We had to do laundry in Milan this morning – Friday was a bank holiday, and yesterday we went to Lake Como. We were waiting when the sweet shop keeper came to open the door. At this style laundromat, there are no coin slots – you pay the attendant and they wash/dry and even fold your clothes if you are not back in time. This gave us opportunity to take in a local bakery with all the croissants they had to offer. Our niece Clara would have been in heaven.

I always dress like this on laundry day!

Yummo!

A quick stop back at the hotel to gather our things and we were off to HP Motorad to pick up the bike. The bags we sent by courier from Roma were waiting for us at the rental agency. We brought our seat and gear in a huge hockey equipment bag, other motorcycle accessories in a large suitcase, and a small suitcase just in case Stephanie leaves Italy with more stuff than she brought. 😉

We thought we packed light, but consolidating normal clothes with motorcycle clothes is still a process, and we had to leave some stuff that we intended to take on the bike. As long as we can find a bottle of Febreze, we’ll be fine.

Our planned route is a jagged counter-clockwise path through northern Italy, beginning and ending in Milano. We knew that Friday June 2nd was Republic Day in Italy. After further consideration, we decided not to head north from Milan to the Lake Como area on the bike for Day One, but instead opted to take the Autostrade west (called “slabbing it”) and then head to Aosta, Italy.  This town is north of Turin near Mont Blanc at the border of Switzerland.

This plan suited my pillion just fine as it gave her time to settle in to riding in Italian traffic and allowed us to start figuring out road signs before it became imperative. I  could also watch the locals and follow their lead in lane splitting!

The terrain out of Milan was flat and then out of nowhere, there were mountains. Stephanie gave up pointing out all of the castles, cliffs and steeply terraced grape patches because they were everywhere. I can’t imagine the harvest! Tomorrow, we should be all set with camera and GoPro on the bike so you can see what we are seeing. Tonight, we’ve settled in to La Charaban and are headed down for dinner.

Aosta Valley Italy

Trying to find a hotel

Aosta Valley Italy