trip to Maastricht the next morning.

Maastricht was to be our base for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. We drove over from France on the Friday afternoon and discovered a curiosity about this city - you come in on the motorway through Belgium into the Netherlands heading for Maastricht and suddenly, almost without warning the motorway ends and turns into a city street. Our hotel, the Bastion Deluxe Maastricht, was easy to find and had large secure underground parking. Better still, it was only a five minute walk from the centre of town, marked by the Stadhuis, or Town Hall.

Maastricht is an ancient city, the oldest settlement in the Netherlands, dating from Roman times. In bad weather it can appear to be quite grey, which we had discovered the previous May, but this September the weather was much better and we found the city to be pretty and ideal for strolling around. We were also delighted to find the local Oil & Vinegar store as the one in Dublin had closed. We stocked up on all our favourites, including white truffle oil and discovered some new treats to tempt us - after all we had brought the car and had plenty of space for the bags!

On Saturday morning we headed back into Belgium for the Grand Prix. Locating Spa was quite easy as it seemed that we weren’t the only people commuting in from Maastricht. Traffic was light enough and we were directed to park in a field high above the track. Getting out of our car you could hear the engine noises as we headed down through the forest to the track.

We were excited to get down to the track to see the changes that had been made to the first hairpin, the bus stop chicane and the pit complex in order to bring Spa back onto the 2007 F1 calendar. The previous year we had popped into Spa to have a wander around on the way back to Brussels after the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Having seen the track I immediately promised George that we would come back here for a grand prix if it made it back onto the calendar.

It was a long walk down to the track, but mercifully cooler than Monza had been. We made the mistake of walking around the outside of the track to our stand and had to slog up a large hill - never forget that Spa is in the middle of a very hilly area!

Our stand was again an uncovered one, this time more for reasons of cost, as tickets for covered grandstands in Spa are very expensive. Even though it regularly rains at the grands prix here, we had decided to take the risk, which paid off as the entire weekend was dry.

Our stand was a small one, directly opposite the new bus stop chicane and pit entrance, resulting in us seeing the cars braking heavily in order to make the corner - or miss it in a lot of cases! With toilets and concessions just behind us, it seemed like an ideal location.

We settled in and began to watch the qualifying, which turned out to be nearly the complete opposite of the previous weekend. Ferrari qualified 1-2 in a dramatic last minute showdown. Kimi Raikkonen emerged ahead of Felipe Massa by a tiny margin after the Brazilian locked his brakes in the final chicane. McLaren was not far behind - Fernando Alonso had a spin at Rivage on his penultimate run, but recovered quickly and was able to have a final run in which he ousted Lewis Hamilton for third place.

After the qualifying we headed into the F1 village to see what it had to offer. There seemed to be a lot more of the team stores than there had been in Monza and many other attractions as well. I got my picture taken with Ralf and Jarno as you can see!

A small area of the village was taken up with some road safety demonstrations, but these were no normal ‘preachy’ activities. They had a Peugeot car set up on a spindle and were strapping people in using normal seatbelts and then spinning the car around multiple times. I just had to have a go and joined the queue.

The nice policeman strapped me into the car, ensured that my seatbelt was well attached and took my glasses away. Suddenly the car began to swing from side to side and then fully upside down, where they left us hanging for nine seconds, but felt like a lot longer! Two rotations to the left and then two more to the right, my legs were swinging all over the place and banging into the inside of the car - it was sore! I’ve never been in a car that has rolled luckily, and now I never want to!

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.

The next morning we joined up with some guys from South Africa and New Zealand to be guided around the Lamborghini factory, museum and private collection, the Pagani factory and showroom, the Ferrari Museum and an external tour of the Ferrari factory by our effervescent guide Francesco.

We started our day at the Lamborghini museum & factory. Ferruccio Lamborghini went to meet Enzo Ferrari at the Ferrari factory to complain about the quality of the clutch in the Ferrari 250 GT he owned. Enzo sent him away telling him to go and drive tractors because he was not able to drive cars. Lamborghini went back to his factory, had his Ferrari’s clutch dismantled and realized that the clutch manufacturer was the same who supplied the clutches for his tractors!

In his warehouse he found a spare part which he thought suitable, and when it was installed the problem was solved. Ferruccio promised himself never to go back to Ferrari for another car but rather beat him at his own game by creating a superior sports car. Thus the idea of a Lamborghini sports car was born.

