Welcome to the September 2008 ExperiencePlus! Rambler E-Mail Newsletter

• Dear Folks...
• Two new bicycling trips in South America featuring Chile's Wine Country
• Part 2: In Praise of Bicycling and Women
• From Our Customers: Carol DelGaudio and Peter Keibel
• Recipe: Nonno Bruno's Crema (Vanilla Custard)

Dear Folks,

The dollar has taken a great bounce the last three weeks, recovering almost about 7% against the Euro. The airlines are responding with cheaper air fares, too. So, if you ask us, the best bicycle vacation this fall would be to fly to Italy for our Sept. 28^th Coastal Tuscany Tour followed by a Puglia Bike Tour October 7^th. You’d see the end of the grape harvest in Tuscany and enjoy the great food and clear, sunny skies of Puglia in October. 

Of course, if you’re looking for something more exotic, rural Greece is spectacular in October (Classical Greece Oct. 6^th) as is Turkey (also October 6^th). The food on both these tours will have you humming into winter and (maybe?) thinking seriously about taking up the Mediterranean diet with lots of olive oil, roasted eggplant, hummus, and sun dried tomatoes!

If this hasn’t gotten you hungry for a bike tour, then turn your thoughts to the southern hemisphere. Beginning in November our offerings in Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica begin. (I know, Costa Rica is not in the southern hemisphere, but it’s close). Bicycle through rain forests in Costa Rica, Pedal across the Andes or, enjoy the best of European and Chilean culture with our new tour through Chile’s wine country. Our southern hemisphere offerings continue through the winter and include two expeditions across South America for the hard core. If the expedition concept sounds interesting to you check out our ExpeditionPlus Newsletter.

And don’t forget our TourzPlus! trips in the US, New Zealand, Australia,Vietnam, and we have a new bicycling trip to Rajasthan region of India.

On the bicycle advocacy front, Rick continues to be involved with a movement to encourage the Fort Collins, CO City Council to consider writing a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community plan. See his blog for more details.

Paola is enjoying her research on women cyclists at the turn of the 19^th century; you can read the second installment of her essay about Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Frances Willard in the 1890s here. And, if as Frances Willard wrote in 1895 you are “sighing for new worlds to conquer,” give us a call. We’ll point you in the right direction! 

Happy Cycling,

Rick & Paola Malpezzi Price

We have just posted the details for two new exciting bicycling trips through the Chilean Wine Country and along the Pacific Coast. 

Bicycling through Chile’s wine regions south of Santiago in one of the last areas settled by the Spanish in the mid to late-16th century, you’ll find a surprisingly “European landscape” of small farm villages, country roads and manicured vineyards. 

Read more about what makes these tours unique, or jump straight to the tour information for each one below.

• Bicycling Chile's Wine Country
• Bicycling Chile's Wine Country Plus! the Pacific Coast

This the conclusion of Paola's article, In Praise of Bicycling and Women by Nineteenth-Century American Women: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Robins Pennell and Frances Willard which will soon be published by Wolverine Press. Here is a link to the beginning in case you missed it last month!

Anthony also suggested the emotions that a woman on a bicycle probably experienced: “It gives a woman a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. It makes her feel as if she were independent. The moment she takes her seat she knows she can’t get into harm unless she gets off her bicycle, and away she goes, the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood” (The World 10).

• Read more Part 2: In Praise of Bicycling and Women in the Nineteen-Century here.

Carol and Peter are the founding members of the "Slow Bike Movement" whose aim is to maximize their time on their bikes. AND they are a wine making family. Sounds like great qualification for fun companions on tour.

Read more about Carol and Peter here.

Paola's father was a restaurateur for years and one of the recipes Maria Elena remembers most is his famous vanilla custard. Who knew it was so easy to make?

Click here to read the rest of Maria Elena's version of Nonno Bruno's Vanilla Custard recipe.

If you would like additional recipes, visit our online recipe archive. You'll find recipes for European and Latin American specialties like Panzanella: a Tuscan Salad, Tapenade, Gallo Pinto, and more.

Happy Walking and Cycling until next month!

E-mail us at tours@ExperiencePlus.com with comments and questions. Or give us a call at 800-685-4565.

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