Hej
Jeg har brugt dette emne på andre fora, så jeg gider ikke oversætte tilbage igen.. 8)
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I have just returned from a vacation trip to Lake Garda in northern Italy. Just by strange 'coincidence' some interesting F1 related areas are close by. What matters is to sound surprised when suggesting to the spouse that it could be interesting to visit a town called Maranello and Monza that there could be some interesting areas to visit apart from shoe and bag shops... :-)
First point to visit was Museo Ferrari in Maranello which is a brand spanking new museum in purposebuilt buildings very close to the Ferrari test circuit Fiorano. Finding it is easy. Go to Modena and you will quicly find brown signs showing the correct way. It is placed around 20 km's from Modena.
But before we got into the museum a Alladins cave of goodies opend its arms to remove any unwanted finances. If you want you can buy a trip in various Ferraris and even af Lambo with your self behind the wheel! So the sound around reverberated from the powerful growls of Ferrari engines.
But back to the shop. Pictures tell the story.
As you can see. Everything in die cast, Tameo, Tamiya - even the Ebbro Lotus 72, books, clothing, stickers... Even the airconditioned shop couldn't stop my sweat!
The museum is nice but in reality quickly overseen. In the old days Enzo scrapped his cars and a lot is used by 'Clienti' - well off individuals who drive around in older F1 cars, so there is not a lot to be seen. But it looks very well done and the entry of 9 euros per person when arriving as a family is not a lot.
This is a brief view of what is to be seen right now.
The little town of Maranello is unsurprisingly filled with shops where the yellow and black shows. Like this modelshop which unfortunately was closed for siesta as most shops do between 12 and 15 rather annoyingly.
The entry to one famous factory.
Naturally there was a Ferrari shop in town... I want!
True F1 fans know the reason for this picture...
But the vacation also brought a trip to the hallowed ground of Monza. Not that there was any racing going on, but just being in the place for the first time since 1987 where I watched my first GP was great. And I knew that there were shopping possibilities on the inside although the wife said no way would anything be open. How wrong she was... :-) At first it looked like she was right though. I didn't quite know where to get in so the first point was at the point where I knew there was an underpass under the track near the old finishline. A fence met us there. A tatty one but still a fence. Hmm. But all was not lost as we drove to the Vedano end instead where a shed was found with an old guy 'guarding' it. I asked if we could get in? Sure but the track is closed so you can't drive there. Well ok for me we went in for a modest visitor fee. It is a strange place. Tatty in a lot of places - high tech in some. The pits complex is state of the art, but the history shows on the bankments with concrete 'seating'. Atmosphere for gods sake! Please lose places like Valencia, Turkey, Singapore, China and son - but keep these tracks Monza and Spa. Proper tracks where the bends has names and not numbers.
The must see shops: The book shop. A goldmine of old books, but all in plastic so browsing is not possible. But if you know what you are after you can probably find it here. Like the famous Lotus 72 and Lotus 49 books as well as Le Mans yearbooks, Motocourse, Aurocourse and Automobil year just to name a few. Not everything of course - but a LOT!
Small shops with track merchandise and models again, although the models were mostly RC toy stuff.
If you are in the region make these trips - you won't regret it, but probably the financial situation afterwards will be worse off... ;-)
By the way I didn't buy and books AT Monza, but IN Monza. In the town of Monza there was a bookshop on the central pedestrian street close to the church that provided some very fine books about Monza and Autodelta - and then it was off to the airport. Bella Italia! :D
Best regards
Flemming