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Published: July 29th 2009
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"What do you mean we are going on a road trip with your mum and dad?" It is not an understatement to say that Tom was less than impressed at the idea of sharing a very small confined space with me, my mum and dad for two days whilst driving from Denmark to Italy. A 'short trip' by Australian or American standards of only 1,800km. "Come on Tom, it's free and we get to eat lots of German and Austrian food along the way". I am not sure if any of that really convinced him or whether or not it was the brownie points who thought he might compile if he said yes, but a few weeks later we were both sitting in the back of the car headed South on the German Auto Bahn. "Seat belts on?" "Yes mum".
After a lovely 10h drive and a lovely 9 1/2hours sleep for Tom, we arrived at the small village of Achensee in the Austrian Alps. We had booked a Gasthof which is a private mini-hotel. The Gasthof was situated with the stunning backdrop of mountain peaks and the blue lake Achensee. Austria is among many things famous for its fantastic
wienerschnitzel and Gordon Bleu. Naturally this was our first port of call. A couple of lagers and one giant wienerschnitzel later we went for a quiet evening walk along the Lake Achensee along with a dozen or so local milka cows.
The next morning, after a filling Austrian breakfast, we crossed the border to Italy around 10am and was pleased to see that our GPS said that we would arrive in just four hours. Now who said that a GPS takes the stress out of driving and avoids arguments in the car? I can testify that it is quite possible to have an argument WITH the GPS. "I am sooooo not turning right here Miss GPS you are so wrong." Turned out Miss GPS was not wrong and we arrived at our destination some six hours later.
Lucca is a small picturesque village in the heart of Tuscany. If you imagine a beautiful medieval Italian village with narrow cobbled streets surrounded by a 16-century, that is pretty much Lucca. It is simply like waking up in a fairy tale, indescribably beautiful. Here we were staying at Gemma di Elena in the heart of Lucca. What we didnt know
was that Elena didnt speak of word of English. Ah let me just look up my Italian tourist course I did when I was in Italy on holiday once. It is funny how the world works but somehow we managed to communicate in a combination of Italian words I either remembered or may have seen in the movies and gestikulation. Who needs language anyway?
Lucca was going to fill us with a number of surprises over the next few days. As the avid reader will know, food is a very important part of my travels, if not my raison d'etre at all. And boy, did Lucca not disappoint.The first night we had the biggest pizzas I have ever had (see pic) and they werent just big they were goooood. In fact so good they make all other pizzas s$$$. Which is not good because how often are you near Lucca when you crave pizza??? However, the following night we went to a real 'trattoria" a real Italian grill. Here we got served three courses from heaven. From our mouth-watering Caprese (juicy red tomatoes, soft buffalo mozzarella with basil and olive oil) to the tender steak and divine Tiramisu. The
meal was out of this world. Ahhhhh sigh...
Where was I? Ah Lucca. After a day of sightseeing the excitement was upon us. The Giro d'Italia was to arrive in the afternoon. We were extremely excited to be seeing the Giro for the first time after having watched the Tour de France the year before. It is funny how culture impacts on even a cycling race. In France all the roads are cleared five hours before the Tour arrives, this includes cyclists and everyone. In Italy, the roads got cleared five minutes (yes that is five only) before the Tour arrived and only by use of Italian mafia force. Well anyway, it was a policeman so one can only presume he is mafia. However, it was super exciting to get to see Lance Armstrong in person, even if it was just a five second glimpse. I think he heard me yelling though. Go Lance. Or maybe it was "stop Lance, I am here, here". Needless to say the stage got won by Cavendish as all the flat stages do.
I must confess that I have a list of places to go before I die. Slowly but surely I
am ticking them all off. Cinque Terre is on that list. For years I have seen pictures of those beautiful five villages carved into the rugged coastline and wished that I would see them one day. And let me tell you, the real thing did not disappoint. Stunning colourful houses carved side by side on the cliff-side with the powerful and wild sea as a back drop. There is a highly recommendable walk that goes between the five villages along the coastline. And of course walking makes you hungry so how about some lovely pasta for lunch whilst overlooking Cinque Terre and the sea?
That's it for me this time - stay tuned for the next edition, the Austrian Alps. Ciao.
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Tania Glover
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Oh Vikki - you didnt write enough about your time in the Cinque Terre - it is my dream to go there. We were in Italy last year, (seeing some other parts of the dream) but didnt get to the riveria ... I wanted to hear all the details. Am loving your blogs - and am looking forward to the next one. Cheers, Tania.