fyi- it's finished!

Well- the last piece of the Italian trip puzzle has been added. It may be the longest post ever written in all of time, but I had a lot to write! Enjoy! Time to get ready for school!

Reste cool:)

ps- nothing exciting to post from today.... went on another run in the park because it was nice out.... but this evening there was a terrible thunderstorm. Everything is all clear now!

Italy Trip Days 3 and 4: Siena+Tuscan Tour

We got to Siena after a rough train ride from Florence. (It was only rough because I thought I was dying, but turns out I'm just fine...lol). The train station was a little ways outside of the city center, so the map I drew myself from google looked a little too complicated at that time. We opted for a taxi ride up the hill and got to our B&B, La Coperta Ricamata. It was gated and sort of hidden away, so we hesitantly rang the buzzer. We were welcomed into the beautiful farm house by Luciana, the owner, who said, "Hello, this is my house,"(the bottom floor was her house, the upstairs apartments were the rooms of the B&B.... still caught us off guard). She took down our passport info and showed us to our room. A man also came with us, who we think might be her husband. Luciana didn't speak much more English than, "You like?", so her hubby explained that we had to use 3 different keys to get into the house. It sounded much more complicated than it actually was, but the room was gorgeous- tall ceilings and windows with a nice big bathroom (bidet included). We took a nice little nap so that I could stop feeling like crap and we eventually made our way into the old city center (with the help of a google map printed off by Luciana+hubz).

Siena is a gorgeous town in the heart of Tuscany. The legend says that the town was named after and created because of Senius, son of Remus, escaping the wrath of Romulus in Florence (erm maybe?). He was welcomed to the city by wolves who raised him... and so began the rivalry between Siena and Florence (as Siena was created by Senius). Not sure how accurate I am with the legend and how historically accurate the real legend is, but sounds neat! Both cities actually did fight throughout the Middle Ages... fighting for land, money, and power (you know- standard stuff). Florence usually won, although Siena was stronger for a hundred year span of time somewhere in there. As I said, I'm not too sure about the wolf story, but there are tons of statues of wolves around the city... several of them showing the she-wolf suckling babies.

We first walked through the quaint, ancient looking, crowded streets (still Carnival time.... not as big a deal here as in Venice, but still had some little kids dressed up and confetti everywhere) towards Piazza del Campo. Il Campo is the largest public open space in Siena, popular as a city hang out since it's construction in the 1300's! You actually have to take stairs into the bowl-like structure that slopes downwards towards the beautiful Palazzo Pubblico (the castle with the tower). The middle of the area looks like a seashell the way it fans out and is divided into nine sections. All around the center is the track for the Palio horse race held twice a year since the 14th century. The neighborhoods of Siena compete (well, their chosen jockeys ride bareback on horses) for a silk flag.... flown with pride for the rest of the year until the next Palio. Seems dangerous.... as the course can't be long enough for a race lasting longer than a minute (unless they go around a few times?).

We took some time to marvel at the area, Victor got some gelato and I had some salty nuts (I was still feeling faint... how lame I know), and we had a nice sit on the sloping campo, people watching and taking pictures. After awhile, we made our way towards the Duomo of Siena, which is equally, if not more ornate than the one in Florence... We weren't able to go in because you had to buy tickets for a few euros.... but the outside was pretty spectacular enough.

It started to get a little chilly, so we went back to the campo to have dinner at an open terrace cafe. I had some minestrone soup, while Victor had some delicious looking lasagna. The sky was so clear, and as it got darker, the sky was almost a pure navy blue color.... it was a gorgeous backdrop for a meal, no matter how lame my menu choice was.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early to fetch food from the hallway where Luciana said it would be. We had a little basket to fill and bring back to our room. It was so cute.... the sun was shining through our tall windows as we nibbled on pastries (well, I nibbled, Victor ate). I was almost feeling better, but didn't want to push it with our big tour day ahead of us. We were both super excited about our tour.... although I bet Victor was a little more excited ;)

A few minutes to 9am, we went outside to find a minivan parked on the street. Carlotta, our Siena-native guide, got out to shake our hands and welcome us into our transportation station for the day. She is very tall, which sort of surprised me for some reason, but very nice. She was a little quieter than other tour guides I've had.... so I'm not sure if it was the language barrier or if she just wanted us to be able to enjoy talking amongst ourselves.... but we felt a little awkward talking amongst ourselves with her driving us around, as it was just the two of us on the tour, so it was pretty quiet in our van. At first I tried to maintain a conversation, and Victor would chime in with extra questions every once in a while, but that didn't last longer than about an hour. She mainly gave us information when we got out of the van... giving us plenty of time to quietly enjoy the Tuscan countryside on the hilly roads.

