Hello all!
To those of you who are paying attention, we are not suppose to be in Bolzano right now. Thats because we took a fortunate detour in `fair Verona` and consequently missed our connection from Bolzano to Castelrotto. Ma, non ti preocupare (which Eric would tell you means `dont worry` in Italian). It has worked out beautifuly and we are enjoying our time here. Lets catch you up on the last few days.
Where did we last leave off? Ah, yeshi... we were just finishing our night in Milano. The next morning, Thursday, we caught an early morning train to Varenna on Lake Como. We had to be up and out the door by 7:00am so that we could make it Varenna in time to meet up with Chef Moreno Maglia, our cooking instructor for the day. We make it to Varenna, which is breathtakingly beautiful (I would add a picture here but we don´t have access to a usb port on this computer), found our Hotel and dropped our bags with a very friendly Signora Tosca, who we are assuming owns the property. We headed straight for the town square where we met up with Chef Moreno and he zipped us up the mountain side to his resturant in a little town called Gitanna. It was an educational, cultrual and culinary experience all wrapped up into one. We made gnocchi and tagliatelle from scratch, as well as fresh sauces to acompany them, and to top it all off, a red wine risotto. It was all amazing! The people in our class were very nice and Chef Moreno is incredibly passionate and hospitable. We arrived at 10:00am and didn´t make it back until after 4:00pm. Great way to spend the day; making and eating authentic Italian food.
We got back to our hotel and decided that we wanted to take a short nap, as we were all spent. We layed down around 6:15pm and set the clock for 7:00pm. Sometime after 9:00pm we regained consciousness and laughed at ourselves. We went out to grab a quick bite and, again, get a little more gelatto. Then, somehow, we were still hungry, so we went to get some pizza. Apparently, it was dinner and a show. There were two couples a few tables away from us that were playing "can you top this?" in terms of who could show more affection. Interesting?... good for a few laughs anyways--and we saw one of the couples continuing by themselves on our way back to the hotel.
Day 2 in Varenna: kayaking on Lake Como! (we were on a boat!) We took a ferry to Bellagio, where we rented kayaks from a really sketchy old guy. (btw, we´re watching Dirty Harry in Italian right now...and this keyboard is freakin screwed up!) ba bada badada--ask Eric for a translation... so we kayaked around Como for about 3 or 4 hours. Absolutely gorgeous. Eric got sunburnt, I (Matt) took pictures, and Justin got really thirsty for water (not vino, believe it or not). We then went and got stuff for a picnic. It was kind of fun because the lady in the store didn´t speak English, but she did speak Spanish, so I got to brush up a bit myself. We ended up eating hearty sandwiches while drinking vino straight from the bottle on the lake. We thought about how it would be illegal with open container laws to be drinking vino in a park inthe US...then we thought about how it is probably illegal in Italy too. We toured around Bellagio, went back to Varenna, and took a nap. Then we woke up (more specifically, Eric stayed awake while a stupid little fly woke both me and Justin) and went out for dinner followed, of course, by gelato. For whatever reason, none of us could fall asleep, so we ended up doing mind puzzles and a lot of stupid crap that I don´t remember until we fell asleep. I think a lot of it involved Eric singing Bruce. Tutto benne.
