Day 23: Bologna

Today was our first full day in Bologna and it was not exactly action-packed. We enjoyed the hotel’s free all-you-can-eat breakfast… stuffing ourselves in the morning helps save money later! On our way out of our hotel we met three kids from Australia who were just leaving Bologna, but they had a few tips for us. They’ll be in Venice the same days as us so hopefully we can meet up. Andrew bonded with the guys over Vibram five-finger shoes… typical.

We took the bus into the city center and stopped at a phone store to buy a SIM card for Allyson’s phone. After about an hour of waiting in different lines we were finally able to talk to someone and figure out what we needed. At the last minute he revealed that he could not sell us a SIM without Allyson’s original passport… the passport photocopy and three other forms of ID just didn’t cut it. Bummer.

Determined to not let the phone debacle ruin our day, we walked around the city center looking for something to do. We bombarded the lady in the tourist office with questions, of which she was able to answer very few. We decided to get lunch and then find a way to get to the Basilica di San Luca. A bus took us to the base of a large hill, and we walked the rest of the way to the Basilica under 666 arches that make up the largest portico in the world! The view from the top was pretty cool, but overall a bit anticlimactic.

We found a place for an early dinner and then came back to the hotel. This is the first time on our trip that we’ve run out of things to do! Off to Modena tomorrow… hoping for a more exciting day.

Travel Blunder: We have been planning on taking a day trip from Bologna to a little city called Panzano since the beginning of our trip. Some Tight family friends, the Fosters, gave us a little incentive to go to this town to pick up a few jars of their favorite spice rub. Allyson googled Panzano and saw that it was just outside of Modena, an easy day trip from Bologna. Minutes before buying a train ticket today, we realized that there is another Panzano in Chianti, near Florence. After further research we discovered that the butcher and the spice rub are in Chianti. We would have been very confused if we showed up in the wrong Panazo looking for a butcher that doesn’t exist!

Culture Shock: Museums are closed on Mondays. We tried to go to three different museums today, only to find that Italians don’t like to work on Mondays.

Gourmet Moment: Andrew and the hotel coffee maker do not get along. Andrew wanted a latte, so he pressed the “latte” button. The machine gave him a mug of steamed milk. He decided to add a mochaccino to his milk, but pressed the “cappuccino” button on accident. This left him with an overflowing mug of steamed milk, lots of foam, and a dash of espresso. Not too bad after all!

Day 19-22: Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 beautiful coastal towns set in the cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean. We stayed in Riomaggiore, the easternmost of the five. It was an easy, hour-long train ride to get there from Rapallo, so we had most of Thursday afternoon to explore. The main street in the town isn’t very long, but the side streets (or rather the three-foot gaps between buildings) were fun to wander and Andrew found the best view from a patio way up high, overlooking the entire city. We walked along the coast and found the small patch of rocks that passes for a beach. Not the most comfortable for tanning, but the water felt amazing!

When we checked into our hostel we were informed that we had been upgraded from staying in a ten person dorm to having a room to ourselves. At first we were excited, but soon realized that we would have a much harder time making friends. Our room was a few stories above a bar, so we hoped we would be able to meet people there.. but no such luck. Andrew was his usual charming self, but the few people we met were leaving the next day.

On Friday we did the famous hike between the five cities, starting in Riomaggiore and ending in Monterosso. We left around 9am and had breakfast in the second city, Manorolo. The first two legs of the hike were paved and easy- very pleasant walks, but things got a little more challenging to get to cities #4 and #5. We stopped in city #4, Vernazza, for a lunch of focaccia and a quick swim and then continued on to Monterosso to spend the rest of our day. As soon as we arrived, we searched for gelato- our first in Italy! We spend the day swimming, tanning, and exploring the beautiful town. After dinner we took the train back to city #2 to watch the sunset at a little bar we had passed that morning. It was amazing!