Our first stop for the day was a medieval fortress for Siena called Monteriggioni. It is completely enclosed and up on a hill.... perfect for seeing if neighboring rival Florence was on the attack. Carlotta walked us around to show us the view.... we were able to see San Gimignano, a village we'd be touring later in the day, where Florence should be, mountain ranges, which parts were considered Chianti wine regions, which weren't, etc. Other than that though, we didn't do much here. The fortress is now a very small village of about 50 inhabitants (or less), and it being the beginning of March, the tourist town was not real hoppin'. I guess it was also about 9:30am... so a little early for the tourist rush, if there was one? Carlotta said she liked the fortress better this time of year because it isn't so crowded.... it kind of reminded me of Perouges in the way that it was sort of a ghost town in winter, but will be a hot spot in the summer for medieval festivals.

We left the fortress for the town of Greve in Chianti next, obviously part of the Chianti wine region (pronounced keyahntee). This was the type of wine we'd be trying at our wine tasting later in the day. The town of Greve is the birth place of Giovanni Verrazzano, the Italian explorer, famous for discovering the New York Harbor (ie the Verrazzano bridge). In the town square there is a large statue of the man- citizens of the town seem to be very proud of his accomplishment. However, Carlotta informed us that Verrazzano was eaten by cannibals on his third voyage to the Americas by a Carib tribe in the Bahamas. He died at the young age of 43 :( What a way to go....

After that informational tidbit, Carlotta gave us about 30 minutes to explore the little town on our own. There wasn't much but a famous butcher shop (she told us to go in an smell the meat.... Victor was more brave than I), coffee shop, and Chianti Classico gift shop. The Chianti Classico wine symbol is a black rooster. If it doesn't have the black rooster label, it isn't considered real Chianti Classico. There was something else about having a pink label as opposed to an orange label.... but I can't remember. In any event, the gift shop had everything from wine glasses to golf balls with the Chianti rooster. We stepped in the shop after a stop at the coffee place, where I had some freshly squeezed red/orange juice. It was nice to talk freely without our personal tour guide there, but when we came out and started our walk back to meet her, she was still standing in the same spot we left her at the statue. Kind of made us feel bad.... but onward we went, back to the van for the ride to the Verrazzano castle.

We drove up a steep and windy drive to the castle. The grounds were enormous; there were several groves of olive trees, forests, and of course vineyards surrounding the castle house, wine cellar, restaurant, and gardens. We were a little early for our appointment with the castle guide/wine expert, so Carlotta gave us a lot of information about the process of wine making. Let's just say it's very complicated and a million factors influence how a wine tastes, and basically no bottle of wine will taste exactly the same.... or something. Carlotta is taking a course to become a sommelier, so I think she was excited to teach us about what she was learning. Meanwhile, we were overlooking the beautiful vineyards and hilly countryside of Tuscany in the bright sunshine, so we didn't really mind (although it was a little windy).

We eventually made our way up to where we were meeting our guide, Gino. Gino is a very, very passionate wine lover. He also spoke excellent English, with at times an almost George W accent. (We later found out he's married to an American who came to study Italian when he was giving language lessons once upon a time... ooh la la! ) He made a few jokes and talked to Carlotta in Italian for a bit while we awkwardly stood out of the wind in what looked like the accounting office. Soon enough we realized we were waiting for others on our tour; four American college-aged girls came huffing and puffing up the big hill. They had taken the bus from Florence where 2 of the 4 are studying (the other 2 were visiting on spring break)... but didn't realize how much of a hike there was from the bus stop.

After some introductions, we followed Gino to the splendid gated gardens of the castle. There were potted plants and fountains.... green green grass with little purple and white flowers blooming. He had us pick a purple flower and smell it.... he said the wine is produced from the same "momma and papa as this flower...." (sun and earth?) and influences the flavor of the grapes.... etc. etc. It was a fairly theatrical beginning to our tour.... but interesting enough!

