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Showing posts from September, 2015

Audi Factory Tour

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Stainless Audi R8 For those interested in cars and the car business there has been a lot going on in the past few years, ever since the CEO of Volkswagen Group announced that by 2017 or something like that , they would be the largest car manufacturer, supplanting Toyota auto group. This goal was laid out in approximately 2009 and at the time Porsche looked to buy out the VW group. As it turned out VW Group bought Porsche and made in a wholly owned subsidiary. For some time Audi has been one of the luxury brands, as well as Bentley and Bugatti. Later, Lamborghini was brought into the group and most recently another Italian company Ducati motorcycles. For the complete list check here.   http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/content/en/brands_and_products.html Audi is recognized in the industry as having the most efficient auto manufacturing processes and their brand ranks in the top 5 for quality, so it has been on the list to tour one of the plants. Today was the da

Europe Through the Back Door – Two Wheels Edition

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Rheinfells, Schauffhausen Switzerland  the beginning of the Rhein River   OK, OK, Europe through the Back Door (ETBD) is a Rick Steves terminology, and may even be copy-righted by him, but the concept of his descriptor was that he was showing people how to see the ‘real’ Europe, and experience people and places not on the main stream Tour company’s radar screens. Rick, rightly so, has become part of the main stream now, his impact on travel since we started in 2004 (he was virtually non-existent back in 1991) is such that he has his own tours now, sells an extra-ordinary amount of books, literally gives away his advice in YouTube videos, and on public television. And frankly I love his approach because when he travels he stays in the small little places. I am a fan.  Unfortunately his tours go to the small places, but now due to their size they stay in more upscale places, a demand by the primarily US consumer. Also, he has made some places so popular, they are on the radar

A Rain Day, Random Thoughts, and the Mind is a Beautiful Thing

So this won’t  be a usual blog entry about seeing a particular place, just one that covers a number of things that go on when you’re travelling, like today, a rain day. Rain days are a consideration when motorcycling and in particular this rain day here in Sestri Levante where there is an Orange Level Thunderstorm warning, not translated to English but it must be bad right? As I sit here writing this I realize OH YEAH! It’s bad, but we are safe and dry. Paying attention to weather forecasts is an important part of adventure riding. When we travelled based on a fixed schedule and we had to be back at work then you would ride in some bad weather, or if it crops up during a day then you obviously deal with it, but when it is this pronounced then you respect it. Yesterday was a great ride back about 130 kms from Lucca to Sestri Levante and we took the back roads. It was busy being a Saturday in Italy all the bicyclists (would be Giro d’Italia participants) are on the back-ro

LUCCA

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Lucca Walled City   Last year we heard both Cris and Sabrina and the Swedish couple mention going to Lucca. The Swedish couple were going there to get married and we had been invited but it was the same day we were to fly home so we didn’t attend. Aqueduct This year it was on the list. So we are just finishing up our 2 nd night here and while we have seen more spectacular walled cities, or more intimate settings, Lucca impressed us as a clean tourist centre that has much history to offer. All the food offerings we had while there were great, our accommodation, right outside the old walled city is excellent, and we even saw some things many tourists don’t know about. Sandra read in someone’s blog about an aqueduct in Lucca, but it is not in any literature, and the blog she had read gave very poor partial directions, likely from someone’s faded memory. So we went to a tourist centre and asked how to get to it, and laughed after at the directions. The fellow told us to tak

Chiavari, Portofino, and Rapallo

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Classic Portofino As we headed south to ultimately end up at Levanto we planned to stop in to Portofino, a well-known place for A list celebrities. I guess we saw one there, a popular soccer player with his pregnant wife since they were covered online the next day in a local paper.  They were just taking photos up near the church on the hill in Portofino. On place to stay was Chiavari, a beautiful city about 20 kms away from Portofino. Chiavari The place we stayed, Casa Olivia is up behind Chiavari in the hills overlooking the sea and our host Cristina was incredible at decorating. Both the B&B and her kitchen were right out of a decorating catalog. She works part-time in Genoa as a designer, and runs the B&B as well. She does a great job of both apparently. A benefit of the bike is when we drove to Portofino we fit right in with the locals and parked in the moto parking area and with the bike cover on, they couldn’t see that we weren’t locals not

Fort De Bard

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Fort De Bard Our next day was relaxing staying in Ivrea  (Original home of Olivetti typewriters  )  and just doing some sightseeing.  The castle/fort we visited was the backdrop for the movie Avengers – Age of Ultron filmed just recently. Age of Ultron The early fort was built and developed its claim to fame by withstanding first a 14 day attack by Napoleon in 1800 and then a siege which lasted until June 1st. Eventually it would fall and Napoleon destroyed the castle terming it the “villaneous castle de bard” because it was so formidable he did not want to have to conquer it again. A few features were the enclosed staircases to protect soldiers movements, and for tourists now a 4 stage funicular which is free to ride and get a great view of the Aosta valley. Enclosed Stairs for soldiers Fenicular After Napoleon’s fall the Fort was re-built between 1831- 1838 by the Savoy’s and eventually fell into dis-repair until the late 20 th cen

FRANCE Lacets, Col de Madelaine, Col de Pt. St. Bernard

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Decorations from the Tour De France TDF The next morning we got up earlier and the day was fresh. The day was perfect for riding. We made our way south to the Lacets du Montvernier Lacets Vertical (Stage 20 I believe in TDF 2015) We watched the Tour De France (TDF) a lot while I began to get back in shape. The road is a set of hairpins that wind up the face of a cliff and resemble a pair of shoe laces, hence the name. Needless to say we rode them. Lovely from the Top And this route was only 10 kms from the Col de Madelaine, a classic of the TDF.  Just of the Top from the Col De La Madelaine  2000 meters Add Col de Petit St Bernard and we’d be in Italy the same day, not before covering almost 400 kms of twisties.

France – Annecy,

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Annecy Last year we travelled south into Italy via eastern France and I loved the scenery and roads, so we just set a couple of sights we hadn’t seen specifically and headed to them. Annecy, a beautiful town, now tourist trap like Banff, sits on the edge of a Lake by the same name. It was extremely busy and of course we headed down into the core on a Sunday market day. The day was full of bright sun, hot at 33C, and we just kicked back and watched the world go by there. In the morning sailboats The afternoon Paddleboats Canal from lake Classic Annecy Bridges in Eastern France