Ferruccio decided that his car was to have a V12 engine, and enlisted the services of talented engineer Giotto Bizzarrini. The Lamborghini 350GTV prototype began making public appearances in 1963, starting with the Turin Auto Show. Sales of the production model, known as the 350GT, began the following year. Born under the sign of Taurus, Ferruccio Lamborghini used the bull as the badge by which to mark his new automobile. The company then designed its first supercar - the now-legendary Lamborghini Miura, which was premiered in Nov 1965.

In 1971, Lamborghini developed the unusual-looking LP500 Countach prototype, named after an Italian slang term uttered in surprise by a person who had just seen the new car. The production Countach was introduced three years later. The prototype was the first car to sport Lamborghini’s now-traditional scissor doors, along with vertically mounted rear air intakes. Another point noted by journalists was the manner in which reversing a Countach was accomplished; raising the driver’s door and sitting on the door sill.

The next stop on the tour was the Lamborghini Private Collection where we were given a guided tour by Fabio Lamborghini, nephew of Ferruccio himself. What better way to remember Ferruccio than to build a memorial to the man himself? Ferruccio’s son Tonino did exactly that, opening the Centro Studi e Ricerche Ferruccio Lamborghini in 2001.

Some of the cars Lamborghini drove himself are here in the exhibit hall: a gorgeous red 1966 Miura P40 SV and a 1970 Jarama S. A 1971 Countach, a ‘66 400GT, ‘67 Espada and a ‘68 Islero, all brightly coloured, some just in chassis form, some featuring odd touches like woodwork, are interspersed through the crowded exhibit space. After some begging, Fabio actually let me sit in Ferruccio’s Countach to get photographed.

Tonino has done quite well with the family name, even if the only cars he produces are electric; examples of Tonino’s watches, eye wear, clothing and food (pasta, balsamic and olive oil) were on display at the museum. While we were encouraged to purchase, there was certainly no hard sell here. We chose a set of wine and Fabio kindly autographed it for us.

After finishing with Fabio our next stop was the tour of the Ferrari plant - however, since only Ferrari purchasers and staff get to go inside the vaunted gates, Francesco performed our tour from the perimeter of the plant. Still, as an ex-Ferrari employee, Francesco was well-qualified to explain the functions of each building, production figures and the different jobs that he had held within the factory.

For George & I the most fascinating part was seeing exactly what a wind tunnel looked like - we hear so much about them in Formula 1, but we had no idea what one would look like.

From here we moved on to the Ferrari Museum, where we finally broke for a bite of lunch and then toured the gallery. I have to admit that I was getting a little bored with cars at this point, and rather than listening to Francesco, I just wandered around taking photos.

Our final stop of the day was the Pagani factory, famous for their Pagani Zonda supercar, less than twenty of which are produced each year. Argentinean Horacio Pagani came to Europe in 1982 to look around, accompanied by a letter of recommendation from Juan Manuel Fangio. He worked his way up through various different famous car manufacturers and in 1991 Pagani established Modena Design to meet the increasing demand for his design, engineering, and prototyping services.

In 1992, he began construction of a Fangio F1 prototype, and by 1993, the car was being tested at the Dallara wind tunnel with positive results. In 1994, Mercedes-Benz agreed to supply Pagani with V12 engines.

The final production car was named the Zonda C12; the Fangio F1 name was dropped out of respect for Fangio, who died in 1995. It was first presented at the 1999 Geneva Motor Show. On the 25th Sep 2007 Pagani claimed a new record for production super cars using the Pagani Zonda F Clubsport by completing the Nürburgring in 7:27:82

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6.

The next morning we headed down for a delicious buffet breakfast, which we ate to the sounds of Pavarotti on the stereo and F1 cars testing in the background - I’ve never seen George look so satisfied! We headed off to locate a self-service laundrette to wash the clothes from the first week - it was hard to believe that we had only been on honeymoon for eleven days with everything we had packed in!

Franco gave us clear directions to a laundrette in the next town, and we stuck on several washes, clearing our pockets of all the change we had been collecting during the past week. We had a funny encounter with a local woman who kept talking to us in Italian even though I kept telling her that I didn’t speak Italian, I only understood a few words.

