Traffic chaos in Italy

Hey friends, I'm not exactly sure what to tell you today 😂

After packing and loading the car, we had an Italian breakfast, which was a chocolate croissant and a sweet cake-like thing from the pantry. We also had a glass of ACE juice and breakfast was ready 🥐🧃😅

Since the whole family went to work and Erik went to school around 8 am, we could only say goodbye to Grace, who is currently on vacation with relatives there. Kevin's mom kindly washed our laundry and gave us two bottles of wine as gifts for our parents (get excited 🎁🍷)

Then we set off for Reggio nell’ Emilia. The route was not difficult and usually takes only 1.5 hours. However, in a roundabout in the middle of an industrial area, we couldn't take our exit and the other two led straight to an industrial site ⛔️🛑 So we went back to where we came from (Google Maps, by the way, just as clueless and lost as we were). At the next intersection, we tried to go left to bypass the whole thing and ended up at the roadblock again, and after driving for a while, we ended up back at the same roundabout ⚠️ So back to the intersection and go right. This time it worked and we could also see what caused this roadblock, which of course only started today. Something was being built on the railway tracks, so you couldn't cross 🚃🚧👷‍♂️ The detour probably cost us only 40 minutes 🤦🏼‍♀️ But we've already reached 111,111 km today. The Mini has been on tour for a long time 🚗 and we have learned that the roads in Germany are much nicer to drive on than those in Italy, which have more potholes than asphalt 🛣

At least the Italians were clueless too and drove around the roundabout 5 times, stopped in front of the sign, and didn't really know where to go. They just don't have cool detours like we do 🤷🏼‍♀️ But we drove along the river 'Po', which at least lifted the mood a bit 😂🍑

Finally arrived at the accommodation, we were quite exhausted from getting up quite early and the chaotic drive, so we took a short nap, parked the car in the parking lot just 5 minutes away on foot, and went shopping next to it. Then we had a small lunch and planned the next few days (sightseeing, hotel rooms in Bologna, and where we will go next) 🛍🤓🏙

Then we had dinner and continued with our planning. Actually, we wanted to go to the nearby park 🌳, but due to the heat and exhaustion, we don't really feel like it today. But tomorrow will be a different story 🥳

Now we might watch a movie and then go to sleep 📽😴