Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/183.html



After a week and a half of soaking up the warm weather (and a bit of rain), we're leaving Sicily! The plan is to ride straight through the middle of the island to Palermo for a change of scenery from the coast.


Riding through some of the back roads around Grotte


So glad that it's both sunny and hot!


Riding through the middle of Sicily reminds me a little of the arid terrain of the South-West United States

This isn't a very large island and it only takes us a couple of hours to reach the outskirts of Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Lots of speed traps along the way - haven't seen that in a while. We don't spend too much time in the big city, but instead make our way towards a suburb in the north-west to find cheap accommodations. We end up setting up our tent in an RV park in the coastal town of Sferracavallo.


The sleepy community where we are staying just outside of Palermo, Capo Gallo in the background


On the hunt for some cheap food while taking in the views of the northern shore of Sicily

After researching the costs involved in getting back to mainland Italy, we've decided to take the ferry from Palermo to Civitavecchia, the port town just north of Rome. They've priced the tickets so that it's exactly the same price as the gas it would take to ride there, so we're saving all the time and travel costs (food and lodging). Good deal!


Waiting to board the ferry

The only wrinkle is that the ferry leaves at 1AM! When I booked this, I knew Neda would have a tough time staying up. For that reason, we left our campgrounds just before sunset. The docking port is in Terminal Imarese about 45 minutes south-east of Palermo, so we spent the last half hour of our ride in darkness. The sun is starting to set much earlier in the day, signalling an impending autumn. We've not had to run away from winter for over a year and a half now. Not sure what we're going to do in Europe.


As I suspected, Neda has trouble keeping awake. The shot of Limoncello at the terminal bar didn't help...

Neda and I share a lot of the same qualities, hobbies and beliefs in the important things in life. However, with the smaller things, like the approach *to* life - we could not be more different. For instance, Neda is very much a morning person. I think mornings are the best. The best for sleeping...

The physical pain I feel when I'm forced to wake up early is the same kind that Neda experiences when she has to stay up late. We like to joke that she turns into a pumpkin (like Cinderella's coach) at midnight. Tonight, she doesn't even make it that late. The picture above was taken at 10PM, three hours before departure!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

We decide to try boarding a bit earlier. We're the only vehicle in the dock.

It's a 15-hour ferry ride to the mainland. I remembered the ferry we took to Newfoundland and how it was impossible to sleep in those chairs they provided to the general admission tickets, so I made sure we booked a cabin. After the last few days of camping, farms and rustic Sicilian caves, our cramped ferry cabin felt like pure luxury!


oooh, everything's so shiny and modern!

We got let out into the early afternoon sun of Civitavecchia. Fifteen days of riding down and only fifteen hours of ferrying back up! Surprisingly it wasn't raining! Since we had already covered this region, we hopped on the Autostrada and headed north to the province of Livorno. Right into some storm clouds. No luck.


We are staying in a campsite in Montopoli, very pretty town in Northern Italy


And since it's the afternoon, nobody is around. We have the town all to ourselves!

We set up our tent hurriedly, with the threat of rain looming over our heads. I was constantly checking the approach of the storm on my iPhone. The rains actually didn't start until we were safe inside our tent later on that night. It was a bad one, frequent lightning illuminating the outside so that it looked like daylight for a split second. Wind and rain pelting the sides of the tent so hard it that we were wondering if our staking job would hold.

Nothing puts a smug smile on your face faster than getting into your tent before it starts to rain.

Nothing wipes that smug smile off your face faster than having to go pee in the middle of the night while a storm still rages outside.


Thankfully the next morning, the blue skies returned. Took forever to dry our waterlogged tent though


Neda: "Tell us how you *really* feel about mosquitos, Gene..."

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

For the day, we double-backed westwards towards the coast to check out another pretty town that is supposed to have some interesting architecture. When we arrived, we were greeted with a strange sight: hundreds of people milling around the area, all pantomiming for each other. It looked like a Marcel Marceau convention but without the clown makeup. It was so bizarre-looking, so I had to take some pictures.


The ever-popular "You're Trapped In An Invisible Box" pantomime

Some of the participants showed a bit more creativity in a bid to impress the judges:






Neda asked: "I don't understand. Isn't Marcel Marceau French?
Why are they holding the mime convention in Italy?"

Normally to spice up the blog entry I'd insert a mime joke here, but I've never heard one.


Exploring the rest of Pisa

Almost everything in Pisa is related to the leaning tower, since that is only reason tourists come to this small city. There are so many stalls selling Leaning Tower trinkets and souvenirs.


