Phew...

So tired, but it's my last night in Rome... How amazing. The end of this trip... Tonight I'm staying with this couple I met on the train from Siena to Roma who are FROM Austin and have lived in Rome for 2 years, but are moving back to Austin in 2 weeks. Crazy!

They are amazing and fantastic people and I'll write more about them, but for now, I'm going back out to see the Font de something something. The big one with mermaids.

Rome is ridiculous. I don't know how a èlace like this can exist. Simply amazing...

And I have a new lave for pavement. My body aches after riding Stacy around for hours and hours and hours on these cobblestones. Wowee.

To think, 12h20m from now my plane leaves back to Austin. I miss home a lot, but will certainly miss here. What an amazing trip... I'll spend most of the day Wednesday, I think, updating this blog and writing and recreating the route on Google maps, etc... Wow. I definitely found what I was looking for. And then some.

Why am I here?

To experience - not just SEE but really and fully experience - beauty. I have figured out - after much soul and country-searching - the reason for my trip. I've lots more planned to write, but I'm off to see Siena at night with my Roman buddy and a couple of Germans. How fun.

And yes, the region between Lucca and Siena was STUNNING. I think I'll stay in Siena for a full day before heading down to Rome...

On the road again...

So I'm leaving the charming and beautiful and expensive and amazing little town of Lucca today, after 3 nights. Sheesh! Who'd have thought?

I'm going to go through Castelvecchio and down to Siena. I've decided to skip Florence entirely for a number of reasons - maybe next time. But I will, I'm thinking, try to get to Rome on like Sunday afternoon and spend a couple days there.

Want to grab lunch in Pisa?

Phew, I need pizza. Today I rode to Pisa with Mario (my German buddy) then down along the coast to Livorno (beautiful) and we parted ways and I went generally east (I had had a town in mind but promptly forgot the name as I was leaving Livorno...) I rode southeast for awhile and at like 80k out decided it was about time to start making progress again northwards. Phew. So I started heading generally north, and (after a gelato/coke stop) eventually got myself to a point where I could see on my (featureless except my path on a blank slate) Garmin map that Lucca seemed to be on the other side of these mountains I was staring at. Awesome.

I'd wanted to do some leg-breaking, so though I had finally started picking up "Lucca" signs, I headed away from the Lucca signs and up the mountain. I came to this amazing town, Buti, and as I was climbing through, my path merged with another cyclist (like on a sexy bike and in spandex cyclist) and so I asked him (I think) if Lucca was that way. He seemed to affirm that is was, but that path was molto "salida(sp?)". I figured he meant steep and awful, which was perfect for me.

So 10k and 800m of elevation later we got to the top. It was AMAZING. It was apparently the Monte Serra mountains we crossed, and starting the descent, we could look over the side and see all of the eastern Tuscan plain and then a short while later, look to the west and see to the sea. Unbelievable.

After a terrifying descent, I got down and made my way across to Lucca and now am here, showered, and about to go find pizza and somewhere to wash my clothes. Awesome.

But seriously, 115k of flat/rolling, then a leg-eating 10k climb (that was apparently part of the Giro D'Italia 3 or 4 years ago), then a descent and like 20v into Lucca for a total of like 146km. Holymoly.

Holy Lucca

And a whole different kind of Italy... Here I found a hostel in the city center (inside the walls and next to like THREE bike shops)... I decided to be brave and try the youth hostel, despite being concerned about the word "youth" (apparently that's like an old tradition, the word youth has nothing to do with anything, lots of like 50 year olds). I'd tried to get one in Narbonne, but like everything else in France, was foiled.

Anyway, I'm here and so unbelievably happy. TIRED but so happy. I was in my room for like 2 minutes before a roommate walked in and he was a fit, my-age looking guy and said hello, and it turns out he's German and is cycling from his home in Germany to Sardinia (900k in 6 days - impressive). He's packed much lighter than I am, and I learned some things from him (like the bag situation, but I have like 5 pages written in my little book about that). But yes, he's very cool and we talked, went shopping, had dinner, and chatted about all kinds of stuff until late-ish. Today he's just got the last (and) short leg of his trip... Here to Pisa and Livorno. So I'm going to join him, then ride back here. I'm definitely going to stay in Lucca for a few days... Today will be that short trip (< 100k) and I'll get mapped and oriented and try to do a 200k or something day.

So gorgeous here... I walk around a corner and get the chills because there's some old church or square or fountain. Amazing. And the mountains - I can't wait to get Stacy back into the mountains. She's going to miss them back in Austin, but we'll make do somehow. There are SOOOO many bikes and cyclists here, I can't wait to start exploring. I woke up early and saw the sun rising over Lucca from the wall surrounding the city center. My whole perception of beauty has been totally broken by this trip.

Oh, and now I know what people mean by, "Everyone in Italy speaks English." Apparently they really mean everyone not in Liguria... It's now very easy to find English speakers, but that's no fun. I still ask for things in Italian and get a fairly even mix of responses in Italian and English... I can't wait to come back and actually speak Italian...

I'm already envisioning the Team Hump training camp next summer and planning where I think we'll be best off staying...

I crack myself up...

And not just cycling through tiny old old old mountain towns where the people stop on the street to stare as I go by and I grin and yell, "Ciao!"

Today I decided to catch a train to like, Tuscany. So I go to the train station (and all this is mapless) and buy a ticket to Parma. Why to Parma you ask? I have no idea... It was like a 4h ride from Diano Marina to La Spezia where I was to change trains, and on that train ride I think to myself, "Self, do you have any idea where Parma is?" The answer is definitely no.

So I got to La Spezia and realized that I was on the right track, but catching that next train would have hosed me. So new ticket buoght, and now I have like 20 minutes until my train leaves to Viareggio. That's pretty close...

Best plan ever!

K. This will have to be short since Stacy is waiting outside looking inconspicuous... I took the train to Nice as I'd mentioned, and arrived at like 7:30pm. I wanted to be in Italy so I just hauled out of there. Suffice it to say, it was amazing. I climbed over Monaco and arrived in Italy just as it was getting dark (don't worry mom, I have lights). I arrived in Ventimiglia and found a room (phew) and laid in bed trying to sleep antsy like it was Christmas Eve.

Then I loaded up (since the country of Italy can't be bothered to do ANYTHING before 10 or so, and headed out. It was easily the BEST day of my life. I had gelato at the base of the alps, climbed up to this little castle at like 900 meters (Dolceacqua-Castelvittorio-Baiardo) then descended to San Remo and headed along the coast for awhile until I found this little town of Diano Marino. I found a hotel there, and am a celebrity there. I had three more servings of gelato that night (two of them while walking on the beach). I'd had so much fun I decided to stay an extra day and so did a day of climbing without all my gear and it was amazing. Topped it off by joining up with a couple of cyclists (on beautiful Italian bikes) after lunch and rode back down to the sea and along the coast with them.

I need to go get gelato and chocolate milk. I looked for like 2h this morning for a computer I could use but these little towns I love so much don't really open on Monday mornings... I've been looking for computers and such to check in, and now know what to ask for, so it should be more regular.

Ciao!