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  • Day 1

    Once more into the Breach

    May 15, 2022 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    And we're off! After cooling our travel heels for a few years Mike and I have decided to brave the dangers and uncertainties and head to Europe. We debated the risks, rewards, costs - both monetary and opportunity - and made a decision to launch. Our plans are to meet my sister Helen in Italy tomorrow and spend 2 weeks on a self-guided biking trip that includes parts of northern Italy to Venice and then around the Adriatic coast to Croatia. We'll be bookending the trip with 3 days in Turin at the start and a few extra nights in the Venice area at the end. I need the few days at the front end to shake off jet lag, because unlike some of our hardier biking friends, I can't go from the airport right onto a bike seat - at least not safely. We're looking forward to a few days in Turin which is a beautiful city with all the great things that Italy has on offer but , for some reason, far fewer tourists than most major centres. Maybe because it is billed as the industrial north of Italy. The Eurovision song contest was just in Turin and so the city should be on a high as we arrive. It was very nice that Ukraine won the show. [ we listened to their song submission and I feel that, perhaps, just maybe, first place was awarded in an effort to express support.]

    This will be our 7th biking holiday in Europe. I almost didn't survive our first trip to the Dordogne but that's another story that our friends Ron and Diane can tell. We learn a little bit each time we go and I think we're fairly prepared this time with things like extra external batteries, phone holders, GPS tracking apps, bike repair things, COVID testing kits. The company that we are using - Girolibero - will provide the bikes, hotel reservations, online routes and they will transport our luggage each day. That's my favourite part because by having our luggage moved, it allows me to travel with more than one extra shirt /underwear and toothbrush. Not that I've packed a steamer trunk with matching hats and gloves - although Helen and I did discuss this in order to channel my Mother who always looked amazingly pulled together in all of her European trip pictures. Mike, of course, being far more austere and Presbyterian has probably packed using the 1 extra shirt /underwear/ toothbrush approach which will mean our hotel rooms will resemble a laundromat most nights.
    We are excited to link up with Helen tomorrow in Turin. She is already in place and checking out the rooftop bar as we speak. She reports a wonderful warm evening. I know our west coast friends will be envious of us leaving this record- setting, damp, cold weather for warmer climes.

    This is our 4th bike trip with Helen. We will miss our dear friend and biking buddy Laura who couldn't make the trip this time which will leave the job of choosing restaurants and making food recommendations to Helen and I. I think the cuisine will vary quite a bit as we travel. Northern, European fare for a few days, then Austrian and finally Mediterranean. Bring it on! Having recently watched Stanley Tucci on TV we are really looking forward to the food and beverages.

    As always, we split the trip chores up. Mike will be our "roadie" handling mechanical stuff. He will also be our technical support since Helen couldn't convince her architecture firm to let the IT department come on holidays with us. Helen will take on the tour guiding, as she always does. With her background in history and architecture she guides us through the various sights in what we lovingly refer to as “architorture” tours. By the time we get home we will have had our fill of Etruscan, Roman, Medieval ruins. She's already getting quite excited about some amphitheatres near Verona, I believe. Well, it is Italy, so you have to do the Caesar shuffle, as Rick Steeves calls it.
    I will be the navigator for two reasons. First, I'm a control freak and second, I did a stint as a reconnaissance officer in my early military years so I have a reasonable sense of direction. We left that job to Helen on one day of our Danube trip and we ended up in the middle of a corn field where there was supposed to be a train station. Really we did! She can defend herself in a later blog.

    This is a test blog. If you're reading it, it means it didn't go into your junk folder. I use the platform Find Penquins. If you want to send a note back to us you can reply on the blog. You can open my folder on the blog site by clicking or entering the link which doesn't need a password or account, I believe.
    findpenguins.com/heatherandmike

    That's all for now. I'm sending this note from the Vancouver Airport which no one needs a picture of - hence no photos attached. We are resting comfortably in the Priority Pass lounge sipping a beverage until it's time to be welcomed into the arms of Lufthansa Airlines for our 9 hour flight to Frankfurt and then on to Turin. We like to fly Lufthansa as it combines German efficiency, less cranky hostesses than Air Canada and much better wines.

    As Shakespeare said, "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more."
    More to follow from Turin. Until then,
    Hugs,
    Heather (Mom/Grandma)x
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