Oktoberfest started out like many trips we have now do... a really long car drive. We drove thorugh Switzerland, Austira and then to Germany all within 5-6 hours. It always gets me how close everything is in Eruope. In Austria, you have to get a toll pass from a gas station in order to drive on the freeways. Thank goodness we got one since right when we were about to exist Austria, there were police at the border checking each car. Supposedly the fine's 250 euros. Damn.
We got to the hotel quiet late and checked in, then went to sleep. We stayed at the Ibis Munich West. It was a fairly nice hotel. They completed it the Tuesday before the first weekend of Oktoberfest. Probably too much of a loss to have it delayed after the first weekend. The hotel was PACKED. We comfortably fit 3 people into our room. It was a fairly standard European bedroom.
The next day, we all geared up to go to Oktoberfest. Tom Faussett was even wearing lederhosen. Fantastic! the site itself is massive. I was thinking there'd be one tent, but there was probably upwards of 30 tents where people were lining up to get in. With 7 people in our group, it was a mess. The line we stayed at wasn't letting people in, they were fully closed by 9AM! It seems you can go in and out of tents until around 2PM, when there's just too many people and they stop letting people in. To get into the tent offically, you have to have a table reservation for a certain time slot. We didn't get a reservation because we were too late. You have to book it a year in advance, basically, to get anything. I hear weekdays are easier, although all we had was a weekend.
We went into the tent where they tap the first keg and almost got a table, but it was way too crowded and there were too many of us to get sit with anyone else. We ended up just sitting outside of the tents. It was a good thing we go there early, though (we arrived at this tent at like... 11AM) because even the area we were at filled up fast. It wasn't as exciting as being in a tent, but it was still fun. Unfortunately, I had a cold so couldn't drink that much! what bad timing...
We stayed all Saturday at the Oktoberfest site and didn't have a chance to go into any of the tents. I think my time would've been far better if I hadn't had a cold. It's not so fun being the only sober one amoungst a large group of drunk people. We did meet some fun people and I got a great hat, though! The next weekend was far far better.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
September 5-6 - Brussels
I know I switched it up a little with Berlin. I missed Brussels by accident. We went here to go to the Brussels beer festival. It showcased different Belgian beers, which are extremely strong and wheaty. You can actually be a Belgian beer if you have a license from a Belgian beer brewing company, although they say true Belgian beer has its unique flavor from the water in Belgium.
The first night we got there, we had a doner kebap and wandered around. We happened across a really interesting converted train station to art gallery and bar. Then, we migrated to another bar with a white guy with dreads who recommended to us some sweet Belgian beer. It was filled with smoke. Later, we went to an Irish pub which was playing 80's music.
The next day, we started off the day with Belgian waffles and watching a parade go by for the beer festival. The waffles were too sweet, in my opinion, and didn't taste at all like Mrs. B's waffles. The beer festival was already going strong and we grabbed a quick lunch, then went into the festival. This was the beginning of a long day of drinking. We started off with a Trappist beer, which I think was delicious. I had a Rochefort 8, a sweet, malty beer. I only bought 9 euros of beer caps and ended up spending all of them. We met a couple who was from Texas and had some escargots.
Sometime during the day, we met some rather obnoxious Aussies and Brits. They were all dressed up in costume and seemed like they pre-gamed the beer festival. They were funny at first, but then just got a bit annoying. Ally, Tom Tom and I wandered off later and met a bunch of Dutch guys who were prepared for the festival and brought in a giant bag of food from the Netherlands.
Eventually we found Tom Faussett and Kyle again who were chatting with some girls. I said they were big boys and could take care of themselves so we went to get dinner and left them to their antics. Little did we know that wasn't such a good idea. We had a nice dinner and went back home. I had an early night because I was exhausted. Tom Tom went out and later came back. We heard Tom Faussett and Kyle get back and Kyle saying "I think I got beat up really badly... Do I have a fat lip?" I assumed he and Tom got back together.
The next morning, Ally and I wake up first and take our showers. As I get out, Kyle sits up and asks us what he was doing last night. I thought he was joking. Later, he's taking pictures using his camera of the bruises he has all over his body. Somehow, he got into a huge fight and lost Tom Faussett during the night. He also lost his camera. Tom Faussett lost his wallett (which was just in front of the hostel) and was waiting for Kyle as he got back. It was nuts. We probably should't've let them be, but they seemed so normal when we left. During Sunday, Kyle and Tom were recalling bits of their night.
Two other highlights of Brussels were the pissing boy, which was very small and very strange... perhaps not worth seeing more than once, and the atom-shaped worlds fair structure. this one was very large and very strange...not really worth seeing again.
We did have Belgian fries, which I don't understand how much better they are. They tasted a lot like fries in the States...
I think Brussels was awesome, but not really worth more than a weekend, even with a beer weekend. There's probably far cooler things in Belgium.
The first night we got there, we had a doner kebap and wandered around. We happened across a really interesting converted train station to art gallery and bar. Then, we migrated to another bar with a white guy with dreads who recommended to us some sweet Belgian beer. It was filled with smoke. Later, we went to an Irish pub which was playing 80's music.
The next day, we started off the day with Belgian waffles and watching a parade go by for the beer festival. The waffles were too sweet, in my opinion, and didn't taste at all like Mrs. B's waffles. The beer festival was already going strong and we grabbed a quick lunch, then went into the festival. This was the beginning of a long day of drinking. We started off with a Trappist beer, which I think was delicious. I had a Rochefort 8, a sweet, malty beer. I only bought 9 euros of beer caps and ended up spending all of them. We met a couple who was from Texas and had some escargots.
Sometime during the day, we met some rather obnoxious Aussies and Brits. They were all dressed up in costume and seemed like they pre-gamed the beer festival. They were funny at first, but then just got a bit annoying. Ally, Tom Tom and I wandered off later and met a bunch of Dutch guys who were prepared for the festival and brought in a giant bag of food from the Netherlands.
Eventually we found Tom Faussett and Kyle again who were chatting with some girls. I said they were big boys and could take care of themselves so we went to get dinner and left them to their antics. Little did we know that wasn't such a good idea. We had a nice dinner and went back home. I had an early night because I was exhausted. Tom Tom went out and later came back. We heard Tom Faussett and Kyle get back and Kyle saying "I think I got beat up really badly... Do I have a fat lip?" I assumed he and Tom got back together.
The next morning, Ally and I wake up first and take our showers. As I get out, Kyle sits up and asks us what he was doing last night. I thought he was joking. Later, he's taking pictures using his camera of the bruises he has all over his body. Somehow, he got into a huge fight and lost Tom Faussett during the night. He also lost his camera. Tom Faussett lost his wallett (which was just in front of the hostel) and was waiting for Kyle as he got back. It was nuts. We probably should't've let them be, but they seemed so normal when we left. During Sunday, Kyle and Tom were recalling bits of their night.
Two other highlights of Brussels were the pissing boy, which was very small and very strange... perhaps not worth seeing more than once, and the atom-shaped worlds fair structure. this one was very large and very strange...not really worth seeing again.
We did have Belgian fries, which I don't understand how much better they are. They tasted a lot like fries in the States...
I think Brussels was awesome, but not really worth more than a weekend, even with a beer weekend. There's probably far cooler things in Belgium.
September 12-13 Berlin!
Berlin was a lot of fun. Before we went to Berlin, I e-mailed Fabian, Oliver and Jens to see if they were there. Ally did the same for Randy. Fabian said he'd be in town, but Oliver never replied and Jens was in Munich.
On the first night, Brian, Tom Tom and I arrived finally after our flight was delayed by an hour for no real reason. It's the easyjet way, I suppose. We also didn't know which train to take, so we ended up on a long train which took 2 hours to get to Berlin's downtown. On my way, Fabian called and asked if we wanted to go out tonight. Definitely!
When waiting at the train station to go to our hostel, we saw Fabian and his friend, also coincidentally named Fabian, on the train. They came with us to the hostel and we dropped off our stuff, then left. It was 2 AM by the time we left the hostel to go out. We went to the corner market, got some beers and started to drink them on the street. We met up with some of Fabian's friends and started to go out.
Flunkyball is a German drinking game which involves flunky pins, in our case empty glass beer bottles, and a flunkyball... This time, it was a leather loafer. Fabian taught us how to play Flunkyball while we were in the middle of an intersection with cops down the street from us. The game requires two teams and a couple of beers. In our case, it was one beer and several bottles of Jager. One team throws the flunkyball at the flunky pins and starts to drink. The other team runs up as fast as they can, tries to put the pins back up and brings the "ball" back. If you're ahead of the other team, you've been drinking more. Unlike American drinking games, where the loser drinks. Here, the winner drinks. It feels like such a better reward.
The next day we went to sightsee a bit. We met up with Ally at noon and had lunch at a Moroccan place, we think. Then, we went off to see the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and all that good stuff. First up was Checkpoint Charlie, which is actually checkpoint number three (alpha, bravo, charlie). I thought it was named after a person. There was a museum near the checkpoint which records the events of the Berlin wall and the fall of the wall. It was a bit of information overload.
Next was the wall itself. Over the years, ingenious businessmen went to the wall with jackhammers and drilled off chunks of the wall to sell to unsuspecting tourists. People are willing to pay up to 20 euros for a chunk of perhaps slightly painted concrete. I paid 5 euros for my chunk, so I'm just as guilty. Because of this, the wall is a sad, skinny, bumpy concrete sliver which is now fenced off so people don't drill off any more and create holes.
From there, we went to Postdamerplatz, a square which shows much of modern Berlin. It's crazy that just 20 years ago, this place was completely deserted. Today, it had tons of buildings and shops around it. There was a fair and an open air concert going on.
The Holocaust memorial in Berlin is the only one I've seen thus far, and so it's the most striking. The memorial is a bunch of concrete blocks in the shape of graves at varying heights across a square of Berlin. Beneath the blocks is a Holocaust museum which has notes and information on the systematic murder of a wide array of people. It was sobering, but made me wonder why we're so focused on the Jews. There were a lot of other people who died. Also, there was a lot of other terrible things which happened in WWII to the Chinese, Filipino and other people in Asia. Why aren't they recognized. I think part of it is the power of the Jewish community in the US, which won... Another aspect is possibly the lack of power on the Chinese side to force the Japanese to recognize their mistakes. Also, the Japanese murders weren't systematic. They were barbaric, but they weren't systematic in the sense that they were calculating to eliminate an entire culture. They were just the "generic" rape, pillage, destroy. Not less disgusting, but I think far less disturbing.
We also got to see the Brandenburg gate, which was a originally a symbol of peace, later a symbol of separation of the wall. I knew very little about the division of Berlin and WWII, so this was really interesting to see.
From the gate, we went to see Reichstag, the Parliament building, which was beautiful and really cool, but had a 2 hour or something line, so I didn't want to go.
The Berliner Dom is quite an interesting building. Located behind (or in front of depending on your perspective) Lustgarten, it was built in 1451. In 1940, the Allies bombed it and a lot of the building became rubble. Then in 1944, a bomb of combustible liquids was placed inside of it and the fire couldn't be extinguished on the top part of the dome. The dome collapsed and they eventually built a temporary roof over it. There's a lot of controversy over whether to fully fix and restore the dome, removing the black charring. It's a testimony to the horrors committed during WWII and what people did to each other. Some felt fixing the dome was like covering up that part of history.
On our way back, we walked to Alexanderplatz to look for some food. When we got there, we saw something that looked like a circus from afar. it looked like it had tables outside, so we got closer to see what was inside and if we could have dinner there. Turns out, it was Berlin's first Oktoberfest. There was only one tent, the Hippodrom, which would then be taken down the next week and brought to Munich. This was the unintentional addition to the 3 beer weekends I was already going to in September.
That night, Fabian took us out again and we went to several more bars. No more flunkyball, but a lot of fun still. We went to a bar/club which had free chili as its food of choice. There was a projector which projected a horse on a wall and it was staring at you. Additionally, in another room, there was a DJ and a singer who was in a wolf man mask, a wife beater shirt, jogging shorts, elbow and knee pads. It was terribly strange, but hilarious.
I loved Berlin and would definitely go back again. It was awesome having Fabian there to show us around as well. I wish we could've said good bye to him formally on Sunday. He was awesome to take us around!!
On the first night, Brian, Tom Tom and I arrived finally after our flight was delayed by an hour for no real reason. It's the easyjet way, I suppose. We also didn't know which train to take, so we ended up on a long train which took 2 hours to get to Berlin's downtown. On my way, Fabian called and asked if we wanted to go out tonight. Definitely!
When waiting at the train station to go to our hostel, we saw Fabian and his friend, also coincidentally named Fabian, on the train. They came with us to the hostel and we dropped off our stuff, then left. It was 2 AM by the time we left the hostel to go out. We went to the corner market, got some beers and started to drink them on the street. We met up with some of Fabian's friends and started to go out.
Flunkyball is a German drinking game which involves flunky pins, in our case empty glass beer bottles, and a flunkyball... This time, it was a leather loafer. Fabian taught us how to play Flunkyball while we were in the middle of an intersection with cops down the street from us. The game requires two teams and a couple of beers. In our case, it was one beer and several bottles of Jager. One team throws the flunkyball at the flunky pins and starts to drink. The other team runs up as fast as they can, tries to put the pins back up and brings the "ball" back. If you're ahead of the other team, you've been drinking more. Unlike American drinking games, where the loser drinks. Here, the winner drinks. It feels like such a better reward.
The next day we went to sightsee a bit. We met up with Ally at noon and had lunch at a Moroccan place, we think. Then, we went off to see the Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and all that good stuff. First up was Checkpoint Charlie, which is actually checkpoint number three (alpha, bravo, charlie). I thought it was named after a person. There was a museum near the checkpoint which records the events of the Berlin wall and the fall of the wall. It was a bit of information overload.
Next was the wall itself. Over the years, ingenious businessmen went to the wall with jackhammers and drilled off chunks of the wall to sell to unsuspecting tourists. People are willing to pay up to 20 euros for a chunk of perhaps slightly painted concrete. I paid 5 euros for my chunk, so I'm just as guilty. Because of this, the wall is a sad, skinny, bumpy concrete sliver which is now fenced off so people don't drill off any more and create holes.
From there, we went to Postdamerplatz, a square which shows much of modern Berlin. It's crazy that just 20 years ago, this place was completely deserted. Today, it had tons of buildings and shops around it. There was a fair and an open air concert going on.
The Holocaust memorial in Berlin is the only one I've seen thus far, and so it's the most striking. The memorial is a bunch of concrete blocks in the shape of graves at varying heights across a square of Berlin. Beneath the blocks is a Holocaust museum which has notes and information on the systematic murder of a wide array of people. It was sobering, but made me wonder why we're so focused on the Jews. There were a lot of other people who died. Also, there was a lot of other terrible things which happened in WWII to the Chinese, Filipino and other people in Asia. Why aren't they recognized. I think part of it is the power of the Jewish community in the US, which won... Another aspect is possibly the lack of power on the Chinese side to force the Japanese to recognize their mistakes. Also, the Japanese murders weren't systematic. They were barbaric, but they weren't systematic in the sense that they were calculating to eliminate an entire culture. They were just the "generic" rape, pillage, destroy. Not less disgusting, but I think far less disturbing.
We also got to see the Brandenburg gate, which was a originally a symbol of peace, later a symbol of separation of the wall. I knew very little about the division of Berlin and WWII, so this was really interesting to see.
From the gate, we went to see Reichstag, the Parliament building, which was beautiful and really cool, but had a 2 hour or something line, so I didn't want to go.
