back on the bike!

I'm SO happy to be riding my bicycle to and from school again! That is one piece that I've missed from when I lived in Opera. I haven't ridden to work since being in the city this school year because there has been construction along the way and I'd have to be on a busy road for part of the ride. Now that the bike path (shown in the first picture below) is complete, I am absolutely loving the ride!

The ride is about 5 miles each way and takes me less than 25 minutes. It's faster than taking the bus! I miss my reading time on the bus but am enjoying the exercise and the ride even more. Because I'm on the path and don't have to worry about traffic, I listen to music along the way too. It's just a very enjoyable way to start and end each work day.

(There has been one day so far that I've forgotten to pack my work outfit! Ha! I ended up in leggings and my jacket all day. Thankfully, they actually looked like a decent outfit together.)

Some days are foggy... super foggy...

Last Saturday morning I rode past school and out to Opera to go to the morning market! I was hoping to pick up some curtain material for my mom but they don't have the specific style anymore. I still enjoyed the ride to and from... 

The past couple of weeks have been fabulous with the trees blooming... and poppies along the way too!

The set of four pictures below is from my ride from school to IKEA on a Saturday after keeping score at a basketball tournament. I took a bit of a detour to go by an abbey in Chiaravalle called Santa Maria di Rovegnano. It's gorgeous!

Mostly recently -- just this past Thursday, the two pictures below show the difference in weather between my ride to work in the morning and my ride home in the afternoon (not everyday is like this... but sometimes!) --

It's not often that I'm gifted with the lovely view of the mountains... not many days are clear enough to see them. ...But then a day comes along that is clear and the mountains are amazing! A picture really doesn't do it justice.

Funny enough -- I've been seeing the same people on the bike path each morning. As I'm heading to school they are heading into the city, presumably to work. We are on the same morning schedule. There's one man that bikes past me in the morning... and in the afternoon! Haha. Last week I smiled and waved a couple times -- it's funny to see each other every day to and from work.

When I rode the bus each day it was kind of the same thing -- seeing many of the same faces. There's a difference though, being on the bike path instead of public transport. It's ok to be more friendly and wave, acknowledging that we see each other every day.

A photo from a usual morning on the bus to work a month ago or so:

A-Basin mountain time, Colorado

Wow. I really need to make this blog more of a priority... but with a full-time job, trying to fit in travels along with that, aaaand preparing to move back to the States (and find a JOB!)... I just haven't kept up.

I've been on two rather big travel trips since being home in the States over the winter holidays... so I want to finish up my winter holiday times and share my travels (including southern Italy in the Puglia region and, most just last week: traveling to Luxemourg, Strasbourg, and Amsterdam!).

OK ---- Go! ---->

While in Colorado after the lovely New Year spent up in Estes Park, I got to go on another mountain trip with my brother, Lenny, to A-Basin! He went snowboarding for the morning, so I decided to practice the sport that I invented years ago: high altitude reading (hahaha).

I love a trip to the mountains! On this one, I took the chairlift part-way up the mountain, went into the lodge, put my slippers on, and read.   : )  Perrrrfection.

Lenny came and got me mid-way through the morning and I rode another chairlift all the way to the top of the mountain. What a glorious view!! We were overlooking the other side of the mountain (from where we had parked and gone up). I love taking in an amazing view.

Lenny!

I was the ONLY person riding the chairlift DOWN. Hahaha. In passing, one guy actually called out to me: "Enjoying the view, eh?!" Haha. It was a great morning -- although I wish I had packed/worn more than just jeans and my rain boots.

Also on my way down, I was able to watch Lenny in action -- that was cool. He stopped every now and then to wait up for me to pass on the chairlift, which was moving much slower than he was.

I had just decided the night before to get up early and go with Lenny on this jaunt -- afterwards, I realized that we should have at least called our brother, Sean, to see if he'd be free and want to meet up there too! ...Next time, Sean!

The longest hike I've ever done

Once the sun was up and we had a clear blue sky, we set off on the day-hike. I knew I had a lot ahead of me... but even when we stopped for lunch and I asked how much further we had to go, I was surprised when the guide said we were (only!) about halfway. Yikes!