She talked louder and louder and pointed at things until I understood. The curiosity grew as she watched George and myself roll up all our dry clothes to pack them back into the suitcase - why were we doing this? Using some quick sign language, I explained that I could fit more things into the case, and that they didn’t get creased this way. Satisfied with this explanation, she headed on her way, leaving us to finish off.

That evening we headed off with a tour guide to visit balsamic vinegar and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese factories. We learnt a lot about how the cheese and vinegar are produced and their history in the region. After tasting and buying some of the delicious mature parmesan, we headed off with our guide to the balsamic vinegar factory, which was a small two-storey building behind someone’s house.

They had been producing vinegar here for decades. In this family business, the traditional birthday gifts for ‘coming-of-age’ birthdays were replaced with gifts of a barrel of vinegar - something which would hold its value for years to come.

Leaving the cask aging room and its strong sweet smell behind, we participated in a tasting of the different ages of vinegar. We selected twenty-five year old vinegar and some special ‘juniper-aged’ vinegar as our choices to bring home a flavour of Italy.

To finish off our lovely evening our guide directed us up twisty, windy roads to the hillside village of Castelvetro di Modena just as the sun was getting low in the sky. In the middle ages this was a castle town at the cross-roads between the foothills and the road climbing up the Apennines.

The central square displays some charming Renaissance architecture and a giant checkerboard laid into the main square. Each September a game is played here, using living pieces as part of the town’s festival.

When we got back to the hotel we decided to take a quick wander before heading for dinner. As we left the hotel, George spotted a curious yellow car driving past, on its way back from the Fiorano test track and immediately grabbed the camera to squeeze off a few quick shots.

He then turned to me excitedly and said “Did you see that?â€?
“It was a yellow car” I replied, shrugging.
Not just any yellow car apparently, but an as-yet unreleased Ferrari that was just coming back from being tested. I think that it made his night!

Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5.

The next morning we were once again up bright and early to head back to the track. The party atmosphere was in full swing and the walk in was entertaining enough to keep us from thinking about the blisters on our feet.

This time when we arrived at our stand we realised that the Ferrari Supporters club was directly behind it. Sneaking a peek through some gaps in the fence, we realised that having money makes Grands Prix so much more comfortable - a pool, a bar, proper toilets and a chance to lie out in the sun and relax - some day we’ll get there!

Shortly before this Grand Prix, it had been revealed in the press that Fernando Alonso and several other McLaren team members had been aware of and discussed the confidential information that Nigel Stepney had brought from Ferrari. Fernando had only confessed this information after being given assurance that no proceedings would be taken personally against him. We felt that taking such a public plea bargain was detrimental to the sport and hoped that he would not qualify on pole position, but alas, we didn’t get our wishes there…

As for the race on the Sunday, it was true to say that Alonso once again dominated, taking the win from pole. His team mate Lewis Hamilton took second place 6 seconds behind, followed by Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari in third - 27.3 seconds behind the leader.

As soon as the flag was waved, the typical track invasion occurred and we followed quickly, but not quickly enough as the trophy presentation and traditional champagne was all over by the time we reached the podium. Still, we soaked up the atmosphere as we strolled the main straight in the company of thousands of Tifosi. Once we had all the photos we wanted, we headed down towards Parabolica to exit the track.

But wait, I had mentioned the old banking - there was no way we were going to leave Monza before we had tried to get onto it for some photos. We headed back through the inside of the track, to some of the ‘general’ viewing areas and aimed for where we thought the old track was. We soon spotted it, but getting down there was a problem, it was a 20 foot drop when you found a gap in the fence, and there were marshals everywhere!

Eventually George managed to find a quiet spot and slid down to take some photos. The shot below gives an idea of just how steep it is - every time he set the camera down on the ground and let go, it just started to slide!

Upon leaving Monza on the Sunday, we drove the traditional route down to Maranello, home of the Ferrari factory. In olden days, Ferrari supporters would race the telegraph along this route to try and be the first to bring home news of a Ferrari victory.

We planned to spend a few days in Maranello, at the Planet Hotel, which faces the main gates of the Ferrari factory on one side and Ferrari’s private test track, Fiorano, on the other - not to mention the official Ferrari shop on the ground floor.

