Friday, February 23, 2007

Velo Bella Goes to Rome!!



Okay I swear this is not a National Lampoon story, but it does have its comical moments, and definitely ends with that happy feeling you always get after watching Love Actually or The Holiday. On Monday I spent the best 190 euro (the bike was 130 euro, I swear helmets are expensive, but I guess it is my head!) I have ever spent, or whatever that converts to dollars as well! I bought a bike, of course with helmet and gloves too! It’s not a fancy Italian Bianchi or Ritchie and does not have gorgeous Campagnolo components, but it is a new working mountain bike, with basic Shimano components, and today I had the most fun on a bike I have had almost ever! I put on my Bella gear, my tennis shoes, because I don’t have clipless pedals, which is very weird, threw my bike over my shoulder, and headed down the stairs of my apartment to the door. After adjusting my seat and getting the first few pedal strokes and realizing I wasn’t actually connected to my bike, I carefully crossed the street and headed in the direction of Villa Pamphili (Pam-pheel-ee). Now as some of you may know the streets of Rome are a dangerous place for pedestrian, car, and scooters, alike…let alone a bike! So I avoided any mishaps, checked behind me every few seconds, figured the street lights out, and rode off to the park. It’s about a 7-minute ride with traffic, with a good hill to climb. But then I am there!!!



Villa Pamphili is the villa of a family in the Renaissance that built a palazzo, triumphal arch, chapel, and extended gardens, surrounded by 400 acres of lush grass, big trees, good trails, and lots of places to descend and climb, that is now the largest public park in Rome! It’s pretty much a cross lovers’ haven!!! I figured out the shifting, I even have a triple up front, and starting some serious getting dirty in true mountain biking style!!! It rained this morning and some last night, so there were plenty of puddles to ride through, mud to fly up onto my bike (and me), slick road to slide on, and lots of fun to have! The grass here is great to ride through and I found some super cool descents to go down, and yes plenty of nice hills to climb, Hernando! I was practically laughing out loud the whole time because I was having so much fun!! Really! I saw a few other cyclists, and of course waved hello and said ciao! It is so cool riding and you look to your right and there is a 500-year-old statue, and a fountain down the way, a huge casino on the horizon, and gorgeous stuff everywhere! It is very surreal! There’s even a gorgeous lake to ride around, and it being Rome, plenty of water spouts to drink from.



Just as I was flying down another grassy hill about to hit another little trail, the wind changed and I took a look up at the sky and knew that it would not be long before the rain came again. So I pedaled back over to one of the entrances, maneuvered through some cars and I was back on the street heading home. I fly down the street that I take back to my apartment that leads to a roundabout and then a nice little hill to really push me in my last effort. I turned onto my street and low and behold I began to feel sprinkles. I pedaled up to my door, found a hose and rinsed off some parts of my bike that were especially muddy, and then headed back up to my apartment. I opened the door, which takes about five minutes, and parked my bike inside, oh yeah it has a kick stand too!!!, and then took off my long sleeve jersey and my helmet and gloves. I headed to the bathroom to find my face covered in mud! The way every ride should be! Then I decided to have a little photo shoot with my bike (see pictures) and then definitely determined I needed a shower, especially considering my full-length mud pants!!! I had sooooo much fun today! I am so happy that I bought a bike to have here in Rome because I am now so much happier than I was! So to end my story, I know it has been a long one, but a true lover affair takes a while to recount, I just wanted everyone to know that Velo Bella has ventured to Rome for all to see and wonder how they two can become a Velo Bella! Thank you all for making me love cycling so much that I couldn’t even go one month without it before breaking down and buy myself a bike!

Friday, February 16, 2007

Bonjour!



Paris is amazing!!! It is so great and if I ever get the chance to move there I am doing it in a heartbeat because of the following reasons:

1. The food is unbelievable! The bread is the best I have ever had! And they have sushi...and thai, and chinese, and greek, and italian, and everything else!

2. The Louvre! Who can pass up living minutes away from the most amazing art collection in the world that you can actually see, unlike the Vatican.