The Berliner Dom is quite an interesting building. Located behind (or in front of depending on your perspective) Lustgarten, it was built in 1451. In 1940, the Allies bombed it and a lot of the building became rubble. Then in 1944, a bomb of combustible liquids was placed inside of it and the fire couldn't be extinguished on the top part of the dome. The dome collapsed and they eventually built a temporary roof over it. There's a lot of controversy over whether to fully fix and restore the dome, removing the black charring. It's a testimony to the horrors committed during WWII and what people did to each other. Some felt fixing the dome was like covering up that part of history.
On our way back, we walked to Alexanderplatz to look for some food. When we got there, we saw something that looked like a circus from afar. it looked like it had tables outside, so we got closer to see what was inside and if we could have dinner there. Turns out, it was Berlin's first Oktoberfest. There was only one tent, the Hippodrom, which would then be taken down the next week and brought to Munich. This was the unintentional addition to the 3 beer weekends I was already going to in September.
That night, Fabian took us out again and we went to several more bars. No more flunkyball, but a lot of fun still. We went to a bar/club which had free chili as its food of choice. There was a projector which projected a horse on a wall and it was staring at you. Additionally, in another room, there was a DJ and a singer who was in a wolf man mask, a wife beater shirt, jogging shorts, elbow and knee pads. It was terribly strange, but hilarious.
I loved Berlin and would definitely go back again. It was awesome having Fabian there to show us around as well. I wish we could've said good bye to him formally on Sunday. He was awesome to take us around!!
August 29-30, Ally visits!
Ally visited this weekend and we went to Lago Maggiore. We just had a quick ride to Isola Bella and wandered around the town. I think the best part of going to the islands is the scenery. I hope Ally had a good time...
On Sunday, we just wandered around and relaxed. it was a nice chill day. We took a walk around Lago di Varese. This was one of the two relaxing weekends I've had. It was wonderful.
On Sunday, we just wandered around and relaxed. it was a nice chill day. We took a walk around Lago di Varese. This was one of the two relaxing weekends I've had. It was wonderful.
August holiday with Dan!! Cinque Terre
This was the last part of our trip and probably the least fun. I think it was partly to do with just going too many places, or the heat, or the sheer number of people. Regardless, it wasn't that enjoyable. First, we drove out from the agriturismo we stayed at and went on our way to Cinque Terre. It was pretty easy to get to and not a lot of traffic, but once we got to the mountains, we saw the issue. We were staying in the third town, Vernazza. This town supposedly had a big parking lot which people could park at easily and there was a bus which goes to the town. When we got to the town, which was tough as it was, the parking lot was full. We had to turn around and go back somewhere, but we didn't know where. We called the lady who owned the room we were renting and she said there was nowhere else, really, and we must go to Levanto. Levanto was at the north side of the villages and close to Vernazza. When arriving at Levanto, we tried to look for a place to park. There was no free parking anywhere and there was no over 24 hours parking. Why would this town not let you park for more than one day, especially at the train station? Wouldn't they want to earn the money on people who would park there and take the train to Cinque Terre? After spending an hour or so looking for parking in this small town, we found the best idea was to park the car at the train station, then come back to Levanto the next day to renew our parking. By then, I was so frustrated and tired, I couldn't wait to take a nap.
The place we stayed at, whose name I don't' care to remember, was... ok. The room was extremely small, but we had a patio area to ourselves. We had a great view of Vernazza from where we were at, but outside of that, it wasn't that great of a place.
To me, Cinque Terre was a bit too hot with too many people. I think going there during May or October would've been by far better. The landscape is beautiful and there's a lot to see, but with so many tourists and it being so hot, it was difficult to enjoy the hiking and walking around the small towns. Perhaps another visit will do it better justice.
The place we stayed at, whose name I don't' care to remember, was... ok. The room was extremely small, but we had a patio area to ourselves. We had a great view of Vernazza from where we were at, but outside of that, it wasn't that great of a place.
To me, Cinque Terre was a bit too hot with too many people. I think going there during May or October would've been by far better. The landscape is beautiful and there's a lot to see, but with so many tourists and it being so hot, it was difficult to enjoy the hiking and walking around the small towns. Perhaps another visit will do it better justice.
August holiday with Dan!! Siena/Tuscany
The next leg of our trip was going to Siena. From Santorini, we went to Athens and flew back to Milan. The flight was uneventful outside of it being extremely early. I'm wondering if it's either just the Italian way, or Southern European, but they seem to love clusterfucks at the airport (or anywhere in general). I'm not sure, but there must be a more effective way of doing things.
We got into Malpensa at 8AM. From there, I drove for 4 hours to Siena. On the way, we intended to stop for an hour to teach Dan how to drive a stick shift car, but in the end, we only stopped for 30 minutes and then he never got to practice very much. I ended up driving the entire stretch in Italy, which wasn't too fun, but couldn't be helped.
We arrived to Siena without any major problems. The drive was relatively smooth and didn't' have a great view, by any means. When we arrived in Siena, we got to the Best Western we were staying at for the first night. Since it was the night of the Palio, the Best Western was the only hotel we could find. I was exhausted, but insisted on going out. Dan eventually convinced me to take a nap and we stayed in the hotel room until 5PM.
It's said that Siena and Florence were the two heavyweights in Tuscany during the medieval times. They battled each other on who has the greatest church, the greatest town hall, the greatest people, etc. Siena was much more of a republic than Florence was. In the end, Siena lost the popularity contest and now Florence is the more well known city. Although I liked Florence, I really do love Siena as well and would recommend anyone to visit it.
After a nap and some difficulty driving into Siena and back out again, we were at the Palio. We followed the crowds of people into the central square of the town, Il Campo. Again, what is up with Italians and clusterfucks? It was nuts trying to get in. People were pushing left and right. I lost Dan for a moment and was a bit worried. He didn't have a cell phone, so there was no real way to get in touch with him if I really did lose him. Eventually we found each other, but it was a bit of a mess.
Palio is a famous horse race in Siena. Each quarter of the town, called contrada, has a symbol and a horse and rider. There's a lot of fanfare with the Palio, which happens twice a year. Whoever wins the Palio gets bragging rights for the year that their contrada is the best. The race is held in Il Campo, the city square. It's a clam shell shaped city square which they fill a track in with packed down dirt. The buildings surrounding Il Campo are filled with people during the race. There are parades and then finally the race itself. All the while, tourists and locals may have the chance to sit in the middle of the track (for free) and watch the race. Since there's no way to get out from Il Campo once you're in for the race, it's ideal to go to the bathroom before, not bring in a ton of water and bring some snacks.
Palio is also particular with the way the horses line up. There is an order to the horses lining up and the riders go around making deals with each other while trying to line up. There's a lot of false starts and horses who just don't want to line up. We waited for 2.5 hours this year. There have bee Palios which have had to pause and re-start the next morning due to lack of light. We were close to that point. The race itself was an exciting 3 minutes or so long. Not worth the wait again, but it was fun to see it once. Immediately after the race, people are pushing and shoving to get out. The restaurants nearby fill up completely and everyone enjoys a dinner. We had a wonderful meal at a small restaurant in a nearby restaurant.
The next day, I woke up really late and we went to Siena again to actually see the town. From the day before to that day, it was like night and day. The town was still full of fanfare and marching. The contrada with the owl won. The Doumo has really beautiful marble work on the inside, but nothing much else. In Italy, they are very hardcore Roman Catholic. If you want to go into a church, you typically must have your shoulders covered and knees not exposed. At the Duomo in Siena, they had thin mesh pieces of fabric passed out to everyone who went in, so if you have anything exposed, you can cover it up and still enjoy the Duomo. Where do they get the money for this kind of stuff?
One other interesting tidbit of Siena is the Fountain of Joy. The original fountain is well preserved in a museum, but the copy is in Il Campo for all of us to enjoy. From the fountain, there are depictions of God and people who are punished for doing not so great things. The strangest are the statues of wolves, which is where the water comes from. The she-wolf and Romulus and Remus are the symbol of Siena. Pigeons line up perched on these wolf sculptures, dip their heads down and take a drink of fresh water from the wolf's mouth. If a real wolf was sneaky, he could pretend to be a statue and get a free snack....
Earlier that day, we made our way to Agriturismo Marciano. This cute little farm house was purchased by its owners in 2000 and restored to its original glory. The owner told us it was originally a worker's home who used to work on the owner's farm. They later abandoned the home and the grape fines were left to themselves. The person who owns the farm now re-organized all the grapes and found a lot of indigenous grapes to the region. He started to produce his own wine and enjoys keeping the farm. He said he also produces olive oil, but last year was a bad year and the olives were not very good, only producing enough oil for his small farm. It's incredible how people will quit their day jobs to work on vineyard with such passion.
That night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner at the agriturismo. If there is ever the chance to do this again, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The food was so delicious! Christian and Nadia were wonderful hosts. They took us into their family kitchen and sat us down at the tables in the middle of the kitchen. They gave us the chance to cooked traditional Tuscan fare. Most of their ingredients came from their garden and farmland. Christian opened 4 bottles of wine per table (there were two small ones). All the food was delicious and very fresh. Staying at the agriturisumo gave us an opportunity to really get to know the owners and feel like we were part of the family. The whole atmosphere had a homey feeling. In the other agriturismi i've been to, it was much more industrial.
The next day, Dan and I went to Montalcino, Pienza and Monteplucino. These three towns were in a small row and although they were within 20 minutes of each other, each had their claim to fame. The town Montalcino itself is really nothing much to look at. The surrounding area is famous for its Brunello wine. There were over 200 wineries in the area. Since it was just the Palio, many of the wineries were closed and we were only able to visit one for a tasting. Although I liked the Brunello, most went for 50 euros and up, so I stuck with the Rosso di Montalcino, another good wine which goes for 5-10 euros.
In Pienza, they were famous for their cheese, pecorino. They had fresh pecorino, aged pecorino, and everything in between. These cheeses went amazingly with honey. The town itself was relatively small and didn't have much to do, but it was worth walking around and taking a look at. The cheese is definitely delicious, but there was no chance to taste the cheeses and buy which ones we liked. We just bought a block of both the young and middle-aged cheese.
Monteplucino was a small town with a lot of character. Monteplucino is known for its Nobile di Monteplucino. They're really wonderful, medium bodied wines. At least I think they're medium bodied. I have no idea what they're actually. We went to a cantina where we met Aldo, an old Italian man who was the master winemaker of their winery. He would hobble around and greet people with warm smiles and strong handshakes. When meeting him, he asked for my name then declared "Georgina, an Italian name" while giving me a kiss on the cheek. Hilarious. We tasted all the wines they had and purchased 6 bottles in total. We weren't the only ones to purchase wine in such mass quantities. There were several groups who were in and out around us who also were doing the same thing. Since we bought so much, or perhaps he just liked my name, we got a free corkscrew. I don't actually own my own corkscrew, so that was awesome.
The last day in Tuscany, we went to Monteriggioni, which wasn't that interesting, then Volterra and San Gimignano. Monteriggioni was a old castle/fortress in the middle of fields, and not much more. We then went to Volterra, which is a small town rich in history. It also happens to be the town which Twilight features as the home of the Volturi. The town itself didn't seem to have a lot of mystical vampire-esque feelings, but that's just me. They had Twilight tours to show the famous parts which were also in the book. I liked the town, but I don't understand why Stephanie Meyer chose it. It seemed like any other Italian small town to me. Perhaps it's just because I have lived here and seen a lot. Maybe it's rich in history. Regardless, it was a bit funny to see tons of Twilight paraphernalia. After Volterra, we went to San Gimigano, a famous town for its tall towers. The towers made it look a bit like a medieval Chicago or something. Other than the towers and the good views, the town had a lot of history, but I think it was too hyped up and full of tourists. I would've been just as happy spending more time in Monteplucino or around Montalcino (not the town itself).
I loved Tuscany and would go back again any day. You need to have a car to go to Tuscany, though. Driving around the small towns is half the fun!
We got into Malpensa at 8AM. From there, I drove for 4 hours to Siena. On the way, we intended to stop for an hour to teach Dan how to drive a stick shift car, but in the end, we only stopped for 30 minutes and then he never got to practice very much. I ended up driving the entire stretch in Italy, which wasn't too fun, but couldn't be helped.
We arrived to Siena without any major problems. The drive was relatively smooth and didn't' have a great view, by any means. When we arrived in Siena, we got to the Best Western we were staying at for the first night. Since it was the night of the Palio, the Best Western was the only hotel we could find. I was exhausted, but insisted on going out. Dan eventually convinced me to take a nap and we stayed in the hotel room until 5PM.
It's said that Siena and Florence were the two heavyweights in Tuscany during the medieval times. They battled each other on who has the greatest church, the greatest town hall, the greatest people, etc. Siena was much more of a republic than Florence was. In the end, Siena lost the popularity contest and now Florence is the more well known city. Although I liked Florence, I really do love Siena as well and would recommend anyone to visit it.
After a nap and some difficulty driving into Siena and back out again, we were at the Palio. We followed the crowds of people into the central square of the town, Il Campo. Again, what is up with Italians and clusterfucks? It was nuts trying to get in. People were pushing left and right. I lost Dan for a moment and was a bit worried. He didn't have a cell phone, so there was no real way to get in touch with him if I really did lose him. Eventually we found each other, but it was a bit of a mess.
Palio is a famous horse race in Siena. Each quarter of the town, called contrada, has a symbol and a horse and rider. There's a lot of fanfare with the Palio, which happens twice a year. Whoever wins the Palio gets bragging rights for the year that their contrada is the best. The race is held in Il Campo, the city square. It's a clam shell shaped city square which they fill a track in with packed down dirt. The buildings surrounding Il Campo are filled with people during the race. There are parades and then finally the race itself. All the while, tourists and locals may have the chance to sit in the middle of the track (for free) and watch the race. Since there's no way to get out from Il Campo once you're in for the race, it's ideal to go to the bathroom before, not bring in a ton of water and bring some snacks.
Palio is also particular with the way the horses line up. There is an order to the horses lining up and the riders go around making deals with each other while trying to line up. There's a lot of false starts and horses who just don't want to line up. We waited for 2.5 hours this year. There have bee Palios which have had to pause and re-start the next morning due to lack of light. We were close to that point. The race itself was an exciting 3 minutes or so long. Not worth the wait again, but it was fun to see it once. Immediately after the race, people are pushing and shoving to get out. The restaurants nearby fill up completely and everyone enjoys a dinner. We had a wonderful meal at a small restaurant in a nearby restaurant.
The next day, I woke up really late and we went to Siena again to actually see the town. From the day before to that day, it was like night and day. The town was still full of fanfare and marching. The contrada with the owl won. The Doumo has really beautiful marble work on the inside, but nothing much else. In Italy, they are very hardcore Roman Catholic. If you want to go into a church, you typically must have your shoulders covered and knees not exposed. At the Duomo in Siena, they had thin mesh pieces of fabric passed out to everyone who went in, so if you have anything exposed, you can cover it up and still enjoy the Duomo. Where do they get the money for this kind of stuff?
One other interesting tidbit of Siena is the Fountain of Joy. The original fountain is well preserved in a museum, but the copy is in Il Campo for all of us to enjoy. From the fountain, there are depictions of God and people who are punished for doing not so great things. The strangest are the statues of wolves, which is where the water comes from. The she-wolf and Romulus and Remus are the symbol of Siena. Pigeons line up perched on these wolf sculptures, dip their heads down and take a drink of fresh water from the wolf's mouth. If a real wolf was sneaky, he could pretend to be a statue and get a free snack....
Earlier that day, we made our way to Agriturismo Marciano. This cute little farm house was purchased by its owners in 2000 and restored to its original glory. The owner told us it was originally a worker's home who used to work on the owner's farm. They later abandoned the home and the grape fines were left to themselves. The person who owns the farm now re-organized all the grapes and found a lot of indigenous grapes to the region. He started to produce his own wine and enjoys keeping the farm. He said he also produces olive oil, but last year was a bad year and the olives were not very good, only producing enough oil for his small farm. It's incredible how people will quit their day jobs to work on vineyard with such passion.
