First Ride of the Summer

RETURNED FROM MY first bike ride of the 'summer' about 2 hours ago. First bit of cycling in Italy as well. The country is beautiful here and roads are, in general, in good shape. The exception, however, is the road we live on, which is unpaved -- meaning that for the first 400 meters or so of any ride I have to pretend I'm doing Paris-Roubaix (come on, who gets that reference?)

I spent about 1.5 hours out on the roads just soaking in the scenery. I don't think (actually, I know) that I have never seen so many olive trees in one area. Every hillside is covered with hundreds and hundreds of trees. Absolutely incredible.

About 1 hour into the ride I stopped for a water break in the hillside village of Paciano. From this photo taken just above the village you can see Lake Trasimeno and the little peninsula fortress of Castigliano del Lago in the distance. The reason I've included this photo is because the house we are staying in this summer is almost right smack in the middle of the picture -- about halfway between Paciano and the Lake. You can't actually see it -- but it's somewhere down there.

Late Update: after looking at this picture a little more closely I need adjust my description of the location of our house. If you go the middle of the photo, then go up about and inch and to the right about an inch -- that's about where we are. I think.