Devine asphalt spaghetti

Did someone lose their heaven?

If it starts with only a wish, a remote yearn but when its ends up being a real manifestation, the journey of emotions is incomparable.

Stelvio Pass, If All End All

I have always dreamed of driving on the best roads in the world in a respectable rear wheel drive car. Living in the Mid West area of United States only intensified this wish. Finally this Top gear episode broke this Indian camel’s back.

Bends that don’t end

This summer, a weekend in July, I found myself adjusting the car seat of a BMW 1 series (It just had to be German) convertible outside the rental car company parking lot. The navigation indicated that I was well and truly on my way to drive on perhaps roads, meant and maybe be even, designed by the Gods themselves. I was headed to the border of Switzerland and Italy, utterly ready to introduce myself to the Alps. The driving culminated at the infamous Stilfser-Joch or the Stelvio pass. A mountain pass road that employed famous 48 hair pin bends (and many more not so famous) to hurtle you down a 3000m mountain or to make your car struggle her way up. The inclines were incredible, and the frequency of the beds, unbelievable. The way there was hardly any less interesting. The mountain passes in Switzerland had a lot less hair pin bends, instead offered me just endless spaghetti of switchbacks. The road surfaces were spectacular and traffic thin. And the rare times when the steering wheel stayed straight, the view above my head was stupefying. Crystal blue skies met with stark sunlight. Black asphalt lay strewn amongst vastly brutal mountains and terribly different green lakes. The air was filtered clean. The quietness of it all allowed the lazy ringing of bells of the well fed Swiss cows to reach my ears. It was beyond brilliant.

Until of course, I went screaming through with mien Auto. The tire squeals, the constant steering inputs, the incessant gear changes and the wildly swinging head looking ahead for the degree of turns just made it superb.

Every time I pulled over to take in the sights, my brakes smelled. My engine panted. So, I only drove her more. She did great though, with or without her top. It’s been so long since I said I was content without actually lying. Now looking back, I can truthfully say that my four wheeled time in Switzerland and Northern Italy was perfectly satisfying. Ps: I apologize for the sound quality in the videos. Perhaps its best you keep volume low or completely off.