Florence Day 3

Posted on August 4, 2013 by supermank17

We were going to make today a more relaxed day since our feet and legs ached from the sightseeing the day before but once I got out of the hotel I was too excited to pass on any opportunities. We stopped for an espresso; Steven’s favorite part of Italy is standing in an Italian café sipping an espresso at the bar, and went to get tickets for the Cattedrale de Santa Maria del Flore. We went to the bell tower to get our tickets and started our day with a climb up the 270-foot tower. It was quite a climb with the stairs and corridor getting narrower the higher up we reached. Thankfully the top of the tower was like walking through a cage so although my fear of heights kicked in I felt somewhat OK. The view was spectacular. As we perused around the top of the tower and took in the sights of Florence from above, the tourists must have started flocking to the sights. We began our descent down the tower and it became increasingly busier. Eventually we were smooshing through people to get down the stairs. With my back against the wall and a person squeezing against me to get up the tower I wiggled my way down. I was glad when we reached the exterior and surprised at how long the line for the tower had become. We walked over to the cathedral entrance and the line was several hours long to get in. With the ticket we purchased at the tower we were able to gladly walk past everyone and right in the cathedral. The cathedral has strict dress code and since I was wearing shorts I had to purchase a surgical gown type thing to cover up which Steven, who was also wearing shorts, found amusing. The cathedral is impressive. The exterior of the church is decorated in green, pink and white marble. The interior is huge and beautiful. I found a prayer area, lit a candle and said a prayer for my parents (mama mia’s one request for my trip). For me, the most exciting part was seeing the dome, which I remember from my college art history classes. Filippo Brunelleschi designed the dome (duomo), which was the first Renaissance dome and took 14 years to complete. The rest of the cathedral had been built while waiting for someone to design and build the dome. Inside of the dome the Last Judgment was painted by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari. It is a truly beautiful painting. After getting our fill of the cathedral’s interior, we headed on down to the crypts below. Unfortunately, the crypts weren’t as interesting as we’d hoped; they’ve been heavily excavated and reworked, and little of the original stone structure remained visible. Instead, they’d put in false floors and ceilings, flashy museum-style displays, and a huge gift shop that took up most of the floor space. Classy. We looked around for 5 or 10 minutes, glancing at the various Medici graves that had been left on display, and then made our escape back upstairs.

From the cathedral we went to the baptistery, a separate building. The baptistery contains copies of the bronze doors created by Lorenzo Ghiberti which face the Duomo. The doors, which I also remember studying, were created by Ghiberti after winning a competition and beating Brunelleschi. The inside of the baptistery contains beautiful mosaic tiled floors and the mosaic Judgment Day Jesus giving the thumbs-up or thumbs-down judgment.

Our next stop (remember our relaxing day idea?) was the Duomo museum. Much of the museum was closed but the original Ghiberti Gates of Paradise bronze door panels were on display. They were pretty fantastic. We also viewed one of Michelangelo’s Pieta sculptures.

With the baptistery checked off our list, the only part of the Duomo complex that remained to be seen was the impressive dome itself. Here we would be able to climb up the double-domed structure, view the painted interior from up close, and get a view from the highest structure in Florence once we reached the top. Unfortunately, this was where our all-inclusive ticket we’d gotten at the bell tower finally failed us. The ticket would give us free entrance to the dome, but unlike all the other attractions it would not allow us to skip the lines. By this point (only late-morning, still), the line wrapped all the way around 3 sides of the cathedral, and the temperature was already north of 100 degrees. We took a look at the lines, and both agreed that baking in a stone oven of a square for three or four hours wasn’t our idea of fun, so we headed back to our hotel once again.

After refreshing ourselves at the hotel, we headed back out again in the afternoon to do some more exploring. We hadn’t eaten lunch yet, instead relying on some gelato we’d grabbed earlier, and so we crossed the river into the southern part of town and stopped at a bar in a square to get some paninis. This was where our Rick Steves knowledge once again paid off: in Italy you pay different prices depending on whether you eat standing at the bar, eat inside, or eat outside at the table. We had our cappuccinos and paninis at the bar, and got to hear some other tourists complaining that the price was higher than they’d expected when they ate outside. Once we’d finished our food, we crossed over to the Santo Spirito Church located on the same piazza to take a look inside. This was another huge, impressive cathedral, with an incredible marble altar that was nearly the size of our house. The church also contained another Michelangelo sculpture, this time a wooden crucifix. He made the crucifix when he was 17 and donated it to the monastery for letting him dissect bodies to learn from. After we spent another 50 cents on another prayer candle for momma mia, we headed out to explore the southern part of the city for a little while, which we’d avoided so far. This area was a little less touristy and quieter, although we eventually ran into the massive palace and garden complex that were once the domain of (you guessed it), the Medici family. We stumbled upon an outdoor theatre that had been assembled for Roberto Benigni’s nightly readings of Dante’s Inferno. I briefly contemplated purchasing tickets but the language barrier might have made for a long performance. We crossed over the Ponte Vecchio which is Florence’s famous bridge (and the photo from the previous post). It was packed full of gold and jewelry vendors. The bridge is lined with stores on either side. After our wanderings I believe we called it a night. It was a long day.

