Venice was truly a romantic place and since there are no cars, no motorycles, and not even bikes... it was so beautifully and peacefully quiet at night. Tres and I decided since the Giro d'Italia race: Stage 1 was starting in Venice that maybe we should make a trip out of it and so we did. When we arrived... we found out that the Giro was having a presentation to introduce all the teams with Garmin-Slipstream, one of my favorites, and of course Astana (the team Lance Armstrong is on). The presentation took place in San Marco Square and was literally two minutes from our hotel. It was fun to see all the teams so up close. This is where I also got to give Dave Zabriski a shout out and that shout out freaked him out a little bit. He was probably wondering why this lady who is covered in Slipstream clothing doesn't have a backstage pass like the other million people in Venice who did. I couldn't figure this out either. It seemed everyone had access but that is just how it goes sometimes. We had a fabulous time in Venice eating, resting, more eating and LOTS of window shopping. The Giro started with a Team Time Trial on the Lido di Venezia and what a beautiful place. We had a wonderful time and just when we got down to the staging area Team Garmin was just starting their warm-up and I actually had to yell at a person who almost walked in front of the team as they were passing by. Later on... we got to watch the actual race as each team literally flew by in 5 minute intervals. It was awesome. The Giro is so strange because you would think it would be the MECCA of selling all kinds of team gear but no... there are only trucks driving around with 10euro Giro d'Italia kits and then nothing else is going on. I almost wonder if Giro won't allow teams to sell their stuff. We came home to find that Team Garmin released a line of clothing just for the Giro d'Italia that released on-line the first day of the race BUT we were there... and there was none of it around. All in all... Tres and I had an amazing vacation and now it is back to the grind of work. We made it home last night and then it was back to a 5:30am call for him to go away again for three weeks. Then he will be back for two weeks and then gone again until September. This schedule has been what our life has been since we arrived in Sicilia. We work like crazy and then literally squeeze in these trips where and when we can and sometimes it is close to darn near impossible but somehow in the last two weeks we have managed an amazing trip to Egypt and Venice. Now I need to rest!
