We left the Ca' Rocca Relais this morning just after 9. Their breakfast was wonderfully varied and held some options we haven't seen in awhile...eggs. They were soft boiled with a runny white and a very dark yolk, but they were eggs!
We needed to get some water for the water bottles and we both like frizzante, so we were watching for a grocery store. However...it was Sunday, and grocery stores are usually not open. Good...I am all for grocery stores shutting down for the day so that their employees can be with family, go to church, have a day to rest. We stopped at a couple of convenience type places, and one fellow sent us down a busy street to a grocery that we never did find. What we did find were cyclists. They come out for club rides, and recreational rides, and training rides. We passed one group of men that were probably our age, all in kits, who wanted us to turn around and ride with them. Most of the time they have no helmets on, but they fly by in colorful jerseys, feeling the same sense of freedom on a bike that we feel. And the water? There was a very cute Italian man in his thirties who gave Patty and I each a bottle of water.
We have ridden past houses that are decorated with ribbon...usually blue or pink...and today we realized it is a celebratory decoration to welcome a new baby boy or girl. So...Sunny Jugs, this is for you.
Because we had tried to run down some water, we were off route. I knew "approximately" where we were, and we had about 2 hours before we needed to call Pete and Shirleen. Why not wing it and just ride, keeping a mental note of what roads we were riding? It actually worked pretty well. Because it was Sunday, the traffic was lighter, and we ended up in the little town of Rovere, at a little cafe across the street from a Catholic church. Singing floated across the street and we watched a procession as first the altar boys, then the congregation, then the choir, and finally the priest came out of the church singing, walked up the street a ways, and then turned and came back.
We met Pete and Shirleen at the Hotel Petrarca, loaded the bikes, and headed northwest. We stopped in a town south of Vincenza at a castle where they had hosted a party a few years ago. Pretty fun. They used to live in Vincenza amid some buildings that have historical significance...an observatory that Galileo used, a building that Palladio designed and built are both here.
We are staying at an AgriTourismo called Le Vescovane. It is set high on a hill overlooking Vicenza and the restaurant serves its own produce, its own meat. I had coniglio and it was very good. That is yet another first for me. As we sat around a table outside, listening to the thunderstorm and sipping limoncello, I marveled at the favored life I have, grateful for the freedom and opportunity to be in this wonderful place.
What a wonderful day! We are enjoying it with you.
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