Way up in the sky
As I look down,towards the ground,
When I looked down
There was no wall!
And that is why
I jumped away with a bound
I jumped away because,
There was nothing at all!
It was said, Galileo was here,
He dropped two balls
And made a rule of physics,
As he watched them fall
It's the Plaza of Miracles
I wanted to go there about a ton
Many have been there
I am now one.
Erich and Co.
Now that we are North of the Apennines the bicycles are back.
While switching trains in Bologna we saw covered bike parking full of
bicycles. I put the tandem back together outside of indoor locked bicycle
parking. Standing by a square in Modena, while Stacey gathered
information at the Tourist office, I easily saw more people riding
bicycles than I have in the past four months. Like north of the Alps
everybody was doing it from kids to elderly ladies in dresses and heels.
It's good to be back where bicycles are an accepted and well used part of
the transportation equation.
After a day of riding from Pompei to Sorrento it has become quite clear
that all rules of the road, at least the ones we recognize, are
considered to be very loose suggestions by Italian car drivers.
Motorscooter drivers don't even consider the suggestions. They are
everywhere, darting in and out, passing into oncoming traffic around
curves and everybody treats it as normal. The rules for parking, if there
are any, must come from a different dimension. Cars are double parked,
angle parking and parallel parking mix in the same block, busses stop in
the middle of the road to let passengers off and delivery trucks block
the whole road while the drivers delivers their goods. The oddest part of
it all is that it somehow manages to work. Perhaps traffic doesn't flow
quite as quickly as in the US but then the US doesn't have the maze of
small little roads that Italy has either.
You've probably figured out by now that we've left Spain and are in
Italy. After a couple of days visiting the ruins and churches of Rome we
headed south to visit, you guessed it, more ruins. This time it was the
quite remarkable ruins of Pompei. I was surprised by the that had been
excavated. Pompei easily outsized Ronan.
From Pompei we headed out onto the Sorrentine Peninsula. The blue waters
of the Gulf of Napoli to our right, the mountains of the peninsula to our
right and little villages scattered everywhere. Quite picturesque.
Our second day we went on a day ride from Sorrento to the tip of the
peninsula. The ride started by climbing 1200' to the spine of the
peninsula. We rode through olive, lemon and orange groves and at the tope
had an amazing view off the end of the peninsula towards the isle of Capri.
Lots of budding and flowering as spring is underway here. After the climb
we had a long downhill to a coastal, well still several hundred feet up
but closer to the coast, road. Nice views of the water, Capri and Ischia
with Naples and Vesuvious off in the distance. Easy day - only 30km and
we were back in a cafe in a sunny square in Sorrento by 1:30.
The next day we strapped our luggage back on the bikes and headed up and
over the peninsula to the Amalfi coast. This side of the peninsula was
even more dramatic than the Sorrento side. Picture the Going to the Sun
road merged with the Big Sur coast road and you're getting close. Most of
the time we rode along a road that was more of a bridge leaning against
the mountain side. On the left was an almost vertical cliff on the right
was a shear drop to the gulf. Sometimes the road was even cantilevered
out over the gulf.
We finished our southern Italy experience by visiting yet more ruins.
This time the temples of Paestum, easily the best preserved Greek temples
I've seen. We also had Neapolitan pizza at World Champion's pizzeria in
Salerno.
Since we've traveled north to Tuscany where we met Stacey's Mom and
Sister and spent a week visiting the hill towns around Siena and staying
in a lovely agriturismo named Spannocchia. From there we biked north to
Pisa and one of Erich's must sees. The next day we roe to Firenze
(Florence) and we can all verify that it is a long way, 104km. To top it
off we hit rush hour traffic going into town. We easily made better time
than the cars but it was harrowing. A day of museums, churches and Gelato
in Florence and it was back in the saddle. After four days of bicycling
up the Arno river to the Canal Maestro della Chiana over some low hills
to Lago Trasimeno and a stiff final climb we arrived here in Perugia.
This morning while I was reading we heard what sounded like a marching
band. So Mom and I went out in the rain to investigate. We headed towards
St. Peter's Basilica chasing the band. Upon arrival we found the square
full of huge lines and seas of umbrellas,speakers and TV screens for
people to see better. The band was a troop of Swiss Guards and Army Guys
carrying sub-machine guns. Once we went through security screening
andwere in the piazza in front of the church we waited for maybe 30
minutes before the Pope showed up to say Easter mass. He looked great in
his big tall hat that is twice the size of his head and his huge
spectacles! There were masses of people and a choir that sang
beautifully. But it kept raining. By the time we decided to leave we were
soaked. But it was a great experience!
Until next time folks! This is Erich reporting live from the Rome
apartment.
