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March 25 Saturday Bicycle touring Italy from Lago Trasimeno Italy to past Perugia Italy At Perugia we climbed some killer hills on our fully loaded touring bicycles to get to town centre. Saw an Antiquarium sign and looked into a long dimly lit passageway that looked right out of a dungeon movie. I went in. There was a maze of passageways off the main entry. Tables were set up like a flea market. People were selling old books, paintings, trinkets, stamps, coins, collector cards of popes and other religious figures. Sharon said she saw a room with antique bicycles and tricycles for sale. Aunt Edna and Uncle Jim would be in there forever, in heaven, no doubt. I carefully retraced my footsteps, admiring the high arched brick ceilings, nooks and crannies, until I made it back out into the daylight. Was worried for a while, lost in the maze, think I should have left a trail of bred crumbs. Now those were real antiques. Great view of the town from above. Stairs are everywhere. They even have escalators to get from some sections. Lots of tourists. The Fountain of Maggiore was being restored. Workers in lab coats were enclosed inside a giant smoke-coloured Plexiglas bubble, working away. Figures of saints are carved around the fountain and their tunics are being made white again. Went into a room by the art gallery. A whole ceiling and walls were painted with scenes of hunting, dogs, and mythical human-animal forms. Amazing. Met Ivo and Anke, two cyclists from Austria on spring break. Today was their last day of bicycle touring. They are taking the train home to return to university. Anke is in medicine. Ivo is in architecture at university, so he is really interested in the many building styles here. Like everything, I suppose, the more one knows, usually the more interesting things are. The square was jam-packed when we arrived. People were milling about in every direction. Confused-looking tourists were looking at their maps and guide books. School children with colourful backpacks were talking loudly, on their way home for lunch. Business people in suits, out of a conference, who look decidedly out of place as they stroll around. A school sightseeing group eats onion sandwiches on the church steps. We lean our bikes on the quiet side of the church and eat bread with apples. The pigeons take an interest in us. Every once in a while, on some invisible command, they will fly off, do a group flight, circling the plaza a few times with amazing aerial ability. When they all come down to land, I am amazed tourists don't get hit. In an hour, the busy square is deserted ... except for one old guy stretched out on the Senate steps, drinking wine from a bag. On a steep downhill out of town I brake hard and the rear tire on my fully loaded touring bicycle skids. A little scary. I barely make it around the corner in my own lane, although, fortunately, no one was oncoming. They don't put speed limit signs on corners on these little roads in Italy that we are cycling, so sometimes it is difficult to judge how much to slow down. |