Dad’s gelato shop-

Florence Day 2

Posted on August 4, 2013 by supermank17

I decided that my goal for today would be to view Michelangelo’s David sculpture. After a delicious breakfast at the convent and no nun nightmares the night before as I had feared, I asked the hotelier for suggestions for buying tickets for the Accademia where the David is located. He gave us brilliant advice. The line to get into the Accademia can be several hours long. He told us to go to the less crowed museum of San Marco and have the ticket agent there set up a reservation ticket for the Accademia and the Uffizi Gallery. Without waiting in a single line we had our tickets for both. With our reservation ticket we were able to bypass the long line and go straight into the museum. In addition to David, the Accademia contains several of Michelangelo’s unfinished works: The Prisoners and St. Matthew. It also contains a number of paintings, and a lot of historical artifacts from Renaissance Florence. The main hall where David is located is stunning. We walked out of a gallery and down a long hallway with a sky-lit dome illuminating the 17-foot statue. It was impressive. The statue was carved from a single piece of marble and took him more than two years to complete; he was 26 when he started carving it. We walked all around the statue and both agreed we were not expecting it to be so impressive. A smaller gallery contained many plaster busts and smaller statues that were used to create larger marble ones. The smaller statues have many nails in them used to measure the depth of the piece to build the larger marble sculpture. In the gift shop Steven talked me into purchasing a mini David statue for my desk at school. It’s a marble to-scale replica and will always remind me of the awe I felt looking at this sculpture.

After lunch at a pizzeria with misting sprinklers to escape the heat (we felt like vegetables in the grocery store) we went to the Uffizi Gallery for our next ticket reservation. Again we were able to bypass long lines and get right into the gallery. (We felt like traveling pros). This museum was much larger than our guidebook led us to believe and took longer than expected (partially thanks to Steven, my dear reader of every sign in a museum). The highlights of the museum included viewing Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring, two paintings by DaVinci, many paintings by Lippi, several Michelangelo paintings, and Caravaggio, Giotto, and Titians as well.

I could not get over the lines to get into these museums. I kept thinking that people wait in line in Italy to see artwork like people wait in the US for amusement rides. I also thought a lot about being an art teacher while looking at these works. My students comment quite a bit about not understanding why a work of art is so important. Usually they have just seen it via computer, if I’m lucky they’ve seen it in a book. Some of the pieces I saw today were just incredible and you have to actually see them in person to understand. I guess that is why tourists worldwide flock to these museums in the summer for that experience. I just feel incredibly blessed to have to have had this experience myself. My final thought about this. It is amazing that with all of the advances humankind has made we have stopped valuing artists as was done by society. There are not workshops and artists studying under masters. There are not great artists like Michelangelo who paint, sculpt, draw, and write poetry.

Enough of my thoughts. After a long day on our feet we went back to the convent for a little R and R. After feeling somewhat rested we went on our food hunt. We ended up at my favorite restaurant in Florence (so far), Trattoria Gargani. Unlike some of our other stops it was not overrun with tourists. Steven had a pesto pasta dish and I had a spicy tomato sauce with spaghetti and tiramisu for dessert. While we were eating one of the waiters asked us where we were from. When we said the US he replied that he thought we were Northern European. He told us we were so lucky to live in a true democracy. It has been mentioned to us by our cycling guides that Italy is very corrupt. One guide mentioned that Rome is called the black hole where all the money goes. After having been in Germany the difference between the two countries was evident. Italy seemed much more run down. Our waitress gave us two limoncellos while we paid our bills. I toasted my dad, the great maker of limoncello, and sipped on the digestivo.

After dinner we walked around town and found that in the cooler nighttime temperatures everyone is out and about. We made notes of places to visit during the day and called it a night.

On a side note- our convent has a very particular convent type smell. Not the incense church smell more of a moth balls and enclosed smell.

