Stormy Night

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A big thunderstorm whipped through the Gemona del Friuli campground last night on its way northeast from Venice. Big wind, exciting thunder and lightning, and major rain. The kids sat outside watching lightning streak across the sky for quite a while before dashing for the safety of their tent. Both tents weathered the storm without problems and were surprisingly dry in the morning.

This morning the light was beautiful and the humidity was down, at least until the sun rose from behind the Alps. 

A tough day of riding, with a handful of mishaps and challenges. Ruby wiped out and landed hard on a patch of gravel. As we were bandaging her scrapes and skinned elbow, a tour group of 30+ cyclists passed by, oohing and ahhing with concern and empathy. I honestly think this helped more than the bandaids, so thank you, tour group. 

Some of the riding was really gorgeous and it's sinking in that we're in Italy.



By lunchtime we were feeling hot and dejected. We sat on the sidewalk outside the Aldi grocery store eating our watermelon and sandwiches and yogurt, and received a number of furtive glances from passers-by. I guess we were looking pretty scruffy and weird.

Fountains bring out more strange behavior...

Our afternoon push took us through the spectacular Venician city of Udine. City riding takes immense concentration and teamwork, and Dave did an amazing job navigating. Everyone did a super job of communicating and sticking together.

Udine would have been fun to explore for a few hours (or days!), but we were ready to push onward to our 16th century farmhouse bed and breakfast in the countryside. We arrived around 2:15, and promptly woke the farmer-landlord up from his afternoon nap by calling his cellphone, which rang loudly from somewhere upstairs. He stuck his head out the upstairs window, clearly inconvenienced but with a twinkle in his eye, and graciously allowed us access to our rooms (providing we give him a great review on Booking.com).

After desperately-needed showers, naps, and fresh bandaids, we took his dinner recommendation and biked 3 km through the countryside to a local restaurant for a three-course meal. We had no idea how to handle the whole multi-course dining experience but had a lot of fun trying. Now nobody can claim we didn't sample the Friuli cuisine!

Love to all,
Liv


Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 27, 2025 at 11:44 PM

    Yum!!! I want the dessert with the cinnamon on top!
    Ruby, I’m so sorry you wiped out! Glad you got a LOT of sympathy!!!♥️gma

    ReplyDelete
  2. LA StarJune 28, 2025 at 8:03 AM

    Glad to see Ruby all smiles after her tumble. What a gorgeous area! I wish we were bumping into you in Italy! 🇮🇹

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tandem TootlersJune 29, 2025 at 4:17 AM

      Yeah, where are you guys? Meet us in Croatia?

      Delete
    2. LA StarJuly 6, 2025 at 8:53 AM

      Croatia is rapidly moving to the top of the list!

      Delete

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