One of Andrew’s friends told him about a little cove in Portofino that we had to find if we were in the area. We decided to take a little day trip out there so we caught a ferry from Santa Margherita. We picked up some picnic supplies and started to explore Portofino’s secluded coastline. When we were finally able to make it down from the cliffs to the water, we found ourselves in a beautiful, isolated cove where we enjoyed our picnic of foccacia, parmesan, and wine. We nicknamed our spot “Lover’s Cove”. One our way back to Riomaggiore we stopped in Monterosso for dinner and enjoyed our second gelato of the trip from our favorite little stand.

Bologna
On Sunday we got up early, caught a train to La Spezia and then bought our tickets to Bologna, changing in Parma. We got on our first train and Andrew was excited to hear English speakers behind us. He immediately got up to make friends with two girls from Texas who were talking to a German girl (she was in a traveling circus!). We sat with them and were soon joined by an Italian woman named Elena who was eager to practice her English and give us tips on what to eat in each city in Italy. After talking with her for a bit she reached into her bag and said she had a gift for us. She pulled out a jar of what turned out to be bits of pound cake soaking in lemoncello. We found out later that a gift of lemoncello is a big deal around here! When the six of us got to Parma we had 45 minutes before our next train so Elena took us to her favorite sandwich shop. Andrew and Allyson both had tomato, mozzarella, and prosciutto paninis… for 3 euros each! Unfortunately due to a little mix-up with the trains Elena and the German girl had to run off before we could even say bye. We still had the Texans, and on the train to Bologna we met a traveling nurse from Florida. We all parted ways when we got to Bologna. Why couldn’t we have friends like this in our hostel??

In Bologna we figured out the bus system (with a bit of frustration from Allyson) and made it to our hotel, just a bit out of the city center. After checking in we hopped back on the bus to head to the historic part of town… and were amazed to find how many things are closed on Sundays. Hopefully we’ll see more tomorrow!

Culture Shock: Italian churches feel the need to ring their bells for long periods of time, several times a day. Every morning in Cinque Terre we were woken up around 7am by a bell ringing 42 times (Andrew started counting on the second day). No one could offer us a reasonable explanation.

Travel Blunder: We assumed that we could hop on the same bus that we had taken to the Bologna city center when we were ready to come home at night, but it was unfortunately not that simple. We found the bus stop with no trouble, but were faced with many Italian fliers with some notice about our bus. We used our phrasebook as well as knowledge of the Spanish language to infer that our bus had been re-routed. After 45 minutes of semi-aimless wandering, we made our way back to the train station to catch the bus we had taken earlier that day.

Day 18: Rapallo

On Wednesday morning, Xavier was kind enough to drive us to Martigny so we could catch a train to Sion, where we were able to hop on the train we were supposed to have taken from Geneva. After about 5 hours of travel we arrived in Rapallo, Italy. Rapallo is a coastal city located between Santa Margherita and Cinque Terre. When we arrived we wanted nothing more than to jump in the Mediterranean, but we soon discovered that the majority of the coast is made up of private beaches…. Very inconvenient. We ended up finding a small, crowded, rocky beach- but it was exactly what we needed. So refreshing!

For dinner we took the train (for all of 3 minutes) to Santa Margherita to meet Aunt Nance and Ellie at their hotel. It was so fun to see them! We had a drink at their hotel bar and then walked to a beautiful, outdoor Italian restaurant where we stayed and ate and talked for hours. Nance and Ellie have been traveling around Europe with their family, and we were lucky enough to meet up with them on their last night before they head home.

It was a beautiful day, and we expected the same from the night as we settled in to go to sleep. Big surprise when we woke up to the loudest thunder we’ve ever heard in the middle of the night! Can’t wait to see what Italy has in store for us!

Travel Blunder: We heard a train approaching as we were walking back to the train station at 11pm to head back to Rapallo after dinner. We figured trains didn’t run very often at night so we really needed to catch it. In our nice dinner clothes we sprinted into the station, only to find that the train was a few platforms over. Allyson refused to run across the tracks like all of the locals so we were forced to take the long way around. We just barely made it… and then realized we didn’t have tickets! We hopped on the train and hid from the conductor until we got to our stop.

