Alora, the Giro is done and dusted and lots of recovery is what the doctor has prescribed! Since coming back from the Giro, I’ve been on a diet of 1hr recovery rides and rest days. A bit frustrating when you’re all the way over in Italy with beautiful weather and mountains to climb, but I know that if I want to be in some sort of form for Cento (18th July) and most importantly the Tour of Limousin (22-26th July) then I have to grit my teeth and deal with it.
On the positive side, it means that I have been able to go do a bit of my own exploring and sightseeing. Over the past week, I’ve caught trains and gotten off at places that ‘sounded cool’ and been on long walks around the place having no clue where on earth I was headed. I figure I’d take the risks and I was often rewarded with beautiful scenery and new experiences.
One of my little adventures led me to Lago di Varese (lake of Varese) where I decided I’d have a bit of a picnic and walk around the lake. Lake Burley Griffin has NOTHING on this lake. It is 27km in total with a bike path running the whole way around with lots of places to stop and enjoy the view. I got off the train at Gavirate and wandered my way down through the cute little town to find the perfect spot for lunch.
Another day was spent shopping in Milan with the girls. It was a epic day, with a 1hr train ride to the Duomo (Cathedral where the main shops are) and then we spent close to 4-5hrs wandering the streets. Upon getting off the metro, it was about 5secs before I was approached by a guy who asked if I wanted to marry him (if only life was that easy!!!). You know the type, the salesmen who spot tourists a mile away and try to sell them stuff they never knew they wanted until you met them. He tried selling me a bracelet and after denying his proposal, gave him back the bracelet and made a bee line for the shops!
Luckily for us, it is the time of the year when all of the sales are on and everything is 30,50,70% off!!! However, we were not the only ones looking to take advantage of the cheap prices. In the shops we were packed like sardines and had to wait up to 20min to try an item of clothing on and god forbid if you wanted to actually buy something! It took another 20min of your time before you could actually make the purchase. It was a good experience and I came away with a shirt/dress for my efforts. I would have liked to have gotten more but so much time was wasted hanging around just looking at stuff! There were so many shops to be looked at that in the time we were there; we never left about a 300m radius around the train station!
Another rest day saw Laura take the girls and I to Lago di Magiore for a nice relaxing ‘recovery’ session. The water was cold enough to be refreshing but not so cold that you couldn’t swim in it! Donning our new Victoria’s Secret swimmers, we took the plunge off the rocky ledge into the water below. We then dried ourselves off on the rocky edge in a miserable attempt to free ourselves of our tan lines. Unfortunately, a few peoples’ pasty white bellies served as a perfect reflective surface for the suns rays resulting in a not so pleasant sunburn!
Apart from that, there has been multiple movie watching sessions, trips to the Gelateria across the street and numerous treatments with soigny extraordinaire Beth. My back is slowly but surely making a comeback and I look forward to seeing what sort of form I’ll be in come the Tour of Limousin early next week!
But before then we have to tackle the GP Cento Carnivale, a 110km pancake flat circuit race equipped with cobbles. Exactly my kind of race :)
Until next time,
Ciao Ciao
Miffy xx
p.s my computer isn't cooperating with uploading photos... but you can see my happy snaps at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275166&id=746470234&l=7a4717fe97
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