Italy: Motorcycling around Tuscany

Our trip to Italy centered on a tour of Tuscany, Umbria and San Marino aboard motorcycles supplied by Edelweiss Bike Travel. Here are a few photos from our first three days of the tour, including the Chianti Region and Umbria.

Woke up the morning of our Day 1 ride at the Villa Pitiana in Donnini outside Florence. A fog carpeted the valleys until mid-morning.

Our first stop on the Day 1 ride was at the piazza at Greve in Chianti on the warmest day of the tour.

On the piazza in Greve, a stuffed boar guards the entry to a butcher shop that featured some wonderful meats and sausage.

Our lunch stop at the roadside Pestello Ristorante included a pasta with truffles dish that I'll remember forever as one of the best.

Looking out over the countryside from near San Gimignano.

The piazza at San Gimignano was the last stop of our Day 1 tour ride.

The Monastery at San Galgano is known for the sword stuck into a stone by a returned crusader. Read more at: http://www.castellitoscani.com/sangalgano.htm

Our "rest day" sport ride took us west and south of Siena. I look like I'm having fun and I was.

This road marker overlooks a newly turned field south of Siena.

The small piazza in Montalcino is under a clock tower. The town is known for its Brunello wines.

I think the sign says parking only for big German motorcycles. A little chilly in Montalcino that morning.

A good example of the Romanesque style, the abbey at San Antimo was founded by old Charlemange himself in 781 ad.

The courtyard at the abbey; not hard to imagine the monks meditating here a century ago.

Olive orchards and vinyards are everywhere on the rolling hills of Tuscany.

Italy: Walking around Florence

Spent most of our first day in Italy wearing out shoes and seeing much of the old city in Firenze. Here are just a few of the photos from our day.

The level of detail on the facade of the Duomo is incredible.

The Piazza at the Archeological Museum.

Devera and a pair of tourists enjoy the gold doors at the bishops' rectory at San Giovanni.

The other famous Florence landmark: Palazzo Vecchio.

Lodging for two nights at the Hotel Bernini Palace near the Galleria di Uffizi.

Just after the rain at the Piazza di San Croce.

Our walkabout took us to this sidestreet near a quiet little park.

Can only describe this as the leather coat bazaar; unbrellas were the hot seller on this day.

We stopped for a duppio (double) espresso to wait out the rain at this cafe.

Devera appreciates the architecture at one of Italy's most famous landmarks, the Duomo in Florence, also known as San Maria Del Fiore.

Always a busy place, the Piazza di Repubblica is crowded even through a mid-day shower.

Italy: Afternoon in Siena

Towering over the piazza in Siena

Once a year, the Piazza del Campo is the site of famous Pailo horse race; today it's just touristcos.

We stopped for an espresso at a cafe on the piazza; Devera looks relaxed, doesn't she?

Siena's cathedral, the Duomo, features the horizontal stripe theme found on several buildings around town.

Attentive horses in Richland County

On a tour of the company's operations in Montana, I was warmly greeted by a pair of locals.

Fall colors near Eldora

A trailhead north of the Eldora ski area near Nederland, CO, as summer slips away.

A Champion

Early 1950s Studebaker Champion, looking mint, on display at the Larimer Street car show in Denver last weekend.

Park residents

Watching over his herd, a bull elk seems ok with just hanging at Rocky Mountain National Park over Labor Day weekend.

Sea level plus 2.3 miles

A marker near the Chapin Pass visitors center at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park. This was taken yesterday on a tour I was hosting for out of town friends.

Library in Lewistown

One of the more than 1,600 public libraries across the US built with money from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, the Lewistown, MT, library was built in 1905 and added to in 1960 and 1990.

Rocky Mountain water

In the lobby of the Hotel Boulderado you can drink right from the glacier. They should bottle it.

Mountain kids

While we were touring the summit at Mt. Evans, a family of mountain goats strolled up looking for a snack. Four adult goats and these two kids held the interest of all.

Short video of our trip to Mt. Evans to celebrate two famly birthdays.

Grilleworks

Amongst the entrants at a Classic Car Show in Nederland on July 4th was this 1939 Chevy, gleaming in the mid-day sun.

Friday at the chewing gum building

Before boarding the boat for our river tour of Chicago architecture, I snapped this of the Wrigley Building on Michigan Avenue.

Stay off the Off-Airport sign

Mid-afternoon at Denver International Airport waiting for the shuttle bus.

Church spire in downtown Denver

The church steeple is dwarfed by the Wells Fargo Center, also known around Denver as the Cash Register Building. See the previous post for a clue.

Avenue Grill sunset

One of my favorite restaurants in Denver is on East 17th Ave.

Fountain at US Capitol

The fountain at the Capitol Reflecting Pool just before it began to rain.

Glass cactus

Went for a tour of Chihuly: The Nature of Glass" at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix a few weeks ago.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Scottsdale, AZ, complex

At Wright's Taliesin West, recognized among the world's great masterpieces of architecture. This was taken by Devera on a tour while I was golfing.

One lap of the Rockies

The story was posted to the motorcycle group website a couple weeks ago. That's Old Faithful erupting on cue. The trip was a blast.

One lap of the Rockies

We came, we saw, we uplinked

Outside the new White Sox - Dodgers spring training complex in Glendale, AZ

Ducks on Sloans Lake, revised

A trimmed version of the previous but rendered in higher quality.

Sherman Street noon

Out for a lunchtime walk around downtown Denver this week. Looking north on Sherman Street near 17th Avenue.

Boarding from Loveland Pass

On a bright afternoon this week, a pair of boarders rest on the Loveland Pass marker before beginning the trip down towards the highway.

Gull on a wall

One more from the Christmas trip to California. This was taken at Scripps Park in La Jolla.

My regular dashboard

A mileage milestone, just past.

Horse on a chair in Denver

Outside the Denver Public Library, the horse standing on a chair has a great view of the Capitol.

An afternoon at the library

The plaza on the west side of the Denver Public Library offers visitors an outsize sense of scale.

Antique tractors at Western Stock Show Parade

This McCormick-Deering Orchard model tractor is a late 1930s or 1940s vintage. Near the end of the annual parade on the third day of the Stock Show in Denver, the antique tractors follow the cattle, horses and beauty queens, but ride before the street sweeper.