MADAME GPS AND SHORTCUTS

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Being at the Garda Lake in Italy, which is not that far from Venice (+- 200 km, 124 miles) we decided to go there on Wednesday. Everything went smooth, we had a wonderful day and walked through Venice. But about Venice I will write a special post.

When we left the park house, my son put the adress of the main street of Rovereto, where our friend lives into Madame GPS. As his GPS has a female voice, (mine too) we call it Madame GPS.

Madame GPS directed us to the highway we had already taken, but then suddenly she told us to turn right, which we did and suddenly we were on another highway with of course no way to turn.

Ileana my Italian friend, got nervous : We are wrong, we are wrong ! she claimed, "turn around" ! Suddenly the highway ended and after having payed we found ourselves on a national street (that's how they call streets which are not highways) Madame GPS told us to go ahead for X km. We did. Then we had to turn left or right I don't remember, my son drove, my friend got more and more excited, she thought we were lost. She wasn't used to a GPS.

The street led us higher and higher into the mountains, from 30°C we suddenly found ourselves at 9 or 10° and had to put the heating on. No car was around we were completely alone on this street which looked like a rolled up snake on Madame GPS' screen. At some time the turns were so narrow that we could only see a mass, it really was a mess. Deep gores and rocks on the left and right side of the narrow street. Suddenly we were more then 2000 m (6562 ft) high ! and besides one mountain shelter, we didn't even see a cow. But we saw snow ! a big block of snow.

Poor Ileana saw herself already dying in the mountains of a terrible death and being in the newspapers the next day "Tourists lost in the Little Dolomites " that's were we were !

But after the 14th turn, the street went down and down and then we saw houses and cows and we all laughed and laughed (except Ileana who still was under shock) and bravely Madame GPS conducted us to Corso Rosmini the street my son had asked for, only instead of directing us there through the highway, she gently took us over the Dolomites directly into this street. Just like we had asked for !

I had never been in the Dolomites, it was a wonderful sightseeing !



Snow block we saw



This picture is not from me, it's just to show you the kind of streets we had to drive through.

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Michael Jackson
was a great artist. I saw him life together with my son in 1988 in Brussels.
I am really sad that he died so young.