Sorry Folks – Rome’s Closed

Miles from Home - 5612.4 miles
Firsts / Highlights - Republicca Day
Miles Ridden - 0 miles
Vertical Feet - 0 ft
Route - No Route Today.
People - Brad Frazier



This post is from June 2, 2009.

Today was our day to leave Rome and head to Cinque Terra. When I woke up this morning, I went across the street to buy some fresh bread to make sandwiches for our train ride. We had some leftover buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto and salami, so prime sandwiches were to be had with the addition of some bread. Since there was a good bakery across the street, I didn’t expect any problems. There were.

It is unusual when I can pick out enough words from a flurry of Italian to make sense of what I am being told. I was surprised this morning when I was able to determine that the man at the bakery was telling me that today is a national holiday, and therefore he has no bread. I understood what he said, but I didn’t understand the implication. I also didn’t understand why a national holiday would stop you from making bread if the bakery is open, but that is a tangent.

It turns out that today is Republicca Day. It is the anniversary of the date in 1947 when Italy first became a republic. A rough equivalent to the 4th of July in the U.S.. Since today was a travel day, I thought the holiday might mean that we would see a parade, and that would be about it. I should have known better after encountering All Saints Day in Spain back in 2000.

The ordeal began walking to the Colloseum Metro (subway) station with our luggage on the way to the train station. As we approached, we could see a large parade was going on and getting through to the Metro station was going to be difficult. Turns out, it wasn’t difficult, it was impossible. The station was closed for the holiday so we walked to the next station up the line with our luggage in tow.

Running a little behind schedule, we arrived at Rome Termini (the train station) with 1 hour to spare. That is far more lead-time than I had allowed at any other train station in Italy, but I assumed it was appropriate since Rome was so much larger than any previous stop. Brad needed to buy a ticket and I needed to reserve a seat with my Eurail pass. We encountered a stationary line so we used an automated ticket machine to learn that tickets were not available for our train -- or the next -- or the next. We got back into the stationary line (now longer) and eventually got an agent to sell us a ticket for 6 hours later than our planned trip. We eventually figured out that the reason for the lack of seats was that the Tuesday holiday had created a 4-day weekend, and everyone was traveling today to get home.

With the alternate ticket secure, we needed to find something to do for six hours. Obviously, we didn’t want to carry our luggage with us all day, so we heading to the bag storage area. There we encountered another 1-hour line. With no viable option to go without bag storage, we waited.

Okay, now what? Our first choice was to go see Angels & Demons at the English-language Cinema to give our feet a break. That seemed like a good movie to see while in Rome. After a Metro ride and some walking, we arrived to find the theater closed for Republicca Day. Next, we walked to the Borghese Art Gallery and found that no reservations were available for the rest of the day. I got on my Blackberry and found a bike shop where I might be able to get some replacement sunglasses. I suspected they would be closed, but we had nothing to loose, so we walked again. We found it, but, you guessed it, it was closed.

Giving up on getting anything done today, we headed back to the train station. There we found our train sitting abandoned on the track with a growing number of confused people milling around (including the conductors). We eventually learned that the train had no locomotive.

The locomotive has been found and we are now underway to Sestri Levante (Cinque Terra). I hope tomorrow marks the return of good weather, manageable schedules and our feet stage an overnight recovery. Tomorrow is our only day to hike Cinque Terra, so we are hoping that our feet are up to a more scenically rewarding hike than trekking from one closed location to another.

Rome Tourists

Miles from Home - 5612.4 miles
Firsts / Highlights - Vatican City, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’s Basilica, Castle St. Angelo, first rainy day in Italy, Spanish Steps, Niccione / Chocolate / Cherry gelato
Miles Ridden - 0 miles
Vertical Feet - 0 ft
Route - No Route Today.
People - Brad Frazier



This post is from June 1, 2009.

Visiting churches is a major part of seeing Europe for many people. I am interested in the architecture, but find much of the history very disturbing, so I don’t spend a lot of time touring churches. Although Brad and I feel the same about this, we both wanted to spend our second day in Rome seeing Vatican City and the related sites. Whether or not misdirected, the effort and accomplishment on display are as impressive as I imagined they might be.

