If you would like to see details about our journey, check out our itinerary and our bike route.
Blacklane Transfer was excellent. We arrived at Fiumicino Airport ahead of schedule, our bikes were waiting in Oversized Baggage, and we got to the Arrivals Hall almost an hour early. We texted our driver, and he headed right over.
L'Arco nel Borgo, our apartment in Sacrofano, was in the old, pedestrian-only center of the city. Our driver called our host when we arrived, and she came right over to let us in. We got the bikes together in a little over an hour. I had my usual tussle with the cable attaching my Ortlieb handlebar bag; I love the bag once it is on, but I always dread having to reinstall the mount after we have dismantled the bikes. Ken had a little panic when his front brake locked up after he put the wheel on, but we quickly figured out that he was missing a bushing around the axle, and we found it stuck to the tape he used to wrap a protective cap he had on the axle hole. Amazingly, again, our bikes made it through the journey with no actual problems.
After showers and a little shuffling through our bags to prepare them for the next day, we headed to the grocery store for snack and breakfast supplies--fruit, cheese, Ken's favorite paprika chips, yogurt, my favorite Illy coffee. About 19:30, we parked ourselves at a table outside Il Torrione Pizzeria and watched kids play in the park below us while we ate pizza and calzone. We finished about the time the restaurant was filling with families and friends, and the evening air was softening. We took the long way back to our apartment (which in fact was just above the pizzeria), stopping for peach and mango gelato in the old village center.
It is absolutely wonderful to be back in Italy. There is something about the culture that wraps around us when we are here: warm conversations, food, laughter, soft breezes, life lived in community.
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| Waiting for our host to let us in to our apartment. |
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| Turning the living room of the apartment into a bike assembly shop. |
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| Relaxing with pizza, calzone, and wine. |
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| Kids playing in the park below the pizzeria. |
