Below you will find the video documenting why Scott and I have had endless nights of restless sleep. Watch till the end to catch the grand finally.
We are safely in Split, Croatia after an interesting ferry ride from Ancona. Boys got them their hairs cuts and we successfully avoided finding any breakfast place. Weird.
-The Velodicts
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
The Finger Wag
Okay kids!
So you and your grandmother can name a million stereotypes associated with the italians, but the one stereotype that Ive never heard of, but I find to be the most common is the finger wag. The finger wag is a useful device if you are an italian. For instance, if you and your other 80 year old friends have formed a peanut gallery to tell 3 young bikers which way a bathroom is, and your one 80 year old amigo says north, you can follow the following steps to counter his clearly incorrect argument:
1) extend the index finger: this is the most important part of the finger wag. The longer your index, the more protrusion you are able to then...
2) oscillate back and forth using the knuck as a point of rotation. The faster and more pronounced your occilation, the better your argument is.
Most likely the young bikers with just laugh at your finger wag in secret and go find a bathroom without your help, but what do those youngens know about anything anyway. Back in your day you had to walk 15 miles in the snow wagging your finger before you sold Paulo on the idea that the earth was round.
We have enountered the finger wag on many occasions, but it has been most abundant when we accidently enter the highways on our bikes. Now let me explain that this is not our faults. Italian road signs are the most blatant waste of citizen taxes I have ever seen. The point in all directions and list the same towns in each direction. What is worse is that they randomly estimate the distance to the towns, which is countered by a longer distance to desired destination the closer you get. Weird.
ANYWAY... we have spt a nice 3 days in Florence and are now on the east coast of Italia. Thats right, coast to coast. Tomorrow we will be heading to Croatia where new customs await us. One can only hope that they are as enjoyable as the memorable Italian finger wag.
The Velodicts
So you and your grandmother can name a million stereotypes associated with the italians, but the one stereotype that Ive never heard of, but I find to be the most common is the finger wag. The finger wag is a useful device if you are an italian. For instance, if you and your other 80 year old friends have formed a peanut gallery to tell 3 young bikers which way a bathroom is, and your one 80 year old amigo says north, you can follow the following steps to counter his clearly incorrect argument:
1) extend the index finger: this is the most important part of the finger wag. The longer your index, the more protrusion you are able to then...
2) oscillate back and forth using the knuck as a point of rotation. The faster and more pronounced your occilation, the better your argument is.
Most likely the young bikers with just laugh at your finger wag in secret and go find a bathroom without your help, but what do those youngens know about anything anyway. Back in your day you had to walk 15 miles in the snow wagging your finger before you sold Paulo on the idea that the earth was round.
We have enountered the finger wag on many occasions, but it has been most abundant when we accidently enter the highways on our bikes. Now let me explain that this is not our faults. Italian road signs are the most blatant waste of citizen taxes I have ever seen. The point in all directions and list the same towns in each direction. What is worse is that they randomly estimate the distance to the towns, which is countered by a longer distance to desired destination the closer you get. Weird.
ANYWAY... we have spt a nice 3 days in Florence and are now on the east coast of Italia. Thats right, coast to coast. Tomorrow we will be heading to Croatia where new customs await us. One can only hope that they are as enjoyable as the memorable Italian finger wag.
The Velodicts
Monday, August 23, 2010
arrivadercci il mar
Well if it wasn't apparent above my italian spelling is worse than my English, which is to be expected I suppose. The biking has only become more breathtaking with every day, although the sun seems to be amping up it intensity every day as well. Us crispy critters have left the Italian coast today and ventured into tuscany, but allow me to back up a bit and brag about the coast of Italy.
We recently spent an excellent day in Cinqua Terra, a strip of 5 towns dotting a coast of rocky beaches and crystal clear waters. We decided to take a day off so the obvious way to relax was by hiking up and down along this scenic coast. The water was warm and refreshing compared to the 95 degree heat we've been experiencing recently. After finding Scott's bank card in the trash we decided to call it a day and skipped the last stretch of hiking.
The next day was spent biking a wee bit up hill; after the 5000 feet climb from Deva Marina to Marina Cabarra we decided to call it a day. As a side note, if you have a marble countertop anywhere in your house I would bet euro that the stone comes from this place. ANYWAY, we were a wee bit pooped from our wee little climb, but more than tired we were hot. This place has got some serious UV radiation going on. Andrew flopped into the ocean face down, quite the feat for a kid normally takes an eon just to step from dry sand to wet sand. Our gracious camping neighbors (a family from Riomaggioro) made us a nice home cooked meal, including hand picked mussels from the mar!!! The Italians eat in style even while camping.
Today was another hot ride in the sun, but the sites were well worth the sunburn. We spent lunch in the walled-in city of Lucca. A quaint stop that provided the perfect grass for a midday nap. Next was the lesser known town of Pisa, where some crazy Italian architect circa 1100-something decided it would be a good idea to build a leaning tower. Just goes to show what happens when you forget your calculus. In all seriousness the Leaning Tower of Pisa was a fantastic end to a raging day.
