Definition of jet lag: Follow the sun from Athens to Rome to London to SFO,
21 hours total transit time.
And for what? Everything in Rome is really old and not in good shape.
Practically in ruins. Then I saw my first MGF, all the new Fiats, and was
even able to get to the Lotus dealer to see the Elise. Pictures don't do it
justice. The Alfas are beautiful. Did you know that you can buy a 156 Alfa
2-liter with the Ferrari bump shifter? There are about 30,000 scooters in
Rome and I think all are manufactured by 30,000 separate companies that only
made one each, because I never saw a duplicate. Another weird thing was that
now we know where all the VW powered fibreglass bodied MGTD went. Most
impressive though, was the Smart. check out their site; This is a perfectly
adapted urban "designed object". Wish I could import one.
The buildings in Athens were even older, if you can believe that, and
apparently lacking in even the smallest amount of civic pride, the Greeks
actually light them up at night. The light shines in you hotel window at
night and keeps you awake. Not a total loss though because we discovered
there was a kart track near the airport. 7 turns on a grass infield, full
kurbing, F1 style start lights and timing stand and score tower, night
lighting, a straight so long you could take a nap, the full deal. The
bummer was the karts were not that fast, but since it was 110 degrees out,
at least it burned off all the feta you had at lunch.
We had to decompress after all this activity so it was off to the islands.
Naxos has a museum, which I was thinking about while I was scooting up the
shore after a hard day at the beach. What does FKK mean anyway? I think its
a German abbreviation for "hard to concentrate". Anyway, I passed a
telephone pole with a kart poster for a track way inland in the mountain
village of Galanado. This place was in the middle of nowhere, down a dirt
road, but they were really great people. There was a 99 MX5 parked there and
everything. 12 turns, full lighting, fast karts. We went there every evening
to work up an appetite. We drove like Gods; They said to my daughter, "hey,
you drive really fast for a girl". I told them that where we come from,
girls drive fast.
Hey, it wasn't a total loss and I have a tan.
Tony, the last Etruscan
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