Seeing friends at the Pre Worlds at Monte Cucco

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I just returned from Monte Cucco, Italy, where the Hanggliding Pre Worlds took place. More info on that, you will find here.

I went there to see friends, and I had a great time. But it all started off as chaotic as it could. I caught a plane from Hamburg to Rome on Wednesday afternoon. That plane was delayed, and after finally arriving at Rome airport, I had to wait forever for my suitcase to arrive. So I was pretty sure I would not be able to catch my train from the airport to Roma Termini (Rome Central Station), from where I was supposed to catch a train to Fossato di Vico, which is about 2.5 hours from Rome and not far from Sigillo where the Pre Worlds took place. However, with some running, I made it just in time and caught the train to Roma Termini. And I was already thinking “This is going well”.

Well. The train was slow and arrived at Roma Termini about ten minutes late. It is almost a kilometre from the platform on which the airport train arrives to the other platforms. And it is not easy to find your way there, especially when you’re in a rush. Anyway, in the end I did not make it to my connecting train in time, in spite of running and sweating and all that. I knew that there was a train that left an hour later, for which, however, I had to buy a ticket first. Really exhausted already, I had to wait in a queue for quite a long time. Finally, I got my ticket, well, even two of them. I did not even look at them because I just wanted to sit down somewhere and have something to eat and to drink. Later on, it turned out that the guy behind the counter had sold me two tickets instead of one. Luckily, I could give one of the two tickets back. So better look at what you buy, even if you’re too exhausted, thirsty and hungry for it 😉.

Finding out from where the train left was the next challenge because I did not know which station would be its final destination, and on the screens, there were only the final destinations of the trains. The man behind the counter was unable (or not willing) to tell me. Fortunately, I had printed out all the possible connections so that I could use the train number in order to find out which train I would be on, and where it would depart from.

The train left Roma Termini perfectly on time, and for about 1.5 hours, everything was fine. Then, we stopped at a station and did not continue. For ten minutes. 15. 20. We were told that there was a technical problem. Then we were told that we had to wait for a train coming along the tracks in the other direction. Then for another one. Finally, we left that station with a delay of 50 minutes. And the train kept on slowing down and stopping, making strange noises. I was pretty sure I would end up somewhere in the middle of Italy in the middle of the night, and would not make it to my destination. I thought,“Why am I doing this to myself?” But when I arrived at Fossato at 0:15, I thought “That’s why.” And I kept on thinking that for the next couple of days. Seeing my friends was really worth all the hassle.

I was so grateful to Nils who came to pick me up from the train station. I had written him one text message after the other, telling him that there was another delay and another one. But he was there to pick me up and gave me a warm welcome.

I shared an apartment with him, Heather, and Mart. The next morning, I went to briefing with the others. And once more, I was happy to see friends. Many hugs. More than one hug with Davis and Belinda. It was so good to see them.

There was no task that day because of strong winds. So I decided to go to Assisi with Jörgi, Stefan and Stefan, Konrad, Christian, and Achim from the German team. Assisi is a beautiful old town on a hill. The houses are built really close to each other, and little narrow streets wind through them. There are a number of churches, of which of course the Basilica di San Francesco is the most important one. It is a Gothic basilica with most amazing paintings on all walls and on the ceiling, and underneath it, there is a Romanic basilica, with great paintings as well. Of course, all the tourists walk in and talk and exchange their views on the paintings or read out to each other what the travel guide says about the paintings. So every few minutes, there is a loud “sssh, silencio” that comes out of loudspeakers on the ceiling. Pretty loud. That’s why Jörgi calls the basilica the “Sssh-Church”. Underneath that latter basilica, there is a crypt in which San Francesco is buried, along with the four monks that were his most dedicated followers. The atmosphere down there is remarkable. All the noise seems to be absorbed, and it is as if there was something in the air. I found it breathtaking.

We spent the rest of the day sitting in different cafés drinking fantastic Italian coffee. I usually don’t drink much coffee, but when I’m in Italy, I just have to. The coffee is too good for not drinking it! Oh, and of course we had ice cream. Needless to say that it was just sooo good. Yum!

When we got back to Sigillo (this time not as carsick as all of us were during the trip to Assisi, because on the way back we took a road that is a bit straighter), I had dinner with Regina and Belinda, a girls’ dinner 😉. Fettucine al tartufo, that is pasta with truffles. Truffles are very popular in the area, and the pasta is really good. I had a lot of it while being in Sigillo. And yes, I LOVE Italian food.

