Blogs from Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, Europe

Le chemin de rencontres se poursuit… Après une copine argentine, vient le tour d’une autre amie d’enfance, mais celle-ci est d’Afrique… C’est ainsi que nous nous rendrons à Bergamo afin d’y retrouver Martine. Nous n’avons pas fait la route en une traite mais bien d’abord un petit arrêt d’une nuit à Eupilio. Un camping où il semblerait qu’il y ait plus de résidents-caravanes pour une longue durée car les beaux jours revenus, les gens sortent tout leur matériel de camping et s’organisent. Nous sommes au bord du lac de Côme. Au loin on entend des cloches sonner régulièrement, un vrai petit concert dans la nature qui nous plaît… Pas de photos sur ce site car pas de paysage fabuleux… Par contre quand nous nous rendons à Bergamo, là nous avons trouvé une aire de camping-cars surveillée ... read more

Geo: 45.6995, 9.66472Bergamo (emphasis on the first syllable) was originally built 2,500 years ago by Germanic people. Its city wall was completed in the 1500s, and there has been no new building or demolition inside the wall since then (only refurbishments). Clay for bricks was in short supply so the city is built almost entirely of stone. Luckily Bergamo is in a very low risk earthquake zone and the inflexible buildings have survived. A funicular connects the 250m height difference between the walled old city and the lower new city.Then on to Verona via a long lunch stop at a vineyard near Brescia. I've found the wines, red and white, to be generally very good, with a couple of exceptions. High alcohol (6.5%) beers are common but too strong for me. "Normal" strength beers are available ... read more

I saw the Pyrenees a week ago, now I'm seeing the Alps. There is quite a difference. I'm very glad I made the change in itineraries, for various reasons. But one of my favorite is that I get to see the Alps more than once on this trip. This weekend was nice and restful, but today I bit the bullet and did the touristy thing. I was rather surprised at the number of tourists around the town today, but I guess it's a holiday in Italy, so I shouldn't be all that surprised. Bergamo is not the typical tourist town in Italy, though there are plenty of quaint things to see. It has nothing particularly impressive except the views from the upper town. From there, you can see pretty far, including several snow-capped peaks in the ... read more

That sounds like the start of a great joke, but alas, there's not much else to tell. Once we started moving, the nun fell asleep and the fashionista took to her magazines. I can safely say that I thought that this, of all days, would be one to skip over on the travel blog. I don't have any pictures, but I do have some stories. First off, the French train this morning was swarming with controllers - those who make sure your ticket is for the journey you're on. At first I thought I was being singled out, but over the next 20 minutes, I saw no less than 6 of them pass by me. I guess it was their day to make something happen. It is the Easter weekend, so maybe they're cracking down on ... read more

The second day at Rosa Maria and Richard's place in Prada Lunga, we got a close up look at a herd of sheep being moved from their summer grazing fields in the mountain down to the valley. They will graze partially on public ground and partially on land where owners allow them to graze in order to get a free mowing of their land. When I got home I went directly to our cabin up in the hills above Oroville, WA where Art and his brother hunt. Great way to decompress from travel!... read more