Made it to Roma!!!

Hi - Mary here again. We did it!!! We completed our 6 day journey down Italy to Rome. We had the best time ever...I highly recommend biking as a form of transportation. Sorry we have not been blogging daily...it is so hard to find internet points and we were always so tired when we pulled into town. I will post pictures when I return...flying home tomorrow :-(

We left Sienna and continued on to San Quirico d'Orcia...a beautiful village inside a fortress. When we arrived at 3:30, everyone was taking their siesta's...a real problem for us along the way. We had to wake our host for the evening (Badr - there is a reason he was given this name!) He was not happy...he was napping and fasting for Ramadon (sp?) and we were exhausted! Our ride was tough that day, but soooo beautiful. We had decided to go up to Asciano instead of taking the highway and it was totally worth it, but it was a long day. This town is exactly what you think of when you think a village in Tuscany...lots of locals hanging in the square...we loved it!

The next day we were still tired from our ride the day before so decided to stay low along the highway. It was still a long ride...especially in the morning when we couldnt figure out why were going so slow...turns out we were slowly going up a mountain and with 30 extra pounds on our bike, it was tough! We were so happy to finally get to the tunnel that took us to the other side and could enjoy the long, easy down hill ride to the bottom...another amazing day! We decided not to stay in Bolsena that night and instead went the other way around the lake and stayed in a small town called Capodimonte! After over 40 miles of biking and almost 9 hours, we pulled into this cute town that was not used to tourists. It took us a long time to find the only hotel in town. A cute boy (Ramone) at the beach cafe told us how to get there and who to talk to...then we went back to cute boys bar and had a drink with him. He directed us to the best place in town to eat...it was a great experience to get to eat with the locals...and the food was amazing! After dinner we headed back to the beach bar and partied all night with Ramone's friends. Didn't get home until 1:30AM...we needed a night out having fun...every other night we had been in bed before 10:30!

The next morning we were exhausted, but fortunately we only had 20K to go that day. We rode to Viterbo where the locals where celebrating La Macchina di Santa Rosa...another town built inside a fortress. The locals all congregate inside the town to watch this giant lit up float get paraded through the town being pulled by 100 men. We went, but I only saw this thing for about 10 seconds...the streets were packed and small...I went home to bed and Rose stayed to get another look.

Our last ride was one of my favorites! We left Viterbo early and headed to Anguillara Sabazia...another beautiful town on a lake. This was the day we went up to and through a volcano...it was amazing! We saw fields of chestnut trees, beautiful lakes, and beautiful towns. At one point we had to push our bikes for 2K up to the top...it was incredibly steep getting there but so worth the climb! We made it to our destination and stayed at a small hotel on the out skirts of town. Took the bus in to do laundry and swim in the beautiful lake. When we got back we sat down to dinner at 7pm and told our hosts that we would be there all night...and we were. We met some people who were family of the owners and from the states and we partied with them all night...Rose ended up with a new cute haircut by a stylist from Florida...it was a fun night!

Yesterday we got up late and took the train to Rome...spent the day being amazed! It is really beautiful here. Today we will see the Vatican and tomorrow I will fly home. I have to thank Rose for making this all possible...she did a LOT of work getting this trip arranged for us and it was perfect!! Thanks Rose...your the best and I hope the rest of your trip is just as fun!!