Franco, who runs the Planet Hotel, is world-renowned for his local knowledge and hospitality. He went ‘above and beyond’ several times during our stay to help us out and ensure we had everything we needed. Upon arrival he quickly recognised me from the emails that we had traded back and forth and settled us into our room on the fourth floor, with a view of the Fiorano test track from our balcony.

As we had arrived late the first evening, we opted for a quick take-out pizza delivered to our room and soon collapsed into bed.

Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4.

We arrived in Stezzano, a small village on the outskirts of Bergamo - this was to be our base for the Monza Grand Prix weekend. As usual for Grands Prix, accommodation close to the track is nearly impossible to come by, so we chose a hotel about 45 mins drive away. Always a fan of boutique hotels, the Art e Hotel sounded perfect - a recently built hotel, on the outskirts of town, filled with local art works.

We weren’t disappointed, the hotel was gorgeous and we loved the fact that the huge window in our room opened fully, with a lovely view! But seriously, the hotel was perfect with plenty of parking, a huge buffet breakfast and just a ten-minute stroll from the centre of the village. On the first evening we asked for a recommendation of a near-by restaurant, and the pizzeria da Michele was suggested to us. As we had been sitting in the car for most of the day, we decided that a walk was in order and we wandered down through the village, once again looking for menthol cigarettes on the way (a rare commodity in Italy!).

On arrival in the Pizzeria, we were warmly greeted by the staff and offered a complimentary glass of Prosecco. We began to browse through the menu and were astounded by the large choice of pizzas and then quickly stunned by the size of them when they arrived. The pizzas were delicious, as were the multiple glasses of wine that we consumed - no designated drivers when you are both walking!

After the pizza we asked if we could take our desserts outside and enjoy them over a cigarette. I quickly noticed some familiar accents at the table next door and we got chatting to a couple of Scottish lads who were also over for the Grand Prix. They gave us plenty of tips and swapped mobile numbers so that we could meet up with them for dinner on the following nights.

After we settled up our amazingly small bill for the quality and quantity of food that we had consumed, we strolled slowly back to the hotel and prepared for the next morning by setting the GPS for Monza and ensuring we had our tickets and earplugs packed and ready.

As we had arrived in Stezzano on Thursday, we were able to attend the Friday practice of the Italian Grand Prix. The Autodromo Nazionale Monza is near the town of Monza, north of Milan. It is one of the most historic motor racing circuits in the world.

The circuit, best known for hosting the Formula One Italian Grand Prix, is notable for the fact that drivers are on full throttle for a higher-than-average percentage of the lap due to its long straights and is usually the scenario in which the F1 cars show the full raw speed they are capable of.

The Monza circuit has been the arena of some of the most tragic episodes in Formula One racing, especially in the early years of the world championship. Since those times, modifications have been introduced to improve spectators’ safety and reduce curve speed, but it is still criticized by the current drivers for its lack of run-off areas.

As George had been a Michael Schumacher and Ferrari fan for years, he was thrilled to get a chance to finally get to Monza as the circuit is known to be the spiritual home of the Scuderia Ferrari and their passionate supporters, the Tifosi. Although we wouldn’t get to see Michael racing this year as he had recently retired, he would get to see Felipe Massa wearing the traditional red of Ferrari.

We were also anxious for a chance to get close to the (no-longer used) historical Monza banking, but for this first day we were just content to get our bearings and find our seats. The journey in was relatively simple and well sign-posted once we neared the track. We ended up parked at the Stadio Brianteo and took a free shuttle bus into the Parco di Monza. The temperatures were still in the high twenties and we really began to feel them as we walked into the circuit.

I soon realised why there was no scale on the published circuit map - if there had been, then we would have realised that we were in for a 4-mile walk from the bus drop-off point to where our seats were! We slogged in, mercifully along the flat, stopping to look at the many stalls selling F1 merchandise - but really just grabbing a chance to catch our breath!

After getting multiple mis-directions from the track workers, we finally found our stand, directly opposite the pit exit, meaning that we would see the cars formed up on the grid and also at full speed during the race. This meant that taking photos was quite difficult, but we managed to squeeze off a few shots.