After our garden chat about environmental influences on how the wine tastes and a mini lecture on touring with our eyes and not the screens of cameras (it's true... it's easy to do), he walked us through where they hang grapes for a certain type of wine, vino santo...at least I think, a type of sweet wine (the grapes have a longer time to shrivel up and store more concentrated sugar). We then went into the wine cellars where he explained that "there is no wine without food, no food without wine." Food was stored in the cellars back in Verrazzano's time as it is today.... and fresh food compliments wine, as well as the wine complimenting the food.

We spent a little more time outside in the warm sunshine.... Gino said "Let the sun kiss your face, just as the sun kisses the grapes." Yes.... he said things like this lol. He was verryy passionate, as I said. We took a few pictures and were finally ready for the food-wine/wine-food

tasting. Gino explained that for each course, we'd try a different wine, perfectly paired by himself.

We sat at a long table and got to know our tour-mates a little more before the first course arrived- yummy garlic bread, plate of Italian meats, and olive oil. I was able to eat mostly everything I put on my plate, but didn't chance drinking full glasses of wine with everything... so Victor got to taste a little extra wine than the others;) (Hopefully, this wasn't the reason for the second part of this story hehe).

For our second course, the pasta course, we had noodles with a ground beef sauce. It was pretty fantastic even if I couldn't finish it all. For our third course, they brought out beans, a cabbage salad, and a huge plate of meat from the large fire in the kitchen. There were ribs and sausages.... I tried a very juicy rib, but no sausage. Victor tried both and said it was good. For a sort of in-between cheese course, they brought out something similar to parmesean or compté cheese broken up in small chunks and had us chew the cheese while sipping very sweet balsamic vinegar. They were weird instructions, but it was soooo good. A little burst of flavor from the balsamic was amazing with the cheese. And of course there was wine to go with it. For the final course, we tried the sweet, yet strong, vino santo wine with almond biscotti and real Italian café. It was quite the feast.... Gino was getting deep in conversation with the college girls... talking about staying in Italy and the culture shock it can give you after a long period of time.... etc. Victor and I were kind of done listening to him ramble.... not really being able to follow his train of thought- whether due to the wine or the heat of the kitchen, I can't be sure, but I needed air.

We bought a few bottles of wine to save and give away before going to take pictures in the gardens. On our way, we met Carlotta who I asked to come with us to take our picture. (Little did I know what was about to happen!) We got into the gardens and had Carlotta take a few shots with Victor's nice camera.... and as I was turning to leave and ask Carlotta what was next on our tour, Victor lingered in the garden, saying he wanted to soak up the sun a little longer. The next thing I knew, he was down on one knee asking me to marry him! Conveniently enough for us, Carlotta still had the camera and documented our little engagement moment:)

We left the gardens a little too soon.... we could have stayed there all day after what had happened.... but we knew we were still with our personal tour guide who was on a schedule. She took us on a long quiet ride throughout the countryside to our last stop- San Gimignano, the New York City of Tuscany (because of it's many towers).

The medieval city was much more touristy than anything else we had visited for the day, but probably nothing compared to what it is like in the summer peak season. Carlotta explained that the city had so many towers because it used to be a symbol of wealth... the more money you had, the higher the tower you built. The city used to have many more towers, but whenever you went broke, you had to dismantle your tower. The remaining towers were mostly ones used for protection.

Carlotta took us on a little walk through the town, taking us up to a beautiful overlook. Victor and I enjoyed the tour, but we were ready to get back to our B&B for some alone time. It was hard to be excited and lovey-dovey with her right there.... so it was nice to take a few pictures and to finally head home. We paid for the tour and said our goodbyes before taking our 3 keys and getting back to our room. We enjoyed a nice little calzone dinner in the room and made a phone call to my parents. What a wonderful way to end our Tuscan vacation!

Hope you enjoy the pictures and our engagement story! I'm so lucky to have such a special story to share:)

Italy Trip Day 2 and 5: Florence

On our second day in Italy, we had a nice breakfast at the Abazzia Hotel in Venice and checked out for our 11:30 train to Florence. The streets in Venice were jammed packed with people, so it was nice to take the regional train to the other Venice station where we caught our high-speed train to Firenze (Florence). However, this train had to have been the most packed and loudest train I've ever been on. On trains in France, people are given dirty looks when you answer your cell phone or are too loud with your friends or have noisy children. On this Italian train trip, we had huge families all seated together, sharing sandwiches they packed for the ride, toddlers running up and down the aisle, men standing in the aisle talking, kids watching DVDs without headphones.... it was just busy. By the time we got off, I was feeling a little overwhelmed... but we found our hotel very quickly and were able to check in right away.

