Italy Day 3: Lake Como = Heaven

Well today was a fabulous day! J   We woke up around 8am to get ready, eating our ‘included’ breakfast (where I had AMAZING black tea by Twinings) and then headed again to Milano Centrale Station. Our goal.   Lake Como the grandeur.

To say this place is amazing would be a crime at description. It was absolutely gorgeous. Apparently a few actor/actresses live here in their spare time.

We started out in the town of Varenna.

The sun here was mild and it was mostly an overcast day. It was all along the Lake. Gorgeous. Peaceful. The breeze was frequent and welcome.

This is the first town we’ve been to and encountered the ADORABLE alleyways. They are filled with stairs though and we were a little winded after a couple ….er… a lot of flights.  Haha

We also ran into a few stray cats. They’re eyes were very bright? It’s the only world I can think of to describe them right now.

After running around we then went to one of the local restaurants to eat. Where Sindy and I tried to draw Fred’s likeness for fun. Haha. I think I did pretty good for a 10 min time frame.

Food as always, delicious.

After eating we decided to head onto a ferry to visit one of the other towns on Lake Como, Bellagio.

The town here was WAY larger and had a lot more tourists. We had more shenanigans and discovered a shop with hand made wood goods. The crafter was making things as we shopped even. I didn’t get anything but Fred and Alex did.

We then wondered around and took a whole bunch more pictures of the Lake as the sun set.

I’m fond of these smaller towns, the ones where you can still see the original architecture and the charming quaintness. This is where people fall in love with Italy.

P.S. We also discovered that Sindy is bad at navigation and geography… see exhibit A:

Oh yea…. It’s not to scale but you get the…..idea…. LOL

Ciao!~

Italy Day Two: The Explosion

I'm not going to say much about day two. It was not our best. We missed the first train we wanted to take to the Kendo World Championship. Then when we finally got there, they said they didn't have our tickets, and then by late afternoon they opened up all the side doors to let air in and we were able to...*ahem*.... push our way in.

However, I will post a few pictures:

This is at Milano Centrale Station. So gorgeous  :)

This is an artist, Stephan, from Paris, France. He is also half Armenian. He was painting outside while we waited for a miracle to occur with our tickets.

If you're wondering why I'm wearing jeans here instead of the usual dress with nice shoes. Those 'nice shoes' tore up my heels on day one and caused me to use bandaids for 3 days after so i wouldn't get blood on my socks.  :(     Fun times.

P.S. Apparently being Armenian is not a good thing in Europe, per Stephan: "Armenian is toxic, if you are half, it effects all and you are full Armenian. What to do?"

Us leaving the Novara station. No love lost here. Till Day 4 Novara....till then.

The championship is 3 days. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We have decided to skip Saturday and then go for the teams on Sunday.

Ending our excursion for the day.

Side notes: My hair is super wavy here a lot of the time due to the high humidity. Also, I'm going to be wearing my hats a lot since...well...the sun is killer here. I'm hoping that my body will adjust at some point to the humidity though, and the time change....wishful thinking?
Just try and stop me from having it.  :D

Ciao~  

P.S. The best word I learned before coming here 'Where' in Italian is pronounced doh-vay. That word is essential so far.  haha  

Milan Hates Thursdays

Italy trip day One: (Which is really 2 days since we traveled into future time)

So we started our Wednesday at around 4-5am and Fred, Sindy, and myself traveled on up to NJ prior to catching our flight out to our freedom and vacation. It was around a 4 hour trip and Fred was good enough to be our pilot with Sindy and myself as the loyal peanut gallery. (P.S. We LOVE NJ traffic rules *insert sarcasm*)

Frankly, packing for the trip and getting on the flight went off without a hitch. We caught our plane, had a minor delay (around 30 mins) but we got in the air and were excited and on our way.

Now.... some of us (*cough fred cough sindy cough*) are able to sleep on planes. Not all of us are so lucky. I ended up trying almost every position imaginable to try and get comfy....didn't work. Never have been able to sleep on a plane and I guess I just won't be able too.

We happily landed in Italy around 9am their time and 3am our time on May 24th. By time we got our luggage and headed out on the shuttle. 2 out of the 4 of us. Had been up straight for over 24 hours. (WOOHOO)

BUT... happiness was in sight. We checked into our awesome hotel~  Christoforo Colombo in downtown Milan.

Now.. this is where the title makes point. For some reason, even though it's booked as 4 people via the internet, we were not allowed to have 4 people in the room per fire regulations. SO, we have ended up adding a cot to one room and renting another. (Cuz apparently 3 is fine). During this we discovered something.

Renting a hotel in Milan on a Thursday is 50-100 Euros more expensive than any other night. WHY?...you ask...We have no idea but neither us nor the receptionist were happy about it.

After straightening all the confusion out we all FINALLY got a much needed shower and were ready to explore the day (which by that time was around 1pm Milan time/7am Eastern). YAY for no sleep! haha

Then we proceeded to have shenanigans. Me...I tried coffee for the first time and I found out.....I really don't like it. LOL  it's not just the smell that's disgusting.

What I did like? The gelato! OMG it's SO good.  :)    I will probably eat this everyday.

We then proceeded to downtown Milan to view the Duomo and the Cathedral. We were unable to go into the Cathedral due to myself and Alex.

Alex had a fancy camera that wasn't allowed

And my knees were showing... which is considered a lil sacrilegious (we have since dubbed this an Italian whore muscle....aren't we original?)  LOL

I also lost about 20 Euros to a bunch of hooligans that make pigeons land on your hands (which sure, I want those diseases) and then proceed to follow you around asking you for money. 

We rounded out our Thursday with a delicious Pizza dinner and its now around 630-7pm here. AND we're all exhausted...

I will probably post pictures when I can, but for now. WHEW   I'm gonna nap...or die... one or the other.