3 May Vercelli to Milan

May 3, 2023

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/cCbVo7Sjwzb

Vercelli was a rather uninspiring town. I didn't stop for lunch so when I arrived I spent a while cycling around looking for somewhere I could grab a bite. Either it doesn't exist or I could t find the town centre. It seemed to be an endless series of roads with occasional shops and cafes none of which were open - Siesta time. Eventually Google found me a Little where I grabbed a couple of soulless sandwiches and some fruit juice.

My hotel reflected my initial experiences of the town. Drab and characterless. It rated itself as 4* but charged me a 2* price. Actuality was somewhere in between and I had a comfortable room, good shower and great breakfast for 52€. No complaints.

Dinner was more interesting. Given the north of Italy grows rice I felt I had to have risotto. I found a local, family run restaurant and sampled their risotto with local suasage and beans. It was very good but very earthy. I'd happily have it again.

Today's ride also reflected the town. It was flat and largely unremarkable. I did stop at a very interesting cemetery where there was more family crypts than I have ever seen. Part of the reason was to share it with Laura who has a rather morbid but lively interest in cemetries. She likes to wander an look at the gravestones and get a feel for the people who have been interred there. She, once, dragged me around a huge cemetry built on the hillside opposite Barcelona. It wasn't a great site for a cemetry as it was on rock and all the "graves" were built upwards some with 6 stories of crypts stretching into the sky. All over the place were stepladders on wheels just like you would find in a large library. These were regularly used as many of the graves had display cabinets which contained trinkets and fresh flowers.

So I took some photos and had a video call with Laura so she could share my experience. It is very grand and upon inspection I found a crypt decorated to the Invernizzi family. The similarity to Inverness intrigued me so I took some photos and am going to do some research. So far I have discovered that the Invernizzi family was famous for developing a range of soft cheeses in the early 1900s.

I began to notice that the number of poppies was increasing and when income across a field of them it was time to go and get some photos. Then I came across a field of purple clover which was, literally, buzzing with the noise of honey bees.

The ride into Milan was mostly on a very long canal towpath which was lovely, no traffic! Then is crossed the city and stumbled into the main square and saw the cathedral. I realised that I needed to stay and explore the city. At that point I also realised that I was not routed to my hostel but to the city centre (behind th square) and that I still have another 5km of city centre,rush hour cycling to do. That was a buzz!

Then it was out for a walk and find another hostel for the next night as the first was full.

Then it was ice cream time. Again copied from FB.

Showered and out for an ice cream I found a Gelateria. It looked good but all the ice cream tubs had covers and to see what they looked like there was a large TV.

I opted for a pistachio cream (full of nuts she said) and a Golosone (full bodied she said).

Not expensive given the portion at 3.50€.

My first taste of the pistachio sang loud and clear, this was the best ever. As I worked my way in the initial euphoria gave way to sickly sweet. I guess it was 40% nuts, 20% pistachio cream (butter cream style) and 40% actual ice cream 🤢.

My first taste of the chocolate concoction bypassed the "this is fantastic" and went straight to sickly sweet. It wasn't ice cream it was a fondant, not even a chilled fondant at that.

I persevered with the pistachio and finished it but I ate about a third of the chocolate before it was ditched.

Pistachio, fruit and nut, 5/10

Chocolate stuff, beige, 3/10

Sugar rush and upset stomach 8/10

Beer to counteract the sugar rush 10/10