We set out for the Duomo (easy enough to find, as it is huge). We were both in awe at the size and detail of the marble siding of the cathedral, baptistery, and campanile. We stopped for some gelato and pizza before going inside (I had the gelato, Victor had the pizza.... I wasn't really hungry for much more.... so either this was clue number one that I wasn't feeling well or it contributed to me feeling worse later on). The Duomo is equally as huge on the inside, but not very ornate. After a few pictures, we headed towards the Piazza della Signoria- a square with a sculpture garden in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (the fortress looking castle). The sculpture garden includes a replica of Michelangelo's David; the original is housed in Florence's Accademia museum (the original used to be placed in the square but it was moved to prevent degradation). We didn't have too much extra time to spend museuming this trip, so the replica was all we got to see. It was still amazing to see how large it is...

After seeing the sculptures, we headed towards the Ponte Vecchio, the first and only original bridge left standing after World War II. The bridge dates back to the 1300's and has always hosted shops displaying goods. Today, the merchandise is mostly jewelry- lots of gold, silver, and diamonds- fun place to window shop/ogle. We crossed the bridge and walked toward what we thought would take us up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, an overlook of the city. We climbed a few hilly streets and ended up back behind the Belvedere Fortress... walking along the old Medieval city wall of Florence. We eventually got up to the real stair climb to the piazzale. It was a sort of misty grey day, but we knew we wanted to see the view of the city in case we didn't have time or had even worse weather the next time we were in Florence. It ended up being a spectacular view and we took several pictures before making the climb back to our hotel. We were both completely exhausted and had very tired feet by the time we got back.

After a little nap and a quick walk around the closing leather markets, we were ready to try to find a restaurant our friend Nancy had recommended (Yellow). We found it and got seated in the basement where it was nice and cozy. I ordered a glass of wine, gnocchi with red cream sauce, and a salad, Victor ordered the spicy spaghetti and an omelet. We had both gotten through our first course (in Italy, this is the pasta) when I started to feel a little funny. I thought I had just eaten too fast and that my jeans were too tight, so I did the Joey Tribbiani unbuttoning of the pants move to enjoy my salad. I got through maybe 4 bites before I started to tell Victor I didn't feel very well and needed some water. The last thing I remember was seeing spots as Victor was getting up to get water... apparently, he heard a loud clinking of my silverware and a "donk" as my head hit the table. I woke up lying on a bench near the stairs with my legs held up by an Italian woman and Victor with a wet towel on my forehead. The woman was saying "Caldo?Caldo?" and Victor looked scared and confused.... I just thought.... where the heck am I?

Everyone in the restaurant was turned looking at me. I tried to get up a few times but would need to lay back down. The waitresses called for a cab and reduced the price on our meal since Victor didn't even touch his omelet. I made it upstairs and into the cab... but started to feel sick again when we got back. Poor Victor was so freaked out thinking we were going to have to go to the hospital. I just needed some salt in my system after our long day of touring and eating weird things.... I got to sleep just fine, but wasn't really back to normal the next morning. I left the breakfast table at the hotel feeling like I was going to faint again.... and then I was pretty much sick the rest of the day with some sort of stomach flu. Yuck.... not a fun thing to have when checking out of the hotel and training to Siena! But, we made it and I'll fill you in on Siena in the next blog post.

We came back to Florence on the last day of our trip. We saw all the same things, but in the beautiful sunshine. We even took the climb back up to the overlook. After sitting and enjoying the view for a long time, we went shopping in the leather markets. I now have a nice leather wallet and leather gloves. Victor got a pair of leather gloves and a new belt.... so a successful little shopping trip! We finished our day with an early Italian meal at a restaurant decked out in Texas Longhorn flags and LSU memorabilia. The owner had friends in Texas and is a huge American football fan, oddly enough. I thought I was back to normal.... but sadly couldn't get through dinner again :( Poor Victor has said it's been nice to finish eating a meal with me since we've been back from Italy....

And that's Florence! Enjoy the pics!

