A typical street scene in an Italian tourist 'hot spot' - this one in San Gimignano
If you have looked at any of the previous reports of our cycle trips (see www.mikebikes.org) you already know that I go on these trips to enjoy the cycling, the weather, the food and the wine. Whenever there is a castle or a museum or a church to see, I assume the important responsibility of watching the bikes. (If Carol returns from her tour and tells me that this particular church or castle ruin or whatever is special, I'll go and check it out. Other than that, I'm happy to be uncultured.) I avoid popular tourist destinations and prefer small mountain villages to the "wonders" of Avignon or Carcassonne. So, at this point in our 2004 trip, we went into Italy by train without our bikes - no cycling! We went to the Cinque Terre, to Pisa, to Lucca, to Firenze (Florence), to San Gimignano, to Siena - all major tourist destinations, all crowded with hordes of people - though Florence was worst by far with probably 50000 tourists and the Uffizi and the Academia closed because of strikes. As is typical in such tourism meccas, hotel and restaurant prices were outrageous and the food was ordinary. Without bikes, we got around by bus or train - in all, 3 buses, 16 different trains and 2 rail strikes. It was a nightmare for me. Carol, who has a more open mind and who is more appreciative of the beauty and creativity in such places, enjoyed the experience. If I can convince her to do it, I'll get her to put together a report of the Italian segment because if I did it, everyone would know what a Philistine I am (if they don't know already).