Back in the saddle, for a bit anyway [Florence > Bolgna > Verona; 8/07-8/08, 109mi]

Before I left Florence and began the trek back towards the mountains, it was time to rotate the tires on my bike. The rear wears much faster than the front- instead of buying a new tire I just swapped them and should be all set for the remainder of this trip. Unfortunately before I'd even gotten a half mile away from the hostel, the valve stem on the front tube blew out. I finally had my first flat tire of this trip! I can't believe that I've gone this long without a single puncture.... knocking on wood as I type.

I passed by the train station on my way out of town, and this wise old man was sure tempted to duck inside and take the easy way again... it was hot, the terrain ahead was not "mountainous" per se but at least they're big hills. After a bit of internal debate, the "This is a bike trip, not a train hopping adventure, you lazy-ass" angel won and I got on the road instead of the rails aiming for Bologna.

And it was good to be back in the saddle and warming up my climbing legs again. The terrain was pretty enough, too, and very reminiscent of the Anderson Valley region in Northern California that I spent a summer in with Jess years ago. And most importantly, the temps dropped to a livable level once out in the open air of the hills.

There were two named passes along the route up and over the hills to Bologna, although neither especially notable. Unlike France where I inadvertently began following the Route des Grandes Alpes, here I ended up on the Via del Latte- literally "the milk road," that passed by a bunch of different small scale dairies in the hills. And that, to me, sums up the difference mountains and hills in a nutshell. The Dolomites await!

I rolled into Bologna in the early afternoon and took a spin through the unique architecture to the city center.

Bologna

In the central piazzo is the public library and one of the really cool things about this city: beneath the main atrium is a nicely preserved excavation site of ancient Roman ruins with catwalks that allow you to walk above it all. There's many layers of history here- literally spans from the 1st century BC to the 16th century AD. How they know all this is a mystery to me, even more of a mystery is thinking about all the building that's gone on over the course of thousands of years here.

After looking at the topo maps the other day and realizing that the ~75mi north of Bologna is completely flat I'd planned to train it up to Verona and Lago di Garda, where geology takes a more interesting turn. I imagine that to some people this logic may seem backwards (taking trains when it's flat, riding when it's tough mountains) but I was happy to grab a seat on the train to watch the cornfields fly past at 70mph instead of 15. The poor couple seated next to me was not as happy, since I smelled really bad from biking for 2 days in the heat and not getting a shower as I'd camped in the woods again. At least it was only an hour and half.

I had 2 hours to kill before my train left and I tried really hard to find a restaurant to treat myself to some namesake "tortellini Bolognese" but to my dismay every single proper kitchen was closed for the the afternoon siesta. So sadly I settled for some marginal prosciutto pizza from a walk-up and proceeded to the train station with my odor in tow.