by Maureen | Sep 6, 2009 | Canals, Featured Articles, Journal
When I take the subway home, I hop on the M2 Green Line with “Abbiategrasso” as its final destination, roughly due west of Milano. (The subway train goes south from the center of town, then cuts west.) All this time, last summer included, I’ve seen the name but never seen the town. Wanting both a good ride and something a little different today, I decided to ride the mostly-bike route along the Naviglio Grande instead of my usual, smaller Naviglio Pavese.
What a ride! It was a lovely late-summer morning when I started out, cool enough that I was glad I’d be riding hard. (I’ve never felt it that cool in Milano! I’ve only been here in the summer.) From Milano to Abbiategrasso is 24.6 k (15.2 miles) and the length of it travels past city and country, old buildings and new, rice paddies and industry.
THIS was where people were on their Sunday morning! Bikers were either decked-out-serious or casual peddlers. There were walkers and runners. And the morning sun made it all so pleasant. I was in “that space” and soared. Zoom, Zoom.
When out on my bike, I set my own pace depending on my mood, but once in a while, one of those “serious” bikers will pass me (always men) and I’ll take the bait. Someone to set the speed and make me push myself! I notch it up, pull in behind them and move it. Doing so tickles me and I get a good workout.
Today, two men passed me, and I took my cue. I followed them tight for several miles, even having to put on my brakes so I didn’t crowd them too closely. Then, the very unfortunate. The forward biker hit a metal cover in the path and went down. His partner got out around him, and I, being all too close at that moment, JUST managed to get out past the two of them and avoid being part of the pile. I pulled over and stopped to see how the guy was. He had quite dramatically shaved the skin off the side of his knee. Ugh. After a few moments, seeing that I couldn’t help in any way, I left with the speed-demon in me tamed for the day. (Once home, I added some first aid items to my bike bag.)
I pushed on, and enjoyed the canal-side view. Only once in a while did I stop for a photo or two. I wanted the “brass ring” of Abbiategrasso, so didn’t tarry. After I arrived in town, I had a short, little conversation with another biker where the canal split southward into Naviglio Bereguardo. I wasn’t prepared for that ride today, so I turned to go home. No, I didn’t actually explore the towns along the way. I’ll save that for another time. But I had a gorgeous time, talked to the ponies, saw the Swiss Alps in the distance, poked my head into a few old gates, plucked some ready-to-harvest rice and saw a part of Milano I hadn’t seen before.
I like this place.
The town of Gaggiano had an immaculate cycling path and the church of Sant’ Invenzio.
I’m just a sucker for old buildings, and when I saw that this one marked my imminent birthday, I just had to stop.
And these gates are right nearby…
As I started to get back in toward Milano, of course things got a little tighter, and newer. This was an area near Corsico that seemed very pleasant.
I just HAD to pluck some rice since it encircles Milano. (Risotto anyone?)
When I stopped, my red and chartreuse feet with the yellow circle amused me.
At the end of the good day riding, I cooked the shrimp and veggies from yesterday’s Saturday Market. It was perfect.
by Maureen | Aug 29, 2009 | Canals, Journal, Quips
I rode along the canal this evening. It’s shifted. The seasons are changing. The temperature may be a couple degrees cooler. It may all look a little different. But the biggest difference is in the scent of the ride. The silage is very rank and strong. There’s fruit somewhere that’s past ripe and oversweet. The rice paddies have been drained and smell freshly cut. The poplars at canalside have reached their season’s end and smell of riversides in Eastern Washington. I even caught a whiff of Nicaragua, and identified the wood smoke in that whiff.
This is a time of my senses. Of being keenly tuned in. Of paying attention. I’m in another world, and yet it brings me to other worlds known.
I could hardly be more attentive. More observant. More inquisitive. There is nothing like this moment. I am alive to the fullness of it. I am very aware of all this time holds for me.
by Maureen | Aug 11, 2009 | Canals, Journal, Quips
Ahhh. Just back from an hour and a half ride down the canal. I push it as hard as a can, fast and steady. It makes me feel so full of life! I’m grateful to have my two wheels to hop on and get my blood pumping. Ahhh.
