"Rest day." The words seem foreign to me as I type them. Has it really been eight days of bike-foolery since our "forced" day on foot in Venice? I thought that we had had a rest day in Ravenna, but it was in fact just a shorter day of riding. I'm not complaining about it -- it was a good plan, well-executed, and a lot of fun. The fact that I remember it as an off-day speaks volumes. Regardless, I now understand why we feel like we were overdue for a break. I thought it was just the extra work and inconvenience of camping that took the wind out of our sails. Now that October is knocking on the door and we're about to head inland, chances are very slim that we'll camp again, unless it's an emergency bivouac (I say that because I believe, as in France, wild camping is technically forbidden here, but sleeping overnight in the wild while on a trek is perfectly legal), or the campground north of Rome. I'm glad we got so much use out of all the camping gear we dragged to Italy and then all over the place.
In addition to the welcome physical and mental rest, this pause has given me the opportunity to work out some logistics. I now have our remaining route more or less planned out. The further I went with pre-planning, the sloppier I got. I was winging the last leg of the tour. I wasn't sure how quickly we'd get to Bari. I want to reach Rome by October 14. That gives us about 10 days to ride another 800km after Bari, which, given the hilliness of it all, is really pushing it. We can always bail by train if we have to.
We didn't get out too much today, but we managed a couple of strolls around the neighborhood, and a couple of food-related forays into the newer part of the city. This feels like it could be paradise for a photographer with a good eye. I don't fit that description by a long shot (zoom shot?), but I had fun anyway.
There are very few foreign tourists here at the moment. Lots of kids, lots of families, lots of young lovers. Grocery clerks dancing and singing along to "More Than a Woman". Newlyweds getting their glamour photos taken. Beachgoers kayaking and surfing. Long-time residents either ignoring the tourists, or chatting them up like they're the local chamber of commerce. A trio of seniors trying to remember the words to a song they thought they all knew. It feels authentic, whatever that might mean to me or anyone else who visits.
Since we're unlikely to reach Napoli on this tour, we had lunch at a place that serves Neapolitan-style pizza. We both agreed that it's among the best we've ever had.