Culture Shock: White is the new black. Everyone we saw out last night was dressed head to toe in white. Andrew thinks it’s the new fashion, Allyson hopes that there was a theme party that night because she didn’t pack anything white for this trip!

Day 13- 17… This is what happens when we have too much fun!!

Switzerland

Friday morning we took the train from Brussles to Laussane. Before arriving in Laussane we realized that we had forgotten to write down Melissa Marquardt’s phone number. Allyson blamed Andrew completely. We wandered around the Laussane train station looking for a place to get internet access to find her phone number, and instead we found Missy waiting for us! The “chance De Clercq” followed us to Switzerland! Missy drove us to their beautiful home on lake Geneva and before we knew it we were in our swim suits heading down to meet the Marquardt boys and some friends on their boat on the lake. We met Will, Nicholas, Piers, Devon, and Megan.. so fun!

The Marquardts invited us to join them on a hike in the Swiss Alps to stay in a cabane overnight. The hike up to Ordonnaz on Saturday took about 3½ hours and included 1,500 meters elevation gain. We had an awesome guide named Cherries whom Andrew worsh
iped (she has biked from Granada, Spain to Verbier, Switzerland; walked from Verbier to the Mediterranean; and biked from Alaska to Montana!). From the cabane we had breathtaking views of much of the rest of the Alps (Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, Verbier, etc.). The boys went rock climbing and Allyson and Megan stayed behind to look for Ibex. The girls found a group of five, with three adorable baby ibex! The next morning almost everyone got up at 5am to watch the sunrise, but only Andrew and Will managed to stay awake the entire time. After breakfast, we packed up and began the long walk back to our car. We had to make sure and get back to Lausanne because it was August 1^st – Switzerland’s National Day!!

Back in Laussane we enjoyed a very Swiss dinner of cheese fondue, wine, and a meringue-cream dessert. After dinner everyone loaded up into the Marquardt’s boat to watch all of the fireworks from the lake. Nicholas rode on the bow and everyone thought he was going to die as we sped through the choppy water. The fireworks were amazing, but we may have gotten a little too close to the barge-- at least that’s what the Swiss police boat that stopped us thought. Then as we were boating to shore to attend a party in one of the lakeside towns, another police boat decided that we were doing something wrong and pulled us over for the second time. We MAY have been going twice the speed limit. And we also MAY have had too many people in the boat but we got away with it because Allyson and Will hid under the deck as the police were talking to us. Luckily we got away with a warning… we think. Overall, the night was amazing; we were all full of Swiss pride, and a bit of Swiss wine when we returned home. The next morning Missy drove us to the Lausanne train station where we found our way to Chamonix to meet up with Xavier, his family, and Peter.

Chamonix

The whole De Clercq family met us at the Chamonix train station and showed us around the town. Allyson was very excited to find a Rip Curl store, and Andrew enjoyed all of the cheese samples at the local market. We fit in perfectly! That afternoon we enjoyed a rainy walk in the woods and picked wild blueberries and strawberries. Allyson struggled with the walk, and can’t even descend stairs like a normal person because she is very sore from our mountain expedition. We went out to dinner at a family favorite restaurant where we enjoyed some escargot and cooked our own meat at the table. Great night!

Today Andrew drove Allyson, Peter, Alicia, Ysaline, and Matiew to some Turkish hot springs in Switzerland. There we enjoyed all sorts of saunas and pools (Allyson’s favorite was a whirlpool). Andrew enjoyed the Polar Bear Room where there was snow and ice to play with. Marilyn made a delicious fondue for dinner, which we washed down with a local liquor that is said to melt the cheese on its way down (it really packed a punch!)

Culture Shock: We found out tonight at dinner that it is impolite to say “I’m full” at the dinner table in Belgium. Hmm.