But there are other interesting buildings here besides the tower


Stan Lee riding a bike in Pisa!?!

After having ridden the length of Italy, it's apparent now how different the north is to the south. Everything is more orderly and clean up here. We've been told that there are three major influences, the Greek southern part of Sicily, the German part to the north and there is still a French part to the north-east that we haven't seen yet.


Goodbye Pisa, mime convention capital of the world!

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

As slow as you guys move it has still taken me quite some time to finally catch up with you. Your blog is inspiring and I thank you for taking the time away from the road to share it.

I am sorry to hear the bad news about Neda's mom. My condolences. I am extra sad as I was really enjoying your coverage of South America up until you had to leave. It goes double because, should I actually work up the courage to take my own trip, that's exactly where I plan to head. You were doing such an amazing job of leading the way. It looks like you have recovered well though and haven't let adversity ruin the ride. All the best on the road ahead!

P.S. Good eye at the MotoGP for spotting Ridgewell. He's dressing a little better these days but one read of his bio has convinced me you got the right man....



"Long-lost explorer Ridgewell has traded “civilized” life for the jungle in Tintin and The Broken Ear. In Tintin and the Picaros, he helps Tintin and his friends get an invitation to share a meal with the ferocious Arumbaya tribe."

LOL! Yes, Ridgewell! Thank you!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/184.html



There's been a slight change in our trajectory. We've been traveling up the west coast of Italy, eying a visit to Genoa and the picturesque towns on the Italian Riviera. Neda's sister, Goga e-mailed us and told us that there's been massive flooding in north-western Italy because of heavy rainfall - over 7 inches in three days! The area around the French/Italian border has been declared a disaster zone, with floodwaters swamping buildings, the streets have turned into raging rivers, lifting cars like floating logs and sweeping them away.

Are our BMW GS bikes equipped to handle that? Computer says no.


Heading east through the pretty countryside of Tuscany


The secret of how to take pictures while riding a motorcycle

I get asked a lot about my camera setup and how I take all of the riding pictures while on the bike. As you can see above, there's a actually a tiny Englishman in my tankbag that pops up once in a while to take all the action shots. You can tell he's British because his pinkie is up.


Lots of swanky estates up in the hills - what a contrast to Sicily!

We book into another AirBnB place just outside of Florence. This turned out to be the first time that we have had a bad experience via AirBnB. The place was a bit dirty and unkempt, and our host and his mother gave off a bit of a creepy Norman-Bates-vibe. We so wished that our room had a lock on it! Oh well, we've had bad stays in hotels and campsites as well, so why should this be any different?

We wanted to stay a couple of days to see the city. However, heavy rainfall the day after stymied that plan and we had to stay in our creepy AirBnB room all day. We had one eye out the window watching our bikes get pelted by the thunderstorm, and another eye on the doorknob to make sure it didn't turn... ahhh! Looking back on it, it kind of felt like a horror movie!


The next day brought some sunshine, so we packed out of the Bates Motel and hoofed it to Florence

As is the English tradition, we've changed the name of this beautiful city to better conform to our Anglo tongues. The Italians call it Firenze (Fee-Ren-Zay). I like that a lot better!


Firenze is one of Italy's most beautiful cities, everything looks like a Renaissance painting!

The Arno River runs right through the city and pastel-coloured buildings line both banks. We followed one of the roads by the bank all the way into the historic centre. The original plan was to visit some museums today, specifically the one that housed the statue of David by Michelangelo, but the lineups were huge and the tickets expensive. We had planned too poorly. Apparently the best way to see the museums in Firenze is to pre-book the tickets online and show up at the crack of dawn to line up.


Oh well, lots of other art lying around all over the place in Firenze!


Ponte Vecchio is one of Firenze's famous sights. I'm not sure why...

One of the bridges over Arno is the Ponte Vecchio, it's got lots of expensive jewelry stores right on the bridge. Those houses tacked on the side of the bridge looked precarious! It was very crowded here, we didn't like it too much. They say it looks much nicer at night all lit up above the river, but we were mobile at this point so we couldn't stay for the evening.


Walking around the historic centre, many touristy shops and stalls

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was magnificent!


Street musicians providing a soundtrack for our walk around Firenze


More strolling through Firenze

After almost a month and a half in Italy, I think I'm getting a bit tired of looking at old buildings. Time to move on, I think.