Italy Trip Day 1: Venezia (Venice)

After switching trains in Dijon, we took an overnight couchette to Venice. The couchette car had 6 small cots, 3 on each side. The bottom 2 bunks folded into regular train seats and there was a ladder to get up to the top bunks. Our train arrived a little late and it was cold waiting out on the platform so we were happy to jump on when it came. Thankfully, we only shared our car with an older couple who seemed to be fairly experienced overnight travelers. They hopped up on their top bunk and were ready for bed in record time. Vic and I were still trying to figure out where to put our stuff and how to get into our cots for the long haul. Once we were settled in.... it wasn't sooo bad, got a little stuffy a few times and then frigid cold at other times, but overall we were able to sleep with the help of motion sickness meds;)

In the morning, the train people came around to give us back our passports and tickets (guess they needed them for when we crossed the border overnight... but it kind of freaked us out that we had to hand them over). They notified us that our train was running 2 hours late! We were supposed to get into Venice at 9:20am.... but didn't get there until about 11:15. We were able to do a little more sleeping, eat some breakfast from the train cafe, and get ourselves semi-presentable in our extra wait time.

Once we got off the train, Victor stopped to exchange some American cash (sadly getting a horrible rate) and I got my bearings from the simple map I drew from google maps. We miraculously found our hotel, just around the corner, checked in and left our bags to go eat lunch before our room was ready. We were shocked at how many people were out and about and how many of them were wearing face paint, masks, and costumes. The costumes ranged from little kids in spiderman get-ups like at Halloween, to very Marie Antoinette costume ball wigs and gowns. Venice has one of the biggest Carnival celebrations in the world....which explains why there were so many tourists and locals there to observe or dress up.

After a little walk around (it was nice and sunny!), we stopped at a restaurant and both ordered crispy, fresh, and delicious pizzas... and after paying for our pizza and water (gah! not in France or the US anymore!), we were able to check into our hotel and freshen up before we began our real exploration of town.

We decided to take a vaporetto (water metro line) to St. Mark's Square first. For 16 euros each, we got a day travel pass and it ended up being totally worth it. The boats were generally quick and effective in getting to where you wanted to go on the grand canal (although sometimes they were fairly crowded with Carnival goers)....and being on the boat gave us a chance to see everything from the water.... gondolas, boats, old Italian architecture, bridges, etc. We actually got off at the famous Ponte Rialto before making it to St. Mark's. The picture of both of us on a bridge is from this 1591 stone structure, home to 2 rows of covered shops.

After the bridge, we hopped back on another vaporetto towards St. Mark's. The square was packed with people in costume and people taking pictures of people in costume. There were mask vendors at every corner and it seemed like the more time we spent in the crowds, the more people we saw with masks.... so of course, Victor talked me into getting one. He was going to get a hat, but couldn't find one he liked enough. In the moment, the mask was fun to wear....(I even had people taking pictures of me!) and now I have a cool souvenir/mask for my next masquerade:)

We went into St. Mark's basilica and unfortunately I wasn't able to take any pictures of the beautiful gold mosaics (no foto allowed!). It was a little eerie and dark feeling, even with the gold, but we were there when the sun was setting, so maybe the natural light wasn't as strong. We had thought about going into the Doge's palace next door, but with so many people, we decided to walk away from the square and towards some market shopping. Venice is famous for the Murano island glass.... you can find every type of jewelry, vase, figurine and more. We both got a few gifts for family and for ourselves:)

To end the evening, we went to a nice little seafood restaurant serving a 2 course fixed price menu. We both had pasta for the first course (mine was something with clams and his was something with black ink sauce) and fish for the second course. We enjoyed some house wine and had amazing tiramisu and mousse for dessert. We were exhausted by the end of the night, but it was a great little one day Venetian experience.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Italia Picture Post

Hello again- We're still exhausted from our trip and overnight train.... so just posting a few pictures to keep you entertained:) You see two from Florence (the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio over the Arno river), one from Siena (castle building), and a few from Venice during Carnival. I'll try my best to post more tomorrow!

Enjoy and reste cool!

Hi from Italia!!!

Hello!!!!!

It's our last evening in Italy and Victor and I are enjoying a little internet time at a cafe before heading home to Lyon on another overnight train. We've somehow survived without internet since Thursday night..... but just wanted to post that we're alive, doing well.... and I'm actually engaged:)

I'll give all the details from our trip as soon as we've recouped from our travels!!! Hope you're all doing well. We have some amazing pictures and stories to share!

