Our Italian Bike Ride

John, Amy and I went bike riding today. I have not ridden a bike for about 30 years so it was an experience. Amy was a bit worried to start with but soon got the hang of it. We rode from Desenzano to Sirmione. (both towns on Lake Garda) It was about 12 km there and back. There was a bike path for most of the way so we did not have to worry about the traffic....just the pedestrians. They drive on the opposite side of the road over here - the right hand side and the driver sits on the left hand side of the car.....that's back-to-front for us.
There is an old castle in Sirmione. It was built in 1277-1278. (about 500 years before Captain Phillip and the convicts first came to Australia) It is really good condition. I have never been in a castle before so that was pretty cool. We walked to the very top and looked out over the lake. 
We had lunch, pizza and pasta again, bought a few trinkets and then rode home again. It was harder work on the way home because there was a head wind. 
We are going to Turin (Turino in Italian) tomorrow on the train. We will be there for about a week. It is south-west of where we are now. I am not sure how long it will take us to get there by train.

 This is the castle (and Amy).

The view from the top of the castle. The guards would have had a good view of their enemy approaching. We each tried to count the steps but got different numbers. There were about 165 steps to the top.

Here is Amy and I trying to pull up the drawbridge. Oops, we are standing on it. Maybe that is why we couldn't budge it.

Check out the size of the pizza Amy had for lunch. It was BIG. She managed to eat it all up without any problems. I think she is turning Italian.

Here we are ready to ride back to our hotel. You don't have to wear helmets. Lots of people ride bikes here, especially in the bigger cities, like Rome, Innsbruck  and Florence.