A Fall in Fall

Covering up the Joy Road sign

From my favorite farm mart

This guy was after the cranes but the closer he got, the more they flew

Lots of cornfields on my route

As I was falling, all I could think was NOT BEFORE MY TRIP!!! I only have one stoplight on my Sunday ride and I was crossing against a red (it is an activated light  and I could sit for hours as my bike does not trigger the sensor) Suddenly a driver appeared from a blind hill so I quickly sharply turned, too sharp, and I fell.Quickly help emerged, a pick up truck (so there are some nice ones) and bicyclists from the Tour de Livingston. I was mostly fine though now I see I am covered in bruises and my knee hurts. Minor things. As for the Tour de Livingston, hundreds of bicyclists went south as I went north to do a 100K loop. Seems a lot of it is in Washtenaw County, not Livingston. It was beautiful out again but cold. I was properly bundled though.

The last bike ride for a while, though 3 of the places we are staying offers bikes (Lake Garda, Ravenna and Florence). As some of these places have cobblestones, I don't know if we will use the bikes.

More planning and last minute procurements. Yesterday a trip to the Apple Store to get the necessary connections for our cameras to the iPad as the ones we use for the computers won't work. The place was packed solid but quickly a guy popped up answering questions and ringing our sale so no line to stand in.

Chimney cakes: a new one for me. These are advertised as "Hungarian, Transylvanian' pastry cooked over a tube and filled with sweet or savory fillings. The savory ones are coated with garlic and cheese and our sweet one was covered with nutella and walnuts. I had a Groupon for this restaurant in the mall I never go to since they closed the only place I got clothes. But the Apple store is there too and we had a tasty lunch. From their website:

while cooking. Finished product is 9 inches long

some of the sweet ones

We opted for the lamb shawarma. Tasty.

So many little things left undone and here I sit at the computer. For many of the places we are going, we have been using Rick Steves as our bible except for Lake Garda, which he does not cover. Bologna sits conveniently on the train line between  Bolzano (Castelrotto) and Florence. Rick does not recommend Bologna, which some call the food capital of the country claiming it is crowded and boring. Do we listen to Rick? I have heard others gush about the place, their favorite.

Lots of things to mull over. My presence in the  blogsphere will be erratic.

 From the night game that UM miraculously won: