The first day (part 2)

If you're ever on a trip where you have a few concerns about things working out because you don't feel like they were necessarily organized super well but you're just kind of hoping that it all is going to be ok and, upon getting all of your bags the person responsible for all of the "organizing" says something to the effect of "Wow, this is a great start to this trip. Everything is going to be perfect!" do yourself a favor and just prepare for lots of things to go wrong in the immediate future.

Friends, and I'm sure this will come as a surprise to you, that is exactly what happened yesterday.

We were in Italy, we had our bags, all we needed was the car (and by car I really mean a 9-passeneger ginormous Euro-van [gE-v]) and we would be on our way. Only... it was not to be. We went to get the car, only to find out that the travel agent had provided the wrong dates so it wasn't reserved until the 9th. Not good. So, we went to all of the other rental agencies and none of them even had a Smart Car to rent us, let alone a gE-v. I was talking to the girl at the rental desk (she was from Russia but spoke Italian... more on this later) and trying to figure out what we could do, but even if we were able to change the reservation she wouldn't have been able to help because they didn't have the car. So I'm on the phone with some people from Italy using my broken Italian to try to explain the situation while the girl at the desk is using her broken Italian trying to help... it was highly amusing.

As luck would have it, someone had returned a gE-v that day and we were able to change our reservation and were out of there after a 3-hour+ interlude. I immediately told Greg I deserved a raise; he said no.

Il duomo di Milano

We then drove into Milan to see the Duomo, and after driving around looking for a parking spot for 20 minutes I just triple parked so the old guys could take their walkers out of the back and walk over to see it. They were suitably impressed. We then drove (or rather, I drove while they slept) to Como, had a lovely dinner at a pizzeria, then collapsed into bed at about midnight.

Como at night.

A couple of interesting things about our Hotel:

• There are spiders in the garage. Not little spiders, but the kind that I'm pretty sure I have seen on animal planet, where some crazy guy from Australia says things like "Be careful, mate, or one of these fellows will make off with your cat! They're so aggressive!!!", and they're all ceiling of the garage. Which is 6'5" tall. I'm 6'4". Not cool.
• I have a bidet.
• I used the bidet.
• I like bidets.
• This is what all of the geezers at for breakfast. I was amused.
  And you wonder why I make fun of them being old? This is Greg's second bowl...

So now the guys are about to go for a ride around the lake, and they're going to stop off at a museum to see the sweaty old jerseys and socks of some long-dead Italian riders. Sounds like a great time.

Bike troubles this morning.

I have to make a note: throughout this blog I will refer to the riders (Greg, Gordie, Jason, and Craig) as geezers, fogies, geriatrics, old men, and other age-related mildly insulting terms. Know this: each of them could easily tear me limb from limb and are in better physical shape at their advanced age than I have ever been. So my referring to them as such is merely a result of a bit of good-natured teasing, rather than any indication that being over 40 is old. Wait... yes it is. They're older than dirt. But they could still destroy me.