Day 6

Posted on July 30, 2013 by supermank17

After waking up early we said our tired goodbyes to Eduardo, Jerry, Andy, Henrick and Massimo. Kris and Stacy were still sound asleep. Our taxi driver was extremely cheery and happy to have American tourists. He kept mentioning famous Italians from the area and asking if we had heard of them. One singer in particular he was insistent that we had to know him and played his CD fast forwarding through tracks sure that we would recognize it. At the train station we caught a train to Bologna and then to Florence. It is interesting that different languages give different names to cities. It Italian it is called Frienze which makes ordering tickets confusing. I feel like the native country name should be it for naming a city. We have found that the trains are not as reliable as in Germany. The departure time is an approximate time however the train might not arrive at all. After several hours in a high-speed train (which Steven was pretty excited about) we hopped a taxi to our hotel, a converted convent. The hotel was interesting. It is extremely quiet and the décor is what one would expect from a converted convent. We dropped our bags, got some lunch and headed back to the hotel. I instantly fell asleep for the most glorious air-conditioned nap. When I awoke I noticed a look of despair on Steven’s face. The post-adventure depression had hit him. While I was sleeping he was pouting that his dream cycling vacation had ended. We left the hotel room and did the only thing I could think of to pull Steven from his slump: we found a gelato shop. We walked around the city sightseeing, and were amazed (and appalled) at the amount of tourists. After having spent a week in quiet villages and country roads, Florence was a shock to our system as we navigated packed sidewalks and swarms of people. The entire center of Florence is overwhelmed with tourists, and none of the Italian charm we had come to expect was present. Instead, we ran into more people speaking English than Italian, and hordes of people hocking cheap toys and souvenirs. Even the food was different. Everywhere we turned we found “stereotypical” Italian food with high prices and poor quality. And it was hot, oh so hot. We had thought it was hot in the countryside, but in the stone center of Florence it was even worse. Thankfully we had Rick Steves to guide us, and we eventually found a nice little restaurant slightly away from the main tourist attractions. I got my big chunk of lasagna I’d been craving all week (which I split with Steven), and then we headed back out to wander around a little more. We found that it was much more pleasant to sightsee in the evening, when it was cooler, so we walked around until dark and then retreated back to our first nights sleep in a truly air-conditioned room.

A Note on Agriturismo

Posted on July 30, 2013 by supermank17

The final place that we stayed on our tour is what is called an Agriturismo – or a small farm, where all the food that is served (or at least as much as possible) is sourced from the farm itself and the surrounding area. In this case, it means a beautiful old villa that had been converted partially over to a small inn. The rooms are quaint and charming, the air-conditioning is non-existent, and the food is, of course, incredible. The place is made more beautiful because of the fact that it is placed on top of a hill, with dominating views of all the countryside in the surrounding area. From the pool (where we spent most of the afternoon to escape the heat), you can see rolling hills in the distance, corn, orchards, vineyards, grain fields, and the gardens that feed the inn itself. Agriturismo is becoming especially popular in Italy right now, with more and more Italians (and foreign tourists) choosing to escape to the countryside to enjoy healthy, locally sourced food. From what Libby and I saw, we can understand why. The Italian countryside is stunning, the heat is less, and it’s incredibly nice to escape from the bustling cities into the quiet of the rural areas. This place was by far our favorite stop of the tour (even without air conditioning), and we both agree that when we come back to Italy, an Agriturismo will be first on our list of places to stay.

