Gothic Milan Duomo
This morning we took a train ride from Verona into Milan. Our visit to Milan is mostly just a stopover on the way to a nice country farmhouse where we will ride to and stay for a few days. However we did take use the evening to visit a few of the sites in Milan. Although I didn't have my camera, the Cathedral in Milan is really something. It's supposed to be Europe's 3rd larges, and is architect in the Gothic style. Milan reminds me of Denver. It's a big modern city that sits between the agricultural planes and the mountains. It's also interesting that Milan is very proud of their status as the countries best economically developed city. Most people in Milan think that the capitol of the country should be moved from historic Rome to Milan which is the current center of Italian business. I tried to contact a few people at the BEA office in Milan, but wasn't able to connect with any of them - maybe I'll be able to catch them when we return on Friday.
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Gothic Milan Duomo |
Dorothy also spent a lot of time trying to figure out how we can get from Milan to Annecy France on the train with the bike. After searching the web, and all of our printed schedules, out the best route is around the mountains and will take 13 hours. Even a Eurostar, which we can't ride with the bike, takes all day for this trip. So after a lot of thought we decided to change our itinerary again. First we decided to cancel our stay in Annecy and extend our stay in Chamonix France by two days. Second we decided to rent a car to take us to Chamonix, and then on to Geneva where we will pack up the bike, and jump a high-speed train to Bordeax as originally planned. This change accomplishes a few things for us. First it gives us more quality time in Chamonix, rather than splitting our short stay in the area between Annecy and Chamonix. Second it gets us away from several days of complicated hassle on the train. Both of us are really getting tired of the amount of time we're spending on the train. Lastly it gives us mental break, by putting us in a car so we can go where we want when we want. The only difficulty is that we planned on meeting our friends from Bull who live in Grenoble in Annecy this weekend. Hopefully this change of plan won't spoil our chance to visit them.
Today we called everyone to finalize our itinerary change, before heading out for a big ride to a farmhouse in the mountains near lake Como.
The one word for the ride to the farmhouse was "caldo" - hot in Italian! We started by slowly navigating the big city streets and 7 way intersections of Milan, and then slowly worked out way to the industrial roads and then onto agricultural roads near the Ada River. At the river we headed north towards the Alps on agricultural roads with no name on the road or the map. By this time we had lost so much time getting out of Milan that it was mid afternoon, the water in our water bottles was hot to the touch, and both Dorothy and I were beginning to get tired of the heat, but we just pressed on. Eventually we made it to the mountains and the area near the farmhouse bed and breakfast we were going to stay. However we didn't expect the 10% grades and real steep switchbacks we faced for the last few kilometers up to the top of the mountain where the bed and breakfast sits. This last little bit was really a push with the trailer and all of our gear, but we finally made it to a wonderful little place at the end of the road that's run by a really friendly family.
A View Of The Farmhouse |
Another View Of The Farmhouse |
It's kind of funny how hard a steep climb can feel when you don't know when it will end. After climbing and following signs for what seemed like an eternity we stopped to catch our breath, and call the b&b to tell them that we were on our way, and that we would eventually be there. Although we were flustered because we couldn't get through, it's just as well. After we got back on the bike we discovered they were just around the corner from where we stopped. This is probably the biggest difference between an organized ride like Ride the Rockies and an unsupported ride in a strange country. This week our friends on Ride the Rockies have nice maps with altitude profiles and well marked courses to follow. Where traveling by yourself in a strange country you get funky maps, and vague instructions to your next stop. This definitly makes it more of an adventure than a cycling trip and certainly keeping it interesting.
Today we took a rest day and enjoyed the quiet country setting. It gave us both a chance to read a bit, and catch up on our writing, and fix some little things on the bike like the handle bar tape that hasn't faired well with the humidity change. The only adventure for the day came at dinnertime. The only restaurant within walking distance was closed for some reason. So at the last minute we had to jump on the bike and ride down the monstrous hill we climbed the day before searching for something to eat. We ended up finding a sandwich at a bar down on the main highway where we had asked for directions on our way in. Of course the ride down wasn't a problem. Fortunately neither was the ride back up. Without the trailer, and knowing where we were going the hill just didn't seem like much of a problem today.