-The Velodicts
We recently spent an excellent day in Cinqua Terra, a strip of 5 towns dotting a coast of rocky beaches and crystal clear waters. We decided to take a day off so the obvious way to relax was by hiking up and down along this scenic coast. The water was warm and refreshing compared to the 95 degree heat we've been experiencing recently. After finding Scott's bank card in the trash we decided to call it a day and skipped the last stretch of hiking.
The next day was spent biking a wee bit up hill; after the 5000 feet climb from Deva Marina to Marina Cabarra we decided to call it a day. As a side note, if you have a marble countertop anywhere in your house I would bet euro that the stone comes from this place. ANYWAY, we were a wee bit pooped from our wee little climb, but more than tired we were hot. This place has got some serious UV radiation going on. Andrew flopped into the ocean face down, quite the feat for a kid normally takes an eon just to step from dry sand to wet sand. Our gracious camping neighbors (a family from Riomaggioro) made us a nice home cooked meal, including hand picked mussels from the mar!!! The Italians eat in style even while camping.
Today was another hot ride in the sun, but the sites were well worth the sunburn. We spent lunch in the walled-in city of Lucca. A quaint stop that provided the perfect grass for a midday nap. Next was the lesser known town of Pisa, where some crazy Italian architect circa 1100-something decided it would be a good idea to build a leaning tower. Just goes to show what happens when you forget your calculus. In all seriousness the Leaning Tower of Pisa was a fantastic end to a raging day.
-The Velodicts
Friday, August 20, 2010
Chinqua terra
So here we are in the luscious Chinqua Terra. Well actually right outside in a town called levanto. Let's just say its humid here. And I'm not talking about the type of humid where there is a bit of moisture in the air, I'm talking about full on mosquito infested eternal cloud of terenchal downpour where it feels like it could actually rain any minute. But I shouldn't really complain because when we boil down to the facts here all we are lwleft with is the vapor of truth that is the mediterranian coast. (I just need t insert here that I cannot help but notice what a child of technology and spellchecker I am. I forward al apologies for the blatant butchering of the english language from here on out).
ANYWAY, we just spent the entire last day or so climbing hills and breaking knees on the mountainous coast of northern Italy. It has been fantastic to say the least. Yesterday we roslde through a series of oneway tunnels that scared the beegees out of me. Dotting the coast were fantastic little campground, which we have been staying in for cheap cheap. We finally decided in the town of Deva Marina after meeting the curt new-jersyian pizza shop owner. We knew from his first sentence that this guy meant business in that east cost kind of way, and we ate it up. As scott said,"i feel like i'm ordering a cheesesteak right now." (Philly ref.) Lets just say we drank grappa until we could drink no more. We then took one more shot and head back to camp to rest for another day of his.
After our beast of a climb today, we decended down into Levanto, but not before andrew aquired a gaping gash in his tire forcing us to hitch a ride down for his bike.. Somehow fate tries to keep us from the beach every day, but today I say suck it fate, because try as you did I ended a perfect day of touring and climbing sitting happy on some sand with a gelato in one hand and the mar in front of me. Best trip ever!!!
- The Velodicts
ANYWAY, we just spent the entire last day or so climbing hills and breaking knees on the mountainous coast of northern Italy. It has been fantastic to say the least. Yesterday we roslde through a series of oneway tunnels that scared the beegees out of me. Dotting the coast were fantastic little campground, which we have been staying in for cheap cheap. We finally decided in the town of Deva Marina after meeting the curt new-jersyian pizza shop owner. We knew from his first sentence that this guy meant business in that east cost kind of way, and we ate it up. As scott said,"i feel like i'm ordering a cheesesteak right now." (Philly ref.) Lets just say we drank grappa until we could drink no more. We then took one more shot and head back to camp to rest for another day of his.
After our beast of a climb today, we decended down into Levanto, but not before andrew aquired a gaping gash in his tire forcing us to hitch a ride down for his bike.. Somehow fate tries to keep us from the beach every day, but today I say suck it fate, because try as you did I ended a perfect day of touring and climbing sitting happy on some sand with a gelato in one hand and the mar in front of me. Best trip ever!!!
- The Velodicts
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
we are kinda lame?!?
okay so I just have to suck it up and post blogs from my iPod. We officially got into lovely Paris on the 8th of august and proceeded to immediately ride around the city on our bikes. our first big ride came two days later. For some reason us crazy cats decided to ride 90 miles on day on and stop in orleans. We were hosted by Andrews extremely hospitible soon to be roommate and enjoyed the sites. Since then we took. Trainto nice and have been riding nice 50 miles days along the mediterranean coast. We are leaving Genova today for chinquaterra. I will post again soon but Scott is in a hurry.
Xoxo
Velodicts
Xoxo
Velodicts
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