We hadn’t bothered getting tickets in a covered stand, as it rarely rains in Monza in September, but we did need to remember to apply sunscreen regularly! When we arrived to the stand for the first time, we found a bunch of Polish F1 fans, who had travelled over to support Robert Kubica. Despite having no language in common, we quickly established a rapport using sign language and drank a few beers with them. They then gifted George with a couple of t-shirts that they had got printed especially for this trip.

We watched the practice laps and some of the other car formats, and then decided to head back out towards the car, taking a different route this time. We needed to conserve our energy for the next two days.

Parts 1, 2 & 3.

From Amsterdam it was time to hit the road again, and head down through the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and finally into Italy where we would pause for another few days. We collected the car at Schiphol airport, loaded Wiesbaden into the GPS as our first destination and we were on our way.

When I realised that the route we wanted to take down through Germany was sending us near Wiesbaden, there was no choice but to stop there. In the early 70’s Grannymar spent a couple of enjoyable years working in the USAF Hospital there – and even blogged a funny story from that time.

Wiesbaden was one of the few locations in which we had difficulty in locating our hotel - mainly because the GPS would get us close, but then it would get lost because of the tall buildings. We decided to park the car in one of the city centre car parks in order to avoid circling the one-way system once again. We hiked down and located the hotel and obtained our room key, then set out to move the car to a closer (and subsidised) car park before we brought our luggage down to the hotel.

We had selected a new ’boutique’ hotel for this one night stay, and we were highly impressed by the Town Hotel. The rooms were spacious and nicely decorated, and the bathrooms came with ‘rainfall’ showers. Instead of the traditional mini-bar in the room, they had a large ‘American-style’ fridge in the lobby, with a large range of beverages, chocolates and other bits and pieces, each priced at only a few cents more than the local shops - you simply helped yourself and told the receptionist what you had consumed upon checkout. Having seen bottles of water priced at around €3.50 in other hotels, this was a refreshing change.

That evening we took a wander around the town until we found an Italian restaurant and enjoyed some lovely pizza and wine - just practising for Italy! We would have loved to continue learning about the city the next morning, but unfortunately we had the long drive to Austria ahead of us, destination Innsbruck.

In order to cross into Italy, we had to take the Brenner Pass through Austria. The Brenner Pass is a mountain pass through the Alps along the border between Italy and Austria, and is one of the principal passes of the Alps. It is the lowest and easiest of the Alpine passes, and one of the few in the Tyrol region.

Even though it’s the lowest of the passes, it still felt pretty high to us. Wiesbaden was about 18 degrees when we left, and in the space of a few hours the temperature dropped to about 8 degrees. The weather was also quite nasty, and we got to drive through low cloud, mist, rain and even sleet! We had booked into the Hotel Tyrolis, hoping for a taste of true Tyrolese hospitality.

The room was nice, if a little dark (covering all the walls in wood will do that!), and we had a nice balcony with a good view. After a futile search for menthol cigarettes in the town, we dropped into the hotel restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, the Tyrolese hospitality didn’t seem to extend that far, as the server was quite grumpy. We found the food plain and boring, but a few glasses of wine soon banished those thoughts from our minds.

The next morning I snapped a few pics from the balcony before we left the hotel. The view out of the back of the hotel was gorgeous stretching over an alpine valley. The hotel was a very typically Tyrolean design, and covered in gorgeous flowers. The day seemed to be a lot nicer, and we hoped that we wouldn’t be driving through sleet and snow again.

We didn’t really have many plans in Austria; it was just a required stop on the way to Italy. But when I looked at the local attractions and discovered that Swarovski Kristallwelten was only a few kilometres away, I knew we couldn’t pass up visiting it. I’ve always loved the sparkliness of Swarovski crystals and how they look in jewellery and was fascinated to see what the Kristallwelten had to offer. We drove over and found it easily and booked onto an English tour.

I had expected it to be more of how the crystals were fabricated, but instead it was a semi-interactive exhibit showing the crystals in different formats. The first stop was a hall with re-interpretations of famous works of art, utilising Swarovski crystals. In the same room were the largest and smallest crystals ever cut by Swarovski, the one shown below also being the largest in the world. In this room we learned just how hard it is to take photos of crystals, the refracting light messed up a lot of shots for both of us!

My favourite stop on the tour had to be the Crystal Dome - a large silver dome covered on the inside with many different crystals. These 590 ‘mirrors’ create a visual and acoustic marvel, including the point at the centre that converts a whisper into a shout - something I found out by accident.