That night, we had the opportunity to eat dinner at the agriturismo. If there is ever the chance to do this again, I'd take it in a heartbeat. The food was so delicious! Christian and Nadia were wonderful hosts. They took us into their family kitchen and sat us down at the tables in the middle of the kitchen. They gave us the chance to cooked traditional Tuscan fare. Most of their ingredients came from their garden and farmland. Christian opened 4 bottles of wine per table (there were two small ones). All the food was delicious and very fresh. Staying at the agriturisumo gave us an opportunity to really get to know the owners and feel like we were part of the family. The whole atmosphere had a homey feeling. In the other agriturismi i've been to, it was much more industrial.
The next day, Dan and I went to Montalcino, Pienza and Monteplucino. These three towns were in a small row and although they were within 20 minutes of each other, each had their claim to fame. The town Montalcino itself is really nothing much to look at. The surrounding area is famous for its Brunello wine. There were over 200 wineries in the area. Since it was just the Palio, many of the wineries were closed and we were only able to visit one for a tasting. Although I liked the Brunello, most went for 50 euros and up, so I stuck with the Rosso di Montalcino, another good wine which goes for 5-10 euros.
In Pienza, they were famous for their cheese, pecorino. They had fresh pecorino, aged pecorino, and everything in between. These cheeses went amazingly with honey. The town itself was relatively small and didn't have much to do, but it was worth walking around and taking a look at. The cheese is definitely delicious, but there was no chance to taste the cheeses and buy which ones we liked. We just bought a block of both the young and middle-aged cheese.
Monteplucino was a small town with a lot of character. Monteplucino is known for its Nobile di Monteplucino. They're really wonderful, medium bodied wines. At least I think they're medium bodied. I have no idea what they're actually. We went to a cantina where we met Aldo, an old Italian man who was the master winemaker of their winery. He would hobble around and greet people with warm smiles and strong handshakes. When meeting him, he asked for my name then declared "Georgina, an Italian name" while giving me a kiss on the cheek. Hilarious. We tasted all the wines they had and purchased 6 bottles in total. We weren't the only ones to purchase wine in such mass quantities. There were several groups who were in and out around us who also were doing the same thing. Since we bought so much, or perhaps he just liked my name, we got a free corkscrew. I don't actually own my own corkscrew, so that was awesome.
The last day in Tuscany, we went to Monteriggioni, which wasn't that interesting, then Volterra and San Gimignano. Monteriggioni was a old castle/fortress in the middle of fields, and not much more. We then went to Volterra, which is a small town rich in history. It also happens to be the town which Twilight features as the home of the Volturi. The town itself didn't seem to have a lot of mystical vampire-esque feelings, but that's just me. They had Twilight tours to show the famous parts which were also in the book. I liked the town, but I don't understand why Stephanie Meyer chose it. It seemed like any other Italian small town to me. Perhaps it's just because I have lived here and seen a lot. Maybe it's rich in history. Regardless, it was a bit funny to see tons of Twilight paraphernalia. After Volterra, we went to San Gimigano, a famous town for its tall towers. The towers made it look a bit like a medieval Chicago or something. Other than the towers and the good views, the town had a lot of history, but I think it was too hyped up and full of tourists. I would've been just as happy spending more time in Monteplucino or around Montalcino (not the town itself).
I loved Tuscany and would go back again any day. You need to have a car to go to Tuscany, though. Driving around the small towns is half the fun!
Friday, October 16, 2009
August Holiday with Dan! Santorini
Santorini was... a lot different than I expected. Arriving on ferry (it took approx 4 hours), it seemed really desolate. The bus ride from the ferry to the main city made me feel like I was in a rural area. The land was dry with very few trees. There were many homes which were only half constructed, as if the ran out of money or lost faith in what they were meant to be. There weren't really any people around this part of the island. It felt a bit like it was deserted, and for good reason. It wasn't the lush paradise I was imagining.
In truth, Santorini had very little greenery. There were a few bushes and trees here and there, but no grass. It was just dry, brown dirt. Fira, the main city, is a hub of tourists. Santorini is truly a tourist's city. You couldn't go three meters without seeing someone with a ATV or scooter and a funny helmet, zipping around. There was English on all the signs. After getting on the bus at Fira, we headed off to Oia (pronounced Ee-ah). Oia is on the very tip of the island. Santorini looks a little like a funny eggplant wich someone took a big bite out of. Who knows why anyone would want to take a big bite out of a raw eggplant. Oia is on the very top and supposedly the most beautiful to see the sunsets from. More on Oia sunsets later.
Once arriving at Oia, I started to see more of the Greece I imagined. Whitewashed houses with beautiful blue windows and accents . The caldera was absolutely gorgeous. Dan and I rented out a studio apartment on the caldera from a management company called Delphini. I highly recommend Delphini. Rena, the landlady, is a total sweetheart. It had a view of both the caldera and the volcano and ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. This was definitely what people come for when they come to Greece. Dan and I had a relaxing lunch at a restaurant in Oia and spent the rest of our day wandering around the town. Oia's a very small town, you can walk the span of it within 20 minutes. it's very skinny, but very long.
The next day, we decided to rent an ATV and go to the Red Beach. The ATV we rented was probably the worst on the island. It was an automatic, but just didn't want to go into the second gear. The entire time, we were slowly chugging along and everyone was zipping past us. As a result, we did get to see a lot of the beautiful landscaping of Santorini.
The Red Beach is red because of the volcanic rock which is on the cliff face and the beach itself. It's more of a rocky/pebbly beach than a sandy one. Essentially all we did was lay there and read. It was a wonderful feeling, to just relax, snack on some chips and hang out at the beach. I miss that a lot....
The last full day we were there, Dan and I went to a volcano tour. The volcano tour was way over-sold. There were a lot of suckers, though, so we didn't feel as bad. We went onto the volcano... which was a bit blah, then went to a hot springs near the volcano. The hot springs was an area which was warmer than the rest of the water and a light green/yellow color. It had a lot of sulfur in the water. Tour boats took turns dropping off tourists there. Really, it was uneventful and not that interesting. The last segment of our tour was to an island which was rather small and didn't have a lot of things to do. We had lunch at a specified area (probably the only source of money for that restaurant) and wandered around a little. The overall trip wasn't expensive, but it was rather dull and not worth the money.
When getting back from the island, we rode some donkeys up the mountain. I really wanted to ride them because I saw it in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". Not a good idea. Not only is the guy too gruff and the donkeys going everywhere, you still need to hike up a section. Dan scraped up his right foot really badly and the guy was completely unapologetic. Never ride donkeys in Santorini. They seemed less than caring about the actual fun experience.
After our donkey fiasco, we went back home and relaxed. That evening, since it was our last night in Santorini, we went to see the famous Oia sunset. The sunset was beautiful, but the place was way too crowded with people! I couldn't see a thing. Luckily for Dan and I, we had a bite to eat at home, because it was a huge rush to get in and out of the area to watch the sunset. The sunset was beautiful, regardless.
This segment of the trip was extremely relaxing. We didn't have a set number of things to see, so just wandered around. The food in Greece was quite interesting as well. For where we were, you had to pay for almost everything. I think it was a factor of the place we stayed. Although Greece had a lot of seafood, we ended up eating a lot of meat. They have shish kebabs of pork which were really popular. And there were fries with everything. That was a bit strange. I guess we didn't' have true Greek food, perhaps. We did eat Greek salad almost every day. It was delicious. Those cherry tomatoes from Santorini were great. They also supposedly had a very good chocolate souffle thing, but when we tried it, it was cold and pre-made. The next time we tried to order it, all they had was a soft brownie. I guess I'll have to keep on trying to make a molten chocolate cake.... Oh well.
I liked Santorini, but I think I'd much rather go to another, less touristy island sometime. This island was a good primer, but I'd love to go elsewhere to see what there is to see.
In truth, Santorini had very little greenery. There were a few bushes and trees here and there, but no grass. It was just dry, brown dirt. Fira, the main city, is a hub of tourists. Santorini is truly a tourist's city. You couldn't go three meters without seeing someone with a ATV or scooter and a funny helmet, zipping around. There was English on all the signs. After getting on the bus at Fira, we headed off to Oia (pronounced Ee-ah). Oia is on the very tip of the island. Santorini looks a little like a funny eggplant wich someone took a big bite out of. Who knows why anyone would want to take a big bite out of a raw eggplant. Oia is on the very top and supposedly the most beautiful to see the sunsets from. More on Oia sunsets later.
Once arriving at Oia, I started to see more of the Greece I imagined. Whitewashed houses with beautiful blue windows and accents . The caldera was absolutely gorgeous. Dan and I rented out a studio apartment on the caldera from a management company called Delphini. I highly recommend Delphini. Rena, the landlady, is a total sweetheart. It had a view of both the caldera and the volcano and ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. This was definitely what people come for when they come to Greece. Dan and I had a relaxing lunch at a restaurant in Oia and spent the rest of our day wandering around the town. Oia's a very small town, you can walk the span of it within 20 minutes. it's very skinny, but very long.
The next day, we decided to rent an ATV and go to the Red Beach. The ATV we rented was probably the worst on the island. It was an automatic, but just didn't want to go into the second gear. The entire time, we were slowly chugging along and everyone was zipping past us. As a result, we did get to see a lot of the beautiful landscaping of Santorini.
The Red Beach is red because of the volcanic rock which is on the cliff face and the beach itself. It's more of a rocky/pebbly beach than a sandy one. Essentially all we did was lay there and read. It was a wonderful feeling, to just relax, snack on some chips and hang out at the beach. I miss that a lot....
The last full day we were there, Dan and I went to a volcano tour. The volcano tour was way over-sold. There were a lot of suckers, though, so we didn't feel as bad. We went onto the volcano... which was a bit blah, then went to a hot springs near the volcano. The hot springs was an area which was warmer than the rest of the water and a light green/yellow color. It had a lot of sulfur in the water. Tour boats took turns dropping off tourists there. Really, it was uneventful and not that interesting. The last segment of our tour was to an island which was rather small and didn't have a lot of things to do. We had lunch at a specified area (probably the only source of money for that restaurant) and wandered around a little. The overall trip wasn't expensive, but it was rather dull and not worth the money.
When getting back from the island, we rode some donkeys up the mountain. I really wanted to ride them because I saw it in "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants". Not a good idea. Not only is the guy too gruff and the donkeys going everywhere, you still need to hike up a section. Dan scraped up his right foot really badly and the guy was completely unapologetic. Never ride donkeys in Santorini. They seemed less than caring about the actual fun experience.
After our donkey fiasco, we went back home and relaxed. That evening, since it was our last night in Santorini, we went to see the famous Oia sunset. The sunset was beautiful, but the place was way too crowded with people! I couldn't see a thing. Luckily for Dan and I, we had a bite to eat at home, because it was a huge rush to get in and out of the area to watch the sunset. The sunset was beautiful, regardless.
This segment of the trip was extremely relaxing. We didn't have a set number of things to see, so just wandered around. The food in Greece was quite interesting as well. For where we were, you had to pay for almost everything. I think it was a factor of the place we stayed. Although Greece had a lot of seafood, we ended up eating a lot of meat. They have shish kebabs of pork which were really popular. And there were fries with everything. That was a bit strange. I guess we didn't' have true Greek food, perhaps. We did eat Greek salad almost every day. It was delicious. Those cherry tomatoes from Santorini were great. They also supposedly had a very good chocolate souffle thing, but when we tried it, it was cold and pre-made. The next time we tried to order it, all they had was a soft brownie. I guess I'll have to keep on trying to make a molten chocolate cake.... Oh well.
I liked Santorini, but I think I'd much rather go to another, less touristy island sometime. This island was a good primer, but I'd love to go elsewhere to see what there is to see.
August Holidays with Dan - Off to Athens
The flight to Athens was less than exciting. The plane was delayed for a mysterious reason, which caused us to have to sprint through Rome's terminal to catch our next flight. We had an hour to spare if the flight wasn't delayed. I suppose the plane was operating on Italian time. We arrived in Athens at around midnight to find our luggage wasn't there.
It's a terrible feeling, when my luggage doesn't arrive. I put in all this effort to make the plane and wait anxiously as the luggage carousal turns around, waiting for the man behind that mysterious doggie door to put the luggage onto the conveyor belt which reminds me of a centipede. I have a little hope and cross my fingers that it made it ok. Then suddenly I saw the sign that says the man has loaded every last piece of luggage on to the strange segmented conveyor belt and know it's too late. The airline's lost my luggage.
I stormed (or if you're a normal person, probably trudge) to the lost luggage counter to find a man who has no idea how to speak any language the attendant can speak trying to tell her what his hometown is (I can only assume). Finally, it's my turn to speak with the attendant, in hopes she can do something so I can at least take a shower after that little 200 yard dash through the airport in Rome. She was kindly informs me there's nothing they can do and it happens all the time.
All the time? I can't help but think, if this happens all the time, why do they still sell so many plane tickets? How is the company still in business? How jacked up are the prices to compensate for the lost business? It's strange to think that now, the norm is to expect to have your luggage lost when you fly. It's like expecting restaurants to spit in your food. I suppose I should start expecting that one as well, but I like to think I'm pretty nice to waitresses. I feel like I could punch her and that may make me feel better. Why should I have to accept such poor quality standards? I wouldn't accept a bank which lost my money, or a car with only three of its wheels. Regardless, I took the little slip she gave me with a phone number to call in case I didn't get my luggage the next day. Dan calmed me down and we got into a cab to go to the hotel.
Taxi drivers are often shady characters, but I guess the ones in Athens just top the lists. I've had taxi drivers try to take me through an extra loop or something here and there, but I haven't really had taxi drivers try and add strange fees on top of their fares. Often, they'll communicate the fees to me. Then again, the only other taxis I take are in Asian countries which I understand the language and know the area. I suppose that helps. Because I didn't trust him, I took out my GPS and he followed the "shortest route" described. That was all well and good, but when we got to the hotel, he added an extra 10 euro on for himself to the fare on the meter. The meter already was double the price because it was at night, so he couldn't use that excuse. Ok, from the airport, there was an extra 2 euros, there was another extra 2 euros for the toll. So an extra 6 euros of gravy for him. It must be a good life, being a taxi driver for tourists. You can cheat people out of their money so easily . In the end, I paid 39 euros for the taxi fare, probably still far more than I should've. He even had the audacity to yell at me for not giving him a tip. Didn't you already just give yourself a tip? And he thought I was Japanese. I suppose most Europeans look alike to me, so if all Asians look alike, I'm guilty for the same thing. Then again, China is the size of Europe, so if I'm a little guilty of thinking a lot of people look the same, it's like saying people from HK and people from Beijing look the same. They're all Chinese and you're allowed to categorize them as such, but really it's two completely different regions.
Our hotel was also a little on the sparse side. We chose it for economy, but we probably should've thought about that a little bit. They didn't even have toothbrushes to use. Also, there were no supermarkets nearby where we could pick up some of these basic things. I think I had the biggest tantrum I've had in a while that night. I just wanted this entire vacation to start out so smoothly and it all went so very wrong. Luckily for me, Dan's infinitely patient and sat through it all. Since we had nothing to do, for some reason, I thought it was a good idea to read the bible in German. If you've ever heard me read anything in German, it's pretty hilarious. I would not do well to learn German. It's a tough language to read!
The day in Athens was OK. We ended up wearing the same clothes we had a the dash through Rome in and walked around Athens. Athens, in general, is a regular people's city. There's the Acropolis, but really that's about all the tourist attractions. It's just your generic, average big city. It was like a slightly dirtier Milan... or a slightly cleaner and shorter Shanghai.
