Bavarian Bliss to Tuscan Tranquility - Philippinos visiting the BMW days
Two other Edelweiss groups creating a chaos around departure time could not stop us taking off from Hotel Henry. Cruising through the rolling hills of Bavaria takes us closer to the Alps. After a short stretch on the Autobahn we are all over sudden surrounded by mountains. After a local lunch we had a look at the Monastario Ettal and headed for King Ludwig's Castle Linderhof. As the sky was grey and it looked like rain coming, we headed straight to our today's destination, Warth.
Light rain, mountain peaks sticking there heads through the fog, the sound of the little creek behind the hotel and the "ding-dong" of the cowbells - what a peacfull set-up. Nevertheless we had to leave the lovely place to catch our first experience on alpine twisties. As the roads where wet, we took it easy, but we startes to get used to the dizzying left and rights up and down the mountains. After a stop in Feldkirch we crossed the border into Lichtenstein to to pay our respects to the Duke of Lichtenstein. After entering Switzerland we had a lunch with local specialyties which gave us enough power for the passes which where on our afternoon schedul.
Finally the sun won the fight about weather and the churchbells in Andermatt woke us up for a great day. Only one slightly disturbing news was left - Passo di San Bernadino was still closed, but the change of route looked also very exciting. First climb, more or lessdirectly out of bed was St. Gotthard pass, just the right warm-up for the rest of the day. Oberalp Pass, Passo Spluga, Passo Maloja, Berninapass and Forcula di Livigno were on our list to check off. Tired, but absolutely happy we finished in Livigno! To top the whole thing we got to meet the owner of Edelweiss, Tobias!
The day of the days! Passo Stelvio is awaiting us. leaving Livigno we ride to Bormio and started to climb Passo di Stelvio from the South. It felt like hundreds of bicycles climbed the pass the same day, so we struggled a little bit to slalom between them to the top. But our awards were the famous sasages of Bruno. Sauerkraut, onoins, deersausage and dark bread can not be beaten by any meal in a 5* restaurant. Successfully we cruised down the 48 switch back from the pass. After a short walk through Glurns (ice cream included) we stoped at Lago Resia and entered Austria afterwards. A side trip to Gacher Blick lead us to a breathtaking viewpoint befor we headed to Seefeld.
A day to sleep in! the bus taking us to Garmisch picked us up at 10:00, After about half an hour later we walked to the show site. Thousands of motorcycles were parked and people were streaming towards the tents. Stuntshows, motorcycles, travel agencies, bike accessories and many things more were on display. After dinner in the big food tent including music we left back to Seefeld.
Rain! not heavy, but rain. On our schedule we had three passes to go, the first one to climb was Timmelsjoch. so we cruised togehtehr with hundreds of bikers who were in Garmisch too through the Ötz Valley towards the 2500 m high pass. First stop at the Mountain Top Museum, an absolute must for motorcyclists. Hundreds of motorcycles are exposed! After lunch we started to climb the pass, if you would ask what it looks like, we would not be able to tell. It was grey in grey. After a coffee break at Andreas Hofer's place we went across the second pass, Passo Giove, also grey in grey, but only at the top. And then, luckily, our third pass, Passo di Penne, was mor or less clear. Breathtaking scenery, red flowers, called Almrosen everywhere painted a very enjoyable picture. Finally we ended in Bolzano and the evenings highlight was a very enjoyable dinner at a Japanese restaurant.
Taking off in light drizzle we headed out of Bolzano climbing the road to Colbalbo. On narrow roads, barely wide enough for a car and a motorcycle we cruised up and down steep hillsides full of tight switchbacks. One Dollar for each and you would be a rich man! Coffee in a very local place, pictures at Lago di Carezza and local cuisin at the Malga at Passo Lavazze. You think that cannot be topped? then just do the afternoon ride we did! Passo Manghen is a one-way goat train with asphalt, but it is two-way traffic! When we stopped almost on the top at the Malga Manghen you could smell and feel the adrenalin coming from our group, as excited as we were we could not stop laughing and shouting around. The north ramp of the pass, was just the chill-out on our way to Levico Terme.
Leaving the lake behind we started to climb Kaiserjägersteig, which was a support road for the Austrian Army in WW1. A narrow road, sometimes an even narrower tunnel lead us to the high plateau. Some little passes, like Passo Xomo invited for a short stop. After descending into the River Etsch Valley and a stop at "the best spaghetti-place" we climbed Monte Baldo, where you could get a glimps of Lago di Garda, but only from one certain spot. Finally we got to the lake*s shoreline and followed it south. After a break in Peschierra, it was realy hot in the meantime, we cruised through the plains of River Po to our tonights destination, to Mantova.
That day would have highlights for two days, but Markus told us allready in the morning, that Ducati is closed on Wednesday and we will say the rich man's toys in Maranello instead. So we took a stretch of Italian autostrada to make some time. We went through the suburbs of Modena and Bologna, got to see Ducati factory from the outside and ended finally in Maranello at the Ferarri Museum. What a place! After the visit we headed through the Emiglia-Romana, an area full of hills and small mountains, a real counterpart to what we experienced during the first few day along this trip. To describe it: it was curves, curves, curves ...... and curves again! Exhausted, but with a big smile in everybodies face we got to our final destination at Villa Pitiana!
Dear friends from the Philippines, that's what we became during this 10 days, it was a pleasure and a blast to have you on this tour. We wish you safe travells and whenever you get on a motorcycle kepp the shiny side up and the rubber side down. Thank you very much for the good times and all the fun, and we hope to see you again, Markus and Andy