On the Adda
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Back in Italy for the summer. Luci and I flew back on different flights because she got a free frequent flyer flight. She got bumped from her connection from Amsterdam to Milan and ended up flying into one of the airports way out of town. On top of it all, her luggage got left behind in Amsterdam so we got it the next day. Mine went better because I had to pay for it. Plus, it was one of the fastest trans-Atlantic flights I have ever taken: just about 5 hours from BOS to LHR.
My brother Jesse is here visiting us. It is the first time any of my family have been over to Italy to visit us in the 8 years I have been coming here regularly. His flight made Luci’s seem smooth. He bought the cheapest ticket to London with the idea of getting a cheap “no-frills” flight to Geneva to see his girlfriend and then come to Milan to see us. Not a bad idea if it had worked. The problem started when the cheapest flight to London was from NYC via Raleigh, NC (and really wasn’t much cheaper than a flight to Milan). When he arrived in Raleigh bad weather had grounded the planes. When the planes began moving again and he was able to disembark from his flight, his London Flight had already left (with his luggage). To make a long story short, he had to spend 24hrs at the airport and pay $130 to change his easyjet connection from London to Geneva.
After spending the weekend in Geneva, he took the Train here to Milan. The woman who lived in the apartment next door recently moved into an elderly home and luci’s parents managed to get it for the week while Jesse is here. It makes having 5 people here more comfortable. Today we went for a long bike ride down the Adda River. The Adda flows out of Lake Como near the town of Lecco, to the east of Milan and ultimately into the Adriatic sea after merging with Italy’s largest river, the Po. A large part of the river bank is park with miles of bike trails. We took the train up to Lecco and biked all the way back to Brugherio where Luci’s parents live.
Tomorrow we are going into the city so he can see the sights. Then, on Thursday, the idea is to rent a canoe and paddle down the Ticino river on the west side. The last time I did it, Luci and I did it on the 4th of July in it little rubber canoe (with a slow leak).
We are starting to think about the hut and have slowly begun to put things in motion to get it open. I plan to hike up in the next couple of weeks to see how the building fared the winter. We’ll start by opening on weekends in June and then open for the summer starting at the beginning of July. There is a lot more snow this year, which is a good thing as far as the climbing is concerned.
Tags: Italia
Luke