In the end, I thought Athens was good to visit, but I wouldn't want to stay there for more than a day. Definitely the islands are the best part of Greece.
It's a terrible feeling, when my luggage doesn't arrive. I put in all this effort to make the plane and wait anxiously as the luggage carousal turns around, waiting for the man behind that mysterious doggie door to put the luggage onto the conveyor belt which reminds me of a centipede. I have a little hope and cross my fingers that it made it ok. Then suddenly I saw the sign that says the man has loaded every last piece of luggage on to the strange segmented conveyor belt and know it's too late. The airline's lost my luggage.
I stormed (or if you're a normal person, probably trudge) to the lost luggage counter to find a man who has no idea how to speak any language the attendant can speak trying to tell her what his hometown is (I can only assume). Finally, it's my turn to speak with the attendant, in hopes she can do something so I can at least take a shower after that little 200 yard dash through the airport in Rome. She was kindly informs me there's nothing they can do and it happens all the time.
All the time? I can't help but think, if this happens all the time, why do they still sell so many plane tickets? How is the company still in business? How jacked up are the prices to compensate for the lost business? It's strange to think that now, the norm is to expect to have your luggage lost when you fly. It's like expecting restaurants to spit in your food. I suppose I should start expecting that one as well, but I like to think I'm pretty nice to waitresses. I feel like I could punch her and that may make me feel better. Why should I have to accept such poor quality standards? I wouldn't accept a bank which lost my money, or a car with only three of its wheels. Regardless, I took the little slip she gave me with a phone number to call in case I didn't get my luggage the next day. Dan calmed me down and we got into a cab to go to the hotel.
Taxi drivers are often shady characters, but I guess the ones in Athens just top the lists. I've had taxi drivers try to take me through an extra loop or something here and there, but I haven't really had taxi drivers try and add strange fees on top of their fares. Often, they'll communicate the fees to me. Then again, the only other taxis I take are in Asian countries which I understand the language and know the area. I suppose that helps. Because I didn't trust him, I took out my GPS and he followed the "shortest route" described. That was all well and good, but when we got to the hotel, he added an extra 10 euro on for himself to the fare on the meter. The meter already was double the price because it was at night, so he couldn't use that excuse. Ok, from the airport, there was an extra 2 euros, there was another extra 2 euros for the toll. So an extra 6 euros of gravy for him. It must be a good life, being a taxi driver for tourists. You can cheat people out of their money so easily . In the end, I paid 39 euros for the taxi fare, probably still far more than I should've. He even had the audacity to yell at me for not giving him a tip. Didn't you already just give yourself a tip? And he thought I was Japanese. I suppose most Europeans look alike to me, so if all Asians look alike, I'm guilty for the same thing. Then again, China is the size of Europe, so if I'm a little guilty of thinking a lot of people look the same, it's like saying people from HK and people from Beijing look the same. They're all Chinese and you're allowed to categorize them as such, but really it's two completely different regions.
Our hotel was also a little on the sparse side. We chose it for economy, but we probably should've thought about that a little bit. They didn't even have toothbrushes to use. Also, there were no supermarkets nearby where we could pick up some of these basic things. I think I had the biggest tantrum I've had in a while that night. I just wanted this entire vacation to start out so smoothly and it all went so very wrong. Luckily for me, Dan's infinitely patient and sat through it all. Since we had nothing to do, for some reason, I thought it was a good idea to read the bible in German. If you've ever heard me read anything in German, it's pretty hilarious. I would not do well to learn German. It's a tough language to read!
The day in Athens was OK. We ended up wearing the same clothes we had a the dash through Rome in and walked around Athens. Athens, in general, is a regular people's city. There's the Acropolis, but really that's about all the tourist attractions. It's just your generic, average big city. It was like a slightly dirtier Milan... or a slightly cleaner and shorter Shanghai.
In the end, I thought Athens was good to visit, but I wouldn't want to stay there for more than a day. Definitely the islands are the best part of Greece.
Pre-August Holidays Milan Trip : Aug 7th
I went to Milan to get a haircut. One thing you'll learn is that it's worth driving an hour to get a haircut from a hairstylist you can trust. I hadn't met this person, but knowing they were from China made me trust them more. Maybe it's a communication thing. Maybe it's a same hair type thing. Or maybe it's a combination of that plus the fact that they weren't trying to make me look "stylish" in the Milan fashion world. Regardless of which, I drove an hour each way for the purpose of getting my hair cut.
It wasn't one of my best ideas. I had the name of the hair salon and approximate directions from a train station. I didn't really know the are well nor did I know anyone who did. I was just really wandering around Milan's Chinatown looking for this place. After 40 minutes of wandering, I caved and asked someone. Turns out, it was a straight shot, 10 minute walk from my car. Damn it.
The hair salon was small, nothing at all like the one I go to in Shanghai. The guy in there was good, though, and he actually listened to what I wanted. A huge pet peeve of mine is when a hair dresser doesn't listen to what you want. An hour later, I was out with a fabulous new haircut.
To make me feel a little less vain, I also went to the Chinese grocery store in Milan to pick up a few things. Upon returning to my car, I found that someone hit my bumper above the left front wheel! There was a dent about the size of two fingers on my poor Cinque Cento (the car's name is 500, but I find the Italian word more fun, and it rhymes as "Go, Go Cinque Cento"). I guess I need to preface this with the fact that I didn't do the best parking job in the world. There's just too many cars in the area, even though it was the start of the August holidays. Since the Cinque Cento is a relatively small car (think Mini Cooper crossed with a VW Bug) i figured if I was slanted just a little in the spot, it wasn't a huge deal and I could leave it in a spot that was slightly too small for it. That was the wrong assumption, I realized. I just hope the car rental company doesn't notice it....
It wasn't one of my best ideas. I had the name of the hair salon and approximate directions from a train station. I didn't really know the are well nor did I know anyone who did. I was just really wandering around Milan's Chinatown looking for this place. After 40 minutes of wandering, I caved and asked someone. Turns out, it was a straight shot, 10 minute walk from my car. Damn it.
The hair salon was small, nothing at all like the one I go to in Shanghai. The guy in there was good, though, and he actually listened to what I wanted. A huge pet peeve of mine is when a hair dresser doesn't listen to what you want. An hour later, I was out with a fabulous new haircut.
To make me feel a little less vain, I also went to the Chinese grocery store in Milan to pick up a few things. Upon returning to my car, I found that someone hit my bumper above the left front wheel! There was a dent about the size of two fingers on my poor Cinque Cento (the car's name is 500, but I find the Italian word more fun, and it rhymes as "Go, Go Cinque Cento"). I guess I need to preface this with the fact that I didn't do the best parking job in the world. There's just too many cars in the area, even though it was the start of the August holidays. Since the Cinque Cento is a relatively small car (think Mini Cooper crossed with a VW Bug) i figured if I was slanted just a little in the spot, it wasn't a huge deal and I could leave it in a spot that was slightly too small for it. That was the wrong assumption, I realized. I just hope the car rental company doesn't notice it....
Dolomighty Mountains Aug. 1-2
Yes, I made that corny joke. I couldn't help myself. I was dreading this trip a little. I'm not a great hiker and not in the best shape. Luckily for me, Tom tom was with me on this one instead of Brian and he's more patient of a person. It was actually really fun.
At the Dolomites, there's these things called the Earth Pyramids. They reminded me a bit of the Sagrada Familia's peaks. It was the strangest thing. They were all naturally made too. Goodness knows why. It took us an hour to find these things, though. I guess they weren't as apparent as we thought they'd be.
The heart of the Dolomites, Alpine di Suisse, is really underwhelming. It's essentially a giant meadow in the middle of mountains. Not much going on there. We walked around it, then it started to rain. Definitely not dressed properly. We looked like we were out for a jog while everyone else has their Nordic walking sticks.
The next day, though, we went to see another section of the Dolomites and these were far more impressive. The sheer cliff faces and beautiful mountains in the background, this is absolutely what I wanted to see when I made the effort to go hiking. Not some meadows. We were a quarter of the way on our hike when thunder started to roll in. Not a good sign. We were intending to go all the way to the end of the hike and take a bus back, but about half way it started to hail. We ran into a shelter and hid out for a bit. The weather went from sunny with blue skies to dark and rainy. Watching those dark, ominous clouds roll over the mountains was a little terrifying. The clouds seemed to chase you.
Overall, hiking experience number 3 was a good one. I seriously need to find people who are willing to hike at my pace and are just as out of shape as me. Then maybe we can enjoy the beautiful scenery for once while hiking.
At the Dolomites, there's these things called the Earth Pyramids. They reminded me a bit of the Sagrada Familia's peaks. It was the strangest thing. They were all naturally made too. Goodness knows why. It took us an hour to find these things, though. I guess they weren't as apparent as we thought they'd be.
The heart of the Dolomites, Alpine di Suisse, is really underwhelming. It's essentially a giant meadow in the middle of mountains. Not much going on there. We walked around it, then it started to rain. Definitely not dressed properly. We looked like we were out for a jog while everyone else has their Nordic walking sticks.
The next day, though, we went to see another section of the Dolomites and these were far more impressive. The sheer cliff faces and beautiful mountains in the background, this is absolutely what I wanted to see when I made the effort to go hiking. Not some meadows. We were a quarter of the way on our hike when thunder started to roll in. Not a good sign. We were intending to go all the way to the end of the hike and take a bus back, but about half way it started to hail. We ran into a shelter and hid out for a bit. The weather went from sunny with blue skies to dark and rainy. Watching those dark, ominous clouds roll over the mountains was a little terrifying. The clouds seemed to chase you.
Overall, hiking experience number 3 was a good one. I seriously need to find people who are willing to hike at my pace and are just as out of shape as me. Then maybe we can enjoy the beautiful scenery for once while hiking.
Wroclaw for work - July 25
For work, I finally got to go on a business trip to Wroclaw! I actually like Poland a lot. Despite the rain, Wroclaw had good food at reasonable prices and really friendly people. They also had these little bronze statues of gnomes everywhere. Who knows why... Some sort of city symbol. It's a bit like Ann Arbor's fairy doors.
During this trip, though, I started to wonder what Italians do between work and dinner. My team would get home at around 7:30PM or so (which is a little late for Italians), and hang out for an hour and a half before going out to dinner at 8:30PM. Usually by then, I was STARVING. I guess my stomach's just not on Italian time. What does one do with an hour in a hotel where your Internet doesn't work? Do you go to the gym? Go for a short swim? Go take a nap? half hour naps are never enough for me. I have no idea. We'd always get back at around 10:30PM from dinner and by then, I was too tired to do anything. Long days... I asked a co-worker of mine and they just said "sit around and unwind". I suppose I'm not much of a sit around and unwind type. I still find it strange... and I guess I need to bring more snacks when I travel with these guys.
At the beginning of this trip, our flight was over 4 hours delayed. At first, it was due to an engine issue from the plane. Then it was a bomb threat at the Berlin airport. A bomb threat? I wonder how much of whatever airline attendants say that I should believe. Why would they just delay the airport by a few hours if there was a bomb threat? Was it severe? I wonder if it happens often, since I really haven't heard of airports having bomb threats to the extent that it would delay a flight. To be honest, they could say anything to me and I'd probably have no way to argue otherwise. I guess I'll never know...
During this trip, though, I started to wonder what Italians do between work and dinner. My team would get home at around 7:30PM or so (which is a little late for Italians), and hang out for an hour and a half before going out to dinner at 8:30PM. Usually by then, I was STARVING. I guess my stomach's just not on Italian time. What does one do with an hour in a hotel where your Internet doesn't work? Do you go to the gym? Go for a short swim? Go take a nap? half hour naps are never enough for me. I have no idea. We'd always get back at around 10:30PM from dinner and by then, I was too tired to do anything. Long days... I asked a co-worker of mine and they just said "sit around and unwind". I suppose I'm not much of a sit around and unwind type. I still find it strange... and I guess I need to bring more snacks when I travel with these guys.
At the beginning of this trip, our flight was over 4 hours delayed. At first, it was due to an engine issue from the plane. Then it was a bomb threat at the Berlin airport. A bomb threat? I wonder how much of whatever airline attendants say that I should believe. Why would they just delay the airport by a few hours if there was a bomb threat? Was it severe? I wonder if it happens often, since I really haven't heard of airports having bomb threats to the extent that it would delay a flight. To be honest, they could say anything to me and I'd probably have no way to argue otherwise. I guess I'll never know...
June 25-26, Madrid
Madrid is not quite a city for regular people, but not quite a tourist city. Because they're trying to bid for the Olympics, there was construction everywhere. I've gotta say, I love Spain in general, but their food is not all that amazing. Greasy and too salty...
Madrid did have some gorgeous architecture and beautiful blue skies. The gorgeous, cloudless blue skies resulted in 40+ degree C weather. Very very hot. It was almost unbearable in the sun . We walked around the town, seeing some of the most famous buildings. We saw these creepy Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Winnie the Pooh people walking around in Plaza Mayor trying to sell balloon animals. They must've been exhaustingly hot in the 40 degree weather (that's something like 120F) in full body costumes and the funny heads.
There's also a popular "fast food" place called the Museum of Ham in Madrid. It's a shop full of prosciutto crudo type ham legs hanging from the walls. The walls are covered in it. It looked like we entered some sort of weird 15th century butchery.
The Royal Palace was a little underwhelming from the outside. Supposedly one of the most grand in Europe, we didn't want to bother waiting in the hour long line under the sweltering sun to pay 11 euro to see a lavishly furnished house. Instead, we went to a park where I got swindled by some ladies pretending they were from Unicef. Not much better, I suppose. I guess I have a soft spot for people who get stuck asking for donations.
The next stop was Reina Sophia art museum, which was again, underwhelming. It was contemporary/modern art museum and I've gotta say... I know nothing about modern art. It's so boring. We saw Picasso's famous painting, Guernica, which I really didn't' find that interesting. Again, modern art just confuses me.
Madrid nightlife is really lively and actually quite a bit of fun. This is another place, I think, where having a local would've been useful to show us where the more lively places were. We went to a few which were interesting, but not very lively. More just people chillin' and chatting. Where'd all these crazy Spanish parties I've heard about happen?
The next day, we went to Las Ventas bullfighting stadium and wanted to take a tour, but it was all closed. How unfortunate. Go figure they're only open till noon on Sunday. Instead we walked around it and took some pictures, then went to Reito Park. This relaxing park reminded me faintly of Huntington Park in LA, but with far more people, far less greenery and much much hotter.
Oh, on a side note, via travelzoo, I did manage to get an amazing deal on a hotel for the night we were there. It was a 5 star hotel not quite in downtown, but close to a metro station which was $100 per night. We slept lavishly that night.... Much better than the last few months of Arcate's pull down bed.
Madrid did have some gorgeous architecture and beautiful blue skies. The gorgeous, cloudless blue skies resulted in 40+ degree C weather. Very very hot. It was almost unbearable in the sun . We walked around the town, seeing some of the most famous buildings. We saw these creepy Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Winnie the Pooh people walking around in Plaza Mayor trying to sell balloon animals. They must've been exhaustingly hot in the 40 degree weather (that's something like 120F) in full body costumes and the funny heads.
There's also a popular "fast food" place called the Museum of Ham in Madrid. It's a shop full of prosciutto crudo type ham legs hanging from the walls. The walls are covered in it. It looked like we entered some sort of weird 15th century butchery.
The Royal Palace was a little underwhelming from the outside. Supposedly one of the most grand in Europe, we didn't want to bother waiting in the hour long line under the sweltering sun to pay 11 euro to see a lavishly furnished house. Instead, we went to a park where I got swindled by some ladies pretending they were from Unicef. Not much better, I suppose. I guess I have a soft spot for people who get stuck asking for donations.