Reste cool:)

More Cinque Terre Pictures (one of Monaco at night)

Cinque Terre E Monaco

What a day! We've done everything from catch moving trains to walking up and down hundreds of stairs to finding ourselves in probably one of the most wealthy places on Earth.

We started our day in La Spezia, eating a nice little buffet breakfast of croissants, granola, and fruit on the top floor with a lovely view of an Italian hillside scene. We left the hotel around 9:30am (my dad had already gone to buy our Cinque Terre rail passes) and got on our first regional train to Riomaggiore (for those of you who don't know, Cinque Terre is a series of 5 seaside cliff villages in the Northern Mediterranean coast, Riomaggiore being the first on our tour).

We got off the train and saw a mural of the unsung heroes of Cinque Terre (the builders, towns people, etc. who have made this area what it is today). We then went on the only walk that was open to us for this time of year (usually you can hike/walk between all 5). It was a beautiful path along the cactus covered cliffs... we could see breath taking views of caves, waves hitting the rocks, cute pastel colored villas nestled in the cliffs. On this path, called the Via dell'Amore, there were thousands of locks linked to anything that was a permanent fixture of the path. These were put here by lovers who have vowed to stay together, and if not, they unlock their lock and chuck it in the ocean (although hopefully they throw it in a trashcan because this was an eco-tourist area).

After taking several pictures along the trail, we found ourselves in the next town called Manarola. This town had a pretty waterfall flowing into the ocean, boats dry-docked in town, and old Italian woman gossiping loudly from their balconies. We took a minute to take tons of pictures here, buy postcards and other eco-friendly products, and take in the ocean view from a bench at the train station.

We were getting pretty hungry by this point, so our plan was to find the first restaurant in the next of the 5 towns. When we got off the train, we realized that not only did the next train not come for another hour, but in order to even get near what resembled a city with food establishments, we were going to have to climb literally hundreds of stairs, with our coats, backpacks, and purses. So.... we walked up the stairs, huffing and puffing and taking pictures along the way (we had a great view of Manarola at this point).

Finally, we made up the hill, found ourselves a nice little (cramped) restaurant, we ate 3 big bowls of pasta (pesto pasta for me, seafood pasta for my dad, and spaghetti for Stephanie). The next and best train option was to arrive at 1:34.... we finished eating at about 1:17.... we hoped there would be a bus or taxi to take us back in time, but couldn't figure that option out, so we ran down the hundreds of stairs. We saw this train come and go. For some reason, we didn't factor in the second train to arrive ten minutes later and started walking a little slower. On our nice slow part of the walk, an elderly Italian jogger yelled out, "Watch out for the pile of dog shit, Welcome to Italia! Hallelujah!" Steph responded, "Grazie."

Then, we saw the next train, and sprinted for it... miraculously, we made it as the train was moving away (I was last on... very close to toppling over backwards with my heavy backpack). We made it to Vernazza... thinking we had 10 minutes to get on and off, so my dad left Steph and I to run around town with my camera while we recouped from our last jog. He came back and we informed him that we actually 40 minutes until the next train. So we took the camera and walked leisurely around Vernazza while he recouped from his jog around town. This was another beautiful town with a harbor and small beach. We stopped for gelato and brought some back for my dad.

While scarfing down gelato, an announcement came on to tell us our train would be late, so we went exploring a little more.... eventually got on the train, and were able to see the last of the 5 from the train (Monterosso). For the next 4 hours, we trained to Monaco-Monte-Carlo...

Right from the get-go, we knew Monaco would be different... the train station was marble.... we took an elevator to the street... and the perfectly manicured lawns had no dogs allowed signs. We had a quick look at the harbor lights, seeing a ferris wheel, ice hockey game, royal palace, and casino from afar. There are a lot of really nice cars. And our hotel is probably one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in my life. Steph and I are currently lounging on chaise-lounges near the bar, using free wifi. Very comfortable here, however the music is a little spastic, probably much like this blog post.

Arrivederci my friends! Tomorrow we see Monaco for real and head home to Lyon. Enjoy the pics!