Thankfully, the new hiking boots I bought for the big day were comfortable enough. Since we had taken two chairlifts UP the mountain, most of the hike was downhill. I hurt my knee throughout the day and it bothered me quite a bit for the next two weeks. Now (over 5 weeks later) it's fine.

I'm glad I did the hike... but I'm not really yearning to do it again anytime soon. I usually enjoy a 3-hour hike or so, not really 10 hours! Troppo! (Too much!)

39 ninth graders and a 10-hike... GO!

One of the guides taking a group photo of us (his photo is the one after):

The group!

Not sure if you can see it in the photo above but atop each mountain peak, there is a cross. Each cross is different and even made of different materials. We took the photo standing around the cross.

Below, we are marching to our lunch spot. Top of a mountain, 360-degree view!

(We may have been the group of stragglers and Gunther, in the middle, was pulling us all along the final steps!)

I had a bad cold all week and was really feeling it the day of the hike.

It was tough to keep the kids going while I wasn't feeling up to par myself.

I took a much needed nap after eating lunch.   :P

Just. Stunning.

(Ok, maybe I would do this hike again. Ha!)

Almost to the refugio! (There are refuges along hikes, where you can get a bike to eat, sit and rest, and even spend the night at some.) We enjoyed a rest and some snacks before the final decent to get to the bus.

We did it! We were all exhausted by the end of the day. Some students soaked their feet into the cold water of a stream while waiting for the bus. They were already worried (and complaining) about the "Night Hike" scheduled for the next evening. I felt the same! Haha. In the end, it was worth it and we all bonded along the way.

FIELD TRIP WEEK - South Tyrol, Alto Adige

Last school year for Field Trips Week (end of September), I went to Berlin with the 11th graders. This year, I was assigned to the 9th grade trip... to the Dolomites! I was really excited, as the Dolomites have been on my wish list of travel spots.

After about a 4-ish hour bus ride, we were in the Alto Adige (South Tyrol) area, very close to Austria. It actually felt a lot more like Austria than Italy and they speak German much more than Italian.

It felt so good to be up in the mountains with fresh air and cool weather. The sun was out for the week, raining when we got on the bus for the trip back to school on Friday (lucky!).

What a school field trip!! We had 39 students and activities included: mountain biking, high ropes course, handmade ziplining, forest games, bouldering, rock climbing on the side of a mountain, a 10-hour day hike, a night hike, waking up to watch the sunrise while on top of a mountain... ummmmm YES!

The view from my hotel room. I meeeeeeannnnnn... amazing!!

After checking into the hotel, we went to a high ropes course. It was quite expansive and I like how it was set up. We watched a video about clipping in and the harnesses were double-clips, so we could do it all individually instead of having a guide belaying each person one at a time. It was a lot of fun -- and all students participated and got up there!

Definitely a high-light of the week for me was watching the sun rise from behind a mountain while we sat at a cafe atop a mountain. Wow!! Definitely worth the 4:30am wake-up. From there, we went on a 10-hour hike... yikes!

We were on top of a mountain (having taken two different chairlifts up... and up!). The views were amazing. 360-degree view, surrounded by expansive mountains.

Two thumbs up!

LUGANO, SWITZERLAND!

Mom and I took a train ride for about an hour... and were in SWITZERLAND! That amazes me. That various (amazing) places that I am able to get to in a day from Milan are incredible.

Her birthday present to me was a day-trip to Lugano. Neither of us had ever been to Switzerland before... although it felt a lot like Lake Como, as there is a gorgeous lake with mountains jetting up from all around. The town even felt very Italian, as Italian is the main language in Lugano.

We had a great day with wonderful weather!

day-trip to Leadville, CO

Mom, Dad, Lenny, and I (oh... and Koura!!) went up to see Sean in Leadville a couple days ago. ...And I do mean UP! I always enjoy a drive in the mountains and Leadville is a great little town.

It's not often that all five of us are together!  

Gorgeous views throughout the entire town...

The short walk from the center of town to Sean's house...