The next stop was Reina Sophia art museum, which was again, underwhelming. It was contemporary/modern art museum and I've gotta say... I know nothing about modern art. It's so boring. We saw Picasso's famous painting, Guernica, which I really didn't' find that interesting. Again, modern art just confuses me.
Madrid nightlife is really lively and actually quite a bit of fun. This is another place, I think, where having a local would've been useful to show us where the more lively places were. We went to a few which were interesting, but not very lively. More just people chillin' and chatting. Where'd all these crazy Spanish parties I've heard about happen?
The next day, we went to Las Ventas bullfighting stadium and wanted to take a tour, but it was all closed. How unfortunate. Go figure they're only open till noon on Sunday. Instead we walked around it and took some pictures, then went to Reito Park. This relaxing park reminded me faintly of Huntington Park in LA, but with far more people, far less greenery and much much hotter.
Oh, on a side note, via travelzoo, I did manage to get an amazing deal on a hotel for the night we were there. It was a 5 star hotel not quite in downtown, but close to a metro station which was $100 per night. We slept lavishly that night.... Much better than the last few months of Arcate's pull down bed.
July 20th, Bern... Where they keep bears in a pit in the city
Bern was a bit underwhelming. Perhaps it's a city which is better with a local. On the way to Bern, we had to go over a part of the Alps, which would've been beautiful had it not been snowing. Snowing. In the middle of July. It's insane. Driving was a bit dangerous and we were all under dressed. We saw a bunch of Porsches which were probably going for a joyride, unfortunately in the snow. Once we got to Bern, though, it was far warmer.
It's said in Bern, there was a pit just outside of the city that they kept a few bears. When we got there, the last bear died in April this year. Or was killed... Regardless, they were relocating the pit. Why the Swiss really wanted a bear pit in the middle of their capital city, I have no idea. Crazy Swiss. Maybe that's why their cheese has holes in it.
The next day, since there wasn't much to do in Bern, we went to Gimmelwald and Mussen. It was like Zermatt, but dressed improperly and with people who were way too fast. It was beautiful, but I was so tired it wasn't the most pleasant walk. I definitely need to get more in shape.
It's said in Bern, there was a pit just outside of the city that they kept a few bears. When we got there, the last bear died in April this year. Or was killed... Regardless, they were relocating the pit. Why the Swiss really wanted a bear pit in the middle of their capital city, I have no idea. Crazy Swiss. Maybe that's why their cheese has holes in it.
The next day, since there wasn't much to do in Bern, we went to Gimmelwald and Mussen. It was like Zermatt, but dressed improperly and with people who were way too fast. It was beautiful, but I was so tired it wasn't the most pleasant walk. I definitely need to get more in shape.
July 11-12, Intern Weekend
This weekend, four American interns came to Italy. On Saturday, we met them at their hotel and took them out and around Milan a bit. We went to the Castle (which I haven't been to previously) and the Duomo. The castle really wasn't much... It was rather boring, to be honest. It was fun just to walk around. That night, we went out for aperitivo in Milan again, but this time in the canal region. We arrived at 6PM, right as the bars were opening, and had the entire place to ourselves. We sat by the canal (full of gross dead stuff) and ate to our hearts content. It was a very fun night. I guess it helps when Whirlpool's picking up the tab for part of it. Diego and his girlfriend met up with us and showed us to another bar, the Iguna.
The next day, we went to Bellagio and Varenna on Lago di Como to wander around and eat. Bellagio is nothing like the casino in Vegas. I was hoping they were more similar. The small town with lots of stairs felt like a piece of old, rich Italy. I wonder what it was like before....
The next day, we went to Bellagio and Varenna on Lago di Como to wander around and eat. Bellagio is nothing like the casino in Vegas. I was hoping they were more similar. The small town with lots of stairs felt like a piece of old, rich Italy. I wonder what it was like before....
July 4th! Kurt and Erica's good bye, Lago di Como
This day, we went to try and see our friend, George Clooney, on Lago di Como. Too bad he wasn't there. We started off at a town who had the unfortunate name of Cernobbio. If reading in English, it wouldn't be as bad, but in Italian, the "ce" is pronounced as a "che". I'm sure when they named this, they didn't know the Chernobyl disaster would have happened. Good thing there's no nuclear power plants here.
Lago di Como is essentially a valley between two mountains which collected a lot of runoff water and became a lake. The lake is shaped like a man. They have a saying that Como is at the man's left food, Lecco is the man's right foot, I forgot what the head was, and Bellagio is at the man's balls. The three famous cities on Lago Di Como are Menaggio, Bellagio and Varenna. We only got to visit Menaggio this time, but it was beautiful. The drive was the best part. On the way, there were mansions which could probably fit multiple families and a castle which was in the side of the mountain. You find the most random things in Italy...
After we went to Lago di Como, we went to Kurt and Erica's good bye party/4th of July party. They had burgers and brauts! It was delicious. I miss good ole American food. I got a bit ambitious and wanted to make these really cute cupcake/brownie "hamburgers" and sugar cookie "french fries". Unfortunately, the oven I have here is more like a toaster oven, so the cupcakes turned out weird and half the sugar cookies were burnt. Instead, I made red white and blue frosting and made patriotic cupcakes and cookies. The brownies turned out ok. I miss my cooking stuff at home... and a real oven.
Kurt and Erica's was a lot of fun. We drank through the night. I had to drive the drunk boys home, so I didn't end up partaking in the shots they had... probably for the better. We also had the chance to meet Tim Stacy's daughter, Becca. This girl was nuts. I feel like took a wrong turn somewhere in college. It was a good thing all the boys were good and her father didn't think anything of it.
Lago di Como is essentially a valley between two mountains which collected a lot of runoff water and became a lake. The lake is shaped like a man. They have a saying that Como is at the man's left food, Lecco is the man's right foot, I forgot what the head was, and Bellagio is at the man's balls. The three famous cities on Lago Di Como are Menaggio, Bellagio and Varenna. We only got to visit Menaggio this time, but it was beautiful. The drive was the best part. On the way, there were mansions which could probably fit multiple families and a castle which was in the side of the mountain. You find the most random things in Italy...
After we went to Lago di Como, we went to Kurt and Erica's good bye party/4th of July party. They had burgers and brauts! It was delicious. I miss good ole American food. I got a bit ambitious and wanted to make these really cute cupcake/brownie "hamburgers" and sugar cookie "french fries". Unfortunately, the oven I have here is more like a toaster oven, so the cupcakes turned out weird and half the sugar cookies were burnt. Instead, I made red white and blue frosting and made patriotic cupcakes and cookies. The brownies turned out ok. I miss my cooking stuff at home... and a real oven.
Kurt and Erica's was a lot of fun. We drank through the night. I had to drive the drunk boys home, so I didn't end up partaking in the shots they had... probably for the better. We also had the chance to meet Tim Stacy's daughter, Becca. This girl was nuts. I feel like took a wrong turn somewhere in college. It was a good thing all the boys were good and her father didn't think anything of it.
Vienna June 25-26
Vienna is one of those places you've gotta have time to appreciate. It's a huge city rich in history and tradition. The first time I went to Vienna, I thought it was only OK. There wasn't a ton to see and we weren't really that interested. Dan and I were also very burnt out from the Europe trip and just wanted to rest. This time, I feel like Vienna was definitely a ton more fun. It helped infinitely to have a local guide.
Since we were helping out Kurt and Erica move a washing machine and air conditioner from Italy to Austria, we drove to Vienna. Vienna is a 8 hour drive, 10 if you're including traffic, getting lost and other random happenings on the way. We left work at noon, before lunch, and arrived in Vienna at 1AM. Roland, Kurt and Erica's cousin who was going to university in Vienna, was ready and waiting to go out... but by the time we got there, we just wanted to sleep.
The next day, Roland took us out to a few of the highlights of Austria. First stop was breakfast with a waitress who was not very pleasant. Apparently old ladies at that restaurant in Austria are like that. Breakfast was delicious. The bread, I think, was the best part. Slightly crusty on the outside, but not so much that you're just asking for a chipped tooth with an extremely soft inside. We had a soft boiled egg, cheese and ham and jam as well. Orange juice and coffee came with the breakfast. I guess this replaces your standard scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.
Stephensdom was the same was it was before. This time, we went to the top. The inside of the church was beautiful. That being said, I was only in Europe for a month thus far, so churches are still beautiful on the inside. We walked around to the palaces and saw that palace gardens. We then wandered into a festival area in front of city hall where they served a lot of beer. I ended up getting a Radler... beer and lemonade. Not bad if you want lemonade with a splash of beer.
Lunch was delicious. Having a native guide really does do wonders. Austrians really know how to cook their meat. I had ribs and potatoes. It felt like I was back in the States. The ribs were amazing. Living in Italy, all we eat really is pasta, pizza and meats cooked with very little sauce on them. It's delicious, but repetitive. Dry rub ribs were the cure to that. That and a big beer.
One of the highlights for me (and probably only me) was the Vienna Opera. We went to watch an opera, the Magic Flute, at the famous Vienna Opera House. They were standing room only tickets for 4.50 euros. It was very hot, all in German and completely wonderful. I never really liked the opera before, but this was great. Roland also seemed to be enjoying his time, but mostly because the girl next to me was a cute Swedish girl. Her poor friend (not quite as attractive) was completely ignored. It's always interesting how when you put a beautiful girl next to one who's attractive, but probably not quite as attractive, the latter girl is completely ignored... while in another situation, she'd be getting all the attention. I suppose also standards for beauty are different.
After the Opera, all the guys were ready for drinking. Oh, I failed to mention, it was me and a bunch of guys. Being an engineer, I should be used to this, but sometimes... I miss having girls around.
Vienna is an awesome town to go drinking in. They have a three streets collectively called the Bermuda Triangle which are covered in bars. At the first one, we all ordered Long Islands. After a sip, Thomas, our Belgian friend, declared "Cocktails do not effect me. This is really weak." We tried to warn him... two Long Islands later, we had to cut him off. It was hilarious all the way, though. The night was full of Arnold impressions and Roland hitting on a married woman at a bachlorette party (later making out with her which caused her friends to be infinitely angry).
I'd definitely go back to Vienna again, perhaps for a ball... then maybe hit up Bermuda Triangle at the end of the night. Anyone else?
Since we were helping out Kurt and Erica move a washing machine and air conditioner from Italy to Austria, we drove to Vienna. Vienna is a 8 hour drive, 10 if you're including traffic, getting lost and other random happenings on the way. We left work at noon, before lunch, and arrived in Vienna at 1AM. Roland, Kurt and Erica's cousin who was going to university in Vienna, was ready and waiting to go out... but by the time we got there, we just wanted to sleep.
The next day, Roland took us out to a few of the highlights of Austria. First stop was breakfast with a waitress who was not very pleasant. Apparently old ladies at that restaurant in Austria are like that. Breakfast was delicious. The bread, I think, was the best part. Slightly crusty on the outside, but not so much that you're just asking for a chipped tooth with an extremely soft inside. We had a soft boiled egg, cheese and ham and jam as well. Orange juice and coffee came with the breakfast. I guess this replaces your standard scrambled eggs, bacon and toast.
Stephensdom was the same was it was before. This time, we went to the top. The inside of the church was beautiful. That being said, I was only in Europe for a month thus far, so churches are still beautiful on the inside. We walked around to the palaces and saw that palace gardens. We then wandered into a festival area in front of city hall where they served a lot of beer. I ended up getting a Radler... beer and lemonade. Not bad if you want lemonade with a splash of beer.
Lunch was delicious. Having a native guide really does do wonders. Austrians really know how to cook their meat. I had ribs and potatoes. It felt like I was back in the States. The ribs were amazing. Living in Italy, all we eat really is pasta, pizza and meats cooked with very little sauce on them. It's delicious, but repetitive. Dry rub ribs were the cure to that. That and a big beer.
One of the highlights for me (and probably only me) was the Vienna Opera. We went to watch an opera, the Magic Flute, at the famous Vienna Opera House. They were standing room only tickets for 4.50 euros. It was very hot, all in German and completely wonderful. I never really liked the opera before, but this was great. Roland also seemed to be enjoying his time, but mostly because the girl next to me was a cute Swedish girl. Her poor friend (not quite as attractive) was completely ignored. It's always interesting how when you put a beautiful girl next to one who's attractive, but probably not quite as attractive, the latter girl is completely ignored... while in another situation, she'd be getting all the attention. I suppose also standards for beauty are different.
After the Opera, all the guys were ready for drinking. Oh, I failed to mention, it was me and a bunch of guys. Being an engineer, I should be used to this, but sometimes... I miss having girls around.
Vienna is an awesome town to go drinking in. They have a three streets collectively called the Bermuda Triangle which are covered in bars. At the first one, we all ordered Long Islands. After a sip, Thomas, our Belgian friend, declared "Cocktails do not effect me. This is really weak." We tried to warn him... two Long Islands later, we had to cut him off. It was hilarious all the way, though. The night was full of Arnold impressions and Roland hitting on a married woman at a bachlorette party (later making out with her which caused her friends to be infinitely angry).
I'd definitely go back to Vienna again, perhaps for a ball... then maybe hit up Bermuda Triangle at the end of the night. Anyone else?
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Lago Maggiore
Wow, so I didn't make it far on this blog experience... .I'll try and keep up for the last few weekends. This is a short one on Lago Maggiore.
Lago Maggiore.... Who wants to name their lake "Lake Major". I guess it's like "Lake Superior". Who knows. Regardless, it's beautiful and rather flat. It was Imane's last weekend, so we all went out on the lake and had some fun! The lake itself is surrounded by cliffs or non-flat land, so there's actually very few beaches. We did manage to make it out to the islands and spent most of the day floating around on a boat. At this time I had no idea of the "I'm on a boat" song... It was unfortunate. Now I can't get it out of my head.
Regardless, it was a fantastic ride. The end of that weekend resulted in going to Milan for dinner, drinks and more drinks. This was the second aperitivo, I think, I had in Milan. I must say, the place was impressive the first time, but the second time, I really got to soak in the atmosphere. The aperitivo consisted of multiple little stands which were located throughout the bar serving small portions of food. The food wasn't particularly good... most of it was cold and very sour. What was hialrious was the main central area. There was a circle of buffet type stands where a two guys who worked at the place stood. They wouldn't allow you to go onto the little area with food unless the person before you was done. Then, they'd just pile your plate with one piece of each type of food. I suppose pile is a misstatement. In the end, you probably got 5 bites out of what you waited 20 minutes for. I suppose it's non-ideal but works well for the bar. At least they don't have to pay as much for food costs... Perhaps that's their business model. That and 8 euro drinks.
After the bar, we wandered around before going to our next bar. We went to see the Duomo at night, which is gorgeous. The building got recently renovated and was a gorgeous creamy white color. White lights shown on the building which gave it a very ghostly feeling. It was a bit eerie.
The last bar we went to was a belly dancing/hookah bar. There was no cover, but each beer (or whatever drink you wanted) was 15 euros! you could get a coke for the low low price of 15 euros here. That's about when we left...
Subsequently, we got lost in Milan and an hour and 20 minutes later, made it home. Safe, a little tired and with a lot less money.
Lago Maggiore.... Who wants to name their lake "Lake Major". I guess it's like "Lake Superior". Who knows. Regardless, it's beautiful and rather flat. It was Imane's last weekend, so we all went out on the lake and had some fun! The lake itself is surrounded by cliffs or non-flat land, so there's actually very few beaches. We did manage to make it out to the islands and spent most of the day floating around on a boat. At this time I had no idea of the "I'm on a boat" song... It was unfortunate. Now I can't get it out of my head.
