A Day on the Lake

The weather is warming up here in Milan, and without air conditioning, some friends and I decided that Saturday would be a good day to check out a new spot. We hopped a train to Stresa, a town on Lake Maggiore. Stresa is about an hour's train ride north of Milan. The train we took was headed to Basel, Switzerland, so I almost "forgot" to get off in Stresa to go visit Savannah buddy Pat Downing, who's living there now.

Lake Maggiore

We arrived in Stresa and headed towards the cable car that takes you up one very tall mountain to Mottarone, which appears to be a ski resort in the winter. There were two sections of cable cars and then one final chair lift to the very top.

the chair lift to the very top of Mottarone

Looking down on Lake Maggiore and the islands within the lake was quite spectacular. There were snow covered mountains nearby and beautiful, if somewhat cloudy, skies overhead. This did keep the temperatures really pleasant!

From Mottarone, with Lake Maggiore down below

A special congratulations goes out to my niece, Melissa, this weekend on her college graduation! What an accomplishment!

Danielle and Melissa, my two nieces

And, wishing all the mothers out there a very enjoyable Mother's Day, especially my mom! See you again in about 7 weeks! Here's a special flower for you! Love you!

So Behind on Everything!!

So, it's been awhile since I've had the chance to write about what's been happening here lately. Mom and Dad arrived two weeks ago and ever since I've felt like I am so behind with everything. Even though I know that's not necessarily true.

This weekend I sent Mom and Dad to Florence on their own and it's giving me a few moments to catch up on some things that I've not had a chance to keep up with- blogging, for one.

I was very excited for them to arrive! I would estimate that half of their luggage was brought for me, so now I am fully stocked up on Skyline chili, cake mixes, taco seasoning, Italian dressing, and some other odds and ends for awhile.

Just a small sampling of the goodies they brought!

It seems like they just had arrived and we turned around and headed out for a quick weekend trip to Venice. I had not been there yet and was excited to see another part of Italy. I had made reservations at The Chef's Wife B&B, a great place to stay recommended by my good friend, Sue. If you're headed to Venice, look into this place...just one small apartment to rent for 2-4 people. Stacy and her husband, Domenico, are great hosts and helped make our stay so enjoyable!

We hit the major sites of Venice, including the Basilica di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, and a vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal. We took an afternoon and headed to Murano, the glass making island. Ladies, this is not a good place to go if you are on a budget! I spent a lot of money that afternoon, but it was worth it!

A plate I purchased in Murano...which I later saw in the Murano Glass Museum as part of the Moretti family display of their glass making over the last hundred years. This picture does not do it justice!

The weather in Italy this April had been relatively wet and gray, so we were so thrilled to have a beautiful Saturday in Venice. On Sunday, in true Italian fashion, we had just gotten slices of pizzas to eat while walking down the street, when a hail storm broke out. Thankfully, we hid under some arches of a closed business and tried to minimize the icy hail we ate with our pizza. 

The following week, I took my parents to a nearby city, Bergamo, for the day. I had been there in the fall with Kate and we thought it was such a charming city. We took the funicular to the upper city, the old quintessential Italian town, and wandered about. We took a very modern elevator up an old clock tower. Mom and I climbed the final set of stairs to the very top, only to realize that it was exactly noon as the bells starting ringing LOUDLY!! Yikes! 

A beautiful day in Bergamo

By this point, Mom and Dad were becoming well versed in Italian public transportation. They had been taking buses, trams, trains, and the metro to get around. I must admit, my mom had been doing a really good job of acclimating to the system. She has been going into Milan by herself on the days when Dad isn't up to it. She found the international grocery store and brought back more American products, found Laduree, the French macaroon makers and bought us some treats, and used my travel guides to find other things to check out. She did, however, comment that life without a TV "stinks!" So, you see where I get it from.

This past weekend was a four day weekend for me and we headed to Rome. Even though I had been in January, there were plenty of things I wanted to do that weren't possible the first time around. Sadly, I came down with a terrible cold that put a bit of a damper on the weekend, but we pushed through and hit the Colosseum, the Forum (way better than the Colosseum), St. Peter's Basilica, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Borghese Gardens, Piazza Del Popolo and many others. While Mom and Dad visited the Vatican Museum, I waited in a ridiculously long line to climb up to the dome of the church. The best part is that the first half of the ascent lands you inside the church looking up close at the interior of the cupola. So amazing. And, I didn't even realize that this would happen. The views from the exterior part of the very top were great, but there were too many people to enjoy it. 

View from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica into St. Peter's Square

You can walk out onto the lower roof line...
these statues can be seen in the picture above .

Looking towards the front of St. Peter's Basilica from up in the dome

Besides my cold and the massive crowds in Rome, the only other downfall was that Dad's wallet was "lost" in Rome. I say lost, but I really mean pick-pocketed. Just a reminder that you can never let your guard down. My iPhone proved to be invaluable that day, as I stood in the middle of a street and Googled the number for every credit card company and bank and called them directly from Skype. The nice, little, old lady at Savannah Bank kept asking me if I was in a car and wondering what all the background noise was...she didn't understand that I was halfway around the world in the middle of a busy street.

But, all in all, I think they've had a great visit. It has perhaps given me a new appreciation for respecting everyone's space and I am so thankful that when I stay with them for 4 weeks this summer we have more space to spread out in and more things of our own to do. I've asked them to consider writing a guest post on this blog about their experiences, living my life. We'll see if I can get them to do it!