San Gimignano - Firenze Redux

Quoth David Byrne: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOh What a day that was.

So as Nicky wrote yesterday, the elevation chart was right, and we spent the 60km day either struggling up along a vineyard ridge or coasting down from hilltown to valley. There was no in between. I think we had about 30 pedal strokes on flat ground and that was it. I quite enjoyed the day, though every time I said that it was at the top of a hill and Nicky would shoot me a glare. There were loads of other cyclists out on what was a beautiful day-though not many of them had panniers...

Oh. There was also the fact that it was Sunday in Italy on a holiday weekend and nothing was open. After pushing ourselves to the limit climbing 3km at 10% gradient into San Casciano we were on the hunt for food. But it was a ghost town-except one restaurant, where we collapsed into our food with such intent that had a dog walked by, we would have probably shown IT our teeth.

Eventually the locals trickled onto the street and the town came alive. We finished our meal and got back on our velos. The ride to Firenze was almost all downhill - and we caught glimpses of the Duomo in all of its ridiculous hugeness from miles away. Florence, sittling like a pancake in the middle of hills and mountains in eveery direction. When we got in Nicky took a nap and I treked over to my old hood to see the school and the old architecture studios. 10 years ago and it pretty much looks the same.

All in all it was a fitting end to the hilltown week.

We're getting ready to leave for the Pisa airport in a few hours, with a stop first at the Uffizi galleries so Nicky can see Botticellis. France looks like it's going to be all flatness and frites. Perfect!

Also: Thanks to Josh and Sarah for the hotel recommendation. The place was great and our hosts were super sweet.

Next time from France!

R