Biking, goodbyes and Bologna

After many requests I, with some help from my friend Scott, have been able to put some photos on the blog and am working on my flickr site with a more complete set of photos. I should have that up with captions very soon. but until then please enjoy the photos that are there and captionless. www.flickr.com/photos/dtillion

This is the Chianti region. It was absolutely, totally and completely beautiful! 

  

This is the duomo from my classroom window. A lot of the month of March was cloudy like this but I still think that it was a spectacular view.

This is Venice- the water taxis were expensive but for photos alone it was worth it. We had a wonderfully sunny first day and a not so sunny but pleasant second day there.

I've arrived in Bologna to spend some time with Scott and Claire. They are incredibly generous to lend me their futon for several days. It will be the first time I've spent the night in one bed for more than one night since the 28th of March. That's weird to think about. Even though I spent many extra nights in Florence I slept in a different room in my hostel every night. I guess that is the risk you take when booking a hostel on a day to day basis in a busy city.

After a lovely weekend in Venice with Aine I headed back to Florence (couldn't seem to get away from that city) for a couple of last nights. On Monday morning I woke up and headed to Ponte Vespucci to meet up for a bike tour of Chianti.  What a great experience. It was a 20 km (12 mile) ride. Now, to some 12 miles is nothing...  but to me (who is still a very inexperienced cycler) that sounded like a great and challenging ride. It was both. The countryside was breathtaking and honestly so was the last part of the ride. There were two hills in the last part of the ride that were slaughtering me. But I made it to the top and really really enjoyed myself. We made several stops on our ride. The first was a winery in the Chianti Classico region. The wine was quite nice a Chianti Classico and a Chianti Classico Reserva. I very much enjoyed seeing the facilities and a little of the Villa that is a very very fancy hotel. Apparently some of the suites go for 2500 euro a night. yowsah!  Then we stopped in a tiny, cute hill town for lunch and coffee. ( a much needed break after all of the wine we had consumed). Then came the long stretch of riding... then at the top of the hill we had cokes and then headed back to the garage. It really has been a highlight to my trip. 

I've officially left Florence and do not planning on stopping back there this trip. On my final morning I wondered the streets and reminisced about the past 5 weeks that I've been there (well the last week off and on but still). I walked by all of the places I'd visited, places I'd eaten, places I'd had a few drinks or some that I'd had too much to drink, places I had some life changing conversations and some incredible laughs. It was a great way to say goodbye to the city that I've come to admire and love. After my friends finished school we went to one of our regular lunch spots and I was faced with saying goodbye to people that have become very dear friends of mine. Despite my sadness of knowing that I may not see them again (at least for some time) I know that it is time to move on and see some more of this incredible country and continent.