The merry-go-round at the Piazza della Repubblica is a permanent fixture

After our AirBnB experience in Firenze, we were a bit hesitant about using the service again, but after carefully reading all the comments and reviews, we booked into another place just outside of Modena. It turned out to be an actual BnB, and Flavio, one of the two co-owners who runs it, was hospitable and the place was very homey and welcoming. Ahhh, thank goodness!

Flavio's full-time job is a video editor, so for once we have photos of the two of us together! The BnB turned out to be more than just a place to sleep, as we were treated to dinner and wine that night as well as a nice spread for breakfast.


Hanging out with Flavio at La Selvatica

So we're riding around the area and we pass a town sign that reads, "Sant'Agata". Why does that name sound so familiar? I radio Neda, "Hey, I think the Lambo.." <b>*zooom*</b> a brand new, lime-green Aventador whizzes by us at high speed, pre-delivery white protective plastic sheeting still clinging onto it's body-panels. "...rghini factory is around here..."

Cool.


And then minutes later, what do we see?


German tank vs Italian missiles.

We're too cheap to pay for the museum tour, so we circled around the parking lot taking pictures before being kicked out by security

There's something a bit off about the Italians in this region - they are crazy for speed! In a tiny radius around Bologna, you've got the Lambo, Ferrari and Ducati factories, Maranello, Misano and Imola racetracks, as well as the birthplace of Valentino Rossi and Marco Simoncelli. And not too much further north is the MV Agusta factory in Varese as well as the birthplace of Giacomo Agostini.

What's in the drinking water around here?!?


Waving goodbye to Flavio and La Selvatica. Neda says, "What's with that creepy smile?!"


Oh look, a bird!

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Updated from Oct 17 2014: Old Age and Treachery in Milan



We're stopping by Neda's sister's place in Milan to visit for the weekend! After six weeks of roaming around Italy, it'll be good to relax in the company of family. The map above is a pretty dramatic depiction of where the Italian Alps begin. Milan is sitting on some pretty flat real estate by comparison!


Sestre, sorelle, hermanas...


Mladen "The Kingpin", making deals and side-deals around the table

A favorite family past-time is playing board games together. Monopoly is the perfect game to demonstrate to youngsters that old age and treachery will always overcome youth and exuberance...

It was interesting seeing my piece go round the board, arriving on different properties; having to pay much $$$ if there was a hotel on it, paying a bit less to camp on the property if no buildings were present. Sometimes, Chance took hold and dealt me good fortune, and I found myself Free Parking. Other times bad luck befell me, and problems I encountered required $$$ to fix. A few times, I had some run-ins with the law and almost landed in jail. And for some strange reason, I kept rolling low numbers, so it took many turns to make it around the board even once. I watched as all the other players passed me like I was standing still. It felt like it took years to finish playing!

What a stupid game...


Europoly!

The Italian version of Monopoly is played with Euros. After traveling on the continent for so long, I couldn't stop converting everything to Canadian dollars in my head! Every time I landed on someone else's property, I kept thinking, "OMG it's so expensive here..."

It would have been less stressful if we could have played the Latin American version instead, where landing on "Park Place" will only cost you 20 pesos a night, maybe less if you slip him the dinero under the dining room table. Get Out Of Jail card? That's called a 50 peso note...


Taking Tea out for a spin!

We're told that the warm weather is very uncharacteristic for Northern Italy this time of year. My in-laws are winter-people and they look forward to skiing every season, so they're not too happy about this. Oh well! We like it just fine for motorcycling!

When we lived in Canada, we didn't get to see Goga, Mladen and Tea very often. Neda constantly worried that Tea would grow up and have no memories of her aunt and uncle. Video-conferencing via Skype really changed all of that, and Neda was very diligent in setting up regular chat sessions with her niece to give her English lessons, but more importantly to interact with her so she could build a relationship when Tea was young.

Now that we're in Europe, despite the circumstances that brought us here, we've seen so much of Tea. She's at an age where she is literally and visibly growing up in front of our eyes. And she's in such a rush too! Every time we see her, she gets on her tippy-toes to compare her height to mine. Sure Tea, pick on the shortest member of the family!

We spent the whole summer with her in Croatia and now Milan is only a few days ride from anywhere in the continent or just a €50 Ryanair plane ticket away. Neda is really happy to be so close to her family!


Goga entered a photo competition and we attended an awards ceremony where she won a prize for her picture! So proud of her!

