We are on to our third night in Stresa, which again is unbelievably beautiful. We really have found the northern part of Italy to be much nicer than the south. We were warned of this - as the south has little industry and is very poor. Consequently, once you leave the tourist area of Amalfi Coastal strip the villages are very dirty and poor looking. The buildings we saw were all in a state of disrepair - especially the multi-storey flats/units. Most were suffering from concrete cancer. Somethinng we have noticed in both areas though is the quality and tast of the fruit and vegetables, The tomatoes and strawberries are superb. Also we notice that only seasonal meat, fruit and veges are available and only what is grown locally. There doesn't seem to be the same transport of food between areas as in Australia.
We met up with our friends at the Milan airport, picked up the car and after much discussion (over 1/2 hour) in trying to work out how to get the hand brake off we made our way to Stresa. We've been having an unbelievably good time in Stresa. Tony & I were on dinner duty the first night; Sara & Darren on cocktail duty. Jenny organised nibbles. Had a great meal with lots of wine; music and dancing. We met up with Liane and Scott. Liane is living not to far away and is working with the AIS womens cycling team. Our first night ended at 2.30 am and last night at 1.00 am. We still all managed to show for a 7.00am start for our first cycle - along the lake for a coffee then back. We had to be back in good time as we had purchased tickets for a ferry/train excursion to Switzerland - with the ferry leaving at 11.00am.
Our hire bikes arrived at 5pm on Saturday. Mayhem prevailed for a couple of hours as everyone was concerned to get the bikes adjusted to our carefully taken measurements. I'm not sure why we had to provide such detailed measurements for the bikes as none of them complied with any of the measurements. Most of us girls had brought our own saddles so Tony was much in demand - adjusting seat heights; attaching our pedals and changing saddles. (Much assisted by Darren and Tony S - Pam & Tim were in the kitchen cooking up a storm for dinner). However, finally everyone declared they were happy so this mornings ride was to test our the gearing and set-ups. All was good!!!
We had another great day today - and despite all of us declaring that we were not drinking today - we all accepted wine with our lunch on the ferry and have lined up again for Prosecco - with tomato, buffalo mozzarello and basil.
Jenny & Sue are on dinner tonight - minestrone! Looking forward to it too! How can I be! it took 3 months to lose 3 kg and only 3 days to put it back on!
Havent even mentioned the fantastic villa we are in..Its amazing - 8 bedrooms - 3 levels and right on the lakes edge. We look directly out to the beautiful Borromeo islands. I'll add some photos when I work out how.
cheers for now - hopefully will be back tomorrow after our ride to Mottarone.
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