Blogs from Piedmont, Italy, Europe - page 22

This weekend we (Emily, Monica, Rickardo, Mauro (Em's boyfriend who speaks excellent english and is great company) and I went to Monica's holiday home at Lake Orta. At first I did'nt think it was going to be very good because we went on the autostrada through alot of industrial areas, but after alot of traffic and an hour and a half of ugly country we arrived in a beautiful area with a small but attractive apartment in a building built in 1715. Monica's apartment used to be a stable but is now renovated into a home on the shores of Lago Orta. Bellisima, the sun came out today after a rainy day yesterday and the whole lake was stunning. Really too hard to describe. Tomorrow morning I will get Emily to help me put some photos ... read more

Geo: 45.9215, 8.55156Well, we made it to Italy. The right front wheel didn't fall off. We found the Renault dealer about 5 km from Sion. He didn't speak any English, but somehow I convayed to him that I thought the right front suspension was loose. I went over and shook the wheel, which I did before, and it didn't budge. He looked at it and said it was fine, at least I think that is what he said. So we left and went over the Simplon Pass. It is al long and twisty road up and then down into Italy. The car felt fine, except for a clunking in the front. Oh well, as the French say, c'est la vie! We found a hotel all by ourselves and went in search of the only laundrymat in ... read more

Superga goruje nad Turynem i widac ja z najbardziej nieoczekiwanych punktow miasta. Nawet, gdy wyszlo sie z mojego mieszkanka na Piazza Repubblica, mozna ja bylo czasami dostrzec. Usytuowana po drugiej stronie Padu, na wzgorzu, jest na tyle daleko, ze nie da sie tam dojsc piechota i na tyle blisko, ze wybralismy sie tam na szybka dwugodzinna wycieczke pewnego poniedzialkowego ranka. I choc sama konstrukcja rzuca sie w oczy i fakt, ze zostala wybudowana na poczatku XVIII wieku przez Wiktora Amadeusza II w podziece Maryi Dziewicy za pomoc w pokonaniu Francuzow, ktorzy w 1706 oblegali miasto, a zaprojektowana przez jego ulubionego architekta Filippo Juvarra, a potem chowani tam byli kolejni Sabaudowie, sam w sobie stanowilby godny pretekst do pielgrzymek, to Superga byla w roku 1949 sprawczynia i swiadkiem tragedii, ktora spowodowala iz przyjechalo tam nastepnie pol Wloch. ... read more

It's been a while! I've been at the same farm for the last month, working a little and having lots of fun. It's a pretty good life. My brother Alex is coming to Italy in August for about 3 weeks so I'm going to plan a grand tour for us! I bought my return ticket, and I'm still not sure if it was the right choice, but I'm going back August 25th so I can help Alex move up to New York. I'm going to give America one more chance. We'll see what happens. Quick review of the last month or so: Cons: This month has been incredibly hot, so it's difficult to do anything but sleep (pro). But because of this weather, I haven't been doing too much during the day and I haven't seen ... read more

Turyn rozkwitl w te kilka ostatnich czerwcowych dni. Choc w dzien byl upal, a wieczorem troche padalo, nie przeszkodzilo to w odbyciu sie tuzina najrozniejszych fet. W piatek skonczyla sie szkola. W zwiazku z tym, Piazza Castello, glowny plac miasta, na ktorym na codzien od niechcenia sikaja cztery male fontanny, zmienil sie w prawdziwy acqua park, pelen rozneglizowanej mlodziezy. Dziewczeta wygladaly jak klasyczne Mokre Wloszki, te odwazniejsze sciagnely koszulki, a te mniej odwazne podciagaly je tylko, prezentujac mlode, ale zazwyczaj dosyc otluszczone i blade brzuchy. Oczywiscie, chlopcy nie pozostawali dluzni, odslaniajac swoje kurczece klatki. Wszyscy posypywali sie maka, co - jak mi wyjasniono - jest tradycja. I strasznie sie darli, co pewnie rowniez jest tradycja, choc o to nie pytalam. A propos halasu, zaczal sie na dobre sezon motorynek. I nic bym w sumie przeciwko nim ... read more