Regardless, it was a fantastic ride. The end of that weekend resulted in going to Milan for dinner, drinks and more drinks. This was the second aperitivo, I think, I had in Milan. I must say, the place was impressive the first time, but the second time, I really got to soak in the atmosphere. The aperitivo consisted of multiple little stands which were located throughout the bar serving small portions of food. The food wasn't particularly good... most of it was cold and very sour. What was hialrious was the main central area. There was a circle of buffet type stands where a two guys who worked at the place stood. They wouldn't allow you to go onto the little area with food unless the person before you was done. Then, they'd just pile your plate with one piece of each type of food. I suppose pile is a misstatement. In the end, you probably got 5 bites out of what you waited 20 minutes for. I suppose it's non-ideal but works well for the bar. At least they don't have to pay as much for food costs... Perhaps that's their business model. That and 8 euro drinks.
After the bar, we wandered around before going to our next bar. We went to see the Duomo at night, which is gorgeous. The building got recently renovated and was a gorgeous creamy white color. White lights shown on the building which gave it a very ghostly feeling. It was a bit eerie.
The last bar we went to was a belly dancing/hookah bar. There was no cover, but each beer (or whatever drink you wanted) was 15 euros! you could get a coke for the low low price of 15 euros here. That's about when we left...
Subsequently, we got lost in Milan and an hour and 20 minutes later, made it home. Safe, a little tired and with a lot less money.
Zermatt June 12-14
Zermatt was an experience. I can say I'm not a huge outdoorsy person. I was born in LA. The most rural place I've lived in was in Thailand where I lived on a golf course near pineapple plantations. Our past time was to play golf and go shopping... and eat delicious food. The next most rural place is in Michigan. Yeah, I consider the St. Joseph area rural. I could even consider Ann Arbor or Novi rural with where I lived in before. I'm not saying I hate the outdoors. I'm just not used to the whole hiking thing and not being near a ton of people. I'm also not a huge exerciser, so I wasn't terribly fit when I did this.
When we got to Zermatt, I knew this was going to be trouble. We were in the middle of the mountains. Gorgeous as it was, it had nothing really around it. After arriving at the hostel and getting settled in, we went to rent mountain bikes. Did I mention I haven't ridden a bike since I was 10? The first 10 minutes was fine. After that, I was too slow for Brian and Thomas and they didn't want to wait, so I let them go ahead.
Regardless, after the first hour, I couldn't ride up that hill anymore. And yes, it was uphill. Instead, I returned the bike and wandered around town. The town was a small, traditional Swiss town. It was quite cute. That evening, we had dinner at a nice Swiss restaurant where we had a lot of meat. I need to stop hanging out with so many guys who really are deprived of what they usually eat. I often feel subjected to lots of demands because I'm not in the majority. Oh well...
The next day, we went to the top of Klein Matterhorn. This is the smaller Matterhorn. I thought it would be a gorgeous glacier like Fox Glacier in NZ, but it was more of a dark tunnel. Definitely not worth the trip. Looking from the top of the Matterhorn was nice, though. I enjoyed that a lot. We went half way down and hiked the rest of the way. Again, a misalignment of desires. I'm slow, but Brian and Thomas are very fit and don't' like going slowly. It was not that enjoyable because I barely had anytime to look around and take in the sights. I was too busy trying to catch up with the guys. I think I won't really go hiking with them again and would rather go at my own pace.
After getting back, I needed to rest. We had a small lunch in the middle of hour hike and bought a few souvenirs. Overall, the views were gorgeous and the hike was wonderful, I think you just need to go with people who are similar speeds and align on what you want to do.
When we got to Zermatt, I knew this was going to be trouble. We were in the middle of the mountains. Gorgeous as it was, it had nothing really around it. After arriving at the hostel and getting settled in, we went to rent mountain bikes. Did I mention I haven't ridden a bike since I was 10? The first 10 minutes was fine. After that, I was too slow for Brian and Thomas and they didn't want to wait, so I let them go ahead.
Regardless, after the first hour, I couldn't ride up that hill anymore. And yes, it was uphill. Instead, I returned the bike and wandered around town. The town was a small, traditional Swiss town. It was quite cute. That evening, we had dinner at a nice Swiss restaurant where we had a lot of meat. I need to stop hanging out with so many guys who really are deprived of what they usually eat. I often feel subjected to lots of demands because I'm not in the majority. Oh well...
The next day, we went to the top of Klein Matterhorn. This is the smaller Matterhorn. I thought it would be a gorgeous glacier like Fox Glacier in NZ, but it was more of a dark tunnel. Definitely not worth the trip. Looking from the top of the Matterhorn was nice, though. I enjoyed that a lot. We went half way down and hiked the rest of the way. Again, a misalignment of desires. I'm slow, but Brian and Thomas are very fit and don't' like going slowly. It was not that enjoyable because I barely had anytime to look around and take in the sights. I was too busy trying to catch up with the guys. I think I won't really go hiking with them again and would rather go at my own pace.
After getting back, I needed to rest. We had a small lunch in the middle of hour hike and bought a few souvenirs. Overall, the views were gorgeous and the hike was wonderful, I think you just need to go with people who are similar speeds and align on what you want to do.
Nice, Cannes and Monaco - May 22-23
This weekend was action packed. Not only did we find our place to stay last minute, but the Grand Prix was in Monaco and the last day of the Cannes Film Festival was happening. Amazing.
It's not that I meant to forget it. it's not a forgettable trip. It was just sandwiched into a few weeks and I forgot the weekend... Ok, so I forget.
We started off at something like 6AM on our way to Cannes. The night before, we had the great idea of going to Milan to go out for the first time in a while. Although it was fun, it was a late night... Later, we learned how to make it work. The drive over was gorgeous and fairly uneventful. We drove along the autostrada, which is not exactly the way to do it, but we wanted to get there fast.
We got in town fairly early, parked our car and went off to Nice. I've already been to Nice before and to be honest, it's not that wonderful. I guess it was terribly hyped up for me as well, so it made it a lot less wonderful. Although Nice has a gorgeous little old town and a nice view from the old castle, that's about all it has going for it. The beaches are pebbly (which nobody believed until they saw it) and the town has a lot of old people in it. It was nice for a day, but I definitely wouldn't spend more than that there. There's far nicer areas on the French Riviera. We took some pictures and wandered around. The guys really wanted to eat at a place with a good view. I really don't like eating at those touristy places. it's usually terrible food for 2-3 times the price it should be because they think they can justify it with the view. There was one exception, there's really not much of a view. It's a bunch of umbrellas over the ocean. I had a seafood pasta... which wasn't that spectacular, but oh well.
That evening, we went to Monaco. The train ride there was relaxing. The train goes right along the coastline, so it was quite a beautiful ride. There were tons of people going to Monaco, but not near as many as the next day. Since we didn't get tickets, we wanted to go the night before to see some of the action. Wandering around town, we saw the track which the racers drove on the next day and practiced on the day before. We had dinner at a lovely small restaurant on a bluff which overlooked the bay area. It was a nice location, high cost, but good food... so it passed. We had some pita and hummus, but they gave us falafel sauce instead of hummus, so we got another order of it for free.
That night, we just wandered around the Grand Prix track and Monte Carlo. The Monte Carlo had SO many expensive cars parked in front of it. I think the most memorable was the Tesla, the eclectic sports car. It was bright orange. There were also cars that were flown in from the UK and Dubai. Some of the cars made Ferrari look like it was cheap. It was nuts how these people can blow so much money in one weekend without a care. There were also a ton of gorgeous yachts, probably those people who also own the nice cars.
The next day, we went to Cannes. The film festival was having its closing ceremony that evening, so we were just walking around before it and taking pictures of outside the film festival and around town. Cannes is a beautiful small town with sandy beaches. I only wish we got a chance to go when the Film Festival was going on and there were people around. Maybe we could've bumped elbows with someone famous.
The second day, the guys also wanted to eat on the beach, so we at somewhere which also had pretty terrible food for not a great price. The view was the only thing that compensated... the view of an old lady without a top on. I had an overly oily chicken, but it wasn't as bad as it could be, so I suppose I should be thankful.
That was about all for this trip....
It's not that I meant to forget it. it's not a forgettable trip. It was just sandwiched into a few weeks and I forgot the weekend... Ok, so I forget.
We started off at something like 6AM on our way to Cannes. The night before, we had the great idea of going to Milan to go out for the first time in a while. Although it was fun, it was a late night... Later, we learned how to make it work. The drive over was gorgeous and fairly uneventful. We drove along the autostrada, which is not exactly the way to do it, but we wanted to get there fast.
We got in town fairly early, parked our car and went off to Nice. I've already been to Nice before and to be honest, it's not that wonderful. I guess it was terribly hyped up for me as well, so it made it a lot less wonderful. Although Nice has a gorgeous little old town and a nice view from the old castle, that's about all it has going for it. The beaches are pebbly (which nobody believed until they saw it) and the town has a lot of old people in it. It was nice for a day, but I definitely wouldn't spend more than that there. There's far nicer areas on the French Riviera. We took some pictures and wandered around. The guys really wanted to eat at a place with a good view. I really don't like eating at those touristy places. it's usually terrible food for 2-3 times the price it should be because they think they can justify it with the view. There was one exception, there's really not much of a view. It's a bunch of umbrellas over the ocean. I had a seafood pasta... which wasn't that spectacular, but oh well.
That evening, we went to Monaco. The train ride there was relaxing. The train goes right along the coastline, so it was quite a beautiful ride. There were tons of people going to Monaco, but not near as many as the next day. Since we didn't get tickets, we wanted to go the night before to see some of the action. Wandering around town, we saw the track which the racers drove on the next day and practiced on the day before. We had dinner at a lovely small restaurant on a bluff which overlooked the bay area. It was a nice location, high cost, but good food... so it passed. We had some pita and hummus, but they gave us falafel sauce instead of hummus, so we got another order of it for free.
That night, we just wandered around the Grand Prix track and Monte Carlo. The Monte Carlo had SO many expensive cars parked in front of it. I think the most memorable was the Tesla, the eclectic sports car. It was bright orange. There were also cars that were flown in from the UK and Dubai. Some of the cars made Ferrari look like it was cheap. It was nuts how these people can blow so much money in one weekend without a care. There were also a ton of gorgeous yachts, probably those people who also own the nice cars.
The next day, we went to Cannes. The film festival was having its closing ceremony that evening, so we were just walking around before it and taking pictures of outside the film festival and around town. Cannes is a beautiful small town with sandy beaches. I only wish we got a chance to go when the Film Festival was going on and there were people around. Maybe we could've bumped elbows with someone famous.
The second day, the guys also wanted to eat on the beach, so we at somewhere which also had pretty terrible food for not a great price. The view was the only thing that compensated... the view of an old lady without a top on. I had an overly oily chicken, but it wasn't as bad as it could be, so I suppose I should be thankful.
That was about all for this trip....
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
A side note on driving in Italy
So I wanted to make this note because this sticks in my mind. Driving in Italy is a mess. If you think driving in NYC or Chicago is difficult, driving in Italy is far more difficult unless you know where you're going and how to get there. You can't even have a general idea and arrive.
Before arriving, I was debating whether to get a GPS. It's really a big investment and in the States, I never really need one since Google Maps directions are usually enough. I've never really had any problems and if I did, I usually figure it out fast enough and backtrack. Easy. I've heard driving in Italy is tough, but never though it'd be this tough. I'd liken driving in Italy to driving within a non-geometric maze. At least in the area I'm in, driving is crazy. Each small village has a Via Roma and a Via Milan. There's also a Corso Europa in basically every larger village. Directions are never 100% correct and there are roundabouts which dont' necessarily have clear markings as to which way is straight through them. Also, everything looks so similar and the buildings are faily tall so you'll never know if you went the wrong way or if you're lost in the first place. It's also tough to get a sense of direction because a grid-like city structure is just not the way Italians like to do it.
If anyone is coming to Italy, unless you have a lot of time on your hands, I strongly urge you to get a GPS with European maps. It will absolutely make life easier and is well worth the money you put in. Often, in the States, there's sales and you can get one for as little as $150, which is a wonderful deal for not being frustrated the roads and getting where you want to on time. If you do have a lot of time on your hands, though, not using a GPS is a fun way to explore the towns.
That is all....
Before arriving, I was debating whether to get a GPS. It's really a big investment and in the States, I never really need one since Google Maps directions are usually enough. I've never really had any problems and if I did, I usually figure it out fast enough and backtrack. Easy. I've heard driving in Italy is tough, but never though it'd be this tough. I'd liken driving in Italy to driving within a non-geometric maze. At least in the area I'm in, driving is crazy. Each small village has a Via Roma and a Via Milan. There's also a Corso Europa in basically every larger village. Directions are never 100% correct and there are roundabouts which dont' necessarily have clear markings as to which way is straight through them. Also, everything looks so similar and the buildings are faily tall so you'll never know if you went the wrong way or if you're lost in the first place. It's also tough to get a sense of direction because a grid-like city structure is just not the way Italians like to do it.
If anyone is coming to Italy, unless you have a lot of time on your hands, I strongly urge you to get a GPS with European maps. It will absolutely make life easier and is well worth the money you put in. Often, in the States, there's sales and you can get one for as little as $150, which is a wonderful deal for not being frustrated the roads and getting where you want to on time. If you do have a lot of time on your hands, though, not using a GPS is a fun way to explore the towns.
That is all....
Trying to update quickly: Krakow
The second weekend in Europe, Brian and Uday went to Paris. Having already been to Paris, I decided to join Ally and Eric in Krakow. From Krakow, I learned that there is a ton of salt in Poland, I needed a new cell phone and that Poland was cold in early June.
The trip had quite a rocky start. The plane tickets were crazy expensive, but I wanted to do something with people and I'd probably never visit Krakow otherwise, so I decided to give it a shot. Going to the airport was a mess. It was rainy and I was trying to drive without a GPS from Cassinetta to the airport. Not a good idea... It's supposed to take 30 minutes, it took me almost an hour and a half. It was terrible! I was running so very late. I actually barely made it on the plane. Then there was the fear of not making my connection. Luckily it all worked out well and I ended up in Krakow safe and sound.
When arriving in Krakow, my cell phone decided that it'd completely die. I've been having troubles with my cell phone ever since I got it, but this was terrible. The phone started off having no cell phone back. Then it kept on giving me a boot loader error 2 days into purchasing it. The phone then decided it wouldn't want to start... Ever. This left me in Kraknow's airport, not knowing how to speak Polish without the name of the hostel I was staying at or Ally's cell phone number. My only option was to try and find someone with an unlocked cell phone who could put my SIM card in theirs and retrieve Ally's number. The only problem was I didn't speak any Polish. As a result, I wasn't able to communicate with ANYONE. Almost at the verge of tears, a really wonderful Australian couple helped me out. Those Aussies are everywhere and so nice! The lady spoke Polish and was able to find someone who had an unlocked cell phone, retrieved my number and even called Ally for me. She then set me up with a taxi and told the taxi driver to call Ally's phone number so he could talk with the girl who knew where we were, Ewilina. In the off chance you happen onto this blog, nice Australian couple, I am forever grateful.
I finally was on my way to Krakow and was just chilling in the taxi. I'm sure he took me through a few circles, but at least I was to where I was. It was a bit funny because part way through, when we were at the place, the taxi driver called Ally and was speaking with the other Polish girl. I couldn't understand a word outside of "Japanese, Japanese!! Japanese." Apparently he thought I was Japanese. Arriving was a relief. Ally even ordered a beer and a salad for me! It was fabulous. To my surprise, Emiliano was there. Emiliano is an Italian I met in Cassinetta one of my first few days here. He was a bit off, but he was a pretty nice guy. It was just strange to find him there.
