Como > Bellagio 42km, Ferry Bellagio > Menaggio, Mennagio > Sondrio 70km then train Sondrio > Milano

August 10, 2014

Como > Bellagio 42km, Ferry Bellagio > Menaggio, Mennagio > Sondrio 70km then train Sondrio > Milano > Bologna

[Originally posted Aug 10, 2014]

And Alfredo? Do you have this sauce with your pasta?

Alfredo? Non capisco..

Alfredo (I said it the way my grandpa would: louder and slower). In America we always eat this with our pasta.

No, I never hear of this, Sileno repeated.

We were in the home of Sileno Lessi and discussing the ins and outs of Italian cuisine. Sileno has lived in Como, Italy for the last 25 years. He commutes to work by bicycle (like many in Como), which is a short trip from his home in the “old city” of Como. After dinner he took us on a leisure stroll through town stopping to visit his church, cathedral (a 700 year old beautiful building where Sileno occasionally sings in the choir - it sure blows the “stake center” out of the water - sorry Dad, but you chose the wrong to church to enjoy the choir) the original city walls and tower that date to the medieval period and then a section of the city where the original roads from 2,000 years ago still stand. Sileno spoke plenty of English, but he repeatedly apologized that his wife was on holiday visiting their daughter in the Canary Islands while she sets up an Italian restaurant there. And so back to our conversation, Katy and I were shocked that here in Italy, while enjoying a home made pasta dinner with a delicious bolognese sauce we met an Italian who claimed “Alfredo, this I have never hear of.” We guessed that something must have been lost in translation, because in America it seems that Fettucine Alfredo is as Italian as all of the other Italian words that have left the dinner tables of Italy and spread throughout the world: pizza, pasta, spaghetti and the list goes on. To end the story, a quick trip to Wikipedia informed us that “Alfredo” is a very common sauce in Italy but is known by its Italian name: pasta al burro e parmigiano - pasta with butter and parmesan. As soon as he saw this he quickly responded, Si, Si, Si, bravo, bravo. And it is these types of conversation which make traveling by bicycle and the great opportunity to use WarmShowers such a wonderful aspect of this trip. Being able to enter the home of so many great British, Scottish, French, Swiss and now Italians has really opened the culture of these countries and people. Contrast that experience with tonight’s experience: staying in a hostel where I have a conversation with a guy from Perth, Australia, a family from London and another guy from South Africa. It seems that it is too easy to come to Italy and not actually end up meeting (in a meaningful way at least) any actual Italians.

Today’s ride (Como > Menaggio) was incredibly difficult or rather slow - depending on who you ask. Today was the first day where Katy and I “separated”. I took the bike and rode north from Como to Bellagio with a slight detour into the mountains to retrace part of a trip my family took here at Lake Como on some Vespa scooters 3 years ago. I then jumped on the ferry from Bellagio to Menaggio. Katy spent the morning in Como and then took the bus. And so why did we separate? No, we don’t hate each other. Yes we still like each other. But let me recall a conversation from a church class in the Ann Arbor 2nd ward to explain.

In a marriage help type class, the topic of “making time for each other” was brought up. It was suggested by members of the class that it is absolutely imperative to have one night a week which is “date night” where the husband and wife put aside all other aspects of “life” (which includes the kids) and just spend time with each other. When this comment was suggested, all of the couples in the class started shaking their heads as if “of course, this is the only way our marriage has survived”. Although, simultaneously a good friend, Megan Fuller (without kids) leaned over to me and whispered “what are they talking about? every night is date night”. And I laughed, cause it’s the truth. Back in Ann Arbor Katy and I were free to go on a date every night. And the last month? Well let’s just say it has been one really long date. Always a new city, always good food to be had and etc. Maybe you can have too many dates? I’m not sure. But I think the idea mentioned in the class at church was more along the lines of: mix things up, do something different, don’t get into routines if they aren’t working for you. And so after almost 6 weeks of being side by side (like missionaries - except I never showered with any of my companions - well the Tree of Life I guess is a different story) Katy and I thought it could only be helpful to mix it up. And it was. So I guess for now on we will have "making time for yourself night" one night a week where we are free to go our own way".

