Flipping thru postcards...

Ciao bellas!

Wow what a week. When we all met for the first time, Colleen told us that each day would be a year and we would be together for seven years. She wasn't kidding. We packed so much into each day.

First of all, a little background. Colleen is the founder of a program called Women's Quest. She leads several different trips to Mexico, Colorado, Vermont, etc but this particular one is called La Dolce Vita and it's a bike tour in Tuscany, Italy. And a sweet life indeed. I don't know when I've ever eaten so much in my life. Despite the fact that we rode between 20-45 miles each day except for the day we shopped in Sienna, I think I've gained about 10 pounds. You think I'm serious but I'm not! Colleen, her husband Howard, and Julia showed us the heart and soul of Tuscany. That included wonderful gelato, cafè, afogado(sp? gelato with cafè on it) cappucino, wine, pecorino cheese, olive oil and bread my senses have delighted in. It wasn't just the tastes and smells though. One of the first rides I was on, Colleen(She was a professional triathlete and Julia a professional mountain biker) was explaining to me how to best attack the hills and out of the blue she said 'Look to your right, it's as if we're flipping through postcards!' Sure enough there were the beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany that you would see on a postcard. And we were riding up and down and around those hills!

There is so much to write and so little time. I'll start with the people and I can't do them justice. For the past eight years or so Colleen has been leading these trips and she is an amazing person. She has this infectious laugh that makes you smile. She'll come zooming up on her bike and shout out Ciao bellas! I can understand why she was unbeatable when she was racing because she has such a great attitude on life and won't let anyone bring her down. While Colleen zips through life embracing it loudly and openly, her Howard is rather quiet. But just is wonderful. He taught me a lot about going down hills, balancing, shifting your weight... By the last day I felt so much more comfortable and was flying down them. Julia had a wealth of knowledge. She is a painter and lives in Florence a good portion of the year. She speaks Italian fluently and knows so much about the culture. She would be telling us about the monks in the Abbey that we visited and make the stories come alive. And then there was Gerrardo. Saint Gerrardo! He's the owner of the bike shop where we rented the bikes. He also drove the van and was our support person. If someone got lost (and it wasn't me) he found them. If anyone needed a lift because they didn't think they could get up a hill then he was there. He stopped traffic for us in busy intersections. He loved every moment of being around us girls! Besides myself, there were seven others on the trip. I was definitely the youngest by about 20 years. At first I thought it would be weird but it wasn't at all. I guess I have a knack for fitting in with people. This was also the smallest group that Colleen's ever had, which was cool because we had more one on one interaction and we all felt very special. I can't go into detail on all the people I met, but everyone brought their own special personality and we all left having made friends. I can now say that I have more friends that I can visit in California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, MIchigan, and St. Louis.

About the riding... I was nervous at first about my knee and climbing the hills. I was also nervous about wearing out my brakes going down those same hills. But in one week I learned so much and am so much more confidant as a rider. I actually was in the 'big dog' group leading the pack. The flats back home are not going to be the same! It was so beautiful. The first day we rode to Bolgheri along the famous road in the Carducci poem. We had one of many gelato there. Gelato is like ice cream but so much better. I don't know why they don't have it back home, but it's probably better that way. There was a very fun twisty, winding road thru Sasseta and some other medieval towns. We weren't just flipping thru postcards, we were riding thru them! I got a lot of pictures, don't worry. We were so lucky. Every day was bright and sunny with a gorgeous blue sky overhead. We rode by the town where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed, also where the English Patient was filmed... Through vineyards and the olive trees... Some hills would be very challenging and take your breath away but then you'd just look around and say... I can't believe I'm here!

This trip wasn't just about riding though. We did yoga, Colleen would recite poetry every day, we had a cooking class from Chicca (pronounced Keeka) a friend. One night we walked up a ridge to a farm family(Andreas and Giovanna) that had a pizza party for us. They made pizza in the outside oven. The farm is on a hill, they had horses, dogs, cats. It was an adorable house. The wine flowed freely and the pizzas kept coming. We kept laughing about how full we were and then they had 4 different desserts. One was a tiramisu that was better than I've ever tasted, another a cake that the girl (her name was Maria just made up) then they also had a cake made out of Romano cheese. Mmmmm! We visited a very famous place that made olive oil and he explained how it was made and why it was made. We stayed at Colle where they made wine and it was owned by a Countess. She was the number one female to produce wine and she only has females working for her. We swam in the medittereanean sea.

It is no wonder that Colleen has so much happiness inside her that she wants to share. It has been an amazing week. Every night we went to bed tired, full, and happy. Today we departed from each other. They have a co-ed group coming in tomorrow. One of the others on the trip is traveling Florence and Rome with me, Janet.

We rode the train to Florence today, and got a taxi to our hotel. After a short nap, I roamed the streets shopping. I had to buy a bag so I could put some of the things in that I bought! Janet was making fun of me because I bought a sweater from a guy that you can wrap it seven different ways. He claimed to be the designer so I asked him his name. I ran into him later and he came running after me with a folded up paper bag. He pushed it in my hand and then ran away. When I opened it, it had his phone number, name and the words 'You are very beautiful' on it. Evidently I have an Italian admirer! We went to the Medici chapel and then were supposed to go on a tour of Florence by Night at 9:00. We had a hard time finding where we were supposed to go. The streets are so confusing and the map the hotel gave us is not that good. En route, we ran into a girl my age and her mom. They're from Chicago. We chatted for a bit and found out that there is a half marathon in the city tomorrow! ha, who would've thought? We did eventually find our guide and he showed us around and explained some of the history. It was quite an event getting back to the hotel. Tomorrow will be better since I think we have a better lay of the city.

It's after midnight and I have a full day of Florence tomorrow chasing away my admirers haha...

Buona sera!