Buongiorno!
Quick update on my European travels... Daniel FINALLY got here... seemed like it would never come... and just left :(... WENT BY WAY TOO QUICKLY. We spent our first couple days together in Milan, eating pizza, baking AMAZING pasta, and seeing all the touristy Milan attractions (not that there are all that many...) It was sooooo great to finally do all the romantic couply things I wanted to do here.
Our first weekend trip was to the French Riviera to see Nice and Monaco. Our train was about 5 hours, which was really nice because we had our own private car for most of the ride. Unfortunately, the Italian police came into our cabin and asked for our passports. They scanned that document front to back and then called in our Passport ID #s. I swear they were looking for someone because it took about 5 minutes for them to leave our cabin. Apparently Daniel and I look very suspicious? Anyway, France is SOOO much nicer than Italy. They maintain their buildings much better, don't leave shit hanging out their windows or in their yards, and just have cleaner, newer structures overall. It was absolutely beautiful. Nice, being the big city it is, actually had a very small town feel to it and we loved strolling the beach and walking through the quaint piazzas. The kiddy park with the ferris wheel in the middle of the city was very charming... unfortunately it was raining so the last thing I wanted was to be stuck on a ferris wheel soaking wet. The food in Nice was amazing!! It was so nice to get away from typical Italian food, although let me tell you they had plenty of it. We ate mostly seafood (yay Mediterranean coast) and it was seriously EXACTLY what I had been craving. I also had some French pastries, and my new favorite sweet is a Macaron. They seriously melt in your mouth and are well worth the 1 Euro each. MMMMMMM.
Our day trip to Monaco was beautiful. We got a gorgeous day, a little cloudy at times but what are you going to do, and the city was almost deserted. We wandered through the streets, walked the beach, and went up to the Monte Carlo Casino. If there were ever a car I've dreamed about, it was right there in front of the casino. Seeing two Bentleys, a Rolls, some Caddy's, and a Maybach all right next to each other was ridiculous. TALK ABOUT A RICH TOWN. Luckily Nice was only a 15 minute train ride away because the food in Monaco was a good 30 Euros a plate, unless you wanted something more upclass... like a filet... which will set you back around 50-60 euros. I just wanted a 4 euro panini... unfortunately not to be found anywhere near Monte Carlo.
Back in Milan for the week, we went to school, went out to Apperativo's (I won't tell you about Daniel's drink that tasted like a melted after dinner mint because if he reads this he'll get sick again just thinking about it), and did the last of our Milan attractions. We picked a beautiful day to go on top of Duomo, although I was extremely disappointed. I had been waiting all semester for Daniel to get here so we could go on top and it was not at all like any of the other cities I've been to. They have wire walls blocking openings (I'm guessing so no one jumps or throws things) and you can barely get a good view of Duomo plaza. I also heard it was beautiful to look out over Milan and see the whole city, but Milan is even uglier from above than it is from below. There's no consistency to the city, no one color, no one style of architecture; I was really upset. Oh well. At least I went up there... I definitely don't recommend it. Besides roaming the parks, riding the metro, and kissing in public (it is Europe), we pretty much fell into our usual routine of just relaxing and being together... and finishing an entire season of Californication on my iBook. ;) (Great show by the way)
On Thursday, we headed off to Lake Como for our second weekend get away (YES we know we're spoiled). We booked our hotel in Bellagio, a little touristy city on the point of the peninsula of Lake Como (the lake is an upside down Y and Bellagio is at the tip where the two legs come together). We took the train from Milan into Varenna, a cute little fishing town (more residential than touristy), and then had to take a ferry from Varenna to Bellagio. There's something cool about staying in a city that you can only reach by boat, or by a two hour car ride through the mountains. It was definitely a very relaxed atmostphere; a place I found completely lacking of stress. Although depending on a ferry to let me leave where I live would probably add stress to my life... but that's just me. Anyway, Lake Como could possibly be the most beautiful place on Earth. The Lake is huge and absolutely breathtaking as it is completely embedded within the base of the Italian Alps. Mountains surround the entire lake and glancing up north you can see the snowcapped Alps in the distance. It's gorgeous- insanely beautiful. I'm not sure my pictures can do it justice.
Our first day we took the Ferry to Cadenabbia and walked along the shore through about 3 small towns. It's very cute how each town is so close to one another... it makes for interesting scenery throughout your entire walk. We walked about 2 hours to Villa Balbianello- the place where they filmed Anakin Skywalker and Padme's wedding in Star Wars Episode 2. Unfortunately, after climbing up half the mountain this Villa is located on, we found the gates closed. They claim to be open mid-March but apparently March 15 is too early. DAMN. Anyway, the Villa looked beautiful from a distance... I guess I'll just have to watch Star Wars again to see the view from there.
Our second day we took a 2 hour hike up the peninsula to see Bellagio from up high. Besides the lack of sidewalks (how obnoxious) the hike was pretty good. We saw a ton of bikers, although my butt hurt just thinking of their straight uphill climb for a good hour. Talk about getting toned. JEALOUS. The view from the hill was beautiful... although the fog was starting to roll in. I still think if you're going to own a Lake home anywhere, make it Lake Como. Damn it was beautiful.
Besides walking and hiking, we drank wine and beer on our balcony overlooking the Lake, and just had a very romantic, beautiful weekend away. It was absolutely perfect and I loved every minute of it.
Now Daniel is gone... and I've gone back into Alli depression mode. Hopefully being distracted by Rome this weekend and my family coming next week will definitely help, although I already miss him terribly and I only dropped him off an hour ago. Only 3 more months until NY... although I can't even think about that since I have a million more trips before then. Anyway, hopefully I didn't bore you too much with my romance stories.
Ciao e ci vediamo pronto!!
