If you would like to see details about our journey, check out our itinerary and our bike route.
Our apartment is so comfortable. We slept well last night and were ready for our last day on the bikes in Italy.
The first part of the route was back down the hill to the grocery store. Then we turned right and started following the path around Lake Varese.
We met other bikers, walkers, dogs, and little ones in strollers. Throughout Italy, we have noticed that on weekdays, grandparents (or at least people of grandparenting age), both nonne and nonni (grandmothers and grandfathers), are out with the babies and toddlers.
About halfway around the lake, we stopped for cappuccini and cornetti, and talked with a couple who live on the other side of the lake. He usually bikes around the lake, he said, but today he was with his wife, who doesn't bike.
The cafe was attached to a grocery store. I went in and bought a pound of vacuum-sealed parmigiano reggiano to bring home. We bungeed it to Ken's back rack.
The trail wove through little villages and parks, past a rowing club, a couple small marinas, a neighborhood of large homes with beautiful gardens. The weather was perfect, in the mid-70s with a mix of clouds and sun and a light breeze.
Ken went over a big bump, and the cheese flew up and landed on the trail in front of me. I picked it up. It was fine. We bungeed it back on Ken's rack.
On the way up the hill to our apartment, we decided to stop for pizza at the neighborhood restaurant where we had had dinner the first night. Pizza was not on their lunch menu. So we tried another restaurant. They also did not have pizza. We settled for pasta.
After that, we really kind of wanted to take a nap. But instead, we hauled the boxes onto the patio, broke down the bikes, and packed them up for the flight home.
Then it was time for showers and our last dinner, assembled from all the things we had left in our snack bag and the refrigerator.
The van we have hired to take us to the airport will arrive at 7:30 in the morning. We will be ready.
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| A pretty day, a quiet bike path around Lake Varese. |
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| Varese is a small, calm lake surrounded by villages and parks. |
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| The patio of our apartment was the perfect place to pack up the bikes. We were glad the guys at the bike store had saved all the packing materials, so we could wrap everything up well. |
