Tuesday morning I woke up to a cloudy crappy forecast and a weather
radar full of rain.
No way I was cycling anywhere in Switzerland today, I'm headed
somewhere with sun.
I texted Paul and Ray to ask where we were meeting tonight, we quickly
agreed on Florence, Italy.
I had a long day of train travel ahead.
First I had to buy a train ticket from Biasca to Florence, which was
non-trivial but eventually accomplished.
It started to rain just as I boarded the train and kept raining
throughout my journey under St Gotthard pass and into Italy.
Since both Paul and Ray were busy seeing stuff and I had all the time
in the world
to kill on the train, I got us a room for three at the 4 star FH Hotel
Calzaiuoli in central Florence for 190 euros on booking.com
We soon realized we should have stayed in Bologna instead since none of
us have been to Bologna, it is supposed to be a great town, and it is
on our way to Venice.
But once I bought the non-refundable room in Florence we were going to
Florence.
Paul texted
'Just finished 4 mile run around wall of Orvieto. Nice and
brisk this morning!'
Kent texted
'Headed to Saas Grund tonight.
Lagginhorn is mostly rock
and accessable from Hohsaas lift.'
'My room in Brig was the loudest ever.
Room directly above
Glacier Express train station.
I knew I would sleep though after
my hike so no big deal.'
PANO - scroll right
Paul texted
'Awesome little chapel in the big duomo.'
PANO - scroll right
Ray texted
'Lovely Voltera, also marks the 1000km mark on the bike.'
2017-08-08 11:27
My pic from the train
2017-08-08 11:31
My pic from the train
As I left Lugano and I foamed beer all over the empty seat next to
me, also hit myself and a little on the lady across from me,
fortunately she was very cool 'its just beer'.
Ray went to Pisa!
Paul's pic of me at the Florence train station as we're talking on the
phone trying to figure out where to meet.
We got off trains nearly simultaneously.
We walked to the FH Hotel Calzaiuoli, checked in, added Ray's name to
the reservation, then started to wander Florence in search of beer.
Paul directed us across Ponte Vecchio and eventually we stumbled onto
Caffè degli Artigiani
Ray texted
'I had gelato instead of second lunch'
Kent texted
'It's just like the scene from Eiger sanction before the climb,
except I'm both Freitag and Jonathan.'
Ray
'Just dropped the bike.
No one knew I was coming, no one
speaks English.
Nice guys will drove me to hotel'
...
'where are you?
me -
'We are in Venice' 'We are at a bar, they are serving beer'
Paul -
'At a bar with a little yellow table. Just look for this
table.
Paul's pic
Caffè degli Artigiani
2017-08-08
My beer glass is filthy at Caffè degli Artigiani, and I didn't notice cause my glass was full of beer - yuck!!!
Ray - 'I'm in the room, I will take a shower since I still don't know
how far you are...'
Me - 'Didn't you see the yellow table on your drive in? We waved!'
2017-08-08
Dusty's pic, same time and place as Paul's pic below
Paul's pic, same time and place as Dusty's pic below
2017-08-08
Ray - 'just paid 17.50 for a liter of beer and some water'
We went on a long crawl looking for a non-touristy place to eat and we
finally ended up at Mercato Centrale, the indoor food court with dozens
of food and drink choices.
2017-08-08
Previous
Monday August 7, 2017
Bike up Furka Pass and Oberalp Pass