Ciclismo Day 5

Posted on July 29, 2013 by supermank17

The day started with an excellent breakfast with huge variety, and after gulping down some fresh fruit and more brioches we pedaled slowly away from the gorgeous lakeside hotel. The ride had a beautiful setting and everyone was taking it slow because of late night and because it was our last day together. The course was flat, easy, and hot, but beautiful with fruit plantations, rice, vineyards, and orchards all along the way. As we rode we wound along a unique, one lane road that twisted and turned through huge rice paddies for miles, with no real rhyme or reason to its course. Occasionally we had to pull over to let a car or tractor pass, but for the most part we had the little ribbon of fresh pavement all to ourselves. Occasionally we saw villas or farms along the road, and whenever the road rose for an overpass we could see a nuclear power station in distance. Eventually the rice paddies came to an end as we crossed the Po River, and promptly hit some shallow climbs as we entered the scenic Monferatto region (home of Barolo, Nutella, Hazelnuts, and truffles). Ruth immediately called it a day after the first climb and rode the rest of the way in the van with Massimo (“It’s too darn hot out there!”). We stopped for lunch at top of a climb at the nicest restaurant we’d eaten at yet, run by a friendly, elderly Italian woman. By this point we were all sweaty as can be and unbelievably hot, so the cool restaurant (and the chance to wash our faces) was a welcome relief. We were given a variety of appetizers (small egg-cakes, champagne-juice aperitif, and of course loads of bread and water) before being served an excellent main course. I had a fantastic rice, bean, and ham dish panissa, while Lib had a squash/pumpkin taglietella, and once again Eduardo had an espresso and an Italian beer (as he did at every stop). The rest of the ride was just hot hot hot. Everyone agreed to take it slow and stick together, and we cruised until we got near the farm we were staying on for the final night and the small climb that took us to the top of the hill it was on. Unfortunately, at this point Libby’s chain decided it was done with the trip. It had been giving her trouble all week: ghost shifting, falling off, skipping teeth, and in general being a pain. Libby had tried to have the guides work on it, but they never seemed to find the problem with the bike and kept trying to adjust the derailleurs, thinking they were the problem. This time, however, Hendrick realized it was the chain that was broken and that she wouldn’t be able to ride it in the current state. After sitting in the hot sun for 20 minutes trying to fix the chain by hammering on it with two rocks, we continued on with Libby in her smallest gear and under strict orders to pedal smoothly, not shift, and above all not to stand up while pedaling. We finally reached the top of the climb, where everyone else was waiting for us, and told them to go on to the end as we again tried to fix the chain. (Libby meanwhile was insisting that she would walk the final 4km with her bike – she was going to finish this trip, darnit). All in all it had been a rough day for Libby, with the shifting problems which got worse as the day went on, the endless heat, a total lack of sleep due to the mosquito bites covering her, and even a couple bee stings. Finally Massimo arrived with the van and (like a pro rider) she was given a spare bike. Hendrick went off to chase down Eduardo, who was at this point the only person insane enough to do the 13 mile extra loop (I had promised I’d do it with him, but after Libby’s bike problems and the heat I reconsidered). Libby and I rode in together to the farm, which was a beautiful villa on top of a hill that provided all the food they served at the inn. We dropped our bikes off, went up to our charming room, and Libby cried a little from the stress of the day. (Lib here: I am going to interject a little here after being likened to Mount Vesuvius – a volcano that simmers until a huge eruption. The heat was well over 100 degrees, I had a bee sting to my shoulder, 20 plus mosquito bites per leg, a rash on my leg, and all week I’d known the bike had a problem, and that it wasn’t an issue with knowing how to use the Campagnolo shifters as the guides kept suggesting. SO when I reached the hotel I might have exploded a bit.) We showered, and then changed into swim trunks and headed down to the pool where the party started. The wine purchased at the winery was enjoyed as we all lounged in and around the pool, thankful that we had made it after one long week of riding. We had so much fun sharing stories and laughing. After two or so hours at the pool Eduardo finally showed up after finishing his extra loop. He looked terrible and gladly joined in on the celebration. We stayed at the pool nearly four hours in all, until with five minutes before dinner, we all ran up and changed. We had a delicious white truffle mousse, beef, pasta, fresh fruit with gelato and regional Barolo wine. Everyone continued to chat and tell stories all throughout the dinner and late into the night, and our guides said multiple times that this was the best ending to a tour they’d experienced due to the camaraderie. As dinner finally wound down our hosts brought out sugar cubes soaked in a mixture of fruit flavorings and 100% alcohol (boy that burned), and of course espresso. Some members of the party even daringly tried a grappa digestif. Then, right before everyone headed to bed and the party broke up, it was time to award the tour capo. This was the group cycling cap, which had been given each night to one member of the group who had shown particular character or done something extraordinary during the day. As this was the final night, the capo ceremony was especially important as it was an overall award for the entire week, and the person to whom it was given would keep the cap. In this case it was unanimously handed over to Libby, for her handling of adversity both today and through the whole week with a smile.

With the capo awarded, it was off to bed as we all said goodbye one last time. The group was such fun that it was hard to see them go, and Libby especially was sad as she said goodbye to a group of women who shared her interests and with whom she’d had such a great time. We all exchanged contact information, though, and then headed off to bed.

