A week later..random comments and plans for 2012

finally... I've emerged from the dementing fog of jet lag, travel fatigue and  the scrambled digestive system that habitually  haunts me for about 7 days after long haul flights in cattle class.  The only living thing to be sad about my departure from this state is my cat who just loves to have a human being to snuggle down with during the day, ending up as a furry scarf during my frequent day time naps.

And so to planning for the next  season.  One thing is for certain, I'm not going to freight my bikes over or back  again, it'd be cheaper to go business class and pre purchase extra weight allowance.  Getting the bike over to Europe was extra work but wasn't all that expensive...getting it back was a ridiculously expensive money grab.

Since I've had 3 weeks off the bike, I'll not be entering the Women's Omnium or the Metro champs later this month but will aim to peak for the States and Nats champs in February and then will plan to have a solid road season returning to Deutschlandsberg and St Johann during August.

I will not be going to South Africa for the UCI  Masters thing since I continue to consider that format  not to be racing. Also I wonder how it's possible to police the "qualifying " mass participation events so as to prevent women from being paced by their male friends  in order to get a good enough time to qualify.  Of related interest ... in Athletics women's world records in the Marathon can now only be set in Women only races.

Planning well into the future I see that the Torino World Masters Games 2013 has only 1 very hilly parcours of 100+km for the road race (no TT) and given the games habit of allowing age classes up to and including W/M100+ this seems a bit odd.

Rome

Always plenty of ruins in Rome

From the top of the tour bus (and before I fell asleep!)

The end of October and the queues were still infinitely long

The one plus about jet lag is that I'm awake at a time when the more interesting
TV programs are on!

Jet lag's a bitch

back home..awake too!

Random thoughts: 

***Rome was a bit of a trial…

• I was really tired and nearly fell asleep while on the open top tour bus…actually, unless they missed out a part of the tour I think I DID fall asleep since I didn’t get to see what is described as the most famous fountain in the world……!
• Sadly the Lazzaretti bike shop was a disappointment…I keep forgetting that in general European  and UK bike shops are very small and don’t have much on display to gaze at..we’re lucky in Aus, not only do we have easily found bike shops in many suburbs, but they also have heaps of stock/things to look at  and make browsing worthwhile. 
• Memo to self ….if you’re going to claim a return of VAT from goods bought in Europe…don’t fly out from Rome.  Here you have to do the following….put tax free stuff in checked in baggage, go and get it checked in, go to customs with checked in baggage, passport and boarding pass, wait in queue for up to an hour, get paper stamped, put luggage on special location, go to a special gate once through security to wait in another queue to get cash refund or a different one again for a credit card refund.  Had I known it was going to be soooo slow I’d not have bothered, but when I went to check  out what to do there was no queue at all.  Still an'all...I got 32 euros back. 
• On the positive side..... unlike  in Florence, either people living in the part of Rome I was walking in don't have dogs  or the dog owners clear up after the dogs 'cos the pavements were really clean.

***The flight was bearable..

• The leg from Dubai wasn't direct, it was via Singapore which turned out to be a good thing  since, even although it ended up a couple of hours longer, it broke the journey into bite sized chunks and what's more there's free internet at Changi ;-)
• Since there is always a queue for the ladies toilets everywhere, but especially in airports…….what should be the  ratio of  toilets provided  to the expected number of females in the building at anyone time!!?...1 each, 1 for every 5,10,15??????  I feel distress for anyone with continence issues.
• Sitting next to a tall person is the same as sitting next to a fat one…they take over your space..boney elbows and knees.

There's always a group pix on the last day..and as usual 100% multicultural..Dutch, Japanese, Swiss, Spanish, American, Brazilian, Australian with  Lorenzo the Italian teacher at the back.

Many of the Japanese girls stayed a year or so working while learning the language

As one loved by mozzies, this was a sign I  couldn't ignore

Farewell!

Farewell Fabulous Firenze+late extra pix

I guess eventually all good things have to come to an end, and my holiday  is rapidly approaching it's conclusion.  Today is my last day at school and tomorrow I get the 08:40 train to Rome for a day's worth of sight-seeing before reluctantly, resignedly getting on the plane for a 10pm departure.So today I have to ensure my walk during the 2 hour lunch break takes me to the parts of Firenze that I've yet to explore.

Firenze... a city of many parts,  full of tourists, noise, dirt, motor scooters, art, shops full of leather goods, street markets,and beautiful buildings.  I will miss it all, although being a total Philistine who refuses point blank to queue, museums, galleries and churches do not feature high on my list of things I must  do anywhere, even here.

Yet more statues

 Stenciled on a very old building....graffiti Italian style?

Hmm.........what to do while in Rome?.....(memo to self to be very very aware of pickpockets).

First up...visit the famous Lazzarotti bike shop of course!  then I might walk over to the Vatican City to wander in the gardens if it's allowed although with my anti queue policy there'll be no visit to see anything that requires standing in a line. At least I'll have my UK passport with me which is proof positive that I'm not only a citizen of Europe but am also over 65 and so entry to most things will be free. I didn't get to see the Colosseum last time round and of course I'll be keeping my eye out for typos, signs and other quirky  things to take pix of.

yup.......despite the dog poo on the pavements!

thanks all for reading this blog, there have been almost 2000 visits to it.  There'll be only one more post on my adventures in Europe, then back to the usual, written in a somewhat less exotic locale.

Late addition...in 1966 there was an enormous flood...the river Arno broke its banks and the flood water damaged many works of art and beautiful buildings.  The photo below is of a building perhaps 500-600m up from where the river is now and the small white-ish plaque to the right of the  first floor window (English style first floor...not American 1st floor) is the level the water got to at this spot.

 I was lucky to notice this plaque..... I was chugga-lugging a can of lemon tea and so had my head back and eyes up otherwise I'd never have seen it......

Sunday in Firenze Part 3

Weird fact about Firenze:
It is forbidden to put heating on in public buildings until November 1st and it must go off completely at the end if March!
Apparently there is also a similar rule for other parts of the country with different dates, depending on whether it's north and therefore colder sooner or south and not quite such an issue.

Old walls!

More old walls

Old streets

Boar's head outside a shop.....which was selling...?

View from the rose garden

and from the Michelangelo Piazza, high on the south bank of the fiume Arno

ditto

and finally 2 signs....

well,  perhaps I wasn't s'posed to take it...whoops!

and this one .......well ..... the shop is in the tourist area and was closed when I took the photo on Tuesday at 1pm

Sunday in Firenze part 2

Transport of all types

Segway I think

Tour group plus guide

The best size car for Firenze..electric too, so quiet and cheaper

Quadrem??..or am I making that up!