Well, for my Great Greco-Roman Adventure, aka les vacances de Toussaint, I will definitely be breaking the trip down into smaller posts by cities. We'll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)...
On Friday, October 26th, I set out at 7:00 am to walk to the train station to take a train from Narbonne to Montpellier, followed by a train to Nice, followed by a train to Ventimiglia (Italy), followed by a train to Milan (Italy). It was 13.5 hours of traveling (including two train delays), but hey, there are worse ways to spend a rainy day than sitting in a train riding along the Mediterranean.
view out of the train window - somewhere along
the Mediterranean, France
view out of the train window - Ventimiglia, Italy
And, finally, after many hours in a train, a couple of metro stops, getting a little bit lost in the dark/cold/rain, being helped by a kind Italian man (in a mixture of gesture, Italian, and French), finding/checking into our hostel, and finding our way to a restaurant, we were rewarded with our first Italian meal. It was fantastic.
The next morning, it was off to Milan city center, despite the dreary cold!
We happened upon the Castello Sforzesco, where this statue lives.
courtyard in the same castle
more Castello Sforzesco
From Pinocchio to Harry Potter?! Yes please.
former moat (a guess)
I dunno how old this is, but it was outside the castle...
remnants of a fortification?
close-up of the above
We then took a one-hour train ride north to the
city of Como on Lake Como.
Despite the gloom, it was BEAUTIFUL. Pre-Alpine (hills? mountains?) go right up to the lake, there are houses of all different colors built on the slopes, it's incredibly picturesque. The fog and drizzle actually contributed to its romantic and somewhat mystical atmosphere (though I'm sure it would have been beautiful in the sun). It was quiet and so lovely.
our lunch spot
walking along the lake
random swan, just hangin' out with these ducks
(Here's a video of the lake, costarring these birds.)
more lake, plus hydroplane
Hey, you coming over? Cool. Just bring your boat to my side steps.
There are lots of villas along the lake, like this Villa La Rotonda here.
Napoleon stayed here when he came to Lake Como in 1797.
Get ready to see lots of me with this umbrella this day, people.
(Also get ready to see the jacket and a scarf in pretty much
every picture this whole trip.)
just peeking into someone's yard
I'm siiiiiiiiiingin' in the rain drizzle!
Look who found a magnolia tree!
If you didn't know, they're my favorite. (Magnolias, that is.)
No flowers, though. :(
I love some good foliage... it actually looks like fall in Italy!
along our walk
Villa Olmo, the terminus of our walk
I like a good Roman helmet.
back to city center
...where the Duomo (cathedral) was our final stop
rose window of the Duomo
...aaaaaand back to Milan for the evening!*
We checked out if we could go see DaVinci's The Last Supper,
but it turns out you have to book tickets a week in advance. Boo.
My one Milanese regret.
Milan's Duomo is beautiful - really architecturally interesting.*
If you look closely, you can see a bride and groom in the middle!
I loved the combination of the statue, the Ray-Ban sign, and the sunset,
so I had to grab this photo.
And so ends our brief stay in Milan, and part one of our Great Toussaint Adventure. Other than The Last Supper issue, I got to see what I wanted to see. I loved getting to start off with a little relaxation at Lake Como. (And by relaxation, I mean we were walking all day in the cold/rain, but it was a relaxing place.) :) I would love to come back and spend a week at Lake Como; I highly recommend it as a "relaxing getaway" vacation destination. If you're in the market for a transatlantic flight, that is.
I do have one question though... where were all the cookies?!
Thanks, Pepperidge Farm!
Both for the picture and for giving me false expectations
about a city's sweet treats.**
*Pictures taken by Kimberly, as my camera's battery wasn't doing so great that evening. Thanks girl!
**I did not really expect there to be Pepperidge Farm cookies.
No comments:
Post a Comment