It is 7:45 pm. I am sitting in Piazza Torre di Berta in Sansepolcro watching the sun get ready to set on two medieval towers, a few arches, one church steeple and the Cyprus lined mountain range it the distance. A man with a Jack Russell who looks like Tyson (the dog, not the man) is sitting beside me while another man just walked by carrying a set of bed springs on his bicycle. A mother is teaching her young son how to use a public pay phone (which they still have in Italy) and two little kids are playing on the steps of Cattedrale di San Giovanni Evangelista (which is the first church I went into this morning) How perfect is this??
I left Arezzo around 11 this morning. The bike indeed does fold up small enough to fit into the SmartCar. Within a half hour of driving I could finally see some countryside and mountains. The highway was busier than I had hoped, which meant it was not a leisurely drive, but on the other hand, I made it here in good time and the Gps was excellent.
I am staying at Albergo Florentino, my room is on the third floor, which is really the fourth floor because in Italy they count the ground floor as zero! Staying on an Italian third floor sure makes me appreciate the one set of steps I need to go up and down at the Cumberland lower loft!
Seeing Italy on a bicycle is so rewarding and fun. I feel like a modern Dervla Murphy without the gun (as introduced to me by Karen H). Of course, she didn't have a SmartCar to get her from town to town, or an iPad, or a Gps... But she did have a bicycle! I mostly ride downhill and walk the bike uphill. I have seen the whole town and I am not exhausted; the only exhausting part from today is climbing all the stairs to get to my room! I even made it over to the Medici Fortress, which is in pretty rough shape and not open to the public.
This whole town is Piero... (This is a switch for me as I am used to things being all about me!) A substantial street is named after him, there are posters everywhere, the museum has two wings; one devoted to Piero and the other devoted to a mish-mash of other guys. No pictures of Piero art today as it was not allowed, and I was the only person in the room and I was being watched by two hefty take-me-to-the-floor-in-6-seconds museum guards, so the odds were against me! I could though, get really close to them and could see the cartooning outlines in the frescoes, which was really neat to see.
Although I am sure you are getting tired of all these pictures by now…I have included below a few shots from around town so you can get the feel for the town. I am staying in the walled part, the old part, but I rode the bike through the new part of town too and found a lovely street lined with trees leading to one of the old gates. It is a slow paced gem of a town, people step gently and slowly as they meander into the square. They all know each other and yell loudly at each other across the square to say hello. It has been a pleasant day.
I left Arezzo around 11 this morning. The bike indeed does fold up small enough to fit into the SmartCar. Within a half hour of driving I could finally see some countryside and mountains. The highway was busier than I had hoped, which meant it was not a leisurely drive, but on the other hand, I made it here in good time and the Gps was excellent.
I am staying at Albergo Florentino, my room is on the third floor, which is really the fourth floor because in Italy they count the ground floor as zero! Staying on an Italian third floor sure makes me appreciate the one set of steps I need to go up and down at the Cumberland lower loft!
Seeing Italy on a bicycle is so rewarding and fun. I feel like a modern Dervla Murphy without the gun (as introduced to me by Karen H). Of course, she didn't have a SmartCar to get her from town to town, or an iPad, or a Gps... But she did have a bicycle! I mostly ride downhill and walk the bike uphill. I have seen the whole town and I am not exhausted; the only exhausting part from today is climbing all the stairs to get to my room! I even made it over to the Medici Fortress, which is in pretty rough shape and not open to the public.
This whole town is Piero... (This is a switch for me as I am used to things being all about me!) A substantial street is named after him, there are posters everywhere, the museum has two wings; one devoted to Piero and the other devoted to a mish-mash of other guys. No pictures of Piero art today as it was not allowed, and I was the only person in the room and I was being watched by two hefty take-me-to-the-floor-in-6-seconds museum guards, so the odds were against me! I could though, get really close to them and could see the cartooning outlines in the frescoes, which was really neat to see.
Although I am sure you are getting tired of all these pictures by now…I have included below a few shots from around town so you can get the feel for the town. I am staying in the walled part, the old part, but I rode the bike through the new part of town too and found a lovely street lined with trees leading to one of the old gates. It is a slow paced gem of a town, people step gently and slowly as they meander into the square. They all know each other and yell loudly at each other across the square to say hello. It has been a pleasant day.
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