The day we returned from Zermatt, we did a bunch of laundry,
repacked our bags, rented a car, and left the next morning for Italy. It seems
that the entirety of Europe shuts down around the holiday season, and everybody
just mutually agrees to take two weeks off of work. Andy and I decided to take advantage
of the situation with a roadtrip across Northern Italy. Unfortunately, Andy had
to work most of the time we were there, so we didn’t do as much as we would
have otherwise. Nonetheless, it was a relaxing week filled with delicious food.
The drive from Geneva to Turin is about 3.5 hours, and the
most direct route actually takes you through France first before you get into
Italy. We took a slightly more scenic route, about 30 minutes longer, in order
to avoid going through France, because Andy didn’t have his passport with him. Yeah.
Andy’s passport was set to expire in April, and most
countries require that you have three remaining months on your active passport –
this was a bit of a source of anxiety for us, given that we have so many trips
planned so close together. Getting your passport renewed takes 2-3 weeks
minimum. We figured the least risky time for him to do it was right before
Zermatt, and crossed our fingers that he would get it back in time for our trip
to Italy (he didn’t).
We didn’t know what to expect when driving into another
country, so we had all kinds of documents with us – Swiss residency permits,
photocopies of Andy’s not yet expired but not yet renewed-passport…did I mention we had Sam with us? Sam loves
Italian food, we couldn’t leave him behind on this trip. So we had all his
health documents and “pet passport” handy too. Turns out that none of it mattered
at all. It’s pretty bizarre to me that anybody can just drive wherever you want
in Europe without a passport, but that seems to be the case. We had been told by
some of my coworkers that the French borders have been a bit more stringent
since the Paris attacks, but that we likely wouldn’t be stopped at all going
into Italy. Not only were we not stopped, we didn’t even see a place where we
could have been stopped. We went through a particularly long tunnel somewhere
near the border, and when we emerged on the other side, all of the signs were
in Italian instead of French. No border control, nobody in a booth checking ID…and
that was that.
Turin
Turin is a lovely city and we enjoyed our time there - but I
don’t think I would put it on your “must see” list. Andy worked both days in
Turin, but it didn’t really matter that much because there isn’t a ton to do. I
think the highlight was our visit to the Palazzo Reale; a UNESCO World Heritage
site, the palace was one of the residences of the Duke of Savoy during the 1500’s.
Overall assessment of Turin: If you happen to be
roadtripping across Northern Italy, the Palazzo Reale is worth a visit, but no
need to go out of your way to see Turin.
Milan
We felt kind of the same way about Milan. I know lots of
people who absolutely adore Milan – but it’s mostly for reasons that just don’t
apply to me and Andy. Milan is widely considered the design and fashion capital
of the world, so if you’re into that, it’s an amazing place. There is LOTS of
good shopping, which I did a little of while Andy worked.
We had our first “bad” Airbnb experience in Milan – but it
was definitely not the fault of Airbnb and it turned out fine. When we got to
the apartment, the first thing we noticed was that the building was SKETCH. The
interior hallway leading to the apartment had wires and light fixtures dangling
from the ceiling; definitely no pictures of that in the Airbnb listing. Inside
the apartment, the “bed” turned out to be a cot, and the front doorknob didn’t
work properly. The thing that did it for me though was the smell of mildew, dripping
wet towel, and moldy shower in the bathroom. I made that discovery while Andy
was getting our stuff out of the car, so when he came back inside, I told him very
calmly, “We can’t stay here. I’m sorry.” Being the accommodating man that he
is, he put our stuff back in the car while I quickly found us a hotel. It was
surprisingly easy, considering it was New Years’ Eve and we had a dog with us. We
were in the new place in no time, crisis averted.
The highlight of Milan for us was visiting The Last Supper;
it’s a truly impressive piece of art, and the organization of the tour is such
that you really get to take it in and enjoy it. The painting is a “fresco” in
the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie – apparently Da Vinci varied a bit from
the traditional method, so it’s not a true fresco, but it is painted directly
on the wall. We particularly enjoyed it because you actually have to book a “tour”
to see it; it’s highly regulated and only a limited amount of people are
allowed to go in at a time, which is a very different experience from trying to
see other famous pieces of art, like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. The tour
guide was full of information and also gave us a tour of the rest of the
convent and the Sforzesco Castle.
