We've made it!

Having survived the Italian A1 from Verona and after an hour crawling around Florence in horrendous traffic we finally made it down to Montevarchi and met Dany and Paolo at the railway station.

We had a fantastic welcome. It was great to see some old faces and to put some new faces to new names. After very pleasant outdoor drinks and nibbles we set off in convoy to meet Javier and Michela, again at the railway station. Then it was off to a lovely restaurant for our evening meal.

The drive up to Odina was a great surprise. The huge property is on top of a 650m hill with commanding views over all around. The road was spectacular in the dark, I'm really looking forward to seeing the views in their full glory.

No wireless this evening means a further delay in posting some photos. We'll get this sorted in the morning.

Traffico Maximo!

Well it's dark, and well past our scheduled arrival time. Hit shocking traffic about 30kms outside Florence. Stationary. We even got out of the car and sat on the motorway railings. Went a little further then stopped in a tunnel - terrible fumes so opted for the humid heat of winding up the windows.

We're still probably an hour or more away from Odina still, so Dany & the others are heading out for dinner. Hopefully there's still a bar or restaurant open when we get there!

The number one pasttime at the moment is abusing other drivers for pushing in front of us, or blinding us with fog or Xenon lights.

Autostrade Traffic Jams

Currently crawling through traffic between Trento and Verona. The cold beer in Trento was very nice, and it was good to get out for a walk in the fresh air. Lots of very pretty young Italian girls in town too. Thats what Paparazzi lenses were really intended for :-) Of course, only Russ & I (the single ones) paid any notice.
The only good thing about this traffic jam is Phil's letting us keep the windows down! Current ETA to Odina is 19:40, so we've got 3 more hours driving ahead of us yet.

It's a good thing the A/C's not broken :-!

Currently driving down through Northern Italy on the Motorway towards Trento. It's 25 degress and getting warmer the further South we head (and Dad (Phil) won't let me wind the window down!). The drive through Stelvio Pass was awesome. Will have to Blog with some of the (100s of) photos we took. I'm looking forward to sitting by the pool with a beer.

Defeated by technology

We've spent the morning driving through easily one of the most beautiful and spectacular roads in Europe, namely the SS38 that includes the Stelvio pass. Lots of photos to post when we get to a fast connection.

Clint's spent most of the journey fighting with various 3G networks from his laptop to try to post our progress. It's a good job there are no ladies with us as the language from the back seat has been shocking.

We're now on a toll road heading down to Trento. We should be there around 14:30.

Breakfast in Davos

We're on the road again after a quick coffee & pastry in Davos. While
there wasn't much to be said for the accomodations, the constant
tap-tap-tap noise did make for a wonderful way to wake up this
morning. We're heading up into the mountains now - very picturesque.
But it is a little hard to type with Phil drifting round the hairpin
corners. The Bus overtaking manoeuvre was particularly special though
:-)

Stelvio Pass

Snowball fights on the way to Stelvio

Getting back to basics

Continuing my John Major theme, I thought the chaps would be delighted with my find of £16.60 pppn for a "superior double room" in the Apartment Village Solaria in Davos, Switzerland. The accomodation is warm, dry and tidy. I admit the concrete floors and lack of bedding are not quite the luxury to which the chaps have become accustomed but I wasn't prepared for such an onslaught from the whinging divas. Someone else can book the hotel for Sunday night! ;-)

We made it here for around 21:15 this evening and then went for a nice meal at the Scala (Italian!) restaurant. I'm sure there's some spectacular scenery around us but the darkness of the night is keeping her secrets very well - we can't see a thing.

Planning to be off at 08:30 tomorrow to head another mile upwards to the Stelvio pass and its infamous hairpins. Then down to Trento for lunch and then on to meet the rest of the party goers. Dany, I will call you tomorrow with an ETA when we know what it is.