Monday, June 30: Casale Monferato to Borgomanero (80k)
The ride today was all relatively flat. The morning was through lots of rice fields (I guess they're only called 'rice paddies' in Asia). We stopped in San Nazzaro Sesia to tour an abbey, then had lunch at a trattoria in Carpignano. We got to Borgomanero around 2pm; Noreen and Carolyn went to the piscina communale (immediately next door to the hotel!) and swam for an hour while Jeff joined Mary and Thomas in the town square for a beer. It was a nice, indoor pool; two boys asked Carolyn to teach them how to do a flip turn. Afterwards, we shuttled to a bike shop for some shopping, Carolyn checked the grocery store for Pratobelli Cantuccini (no luck), and we met at 7 to walk to Trattoria Dei Commercianti -- a fantastic series of antipasti, two primi including gnocchi with a great saffron-tinted sauce, a rack of veal; and it rained during dinner!