Francois_Dumas Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 On August 24th our 'Dolomite Excursion' was over, way too quick in hindsight. We had promised our friends Marjan and Anthony to show up on their doorstep on this day, so we packed our cases again and headed out onto the (HOT!) roads south. They have a new home a little south of Perugia, in the lovely province of Umbria, next to Tuscany. Here's the route (that we did some 2 hours faster than we'd anticipated!): This was the trip where we started out warm, then hot, and then rode straight into a menacing thunderstorm at Modena. We managed to 'miss' it (or IT missed us) by a mile or two by opening the throttle and racing towards Modena at 150-160 km/hr ! Glad they don't have a lot of police on the highways in Italy! These two pictures were taken before that event, at our first stop that morning, leaving the mountains behind us ! Nina wasn't too comfy and tries to pull her jeans down, I think.... Perhaps we just had too much of a breakfast !? We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Italian highway restaurants... they were a lot better than we remembered them from previous trips. We DID have to get used to the fact that you have to select what you want and PAY for it first, then get a receipt with which you go to another person who will get you your stuff (coffee, bread, whatever). We need to brush up on our Italian ...... :!: :-P FAST FORWARD. This is MUCH later in the trip and Nina is happy again. She is happy because we outran the bad weather at Modena, becasue we managed to pass an enormous traffic jam before Bologna (a truck caught fire and was burnt to the floor), because we finally could take our rain gear off again! This is just past Florence/Firenze, on a rather shabby highway parking. The leg from Bologna to Firenze was unexpectedly cold (!!) and we actually caught a few drops of rain at Firenze that was surrounded by more menacing thunderstorms. Luckily we missed most of it ! Fast forward again. We called our friends that we were 'early' (around 4 p.m. instead of the estimated 6, and rode on. The last part of the trip would take us off the highway, along the Trasimeno Lake to Perugia, and then further south towards the small village where our friends have a their 'new home'. We parked the bike next to the Pizza Oven !!!! Of course all of us northeners dream of having a place like this..... Olive trees, shade, sun, hills...... Meeting friends of our friends...... and Nina is happy again. Oh yes, the little glass of wine helped with that too !! A view from the terrace..... they told us these were the FIRST CLOUDS in 2 months !! Of course, we'd brought it on to them !! Oh, and someone started washing stuff right away........ This was the end of a wonderful ride through the Italian Dolomites, and the beginning of some excellent quality time with our dear friends in Italy ! Link to comment
BereIsland Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 Tell you what Francoise, I's about time I got some riding done in Europe. So many nice places to visit. Great pictures Steve Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted August 26, 2007 Author Share Posted August 26, 2007 Well, it's not as far away as the US...... Link to comment
BereIsland Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 I have a habit of digging my own holes Steve Link to comment
Francois_Dumas Posted August 26, 2007 Author Share Posted August 26, 2007 There are worse things you can do Link to comment
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