Ciclismo Day 4

Posted on July 28, 2013 by supermank17

Today was our longest day of riding, at close to 100 km, and one of my favorite days of the trip. We decided to start early because of the heat, which was going to climb to over 100 degrees by mid-morning, and so we had breakfast (chocolate brioches and cappuccinos!) before 7:00 and brought all our bags down to the van by 8:00. A half hour later we were on the road, picking our way slowly through construction and bad traffic to the edge of town. Before too long we’d left the city behind and were climbing slowly up a beautiful, shaded country road, and everyone was soon chatting away as we biked along at a nice gentle pace. This was the day I felt like the group really started to gel, as we all started exchanging stories and got to know each other better. Along the way there were several gentle, sweeping descents where some of us raced ahead of the main group just for fun, and a couple of times I jumped ahead of the group on short climbs just because my legs were feeling good. Before too long even Ruth, the older, flamboyant New Yorker on the trip, was testing her legs out as she surprised us all and raced our guide up a hill. As usual, we stopped at a bar for coffee and coke after 20 or so kilometers, and Massimo introduced us to espresso freddo (iced, sugared espresso) because of the heat. We continued on through quaint towns and gorgeous countryside as we climbed up a large ridge near the Alps, with a spectacular view of the Piedmont countryside off to the left the entire time. After another 6 km climb, we reached the decision point for the ride as from here you could either finish out the full loop or take a shortcut that cut roughly 20 km off the ride. Because of the oppressive heat about half the group (Joe, Ruth, Andy and Kris) decided to go down the shorter path, while the rest of us (Jerry, Stacy, Eduardo, Libby and I) continued on with Massimo. Pretty soon the ride was getting uncomfortable, as we climbed endlessly in boiling, miserable noonday sun. Finally we reached the highpoint for the day, by which point I was hot and tired and wanted to just get to the hotel as soon as possible so we could cool off in the pool. Unfortunately for me, however, Massimo was insistent we should stop for lunch at an outdoor restaurant. I was a little unhappy about this decision to add another hour of unrelenting heat to our day, but once I managed to get my hands on a massive bowl (4 scoops!) of gelato (everyone else had a delicious looking Penne pasta with a light red sauce) my mood improved and I began to enjoy the chatting around the table.

As soon as lunch was over we charged on, descending down off the mountain ridge and into the flat agricultural areas towards Hotel Marina in Viverone. My earlier irritation continued to dissolve as we flew down the mountain, and eventually we reached true flats, (complete with endless corn fields, just like home!) where we all by unspoken agreement swung into an echelon and began hammering towards home. We had nearly 50 km to go (roughly 30 miles), but we were soon moving at nearly 25 mph with Jerry, Massimo and myself taking turns at the front (Jerry at one point went a little too hard and dropped part of the group, but I came around and towed the train back up). After a while we realized we might actually be able to catch the people who had done the “short cut” of 50 miles at the speed we were moving, so we put our heads down and went even harder. It was the best riding of the trip, with everyone smiling and working together. Eventually we reached the lake the short climb that led up to town, and then descended back down to the lakeside where our hotel was. Once we reached the shoreline we saw another group of cyclists up ahead, and we sprinted after them, knowing we only had a kilometer or two to catch them before the hotel. We rapidly overhauled them, knowing we’d finally caught our prey, only to shoot past a very startled group of German tourists on bicycles who gave us some very strange looks as we went by. We reached the hotel immediately after, and immediately dumped our bikes off as we all ran up to our rooms to shower and change. We all met back down at the pool, only to find that we’d beaten the other group back after all: we’d actually reached the point where the routes merged ahead of them, so they’d been behind us the entire time (of course, they claimed that getting lost for 5 minutes was the reason they lost). Soon we were laying on the pool deck in view of beautiful lake, with beer, gelato, and coke at our side. We swam a bit and chatted with other couples, finding out more about each other and swapping jokes, before eventually dozing off for a nap to the sound of lapping waves. We even had entertainment: we got to see a grown Italian man wrestle with a child’s blow up alligator float (he ended

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up perched on top of it), and watched Ruth and Joe cavort around, splashing each other and swimming with their beers. After a couple of hours we eventually headed back up to our room, where we showered and then met in thehotel lobby for a tour of a local winery. Hendrick, Jerry, Stacy, Eduardo, Lib and I visited the winery’s medieval castle / villa, where we were given a history of the place and a wine “tasting” (which was more like a winedrinking, as they were

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very generous with their pours). From there we headed back to the hotel, where we had a delicious dinner, complete with homemade risotto made in the center of a cheese wheel. It was pretty fascinating: the pour the fresh, hot risotto into a massive bowl made out of a wheel of Parmesan, and then proceed to scrap the sides of the bowl over and over, mixing the molten cheese into the rice. It was by far the best risotto I ever had. Dinner finally ended a couple hours later, and we headed outside to look out over the lake as the sun set. There was a guy doing karaoke out on the patio, so we got to see Ruth and Joe dancing goofily as we walked along the shoreline snapping photos; unfortunately our walk was rapidly interrupted by clouds of mosquitos (even through our new bug spray!), so we called it a night and went in for bed.

