these hills bring out the true nature of people, fo sho. some additional things learned as the experience goes on (compiled during the uphill climb from Badia a Coltibuono "Abbey of the Good Harvest" [good honey, btw] to Radda in Chianti):
-GOOD LUCK finding any store that sells FOOD open on any given Sunday in August in Italy. tutti al mare!
-cypress trees flanking a driveway make ANY house look better
-hand-i-wipes serve many, many purposes. Keep a pack in your pack and you'll find tons of uses for them, from hand-washing to dashboard-cleaning to wound-treatment. It's this kinda stuff they don't teach at Harvard.
-small towns in Tuscany all have brass taps which dispense cold potable water. Finding them is kinda like finding Waldo; when you find it, your day takes a noticable step upward.
-at some point in the late afternoon, Tuscany sun turns a unique shade of bright orange which reflects off houses fundamentally different than any other time during the day; this magical effect is fleeting. Houses seem to be taking a bow to end their day under the spotlight. Kinda like when Indiana Jones waits for the sun to pass through the eye on the end of his staff to reveal the location fo the Lost Ark. Kinda.
-(this one I wish I had known when I arrived in Tuscany): do NOT look at the number of the road you are on EVER, simply find the town you want to go TOWARDS and follow THAT. You can thank me later. Oh, and the highway will rarely get you where you want to go.
-as a biker going downhill, when you pass riders who are coming UP a hill, receive gracefully the all-knowing nod of approval, passed to you who already climbed that hill and are reaping the downhill-rewards. They are acknowledging your fortitude, even if they don't know you went half as fast as they are currently traveling. BTW, this nod is not distributed vice-versa.
-tip-of-the-day: if you ride a bike with your feet pointed outward, not in the direction of where you want to go, raise your bike seat.
-Italian drivers use their horn not as a mean to express molten-anger, as in the States, but as a "here I come, get yer butt over to the extreme side of the road...........please."
-Cinnamon gelato settles most arguments.
-GOOD LUCK finding any store that sells FOOD open on any given Sunday in August in Italy. tutti al mare!
-cypress trees flanking a driveway make ANY house look better
-hand-i-wipes serve many, many purposes. Keep a pack in your pack and you'll find tons of uses for them, from hand-washing to dashboard-cleaning to wound-treatment. It's this kinda stuff they don't teach at Harvard.
-small towns in Tuscany all have brass taps which dispense cold potable water. Finding them is kinda like finding Waldo; when you find it, your day takes a noticable step upward.
-at some point in the late afternoon, Tuscany sun turns a unique shade of bright orange which reflects off houses fundamentally different than any other time during the day; this magical effect is fleeting. Houses seem to be taking a bow to end their day under the spotlight. Kinda like when Indiana Jones waits for the sun to pass through the eye on the end of his staff to reveal the location fo the Lost Ark. Kinda.
-(this one I wish I had known when I arrived in Tuscany): do NOT look at the number of the road you are on EVER, simply find the town you want to go TOWARDS and follow THAT. You can thank me later. Oh, and the highway will rarely get you where you want to go.
-as a biker going downhill, when you pass riders who are coming UP a hill, receive gracefully the all-knowing nod of approval, passed to you who already climbed that hill and are reaping the downhill-rewards. They are acknowledging your fortitude, even if they don't know you went half as fast as they are currently traveling. BTW, this nod is not distributed vice-versa.
-tip-of-the-day: if you ride a bike with your feet pointed outward, not in the direction of where you want to go, raise your bike seat.
-Italian drivers use their horn not as a mean to express molten-anger, as in the States, but as a "here I come, get yer butt over to the extreme side of the road...........please."
-Cinnamon gelato settles most arguments.
1 comment:
Happy winter, dude. Hope you're in a nice spot.
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