Gourmet Moment: Missy Marquardt is a vegetarian, but the rest of her family loves meat. When the table was set for our vegetarian fondue meal, Missy noticed a pack of prosciutto hidden behind the bread. It turns out Will has a secret stash of meat in the house for just such an occasion.

A few extra pictures...

Day 8-12... We seem to have fallen behind!

Paris

Paris was a little overwhelming and we weren’t sure how to go about seeing all of the famous monuments you have to see while in Paris. Andrew, always the brochure grabber, found a flyer for a free walking tour of Paris so we decided to give it a shot. Our guide (Arnout from Los Angeles, married to Jennifer from Paris) was the greatest guide we could have hoped for. He told us all of the history we wanted to know and threw in a lot of fun facts we never would have guessed. On our tour we made our first (hopefully of many) new friends! We met Ashley and Gillian from Canada, eh. Towards the end of the tour the four of us decided to cut out early and find a good spot to watch the end of the Tour de France. Andrew and Ashley found us a great spot overlooking the course, and saw the riders pass 8 times… Andrew was ecstatic! That night we went over to the Canadians’ hostel and met a bunch of people from all over the world. Allyson drank and played cards with some guys from Tasmania while Andrew drank wine and learned bar tricks with two young, married couples from Columbus, Ohio. One of our best nights so far!

On our last day in Paris we couldn’t resist walking to the base of the Eiffel Tower and taking the typical tourist pictures. We went to L’Orangerie to see Monet’s famous water lilies.. they were even bigger than we had imagined. No Paris trip would be complete without a visit to the Louvre, so we finished our day wandering the endless halls of the spectacular museum.

Brussels

We took the high-speed train from Paris to Brussels (1 hour and 20 minutes!) and got picked up at the Waterloo train station by Xavier, Alicia, and the cripple. Peter was very happy to see us! On our way back to the De Clercq’s house we picked up sushi and had a very nice lunch in their backyard. That afternoon Alicia took us to the Atomium (a giant atom-like monument designed for the 1958 World Fair) and“Mini Europe” (a bunch of famous European monuments scaled down to 1:25). On our way home Alicia took us into Brussels to get an authentic Belgian waffle—delicious! Xavier and Marilyn prepared a delicious dinner barbequed kebabs and mashed potatoes. Yum! The next morning we went to the Waterloo battle monument (a huge hill with a lion statue on top). Even Peter was able to climb the steps to enjoy the view of the Belgian countryside. That afternoon Xavier took us for a bike ride through the forest near their house. Everyone enjoyed it very much, except for Allyson who alternated between being incredibly tired and fearing for her life… she wasn’t left with much time to enjoy the scenery. That evening we went to Brussels for dinner with Xavier, Alicia, and Peter. We enjoyed some famous Belgian mussels and frites. Allyson stalked up on some Belgian chocolate and we all saw the Mannequin Pis… he is much smaller than expected!

Today Xavier and his family (plus Peter) left for Chamonix, where we will meet up with them in a few days. We spent the day with Xavier’s parents, Maggie and Robert… great family friends of the Tights. Robert took us to Brugge where we took a boat tour through the canals. Maggie prepared a delicious dinner for us, and tomorrow we leave for Laussane!

Travel Blunder: One of Allyson’s sorority sisters (Kylie!!) was in Paris at the same time as us and we didn’t realize it until we saw her pictures on Facebook two days after we’d left! Bummer.

Culture Shock: In Belgium people drive very fast, and all but the largest roads don’t have enough space for two cars- you have to hope that oncoming traffic will pull off to let you through! Robert’s car has a button to fold in the side view mirrors to help squeeze through tight spots.

Gourmet Moment: Allyson decided one night in Paris that a banana and nutella crepe would be a suitable dinner. She did not regret it, and Andrew was jealous.