Day 4-Arriverdercci Varenna! Abandanza!-ask eric for translation. Got on a train to Milan where we met two nice ladies from Hawaii-Aloha! Eric has a handlebar mustache by this time-didnt shave on the train though-that would have been fun. Bought lunch@ train statzione-ate it on train. Abandanza! We then stopped in Verona which was not planned but turned out to be Awsome! Did a sweet walking´tour of Verona. Saw an Italian basketball game and touched Juliet´s boob! Abandanza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Went to a sweet theater in Verona, got gelato, saw a church, got more gelato. Next, we met the most b.a. woman ever named Beverly. Beverly was originally from Chicago. She wanted to see the world but ended up just walking around and ended up in Verona! She married Oreste who owns a wine shop. His wine shop was recommended by Rick Steves. Oreste makes shirts that have a picture of himself dressed up as a cowboy! Beverly gave Justin, Matt and I some wine and then told us about Oreste´s wine shop and the surrounding area. She was hilarious! She told us about how she pissed off the Italian Mafia across the street-we can´t remember why. She also told us that when Oreste dies she is going to take all his money and party down with the first guy who walks by. She also told us how she doesn´t understand why there are so many churches around the area because she thinks everyone there is going to hell based on their behavior. She also told us she is not a counrty girl. One time Oreste took Beverly to the counrtry. There were cows there who started running-she follwed suit. We had a very good time getting to know Beverly. Meeting her has been our best personal experience to date. We left Verona @ exactly 17 ora 47 minuti and 23 seconds. We arrived in Bolzona @ 19 ora 34 minuti to catch the last bus going Castelrotto @ 19 ora 10 minuti-you do the math. Abandanza! So we missed the last bus to our destination for July 4-by the way, happy independence day-and I am now writing this blog from a youth hostel in Bolzano. Abandanza! However, this detour from our plans turned out to be great. There is a lot of Austrian influnce in Bolzano. We ate at an Austrian restaurant that was amazing! Matt ordered from the German menu-Eric and Justin were not man enough so they ordered from the English menu. This experience made us feel like we were visiting Germany or Austria. This pretty much wraps up our trip to date. We are having a great time eating lots of gelato and nutella and drinking molto vino! Abandanza for now and Ciao!
Love and miss you all,
EJM
p.s. can you tell who wrote which sections of this post?
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
We Have Arrived!
Well, we have finally arrived in Bella Italia! We left Orlando yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon around 3:00pm and arrived here in Milan on Wednesday morning around 10:00am local time (4:00am Fla time). It was a rather long flight, but we all managed to survive despite the cramped quarters and crying babies. Eric sang Boss tunes, Matt read more in the guide book and I kept trying to learn Italian. We all managed to grab a few hours rest also. And it was a good thing to, as we have not stopped since we hit the ground!
We got our bags, went through customs and took a bus from the airport into downtown Milan which took about an hour. Milan is a very interesting city. It has the feel of a SoHo or Greenwich Village in Manhattan, but alot cleaner. Our first stop was the central train station where we wandered around for a bit, looking for the Metro station. We finally stopped and asked for directions... After finding the Metro, we bought our day passes and headed for the hostel. We dropped our bags, changed clothes and headed out on the town.
Matt had broken down our day into an efficient series of activities that Eric and I could not argue with. We made our way to the Leonardo "Nard Dawg" Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology. It was a collection of his design concepts brought to life in 3d models as well as a few paintings and other random things that didnt seem to belong. But we didnt ask questions. We only had about an hour before we had to make our way to Santa Maria delle Gratzie, the home of Da Vinci's The Last Supper or Cenacolo as the Italians call it. After a short wait, we went through a series of closed rooms designed to filter out air impurities before reaching the painting. There is really only one word to describe all of our reactions; complete and utter awe. We learned lots about the painting, and I'm sure I could bore you with all the details some other time (my bed is calling me, so I will keep this brief... well, at least a little more brief). Suffice it to say that this work is truly a masterpiece, and one that you cannot fully appreciate until you are standing in its presence. Awesome experience!
Next was Il Duomo, Milan's main cathederal. We stepped out of the metro station and boom, there it was, in all its glory. This thing is massive. At over 150,000 square feet, it is the world's 4th largest church. It took over 400 years to build and can hold 40,000 people (the entire population of Milan at the time of its contruction). We were hoping to take a tour up to the roof, but it was closed due to restoration. We took a nice long stroll inside and gawked at all of stained glass and carved marble. There were giant pillars, 52 of them to be exact, all over 100 feet tall. The cathedral also housed relics of Jesus as well as tombs of old Italian kings and cardinals. We all decided that it was pretty extravagant and unnecessary, but incredibly beautiful nonetheless.
By this time we were all feeling a little run down, so we decided to stop for an early dinner. We found out later that it was especially early. We found a resturant and got a table around 6:00pm and were curious as to why we were the only ones in the entire place. Apparently, people who really know what they are doing do not show up for dinner until closer to 8:00pm. Oops! Anyway, we shared our first bottle of real Italian wine, a Niro Negro red from the Lombardi Region (which is the region we are currently in). We shared a plate of bruschetta and we each ordered a plate of pasta. Not sure exactly how it happened, but three and half hours passed before we got up from the table. Perhaps the friendly hostess that kept talking to us and then gave us free after-dinner drinks had something to do with it. It was a slow night for them and we decided that she wanted us to stay so that they looked busier. I prefer the theory that we were just particularly handsome young men and she wanted us around for her own enjoyment. Anyway, it was a long and very nice beginnig to our Italian eating tour.
