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Published: February 10th 2010
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Ciao Ragazzi!
I hope everyone back home in the states is doing well and keeping warm! While on days I may get a little homesick, one thing I am absolutely loving about Italy is the warmish weather we've been having. While South Bend, Indiana was at 2 degrees a couple of nights ago, we've been keeping steady in the high 40s and low 50s. Not weather that you could break out the flip flops and skirts in but definitely a nice change of pace!
I am super super behind on my blog updates so this one is not going to concern my trip from this past weekend, but the weekend before to Milano/Lago Camo. Being as this was our very first traveling extravaganza, I think the best way to sum up the trip is to say that it was definitely a learning experience in both good and bad ways.
For all of my friends or family who might think about studying abroad this lesson is for you: The biggest thing we learned from this trip was probably the woes of booking transportation. Not knowing how to navigate the train system website, we decided to book a flight to
and from Milan instead. The tickets appeared to be relatively inexpensive- about 39 euro each way- for booking them only 4 days in advance. However, what we discovered was the website adds a bunch of service fees and taxes after that 39 euro which aren't clearly explained until after you have confirmed your flight with the credit card. Overall we ended up having to pay about 110 euro each round-trip which in comparison to what you would pay for a plane ticket in the US isn't too too bad, but for Europe and Italy it was pretty expensive. Realizing there wasn't anything we could do we all kind of took a deep breath and told ourselves, hey we lived and learned!
We left super early Friday Morning, 4 am to be exact, and took a taxi to the smaller airport in Rome called Ciampino. After about a 45 minute flight we got to the smaller Milan airport and then had to take an hour bus ride to get to the center of the city. Overall, Milan has a very different feel from Rome. While there are certainly buildings, museums, and monuments that attest to its long and storied history,
the city is much more modern than Rome. In the country-like parts of Milan there were tons of factories and large industrial plants and in the city itself there were tall office buildings made of glass and steel.
While there isn't as much to see in Milan as Rome or probably Florence, Milan had some really wonderful features. Some of the things we saw were La Scala, one of the worlds most famous opera houses, and the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele, a large open building with a gorgeous glass dome ceiling. Probably my most favorite stop was seeing Milan's Duomo, an amazing gothic-style cathedral. As the 3rd largest church in Europe, this Duomo is extremely impressive when you look at it from the front. In addition to its size, the Duomo's marble or stone is actually a collection of 3 or 4 different colored marble or stones giving the Church a wonderful patchwork appearance. The inside was just as ornate with many large grandiose statues provided by the Medici family. Behind the altar there were 2 beautiful stain glass windows that almost ran from floor to ceiling. Rather than depicting one large picture, the two windows almost mimicked the outside
Inside the Duomo
This window was one of 2 that sat beside the altar that went from floor to ceiling of the church by having lots of little boxes each with their own story.
After a long day of sightseeing, our group consulted Natalie's (one of my roommates) Italian guide book to try and find a good place to eat. Lesson #2- consult guidebooks! Through the book, we learned that in Milan bars do what they call a "happy hour". Unlike the American happy hour, this happy hour lasts usually for 3 or 4 hours and is actually a time when the bar provides a whole buffet of food to any customer who buys a drink. We ended up going to a place called the Iguana Bar where drinks were about $6-$8 each but the buffet was absolutely enormous. The food included things like pizzas, pastas, salads, and meats. Throughout the night, when one dish ran out, they would bring out a completely new food! Our group may or may not have gone up to refill our plates about 4 or 5 times each (: I think we would all say the Iguana Bar provided a very appetizing end to our trip in Milan!
Early the next morning we got up, ate some pastries from a local bakery
and hopped on a train to our next destination, Como. This town is one of the many towns that sits on the edge of the very beautiful Lake Como. A hop, skip, and jump away from Switzerland, Lake Como actually sits right in the middle of the Alps. This leg of the trip was probably what our group had been looking forward to most because all week we had been oodleing over pictures of the gorgeous views from this area. While the pictures had prepared us to see a beautiful place, my breath was still literally taken away upon first seeing this town. The lake was this gorgeous deep blue that was beautifully contrasted by the snow capped alps. Then the mountains themselves were freckled with precious wooden cottages that all had a trail of smoke coming from their chimneys. I jokingly told some of the girls that if I ever had a nervous breakdown, Como is the place I'd want to go (: Words can't describe how serene it really was. Plus there is the little added bonus that George Cooney lives somewhere on Lake Como... unfortunately he was playing hard to get the day we came to visit.
After taken probably a million pictures of the lake, we took this car, or incline for Pittsburgh people, up to the top of one of the mountains. It was so neat to look out and just see miles of mountains and little towns. Oh one thing I can't forget to mention was our B&B! We got a steal with a place that was right near the lake for 20 euros a night- and our room had a lake view!! Belissima!
Overall, this trip was pretty amazing for our first European adventure. While we definitely learned some tough lessons with money, I think our group would agree that Como in particular was absolutely worth it! Ciao until next post!
Love,
Anne
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beverley Rosen
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Lake Como - bellissima indeed!
I totally agree with your comments about Milan and Lake Como - but where on earth did you stay for only 20 euro per night with a lake view - amazing - let me know! You might like to follow my Lake Como blog - http://lakecomoexpert.blogspot.com/