All photos related to this blog entry can be found at Grant & Julie

After getting lost in Lucerne, and circling back to Marcel and Karin’s three times (misdirected road works were to blame) we finally found our way out. This seems to be an all too common occurrence of ours lately and quite frankly we are getting bored with it.

Colosseum - RomeWe find ourselves scooting along the Autobahn with no vignette and fingers crossed towards the Italian border.

Switzerland is as pointy as a bar of Toblerone and extremely pretty. Mountains coated with the first of the seasons powdery snow, crystal clear lakes and densely wooded forests are at every turn of the head. There is crispness in the morning air and we hope for warmer weather south.

The main highway from Lucerne, Switzerland, to La Spezia, Italy, is one great motorcycling road. Smooth moving traffic, long sweeping bends, tunnels under mountains and twisty passes over them. It has everything and is enjoyable riding. Always there is a low wave or kick of the foot as other motorcyclists pass by.

Crossing countries borders in Europe is not so interesting with the European Union. Technically there are no borders and you can just ride, drive, walk or cycle straight past the old border control buildings that seem abandoned and unkempt. On occasion one of the buildings may be used for an office, however, the days of managing the comings and goings of people has long gone, the romance of exotic stamps in your passport no longer. Travelling life is simpler with no borders and one currency.

Most people who know us, know we are slow travellers, disliking the rush to get somewhere and tick off the list of “must dos”. Whilst we enjoy seeing and doing those things, stopping in a town for a while gives us the opportunity to just absorb life in a different place, gather insight into how communities work in various countries and just for a brief moment be part of village life.

Aside from the cultural benefits we also have the opportunity to catch up on bike maintenance, washing, blog writing, postage, sewing, or any one of a hundred different things that need doing whilst on the road.

With this in mind, a little while ago, we joined a house sitting agency to see if we could secure some assignments in Europe, thus allowing us to stay a while in a spot. Our first assignment was for three weeks, 26 kilometres south east of Rome in the town of Zagarolo.

Armed with an Italian road map, the Misdirection’s for iPad App and a pinch of luck we head to Lerici, a beautiful terracotta roofed village perched on the cliff face on the Italian Riviera. Our campground clings to the precipice by terraces, and we pitch up under an arbour of olive trees. We cook dinner and have a glass of wine overlooking the clear blue water of the Mediterranean Sea revelling in the warm weather.

Pisa was not too far away and a decision to take the coast road to Marina del Pisa for a camp site was an interesting insight to beach culture in Europe. In Australia we are truly spoilt for beaches. You can park your car and go to the beach. Many places in Europe you park your car and pay to go into a piece of sectioned off beach serviced by the bar or restaurant that is along the road. There are small sections of public beach and they can be very crowded. In general, driving along the coast you don’t see the water or beach just bar after club after restaurant.

It was in Marina del Pisa near a piece of public beach that we were approached by a woman asking if we were firstly Australian, then from Queensland (Crumpet sports QLD number plates) and having answered in the positive we were invited to dinner the following evening.

Astrid was from Austria, currently living in Marina with her husband Sebastian and their family. The couple had lived in Townsville, Brazil, Sweden and Italy. They are working on immigrating to and settling in Australia. Their three children (Laura, Lucas and Salma) speak German to their mother, Swedish to their father, speak Italian at School and are fluent in English. We had a great night with the family and hope to see them again one day, maybe in Oz.

We rode the 20 something kilometres from the beach to Pisa Centro where we parked the bike where every other bike was parked and we were within walking distance to the main attraction.

Crossing the River Arno, Jules recounts to Grant how in E.M. Forster’s “A Room with a View “Lucy Honeychurch and her cousin Charlotte Bartlett, as chaperone, visit Italy (Florence not Pisa). The women were promised a room with a view of the River Arno but they did not get it and thus the start of the whole affair with Young Mr Emerson. Grant feigning knowledge, grins, nods and says “Oh yes”.

