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We did ride through the midievel town of Glurns. Many of these little towns had streets so narrow that one lane of cars barely fit. Brick roads and doorways right on the streets made it interesting. Glurns had a long history, a big wall and gates. we rode 5 minutes up the mountain to Churburg Castle. This was also interesting as it was a castle built in the 1300 hundreds, had never been sacked, raided or bombed which meant they had 8 hundred years of history in it. authentic armor and weapons, painting, clothing, architecture, etc ranging from then until now. Unfortunately, no picture taking allowed. we rode on up the mountain behind this Ferrari. i got out pic and the owners were behind us, laughing. The driver lit it up for me as he exited the parking lot of the lake. Speaking of the lake (Rechensee), it was built in the 1950s and flooded and existing town. most of the town structures were torn down but the stone ones were left including the church spire sticking out. the water was clear and cold and beautiful!

 

 

Now, the creme de la creme of mountain passes. I will tell you, all of the ones we have ridden so far did not disappoint. they were steep, curvy and exhilarating. However, the Passe de Stelvio is easiest the most crazy thing I have ever ridden on the street and compares to some of the crazy sh, er stuff we ride in Colorado on dirt bikes. I was soo pist that my gopro had quit. Anyway, we rode up, stopped at a hotel just short of the peak , rested, took some pics, rode the 27 more hairpins to the top, stopped again, enjoyed the little town. we rode down into Italy, stopping only for lunch. then our crew broke up and we took varying roads on into brscia. we actually rode through a national park, no traffic, narrow roads, steep climbs and tight turns through out. we rode in about 8 pm, 11 hours of pleasure riding!

 

 

Our hotel in Brescia, (which was a little more of an industrial town, still old and scenic) was a Best Western. But it was still top notch even for a Btest western and it was the only chain hotel we stayed in. we walked to a little burger bistro where the waiter spoke no English. the good thing is the Italians like to eat late and it was still open. we got beer and burgers and when the waiter dropped our food off, he said " McDonalds". we all laughed and then dug in. Leaving Brescia and riding into Modenello( suburb of Bologna) was like riding through the farmlands of Missouri near KC. A mix of industry and farming, flat and not a lot of view. After riding for days in the Alps and the Dolomites, it was a little anti climatic and dull. Our hotel was a former border house for Enzo Ferraris work crews and was pretty cool. We stopped at the Ducati factory for a tour which was closed due to holiday in Europe( 3 week holiday!) but the museum was open and we did see Nicky Haydens 2010 winning Ducati. At this point, we had a big decision. did we want to tour Ferrari and Lamborghini factory the next day or did we want to explore more of Europe. Pur tickets were already bought but we sure did want to see more of the country.

 

 

So, we another couple and we decided against the factory tours which did look very cool and decided to ride to Pisa and on to the nw coast of Italy. Being it was the end of the holiday, the beaches were still set up for visitors but almost everyone was gone. Pisa was busy and the tower had quite a few people but we still got to enjoy it. It was over a 3 hour ride to Pisa over another mountain chain. I was feeling under the weather and it got cold up on the mountains. when we finally got to the beach, i laid down in the warm sun while the rest of the group went for lunch. Whatever i had, it last for 3 days. just a slight temperature and a little nausea but nothing severe. Made riding a little more of a chore and in the tight mountain terrain, my buddy would off and leave us as i just didn't have the gumption to ride hard. I still enjoyed every bit of the scenery. The towns were less touresty but scenic nonetheless. The hills where marble had been taken out of for centuries were right beside us for a lot of the ride. Tunnels for miles! Truns and climbs for days! we got back late in the evening but all was well.

 

 

We made the trip back. Most nights, dinner was a 4 course dress up affair and we made it just in time for that. dinner takes 2-3 hours every night. If you order moscatto wine( i did not!), it only comes with desert. Coke and water were more expensive than beer or wine.
We finished our 2 night stay in modenella and headed back to Milan to turn in the bikes. We rode the autostrada back, which of course had tolls. and it rained almost the entire way, sometimes heavily but we made it back to Milan, safe and sound, returned our bikes and shuttled to our down town 5 star hotel. This one was very nice!. I needed some soup to warm my soul and Jean wanted lasgna so a group of us headed out to explore the diners and high end shopping. it was damp and cool so after soup, i headed back to the hotel for a nap while my lovely wife and Carol went shopping. we hadnt spent a lot of money and had some to spend so along with the shopping came a new bag for hauling stuff home. we got up early for our 6 am flight from Milan to Berlin, then to frankfort then to DFW. All of our connecting flights were closely timed and we barely made it but we did and we departed frankfort at 11 AM to arrive in DFW 3 pm and we were on the plane FOR 11 HOURS!!