Today we headed out prepared to ride more mountains and with the hope of enjoying Lake Como. Before we left we carefully plotted a course through the 20+ kilometers (18 miles) of back roads in the area between Cisano (Ombria doesn't show up even on our 1 in 2000 scale map) and Lecco, which is at one end of Lake Como. Although very few of the roads on our map had names it looked like the area would be like navigating the roads up by Evergreen; the difference between real roads and little roads that head off to a dead end is fairly obvious. When we hit the road everything went just like expected windy little mountain roads and lots of hills. Since this is familiar terrain for Dorothy and I we got to Lecco in no time at all. But I knew we would get a workout on the way home because we had to use our drag break several times to keep our speed within reason for the unfamiliar roads.
Mountain Roads of Caprino Bergamasco |
View Of Lecca From Hillside Before A Fun Descent |
At Lecco we faced a confusing rats nest where all the little country roads and the two major highways of the area converge between the narrow canyon walls and the Lake. It only took us two tries and about 15 minutes to get through this maze, and onto a little road on the quieter western side of this arm of the lake. Where we faced a challenge that worried me much more than it did Dorothy - a Tunnel!
First Tunnel - Do We Really Want To Go In There? |
Dorothy has only been riding bikes since we got our first tandem in 1985, so she got to miss the days when my best buddy Allen and I used to do stupid things like riding our bikes without lights in the "Time Tunnel" which is a two mile long drainage tunnel that used to run under Cinderella City in Englewood. I've also experienced the joy of traversing the tunnels on 6th avenue just west of Golden on foot. I don't think Dorothy fully appreciated it when I said I didn't think it was safe, no matter how many psychotic Italian cyclists we saw go through the tunnel. Remember I'm the guy who likes to play with fire, hang my butt off of cliffs, and scream down mountain hills on a land luge. When I say I don't think it's safe I'm probably not just being overly cautious.
After watching several Italians take off their sunglasses and just whip right into the tunnel, we decided to turn on all of our night riding lights and go for it. We cautiously cruised in although I knew there was no room for mistakes, problems, or anything else. Once again we were reminded that the Italian drivers are used to all kinds of stuff on their roads. As we cruised in the partial light of the tunnel several large trucks, a few cars and a slow moving scooter buzzed past us giving us all the room we needed just like we belonged there. After watching the Italian cyclists, I think we probably freaked out a few drivers by having lights on our bike. The light at the end of the tunnel couldn't have come soon enough for me. But as soon as we got out of the tunnel we saw the entrance to another 2.4k long tunnel. This one was better lit, and had wider shoulders, so it was a lot less of an adventure.
Eastern Finger of Lake Como - Sorry for the obvious cut and paste, image processing without a mouse is crude! |
After the tunnels we enjoyed a very nice 10k cruise along the quiet shore of the Lake Como, enjoying the jagged mountains that bordered the extinct glacier that cut the deep blue lake. Like any good bike ride, we punctuated the middle with a nice lunch before returning to the steep hills that forced us to resort to our drag break for a controlled descent. What a nice ride! 62.2k, 3:40 minutes of ride time, and an average speed of 16.8 kph (so we're not fast riding up steep hills what can we say!).
Dorothy And Bike At Lake Como |
Town Mandello d' Lario From Across Lake Como |
After the ride we cleaned up and hung around the farmhouse playing with the family dog before eating a wonderful dinner at the farmhouse. This Bed and Breakfast is really great. It's a stone farmhouse that dates back before 1630, and was restored and turned into a Bed and Breakfast by the father of the two sons who now operate it. In addition to a Bed and Breakfast and a working farm it is also a very nice restaurant that is only open on the ends of the week in the summer where many locals come and hang out until late in the night. I need to find a little gem like this somewhere in Colorado.
