Reader's Digest: Italy
It's time to convey the two weeks in Europe... in brief. Part 1 - Italy.
Our trip to Milan, was a doozy. Chicago to London (worst airport ever), London to Lisbon, Lisbon to Zurich, and Zurich to Milan. We spent the night in Milan and ate at the only restaurant open at 10 pm. That was the first place we tried out the "drink the house wine" theory. They had red wine ON TAP. Literally, one tap for beer, one tap for wine - crazy.
Next day we trained it through Genova on our way to Vernazza. The town of Vernazza is the second largest in the Cinque Terre chain of five.
Map of the regionVernazza was beautiful and wonderful. Although there were a lot of tourists, the character of the townspeople really came out.
Jen on the path to Monterosso, Vernazza in the backgroundOn our first full day, we took the 2 hour hike to the largest of the towns, Monterosso. The hike was pretty tough due to the mountains. We had to go up the side of the mountain for a long way, then accross toward the town, then back down to sea level. After an afternoon of sunbathing, we huffed and puffed our way back.
Grapevines on the hills above MonterossoI think the best part of Vernazza was sitting in the piazza after dinner to drink wine and people-watch. We were usually there until 11 - 12.
The piazza in Vernazza at nightThe following day, we hiked to the middle town, Corniglia. It was an easier hike and we were able to enjoy a nice lunch there. We hung out the next day until training it to Venice. We heard that Venice was a place that we definitely had to see, but not really worth staying in for more than a day. So, that is exactly what we did.
A gondellier overcharging tourists for the view we got from the water taxiIt turns out we were there during the weekend of the yearly Ragatta, but we were going to miss the actual day.
Jen and me in St. Mark's SquareWe made our way back to Milan and ended out stay in Italy in the same hotel (if not the same room) that we started in. And yes, we did go back to the same restaurant with wine on tap.
Like I said, this was a very brief account of our week there. There were many little things that would make this post unbearably long. Hopefully we can share more as we see you.
posted by Andrik @ 7:51 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
After reading the post, I think it's one of the most uninteresting I've written. Oh well, I'm not feeling the creative vibe today.
Maybe I'll fill in with some more interesting tidbits in the days ahead.
Andrik forgot to mention that the wine on tap was GOOD :)
Also, I tried anchovies while in Italy. Turns out that I like them. Who knew?
Looks like fun. I hope you enjoyed all the pigeons, I know you don't get to see them very often in Chicago.
I'm off to Austria-Czech-Germany tomorrow. I anticipate no wine on tap, but who knows?
1.) I told you Milan sucks. Glad you agree.
2.) Cinque Terre looks cool. I'm jealous. I drove past Cinque Terre on the autostrada (which runs up in the hills above each town) going about 80 mph in a bus. It looked like a very scenic blur.
3.) London Heathrow is unquestionably the most disgraceful airport in Europe, if not the world, and I include places like Tehran and Kabul in that statement despite having never been.
4.) I've heard that for all their beauty, the Venetian canals are pretty slimy and gross. One of my coworkers said she counted six condoms in the water one day. Is that true?
the international biz lounges are the only thing which redeem heathrow. frigging nice. beer on tap at 6am? score.
MILAN SUCKS. agreed.
I didn't see any condoms and it wasn't so hot that they were stinky, so I thought the canals were nice. Greener than the Chicago River on St. Patty's, but nice
Post a Comment
<< Home