Ciclismo Day 3

Posted on July 27, 2013 by supermank17

Today was another rolling day of cycling with lots of climbing thrown in, and of course there was an optional climb up a huge mountain for the hardy souls of the group. The day began much like the previous day – a big breakfast at 7:30, bags packed and downstairs at 8:30, and everyone at the bikes by 8:45. Libby was feeling a little tired after the previous day’s exertions, and was a little worried about how she’d fare on today’s ride. I, meanwhile, was a little worse for wear for other reasons – my stomach was acting up (perhaps due to the level of exertion the previous day), and I wasn’t sure how long I’d make it before being forced to make a rapid exit for the nearest restroom. We dutifully trooped down to pick up our bikes, however, and got ready to roll out. Our guides went over the course with us, handing out direction sheets that we all stuck in our pockets, and explained that today’s course, while hilly, should be much less difficult than the previous day. They also admitted that the previous optional climb, the Mottarone, was perhaps a bit harder than they had expected: “It didn’t seem as difficult from the van when we previewed it”. After everyone finished sighing with relief, they explained that there was another, even longer optional climb today, although it was not as steep. Directions done, we all suited up and rolled down the road, enjoying some beautiful lakeside scenery dotted with castles and ancient villas. Even better, the road was mostly flat, so we took it easy and chatted as we rode, getting to know each other a little better. Of course, nothing good can last forever, and after our morning cappuccino-break the road swung steeply upwards. This climb was a mere 6 kilometers with a thousand feet or so of climbing, so we only “got” to experience it’s pleasures for about a half hour this time. As usual, Jerry (the mountain goat of the group) leaped up the road with a huge grin on his face, while the rest of us settled in for a painful grind to the top. I was still feeling a little queasy, so I decided to take it easy and just spin slowly up without exerting myself too much. I was soon on my own as everyone got into their own rhythm, and just concentrated on making it to the top. Amazingly, as the ride went on I actually started feeling better, and before too long I made it up to the finish of the climb. Meanwhile Jerry was already rocketing back down the slope to meet his wife and climb up with her again, with that same huge grin on his face. I decided to play the gallant gentleman myself, and cruised back down looking for Libby. Before too long though, she came into view, far ahead of everyone else in the group. Excited by her great riding, I swung in behind her and began offering encouragement. Unfortunately, Lib isn’t much for gallantry, and soon told me to “shut up so she can concentrate on getting this done”. I wisely followed her instructions, and within a few minutes we reached the top for a much deserved water break. After refilling our bottles and regrouping with everyone, it was decision time: from here we could either do the huge optional climb, or have lunch and then cruise on down to our new hotel. Since I was still feeling reasonably good after the climb, I decided (perhaps foolishly) to

Looking down at a hairpin turn from the climb

once again go for the harder loop, along with Jerry and the lone Brazilian on the trip, Eduardo. Everyone else, meanwhile, decided they’d rather skip lunch and just keep riding, so we said our goodbyes and headed off. The road once again shot upwards, and Jerry and I decided to pair up and climb to the top together. The climb itself was actually a great deal of fun: it was much bigger than the previous mountain, and longer at 13 km in length, but it wasn’t as aggressively steep, so Jerry and I had plenty of time to chat and exchange stories while taking advantage of the views to snap some photos. Jerry kindly didn’t push the pace too hard, and after only about 45 minutes we reached the top and stopped to enjoy the view. With Eduardo and Hendrick another half hour behind us, we decided to descend off the mountain as fast as we could in the hopes of reaching the hotel before everyone left for lunch, and we ended up rocketing through what is so far my favorite part of the tour: beautiful small villages,