Zorra The Family Dog |
This morning we packed up for a ride back to Milan. However rather than dealing with the challenges of traffic and navigating in Milan, we decided to ride back to the closest town to Milan, and then catch the train back into the downtown area. Since we still wanted to see a bit of Milan, we decided to take the easy route, and simply blow off the challenge of navigating back into town. When we rode out of Milan it took us almost 2 hours to make it 10k out of town, and then only 3 and a half hours to make the other 70k including the steep hills near the farmhouse. This was like riding from the Capitol building Denver to Evergreen without any knowledge of the area, and only a highway map as a guide. So we decided to make it easy on the way back.
This turned into a really great ride. The weather was partly cloudy, and we had a light tailwind, as we cruised down the slight incline along the Ada River on a course we had already traveled. This little 40k (25 mile) to Traviglio was real fast even though we had some hills, and were carrying the trailer full of gear. We got to Traviglio right at noon, which allowed us to catch a train into Milan that put us in our Hotel by 2:30.
After a quick shower, we decided to try to visit the BEA office in Milan. I had been playing message tag with Fillipo Cutillo since we arrived in Milan, but couldn't reach him - he's a busy man, and I was just plain hard to reach since at the farmhouse our mobile phone didn't have signal, and couldn't connect to the Internet. Even though I hadn't actually spoken with anyone from the Milan office, Dorothy and I decided to be brash, and just drop in. After all it was Friday at 4:00, what the heck! This turned out to be a real good choice. It was a lot of fun to meet the guys in the Milan office, and they seemed to have a great time listening to Dorothy and I tell the story of our trip. It sounds like things are going really well here. The office currently consists of three guys, but there are plans for lots of growth, and a new facility later this year. It also sounds like they've got lots of project work in the pipeline. From what I've been reading and hearing, Italy (and all of Europe) is starving for people to build systems just like the U.S.! Hopefully this will translate into lots of work for Mark Campbell and the folks in the BEA Amsterdam office. I'd love to hear that a few of the projects Phillipo mentioned were underway by the time we make ride into Amsterdam.
John Visiting The BEA Office In Milan |
After dropping in on the BEA office, we decided to go back to the Duomo, which we had walked by on our first night in Milan for a real visit. The Duomo in Millan rises from the big modern city to provide a gothic reminder that Milan has been an important city for centuries. Constructed in 1386, it is the world's fourth largest church. Our first view of the Duomo was from a back corner, where a maze of flying buttresses and ornately decorated gothic spires, appeared though the busy city. Although this corner view is burned into my memory, the facade and inside of this architectural treasure are just as inspiring. The interior had a marvelous marble floor that rivals the work in the Duomo in Sienna. However the detailed Gothic column, and high ceiling made me just stop and try to take in the scope of the architecture. I was amazed at how much the little details contributed to the feeling conveyed by the huge structure and gigantic marble columns. Another exceptional part of the Duomo is the brass doors, which are beautiful from a distance, or close up.
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First View Of Milan Duomo |
Interior Columns In Milan Duomo |
Bronze Doors |
Detailed Pannel In Bronze Door |
In front of the Duomo is a very large plaza where a concert shell that boomed out Opera and contemporary symphonic music on our first visit. It also houses a large monument with an exceptional lion at its base. This area is also home to a grand arch at the entrance to a very nice modern galleria. If we had had more time, this would have been a great place to hang out and watch the city go by.
Entry To Milan Galeria |
Lion Sculpture In Plaza |
Today we endured a painful experience while trying to rent a car at the Milan train station. My Hertz Gold must be tarnished after a few months of not being used, because it certainly didn't do what it normally does. Although we made a reservation in advance, we endured 15 minutes of waiting in line and then 30 minutes of working with a woman who could have been a poster child for process bound bureaucrats around the world.
Once we finally go the card, we squeezed the bike into it, and hit the road for Chamonix. The traffic in Milan was a bit strange, but I was pretty comfortable pushing my way around in Italian traffic after doing it on the bike.