After dinner, we all went to the hostel and dropped off my stuff, then it was off to the bars! I had this delicious apple juice/vodka drink that I must try again and find the name of. The Polish sure do know how to party, though. Each bar had a dance floor equipped with a great light and sound system. After a fun night, we went back to the hostel and had a good night's sleep.
The hostel was a bit strange and was definitely not the nicest I've ever been in . It also wasn't the worst, though. The hostel didn't have heat at all, so it was very cold those few days. It was cold enough to have to wear sweaters and a jacket. I'm glad Ally told me what the temperature would be like. The room was clean, but quite spartan. All in all, it was a cheap clean place, so it was fine.
The next day, we woke up at like... 11ish and made our way to the middle square of the city. I think every Polish city has a square in the center of it where there's a lot of markets and often a large church. This one was beautiful. We wandered around and had a kebab, my first of this trip in Europe! Kebabs are delicious and I wish they had them in the States. It's like the Turkish version of a burger but much more hearty and well worth their cost. After lunch, we walked around the center square where there was a festival and a parade.
On our way to meet Ewilina, who was picking us up to go to the salt mines nearby, we had the unfortunate chance of walking down the parade procession's route. Right next to the guy who fired his musket every 10 minutes. It wasn't a quite musket either. It made me jump each time I heard it. The first time, I ducked for cover because I thought something exploded. I think everyone around me thought i was strange.
We finally made it to the car and were off on our way to the salt mines. The salt mines were made a really long time ago... although I forgot when. You must take a tour to go inside. It's huge, so I don't blame them. The tour, which is 2 hours long, is only 1% of the salt mines. There's another 99% to go. The tour is a bit dry, but goes through all the different history of the salt mine and what it was used for. There were a lot of spectacular salt sculptures including a whole chapel in salt. Even the chandelier was in salt, using a really pure clear salt. The tour guide has probably given this tour hundreds of times and the jokes are getting dull to her, so she delivered them in a monotone voice, which actually made them all the funnier because you could feel her distaste.
After the salt mines, we wandered around a bit more and went around the Castle. Unfortunately it was closed. There were a lot of weddings going on. We got lost on our way back and had the chance to wander around Krakow a bit as well. In the end, we arrived back at the central square and had some dinner.
After dinner, in true Polish style, we went out to party! We went to several bars, all of which were wonderful, and had a great time. Ally and I went home early because we were exhausted but the boys partied until the wee hours of the morning.
The next day was for shopping. Krakow has some of the most beautiful amber in Europe and they set the amber in silver, which gives a great contrast. I bought a nice necklace and a set of earrings to match. I think I'll have to go back to Poland and try to find more, though. It's really unique and beautiful.
At approximately lunch time, it was time for me to head out. I went to the airport again and back to work on Monday.
The trip had quite a rocky start. The plane tickets were crazy expensive, but I wanted to do something with people and I'd probably never visit Krakow otherwise, so I decided to give it a shot. Going to the airport was a mess. It was rainy and I was trying to drive without a GPS from Cassinetta to the airport. Not a good idea... It's supposed to take 30 minutes, it took me almost an hour and a half. It was terrible! I was running so very late. I actually barely made it on the plane. Then there was the fear of not making my connection. Luckily it all worked out well and I ended up in Krakow safe and sound.
When arriving in Krakow, my cell phone decided that it'd completely die. I've been having troubles with my cell phone ever since I got it, but this was terrible. The phone started off having no cell phone back. Then it kept on giving me a boot loader error 2 days into purchasing it. The phone then decided it wouldn't want to start... Ever. This left me in Kraknow's airport, not knowing how to speak Polish without the name of the hostel I was staying at or Ally's cell phone number. My only option was to try and find someone with an unlocked cell phone who could put my SIM card in theirs and retrieve Ally's number. The only problem was I didn't speak any Polish. As a result, I wasn't able to communicate with ANYONE. Almost at the verge of tears, a really wonderful Australian couple helped me out. Those Aussies are everywhere and so nice! The lady spoke Polish and was able to find someone who had an unlocked cell phone, retrieved my number and even called Ally for me. She then set me up with a taxi and told the taxi driver to call Ally's phone number so he could talk with the girl who knew where we were, Ewilina. In the off chance you happen onto this blog, nice Australian couple, I am forever grateful.
I finally was on my way to Krakow and was just chilling in the taxi. I'm sure he took me through a few circles, but at least I was to where I was. It was a bit funny because part way through, when we were at the place, the taxi driver called Ally and was speaking with the other Polish girl. I couldn't understand a word outside of "Japanese, Japanese!! Japanese." Apparently he thought I was Japanese. Arriving was a relief. Ally even ordered a beer and a salad for me! It was fabulous. To my surprise, Emiliano was there. Emiliano is an Italian I met in Cassinetta one of my first few days here. He was a bit off, but he was a pretty nice guy. It was just strange to find him there.
After dinner, we all went to the hostel and dropped off my stuff, then it was off to the bars! I had this delicious apple juice/vodka drink that I must try again and find the name of. The Polish sure do know how to party, though. Each bar had a dance floor equipped with a great light and sound system. After a fun night, we went back to the hostel and had a good night's sleep.
The hostel was a bit strange and was definitely not the nicest I've ever been in . It also wasn't the worst, though. The hostel didn't have heat at all, so it was very cold those few days. It was cold enough to have to wear sweaters and a jacket. I'm glad Ally told me what the temperature would be like. The room was clean, but quite spartan. All in all, it was a cheap clean place, so it was fine.
The next day, we woke up at like... 11ish and made our way to the middle square of the city. I think every Polish city has a square in the center of it where there's a lot of markets and often a large church. This one was beautiful. We wandered around and had a kebab, my first of this trip in Europe! Kebabs are delicious and I wish they had them in the States. It's like the Turkish version of a burger but much more hearty and well worth their cost. After lunch, we walked around the center square where there was a festival and a parade.
On our way to meet Ewilina, who was picking us up to go to the salt mines nearby, we had the unfortunate chance of walking down the parade procession's route. Right next to the guy who fired his musket every 10 minutes. It wasn't a quite musket either. It made me jump each time I heard it. The first time, I ducked for cover because I thought something exploded. I think everyone around me thought i was strange.
We finally made it to the car and were off on our way to the salt mines. The salt mines were made a really long time ago... although I forgot when. You must take a tour to go inside. It's huge, so I don't blame them. The tour, which is 2 hours long, is only 1% of the salt mines. There's another 99% to go. The tour is a bit dry, but goes through all the different history of the salt mine and what it was used for. There were a lot of spectacular salt sculptures including a whole chapel in salt. Even the chandelier was in salt, using a really pure clear salt. The tour guide has probably given this tour hundreds of times and the jokes are getting dull to her, so she delivered them in a monotone voice, which actually made them all the funnier because you could feel her distaste.
After the salt mines, we wandered around a bit more and went around the Castle. Unfortunately it was closed. There were a lot of weddings going on. We got lost on our way back and had the chance to wander around Krakow a bit as well. In the end, we arrived back at the central square and had some dinner.
After dinner, in true Polish style, we went out to party! We went to several bars, all of which were wonderful, and had a great time. Ally and I went home early because we were exhausted but the boys partied until the wee hours of the morning.
The next day was for shopping. Krakow has some of the most beautiful amber in Europe and they set the amber in silver, which gives a great contrast. I bought a nice necklace and a set of earrings to match. I think I'll have to go back to Poland and try to find more, though. It's really unique and beautiful.
At approximately lunch time, it was time for me to head out. I went to the airport again and back to work on Monday.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Ok, I really need to post more
I really need to post more regularly. I quit because it took too much time, but I really should start. I'm going to do a little catch up, more for myself than anyone else. Weekend trips galore! Then hopefully I'll be able to blog more about the day to day. :)
Edinburgh May 31 to June 2nd
Edinburgh was amazing! Just to say it in one word. Actually, looking at all my trips, it may be the best. At first, I was terrified. The thought of being on my own for a full 3 days in a foreign city... It was just too scary. Then, I came to the realization that it's really quite simple. I had a wonderful room with some great roommates. When I arrived, I bumped into some wonderful girls on the bus over from the airport to downtown who were staying in the hostel as well. we walked over together and it worked out well. I was placed into a random room with a bunch of other people. While there, I was able to chat with the people who work in the hostel and they informed me of all sorts of great places to go.
I ended up staying in the Budget Backpackers in Edinburgh. The hostel wasn't the cleanest of hostels, but it was a lot of fun. I had a great time there and they were really nice to people who were just hanging out on their own.
First off, I went to the Elephant House Cafe, which is where JK Rowling dreamed up Harry Potter. There, I had an fantastic smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich with fresh squeezed orange juice. Yum! Sitting there was very comfortable. After going there, it was off to see the rest of Edinburgh
Edinburgh is truly quite a small city. The city is walkable and it's an easy bus tour to the Scottish Highlands. I went around to Arthur's Seat and around Edinburgh quickly that day. When you go up Arthur's seat, there's a great view of Edinburgh, the castle and also the cool new Parilment building. it's really modern looking compared to the old feautres of Edinburgh.
For dinner, I ended up searching for Indian or Thai food. I was surprised at how long it took. I guess I need to be either less picky or find a local to tell me where to go. I ended up near Edinburgh Castle where I got pad see ew special made by the people in the kitchen. The lady in charge was nice enough to chat with me when she had a spare moment about my time in Thailand.
During dinner, I met this group of students from London who were in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Marathon. Unfortunately, the girl who was to run hurt her ankle just a few days prior. Another girl in the group was going to perform in what's called the Military Tattoo, which is a huge parade/festival with lots of performances around the castle. The guy in the group was going to UC Santa Barbara for a study abroad. I wish I lived in Europe.....
That night, I got invited out by the guy who worked at the front desk in the hostel to go out with a bunch of other people who were there. There was a group of something like 15 people out drinking that night at some of the main bars near the hostel. It was pretty awesome. I met a ton of people there. There was Derrick, the only other American who was there hanging out and visiting his friend in Glasgow. There was also Alister who was from Australia and played rugby for the University of Edinburgh. Alice was one of the girls I got to know pretty well, who was from Australia, did a tour of Europe but ran out of money in Edinburgh, so just found a job. I would never have the guts to do that.
The next day, I went on the hostel's tour. Alice, the girl I met from the night before, was the tour guide. We started off at the Grayfriars Abby. Supposedly before the black plague, the graveyard was below street level and a small valley in the city. Now, it's a hill up into the graveyard. There's just tons of ghost stories in Edinburgh. Alice told us about George "bloody" Mackenzie who was infamous for torturing people. When all the Covenants were captured after their revolt, they were given into George Mackenzie's care. He kept them in a prison which had no roof in the Scottish winter. It's crazy how they survived. The ones who did were sent on a boat to Australia which sank....
Behind the graveyard is a prep school which supposedly inspired the Harry Potter books. When the school was built, they had really tall walls around the private school for the wealthy children to attend. The poor children used to peer into the school and make up stories that the school was for witches and wizards who flew on broomsticks, so they needed such tall walls. How cute!
She also showed us these really heavy iron cages around graves. Supposedly they were to keep away grave robbers. In a time when autopsies were illegal and cadavers were not available, there were two infamous people who went around killing people and selling them to the doctors to do autopsies on and understand the human body better. When they were caught, they were given the prisoner's dilemma and the person who was caught confessed. The person who was ratted out was hanged and his skin was used to create a business card holder and wallet. It was super gross. We later went to see the business card case in the Police Museum.
Outside of the cemetery is a little statue of a dog called Grayfriar's Bobby. This dog was so loyal it stayed by its master's side even after the master died. The master was an old police officer who guarded the graveyard to keep grave robbers away. They had a cute little dog statue of it. It used to face the graveyard. The owner of a bar in front of the cemetary decided one day it'd be better for business if he turned around the statue, so he got a stonesmith to turn it around and now whenever people take a picture of the dog, there's the bar's name in the background.
After walking around the cemetary, we walked over to the mainstreet. Alice explained that most of Edinburgh was actually sweage and the higher, raised streets were where the regular people lived. If we had time, she suggested we visit the underground of Edinburgh, where the poor used to live. Supposedly it's terribly close quarters in the underground of Edinburgh where thousands of people lived. Also on the main street, there was a bar called Decon Brodie's Tavern. Decon Brodie was a locksmith who loved to drink and spend money. He was also friends with a lot of rich people. He managed to convince all his friends that they should change their locks and saved a copy of all their keys. Then he'd go and steal things in the night. He got away with it too!
Further down the main road, the Royal Mile, is the Heart Of Edinburgh. It used to be a tollbooth where people had to pay their tolls. In protest, peopel would spit on the door of the tollbooth. When they were done, the city officials decided to lay the stones in the shape of the heart. Peopel spit on it still. There was one guy who thought it was cute, then kent down and proposed to his girlfriend at the time on the heart. I guess he'll be washing that set of pants.
After a while on the Royal Mile, we went into a park which looks over Edinburgh. In the park was... a Greek like structure which was called the Nations' Great Disappointment. Edinburgh's supposedly was the Athens of the North at one time. They built this to try and be like Athens, but ran out of money along the way. Also in this park was a tower which used to have a large ball which was dropped at 1PM every day. This caught the light and made a very loud noise so people knew what time it was.
Walking back towards town and to the main shopping street, we saw Sir Walter Scott's Monument. This great spire was built for a poet who was good friends with the government there. Guy's gotta be loaded...
After seeing this, the tour ended at the Edinburgh Castle. During the tour, I became friends with some Canadian guys from Toronto. They went off to lunch, but went to an Italian place! No Italian for me, thank you. I ended up wandering around the university area for about 30 minutes trying to find this Mosque which supposedly had a fabulous kitchen. After asking directions from 5 different people, I ended up at the mosque and had some of the most fantastic chicken curry and nann I've ever had. A tip for those who are going to Edinburgh, go to the Mosque Kitchen!! It's a hole in the wall place, but super delicious.
After lunch, I stopped by the hostel quickly to drop off the left overs of my curry and went to the Edinburgh Castle. The castle used to be a barrack and didn't actually house that many royal people, it seems. I was hoping it'd be more like... a German castle, but it was more like a military fortress. I had a nice tour with a wonderful tourguide who took us around the castle and showed us all the points of interest. I happened to be in Edinburgh right before D-Day, so there were a lot of WWII veterans around who were visiting and paying their respects to their fallen friends. It was quite sad to think of about...
Also at the castle, I found out that Prince Charles was in the Hollyrood palace, so I wouldn't be able to go in. It was kinda cool that the prince was around, though. I wasn't quite planning on going anyways.
That night, I went out on the bar crawl with the group and met a group of Aussies and a group of Irish girls. Irish have really super strong accents... It was a great time overall and I met some wonderful people. Also, the drinks were cheap!
On the last day, before I was supposed to leave, I grabbed lunch at a baked potato shop. In the shop, there was a guy I swear was high. He was really amazed I was from the States and when I said I was from Cali, he commented on how cool it'd be to skateboard down the hills in SF. He was a music electronics major or something of the sort at the university nearby. There was also another guy who was supposedly in a major accident and wanted to be a chef and open his own restaurant. They were great, super friendly people. It's fantastic that there were so many wonderful people in one place! I ended up getting my baked potato and hummus for free too ;)
On the way to the airport, I bumped into the Aussie guys once again on the bus to the airport. They were pretty funny and really hung over from partying the night before.
The plane ride was really uneventful... but at least I got home in one piece and back to work.....
Edinburgh May 31 to June 2nd
Edinburgh was amazing! Just to say it in one word. Actually, looking at all my trips, it may be the best. At first, I was terrified. The thought of being on my own for a full 3 days in a foreign city... It was just too scary. Then, I came to the realization that it's really quite simple. I had a wonderful room with some great roommates. When I arrived, I bumped into some wonderful girls on the bus over from the airport to downtown who were staying in the hostel as well. we walked over together and it worked out well. I was placed into a random room with a bunch of other people. While there, I was able to chat with the people who work in the hostel and they informed me of all sorts of great places to go.