And having the canal just a block away is a real treasure. In a short time, I’m out of the city, riding along the corn fields and rice paddies. The rice has gone to seed now. And I thought that surely the farmer planted the outer row of corn for the cyclists. An ear or two each wouldn’t put a dent in his crop. Hesitant to get my mouth set on a fresh ear of corn, I stopped to check it out. Sure enough. Feed corn for cattle. Darn.
The scents along the canal are sure “full and rich”. Sometimes a dead fish or rank cattle farms. Sometimes basil and tomato from the local pea-patch gardens. I catch whiffs of cottonwood and the slow-moving fresh water. Depending on the time of day, my stomach wakes up at the smell of lunch or dinner being prepared. My bike ride is quite sensual.
by Maureen | Jul 31, 2009 | Canals, Discoveries, Journal, Quips
With reports of 103 degrees in Seattle (!) I’ve been relieved that it’s “only” been in the upper 80s and lower 90s here in Milano. Both the weather report and the sky this morning spoke of coming rain, so I headed out early for a bike ride along the canal. The coming rain storm has been pushing a breeze all day, and gave me a head wind that prompted me to shift gears as if I were going up a small hill.
The usual fishermen were out trying to pull dinner out of the slow water with their long poles and long faces. Only occasionally will they smile as I ride by.
My new view of “sexy” and “macho” is a man decked out in serious bike gear: snug lycra printed with bold graphics, an aero helmet, gloves, and a crouch over a speeding, techie bike. Sweet! The athleticism stirs my imagination.
by Maureen | Jul 25, 2009 | Canals, Discoveries, Featured Articles, Journal, Photos, Quips
Sitting at a restaurant in the Naviglio District (along the canal) I glanced out and saw “Number Seven” (man wearing orange pants). Grabbed my camera and set it on the window sill to get a couple of shots. The first one was a blur. Darn. But the couple and their little girl came back and lingered outside the restaurant window. My luck!
by Maureen | Jul 25, 2009 | Featured Articles, Journal, People
“Maureen, we’re still in Milan. Can we come crash on your floor tonight?”
“Better yet, my couch folds out into a queen bed.”
Erin and Pete, whom I had met in the morning along the canal bike trail, got sidetracked at the duomo and castello for the day. They hadn’t made it out of the city on their 6-month-total bike trek, so they were looking for a place to lay their heads for the night.
Sure! Why not? (Per ché no?)
I tried to put a twin bed sheet on the queen size mattress. It only kinda worked, but it sure beat sleeping in the bushes between two highways, which they HAVE done along the course of their trip.
They arrived in the evening and got showered up. They put on their cleanest clothes and I walked them over to the Antik Café alongside the canal for appetizers, while I headed to NABA for the End-of-Summer-Session party. An hour later, I brought Erin and Pete back to the school where they joined the loud music and danced ’til the late hours.
(When their day had started, I’m sure they had no idea they’d end up meeting someone on the bike trail and then sleeping on her couch after dancing in bare feet all night.)
Back at my apartment, we talked about their trip and their plans. We looked at photos. Exchanged stories. And then ran out of speed at about 2:00 a.m. Breakfast on Friday morning was an odd one, serving what I had available. Pete ate granola with yogurt and a cup of coffee. Erin was daring and joined me for a Mexican-seasoned stew of chicken, veggies and beans that I had cooked up a couple days earlier.
Next stop for Erin and Pete: up to Lake Como and into Switzerland. Buon viaggio!
by Maureen | Jul 18, 2009 | Introspection, Journal
Absolutely wild thunder, lightning and a drenching rain in the middle of the night last night, following several days of 100-degree, thigh-sticking, humid weather. When I looked out this morning, the pavement was dry(!), and the leaves were moving in a breeze.
Good day for a bike ride!
After my morning ablutions and a good breakfast of sauteéd veggies and eggs, I geared up, grabbed the bike and set foot out my door. Wow! Dramatically cooler than the rest of the week! The air was even chilling on my bare arms! Perfect.
My canal-side path had already become customary, a “safe” and known choice. As I approached the intersecting crossroads, I glanced to right and left, intrigued. OK. Today, I’d wander off and explore! What towns lay to either side of the canal? What did the front of a building look like when I had only been looking at its back side? I took an easy, relaxed pace.
