Pienza...at last!

We finally made it to Pienza...our home for the next 9 weeks.

Why did we choose this small town out in the middle of nowhere?

The Duomo dominates the town

The town hall across the piazza from the Duomo

The wall that keeps the city from
sliding into the Val d'Orcia

A residential "street"

Our apartment is really small and organized differently than a similar-sized apartment in the US.  This will take some getting used to.  But the view out our windows can’t be matched....

The Val d' Orcia from our apartment

Looking the other direction

Pienza is not the easiest place to get to...especially on a bicycle.  Remember all the times we commented on how flat the landscape in the PO Valley is?  Here’s an idea of how different the terrain is in toscana.  

In the Po Valley, we rode our bikes 300 km and had roughly 300 meters of climbing.  As soon as we got settled, we shed our 40 pounds of panniers (saddlebags) and headed out for a short ride to  a few of our favorite nearby towns.

In the first 10 km of the ride, we hit hills of 10%, 12%, and 15% grades (For those of you who are not cyclists, the US Department of Transportation will not permit a federal highway with more than a 6% grade).  In a mere 30 km, we had 680 meters of climbing.  Comparing that to the Po...this ride was 22 times as hilly.  And we haven’t taken on any really big hills yet.

As we settle in, we’ll send you some hints of what daily life in the Tuscan countryside is like.  Today, starting before 7am, we were hit with an amazing thunder and lightning storm.  As we rolled over and decided it would be a good day to get organized in the apt and to read and to finally get caught up with blogging, we thought of the FOUR bike tour groups staying several blocks away at the Cloisters.  They are REI, VBT (Vermont Bike Tours, the group we came here with our first time to Italy), Backroads and Ciclismo Classico.  Not a day to be on the bikes.  It is now mid-day and the squalls continue.  So far, there have been three days like this, more than we have experienced in our five prior trips all together.  Tomorrow’s forecast is not much different.  

Carol is starting to knit a pair of wool socks.  Roger is starting a new book on Boundelmonte whose murder typified the century long civil war between the Guelfs and the Ghibbilines in Florence of the 13th century.  The book, A Thing Done, is not great literature, but it is a fun telling of the story and describes the culture and politics of the time.  Can you guess that Carol really likes that time period and Roger is not far behind?  

Pienza's main street...after the tourists left.

Carol with her favorite flower of Pienza...
but we can't figure out its name

By the way, we have had one set each of on and off the bike clothes for the past three weeks.  It is really sweet to be back with our suitcases and clean clothes.  Standing outside our apt, in front of you is the panorama of the Val d' Orcia and behind you is the laundry line with our things drying.  We are not yet caught up with our blog posts, but we are caught up with washing dirty laundry.

To be continued........