It has been my goal throughout this trip to never be one of those people in a tour group who follows a guide holding up an umbrella. I accept the fact that I am a “tourist”, I just don’t want to scream it to the world by following someone with an umbrella. Motivated by the promise to bypass 2 hour-long lines, however, we were persuaded that taking a tour through the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica was a good idea.

Being a raining day, the guide wasn’t the only person holding up an umbrella, but I knew it was there and that I was following it. Our guide’s name was Mike-from-Ohio. Every time a new person would join our group; he would introduce himself as Mike-from-Ohio. In spite of the indignity of following an umbrella, the tour really did enhance the visit. Mike-from-Ohio knew the subject matter well and was fairly entertaining. The promise of by-passing the 2 lines was only partially true. I think we waited about an hour to get to the security screening area after Mike-from-Ohio estimated that it would take 5-7 minutes. We avoided a major line at the Colloseum by pre-purchasing a Roma Pass, but in general, waiting in line is part of the Rome experience.

After finishing the Vatican City visit, we walked around the city some more and ended up at the Spanish steps after dinner. The walking miles are starting to add up, and both Brad and I are starting to hear the dogs barking.

Giro Finish

Miles from Home - 5612.4 miles
Firsts / Highlights - Lunch on terrace overlooking the Colleseum, Giro Stage 21, Colloseum, Forum, Capitol Hill, close-encounter w/ Lance and Team Estana
Miles Ridden - 0 miles
Vertical Feet - 0 ft
Route - No Route Today.
People - Brad Frazier



This post is from May 31, 2009.

Brad humored me today and followed along for all of the Giro viewing around Rome. Time trials are not usually the most exciting stages to watch, but this one had some extra drama heaped on. It was the final stage of the 100th anniversary of the race, and it was being held in Rome for the first time. Not just Rome, but a circuit course setup through many of the iconic images of Rome. The starting ramp was in the Venezia Plaza, then it wound through the ruins of ancient Rome, past Villa Borghese, into Vatican City, St. Peter’s Square, Castle St. Angelo and finished with a lap around the Colloseum. Closing down Rome for a bike race must not be an easy thing to get done.

Prior to the race, Brad and I walked through the team staging areas and watched the mechanics working on bikes and riders warming up. Just as we got to the Astana bus, there was a big commotion. I recognized from my time at the race three weeks ago that something was likely to happen and be over within seconds. Moments later, the team emerged and got on their bikes to go to the starting area 500 meters away. Levi Leipheimer brushed past me while I fumbled to get my camera. Then by coincidence, I found myself standing directly in line with Lance Armstrong who was about 10 feet away moving directly toward me. He was looking down trying to clip into his pedals without being taken out by the crowd. I knew that I would only be able to get one shot with my slow point-and-shoot camera, so I waited. I didn’t want a shot of the top of Lance’s helmet, so I continued waiting as he slowly moved toward me – still looking down. When he was 5 feet away, I needed to decide whether to step aside or wait just a little longer. At the last possible moment, he got clipped in and looked up. I was only about 2 feet away by the time I got the picture. It was simply fortunate that I was there when I was and recognized the commotion and was able to get to my camera quickly.

One of the unique things about bike racing is that the stars are so exposed. You can see from the picture how tight the crowd was. Someone as recognizable as Lance Armstrong needed to make his way through that crowd unprotected just to get to the start of the race. That is a lot of risk in an already dangerous sport just to get to the starting line. I mentioned to Brad that it would be like Tom Brady having to walk through the parking lot on his way to the Super Bowl. It just wouldn’t happen.



In the end, Denis Menchov rode well enough to slightly extend his 20-second lead and win the Giro. It wasn’t without some tension. After 2,200 miles, he had managed to get a lead over the second place rider of only 20 seconds. That was considered an insurmountable lead for Sunday’s short time trial, as long as nothing catastrophic happened. As the race leader, Menchov had the advantage of being the last racer to start on the course, which meant that he knew at every time check whether he was going fast enough to preserve his lead. Brad and I were positioned on the course at a place where we could see the riders pass once at 1 km from the start, and again at 3 km from the finish. Menchov took off quickly and extended his 20-second lead on the first half of the course. By the time he passed us for the second time, a light rain had started to fall on the Giro for the first time in 21 days of racing. It wasn’t much, but enough to make the cobblestone streets a little slippery. I said to Brad, “There goes the winner of the race, unless he crashes. With this rain, that isn’t out of the question”. Since we did not have access to a television, that was the end of it for us and we started climbing Michelangelo’s steps up to Capitol Hill.