For me - it was a great day of climbing (on a bike) in the mountains. Nothing I like more than a steep paved road that goes on and on and on. I love it when my quads burn, my lungs are racing and sweat drips off my forehead and chin onto my headset. Love it. But for Katy, maybe not so much. Window shopping, a little bit of gelato and a casual morning in town was good for her.

-next day-

So we backtracked a tad.

A tad, a tad Lloyd. You drove almost a sixth of the way across the country in the wrong direction. We don’t have enough money to get to Aspen, we don’t have enough money to get home, we don’t have enough money to eat, we don’t have enough money TO SLEEP!

We’re in a hole. We’re just gonna have to dig ourselves out.

(Emotional music plays)

Just when you couldn’t possibly be any dumber. You go and pull a quick stunt like that, and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF. UhAHHH. Still want to go to Aspen? Oh YEAH.

This is the clip from Dumb and Dumber that’s been going through my head for the last hour or so. After we left Lake Como this morning we rode north and east towards Bormio, Italy and the Stelvio Pass which would allow us to enter Austria and then Germany and then make our way east along the Danube River to Vienna and Budapest. But, our ride this morning started out with a light drizzle, then a light rain, then a steady rain and eventually a downpour. It poured for the 4 hours we were on our bike. We finally pulled off for lunch in Sondrio and took shelter near a grocery store. As we “wolfed” down our bread, cheese, pasta, yogurt and granola we attracted quite the attention of the passer-bys. I had taken my shirt and shoes off to try and dry and was half shivering. In a mixture of hand gestures, facial expressions and Italian we were told that rain was expected for the next week. After perusing worldweatheronline.com for Salzburg, Munich and every other town we were headed and finding rain in all of them, we decided it wasn’t to be. We decided that fighting through the rain for the next 10 days (a pretty nasty weather system is kind of sitting on the Alps right now) or so didn’t sound like too much fun (although I am upset about getting to a day’s ride away from the Stelvio and having to turn around) so we packed up lunch, went to the train station and booked the first train south. And so we’re here on the train (feeling like a quitter) headed south (back down the road we’ve been riding up for the last couple days - hence the Dumb and Dumber reference) to Milan. Hopefully riding east from Milan to Venice and then through the Julian Alps of Slovenia to Vienna will bring sunnier skies, dryer socks and less frequent use of plastic bags to protect valuables.

And, I guess when it comes down to it, that’s the nice thing about this trip. We have nowhere to go, a long time to get there, and we can change direction whenever we want. (The not so nice thing is that now the sun is out, it’s beautiful and we’re second guessing our decision to turn around. Oh well, just more time for PPG (pizza, pasta, gelato).

-now it's morning-

Actually ended up in Bologna last night. Getting on a train is a dangerous thing: you quickly realize that with the time it takes for a quick power nap a train can zoom you across a couple days of riding. So after Milan we went east to Bologna. Katy thinks it is great I am still sorting out how I feel about "cheating" on a bike tour. Bologna was great. As we entered the city Piazza we passed the Cathedral of St. Peter - which we quickly did a U-turn upon seeing through the open doors into the vast interior. As we approached the two "priests or men in charge at the door" quickly motioned for us to bring our bike inside so we could spend some time in the Cathedral - quite the welcome (and one we never got in France). We then toured through the University Area - covered in graffiti with a very gothic vibe - it used to be the Jewish ghetto from long ago. All night we attracted tens and hundreds of points and stares and comments of people trying to figure out our bike and what we were up to. Love the Italians.

Expenses: €3 Pasta in Sondrio, €23 Train to Milano, €40 Train to Bologna, €10 Fine for not having our tickets validated at the "yellow machine", €7 Dinner #1, €3.60 Dinner #2, €29 Hostel - one of these days we will get back to traveling with a reasonable budget.