# Detailed European Delivery of Mrs. ZTR's 228i Track Pack with about 300 photos:



## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

The next morning, we headed south.

BMW specifically told us not to go into Liechtenstein, so we went into Liechtenstein.

When we arrived at our first border crossing facility, we thought we were arriving in Austria, but then realized that we had driven through Austria already, and were actually arriving in Switzerland. I'm an honest guy, so I purchased vignettes for both countries on the spot.

We continued, and upon arriving at the San Bernardino pass in the Swiss Alps, we found a rest stop at the base and stopped to set up the GoPro. We filmed both halves, stopping at the top for a little picnic by the lake. We still had some gnarly crusted bread with pumpkin seeds, a jar of spicy stone-ground mustard, a chunk of unidentifiable gnarly crusted cheese, and a two-liter bottle of Oktoberfest beer that I was nursing.

We drove on into Italy, stopping at Hotel Relias Sul Lago in Varese, in anticipation of our tour of the MV Agusta factory the next morning.

At the rabid insistence of Mrs. ZTR, I broke out my authentic reproduction La Perla "Grigioperla Lodato" blue swim trunks for the spa (like James Bond in Casino Royale), which are decidedly "European", and graphically depict without question, most of the reason that Mrs. ZTR married me. I will spare you the photos.

We each got an hour-long massage, and then hung out in the spa until we were sober enough to get drunk again. 

Five countries in five hours. :thumbup:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Okay, a few more pics from the San Bernardino Pass:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

The next day was the MV Agusta factory tour, which was of particular interest to Mrs. ZTR, after having seen the BMW factory tour. 

We arrived early, and hung out at Lake Varese, as MV Agusta is located at the edge of the lake.

There was a slight mix-up regarding our factory tour, as we had a printed e-mail (in Italian) that we thought was a confirmation for an English-language tour, but what we actually had was confirmation of our request for an English-language tour. Upon revealing to the tour guide (Marco) that I have a background as an expert-licensed road racer and road racing instructor, and that I am strongly considering an MV Agusta sporting motorcycle for my next motorcycle, he agreed to include us in the French-speaking tour. Ultimately, he gave the tour in both French and English, and spent a great deal of time with us.

MV Agusta is a true boutique manufacturer. They've recently increased their capacity, and can now produce up to 48 motorcycles a day. They are truly hand-assembled- I saw no robots anywhere in the facility. I saw guys putting stripes on gas tanks by hand. I saw guys assembling engines by hand. I saw guys installing frames, subframes, wiring harnesses, suspension, wheels, and everything else by hand. Being a radial-valve engine, every machining operation to the cylinder head has to be set up twice. There is ONE guy, who hand-ports each and every intake and exhaust port of every single cylinder head. There is ONE guy, with ONE hammer, who pounds valve seats in. Every fifth component is pulled into the clean room, where it is dimensionally checked on a giant marble table with lasers and stuff. Every single engine gets run on a dyno, full throttle, to red line. Their motorcycles are like two-wheeled jewelry, and MV Agusta is truly a family operation.

Mrs. ZTR decided then and there, that I needed to purchase a brand new MV Agusta motorcycle. We are currently looking at an F3 800 ABS, the last motorcycle designed by the recently departed Massimo Tamburini.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Upon leaving Varese and MV Agusta behind, we then drove to Maranello, where we checked into the Ferrari-themed Hotel Planet, located over the Ferrari store, directly across the street from the Ferrari factory. Our room was quite nice. 

We wasted no time in taking in the Ferrari museum, and it was great. Everything was red. The end.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

More pics from Maranello:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

After working up a hunger, we found a restaurant to obtain pasta and vino. 

Across the street, was a place that rents Ferraris and such, and Mrs. ZTR was quite smitten by the 730 horsepower F12 (the most powerful road-legal Ferrari to date), done up in a tasteful black suede. From across the street, she noticed that it had Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires, just like her 228i Track Pack. I offered to rent it for her, but when we walked across the street, the ergonomics were just not compatible, and so we took a pass.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

...and maybe just a few more, for good measure:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

The next morning, we got up and drove to Modena, so that we could see the Enzo Ferrari Museum, which also contains the Maserati exhibits. They have a little café inside, so we had some breakfast pastries (to include some kind of incredibly dense berry-covered cheesecake) and more liquid Italian crack. It was like free-basing coffee.