On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for (what else) gelato. After we had gotten our goodies and walked outside the shop, we stopped to sample each others choices. Each held their own gelato while the other took a big lick. It did not really occur to us until it was too late that we looked like a flaming tourist trio during this little exercise. Oh well... We wandered in the direction of what we hoped was another metro station and found ourselves walking down a very picturesque pedestrian street. After a metro ride and short walk, we made it back to our beds. Speaking of which, mine is calling me.
Tomorrow we head to Lake Como and our cooking class. Should be interesting... Miss and love you all!
Eric, Justin and Matt
We got our bags, went through customs and took a bus from the airport into downtown Milan which took about an hour. Milan is a very interesting city. It has the feel of a SoHo or Greenwich Village in Manhattan, but alot cleaner. Our first stop was the central train station where we wandered around for a bit, looking for the Metro station. We finally stopped and asked for directions... After finding the Metro, we bought our day passes and headed for the hostel. We dropped our bags, changed clothes and headed out on the town.
Matt had broken down our day into an efficient series of activities that Eric and I could not argue with. We made our way to the Leonardo "Nard Dawg" Da Vinci Museum of Science and Technology. It was a collection of his design concepts brought to life in 3d models as well as a few paintings and other random things that didnt seem to belong. But we didnt ask questions. We only had about an hour before we had to make our way to Santa Maria delle Gratzie, the home of Da Vinci's The Last Supper or Cenacolo as the Italians call it. After a short wait, we went through a series of closed rooms designed to filter out air impurities before reaching the painting. There is really only one word to describe all of our reactions; complete and utter awe. We learned lots about the painting, and I'm sure I could bore you with all the details some other time (my bed is calling me, so I will keep this brief... well, at least a little more brief). Suffice it to say that this work is truly a masterpiece, and one that you cannot fully appreciate until you are standing in its presence. Awesome experience!
Next was Il Duomo, Milan's main cathederal. We stepped out of the metro station and boom, there it was, in all its glory. This thing is massive. At over 150,000 square feet, it is the world's 4th largest church. It took over 400 years to build and can hold 40,000 people (the entire population of Milan at the time of its contruction). We were hoping to take a tour up to the roof, but it was closed due to restoration. We took a nice long stroll inside and gawked at all of stained glass and carved marble. There were giant pillars, 52 of them to be exact, all over 100 feet tall. The cathedral also housed relics of Jesus as well as tombs of old Italian kings and cardinals. We all decided that it was pretty extravagant and unnecessary, but incredibly beautiful nonetheless.
By this time we were all feeling a little run down, so we decided to stop for an early dinner. We found out later that it was especially early. We found a resturant and got a table around 6:00pm and were curious as to why we were the only ones in the entire place. Apparently, people who really know what they are doing do not show up for dinner until closer to 8:00pm. Oops! Anyway, we shared our first bottle of real Italian wine, a Niro Negro red from the Lombardi Region (which is the region we are currently in). We shared a plate of bruschetta and we each ordered a plate of pasta. Not sure exactly how it happened, but three and half hours passed before we got up from the table. Perhaps the friendly hostess that kept talking to us and then gave us free after-dinner drinks had something to do with it. It was a slow night for them and we decided that she wanted us to stay so that they looked busier. I prefer the theory that we were just particularly handsome young men and she wanted us around for her own enjoyment. Anyway, it was a long and very nice beginnig to our Italian eating tour.
On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for (what else) gelato. After we had gotten our goodies and walked outside the shop, we stopped to sample each others choices. Each held their own gelato while the other took a big lick. It did not really occur to us until it was too late that we looked like a flaming tourist trio during this little exercise. Oh well... We wandered in the direction of what we hoped was another metro station and found ourselves walking down a very picturesque pedestrian street. After a metro ride and short walk, we made it back to our beds. Speaking of which, mine is calling me.
Tomorrow we head to Lake Como and our cooking class. Should be interesting... Miss and love you all!
Eric, Justin and Matt
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