Italy Cycle Journal

Day 11- Siena

Day 11 – Sienna: May 23, 2005

Updates are getting shorter – less to report, spending more time just kicking back and relaxing. Might mean that the ‘random thoughts’ section will grow a bit.

Getting really tired at this point. Riding to Siena and back was a major challenge – there were some pretty long hills that I wasn’t prepared for. Since the past couple days were optional ‘add-on’ days, the tour company didn’t put the level of detail into the directions that they had on the other routes.

Which meant that I unexpectedly hit a hill that was about 10km long (aka 6 miles). Probably only a 4 – 6% grade so it wasn’t incredibly steep, but with 6 days of cycling and walking behind me, even a small hill was becoming a challenge. And here I had to ride uphill for 10k – which took damned near an hour just for that because I had to slow down so much.

Riding hills in mountainous terrain is an even bigger challenge than you would expect because the road curves so much, so you ride and ride and ride. And you push yourself until your heart’s about ready to burst into chunks of meat. And you think ‘Ah. Almost to the top.’ Sweating buckets, breathing like you’re wearing an iron lung, pushing harder and harder. Then you get to the top of the curve and round the bend and…

Ahhhhh…more fucking hill!!!!! And it keeps going like that, curve after curve, climb after climb.

As I mentioned, a week ago it probably wouldn’t have been a big deal. But at this point, my legs are a little rubbery.

Not much to talk about with Siena – a very pretty city. The Piazza Del Campo is cool – a big open air plaza that’s been used for centuries as a gathering place in the city. Siena has been in existence in one form or another since a couple hundred years B.C. That’s pretty wild, even if the buildings are much ‘newer’ than that.

I ordered a sandwich for lunch. Without meaning to, I got the tomato and mozzarella sandwich. Tomato and mozzarella ARE NOT a sandwich. There are three types of sandwiches 1) It has freaking MEAT in it; 2) Peanut butter and jelly and 3) Grilled cheese. Other than that, it’s not a sandwich, it’s just some crap in between some bread.

Took me forever to get waited on – I’ve noticed that people dining ‘solo’ don’t get much service. I’ve been very friendly and gracious but I still seem to be the last one waited on in most places I’ve been eating.

I have GOT to learn to make Tiramisu – every time I’ve had it here, it’s been amazing. Much better than when I’ve had it in the US.

My waiter kept saying something in Italian that I couldn’t figure out. It sounded like “Fish Taco! Fish taco!” I have no idea what he was saying but mmmm… fish taco. I miss Mexican food. I think that’s my favorite of all the various ‘food groups.’

The restroom I used in Siena had a lot of graffiti in Italian. I was trying to figure out what it all said, but didn’t have much luck.

I think one of them said:
There once was a man from Montecatini
Who couldn’t seem to keep his hands off his weenie.
…I’ll let you figure out the rest.

Random thoughts:

Don’t know the whole story of Siena, but it has something to do with Romulus and Remus. It intrigues me a bit and I’ll have to read more since it was the inspiration for the heritage of the Romulans and the Vulcans on Star Trek. C’mon – you all knew I was a geek, it said so in the brochure when you bought me.

One shop window had an old ‘Bank Americard’ sticker in it. What’s it been – 30 years since they changed their name to Visa?

As I’m riding back from Siena, there aren’t even any towns along the way. Just miles and miles of fields. Not even grape or olive fields, just open fields and trees. How does a country that’s been around for thousands of years have so much wide open space? Especially when they’re all Catholic? Considering the Italian reputation for passion, you’d think the population would have exploded at some point so that it filled up all the empty land.

Took me a while to figure out that the word for ‘only’ is ‘solo.’ Shouldn’t have been a tough one, eh? I guess that means the song “O, Solo Mio” is kinda like “All By Myself” or “I’m Just a Bill.”

posted by Joel @ 5:14 AM