Friday was another non-flying day because of thunderstorms and strong wind. So I had lunch with Tullio, Corina, and Massimo. Tullio is on the Italian national team, so a really good pilot, but also a very good hanggliding instructor, I think. He helped me a lot two years ago, when I had some trouble with my landings. We worked out my landing approach together, and he gave me the right hint in order to find the right moment to push out. After the lessons with him, I did not have a single bad landing. This time, he tried to figure out the reason for my crash, and I think it did not take him long to get a clear picture. He is definitely an instructor I would recommend to everyone. Anyway, he took us to that nice little trattoria in which we had lovely food (amongst it Fettucine al tartufo again, of course), and later on, we went to a gelateria that had fantastic ice cream.

And what do pilots do when there is no flying? They play! I spent a couple of hours with Hans and Christa at the camp site, where they were staying, and they had a little “fight” with their neighbours, meaning that they kept on playing tricks at each other. Hans and Radek were just attaching their neighbours’ chairs and other stuff to high tree branches. Before that, their neighbours had put a chain around Hans and Christa’s caravan and “planted” some flowers on their car. That in turn was the “revenge” for Hans and Christa stuffing Radek’s car with stickers and balloons. So it really never ever gets boring when you hang out with hangglider pilots, believe me!

Friday night, there was an organised dinner. I saw Jack from the US. I had driven for him and Alex from Brazil two years ago during the Bogong Cup, and when Alex came over, we recalled all the stories. For example, being invited for a beer after Alex had landed next to a farm, and the workshop we sat in front of was called the “Crackatinny 2”. The “crack-a-tinny” is the part of a can you use for opening it. It was SO funny, I cracked up laughing. It was good to catch up with Jack anyway because I hadn’t seen him for two years. There was a party as well, with go-go girls on tables (which Massimo commented by saying “This is stupid, all the guys are staring at them, knowing that none of them is going to have one of the girls.”), but the music was so bad that we did not stay for too long.

On Saturday, there was a task, finally. It was a late task because we had to wait for cloudbase to lift, and when finally pilots started launching, I was sure the task would be stopped due to overdevelopment. But it wasn’t, and in the end, we had quite a lot of pilots in goal. Which is of course always good on the last day of a comp. Jeff O’Brian from the US won the day, closely followed by Manfred Ruhmer (Austria), and Christian Ciech (Italy).

In the evening, I had dinner with Nils, Mart, and a friend of theirs, Nils (yes, another Nils), and afterwards, we went to the party that was going on. But we did not stay long.

Early on Sunday morning, I caught a train to Rome. Originally, I had wanted to catch one that left in the early afternoon, but after my experience from Wednesday, I decided that this was probably not a good idea. Nils and Mart dropped me off at the train station and did not leave until they were sure that the train would be arriving and that I had my ticket (which, by the way, I had to buy in the café at the train station, not at the counter and not at the ticket machine that was out of service anyway; needless to say that there was no sign informing customers about that fact). Thanks guys for looking after me so well!

I did not have much time in Rome, so I just took a walk around the major attractions (which I had seen before, so it was just a kind of refreshing my memory). I caught the metro to the Colosseo, from there I walked along the Palatino and the Circo Massimo to the river Tevere, crossed it and had lunch in a nice little restaurant in Trastevere. From there, I crossed the river again and walked to the Campo de’ Fiori, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, and Fontana di Trevi. From there, I caught the metro back to Roma Termini, and from there, the train to the airport. It all worked out, and I arrived here in Hamburg safely.

It was so good to see everyone and spend time with the hanggliding family. As always, time passed too fast. Corinna asked me whether I’d come to the Hanggliding Challenge in Greifenburg at the end of the month, but although I’d love to go, I don’t think I’ll make it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures for you today because my camera died on the very first day. Will have to get a new one as soon as possible, but camera expert Jörgi has already recommended one to me 😊.

But for funny pictures and stories that will REALLY make you laugh, please have a look at the Langer Report. Highly recommended!

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Photos

Castle
... on the Monte Subasio, Assisi.

Downtown Assisi
Narrow streets

Basilica di San Francesco
... in Assisi. San Francesco is buried here.

Back side of the Basilica
... di San Francesco in Assisi

Church entrance
... in Assisi

Ice cream
No comment ;-)

Jörgi & Pinocchio
Friends?

View into the valley
... from Assisi