I woke up today, and was directly reminded that we drank quite a bit last night. I quickly gather my stuff and pack bags, eat breakfast with Silvia, shower, shave. Before leaving I go to the bakery in order to get 3 fresh “pannini”. (Sandwiches), and got an haircut since it was open. Then last preparation, goodbye to Silvia and Erica (Silvia’s mom).
Then bike ride of cycling path for most of the way, super enjoyable. Very smooth, ate lunch during three different breaks to not feel too heavy on the bike. And enjoyed a worry free bike ride away from cars and traffic. It’s crazy how much more “space” you have in your brain to think when you don’t have to check the mirror every 30 seconds.
While riding, I was thinking about calories, using this Wikipedia article about energy efficiency. We can see how many more calories a car consumes per kilometers than someone on a bike, on top of that the bike ride is more enjoyable even if it took 5 hours instead of 1h30.
326.97 kCal/km for a Volkswagen Polo
26.29 kCal/km for someone on bike
An average male needs 2,500kcal per day
I arrived in Bolzano and spent 1 hour in a big park, just enjoying the sun and waiting for Marius (my Warmshowers host) to finish work. He then sent me his adress, a 10 min bike ride. And after introducing ourselves, I took a shower and we then ran some errands in the city before coming back to his house and making dinner.
Marius cooked some simple pasta with fresh tomatoes and homemade olive oil and tomato sauce, very simple yet effective. We talked about our lives, I mostly listened to stories about travelling. He is a designer, and worked in technical clothing for winter sports, first kind of gortex and polar clothing, then for other technical clothing projects, now he makes all kind of design and art (I saw a lot of experiment and prototypes in the house) and is working on special Christmas lights for a city. I got advices to find jobs, stay professional, evolve, grow… We also talk about couchsurfing, bike trips, parties in New York, Turkey, a bit about politics, life, drugs, public transport…
Marius also warned me that the apartment had little privacy and that he was nudist friendly. Well the bathroom had no door, and the shower was facing the kitchen. And it was indeed very nudist friendly, we spent time mostly shirtless, him naked after my approval, and slept on a big comfortable king size bed.
I had a great night of sleep after this long day.
