We arrived in Lido Di Cammiore/Viareggio to all the fanfare of the Giro D Italia. Crowds & crowds of people, roller blades, lots of expensive road bikes, plenty of sunburnt tourists and by the way... white lycra doesnt look good on ANYONE!
We got ourselves a great possie about 20 metres past the finish line, perched 2 metres above the street on a concrete sign of a hotel. It was hard work standing up there for over 2 hours, when there was little more than a foot hold each, but it was worth every second to be above the crowd and away from the hustle and bustle.
Sah is still bummed that Robbie got nudged out of first place, as she was hanging out to see him on the podium. However, on our way back to the train station to head home, we happened across the motel where Predictor-Lotto where staying... still no sign of Robbie, but Matt got to drool over the toolies truck stacked with the riders bikes, mechanical gear etc etc. Next time Robbie... next time.
So that was the Giro, you certainly see a whole lot more on TV, but it was worth checking out the atmosphere and the hype. Oh, and we got to see Chipolini in all his glory.
Tomorrow we head towards the Amalfi Coast, with an overnight stop in Naples. We are pretty relaxed after our 3 days on the outskirts of Pisa (which by the way only needs about 15 minutes to tour given that the leaning Tower and 3 or 4 buildings around it are the only things in Pisa Centrale worth seeing). Our accommodation in the valley is beautiful, and the seaside resort town of Viareggio looks like it gets its fair share of excitement over the summer.
The only thing cool about Pisa Centrale is the fact that the Pisanos are so uncool that when they tried to out-do Florence by buildling a tower more spectacular and grand than their closest city neighbour, it sank on one side before they could finish building it. If it wasnt for their grand architectural catastrophe Pisa probably wouldnt even rate a mention in any of the guide books. The other really uncool thing is the 100s of tourists at any one time attempting to take that stupid staged photograph of their travelling companions supposedly holding up the Tower with their head/foot/leg/back/nose/hand/dongle etc etc etc. Funny thing is the photo that Matt took of me sitting at the base of the Tower on my bike... a) makes the tower look straight b) looks like I am holding the tower up with my helmet.
We are looking forward to the coast, and hope the weather is kind enough to allow us to go for a dip in the Big Blue. With 8 days to go, we are finally operating on Italian time and just cruising around under the Italian Sun.
Looking forward to being home for Winter, hot soup, tracky daks and the Tour De France on TV. Yes, thats right, we are dags! Not even 6 weeks in Italy could change that!
Take care, chat soon,
Love & cheers, the Italian Duo xo
P.S. Sah got a new race pack for GeoQuest a couple of days ago, and hasn't taken it off since.
