Beauty in many forms...

Today we took off from our campground on the north point of Lake Garda, nestled into the mountains. We left early to miss the traffic. Immediately upon getting to the lake, we were blown away by the incredible views - it was truly breathtaking. Below, we're getting ready to take off after a quick photo-op by the lake. Feel free to pay closest attention to the scenery in the background!

The beauty continued as we rode, in the form of small, picturesque towns and breathtaking water and mountain vistas. It rained a bit on and off, but it didn't affect our ride much, other than a few stops to don and remove rain gear. What's amazing about Italy is that things seem to get even more beautiful with each place we go. If that continues, I'm not sure that I have the capacity to handle the end of the trip! Here's a quick shot from the handlebar of the bike, which obviously can't do the scenery justice, but is made possible by Mark's awesome bike camera mount invention that he should definitely get a patent on...

Today was a short ride - only between 65-70 miles - but tomorrow will be about twice that. We don't have a true rest day until Sunday, but we rode fast today, so we took the afternoon off and rested some. Instead of our typical spaghetti dinner by Angelo (which is VERY good), we headed in Mantua to see the sights and have a fabulous dinner. Beauty again, in such different ways - a majestic cathedral with incredible Renaissance-era artwork, old buildings representing a time gone by and a time that is now, cobblestone streets with bicycles and people moving all around, etc. There's no way to show a "representative" photo, SO... here's a part of dinner! And yes, this pasta was handmade in Italy...
All are doing well. Juan is looking forward to moving out the flats back into the mountains - and the rest of us are enjoying a break from his dominance! Angelo is an amazing rider outright, but especially for someone that I think is around 70! (He says that he's 35, but I don't believe it...) And Mario, Peter, and I are hanging in as well. It will be great to pick up our driver and cook in Lucca so that we can all ride at the same time. We rode well together today and made very good time - hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same.

Even the rain, although inconvenient for us, in beautiful and refreshing. At this point, we're just stocking calories and getting ready for the long days that are coming as we "round the corner" in Milan and start heading into the heart of Italy. May the beauty only continue!