| Chris, Joy, Peal, John, Rachel and Al all travelled to Italy and met on the shores of Lake Como. Our hotel room had a splendid view.
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| We enjoyed some time around the lake, exploring the local area.
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| But the focus of the trip was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza!
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| Which was fairly dominated by Ferrari fans.
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| But John sought to redress the balance a bit.
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| John, Pearl and Al (the hardcore) went for qualifying on Saturday and got a very close view of the track.
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| The Italians chose any vantage point they could.
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| On race day we returned with Joy and Rachel.
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| It was rather damp. And we spent around 7 hours in the rain waiting for something interesting to happen.
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| Amazingly it cleared in time for the race, the sun shone, and we all felt a lot better. Perhaps the drenching had been worth it after all.
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| John went to get a close up after the race.
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| The famous post-race Monza track invasion created an amazing atmosphere, and we walked almost half of the circuit.
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| The Brits celebrating a successful day.
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| Some fans had gone to even more extreme lengths!
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| On the way back to the car we visited the old circuit - astonishing banked curves which it is hard to believe were ever raced on.
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| Our party moved on to Bergamo Alta
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| ...where we ate the most amusing, although not the best, zabaglione ever. Noone finished their bowlful and everyone was in hysterics long before.
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| We visited the Terme of San Pellegrino - once a great spa resort, now a little down in the mouth.
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| We left the rest of the party and moved onto Milan for a day, taking in the Last Supper (and some more rain)
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| Next stop was Verona, where it also rained, but thankfully cleared up...
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| ...in time for some relaxing
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| The actual house where Juliet lived and Romeo came to court her...??!
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| Our friend Nico was working in Verona over the summer and we found time to catch up.
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| We moved onto Mantova (Mantua) and spent a lovely day in the sunshine.
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| A day in Parma, and plenty of time to sample all the local wares. Mmmmm.
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| Then a hop over to Maranello, home of Ferrari.
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| You wish!
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| Enjoying the Ferrari museum.
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| Last stop, Bologna
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| And we splashed (get the pun?) out on a B&B for our final night...
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| ...amongst the vines
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| and sunshine.
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