From the south ring of Milano, the canal passes through or near Assago, Rozzano, Badile, Zibido and Binasco, going toward Pavia. At either side there are shopping centers, warehouses and office complexes. There are contemporary, glaze-bricked high-rise apartment buildings, and old, single-story dwellings with tile rooftops and flaking stucco. There are rice paddies (yes!) and corn, tasseled out and higher than my head. I smell lunches being prepared as I ride past open doors and windows. The scent of algae in canal water is the closest I get to a saltwater, low-tide beach. Fish school and swell, heads pointing upstream.
One little side road had a very official-looking sign pointing to an agricultural cooperative. That looked interesting! I followed the one-lane road for a ways but could see that the farm must be located on the other side of the parallel freeway, so I’ll save that for a later day-excursion.
Badile had an easy “off”, so I hustled my bike across the busy road, on foot, and headed east. Little pizzerie, photogenic old churches, more modern apartments, gardens, fields… and the sign for the local cimitero. I’m a sucker for a cemetery anywhere in the world. I marvel at the stories deduced and the empathy aroused when reading gravestones. Markers for war heroes and little children always get me, and I walk amidst the graves reciting the names. Always.
After three hours of strolling on two wheels, I headed back north to home. Two blocks from my apartment I had a close call with a car pulling out of its parking spot, its front end all of a sudden in my path. I left a black rubber mark on the pavement as I braked, and rode into the freshly-vacated parking spot… and then I kept on rolling homeward. Whew. That was enough of a ride for the day. I had had my excitement, my wonder and my exercise.
by Maureen | Jul 13, 2009 | Introspection, Journal, Quips
My mosquito bites are driving me pazza! No, that doesn’t mean I feel like I’m covered with tomato sauce and cheese, but maybe that’s exactly the home remedy I need at 4 in the morning! Quick! Someone blog me your tried-and-true remedy.
I have a friend that swears by vinegar, so I’ve been lying in bed for the last hour telling myself to get up and slather it on. Now I smell like red wine vinegar and still itch like hell. (Maybe balsamic would have done the trick?)
No farmacia open at this hour. No childhood-reminiscent, pink calamine lotion in the medicine cabinet. No cool Benadryl gel. Not even any baking soda to make a paste with. Maybe whiskey applied internally, but I don’t even have that.
Living a block away from the canal… having had that torrential downpour a week ago… riding along the canal and stopping to take pictures…oooo. The opportunities for mosquito bites have been many and those little buggers haven’t wasted any time!
I must have 100 bites. That means I could test drive 100 different bite-soothing remedies. Send me your ideas! (Winner gets the prize, and I might get some sleep.)
by Maureen | Jul 11, 2009 | Featured Articles, Photo of the Day, Photos
Another early evening ride along the canal on a smooth bike.
A beautiful temperature and gorgeous light.
by Maureen | Jun 28, 2009 | Canals, Discoveries, Featured Articles
“Bici“, (bee-chee) short for “bicicletta“: bicycle! I borrowed a bike and have been for a couple of rides south from Milano down the Naviglio Pavese canal. It’s a nice straight shot used by lots of other bikers, both serious and casual. Decked-out cyclists, leathery tan from habitual riding in Italy’s sun, clustered in speedy packs, must have all been in their 60s and 70s. They were in contrast to the couples and families out for an easy Sunday stroll on wheels.
In some places it’s one lane, shared with cars; on other stretches, it’s bikes only. The canal fronts warehouses, apartments and office buildings…wheat, rice and corn fields and p-patch gardens. Quite a mix and it all makes for a pleasant ride. I saw a few p-patch cats at the path-side, and geese nesting in the tall grass along the edges. When seeing the intensely-green rice fields, I flashed back to being in the China countryside! Some of the scents were similar, too.
There are locks along the canal, and a very occasional boat. I saw these two twin boats heading up-current and wondered what-the-heck kind of boats those are! Any ideas? (Further north, in town, a few tour boats make short runs, and there are also some restaurant barges.)
Peering down into the aerated water just below one falls, there were big schools of big fish. A foot and a half long? I was told they were related to carp, but they had a pretty streamlined silhouette from above. The water is fairly shallow and murky for the most part, so it does seem like carpy habitat.
It felt good to ride. Good to get my heart rate up, get some exercise and fresh air, and see the surrounding area. Nice to know that the canal road/path is just a block away from my apartment and an easy-out-the-door!