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| Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie |
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| Sforzesco Castle |
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| Duomo Square, where we rang in the New Year |
Overall assessment of Milan: Very cool city if you’re into
fashion/shopping, otherwise a day or two is probably sufficient to see the
highlights.
Venice
We were pretty relieved after our experience in Milan to
find that our Airbnb arrangement in Venice was easily the best one we’ve had so
far. The actual city of Venice is an island, and staying on the island is expensive,
so we chose to stay about 15 minutes away from the city on the mainland. The “apartment”
was really more of a cottage on someone’s private property and it was just
adorable – the host is this precious Italian woman who speaks just enough
English, and included in the stay is a really great hot breakfast. Anybody
needing a budget-friendly (but nicer than a hostel) place to stay in Venice, I
highly recommend it: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2903487
The pictures actually don’t do it justice.
We had pretty terrible weather in Venice, cold/windy/rainy
almost the entire time we were there. The rain let up just long enough one day
for us to wander around the city for a couple of hours and take a gondola ride.
Regardless, we had another relaxing couple of days and ate some of the best
pizza I’ve ever had. Even in our limited time there with less than ideal
weather, we could tell Venice is just magical; we definitely want to go back in
the spring/summer.
Overall assessment of Venice: Definitely our favorite of the
three. We can’t wait to go back!
Prague
We had such an amazing time in Prague. This city feels just
so very European, and so different from anywhere else we have been – it seems
that I say this a lot, but it may have been our favorite so far! This city is
FULL of beautiful and interesting architecture and historical landmarks, because Prague
has played such an important role throughout European history. We easily could
have spent another couple of days here, seeing and touring and learning stuff.
We got there around noon on a Friday and went straight to
Charles Bridge. The bridge is lined with something like 30 statues, all of
which have special meaning and certain of which are supposed to bring you good
luck by touching them. It’s also full of street vendors and performers, so it’s
nice just to mosey down and look at everything.
Next we did a guided tour of Prague Castle, the largest castle
complex in the world. It was founded in 880, so as you can imagine, there’s a
ton of interesting history surrounding its evolving purpose throughout the
years and the many renovations and reconstructions that have taken place under
various rulers/monarchies/now the President of the Czech Republic.
On our walk back to the apartment to get changed for the
evening, we passed several street performers – human statues, break dancers,
musicians, etc. And then I saw the pirate holding the mini pig. He said I could
hold it for 50 koruna (2 dollars), so I did and we fell in love. But then I had
to give him back.
We had dinner at a traditional Czech beer hall – the beer
was great, the food was meh. A lot of items on a traditional Czech menu are
comprised of strange cuts of meat: knuckles, tails, necks, knees…I wasn’t super
into it. Oh, another unfortunate discovery – sausage and cheese kolaches are
not actually Czech. This was a surprise to us, as all of our favorite kolache
bakeries in Texas claim to have Czech origins. But I’m pretty sure Czech
immigrants must have invented them once they got to Texas, because we couldn’t
find them anywhere!
After dinner, we went to the State Opera House and saw the
ballet Swan Lake. Andy managed to
stay awake for about 20% of the performance, which I thought was a decent
effort on his part.
The next morning, we toured the Klementinum, the Czech Republic
National Library. I had never heard of it, but Andy was insistent that we see
it; I’m glad we did, because it’s just stunning.
In the afternoon, we took a walking tour of the city and
found the Lennon Wall – the graffiti on the wall continuously changes, so it no
longer has the famous “Imagine Peace” with the peace sign on it. It’s still
really cool to see, and you can still find street musicians with their guitars
playing Beatles’ music in front of it.
To finish out our weekend in Prague, we had dinner at this
restaurant: http://www.ladegustation.cz/en/
Easily one of the best meals of my life, and I heard two other tables tell their
waiter the same thing. The tasting menus of 6-11 courses are offered with a
wine or juice pairing, and the overall experience was incredible.
