Bicycles Are Back

We hopped on a train and left the hills of Umbria and Tuscany behind.
After a day on the rails and three changes of trains we're now on the Po
river plain in Modena. In at least one way this area is vastly different
from where we've been since arriving in Spain. In Spain and Southern
Italy motorscooters were everywhere. Outside the train stations it was
motorscooters. Around the city squares it was motorscooters. Everybody
from kids to elderly ladies in dresses and heels rode them.

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.

The Sorrento Penninsula and Beyond

We're riding through a town of six to seven story high rises with laundry
hanging from almost all the windows. The street is narrow and made of
foot square pavers. People are shouting at each other from the balconies,
from the streets and from the cars. Ahead of us two cars going in
opposite directions pass a double parked car while a motorscooter
squeezes between them. Welcome to bicycling in Southern Italy.

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.

The Eventful Pope Sighting

Happy Easter everybody!

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.

Ferry To Italy

So believe it or not, my mom just, all of a sudden, decides we are taking
a 20 hour ferry to Italy. Barcelona-Civitavechia was the route.

We have to be in the terminal at 7pm. But then we are told the ferry will
get in at 10 due to bad weather. So we walk along the port and find a
German Hot Dog restaurant. Then we walk back to the terminal in a cold
and sharp wind and light rain. After a grueling 1 1/2 hour wait, at 11
oclock we were instructed to take our bikes to the car waiting area, but
then a docksman told us to put our bikes on a bus that takes the other
passengers the short way to the waiting ferry. We board the boat via the
truck ramp, while they are still unloading huge trucks, which was loud
and crazy. We stored our bikes in a little room down in the car area.
Then we haul our bags up into our cabin where we dump the stuff and go
off to explore.

The boat even had a sun deck! But what for? It was so windy and cold we
could barely stay out side long enough to get that far! Enough of the
cold so we go in to check out the disco/bar. When we get back to the room
we each take a pill of Dramamine. I fell asleep to the huge crashing and
rocking up and down of the boat with each wave we hit.

When we woke up in the morning at 11 we had a half a bowl of cereal. Then
I went out to prowl the ship some more. But I had trouble walking because
of the bouncing. The ferry would go maybe 10-15 ft up and down and when
we smashed into a big wave the whole boat shuddered.

The ship was gigantic! It took 2 minutes to walk to the main lounge from
our room(which is only half of the whole boat).

At one point I was walking past the duty free store and the keeper shouts
at me that there were more people on the boat that spoke English. So I
asked if she knew where and she points to two guys looking at magazines
across the shop. So the four of us talked for a while before heading to
bed at about 6 pm because we have to be out of the cabin at 1 in the
morning.

Some lady comes and opens our door to get us up at 11:30. So we go and
sit in the main lobby to wait to get off the boat.

At 3 we are in the terminal trying to find a guard. We were found by the
English guys. We ask the guard of we could sleep in there. He said yes
so we set up and I give Grayson(the non crazy English speaker) my pad.
An hour later the guard comes to tell us that we have to go because he
was going to lock us in so we pack up and dragged the gear over the the
train station and caught the 5 o'clock train.

When we pull in to the Rome station we walk over to the nearest cafe to
wait for the proper time to get the keys to the apartment. I retaught
Grayson how to play Cribbage. He caught on quickly. Some how the four of
us sat in the little cafe for four hours.

When it was time to go to the rental agency to ge the keys and the
location of the apartment we packed up and trudged off into the rain again.

After the 45 minute walk over here to the appartment we spread stuff out
to dry in the calm and peaceful apartment. Yeah, we are in Rome!

Another exciting Saga in the Adventures of Erich Trickel and his parents!

Until next time folks!

Erich Trickel
Reporting live from the Rome apartment!

Where Was Erich Now?

This one should be a gimme.

12 29 33.46E
41 53 26.167N

Cadiz

We went to Cadiz on our way back to Malaga after touring Portugal in the
motorhome. I was excited to see the city that I had red about so much.
Cadiz was just how I thought the city would be from the context of the
books I have read. The event that I read most of the books about was when
Sir Francis Drake came and leveled the city.
The city and harbor looked like I pictured it. There was smaller harbor
on the end of a point making another harbor that Sir Francis Drake
attacked with cannons. There was even the forts on either side of the
entry ways to the inlet. One was out on a man made point of rock and the
other is across the little inlet from the first fort on the first larger
peninsula. On the way back to the RV after I had seen every thing I
want, we hit a tapas bar and then a Hagden Daz. The only thing we missed
was the massive fortified cathedral, which we did not go into because of
the cost. Then we drove off the peninsula by way of the marshy area that
is the outlet of the Guadalquivir River to find our camping ground for
the night.

Days in Morocco (ending)

What I think of as Morocco totally changed during my days there. All of
us were sad when we left the nice Riad in Meknes. After we left the Riad
it was on to Fez. We heard that Fez has lots of people that beg or give
tourists bad deals. So, the first day, on the way to the hotel we were
very wary but there was no need because we had only two people try to get
us into shops and three taxi guys ask us if we want a ride in to town.
The next day (when we were going to venture into the medina or old town)
we hired a guide for three hours. First things first, we told him no shops,
we are not buying anything. After that the guide said, "I'm official, I
don't take to shops." So for 2 1/2 hours he shows us the sights that the
city Fez has to offer: the mosques, gates, the tanneries, rug makers,
blanket makers, wood craftsmen and metal smiths. Then after that time
period we found ourselves in a small square in the middle of the medina
with a question at hand. What do you want to see now? After we didn't
answer he led us off to some shops. "I'm official I don't take you to
shops." Once when we walked out of a shop he was at the food shop next
door. After he left us we went back to some stores and bought some things
because then we wouldn't have to pay the little guide bonus thing.
I learned that I really have an easy life watching tanners skin the hides
of sheep and goat and thrash them around in pits of bull urine for 12
hours straight. I guess this is when it occured to me that I have a
really good life.
The first day in Fez, when we went to the gates of the medina, I got
to watch a pair of metal smiths. All day they were cooped up in a 20x10
room with a fire for a forge and no ear or eye protection pounding at
metal to make hooks. On the tour with the guide he showed us a pair of
women knotting rugs knot by knot. Just after that we went up on a balcony
and watched the tanners.

After Fez we took a bus to Chefchouen , a small town on the side of a
mountain. It's medina had blue washed walls from waist down and white up
from on the top. We stayed at a cheerful little hostal just 150m away
from the main square. In Chefchouen we saw a man with a sledge hammer
breaking the concrete on the street to put in drainage pipes. My dad
said, "Where's the air power jack hammer?" On trains and buses alike we
saw people out hoeing their fields as big as around two acres and kids
watching sheep in the next field over. On the way from Chefchouen to
Tangier there were women on the side of the road selling their three
radishes or a basket or a chicken. They had on really fancy hats and reed
vests over their shirts.
Then we left Tangier, and the rest of Africa, behind and went back to
Spain on a ferry. Although I had thought maybe we'd have trouble in
Morocco, what I found was just regular nice people, friendly and wanting
to help us. My best memories are of the friendly people at the riad, the
nice people in the markets and shops who talked to us, and the kids who
let me play football with them.