3. The city is totally bike friendly. There are bike lanes everywhere, signs for cyclists, lights at cyclists' height, and everyone cycles! It's great!

4. The Metro! It is amazing. It's organized and fast and comes really often and stays open till around 1 or 2 am.

5. People smile and say hello...I mean Bonjour...all the time.

6. It's so cute! The streets are adorable and even the touristy busy areas are really nice with a huge mix of Parisians and tourists.

7. It's Paris...the Eiffel Tower is so pretty, the Pyramide is gorgeous, Versailles is amazing, everything rocks!

So although I still do love Roma and all it has to offer, the slower more easy going pace of Paris definitely has me hooked. It was such a change of pace from Roma! I had so much fun, even though I am still sick because I went and it rained on and off when I was there, it still was great!

Friday, February 9, 2007

Pre Paris!


PARIS - CIAO!!!

So I am hanging out at the Study Center on the internet until my roommate Bita and I, that is the one my age, not Grandma!, are jetsetting off to Paris for five days! WOW! I am so stoked! We are staying at a hostel called 3 Ducks near the Eiffel Tower. Tomorrow we are heading to the Eiffel Tower, the area around, the two Notre Dames, maybe St. Sulpice and the Rose Line. Then Sunday we're off to Versailles and if the weather isn't absolutely terrible, we are renting bikes! I can't wait!!! Hope for no rain! And Sunday is my roommates birthday so we will be celebrating! Bottoms up!!! Then Monday its the Louvre and a little more exploring, and the Catacombs! Tuesday in Montmontre and Sacre-Couer and Moulin Rouge! And Wednesday is open right now! Not exactly sure what we will do. And we return home late Wednesday night! The rest of the week will be spent relaxing before core classes start and possibly a trip to Tivoli or Pompeii.

I can't believe I am off to Paris today! And on the 22nd I am going to the Vatican Necropolis, where St. Peter's original grave is! So Cool! For core classes I am taking Renaissance Art in Rome, Roman Art (Ancient), and Travel Literature in Italy, and Italian! I am excited!

I'll take lots of pictures and post them when I get back! Miss all of you! Miss you guys and good luck on your riding and racing! I have been reading all of your blogs and gather that you are all doing fabulously! Keep it up! Ciao!


Friday, February 2, 2007

Ciao a Roma!

Hello all my fellow cycling friends and mentors! Number one: Rome is amazing! I had to move this week out of my apartment into a temporary apartment for four days because the heat in our place has been non-functioning since we arrived. And everytime we turned on any big appliances, i.e. a space heater, a blow dryer, two many lights, the washer, pretty much anything, the power cut out! That was because out apartment only supported 2000 watts. Pretty much nothing at all. So my clothes sat in the washer, 10 minutes into the cycle all weekend, and my roommate and I shivered all damn night because there was no heat! So they moved us to via dei Fori Imperiali for 3 nights. We were pretty much a stones throw from the Colesseum and practically in the damn Forum! It was pretty cool I have to admit! So now we are back at our original apartment, with 6000 watts, working heaters, and clean clothes. Nevermind that practically no one in Italy owns dryers, so everything has to be line dried! It's a wierd country!

I know everyone reading this right now is saying..."shut up Becky, you are in Rome." And I have to admit that even including the apartment in Antartica, and the moving, this trip has been absolutley amazing! I saw the Sistine Chapel last weekend. I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life. I just stood their staring with my mouth wide open taking it all in! WOW! I also went to Via dei Condotti last Saturday...the street with YSL, Gucci, Bulgari, Prada, Fendi, Cartier and such on it. Unfortunatley I did not buy anything. But if you all want to send me some money for a trip to those stores, I will have no qualms about sending you my address. Just let me know!!!

I am having so much fun! And yes I am even learning Italian. We have one more week of Intensive Language classes, and then a week break, during which I am going to Paris for five nights, with my roommate, and then we begin our core classes! I know I am spoiled!!

For more photos check this website! Love all of you! And I miss my bike (I mean Amy's bike), terribly! But I will be back soon enough and on the Bella road team with Michael to yell at me and tell me to pedal harder and Dave coaching me for cross! Ciao Bellas!

Becky

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