Then we drove to Sant'agata Bolognese for the Lamborghini Museum.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Some Maserati stuff, to include an actual "Birdcage" Maserati:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Some Ferrari stuff, from the Enzo Ferrari Museum:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Lamborghini:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Across the street, was a bar that rents Lamborghinis- I kid you not. The "Bull Bar". Mrs. ZTR picked out one that appeared to be a rough approximation of the Batmobile, and rented it for me, then had a little pasta and vino for lunch while I was shrieking around the Italian countryside. The car she rented me was a black-colored 570-horsepower all-wheel-drive convertible Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. The interior was ridiculous- everything in it was either carbon fiber, suede leather, or carbon fiber covered in suede leather. The kid hooked up his video equipment in the car, and told me to go as fast as I wanted to. He showed me a country road with nothing rigid to run into, so I whacked it to about 150 mph. The giant carbon brakes were pretty good, and the car had absolutely zero bump steer. Even if I could afford something like this, I could never justify purchasing it, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Finally, we drove on to Bologna, where we checked into the Ducati-themed Hotel de Borgo, located right around the corner from Ducati. The Ducati museum tour was one of the things that Mrs. ZTR had insisted upon, when we originally began planning this trip.

We saw "Mike The Bike" Hailwood's 1978 Isle Of Man TT Formula-1 winning bike.

This was the second Supermono that we have ever seen in person.

We have also seen an 1199 Panigale Superleggera in person, but the one that spoke to us the most, was Paul Smart's 1972 Imola 200 winning bike- probably the most historically significant motorcycle in the whole Ducati Museum. Prior to that race, Ducati was only known as the manufacturer of out-of-date singles. The V-twin was a big gamble for them, and their 1-2 finish has resonated for more than 40 years- from that time on, the Ducati V-twin has been an icon of Italian high performance.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Massimo Tamburini designed WSB-winning Superbikes, the progression of the Desmosedici MotoGP bikes, and some Ducati trophies:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

We even stopped by Pagani before leaving town:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

Our next stop was three days in Venice. We walked all over, had pasta and vino, fed the pigeons in St. Mark's Square, let Mrs. ZTR shop at La Perla (who's prices are more obscene than their lingerie), and took an expensive extended gondola ride through the canals.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

We also had our first actual rest day, without apology. We woke up when we woke up, ordered room service all day, and tried not to stray much further than the bar. No walking, no museums, no reservations, no shopping, no nothing. We needed it.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

After 3 days in Venice, we drove to Salzburg Austria on October 7th. We visited some of the places that The Sound Of Music was filmed, walked around the old historical district, saw a statue of Mozart, did some shopping, and had an awesome Wiener Schnitzel meal at an outside restaurant in the town square. It was served with lingonberry sauce and small skinless potatoes that tasted like they'd been boiled in butter.


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

More Salzburg, to include baguette-type bread substrates wrapped in bacon and/or covered in ham and cheese. We partook:


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## ZTR (May 31, 2014)

On October 8th we drove to Schwangau Germany, for our first multi-castle day. We did the full-meal-deal, touring Hohenshwangau castle, Neuschwanstein castle, and the Museum of the Bavarian Kings. We took a horse-drawn carriage to the top, had a quick bite with a little wine in Neuschwanstein castle before heading down, and then stopped for an authentic German meal of sauerkraut and some kind of wurst sausage at the Hofbrauhaus restaurant on the way back down. I was moderately impaired, but if anyone can identify the sausage, I'll edit my post.

It was almost comical the way that everyone seemed to have a different way of dancing around the subject through innuendo and inference, but the bottom line is, King Ludwig II was an absolutely flaming homosexual. Get over it. :rofl:


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