Blogs from Trento, Trentino Alto Adige, Italy, Europe
March 24th 2011
So I have now been in Italy 3 months and have decided I really should start a blog so I can share with everyone what I am up to where I have been travelling and some of the amazing things I have done! So I will start at the very beginning... Leaving on the 30th of December in the sticky heat I started my 22 hour plane trip to Italy, I had a 5 hour flight to KL which was packed full then a short stop over before the grueling journey to Rome began! Luckily the flight was rather empty so I was able to go and lie across a whole row of seats and try and try and get some shut eye (Unfortunately at this I was rather unsuccessful), but it made the flight far ... read more
March 24th 2011
After spending a week with a family of strangers that speak Italian 90% of the time I was very excited to be heading to Trento where I could unpack and settle into my new apartment. My apartment was a modern place with little perks such as a dishwasher and flat screen TV included. I was very happy with the new place I would be living. It was wonderfully located right in the heart of Trento, only a 5 minute walk to the Duomo (most cities in Italy have a large and impressive church in the centre that the city is built around) and there is a nice cafe/bar underneath my building. I spent the next day wandering around getting to know the city and met up with an American friend of my housemates who is also ... read more
August 14th 2009
Well, this blog won't let me list more than one country, but this summer Linda and I along with Wendy, Linda's sister, and Marlys, Linda's mother traveled to London, Venice and Northern Italy, Croatia, Athens and various Greek islands. These islands included Mykkonos, Corfu, and on the Peleponese, Katakolon (where we took a train to Olympia, and walked around the ruins of the Olympic village where they still start the Olympic tourch). I enjoyed Italy the most. I was able to practice speaking Italian, and try to get a little more fluent. Greece was more challenging because I don't speak or read a word of Greek. Mykkonos was very exotic and beautiful. We toured the island of Corfu, and had a cab driver/tour guide give us a guided tour. Let me tell you: that's worth ... read more
Getting Dizzy Driving thru the Dolomites
Published: May 25th 2009Europe » Italy » Trentino Alto Adige » Trento
May 24th 2009
We woke up with the sun rising over Dolomites. Our hostess had our breakfast ready and her two beautiful kids were running in and out just talking and playing. We took off toward Trento knowing we wanted to find wineries to taste the area wines and cheeses. The first one we came to was the Family Winery of the B&B we stayed at, Mazarado. It was huge and as we expected, very nice. From there we continued on SS12 heading up into the mountains. We quickly found a second winery and wellness hotel. We stopped and had a glass wine and olives. Very tasty, after finishing, we then continued to go up, up, up into the mountains. Kirsten was hoping to find a farm that would have a cheese tasting or some samples. Well that didn’t ... read more
Off to find the wine and cheese roads in the Trento Region
Published: May 23rd 2009Europe » Italy » Trentino Alto Adige » Trento
May 22nd 2009
We had breakfast at the hotel and reviewed our plans for today. We decided to hop on the Autostrada and make good time going to Verona. We drove through the Po Valley and it was flat and lots of fields of stuff growing. No Roman ruins that I could see. We made it to Verona before lunch parked the car and headed off to the arena. Verona’s Arena is the third largest and is the only one that is still being used today. It was very impressive. We walked through the tunnels where slaves and gladiators once stood, sat in the stands and once we conquered the lions, we were ready for lunch. I was hungry, so we set of to the Piazza Erbe (is named after the Herb market that was held there for over ... read more
May 12th 2009
Levico Terme: 4th - 10th May 2009 We have arrived: the Italian Alps. The setting for XCamp2009 - my first paragliding competition...but have no fear - I'm not that good. I chose this week long “comp” because the format is designed for pilots who want to learn more about competing, and specifically about long distance flying, a.k.a. “cross-country flying” or just “XC”. To fly a long distance, it helps to have long valleys that allow a pilot to fly along the mountains and with open, grassy fields below to land safely. The Alps make an ideal setting. For me, this was much less about competing than learning. There were too many good pilots (and a few great pilots) there for me to expect to win outright given my current skill level. Serious pilots...guys who roll their ... read more
Gita sulla Neve- Snow Trip!
Published: January 25th 2009Europe » Italy » Trentino Alto Adige » Trento
January 25th 2009
At 7am on Friday morning 56 very excited (albeit bleary-eyed) international students met at Bologna bus station to drive to the Dolomites for a fun-filled weekend of snow. The journey took less than five hours and passed quickly with the help of “L’era Glaciale” (Ice Age in Italian) and Andrea (head of ESN) working his magic with the microphone. We arrived a little after midday and due to ESN’s undying enthusiasm for “passeggiate” (walks) set out on one almost as soon as we stepped off the coach. We took sledges with us and walked along a track through a valley alongside a stream. There was so much snow and it was really beautiful. We had a few mishaps with finding the route, due to copious amounts of lovely soft fresh snow, and I found myself several ... read more
Of cookies, Italy, and photos
Published: August 26th 2008Europe » Italy » Trentino Alto Adige » Trento
August 26th 2008
Yay, photos! A whole bunch of them! Anyways. Monday made my head whirl. First there was a train ride to the Italy/Slovenia border, which was mostly interesting because of the weather. When I left the hostel it was cloudy and foggy and cold; 6 minutes of tunnel later it was blazing hot and sunny on the other side of the mountain without a cloud in sight. Then I changed trains in the border town of Nova Gorica / Gorizia. I felt bad at this point, since I didn't have time to find a Slovenian cookie. Most of 6 days in that country without a cookie! It's a sin. I soon arrived in Venice, and tried to make up for it. Venice is amazing, and Venice is a maze. Really. I spent only a few hours exploring ... read more
July 4th 2008
Venice! SO COOL! Did you know that Venice is made up of 117 islands? It makes sense, doesn't it, that a city famous for its nurmerous canals that those canals carve up the land into islands? But I hadn't ever thought of it that way. So, every bridge Jan and I walked across was fun because we were crossing over to another island by just walking over a bridge! The canals do make Venice a special place, and the buildings which loom over them are enchanting. The city itself is surprisingly dead, in that there are more tourists than there are Venetians now. More and more of the old buildings quickly fall into disrepair, and charming old back streets become errie. It is sad to see it now, for what it once was, especially at night. ... read more
July 3rd 2008
Hi!! Just a quick note to let you know we are safe in Dro! It was really awkward at first, haha, the first people we met interrogated Ian and Dillon a little bit, haha they had to prove they were family by naming like a dozen people in different pictures, which is kinda difficult for them, haha. Everyone else is great and it turns out some of them were in San Diego over 10 years ago and they had 4 pictures from a family party and Ian and Dillon were in one! Haha so that sealed the deal, and was pretty cool. Its so beautiful here you all would love it. It is straight out of a movie, i swear. The family is amazing, we have never eaten so much in our lives. We are hurting ... read more