Score of the Day: Free Louvre tickets! Our tour guide told us to always ask if there are any discounts available at museums you visit. At the Louvre Andrew asked about a discount and told the lady that we were American students. She responded, “No, you are from London… here you go!” and handed us two free tickets. Awesome!

Fun Fact #1: French fries come from Belgium, not France.

Fun Fact #2: In many traditional European statues of a man on horseback you can tell how the man died by the stance of the horse. All four feet on the ground: the man died of natural causes. One front and one back leg up: unnatural causes, like murder. Horse rearing up on hind legs: the man died in battle.

Fun Fact #3: The roof of the Louvre is lined with many statues, one of which is of Voltaire. About 20 years ago his nose was about to fall of, so while the French were deciding what to do about it they threw a net over him. After ten years of deciding whether to let the nose fall or to reattach it, they decided to reattach it. Now, ten years later, the net remains over Voltaire because the French are still trying to decide who is qualified to work on the precious statue.

Day 7: Madrid to Paris

Let us just open by pointing out that yesterday morning we were in London. We have since come and gone from Madrid, and are now in Paris! Whew!

We stopped in Madrid for a night just so that Allyson could drop off some luggage that she needs for Granada later. We stayed in a hostel, sharing a room with 7 other travelers- our first un-pampered living situation. We were there for less than 24 hours so we didn’t get a chance to make new friends. But we DID get to catch up with one of Andrew’s best friends from Argentina, Greg, and his amazing girlfriend, Sophie. Had a great night out- it was nice to have someone to show us around.

When we got off the plane in Paris this morning we stopped at an airport Info desk to ask directions to our hotel. The guy we talked to gave us confusing directions and informed us that we were staying in “a bad part of town”. Neither of us liked the sound of that, but there was no turning back. We prepared for the worst and got on the train into the city along with several interesting characters. We psyched ourselves out on the train ride and were not reassured when we arrived at the Gare de Nord train station. There were guards walking around with huge guns, few kind faces, and even fewer signs and directions to help us find our way. We left through the first exit we found and were in a pretty dingy part of town. As Allyson (not so silently) cursed our travel agent, Andrew scoured the map and just tried to keep us moving. As we neared the hotel, things got a little nicer but we still had our doubts. We found the hotel, got up to our room, and collapsed on the bed and wanted to cry. People love this city, we just couldn’t figure out why!



After resting a few minutes we realized that our one chore for the day was to buy train tickets to get to Brussels and then Laussane. Guess where you buy train tickets… Yup, we had to go back to our worst nightmare. We asked the concierge at the hotel how to get to the train station and she pointed us in the opposite direction from where we had come, then laughed when Andrew asked if it was a safe walk. She said, “Of course! You can walk anywhere around here!” We walked the right way to the train station and were surprised to find a beautiful, busy, happy station. Bought tickets with no trouble and decided to look around for some dinner on our way back to the hotel. We stumbled upon a bustling touristy pedestrian street with vendors and street performers all over. At the end of the street was a hill leading up to the Basilique du Sacer-Coeur, a beautiful white-marble church overlooking the entire city. We had a delicious ham and cheese crepe for dinner and happily made our way home. The day turned out to be quite a success!



Travel Blunder: Paris panic. See above.



Culture Shock: On budget airlines, a plane ticket is not the same thing as a baggage ticket. They are purchased separately.. not a very practical flying solution.



Gourmet Moment: Greg introduced us to our new favorite drink- beer mixed with lemonade! It’s called “claro” in Spanish and “panache” in French… we’ll let you know when we learn the name in Swiss-German, and Italian! In honor of Andrew’s best Argentina memories, we went to dinner in Madrid at a restaurant favorite called Sushi Club. Andrew and Greg were used to the all-you-can-eat version in Buenos Aires but reluctantly settled to order a bit less this time. It cost a little more than usual but was so worth it. Thank you Uncle Roo, Aunt Nance, Meg, and Ellie- your grad present to Andrew made it a very special night