This bike trip through Italy was very fun and very satisfying, but so so hilly.  And much hotter than we expected.  We did a good job of keeping a positive attitude throughout, but the hills and the heat did get to you after awhile.  We were starting to feel it on our 4th day.  We made it to Barbaresco, where we stopped for just a bit before lunch.

And here we have the church of wine!  Of course it started as a real church, but now contains all things wine.

One of the big differences between our French trip and this trip were the group dynamics.  Group dynamics were exhausting on the last trip, although we did meet a family we really clicked with.  But this trip the overall dynamics were great!  And the particular group pictured here, we really enjoyed!

After Barbaresco we stopped in Nieve for lunch on our own.  Sean and I decided we were done for that day.  It was hot, the hills were hard, we were going to enjoy our lunch and shuttle back for a massage.  Lunch was great.  While we’d been loving the food, Sean was craving a big plate of pasta and he got the perfect thing to fill that craving here.  And we had a really great conversation about our lives as a family and together.  So between the pasta and the conversation, it was a really satisfying lunch!  And then we got our couples massage and we didn’t regret taking the afternoon off from biking at all!

Before dinner we took our Aperol Sprintzes to the chess room for a friendly game.

We did not officially finish the game, but we got pretty close.  Sean declared me the winner.  I can’t decide if he was being nice, but I did have the upper hand when we stopped playing.  I view Sean as a strategic master, so I’m pretty proud of myself.

Then dinner was outside again (the evenings were perfect even though the days were hot) with a beautiful sunset.  And this is one of my favorite pictures of us.  Although I got slack from everyone that I’m still carrying around this relic of a camera to take pictures when my iPhone X takes pictures that are just as good if not better….

Here’s the iPhone version of the picture trying to prove the point.  Okay, fine.  I will probably stop using my relic camera.  I guess it is hard to deny that because I don’t understand my camera settings the color is far better in the iPhone version.

Last days of our trip coming up.  If you missed them, here are Parts I and II.