Polyester Salamander: Trip to Northern Italy

Nils and I have a hard time turning down a travel opportunity. He had to go to a meeting in Venice, Italy with short notice, so naturally we thought, BIKE TOUR! He took a flight, and I took an 8 hour train with 2 bikes the same day. Several people helped me negotiate the stairs and train loading, and a nice frat boy on his graduation Europe tour asked me as politely as he could, "May I ask, why, Ma'm, are you traveling with two bikes?". I looked at him and said, "Ma'm?". No I didn't, but I wanted to.

Arriving in Venice was magical. It is quaint and charming and smells like the sea. As I took my first steps into the city, a violinist was playing La Vie En Rose around the corner, flowers were dripping out of every window, and the facade of each building has this perfectly warn patina of burnt orange, deep rose, or creamy yellow. While Nils was in his meeting I just wandered all over, but seeing the Peggy Guggenheim collection was by far the best thing I did in Venice. She has a Klee I've never seen before but it made me freak out on the insides. I believe it was called Frau S or something like that. Picassos, Ernst, Chagall..and it is staffed by all these super stylish college students who all appear to be from NYU or Brown.

Here are some pics of Venice and the Guggenheim collection at Peggy's Palazzo.

After two nights in Venice, Nils was finished with his meeting and we set off on bikes. Note: Don't ever try to ride a bike out of Venice, it was terrible and we had to ride on a scary highway. With that said, about 30 minutes outside of Venice it starts to be amazing. Day 1 we rode from Venice to Bassano Del Grappa.

Day 2 was my favorite day I've ever had on a bike. We rode from Bassano to Levico Terme, and found the best hotel (in our price range) that we could imagine.

Day 3, Levico Terme to Bolzano was NOT my favorite day, but I was with Nils so I was certain it would all work out in the end. What made it bad was that we climbed this insane hill (someone driving down laughed and said stuff to us in Italian which I'm sure was something like "You are totally f*cking nuts!"), rode through some pretty valleys, but then descended down a really fast highway with motor cycles whizzing by and buses getting a little cozy. Once we finally arrive to our hotel in Bolzano I was ready for a serious cocktail and a bath.