I ended up staying in the Budget Backpackers in Edinburgh. The hostel wasn't the cleanest of hostels, but it was a lot of fun. I had a great time there and they were really nice to people who were just hanging out on their own.
First off, I went to the Elephant House Cafe, which is where JK Rowling dreamed up Harry Potter. There, I had an fantastic smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich with fresh squeezed orange juice. Yum! Sitting there was very comfortable. After going there, it was off to see the rest of Edinburgh
Edinburgh is truly quite a small city. The city is walkable and it's an easy bus tour to the Scottish Highlands. I went around to Arthur's Seat and around Edinburgh quickly that day. When you go up Arthur's seat, there's a great view of Edinburgh, the castle and also the cool new Parilment building. it's really modern looking compared to the old feautres of Edinburgh.
For dinner, I ended up searching for Indian or Thai food. I was surprised at how long it took. I guess I need to be either less picky or find a local to tell me where to go. I ended up near Edinburgh Castle where I got pad see ew special made by the people in the kitchen. The lady in charge was nice enough to chat with me when she had a spare moment about my time in Thailand.
During dinner, I met this group of students from London who were in Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Marathon. Unfortunately, the girl who was to run hurt her ankle just a few days prior. Another girl in the group was going to perform in what's called the Military Tattoo, which is a huge parade/festival with lots of performances around the castle. The guy in the group was going to UC Santa Barbara for a study abroad. I wish I lived in Europe.....
That night, I got invited out by the guy who worked at the front desk in the hostel to go out with a bunch of other people who were there. There was a group of something like 15 people out drinking that night at some of the main bars near the hostel. It was pretty awesome. I met a ton of people there. There was Derrick, the only other American who was there hanging out and visiting his friend in Glasgow. There was also Alister who was from Australia and played rugby for the University of Edinburgh. Alice was one of the girls I got to know pretty well, who was from Australia, did a tour of Europe but ran out of money in Edinburgh, so just found a job. I would never have the guts to do that.
The next day, I went on the hostel's tour. Alice, the girl I met from the night before, was the tour guide. We started off at the Grayfriars Abby. Supposedly before the black plague, the graveyard was below street level and a small valley in the city. Now, it's a hill up into the graveyard. There's just tons of ghost stories in Edinburgh. Alice told us about George "bloody" Mackenzie who was infamous for torturing people. When all the Covenants were captured after their revolt, they were given into George Mackenzie's care. He kept them in a prison which had no roof in the Scottish winter. It's crazy how they survived. The ones who did were sent on a boat to Australia which sank....
Behind the graveyard is a prep school which supposedly inspired the Harry Potter books. When the school was built, they had really tall walls around the private school for the wealthy children to attend. The poor children used to peer into the school and make up stories that the school was for witches and wizards who flew on broomsticks, so they needed such tall walls. How cute!
She also showed us these really heavy iron cages around graves. Supposedly they were to keep away grave robbers. In a time when autopsies were illegal and cadavers were not available, there were two infamous people who went around killing people and selling them to the doctors to do autopsies on and understand the human body better. When they were caught, they were given the prisoner's dilemma and the person who was caught confessed. The person who was ratted out was hanged and his skin was used to create a business card holder and wallet. It was super gross. We later went to see the business card case in the Police Museum.
Outside of the cemetery is a little statue of a dog called Grayfriar's Bobby. This dog was so loyal it stayed by its master's side even after the master died. The master was an old police officer who guarded the graveyard to keep grave robbers away. They had a cute little dog statue of it. It used to face the graveyard. The owner of a bar in front of the cemetary decided one day it'd be better for business if he turned around the statue, so he got a stonesmith to turn it around and now whenever people take a picture of the dog, there's the bar's name in the background.
After walking around the cemetary, we walked over to the mainstreet. Alice explained that most of Edinburgh was actually sweage and the higher, raised streets were where the regular people lived. If we had time, she suggested we visit the underground of Edinburgh, where the poor used to live. Supposedly it's terribly close quarters in the underground of Edinburgh where thousands of people lived. Also on the main street, there was a bar called Decon Brodie's Tavern. Decon Brodie was a locksmith who loved to drink and spend money. He was also friends with a lot of rich people. He managed to convince all his friends that they should change their locks and saved a copy of all their keys. Then he'd go and steal things in the night. He got away with it too!
Further down the main road, the Royal Mile, is the Heart Of Edinburgh. It used to be a tollbooth where people had to pay their tolls. In protest, peopel would spit on the door of the tollbooth. When they were done, the city officials decided to lay the stones in the shape of the heart. Peopel spit on it still. There was one guy who thought it was cute, then kent down and proposed to his girlfriend at the time on the heart. I guess he'll be washing that set of pants.
After a while on the Royal Mile, we went into a park which looks over Edinburgh. In the park was... a Greek like structure which was called the Nations' Great Disappointment. Edinburgh's supposedly was the Athens of the North at one time. They built this to try and be like Athens, but ran out of money along the way. Also in this park was a tower which used to have a large ball which was dropped at 1PM every day. This caught the light and made a very loud noise so people knew what time it was.
Walking back towards town and to the main shopping street, we saw Sir Walter Scott's Monument. This great spire was built for a poet who was good friends with the government there. Guy's gotta be loaded...
After seeing this, the tour ended at the Edinburgh Castle. During the tour, I became friends with some Canadian guys from Toronto. They went off to lunch, but went to an Italian place! No Italian for me, thank you. I ended up wandering around the university area for about 30 minutes trying to find this Mosque which supposedly had a fabulous kitchen. After asking directions from 5 different people, I ended up at the mosque and had some of the most fantastic chicken curry and nann I've ever had. A tip for those who are going to Edinburgh, go to the Mosque Kitchen!! It's a hole in the wall place, but super delicious.
After lunch, I stopped by the hostel quickly to drop off the left overs of my curry and went to the Edinburgh Castle. The castle used to be a barrack and didn't actually house that many royal people, it seems. I was hoping it'd be more like... a German castle, but it was more like a military fortress. I had a nice tour with a wonderful tourguide who took us around the castle and showed us all the points of interest. I happened to be in Edinburgh right before D-Day, so there were a lot of WWII veterans around who were visiting and paying their respects to their fallen friends. It was quite sad to think of about...
Also at the castle, I found out that Prince Charles was in the Hollyrood palace, so I wouldn't be able to go in. It was kinda cool that the prince was around, though. I wasn't quite planning on going anyways.
That night, I went out on the bar crawl with the group and met a group of Aussies and a group of Irish girls. Irish have really super strong accents... It was a great time overall and I met some wonderful people. Also, the drinks were cheap!
On the last day, before I was supposed to leave, I grabbed lunch at a baked potato shop. In the shop, there was a guy I swear was high. He was really amazed I was from the States and when I said I was from Cali, he commented on how cool it'd be to skateboard down the hills in SF. He was a music electronics major or something of the sort at the university nearby. There was also another guy who was supposedly in a major accident and wanted to be a chef and open his own restaurant. They were great, super friendly people. It's fantastic that there were so many wonderful people in one place! I ended up getting my baked potato and hummus for free too ;)
On the way to the airport, I bumped into the Aussie guys once again on the bus to the airport. They were pretty funny and really hung over from partying the night before.
The plane ride was really uneventful... but at least I got home in one piece and back to work.....
Monday, May 18, 2009
Days 2, 3 and 4: Wine tasting and more!
Day 2 of being in Italy went fairly well. I started off the day bright and early with a meeting with Rosario discussing in more detail factory organization. Valerio was out of the office sick, so I had to have the meeting with Rosario instead. It went well.. I guess as well as something like that could've gone. This could've been given to me and leaving me alone for 1 hour or so, I would've been able to review the information. A lot of it was excess information on what the people do in their roles.
I then had a break time after lunch. Basically sat around and surfed the net. It was pretty good. Caught a ride from a guy, Silvio, who works in the same area as Roasio and I do. This lack of car is really inconvenient. After going home, I went to the store, then Brian, Uday and I went to a wine bar which translates to "the drunken goose". It was a good time. Appretivo is not a real meal, though... It was Uday's birthday and Tiemen was even out! I tried spritz for the first time, which is some sort of orange flavoring combined with white wine. It was good... but I think I wouldn't try it again.
After the Drunken Goose, we all went to somewhere for Pizza. The pizza was OK, but not as good as the first night's. By this time, our group grew to around 15 people! After pizza, we went to the bar I went to the first night. The one with the gorgeous outdoor patio. I should take some pictures next time we go. By this time, it was Imane, his friend Michael, Uday, Tiemen and I. We had some delicious mojitos made by the guy who makes good mojitos. A good end to the night.
On day 3, we went wine tasting! We started off from Gavirate at 9:35 and met everyone else at the Roadhouse Grill at 9:50. From there, we drove off to Alba, a city in between where were going and our house. It was about an hour drive. Alba is also the home to Nutella and Ferro Rocher. I must go back again! We had a nice light lunch there of antipasto and some wine. After lunch, we were off again, to the first winery.
This winery was gorgeous! It was the Fratelli Revello winery in La Mora. (http://www.revellofratelli.com/). Not only was the view gorgeous, but the wine was delicious as well. The husband and wife who owned the winery along with the wife's brother discussed the different aspects of the winery and wines that we were drinking. We also got a tour fo the wine cellar. I probably will want to go back there again. The entire area was beautiful.
After going to Fratelli Revello, we went to La Morra and enjoyed the view. It was absolutely gorgeous. After walking around La Morra, we went to to another town, also with a beautiful view, and climbed the hills to get to a small church. The church was rather plain and unimpressive, but the climb was wonderful. Hilly roads paved with small stone bricks. The walls of houses were covered in rose vines, all of which were blooming. There were cute painted doors alongisde the regular doors and just an overall unique atmosphere. Once we reached the top of the hilll, we found an open auditorium type strudcture with the bleacher type seats covered in grass. It was truly a beautiful sight.
We rested for a bit at the auditorium, then went down back to the town. There, I had my first gelato fo the trip! Delicious! After, we drove off to the wine bank, which was started by the slow food movement.
The Wine Bank was not as impressive as Fratelli Revello, but still quite nice. It's essentially a large wine cellar built at the bottom of this castle like mansion. The buildling was renovated by several supporters of the Slow Food movement. The Wine Bank's cellars were held at 15 degrees C and 95% humidity to perserve and age the wines properly. They had many wines from vinyards across Italy. The guide gave us a bit of a tour of the location and talked about the different wines. It was not as impressive as I had imagined, but it was tough to beat Fratelli Revello.
After the Wine Bank, we went to Bra, the city which began the Slow Food movement, for dinner.
Since it was late, there was very little as far as choice for dinner. I had some not very tasty risotto. I've never actually had risotto before, but the rice was hard... and tasted of wine and cheese. It was fairly terrible. Probably will not have something like that again. Rice is supposed to be soft!
After dinner, we went home and exhaustedly fell asleep.
Day four was less of a marathon. Uday, Brian and I woke up late and drove to a large supermarket whose name sounded like "Eeper". It was closed, so we went back and swung by Carrefor to pick up some things, went to get our SIM cards for the phones and had some lunch. After, we went to a few small towns off of Lake Maggiore. Very beautiful, but it was a bit hazy that day. Hopefully it clears up one day and we can go back again.
For dinner, we went to a Japanese restaurant where none of the staff spoke Japanese. Instead, they spoke Chinese. I wasn't able to have my favorite dish, kastudon, but I had some tempura udon instead. It was good... a bit on the salty side. Hopefully I can go to Milan and pick up some ingredients to cook some stuff up later....
Well, time to get back to work. Let's see what Day 5 will bring! Ciao!
I then had a break time after lunch. Basically sat around and surfed the net. It was pretty good. Caught a ride from a guy, Silvio, who works in the same area as Roasio and I do. This lack of car is really inconvenient. After going home, I went to the store, then Brian, Uday and I went to a wine bar which translates to "the drunken goose". It was a good time. Appretivo is not a real meal, though... It was Uday's birthday and Tiemen was even out! I tried spritz for the first time, which is some sort of orange flavoring combined with white wine. It was good... but I think I wouldn't try it again.
After the Drunken Goose, we all went to somewhere for Pizza. The pizza was OK, but not as good as the first night's. By this time, our group grew to around 15 people! After pizza, we went to the bar I went to the first night. The one with the gorgeous outdoor patio. I should take some pictures next time we go. By this time, it was Imane, his friend Michael, Uday, Tiemen and I. We had some delicious mojitos made by the guy who makes good mojitos. A good end to the night.
On day 3, we went wine tasting! We started off from Gavirate at 9:35 and met everyone else at the Roadhouse Grill at 9:50. From there, we drove off to Alba, a city in between where were going and our house. It was about an hour drive. Alba is also the home to Nutella and Ferro Rocher. I must go back again! We had a nice light lunch there of antipasto and some wine. After lunch, we were off again, to the first winery.
This winery was gorgeous! It was the Fratelli Revello winery in La Mora. (http://www.revellofratelli.com/). Not only was the view gorgeous, but the wine was delicious as well. The husband and wife who owned the winery along with the wife's brother discussed the different aspects of the winery and wines that we were drinking. We also got a tour fo the wine cellar. I probably will want to go back there again. The entire area was beautiful.
After going to Fratelli Revello, we went to La Morra and enjoyed the view. It was absolutely gorgeous. After walking around La Morra, we went to to another town, also with a beautiful view, and climbed the hills to get to a small church. The church was rather plain and unimpressive, but the climb was wonderful. Hilly roads paved with small stone bricks. The walls of houses were covered in rose vines, all of which were blooming. There were cute painted doors alongisde the regular doors and just an overall unique atmosphere. Once we reached the top of the hilll, we found an open auditorium type strudcture with the bleacher type seats covered in grass. It was truly a beautiful sight.
We rested for a bit at the auditorium, then went down back to the town. There, I had my first gelato fo the trip! Delicious! After, we drove off to the wine bank, which was started by the slow food movement.
The Wine Bank was not as impressive as Fratelli Revello, but still quite nice. It's essentially a large wine cellar built at the bottom of this castle like mansion. The buildling was renovated by several supporters of the Slow Food movement. The Wine Bank's cellars were held at 15 degrees C and 95% humidity to perserve and age the wines properly. They had many wines from vinyards across Italy. The guide gave us a bit of a tour of the location and talked about the different wines. It was not as impressive as I had imagined, but it was tough to beat Fratelli Revello.
After the Wine Bank, we went to Bra, the city which began the Slow Food movement, for dinner.
Since it was late, there was very little as far as choice for dinner. I had some not very tasty risotto. I've never actually had risotto before, but the rice was hard... and tasted of wine and cheese. It was fairly terrible. Probably will not have something like that again. Rice is supposed to be soft!
After dinner, we went home and exhaustedly fell asleep.
Day four was less of a marathon. Uday, Brian and I woke up late and drove to a large supermarket whose name sounded like "Eeper". It was closed, so we went back and swung by Carrefor to pick up some things, went to get our SIM cards for the phones and had some lunch. After, we went to a few small towns off of Lake Maggiore. Very beautiful, but it was a bit hazy that day. Hopefully it clears up one day and we can go back again.
For dinner, we went to a Japanese restaurant where none of the staff spoke Japanese. Instead, they spoke Chinese. I wasn't able to have my favorite dish, kastudon, but I had some tempura udon instead. It was good... a bit on the salty side. Hopefully I can go to Milan and pick up some ingredients to cook some stuff up later....
Well, time to get back to work. Let's see what Day 5 will bring! Ciao!
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