This Picture Deserves its Own Post

Pizza from Naples

The Northern Border

I love the sound of cups clinking in an early morning cafe. I can almost smell the coffee as I walk to the train station catching a line to Milano. Como and Milan. That is this weekend.

We board the train not realizing we have nice tickets that give us a cabin. More comfortable. More relaxing. Adam falls asleep quickly. I read Italian slowly.

When I get to the city that is the furthest north I have been in Italy, I get excited immensely. I am headed to a new place. Como, a place of villas on an Italian lake with Alps in the background. Only about 9 miles from Switzerland. Milano a city city. Hussle and bussle serious economic center of Italy. Yet here the image of an Italian is found. The stylishness they seek is on every person in this designer infested land. How many Italian designers can you name?

The train ride is long but pleasant. I am stunned along the cost. We pass the painted buildings of Portofino, the classic apartments of Genoa, the growing mountains of the countryside. I am glad to be awake. I am glad to be a traveller. I am extremely glad it is the weekend. I cannot wait to get a coffe in me and board the train for Como. Mountain laid lake...here I come.

We arrive at the Milan train station. It is huge and I love it. Reminds me slightly of an airport because of its size. Something about train stations romances me and my wanderlust spirit. We try to get our ticket. Success. We try to find our platform. Fail. We must wait another hour and then switch trains.

We decide to get coffee and wait. As I order due cappuccino, I already feel the rush of Milan.

After a bit of a wait we board the train to Bovisa. From here we take the train to Como. I board the train surrounded by skinny model looking people. This helps me become more self conscious. Yay models of Milan.

The train to Milan has a couple of kids that speak several languages. I decide I want bilingual children. You can order them that way, right?

I dreamt last night I went to Manderly again. The mysterious humid sexy romance of the story Rebecca is what I feel here in Como. Spectaculae views of lake and mountains through fog and moss covered statues. The erieness lends to the forbidden sex appeal. To the appeal of Como.

You and kind of see the Swiss influence. We took a Funicolare to the top of the mountain.

 

 

If Como represents desire, Milan represents constraint. We go out the first night we arrive in Milan. It is a Gothic city ran my the designer fashion industry. Everything is beautiful.

 

We meet a man at the bus stop who is one interesting character. A nice fellow, that was easy to talk to.  He loved Modern Art, and shouted "O My God!" anytime I did recognize the name of a modern artist. He pulled out a piece of paper, and pen, and created his own characters in seconds. Pretty good.  He spoke of his time in the US. San Francisco to be exact. He was interesting. We like him. We boarded the trolley with him, without tickets. We got caught, and fined. Oh, the seriousness of Milan.

 

The next day is one to relax and enjoy history and culture. We have tour of the Last Supper....Amazing! I learned such much. The history of the art, the story of a picture. Wonderful! Both Adam and I became awestruck nerds at this point. (EVERYONE WHO GOES TO MILAN MUST SEE THE LAST SUPPER!!!!) Our guide was excellent. His description of the painting made me even more blown away. Leonardo thought a lot about what had to go into making this painting. This moment in biblical history.

 

The rest of the day we relax. Go to the park. Sleep on a bench. See the French gift of the Arch of Peace. Enjoy the sun. Enjoy each other.





 

We sit down to eat before our train. I pull out the ticket to check something for some reason. Crap, our train leaves in five minutes. We rush to the platforms. Yay! Our train is delayed by ten minutes. We made it. Oh man. That means we have to walk home.  After another four hours of travel, Adam gets Kebab-ed up and we make our way home. Home sweet Home.

Adam said the more and more he travels in Europe, the less it feels like a foreign country. It kind of makea it lose its luster. Agree. It means I am meltting into the culture. A good thing in a way but whan it comes to travel I love the exotic feel. This means next stop....Asia.

Como

Michaelangelo

Designer Milan: Needle and thread

Wonderful stained glass in the Cathedral

Modern Art museum

We did end up seeing modern art. The old man would be so proud.

 

Yo Bro, Happy Birthday

To my brother,

Hurry it's a special day.
Giddy up and play all day.
Eating ice cream and chocolate cake.
It's your birthday, let's celebrate!