The final stop on the tour was the shop and it was enormous! Every type of product that you could conceive of could be purchased there (if you had enough money!). I was particularly taken by the crystal champagne glasses, but at over €400 for four, they were out of my budget, so I had to settle for some jewellery instead…

Leaving the Kristallwelten we headed south and gradually the weather began to improve as we dropped in altitude. After three hours we were out of the Alps and the Brenner Pass and into the flat landscape of Northern Italy. The temperature rose significantly and soon reached 28°C - a hurried pit-stop was required to shed some of the layers we had put on that morning!

The drive started in cold weather alongside sheer cliff faces and slowly these grew smaller and smaller as we descended. Eventually the last ridge of mountains gave way to the dusty green flatlands. It was easy to tell when we moved from Austria into Italy as the barriers at the side of the motorway suddenly turned from shining aluminium into rusty steel!

It’s been a long time since I published any posts about our honeymoon last year. After the first couple of posts, which you can read here and here, the project took a different turn as I decided to turn the story into an illustrated book as a Christmas present for my hubbie.

Using the software from Blurb.com means you can set up every page of the book just as you want it. In the end I wrote about 11,000 words in less than a month and turned it into a 100-page book, illustrated with pictures from our trip. Click on this link for a downloadable PDF taster. The software is so easy to use that I knocked up a book of my cousin’s landscape photos in a couple of hours last Sunday.

But back to the honeymoon, now that I have all the text written and the photos chosen, I’ll be doing a series of posts to finish telling the story - and don’t worry, they will all be clearly marked in case you want to skip them and just read my regular rants instead. We left off just as we had finished our flying lap of the old Nordschleife track and were about to head for Amsterdam.

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After having something to eat (in an attempt to let the adrenaline from the lap drain from our systems), we headed back to our car to get on the road for Amsterdam. But when we got back to the car, we had been blocked in by a yellow racing Porsche. After standing around waiting for 20 minutes, I was getting ready to do some serious damage to it! Luckily the owners turned up and apologised profusely – apparently they had been keeping an eye on it from the restaurant balcony, but we were just out of their view! Typical bad parking, but what else would you expect from an Englishman!

We eventually got on the road and set our GPS for Schiphol Airport. We planned to drop the car there for a few days and take the train into Amsterdam, with just enough luggage to see us through. A few hours later, we pulled into the long-term car park at Schiphol. A clever system, instead of just relying on a letter and number location system like we do in Dublin, each section has it’s own animal character – much more fun and easier to remember. However, that seems to come at a price, as a 72-hour stay was going to cost us €50!

We dropped the car and grabbed the bags we needed, and decided to drop another couple into the baggage storage inside the airport for safety. I’ve heard people complain about Schiphol before, but I find it to be a compact, easy navigable airport, with plenty of facilities. I love the fact that the train station is directly underneath the main airport concourse. Train ticket machines are all over the concourse, and they even have several machines that only sell tickets to Amsterdam Centraal, mainly for the tourists. The queue for these is always long, so I head for a ‘local’ machine, which also has the option to be switched into English. A few quick presses of the buttons later, stick the credit card into the slot, and the tickets drop out. A glance up to see when and where the next ‘snelle trein’ leaves from and away we go.

Thirty minutes later, we roll off the train in the centre of Amsterdam. As we walk through the station, I check to see if I have enough strippenkaarten segments left, if not then a quick stop into the newsagents resolves that problem. The trams mainly depart from directly outside Centraal, and run every few minutes. There’s normally time for a quick cigarette and then off we go.

Amsterdam is one of our favourite short-break cities – it’s only a short flight from Dublin, easy to access from the airport and a dream to get around. This time, we needed a 1, 2 or 5 to take us to the Leidseplein, heading for the Tulip Inn Amsterdam Centre, our first hotel in Amsterdam for this trip. Below is my European Travel map, which shows several of our favourite haunts in Amsterdam.
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The weather wasn’t great for the few days that we spent here, but we wandered around to our usual haunts and spent a few days relaxing. Amsterdam has a beautiful compact city centre, which you can easily spend hours walking around without getting tired.

