PIZZA!

We're over jet-lag for the most part and starting to really enjoy being in Italy as you can see in this photo, taken just down the hill from our hotel this afternoon. We "needed" to test-ride one of the new Torelli bikes so "Baldini" was dialed in to Larry's specs and off we went for 40 kms in the sunshine, ending at the community park and ristorante, run by Gianni and his wife. Gianni took a liking to us right away as cyclists, he was at the World's in Switzerland when Greg LeMond won the rainbow jersey in 1983. Now he's making the pizza and we enjoyed this one at the end of our ride today. Work later (hey, it's OUR company, we set the priorities) consisted of finishing the prep of the new rental bikes and some other organizing of equipment and supplies. Now that we're on "Italian Time" we could fully enjoy a "cena Piemontese" here at Ariotto so we went full-on, a young Barbera to go with our antipasto of vitello tonnato, followed by lasagne, then roasted veal, green beans and carrots before Susi's famous "brut-e-bon" cookies and panna cotta (cooked cream) topped with chocolate sauce, washed down with a Moscato d' Asti before caffe and grappa--and typing this blog! Tomorrow there's more work to do before we head back up to Bergamo but we'll sneak in another couple of hours of cycling in the gorgeous Monferrato hills. Time is ticking away and we need to be down in Rome on Thursday ready to go for Campania's Cilento Coast. Ciao for now!