Chambery, Milan-ish, and La Spezia

This morning, Steph, my dad and I got on a bus at 5:22am (ugh) after getting all of 5 hours of sleep. We got on the train to Chambery at 6:31am, took a little nap, and got off...heading straight for the Elephant fountain. It was nice and snow covered, so it looked different than the last time I was there (it was nice and wet from rain the last time). We then walked down towards the

Duke of Savoie Palace, stopping at the same Tea shop my friends and I stopped at a few months ago. I ordered us 3 chocolats chauds, (or melted chocolate bars as my dad called it) and 3 brioche aux pralines.

We had enough time to see the palace, go back in time down the 14th century cobbled streets, take a few pictures and.... have an encounter with a funny little French woman at the Savoie museum. We were about to head back to the train station, but I wanted to show them the church with the trompe l'oeil paintings (as it is such a big deal in this region). We wanted to go through the museum to get to it, but the museum was closed.... after finding out that we were Washintonians, she screamed, ecstatic because her son works there in a restaurant. She showed me her sons cell phone number... and then unlocked all the doors to get us into the Cathedral as quickly as possible.

After my dad and Steph got a good look around, we walked back to the train station and got on our train to Milan. This train ride was longish... about 4 hours and we were served lasagna (which we had to pay for, so not quite as cool as a plane ride). However, the views from this train were spectacular (honestly, I only stayed awake to see a few amazing views of unreal looking mountains outside of Torino, it was more my dad that stayed awake the whole time to tell us about it later hehe).

We got off the train in Milan, with an hour layover to use the 1 euro potties (yikes!), step a few feet outside to see the ultra modern city with tall glass buildings (and some super chic Italians), and walk around the mammoth train station. Our next train, to La Spezia, a city right outside of the Cinque Terre region, was a regional train. Our seats were in a compartment with 6 seats, 3 and 3 sitting across from each other. The woman who was already sitting in the compartment when we got there spoke only Italian and some French...so we were able to figure out where to sit. Then, a husband and wife couple got on, and they spoke some English. Then... an older woman, in a heavy fur coat came in, while my dad was out going to the bathroom. She sat in his seat, asked us to move our luggage to fit hers, and closed the compartment door. The first woman shook her head the entire time...like as if to say... what a drama queen. Then, a younger woman got on the train (she actually said mamma mia...like you think Italian people would do), and it turned out the couple didn't have reserved seats in this compartment... so there was a lot of Italian and hand gestures and they eventually got up. However, this lead to an in-depth discussion by the 3 other woman on riding trains, life, etc. who knows (Steph probably... she listened to them the most and could pick up some stuff with her knowledge of Spanish).

By this point, my head was killing me, the compartment was hot because the old lady with the fur coat turned the heat up, and we all sorta felt like we were in the twilight zone. Oh, and I forgot to mention, at some point, my dad ended up in the hallway talking to the husband of the couple about Cinque Terre. Had I not been so cranky tired, I would have probably thought it was more entertaining.... but at the time, I was kind of going nuts!

We got out of the train, our hotel was found easily just a minute from the station (literally a minute) and asked for the nearest pizza place (when in... Italy). I had pesto pizza, my dad had sausage pizza, and Steph has a farnita (I think), which is some specialty of this town (like an eggy pizza crust that you put your own cheese on...) We also had desert, 2 types of tiramisu and a creme caramel (flan type dish).

My dad walked down the pedestrian walkway lined with Christmas lights and local/international stores (Steph and I went back to shower and get ready for bed). He said there was a nice park down by the water... but sadly had a lot of trash/graffiti that kind of ruined it for him. Hopefully he will be more impressed tomorrow in the beautiful Cinque Terre. We have enjoyed seeing huge palm trees and fruit trees (we think they're clementine trees?), even this far North in Italy.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! We will have a nice breakfast buffet tomorrow at the hotel, go to the Cinque Terre information desk, and head out, catching our train to Monaco by 4pm.

Reste Cool:)

ps, I never fully explained what we had for dinner last night. It was so yummy, it's worth the detail:) For starters, I had a salad with avocado and asparagus (sounds weird, but was good), dad and steph had the courge soup (squash soup...it was very good); for main plates my dad and I had the chicken with some sort of leek au gratin and chestnuts, Steph had the fish in a buttery green minestrone soup, and we all shared sorbet/fruit salad for desert. Not only was the food excellent, but the waiters and ambiance was very nice, plus we had a view of the flower bouquet statue thingy... Le Sud is the place for a nice dinner out in Lyon! (I'm such a technical food critique, I know...)