Source: Birthday Poems for Friends http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/friend/birthday-poems.asp#ixzz2ZNxGjerN
www.FamilyFriendPoems.com

Wish I was with you. (Meaning I wish you were here.) Have a wonderful day little bro, who is much bigger than me. I miss our car rides together! When I come home, we'll have more, but since I no longer have a car, it's on you man!

Happy Birthday, Brandon!

Starstruck in Daylight (Siena)

After a great beach day, we decide to take another trip. This time to the beautiful city of Siena. This is a hilltop town in the region of Chianti, where great wine and romance is formed.

We travel by train to Empoli. And from there we go to Siena. The entire time of the trip was a bit more than expected. About 2 1/2 hours. When we get to Siena, we must hike from the train station into town.  I pull out my map on my phone. Adam's love of maps, and enjoyment in all of my technology encourages him to seize my phone for the entire day.  This means, he is again, the navigator. (This leads us to climbing up a hill, we really didn't need to climb up. I would have followed the old lady in the purple dress. She seemed confident.)

We come into town passing different shops, some open, some not due to the holy day. We walk down gypsy invaded avenue, and into the beautiful piazza. Possibly the best I have seen. It is huge. It is fan shaped. It is calming.

The piazza is somewhere you wish to stay for a long period of time.  This is the place of the Palio, a horse race that happens twice a summer. One has happened, the other I will go to on August 16th.

 

Because this area is so beautiful and it is such perfect day, we sit to enjoy a cappuccino. (Well I get a cappuccino, and Adam gets an espresso, not realizing it's size or potency.)  We people watch for an hour.  Children with squeaky voices are proud of themselves and wish their parents to see.  Young couples make out in the middle of the fan. Old couples sit calming without saying a word to one another, just being.  Mothers take pictures of reluctant children.  Pigeons fly over head, and dive for a bath in the fountain. The clock tower rings from a one handed clock.  People all smile.

 

 

After an hour, we realize the importance of seeing other things while in Siena. We head to the duomo and buy the complete package ticket. With this we can see the Cathedral, the crept, the museo, the Panorama.  We first head to the cathedral.

 

Wow the marble floors. The black and white pillars that give way to an Arabic influence.  The painted stars on the ceiling. Hundreds of gold stars in a sea of blue.  Adam decides if he wins the lottery, he will get marble floors in his house, of WVU football games.  I quietly decide, I would live here. We walk around and see every detail.  (Small heads up, females will be asked to put on a shaw, you know for modesty.  Oh, but, men and women go to the same bathroom. Forget modesty then.)

We timidly leave this place in hopes to see another just as amazing.  We head to the Museo and start to look around.  Many things are again beautiful. I see am image by Donatella. I see the most beautiful stained glass I have ever seen. I see an actually human skull, in a gold box. I see the ugliest Madonna ever with what looks to be either a hippie for a cub scout for a Jesus.

We continue to go up the stars and make our way to the place for Panorama.  This must be beautiful right?  We have already left to places we enjoyed quite a bit, to seek out more. To find something better. To enjoy the city more. We walk up the spiral staircase, which is no small feat, because Adam has giant feet.  We go up up up, and then it is. It is.

 



La Spiaggia Part 2

Ok, this is actually my third time to the same beach, but I get caught in sun and sea, too much relaxing to move mode. When I come home, every time, it is the same exhausted sun soaked feeling....that I love!

Going to the beach with Adam is not really different than when I go alone. We take turns watching the stuff, while the other takes a dip in the sea. We fall asleep on the beach, and wake each other up to turn over. We both decide Jimmy Buffet has it right, living on a beach.  I talk about my desire to live in Florida, own a yellow and green beach house, complete with hammock, and some how the discussion leads to our disdain for the snow in winter. Ah....the beach.

Pretty 95-100% confident I have ADHD I ask to take the walk to the pier. Reluctantly, he agrees. We walk along the seashore, (which is literally the sea, even though we say this for the ocean shores in the US.) We pass the place we should have been, the free beach, with satisfaction that we did not go there. Too many people, and who really checks to see if you paid, anyway.

The view from the pier is one I believe Monet would attempt to capture.