It wasn’t until the next day that I learned Menchov’s advantage of being the last to start turned into a disadvantage. He had the advantage of knowing all other rider’s times, but he was the only person who had to negotiate the final turns around the Colloseum on wet cobbles. It turns out that he crashed in the final kilometer just as he was about to cross the finish line and claim the pink jersey for 2009. A team mechanic in the chase car was alert enough to stop the car and get a replacement bike off the roof before Menchov even stopped sliding following his crash. The mechanic ran the new bike up to him and Menchov was underway in time to preserve his lead and win the race. If the crash had happened 300 meters later, the chase car would not have been available because they were required to exit the course on the final curve. Who knows whether he would have been able to finish the race on the crashed bike? You can’t take anything for granted in bike racing.

Following a hike around Capitol Hill and The Forum, Brad and I returned to the team staging area to see what was going on. I expected that everything would be torn down and moved on like it is on a normal stage. Since this was the final stage, the riders just milled around talking to fans, signing autographs and posing for pictures. This was the first time I had seen them when they were not in motion. The most notable observation was that they all had significant scrapes and scars. Some wounds obviously happened during this Giro, and some had happened earlier in their careers. It made me realize that like football, no one gets out of professional bike racing without permanent damage.

In addition to all of the race-related activity, Brad and I covered the archeological section of Rome fairly well in one day. We toured the Colloseum walked through much of the Colloseum neighborhood. We know that it will be impossible to fully cover Rome in the 2 days we have here, but we will see what we can.

Arrived in Rome

Miles from Home - 5612.4 miles
Firsts / Highlights - First time to Rome
Miles Ridden - 0 miles
Vertical Feet - 0 ft
Route - No route today.
People - Marina - owner of the apartment. Brad arrives tomorrow.


Visualizza Roma in una mappa di dimensioni maggiori

This post is from May 30, 2009.

Traveling without a bike is a piece of cake. I walked 25 minutes from my hotel in Siena to the train station with my backpack, got through the station easily, changed trains in Chiusi, made my way through the Metro in Rome and walked to the apartment I will be sharing with Brad for the next three nights. I now see why traveling light is the accepted standard. If it weren't for the fact that being without my bike would completely change my reason for being here, I would be all in favor of it. Until I am reunited with my bike next week, I will just enjoy being light.

When I arrived, I met Marina who owns the apartment where I will stay for the next few nights. I am renting (with help from Paula Sears) through VRBO.com. Vacation Rentals by Owner are a bit unpredictable, but this one looks like it will work well. The location is good (3 or 4 blocks from the Colloseum), and Marina spent a full hour with me prioritizing sights in Rome, showing me where to find food shops, restaurants, coffee shops and even a mozzarella shop. Turns out that buffalo mozzarella is the real thing, and you need to go to a shop that sells nothing else to get the best (needless to say, I've already been there). They have a vat of Mozzarella balls soaking in milky water. You ask for a large or small ball and she fishes one out and puts it in a plastic bag with about a liter of the water. I have a pretty good stockpile of breads, pastries, meats, cheeses and olive oil in the apartment. The cheese bread was a real find. To buy the best bread, meat, cheese, tomatoes and pastries took visits to 5 different shops.


Visualizza Possible Destinations in una mappa di dimensioni maggiori

Rome is as far south as I am likely to get on this trip. If you go back to the "possible destinations" map, every pin is a recommended destination (remember that you can zoom and pan the map to see more detail). The blue pins are not yet visited, and the green are either already visited or on the itinerary. The Amalfi Coast south of Rome is probably going to have to wait for another trip. The biggest concentration of blue pins is now in the far north of Italy and Switzerland. I will probably be working north in June. I am actually a little surprised that I have visited as many of these places already as I have.

Tomorrow is the Giro finish and is within walking distance of the apartment. Brad will probably be badly jet-lagged when he gets here in the morning, so I may just prop him up and tell him to watch the fast bicycles go by.