You might have noticed that there was no Day 34 post.
The plan had been to drive Cologne to Innsbruck yesterday, to Bologna today, and to Rome tomorrow, taking photos all along the way. This being a public blog, I’ll shy away from describing what happened, but let’s just say it didn’t go according to plan. The good news is I’m OK and things have resolved themselves sufficiently that I was able to proceed this morning. (Those of you who are friends on Facebook; I posted yesterday describing what happened.)
So, anyway … what had been three days of driving and taking pictures is now compressed into two days. I decided to sacrifice photos today and leave time for more exploration tomorrow on the way to Rome. I’m safely in Bologna now after a long day of driving.
I regret not having the time to stop for photos in the Swiss and Italian countryside and that I’ve arrived late enough that I couldn’t really experience the old city of Bologna sufficiently. It looks fascinating. Added to the must-revisit list.
Good news: I got to experience a nice, heavy thunderstorm. Having lived in the midwest, I really miss those. (Pacific Northwest thunderstorms are rare and very, very mild by comparison.)
Bad news: The storm hit at dusk on the Italian autostrada (toll expressway) when I still had 200km / 125mi to go. It was intense enough that it really slowed down the driving for a while.
Should be some interesting things to see tomorrow (including two more new countries – yay!). See you soon.

