Mille Miglia 2018

Our 1951 Ermini.  More info on Ermini here.
This car took part in the original Speed version of MM, in 1952 and 1953
and so has automatic entry to today's time trial version of the MM

Posted on 10 May 2018:
Ok, so here we are. I can't find anywhere else to put photos and posts about our first outing at the Mille Miglia, to start next week in Brescia (16-19 May), so I'm going to put it here, as at the least this is a blog about a car trip.
And how about that?  It's seven years, no less, since we did our cross Africa trip.
Goodness me.
As Groucho said:
Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana

[PS: this is a "pinned post" meaning it will always be on top; until June 4]

LATER (22 May): Quick description of the Mille Miglia, below the fold.  (more on the MM website here).
LATERER (28 May): Well it seems that I've allowed this to morph into an Italian Road trip.  Oh well, so be it... As the Italians would say perche non?
EVEN LATERER STILL (6 June):  Back in Hong Kong and jet-lagged.  Explanation to why this is called "Cape to Cairo" is that I've just piggy-backed on this earlier blog I did in 2011 for our road trip across Africa.  And great trip that was too!  So, this time it's May/June 2018 starting with Gordie and my go at the Mille Miglia, which took place 16-19 May.  The first posts are 12 May 2018.
You can either click on the Label "Mille Miglia 2018" on the above right, which will filter all the MM posts, or just start at 12 May, which you can get to via the "Blog Archive".  Basically, it's all the posts in 2018.
Then I ended up adding photos of the road trip we did from Brescia/Milan down to Sicily and back to Milan, with John and Jing joining in that.
And, reminder, below the fold is a quick description of the Mille Miglia, and how it works.

Sirmione

And so we end as we began, with the Mille Miglia.
Sirmione, where we are now, has an ongoing festival to
the original 1947-57 MM, the real Heros, as they zoomed
around the 1,000 mile open roads at speeds up to 290kph

Lunch by the lake in Sermione, John tucked behind the flowers

There's simple beauty everywhere
in Sirmione, indeed in Italy...

... simple beauty, like this, Lago di Garda

And our current version of the Mille Miglia, a Regulated Time Trial
a bit like this, a kids' game compared with the Heroes.  Still, takes
some getting 61+ year old cars around Italy's rutted back roads...

Hotel Sirmione, our pub there.

Damiano takes us out on a sunset cruise
on a Bertoldi boat

John, me and Jing. In front of the Roman Villa at Sirmione.
It was 200 metres by 100 metres, 2,000 years ago...

Sunset on Lago di Garda

Mirror with Damiano and our crew

The Sermione castle, only one in the world (or Italy?) with its own
port inside the grounds

and so to bed...

Verona

Well, Herculaneum really, but who's counting?
One of the beautifully preserved mosaics in this
excavated city, found earlier but excavated later
and better preserved than Pompeii because it was
entombed in mud instead of ash

Jing Capulet.... at Juliet's house and famous balcony

Osteria Sottoriva, where we ate horse meat stew, a specialty of
Verona.  We discussed meat eating, agreeing that it's all
immoral, horse no more or less immoral than all the other we
eat.  We eat meat because we like it; not because we need it....

The Arena in Verona, being prepared for a performance of Aida.
Quite the best and most beautifully preserved Roman Arena in the
world and the longest continually used venue ever.