This blog will document “Tandem Biciclette in Italia con DATES”.
Our 12 day tour takes us from Firenze (Florence) to Greve, San Gimignano, San Lucchese, Siena, Montalcino, Cortona, Poggiolo, Assisi, Spoleto, Todi, Orvieto and back to Firenza.
We have 10 tandem teams, 8 from DATES plus other friends from San Francisco and Ottawa, Ontario. You’ll meet them on the tour. This is the third international DATES tour. Previously, we’ve toured in the Cotswold area of Great Brittan (2007) and Nova Scotia (2008).
All of us have tandems which disassemble and can be taken with us on the airlines without paying oversize baggage extra fees.
The tour starts on Monday, September 27 but most of us plan on arriving early, either in Firenze or Roma. With uncertainty in the airlines – and particularly with the strikes in Paris this week – and some of us traveling thru Charles DeGaul – arriving early is almost a requirement. In 2000, Brenda and I arrived in Florence with one half of a bicycle and no clothes. The other three pieces of luggage arrived 3 days later!
Brenda and I and our luggage arrive Friday without a problem. We run into Bruce and Carol at the Firenze airport and then Ronnie and Nanette on the street lugging their luggage and tandem from the train station.
Photo to right is one panel from the Duomo Baptistery doors (North side) by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Michelangelo said these were fit to be the gates to paradise. Ghiberti used mathematical principles to create the illusion of receding distance on a basically flat surface. Actually these doors are a replica; the originals are protected from the elements in the Duomo Museum.
An hour after arriving in Firenze, Brenda and I are standing in front of the Duomo. A couple ask us for directions AND I CAN HELP THEM! I’ve now given directions to strangers in London, Dublin and Florence. Not bad for a kid raised in Old Ocean, Texas.
1 comment:
John, you guys have an awesome tour in front of you. Enjoy, soak it all in, and be safe. Richard
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