I don't like celebrating my birthday at all, and every year I tell Neda not to mention it to anybody and not to organize anything in the hopes I can let the date slip by without any reminder that I'm growing older. I've never had a surprise birthday party in my life and this year is not going to be any different. Despite the schemes of my wife and my sister-in-law...

The fridge is the worst place to hide anything from me. When we had a kitchen, I would go to and from the fridge a million times a day like a pendulum. Most of the time, I don't even take anything out. I just open the door, stare inside and then close it again. My dad once told me to just take a picture of the inside, then tape it to the fridge door so I wouldn't have to keep opening it.

So on one of my trips to the fridge here, I found myself staring at a chocolate bithday cake. And written in dark brown icing: "Happy Birthday Gene".

With the fridge door still open, I glanced over at Neda, Goga, Mladen and Tea. They were all staring at me with their eyes and mouths wide open in shock. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! BASTARDOOOOOH! You ruined the surprise!!!!"

Heh heh, not on my watch!


Does this cake look familiar?


It's an homage to the same chocolate cake that Mirjana made every single year for her daughters' birthday!

The next morning while we were all eating left-over birthday cake for breakfast, Mladen said to me, "That was pretty funny, you ruining our surprise party for you, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess", I replied.
"Well you know that MotoGP race you're downloading right now? Rossi wins."
"... whut... NOOOOOOO! BASTARDOOOOOOOOHHHHH!"

Old age and treachery overcomes exuberance yet again...


Chocolate cake makes the bitter taste of payback go down a bit better...

The goal of every good parent is to provide a stable environment for their child, filled with routine around homework, meal-times and sleep schedules.

The goal of every good aunt and uncle is the exact opposite...


Pillow fight!!! Okay Mladen, try getting your daughter to go to sleep now...

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Park Place for 20 pesos....Deal señor!

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Looks like a fun time with the family & great pics as always Gene
and great to see you let Neda buy a new swimsuit too

__________________
My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Thanks!

I'm flattered that you think I had any say at all...

When we first got married, Neda and I both agreed that I would make all the major decisions and she would make the minor ones.

We've been married for over 10 years now and in all that time, nothing major has ever come up...

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Hi
Are you going to come to Spain?
If so, when, we could hang around, I can show you Barcelona
Keep safe!

Updated from Oct 21 2014: Swiss Motorcycle Gang



I started documenting our travels about 10 years ago, when we first began taking long trips by motorcycle. Our earliest stories were shared with our family and friends to update them on where we were. It was only when I started posting our subsequent ride reports on the Internet that we received a flood of correspondence from people all over the world inviting us to visit them. We are still amazed and humbled at how many generous people there are out there who have offered to share their homes, garages and a hot meal with a couple of scraggly hobos like us!

On this trip, we feel very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to meet some of these people, who have since become good friends. Unfortunately, because I am quite lazy and this blog lags far behind where we currently are, we receive many invitations only after we have already long passed through the area.


Bettina & Stefano caught us on our way back north

Bettina & Stefano sent us an invitation to visit them in Switzerland over a month ago while we were traveling through Italy. Fortunately, we were doubling back north to visit Neda's sister in Milan, so it didn't matter too much that the blog was behind.

My European geography sucks. I was originally going to e-mail them back saying that Switzerland was a bit too far off our path. Good thing I checked Google Maps... Lugano, where they live, is only an hour away from Milan, on the other side of the border. I don't feel too bad though, I'm sure many non-Canadians have no idea which provinces neighbour Nova Scotia.

Then again, I'm sure many Canadian's don't know either...


Bettina welcomes us into her home in Switzerland

The only things I knew about Switzerland were Swiss watches, army knives, chocolate, cheese and Martina Hingis (hubba hubba). Oh and Swiss bank accounts. Actually, I seem to know quite a fair bit about Switzerland. I also heard that it was a very rich part of the world. Northern Italy is pretty well-off compared to the rest of the country, but the minute we crossed the border, I saw a Ferrari 355 at a gas station. Less than five minutes later, a brand new California T whizzes pass us. Holywhut! I had no idea these were even on sale yet!

Also mountains all around us! The Swiss must have hired a really good negotiator when they were drawing up the borders because all the Italians got was land as flat as lasagna!


We were enticed to come to Switzerland by the promise of home-cooked meals!

Bettina prepared a great dinner for us that evening. Both her and Stefano used to work in the wine industry, so they brought out some fine vintages to help welcome us to their place. I thought back to all of the pictures that we posted in Italy of the cheap €1 bottles of red wine we were guzzling and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Or maybe it was all the good wine I was drinking that night!

