Il mio primo amico italiano si chiama Amerigo

Hello everyone!

I feel like so much has happened over the past couple days. Ive filled almost 20 pages in my journal already, so Ill just post the highlights here.

My first night I stayed in a B&B in Lodi. I was exhausted from the plane trip and the stress of figuring out a new road system and comunicating in Italian. The owners of the B&B were great though. In the morning it was raining a little and so we chatted for a long time over breakfast. The father gave me about a million maps of the area, including one with all the piste ciclabile (bike paths). Just about every major tourist town has a bike map of the area, which is great.

The countryside is every bit as beautiful as I imagined it. There are so many cute little towns that I have to pass many of them by or I would never get anywhere. Im going is much slower than I did on my tours in the States, but the roads are good and drivers are not nearly as crazy as everyone promised me they would be. Also, I am DEFINITELY off the beaten tourist path: Im communicating almost exclusively in Italian, so my language skills are improving quickly.

My first full day on the road I made it as far as Busseto (home of Verdi) by mid-afternoon. I stopped for my first gelato, and got to chatting with two friendly old guys outside the bar. One of them, Amerigo, invited me to dinner with he and his friends. You all know how I cant refuse generous offers from strangers, so of course I took him up on it. It was a WONDERFUL night. Amerigo, Elena, Archimede, and his wife (whose name I cant remember) went to a pizzeria and then drove to Salsomaggiore, which is a tourist town famous for its thermal baths. It was much easier for me to understand the ladies; both Archimede and Amerigo had rather thick dialects. Amerigo and Elena offered to put me up for the night, which was extremely generous.

The next morning I battled on & off thundershowers as I biked along a pista ciclabile that follows the Po River. Everyone who was worried about my safety will be happy to know: I met to very friendly Civil Safety Servicemen along the way and they gave me their number & insisted that I call if or if not I was ever in danger.

Last night I stayed in Reggio nell'Emiglia. The youth hostel there is in an old monestary, which was very cool. In the morning there was a market, so I bought a couple things that will make me a bit less conspicuos, aka more fashionable, when Im in the cities.

Today Ive been biking through Castle Country South and West of Bologna. Im tackling the first hills of the trip but also seeing many more cyclists.

It turns out that getting an internet connection is a bit more of a challenge than I reckoned it would be. The Italians require much more serious identity verification than Americans do.

I have so much more to say, but Im about to run out of time on this computer. Id love to hear from everyone!