Our normal day in Amsterdam would consist of getting up late, wandering down to the Satellite Sports café in the Leidseplein for a breakfast of massive pancakes and freshly squeezed Orange juice. Then from there it’s off for a stroll to work off breakfast and drop into an art gallery or photo exhibit to see what is new. After a late lunch, usually grabbed from one of the numerous Chinese or Kebab restaurants, then it’s either off to the Vondelpark for a meander around and taking some photos, or perhaps a spot of shopping.

Our ideal way to finish off the day would be to head for Chicano’s restaurant on one of the small streets off the Leidseplein. They serve wonderful Tex-Mex cuisine, and our favourite has to be the unlimited ribs - you start with three racks of perfectly cooked ribs, the meat just falling off at a light touch. These come served with BBQ, sweet soy and green garlic sauces for coating or dipping. The salads and fries that come with the meal rarely get touched as the ribs are so good! We love to wash down these dinners with a bottle of Desperados lager - lightly flavoured with Tequila - sounds bizarre, but absolutely gorgeous, I can assure you!

After all this, we are usually stuffed, so it’s time for a wander up to the Red Light District - contrary to what it sounds like, it’s a perfectly safe area and you often see local families using it as a shortcut to cross the city. In amongst the clubs advertising live sex shows, you can wander up and down the canals, admiring the pretty architecture - and also the scantily clad girls in the windows, advertising their part in the world’s oldest profession…

This is the story of our honeymoon; a long story, so I will break it into several parts.

When planning the European road trip for our honeymoon there were three specific events that we wished to attend, firstly we had booked a madcap lap of the Nordschliefe circuit at the Nurburgring in Germany. From there we would be taking in two Grands Prix; one in Monza and then the following weekend in Spa. In order to fit all of these events into our schedule it was necessary that we booked the entire trip in advance.

I spent several months looking at different web sites trying to find the best prices and locations for each of our planned stops. If you asked George he would probably tell you that the honeymoon took more planning than the wedding… Due to the fact that we were aiming to drive over 4000 miles in three weeks we had to be totally organized at all times – the confirmation for each of our ferries, channel tunnel, hotels, activities were all printed and placed into the specially designed honeymoon book – a lever arch binder, full of plastic pockets, one for each day.

On the first morning we took an early ferry from Dublin port – George is well known for his dislike of being on the water, so I had promised him that the journey back and forth to Holyhead would be the only ferry of the entire trip. Our aim for day one was to cross Wales and England, take the channel tunnel into France and reach our first hotel, five minutes drive from the far end in Calais. Arriving in Holyhead at 10:00 we had ten hours to make the descent to Folkestone – simple one would think? Not when most of your journey is on the M6 and M25 motorways! Road works, traffic and general bad driving conspired to make us later and later as the day went on.

Luckily for us, the owners of the channel tunnel are aware of how difficult it is to predict journey times over long distances, so when you book your specific slot for the crossing, you are then able to arrive up to two hours before or after that time and take the next available train for the same price. Even so we barely arrived in time just under two hours after our planned departure. A simple check in procedure, time for a quick bite to eat and we were away. Driving onto the train is quite easy and you just have to hold your nerve as you drive along all of the carriages. The staff work efficiently and quickly give you instructions to lower your windows and not to cross between the cars.

The crossing was quick and smooth and the biggest surprise that we received was the fact that our ears popped on the way down. You expect this on an airplane but we had forgotten that we were descending fairly deep under the English Channel. 25 minutes later and we were driving on French soil constantly reminding each other “drive on the right, drive on the right!� Our GPS received its first test and successfully led us to our hotel.

The next morning it was up and awake early once again, for another madcap dash across France, Belgium and into Germany to reach the Nordschliefe circuit. Five hours to cover 400 kilometres, surely this was enough? Things were looking good until once again we hit some road works or an accident – we’re not really sure… All we saw was a tailback stretching miles into the distance… unfortunately for us this occurred right at a location where the GPS had no knowledge of the new motorways we were traveling on!

We quickly decided to take the next off-ramp, which dropped us into a small German village. We used a combination of techniques; following the main stream of cars who seemed to know where they were going and partially my innate sense of direction to bypass this village and get us out onto the motorway a few miles further on. From there it was plain sailing, but simple fact was we had too many kilometers to cover and two little time… Would we still make the lap at the Nordschliefe, or would we miss out?