Europe Day 6: 65 Miles

Florence, Italy to Viareggio, Italy

Today was a great way to ease my way back into riding after a 2 day break. There were no climbs and no surprises making for a very straightforward day. I planned to get from Florence to either Pisa or Massa and ended up splitting the difference by finishing in Viareggio.

I left Florence just before 9:00 AM and didn’t have much trouble getting out of the city. I followed the Arno River for several miles and was surprised how densely populated the area seemed to be once I was outside of the city boundaries. I think I need to re-frame the geography of Europe in my mind. Traveling through Rome, Florence, Pisa and Milan is much more like traveling the northeast corridor in the United States (NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C.) than anything I saw in the western half of the United States.

I didn’t mind cruising through the suburbs though and about 30 miles into the ride I stopped at a large supermarket to pick up a snack. I settled on an apple, a jar of Nutella and a bag of mini croissants that I used to scoop the Nutella out of the jar. When I got back outside a light rain had started, so I waited it out while eating my snacks under cover.

I settled into another 25 easy miles and arrived in Pisa around 2:00 PM. I didn’t have plans to climb the tower or do any other tourist activities in Pisa, but figured I’d at least stop by for a quick photo. A family from Australia was nice enough to take a picture of me. I sat by the tower trying to plan my next moves when I was approached by an older couple. Both of their phones were stuck in selfie mode and they were looking for someone who spoke English to help them out. I got things turned around for them quickly and it turns out they live just 5 blocks from me in NYC. The woman’s name was Gloria and she said she’d remember my face and say hello if she sees me in Trader Joe’s.

From Pisa it was a quick 10 miles to my campsite just outside of Viareggio. After checking in I quickly set up my tent and took a warm shower. Then it was time to get the WiFi password and watch the Game of Thrones finale. Viareggio is actually a large town, so I could have gone exploring, but was happier to just relax in my tent. I had a quick dinner and settled back into catching up on some shows before heading to bed.

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Musings:

• Roundabouts are a great thing. I must have ridden through 30 of them today and it was a nice change from stopping at intersections. They were easy to navigate on bike and allowed me to keep moving, rather than stopping and waiting for traffic lights.