Caution: These vehicles make frequent stops
Warning: very long post that will bore most everyone. Our tour experience had us waking up at 6am to guarantee early access to the mountaintop town that we were using as a base for our spectating. Each morning we have a few crucial tasks to complete before too long, and this morning was no exception. […]
Read More Tour de France, Stage 17Woke up in Genoa yesterday morning and walked to the local Europcar (yes, I have the jersey and shorts!) to pick up our adorable Fiat Panda. There was a bit of apprehension as the official rules suggested I would need an international driver’s license (something easily procured from that genuinely evil organization, AAA). But the […]
Read More Fiat AccompliNo, not the cookies. But equally delicioso. We’re recovering from a wild and crazy day watching the Tour de France in person. We were on the border of France and Italy (on the French side) at the Col du Montgeneve. This was the first climb of the day, a category 2 climb, and we were […]
Read More MilanoPart of our time in Cinque Terre was catalogging the various species of plants and animals (edible for the fomer, inedible for the latter). This picture illustrates one of Liz’s favorites: This sample chose to stay on the mountainside so our experiments have concluded. There are other examples, however, including the native water mammals: Finally, […]
Read More Flora and FaunaOk, that does it. This is getting ridiculous. Cinque Terre in Italy is simply the most beautiful place on earth. Yes, there are tourists here, but not as many as you would think would be in the most beautiful place on earth. Just a short train ride south from Genoa, and we’re in this Mediterranean […]
Read More Cinque Terre, or fifty calories from paradise(This is a catchup post for events that happened on Tuesday.) We’ve been hinting about this for a few days, so here it comes. Our second day with the rental road bikes in Bourg d’Oisan had us out on the most famous climb in all of cycling. The traditional climb involves “21 classic hairpin turns” […]
Read More Alpe d’HuezThe haggard (and a little smelly…) bikers experienced a nice change of pace in Genoa Italy last night. 1,000 thanks to Dr. David Branson (Madison West shout out!) for a fabulous “home” experience last night. David opened his lovely apartment up to us and we took full advantage! Wine, cheese, laundry, home-cooked meal, great conversation […]
Read More The Kindness of Old Friends (while traveling)When we made our reservations at Hotel Milan in Bourg d’Oisan (pronounced boorg dwa-zone), we were a bit unsure of the decision. It was a town we’d never heard of and there was no train and little information about it on the web. The hotel owner reassured us when he wrote “Don’t worry, Bourg d’Oisan […]
Read More Climbing and DescendingSo, not only do the French speak what can only be descibed as an entirely different language (who knew?), but they have also inconsiderately parked one of their national holidays (and long holiday weekends) smack dab in the middle of our trip. Having been without internet access for a few days, we were unable to […]
Read More On the Inconvenience of Bastille DaySorry, no pictures and little content. We’ve been internet deprived but very busy and tired in the village of Bourg d’Oisan, which sits at the base of Alpe d’Huez, the most famous mountain climb in all of cycling. Lots to write about, but it will have to wait until our train trip tomorrow because pizza […]
Read More Late update