München to Venezia...almost

Seeing as how the mega-intense Germany-Italy semifinal is going on right now and I'm dead tired from what I'm about to tell you, I'll just give a very quick overview of the last few days and leave it to Keegan or my future self to fill in the details. After leaving München on the 23rd (I think) we rode all day and almost made it to Innsbruck, but wound up camping in the rain and thick vegetation just off of the (very busy) road. We got a late start the next day (hoping for the rain to stop) and spent so much time exploring Innsbruck that we spent that night there. It was a good thing we did, because the very helpful receptionist (is that what you call someone who works in reception?) at the campsite tipped us off that Brenner Pass Road, which we were planning on taking the next morning, has no bike path until the Italian border and is very busy. So we ended up taking a train and then a bus to the top of the pass for the bargain of about 8 euros each. Now in Italy (!!!!) we had a nice ride down the pass and spent the night in a small town called Ora. Next day we made it to Lake Garda and stayed at a campground on the shore. The short swim that we had in the lake when we stopped riding was the undisputed highlight of the trip so far. Oh, and that day I accomplished 3 of my life goals (all of which involve food and Italy): eat pizza, spaghetti, and gelato in Italy. The next day (today), we rode the 40 or so remaining kilometers to Verona, where we had some amazing gelato and then parted ways  right in front of Juliette's balcony. Official parting picture:

After leaving Keegan, I took it upon myself to ride all the way to Venice. I guessed from the map that it was around 100 more kilometers, so I knew it would by a long ride. But I had no idea how bad it would be. It's at least 140 km of hot, shade-less, shoulder-less road with the most hope-killing signage ever. Let me give you an example: on the way to Padova (one of the main cities along the way), there were signs telling the remaining distance placed about every 2-3 km. They read, in order: 40, 41, 35, 38, 45, 30, 20, 25, 18, 24...
Anyway, I didn't quite make it to Venice; I'm now 15 km away (according to the signs, so who knows...) at a great campground. Now it is most definitely time for sleep. Oh, Italy just won. That's nice.