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Yesterday I forgot to use suntan cream and my arms will happily remember that for some days on. The temperature went down a bit, say below 30, so I had to get to the hottest area around here in order to compensate.

Yesterday I cycled in the so-called Crete Senesi, a region also known as the Accano desert, which tells everything. It's in the area south from Siena and it's completely different from the green hills of Chianti, which is from Siena to the north. Crete Senesi is yellow and white in this time (creta means clay, and the soil is largely made of it), and a few trees at the horizon. I also manage to get an off-road track I couldn't find even in Google Maps (that's the reason a part of the track below is wrong). However, the route took me to Monteroni d'Alba and from there up up and up hill (and off road) towards San Martino in Grania, with no trees and as a matter of fact, nobody around. Which is good as there were no cards, but at a certain point I felt really there's nobody anywhere. Fortunately I managed to get back to a main road, and I reached the village of Asciano.

It was 14 o' clock and I was wondering whether to get back to Siena or continue. Well, I decided to get to Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore, as it was highlighted on the guidebook. Here I found myself in trouble with the GPS, as it was telling me a different route than the roadsigns. I decided that the roadsings are more reliable and I ended up to the highes peak of the area (Chiusure), had I taken the other route maybe I would have sweated less.

Fortunately, from Chiusure to Buonconvento it was all downhill and I manage to get a nice small train (with air conditioning, oh yes), to get back from Siena. It's great that you can put the bike on any local train around here, I don't have to think about the time it takes to get back to Siena (and with all these hills it is really a relief).

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Altitude profile:

nel portarvi le mie felicitazioni per il vostro matrimonio, vorrei innanzitutto ringraziarvi per avermi dato la possibilità di partecipare per la prima volta nella mia vita ad un matrimonio laico in Italia. Fino ad adesso ero rimasto stupito dalla scelta di molti amici atei che al momento del matrimonio sono arrivati al triste compromesso di sposarsi con rito religioso per una questione di "cerimonia", o ancor di più "per non scontentare i parenti". Il matrimonio è una scelta che si decide e si compie in due; il resto, anche la cerimonia, è un mero contorno, di cui si può sempre fare a meno.

Grazie ancora per rendermi partecipe di un evento che vede come coprotagonista uno dei miei amici di più vecchia data, un amico che mi è rimasto vicino anche negli anni del nuovo millennio vissuti dal sottoscritto lontano dalla terra natìa. Devo ammettere che non avrei immaginato di trovarmi un giorno oratore nella sala maggiore del comune di Pistoia. È veramente un grande onore, una grande emozione e, per la maggior parte delle persone presenti in questa stanza: non preoccupatevi, questa sarà con tutta probabilità la prima e ultima volta.

La mia amicizia con Manfredi è nata nel comune periodo adolescenziale, nel quale abbiamo creato e condiviso tante idee e situazioni, delle quali è forse più onorevole non parlare in questa sala, ma che molto probabilmente non potrò esimermi dal citare durante il pranzo. Basti dire che sono molto orgoglioso dei risultati raggiunti da Manfredi negli anni successivi, sia nella vita lavorativa che, adesso, nella vita sentimentale: so con certezza che è una persona molto affettuosa, e sono convinto che sarà anche un grande marito e, a quanto noto, molto a breve, padre.

Comunque "hyvä puhe on lyhyt puhe", un buon discorso è un discorso breve: vorrei pertanto concludere leggendovi l'introduzione di Walt Whitman alla sua raccolta di poesie Foglie d'erba.

"Ascolta, disse la mia anima,
scriviamo per il mio corpo (in fondo siamo una cosa sola) versi tali
che se, da morto, dovessi invisibilmente tornare sulla terra,
o in altre sfere, lontano, lontano da qui,
e riassumere i canti a qualche gruppo di compagni
(in armonia col suolo, gli alberi, i venti, e con la furia delle onde),
io possa ancora sentire miei questi versi,
per sempre, come adesso che, per la prima volta, io qui segno il mio nome
firmando per l'anima ed il corpo."

