A semi lazy Wednesday

     After our adventures yesterday we were all ready to just hang around the house for most of the day. We slept late, had a leisurely breakfast and everyone went off in their own little corner for the morning. Pauline and I poked around the property taking photos, watched the workers in the vineyard and enjoyed finding lots of plants and flowers that we had never seen before. After lunch we decided to head down to the internet cafe, sip a cappuccino and post a few more photos on smugmug. Afterwards we headed up to the eastern end of Lake Maggiore. At least we tried to. The only route we knew was completely blocked by police, barricades, crowds of people, etc. Turns out there was a huge bicycle race that was passing thru Locarno. The bicyclists racing were also followed by cars with spare bicycles, more police, medics and on and on. We happened to be in the right place at the right time to actually see the riders go thru and they were followed by a helicopter with a camera mounted underneath. Once the bicyclists went thru the crowds turned to the TV's in cafes and shops to watch the rest of the race. The fascinating thing for us was to see how well organized it, how smooth it ran, and how little it affected traffic. Within moments after the riders went thru an area, workers were cleaning up the barricades, advertising, etc.

Somewhere in the middle of all this we managed to get up to the eastern end of the lake. Our fascination with this area is that it is a large, flat river delta. In other words, rich soil. It is covered with greenhouses, hoop houses and field crops. There was no way we were leaving the valley without spending an afternoon exploring the area.

Once we got past all the bicycle race traffic we found a narrow little dirt road that went right thru the middle of the area. Close inspection of the hoop houses has given us lots on new, efficient and inexpensive ways to extend the growing season in Maine. It was an afternoon well spent.

Afterwards we picked up a few groceries, stopped to take a few pictures of advertising signs in town, headed home for dinner and a relaxing evening.