The tour is over!!  Thanks for beeing with us, thanks for beeing always in a good mood even when it rained. I learned a lot from you awesome women. 

Enjoy Venice!! Wish you a safe flight back home - and stay in touch

All the best

Ursula and Domenico

WOW - these are the Women on Wheels 

They are riding all kind of motorcycle from a Goldwing to a dirt bike, they are pilots, they driving huge snowploughs, beeing computer specialists, medical couriers transporting bone-marrow around the planet, having travelled all over the world on motorcycles from Alaska to Brasil, from Norway to New Zealand, some have been on the first Edelweiss Tour around the World, beside that of course they raised kids, and so on - and we haven`t even talked with all of them!!! 

Tourstart is in Villa d`Annunzio in Florence. And the tourguides have quite a bit to organise before the scooters are ready to run.

The first riders arrived. 

Judith and Donna

Welcome Briefing - they are very intersting was going on the next week. San Gimignano, Siena, Arezzo, a cooking class, a ride to the Mugello race track and of course sightseeing downtown Florence. This all combined with awesome food, good wine and nice people - life is good!

They are looking like getting prepared for a soccer game Netherlands:Germany or like a manager meeting of KTM with their shiny bright t-shirts

The T-shirt is showing their itinerary. Most of them started in Rome, coming to Florence for driving scooters through Tuscany and then they are heading forward to Venice!

What a trip!

Dinner in Villa d`Annuncio. Yes, also some males are allowed to be part of the gang

5. Riding Day: Arezzo - the Etruscan town

Finally!!!! The sun was out! We started to a last highlight - Arezzo. Etuscan origin, filmset for Roberto Begnini`s "Life is beautiful" and much more relaxed than Florence or Siena.

Passo della Consuma - you nearly can`t read the sign but you can read the sticker in the middle.

And soon there will be a sticker from the WOW  

San Francesco in Arezzo 

they are just a bit crazy 

Piazza Grande - filmset for the movie

this lady makes the best pasta ever.  Everybody tried - everybody agreed!

she is working....

he is maybe working - I am having a coffee .-)

Frantoio Pasquini in Reggello - we got a short introduction of how oil get pressed and of course we had to shop a little bit - the scooter top cases are bigger if we thought they are

4. Riding Day: Backroads and Pasta

Cooking class in Villa Pitiana and in the afternoon riding curves - what a great combination

Villa Pitiana

Marko was our cook

The Menue

Bruschette con fegato - liverchicken patee

self made noodles

tomato sauce

Pizza - we made the yeast dough

Cantuccini

he started with "Fegato" - chicken liver patee

in the meantime some prepared the pasta sauce

the girls finished the patee. Inbetween we got interesting informations: what is undigestable on garlic,

why having high heat at the beginning and of course about olive oil

We making our own tagliatelle. They are starting with flour, making a "damm" putting the eggs in and than you need your other hand and magic fingers....

Marko is checking and helping

than the yeast dough for the pizza

last not least - Cantuccini - easy and yummi

presenting the products we produced

Marko the chef and the girls and boys

Those who didn`t want to cook, did an extra loop with their scooters and came back for lunch.

What a great experience

the medieval bridge of Pagiano, a little hidden gem

group picture on the bridge, it is a old one but it still can old a vespa and a few persons

The sun was out finally in the afternoon, we did a gorgeous loop through the Chianti area again and stopped for a last picture on Piazzale Michelangelo high above Florence

3. Riding Day: Mugello and Restday in Florence

Some had a reservation for the "David" today and half of the group went riding into the Mugello area.

First stop was the Medici Chapel in San Lorenzo with the originals Michelangelo Tombs.

Here some scetches from the master - whatever he has counted here, maybe overtime hours, or the amount of pannini the staff had - these are original scetches from 600 years ago!

The Dusk and the Dawn, the Morning and the Evening - unbelieveable

The "Mercato Centrale" the main market. All kind of food, meet, vegetables, wine, nuts, truffels, dried tomatoes - the list is endless 

truffel tasting

the famous Lampredotto stand. The girls are brave and most of them tried a panini with the stomach of a cow, slow boiled to tender perfection - and if you are lucky he dips the bun in the broth to enhance the flavor.

Il Duoma Santa Maria del Fiore  - it was a real wow from all the WOWs.

a hidden treasure!! Coffe stop with an awesome view

the doors to paradise

the southern side of the Duomo

Brunelleschi is looking up to the Dome - he was the one who constructed the rooftop of the Cathedral

And then the highlight of the day - we had a reservation for the David

Who is that Bloke??

Name: David

Occupation: world`s most famous sculpture

Vital Statistics: 5,16 m!! tall, 19 tonnes of pearly white marble from Carrara

Spirit: young biblical hero in meditative pose who, with the help of God, defeats an enemy more powerful than himself. Scarcely visible sling emphasises victory of innocence and intellect over brute force.

Commissioned: in 1501 by the Opera del Duomo for the cathedral, but placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchio on Piazza della Signoria where it stayed until 1873

FQA:

Why the big head and hands: David was designed to stand up high on cathedral buttress in the apse, from where his head an hand would have appeared in perfect proportion

Why the small penis: in classical art a large or even normal-sized packet was not deemed elegant. But maybe it is the average Italian size - who knows?? (Domenico denied )

Anyway - it was the highlight of the day

And then we let them off the leish - shopping time!!!!

The leather market of San Lorenzo was the place - juhuu

2. Riding Day: Siena

Siena was on the list today. 55.000 inhabitants, located on the Via Francigena - an important trading route from the north to Rome, the city of the Saint Catherina, Unesco World Heritage Site since 1997.

2 major highlights - the Cathedral and Piazza del Campo

Frogs have a special meaning to the WOWs

Santa Maria Assunta - a gothic style cathedral from outstanding beauty. 1196 Giovanni Pisano started the construction and finished it only 15 years later

inside like in a fairy tale of 1001 nights. If you are done with the ceiling - blue with thousands of golden stars - have a look at the floor....

and you`ll see the cathedral`s most precious feature - the inlaid-marble floor, decorated with 56 glorious panels, by about 40 artists over the course of 200 years.

the porphyry pulpit by Nicola Pisano, son of the architect Giovanni, is one of the masterpieces of Gothic sculpture.

Piazza del Campo with the Palazzo Comunale 

1. Riding Day: San Gimignano

we introduced them in the morning briefing a little bit to Italian history, to the Chianti area and of course to San Gimignano, the "Manhattan of Tuscany"!

the weather was not the best. But rain cannot harm the good and positive mood of these tough women - so everybody showed up in riding gear despite rain.

Greve - our fist stop in the centre of the rolling hills of the Chianti area. A typical Italian piazza with famous Macelleria Falorni - the famous butchery.

The Icon of the Chianti area is the "Black Rooster" and the story behind.

Here you the the "Grey Rooster" with an apron of the "Black Rooster"

picture stop with a view to the farm house where Mona Lisa used to live

Piazzale Michelangelo - high above Florence. Even in clouds breathtaking!