Ecco, vorrei che la firma che oggi ufficializzerà il vostro legame di matrimonio, più che un augurio di felici anni futuri – del resto del futuro nessuno sa niente – sia per voi il proposito di scrivere, insieme, tanti nuovi versi per l'anima ed il corpo, versi talmente belli che, qualunque sia il vostro futuro, possano restare vostri per sempre, in armonia col suolo, gli alberi, i venti, e con la furia delle onde, in qualsiasi luogo, anche in altre sfere, lontano, lontano da qui.

Di nuovo congratulazioni.

Raffaello Tesi
Discorso per il matrimonio di Manfredi e Michela
Pistoia, 10.10.2010

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Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I'll switch back to my cycling trip. I have some translations to do and I'm afraid to lose my 3G connection once I leave Sodankylä. And there will be also some surprises about the route I will take. This will be an unforgettable sun in a summer that never ends (and it has just started).

After a long time, the last December I managed to organise a real down-on-the-road trip (by train) getting to the Netherlands and northern Germany, in places I have never visited before, except one: Berlin, where I've been once 15 years ago.

It was that kind of journey I always long for, just travelling on local trains, watching people and places. And what a nice feeling to meet also people I know living in many different places. That was what gave me the most of the whole trip, that was a real fun everyday everywhere I have been!

I got to Amsterdam by plane and then started to travel by train making my way through most of the main towns in Holland, and then I shifted to to visit the winter markets (and not only) of many German towns. All the way to Berlin, which I have to mention separately.

I've been just once in Berlin before, in the summer of 1995, and I really have to say i couldn't recognise it, so much it has changed after all these years. Still, the atmosphere is so particular, I couldn't avoid to get involved in the night life, full of people at any time. Without much chaos, it looked also quite safe, a big town where maybe life is not that bad, after all.

Here below the full route of my Dutch-German trip, and I've also taken some pictures.

The Dutch-German trip 2009

27.11 – Oulu-Turku-Riga-Amsterdam-Leiden
28.11 – Leiden
29.11 – Amsterdam
30.11 – Amsterdam
1.12 – Den Haag + Delft
2.12 – Rotterdam
3.12 – Utrecht
4.12 – Leiden
5.12 – Leiden
6.12 – Amsterdam
7.12 – Leiden-Schipol-Osnabrück-Hamburg
8.12 – Hamburg-Lübeck
9.12 – Lübeck-Kiel
10.12 – Kiel-Bad Kleinen-Berlin
11-13.12 – Berlin
14.12 – Berlin-Riga-Turku-Oulu

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And there you go! As of 7th June 2009, I have finally driven 100 000 km with my Aprilia Pegaso Cube 1997!!! It is really a great satisfaction, if you think that the engine has never been opened!

So here we go with the 100 000 km maintenance:

• Cooling liquid replaced
• Air filter replaced

And here some other pictures:

Update (23.3.2009): also on the ABC:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=7071701&page=1

With a total amount of 2224 km spanned in ten days, the trip day by day was as follows:

• 18.7. Oulu – Virrat – Tampere
• 19.7. Stay in Tampere for the Iron Maiden’s gig
• 20.7. Tampere – Hämeenlinna – Helsinki
• 21.7. Trip to Suomenlinna (not by bike)
• 22.7. Helsinki-Porvoo-Helsinki
• 23.7. Helsinki-(ferry)-Tallin-Haapsalu (Estonia)
• 24.7. Haapsalu-(ferry)-Kärdla-Kiudja-Kõpu-Ristna
• 25.7. Kiudja-Sõru-(ferry)-Triigi-Kurressaare-Mändjala
• 26.7. Mändjala-Kuivastu-(ferry)-Virtsu-Tallin-(ferry)-Helsinki
• 27.7. Helsinki-Valkeakoski-Oulu (almost 700 km in one day!)

So basically the journey was half in Finland and half in Estonia, including five ferries to get also to the island of Hiiumaa and Saaremaa. If you count on top of this that 800 km have been done in two people with tent and mattresses on the back, it was really a good seikkailu!

I have to say really enjoyed Estonia, still quite cheap (but I wonder for how long), wonderful sand beaches and nice people.

And, by the way, on the way back to Oulu, the Pegaso overtook 97000 km, just 3000 to the sixth figure!

Here below the detailed map of the journey, it might take a while to load: be patient, I said it was a long trip!

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