Filling up at a village fountain

spectacular mountain vistas, and an alpine creek littered with marble boulders the size of small cars. It was so much fun that we both agreed we didn’t want to tell our wives about how nice it was, because we knew they’d wish they had gone on the ride as well. Eventually we rolled into the hotel, arriving about 15 minutes after everyone from the short tour did, and we swapped stories about our respective rides. As predicted, Libby and Stacy (Jerry’s wife) were both irritated they’d missed out on such a spectacular ride, but it sounded like they had a good time as well. Impressively, Libby was feeling so good that she and another rider (Joe – do you like how I’m littering names throughout this?) had left everyone else in the dust and shot on ahead towards the hotel. Unfortunately, it turned out that Joe had a pretty poor sense of direction, so they got lost and got in an extra climb or two of their own before reaching the hotel at about the same time as the rest of the group. Once we all had exchanged our stories and gotten something to drink, we agreed to meet for some shopping and lunch in a half hour, and everyone headed up to get changed. We all ended up getting some pastries, pizza, and coffee together, and then finally Libby and I headed back up to the hotel for a much-deserved nap before dinner.

We were on our own for dinner, however, an older couple on the trip from New York asked to treat us. It was extremely nice and we visited an excellent restaurant, La Lira. We shared some great stories, great wine, and truly excellent spicy rabbit taglietella. The night finished off of course with gelato.

Ciclismo Day 2

Posted on July 25, 2013 by supermank17

Steven at the top of Mottarone!

Today was our first full day of the tour. We woke up early for breakfast then met up for a map review and headed out. We cycled hilly terrain to Lago Maggiore and stopped for cappuccinos at a café overlooking the lake. We saw the St. Charles state (Sancarlun), a giant statue built in the 1500s. You can pay to walk up the statue and overlook the town. The statue of liberty was based off of this statue and the builder came to Lago Maggiore to study this statue before building lady liberty. After a pretty grueling uphill climb we reached the town of Stresa. In the town is a fountain that we people go to for filling water bottles and containers. We filled our bottles and soaked our heads. While we were there an old Italian man approached and begun filling his bottles; he told us that this water makes the climbs easier. With that good omen we headed off to Arona. On the way at an intersection we stopped to regroup and a bunch of older Italian cyclists stopped as well. They didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Italian but through pantomiming and hand gestures they told us we were crazy for heading up to Monte Mottarone and a mountain climb that is higher than the sky. The Monte Mottarone was an optional extra loop as it is extremely, extremely challenging – it was used as one of the hardest climbs of the Giro d’Italia a couple of years ago. Steven decided he was up for the challenge and I opted (despite my pride) to ride the van up the mountain with several other members of our group. The climb was 11km with an average of 14% elevation and ramps of 20% elevation. Riding up in the van I became increasingly nervous about Steven doing the climb. He is a strong rider but this was one intense climb and it just kept going. At the top of Mottarone is a gorgeous lookout. I nervously waited and when he and Joe came into sight I was very relieved. During the climb his handlebars became loose and he had to pull off because they were completely downwards. Without giving up and despite some stomach issues he made it and I am so proud of him.

When we all made it back to the hotel we put on our swimsuits and headed for a dip in Lago D’Orta. It was wonderful.

The dinner was another five course meal at a restaurant overlooking the lake in the town square.

Italia Continued

Posted on July 25, 2013 by supermank17

Finally at our hotel and totally beat and hungry after no sleep and much travel we could not check into our hotel. We asked the front desk where to go to eat until check in time. With extremely unhelpful directions we headed out with visions of pizza, gelatos, and cappuccinos. After wandering streets in scorching heat we found a map and headed up a giant slope towards what promised to be a collection of buildings with a coffee cup, plate and fork according to the map. The buildings, however, were 15^th century meditative sanctuaries built by St. Francis of Assisi; not the town we were looking for. Worse, the promised food attraction was a junk food vending machine. It was an amazing sight, though, and while there were no restaurants to be found I had to remind myself to enjoy the view and not to be grouchy from the travels. We walked in one of the chapels, I guiltily prayed for pizza and some sense of navigation, and took a moment to look out over Lago D’Orta (the gorgeous mountain lake we were above. We then decided to walk back to the hotel for some better directions. It’s often mentioned how bubbily and friendly the Italians are; this hotel must be an exception. After unhelpfully being told “you have to walk more than two minutes (you lazy Americans), we explained that we had walked for an hour, but had ended up in a museum instead. We finally received some slightly better directions and headed off again, this time finding an incredibly charming town square. It was truly spectacular. We ordered pizza, cokes, and of course, gelato. It was fantastic; thank you St. Francis. We meandered through tiny streets and explored the town, taking in the lakeside charm. We then went back to the hotel to check in and meet our Ciclismo group for an orientation meeting. At the hotel we were treated to sparkling wine and snacks, (St. Francis was on a roll), and met the nine other members of our tour, along with the two guides. After orientation we adjusted our bikes and headed out for a hilly warm-up ride of 13 miles. After the brutal travel from Germany to Italy I was toast and the warm-up ride was difficult. The heat didn’t help either – we hadn’t felt anything this warm since leaving Indiana. I was a bit worried about the trip but before I left Emily kept telling me over and that nothing compares to the cycling in Italia! We had dinner that night in the town square; a full five course meal that lasted 2.5 hours. The food was good, and Steven was in heaven – he got to discuss the Tour de France, soccer, and every other sport he loves but never has anyone to chat with about. After finally finishing off the last course and strolling back to the hotel, we crashed for the night.