 

After the 'long' hike to the pier we decide to go back home, do some grocery shopping, and get ready for our trip to Siena tomorrow (which includes making my amazing eggplant parmesan for lunch/dinner.)  I am slightly disappointed, I fell asleep instead of reading my Italian book Il Visconte Dimezzato by Italo Calvino.

 

My disappointment in myself subsides rather quickly when Adam enthusiastically declares he most eat at a certain restaurant. Adam's Kebab. Great not only because Adam loves Kebabs, but also because Adam is Adam. It was his Kebab.

 

While becoming an Italian, it's rather important to become what they are. To love what they love. In my experience thus far, it is the sea.

 



Leaves Me Wanting More...

It is finally the weekend, and we must get out of town.  We take the train from Pisa to La Spezia.  We packed all the belongings for the trip into one backpack, not a small feet when you consider Adam's shoe size. I realize all I forgot to pack. (Shampoo, conditioner, phone charger, underwear...thank god I will be wearing a swimsuit the entire time.)

We hop off the train not completely sure where we are headed.  Catch a bus that takes us to the small town of Biassa high on the hillside. HIGH ON THE HILLSIDE. This bus is the same width as the road.  I travel up the zig zag way thinking of the people killed by roads such as this in South America. I think of how off balance the bus must be with Adam on one side of it. And yet, I realize to perfect views.

 

When we get to the hostel, we are told we take the green bus to the first of the 5 towns. Ha. This green mini bus is really a large van. A large van that must again zig zag down the hillside.  Not only does it make it down the steep mountain, it also takes us straight to the train station of Riomaggiore through crowds of tourist. I find an awestruck wonder in the simplistic fact that Italians can drive...very well!

 

Due to the advice of the owner of our hostel, we decide to take the train to the last city, Monterossa, and make our way back to the others.  The train is simple, and short. The five cities are rather close together. (Via dell'amore is closed we find out.)

 

With big plans to check out the beach in Monterossa, hike to the (said) prettiest town of Vernazza, and take a train to the following three, we get stuck as soon as we see the beach. We immediately decide not to leave. 2-4 mixed drinks later, we are in heaven.

To anyone who knows anything about Cinque Terre, it is known for the views from the hikes. Not exactly for the beaches you cannot get enough of.  After finding a bar that plays American country music and makes Coladas with actual pineapple, I conclude it is the best spiaggia I have ever been to. Adam settles on it being his 2nd favorite, which is OK since he has seen many more than me.

 

Day one is finished. The entire first day of a two day trip to see five cities in finished after just one city. Una città meravigliosa. I decide to become Italian, and spend my entire summer longing to be near the sea. Coming up crispy from the salt of the Mediterranean. Becoming brown from the sun's unforgiving rays.

 

Day two begins with us deciding to be more productive. Although, we think nothing can top yesterday, we will try.  We take the train into Vernazza, which I was told is the best city.  Other than an art gallery with a wonderful woman from the UK, I am not so impressed. The boats and buildings are colorful, yes, but here I hear more English than Italian. Even though I moved to Italy to teach English, I long to hear the sing song sound of the Italian language.

 

We quickly leave the town on a hike headed up, (and over, but really the up was the most memorable.)  I am stunned by not only miraculous vista that scream, yes God wants us to appreciate his artwork, but also by how out of shape I am. Up up we go, on the stairs from hell.

Views are stunning, made slightly less appealing by the sweat pouring from every inch of my.  When we finally get around the hillside/mountainside, we see what we came to see. Corniglia. Sitting like a painting plopped down from a work from Mario Zampedroni.

After the two hour journey, and soaked dress, and extremely cake-y make up we decide we must again go to the sea.  We head to town, and dive in, literally.  The crystal clear water here puts the Maldives to a competition. I see every speck of me while I swim.





 

So, if you ever find yourself in Italy, Cinque Terre is the place to be.  Please stay a day in each city. Suck it up and hike the trails. Skip being a tourist, and jump in the sea. Be Italian. Stay in a hostel that is in a town you would never know existed, but are so glad it does. Have a epiphany that comes when you realize how blessed you are to be in place. A place. Any place. Chances are, around the world someone does not know it exists. Does not understand the beauty from being right there.

 

Here I see how great my decision is. How many people would not want to make the same choice. How I would never want to be them.