Sept 7 – It’s not about the bike

Today we went on a bike tour and it was the very best day we’ve had in Italy so far. Probably after all the amazing things we’ve done that seems impossible or like an exaggeration. I assure you it’s not.

Note: Read Jen’s post “Crash Test Dummy” before you read the rest of this post.

To start the day we walked across the city to meet our group at the end of Ponte alle Grazie Bridge at 9:30am. We both thought we knew where we were going and so at 9:25 when we were standing at the edge of the wrong bridge we had a slight moment of panic thinking we might miss the tour. Thank goodness for the blackberry, we pulled up our email reservation, got on their website and quickly figured out we just need to go to the next bridge over.

The tour itself was really beautiful and fun. From Florence we drove about half an hour to a 13th century Monastery perched atop a “hill” at about 3000’ elevation. From there we rode (mostly downhill) twelve miles back to Florence. For our cyclist and triathlete friends, twelve miles is going to seem like less than an hour’s ride, but not the way we did it. This ride was about touring the Tuscan countryside; we took our time and enjoyed the sights.

As we road lazily downhill from the Monastery back to Florence we had unparalleled views of the Tuscan landscape. We stopped often to take in the breathtaking vistas and get some amazing photos. We ate wild blackberries that we found growing along the roadside. We stopped in an olive grove to learn how olive oil is made. Eventually we made it to the little town of Fiesole, where we parked our bikes and climbed up to a look out point (at the base of a church) to gaze out over Florence. I was the only one who climbed slightly higher to the church that was at the top of the hill (beautiful). Jen stayed at the bottom, first to assess her injuries in the bathroom, next bought orange sodas to share with Per, and then attended an Italian wedding (I’m not kidding).

After Fiesole we road down to a little restaurant and had an amazing lazy lunch (and yes I drank and rode). After lunch we road back into Florence, and had gelato, then wound our way back through the outskirts of town to our original starting point. The last part (riding through Florence) took us through parts of the city (we would have never visited on foot) that were so lovely and interesting – it was a perfect way to end the tour.

Okay, so that all sounds pretty great, right? Well, I haven’t even told you about the best part of the tour. It was the people we were with. To start off with the other four riders in our group were a Russian family from New Zealand (yes a Russian Family from New Zealand). Dimitri and Elena are the parents. The kids are Sasha (sweet, adventurous, daredevil, age 11) and Jessica (sassy, smart, adorable, age 7). They were instantly easy to be around, even in the van ride up to the monastery we were chatting and getting to know each other. According to Dimitri they moved to New Zealand “to get as far away from Russia as possible.” Spending the day with them was so much fun.

And then there is Per and Melissa, our tour guides, and I’m happy to say new friends. Melissa is originally from Southern California (now Napa is her American home) and Per grew up in Sweden (although from his English you would think he was from California too). We had so much fun spending the day with them – they run an amazing business, if you come to Italy you must let them design a bike tour for you. But more than that, they are just happy, wonderful people, we all just clicked right away. Oh and they handled Jen’s crash amazingly. I’m so happy they were our guides when that happened.

After the tour, Jen and I ambled through a few shops on our way back to the hotel. After assessing Jen’s injuries and experimenting with an Italian treatment called “Ice Spray” – Jen laid down and I went to do some laundry at the “laundrette” down the street. Can I tell you how excited we are to have clean clothes? You take certain things for granted until they are gone.

In the evening we met up with our new friends Per and Melissa for sushi (yes sushi in Italy). We had great food, great beer, and great conversation – it was the perfect end to the day!

Before I go I want to say a couple things about Jen’s crash. I was right behind her when it happened. It was really scary. Watching it, I honestly thought we were about to get a one-way trip to an Italian hospital – if not worse. The fact that she’s not more injured is a miracle. And she was such a trooper to get back on the bike (after a short rest) and finish the ride. She is pretty banged up, her bruises are scattered all over her body. She moves slowly and it clearly hurts her to move. She’s got a couple rough days ahead – but she’ll heal for sure. And she’s only milking it a little (j/k). And I promise I’m taking good care of her (although the experiment with the Ice Spray was a little rough).

Ciao-ciao,
:) Kristin

P.S. I was injured as well - untangling Jen from the mass of metal - I have a 1/2" papercut on my knee. I'll be okay - thanks for asking. LOL! :)