The conversation flowed as much as the wine did. Our hosts are both avid motorcycle travelers as well and their last trip to the Isle of Man TT this summer was of great interest to us because we were thinking of doing the same thing as well! We exchanged travel stories and there was a lot of head nodding and amens going around the table. We were birds of the same feather, flocking together.

It felt really good to be able to speak English again, like I could feel myself slipping back into comfortable clothes - first time in Europe, really. Poor Bettina and Stefano, I think I talked their ears off. I'm not even sure what I was talking about towards the end of the night, English words were just spilling out of my mouth like a dam bursting.


Neda makes a nice pumpkin soup for us the next day!

Bettina and Stefano are treating us so well! We asked them to take us for a little ride around the area. Stefano started pulling out the maps of the Alps which is their default route, but we didn't really feel like going for too long of a ride so we asked them take us around the lake for the afternoon. We saw a little bit of it when we came in and it looked quite pretty.


Bettina and Stefano both ride GSes as well!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Little jaunt around Lago Maggiore


Don't have to ride too far to get some great scenery


Neda is happy because gas is so much cheaper here than in Italy!

Being so close to the border, Lugano experiences a lot of road congestion from the traffic coming and going from both countries. Swiss residents head into Italy for cheap shopping, and Italian workers commute in to Switzerland daily because that's where all the jobs are, and the gas is cheaper here.

Just like in Latin America, we were instructed to ditch our panniers so we can lanesplit if the traffic got bad. Sweet!


Both Bettina and Stefano took turns leading us around the area


Follow da leada, leada, leada, follow da leada


Making our way around Lago Maggiore

Ticino is the southern-most canton in Switzerland and is where Lugano is located. I keep calling it Tocino, but either Bettina or Stefano don't notice or they're just being polite. But Neda corrects me later on: Tocino means "bacon" in Spanish. OMG, so embarrassing... "You know, I really like Bacon. It's very beautiful. So, how cold does Bacon get in the wintertime?"


Hanging out at Laveno, waiting for the ferry

We crossed the border fairly early in the ride and it seemed to me like were actually doing more riding in Italy than Switzerland. "Hey, come on up to Switzerland so we can show you around the neighbouring country where you just came from!"


We actually got engaged in Switzerland - at Lake Lucerne back in 2002.
This picture kind of reminded me of that.


Waiting for the ferry


Honk if you love GeeSes!

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com

Bettina shops at the same place I do for motorcycle gear...


Bikes all ready for a quick ride across the lake


Turned out to be a great day for a ride!


Awww... we *LOVE* this picture of us! Thanks Bettina & Stefano!


Our Swiss Motorcycle Gang! Don't mess with us or we'll put holes in your cheese and slash your interest rates!

I used to lead a lot of group rides in the past, and I forgot what it felt like to just follow someone, trusting that they knew where they were going and to just sit back and enjoy the scenery and the curves ahead of my front wheel. And what scenery it was: beautiful lakeside-towns, mountains in the background, clear skies and the sun blessing our excursion on these twisty Swiss (Swissty?) roads.


Bettina takes us away from the lake to explore the hills a little bit


Farm tour


In this picture, I know we're still in Italy because Conad...

Conad is one of Italy's most popular convenience store/grocery chains. Because this trip is more about daily life in the places that we're visiting, we equate Conad with Italy, just like Mexico = Pemex, OXXO and Telcel. Also Conad sounds like Gonad.

I didn't come up with that, it was actually Neda who pointed it out. Everytime we'd pass a Conad, I'd wait for the intercom to come online so I could hear my wife giggle into my ear, "Gonad...! heh heh heh!" and then the intercom would turn off. Every single time.

My childish sense of humour is finally rubbing off on her.


Heading back to Switzerland after an awesome ride!

It was such a great afternoon of riding and spending time with our new friends, and also getting to see a bit of the area around Como and Lugano. We were making our way back, and on one of the hills I was accelerating and shifted up into fourth gear. I gave it some gas and... nothing. The engine revved loudly, but the bike didn't accelerate. I kept the revs up and slowly the motorcycle sped up to what the throttle was asking of it.

That's not supposed to happen...

I downshifted back into third. Acceleration seemed okay when the revs were up. Then I upshifted to fourth again and gave it some gas. Revs went up and again, that delay in acceleration as if my throttle was connected to a vehicle in front of me towing my motorcycle with a long elastic band.

uh oh...

__________________
Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com