Day 22 - Locarno - Milano - Sept. 15

By 8:30 we were all on the road.  Excitement was runnig high - it was the last day and the weather was perfect.  the first part of the day was to cycle along the shores of Lago Maggiore - John says it was the most beautiful biking he had done with mountains on one side and the lake on the other.  We, in the van, saw how
narrow the roads were and just prayed they would arrive safely at the ferry.

We are asked to buy some food for lunch today - loaf of bread, cheeses, salami, grapes, red wine, white wine - we see a street vendor at the side of the road - he has everything we need, how convenient.....



We get it set up right along the shores of Lago Maggiore just after our ferry ride across the lake.

                                            "Breaking bread together - Italian Style"

How many people does it take to change a flat?

Poor Bernie just couldn't win today - it was his day for flat tires - 3 even and this one happened just as the group of cyclists were ready to leave after lunch.  His comment for the day was that he just couldn't win - bad things happen in threes and he has his 3 flats.  Right near the end he landed up taking the back wheel off one of the bikes in the van and replaced his with it so he could finish the ride.  From this point the van would not meet up with the cyclists until the end of the day.



At a certain point, the cyclists landed up on the freeway - no body knows for sure how this happened but it did.  John K's comment about yesterday was that he was scared s.......... he did not enjoy the ride through the tunnel either with trucks passing.....and all kinds of debris on the side of the road.  Dora says she never wants to repeat the last part of yesterday's ride.  All she saw of Milano was the road, the cars and the wheel of the cyclist in front of her. 
In spite of all this, the cyclists all arrived safely by 6:00 p.m.  The van had arrived at least an hour earlier and Anna had frustrations finding a parking spot.  I've never seen such congestion - motor bikes and scooters just shoot in and out of the vehicles.  Cars double park everywhere and then you wonder why there are accidents.  Of course arriving in Milan during rush hour doesn't help either.  We breathed a sigh of relief when we all met up again.  Some even shed a few tears because it had been so tense.
Milan is a very interesting city - we've seen sights that made us do a double take - I won't mention them here but ask sometime.......pickpockets are alive and well....we have evidence.  Officially the biking part of our trip is over.....18 days of cycling....just over 2,000 kilometres in total.

Distance travelled 131 km.            Flats    4            Total Flats    24

"Toast to a good finish over dinner"

The next day, September 16th, we played tourists in Milan - this shot shows the famous "Duomo" - a cathedral that took almost 5 centuries to finish.




It's a city with many fascinating buildings......art galleries, fashion houses and luxury stores.  We also saw a not so desirable area of the city where poverty is very evident.

Our bikes needed to be packed for the trip home... here is Andy carrying the plastic wrap from mattresses that him and John retrieved from some delivery men....it came in very handy for the two of them to use to wrap their bikes.

Even though Milan is a city filled with many impressive buildings, there is still room for a huge park in the city limits.

There's hisory in this city......