Rick Steves Fail

Posted on July 22, 2013 by supermank17

The past two days have been an epic adventure in travel. We made it to the Dresden airport, checked into our flights and found out we had to check our carry on bags. Down 150 more euros we found our gate, and discovered that we really hadn’t needed to check our bags after all: bummer. After chilling at the airport for a couple of hours we caught our flight to Cologne without issue. Our flight connecting flight to Milan, however, was delayed for two hours. Two somewhat crummy cappuccinos (complements of Germanwings) and a couple of Castle episodes later (yeah Amazon Kindle!), we finally made it into the air and eventually arrived at Milano-Malpensa around 9:30 PM. Unfortunately, the airport is not actually in Milan but an hour away by bus or train (Did I mention we were quite hot and tired by this point?) Fortunately, Rick Steves had clear directions about navigating to the train platforms and how to pick up our tickets at the convenient ticket kiosk along the way. What he failed to mention as that the kiosk no longer exists, and that the ticket machine is impossible to understand even if you can figure out how to switch it to English. After several aborted attempts at buying tickets, we finally bumbled through the menus on a machine, found our train and an hour later we were actually in Milan. From there it was a short hike to our hotel through some charming, cobbled Italian Streets. The charm was somewhat dampened by the oppressive heat (even at 11 PM), the clouds of mosquitos, and the weight of our luggage bouncing across the cobbles, but we charged on. Fortunately, the tech-savvy Steven had cached a map of Milan on his phone (I am so sorry Steven for bugging you for messing with your phone, you were right: it was not easy to navigate as Rick had led me to believe). The hotel owner spoke no English and when he asked what time we would be leaving could not understand that we were taking a train not a plane. After much confusion, repetition, pointing, writing, and putting our bags in our room we were able to communicate during the second try that we would be taking the 5:18am train. He graciously called us a cab for the next morning and told us to be in the lobby at 4:45 and not earlier because he wanted his sleep. By the time we made it to our room it was close to midnight. Mr. Steves describes this place as “a simple 30-room hotel with overstuffed little living rooms, an inviting breakfast room, and all the amenities” that is “tucked away on a quiet side street just off vibrant Via Dante.” All I can say Rick Steves is EPIC FAIL. Lying on a stone slab after a rough day of travel Steven and I tried unsuccessfully to think of a worse hotel we have stayed in; this place topped the list. The smell was indescribable – a combination of mothballs, mildew, and decay. The air conditioner did not work as I found out when I turned it on and soaked Steven with stagnant water that spilled out of the unit awkwardly located near the ceiling, so I tried to open the window to find that there were wooden slats covering the opening. Steven literally did not fit in the shower and had to open the door to turn around. The last words I heard from Steven as I was falling asleep was “I hope this room doesn’t kill me in my sleep.” Amazingly we both woke up at 4am, packed up our stuff, made it to the lobby at 4:45 exactly to find the owner asleep on the couch and the taxi waiting outside. We ended up having to wake the owner to let us out of the hotel and took the taxi to the train station. After another confusing round at the ticket machine we purchased out tickets and made it on our train. We had a change over in the town of Novaro. Unfortunately in Novaro our next train was cancelled leaving us stranded and trying to figure out buses. Now comes the Rick Steves kudos; the Italian Survival Phrases page of his book was a life-safer. The only change I would suggest is taking out the “Parla inglese? PAR-lah een-GLAY-zay Do you speak English?” and instead just changing the title of the page to “Italian Survival Phrases- You’ll Need Them No One Here Speaks English.” So we made it to Orta Miassino hiked down a hill and to the hotel.

The Travels of JollyLibGiant

Author Archives: supermank17

Florence Day 3

Florence Day 2

Day 6

A Note on Agriturismo

Ciclismo Day 5

Ciclismo Day 4

Ciclismo Day 3

Ciclismo Day 2

Italia Continued

Rick Steves Fail