The Perfect Saturday

It would be hard for us (especially Larry) not to describe today as the perfect Saturday. After our morning shopping trip to the open-air market we pulled out the bikes for a longer ride than our normal 2 hours or so. Larry's dream since we decided to move to Viterbo was a loop-ride to Montefiascone, on the edge of Lake Bolsena, the largest volcanic lake in Italy as we've been told. We pass by this way on our Umbria & Marche tour, enjoying lunch with a panoramic view of the lake from our friend Paolo's ristorante. Too early in the year for eating outside but inside is cozy and inviting as our friend grills up meat and fish on a huge open fire in the center of the dining room. He was a bit shocked to see us in February but made sure we had a nice table right away to enjoy an antipasto of beans cooked with pork skins followed by lombrichelli al'amatriciana for Larry and spaghette alle vongole for Heather. The grilling smelled so good we decided to have a small plate of grilled pork ribs along with more beans and some cicoria. After caffe and goodbyes we were back on the road, following some routes we used to enjoy on our Etruscan Trails tour, including Vitochiano which you can see in the photo. Sunny skies and warm temps let us ride with no shoe covers, winter gloves or other cold-weather stuff and after returning home and a hot bath, there was cycling on TV! Life just doesn't get any better than this -- we are truly fortunate to be able to spend this time here.