The Piazza del Duomo houses the cathedral, the baptistery, cemetery and, of course, the famous bell tower.
We were both surprised by how many buildings were in the complex. For some unknown reason we both had thought that the leaning tower was on its own in a piazza.

The Ospedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito is now a museum houses that house the collection of original fresco drawings from the Campo Santo, that were found during restoration works after a WWII bombing on the site.

We stayed for three weeks in Zagarolo. It felt good partly because of our new love affair with Italy, but also because the house (complete with 3 cats and 2 dogs to look after) was a comfortable respite to riding, unloading for camping, repacking the next day scenario that we mostly have otherwise.

The apartment under the main house was simple, functional and clean. Italy strongly reminded us of Mexico, especially the coast. The sun shone gloriously with temperatures often close to 30C while northern Europe slowly began to freeze we basked in the extended warm weather.

Soon we became accustomed to the Italian way, large lunches with a glass of wine, Italy has lovely drinking wine and excellent produce. It’s worth the trip for its produce alone (thanks Kevin Spacey in the movie K PAX for that perfectly apt quip).
We would sleep surrounded by a menagerie of dogs and cats, the dogs would say goodnight and disappear outside or on the sofa and in the morning we would wake to and excited bunch of furry friends. We could almost be fond of them apart from the smell of damp fur and the muddy feet. Actually we did become quite fond of them all and will miss them ( hope they miss us)!

Zagarolo has been a pleasant stay. Whilst being stopped Grant changed the chain and sprockets on Crumpet (approx 60,000km on the old set with the chain case going on at 38,000km). We found a motorcycle parts shop who ordered everything we needed to be delivered the next day. Dubious we paid our deposit and returned the following day to find everything there ready for collection.

Old and New

We were in need of cable ties and the local ferramentia (sounds like a brewery alas it is the hardware store) assured us that yes they do have cable ties in packs of 200. We could not buy them in small amounts. Hmmmmm a little bit excessive we thought. What to do? Our search continued.

Wandering around the streets we come across an electronics store in the making, Grant tries the door and it was locked, they weren’t open for business yet. A young man opens and allows us in and we explain, as best we could, that we needed to purchase cable ties, he pulls out a bag and exclaims I cannot sell them to you however he was willing to give us handful as a present. We gratefully shook his hand and thanked his generosity and pleasantness.

We took a few day trips to Tivoli to see Hadrian’s Villa (yes the very same Hadrian of Hadrian’s Wall) and the Villa d’Este famous for its numerous fountains.

Both days were great days out. Hadrian’s Villa was constructed on the hill below modern day Tivoli as a retreat from Rome for the Roman Emperor Hadrian in the first half the 2nd century AD. Prior to this time most Villas were utilitarian abodes, a mixture or residence and farm, however a change of focus came about to make villas more of a show of wealth and standing. During the later years of his reign, Hadrian governed the empire from the villa. A large court lived there permanently in the mini town and a postal service kept the Villa in contact with Rome.

After Hadrian, the villa was used by his various successors. During the decline of the Roman Empire, the villa fell into disuse and was partially ruined. In the 16th century, Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este had much of the marble and statues in Hadrian's Villa removed to decorate his own Villa d'Este located nearby.

Temple of Venus, Hadrian's Villa - Tivoli

Many of the frescos and statues that graced Hadrian’s Villa are found in museums throughout the world.

Catching the train from Zagarolo to Rome was a cheap and easy affair. The train line terminates in Romes Termini station in the city centre. You can pick up any number of ‘hop on hop off’ tour busses all competing for the tourist dollar.

We spent a day visiting the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain and Vatican City. Rome is lovely, full of hustle and bustle, ancient ruins mixed with modern structures, food and wine everywhere, traffic honking and bumping, smog chocking your breath fountains, churches and gelato.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pedestrian Crossings in Italy do not operate the same as they do in other countries we have come to realise, the rules seem to be as follows
GREEN – Action: Proceed with caution. Result: Possibly killed by traffic.
ORANGE – Action: Proceed with caution. Result: Likely killed by traffic.
RED – Action: Do what you want. Result: Certainly killed by traffic.