We decided to fly out of bologna as we wanted to try authentic tagiatelle alla ragu aka as spaghetti bolognaise. We only spent half a day there as it quite small but worth the visit to have the pasta. The meat sauce is not too tomato-ey, slow cooked with the meat infused with lots of herbs, delicious!
This was my third time there, so I was the navigator. First off was Michaelangelo Piazza to enjoy the view, and we found San Miniato church which I thought the grounds provided better views. Sunset on Santa Croce was very pretty too. Saturday morning, we climbed both the bell tower and the dome of the Duomo. Then a stroll in the markets off San Lorenzo... we read good reviews on a restaurant... and sure enough an hour and a half wait... the food didn't disappoint! It was absolutely delicious.... the best roast veal I've ever tasted. We researched on all best gelato places, and tracked them all down!
Sunday was spent exploring the Uffizi, and our long weekend was over. Great way to spend a weekend with a great friend..
We organised a brief trip to give him a taste of Europe, starting off with Milan in Italy. Matty was blown away at the Duomo, just in the sheer size and the history behind it. He also got to try our favorite Osteria in Milan with authentic Italian pastas and pizzas. We spent 3 days in Milan and then flew to Germany to spend Xmas with Joe's family. For us, Xmas is always about family. Whilst we were there, we visited Cologne Catheral, it wasn't as impressive as the last time we saw it, maybe because we've seen so many larger and more grand catherals. Xmas was a great time to catch up with Joe's aunts/uncles and cousins.
After Xmas we headed off to Brussels in Belgium. Matty was impressed with how the architecture, culture and language changes as we move through each country. After visiting all the touristy sites, we ate ourselves silly, trying their waffles, mussels, yummy frites, hot chocolate…
The temperature dropped down to -7 degrees one night when we went out to view the Eiffel tower … it was COLD! Bbbrrrr…. To Matty's delight it snowed in the morning, first time Matty saw snow!
Lake Garda was very close by (less than 20km) so we started our trip visiting the small towns of the lake. Desenzando Del Garda was our first stop… there was a Harley Davidson motorbike festival on, and the small town was filled with motorcyclists enthusiast! They are friendly giants and are so passionate about the mortobikes.. we caught the ferry across to the peninsula Sirmione… it’s this small strip of land that goes up in the middle of the lake for a few kms. We went up to castle to get a great view of the lake and town. Lake Garda is lot less touristy than Lake Como, it’s where the Italian goes for their time off. We took a bus trip ride to Presciera, and then train to Verona.
Verona itself is lovely, big enough to see things like the colosseum and Juliet’s (as in Romeo and Juliet) but small enough to make it feel so authentic. The river than runs through the middle of the town is so clean, and the weekend we happen to be there, there was a games festival on, so each corner we turned, there was a different local games. The town was buzzing with a good atmosphere and the fantastic weather (not to mention the FANTASTIC food) made our weekend away yet another memorable one.
The following morning, we went to see the leaning tower and the surroundings, then jumped on a plane to Berlin. My parents were amazed how quickly we can hop from one country to the next! Berlin is so different from the towns in Italy, a lot more modern, most buildings were ruined from WW2. My dad enjoyed reading about the war at the Reichstag, and what’s left of the Berlin wall. Checkpoint Charlie was another spot, it made you realise this all happened not so long ago. A visit to the German city is not complete without trying out all the wurst aka as sausages! Our favourite is the curry wurst (it’s just a sausage sprinkled with curry powder and a delicious tomato based sauce).
After a gruelling week of walking and sightseeing we headed back to London for a rest, and also see the sights of London. It happened to be a lovely day! (very odd) we visited tower of London, Borough Markets and walked along the South bank. My parents enjoyed the entertainment along the south bank and the relaxed atmosphere.
Sunday morning, we jumped onto the Eurostar, and in 2 hours and 20mins found ourselves in the middle of Paris. One of my dad’s friend who he hasn’t seen for 34 years met us and took us to Versaille, residence of King Louis 15th (I think).. We also did all the touristy stuff, highlight was the night tour. It really is the most romantic city in the world! After 4 days in Paris, we headed back to London, and completed last minute shopping and prepared for my parents departure. Although a short Europe trip, we packed in a lot!
Nightime we explored the area surrounding the Colosseum, and relaxed, admiring the view of of floodlit Colosseum, had our last gelato for the day before calling it a day.
Continuing our Italian tour, we caught a train from Rome to Florence, a city famous for it's culture, art, leather goods, and gelato. After checking into our hotel, we had a quick night tour of Florence, and went searching for a good Florentine gelato, and in Florence city centre alone, there were over 50 gelaterias.The next morning started with a climb of 463 steps to the top of the dome of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore for a birds eye view of Florence and it's famous terracotta rooftops. We then wandered through the many small streets of Florence, for more gelatos, pizza's, and paninis, while bargain hunting at the markets. In the evening, we made our way up to Piazza Michaelangelo, where there was a magnificent view of Florence 's skyline as the sun began to set, before ending the day with a visit to 'GROM' the best gelatos we've eaten on this trip.
The final day was about shopping, hunting for leather goods, italian foods, and more gelato. Unfortunately, I only managed to squeeze in one more Gelato before I headed back to London, and Lisa and her parents continued on their tour to PISA.
Anyway on with Lake Como, we woke up to a huge buffet breakfast that had possibly 30+ different things things to choose from to eat, which was amazing. After taking in fuel for the day's adventure, we headed for the Ferry Dock, and got ourselves on the ferry, heading for Bellagio (half way up the Lake) At first it was fascinating to see all the little villages, waterfront houses, boats, boats sheds, waterfront hotels, but then everything started to look the same. At that stage we were only 30 minutes into our 2 hour ferry ride to Bellagio, so it ended up being a very nice and long ride! Also the weather was quite overcast, so there was not much opportunity for good photos.
After about 2 hours, we headed back to the ferry docks to catch the ferry to the next village, the village of Varena. Varena had just as many buildings as Bellagio, but everything more spaced out. As we wondered around town, we were starting to get hungry and were looking for a place to have lunch. However at around 2-3 ish, everything was starting to close for the locals afternoon siesta. Oh man, such bad timing, and to temporarily hold back our hunger, we got stuck into my emergency food..... choc chip cookies. The highlight of Varena was Villa Monastero, which had a beautiful waterfront garden, which for €3, we got to wonder around at our leisure. Varena was another typical hilly village and by around 4:30 pm we were starting to get tired and hungry, and thought we better head back to Como, so we commenced our 2 hours ferry ride back. Along the way we managed to see George Clooney's (a famous American actor in case you didn't know) Italian villa, a waterfront property on it's own piece of land. We only knew because the ferry stopped right in front of it for a while, and everyone was out taking photos of it. That weekend, George was home!..but we didn't get to see him, and the girls felt they missed out, especially our friend Lyn, who was so smitten that she called him Georney.
Wondering around Como that night was like wondering around London, so many people, heaps of noise, street performances, buskers, and music. When in Italy, we cannot go a night without finding a good Gelato, which in Italy generally is very easy (so to coffee). We spent the rest of the night wondering the night flea market dotted along the lake.
The following morning, the weather in Como was terrible, raining! So we caught a train to Milan. I was so looking forward to dropping by this Italian restaurant (run by Chinese people) Lisa and I once at at, which we loved!!!! unfortunately, being a Sunday, it was CLOSED!!!! Disappointed, we headed for the Duomo to grab some lunch, and take some photos of the Duomo (Milan's Cathedral) which we could not get last time because it was covered in scaffolding. We did a little spot of souvenir shopping, and after which we headed for the airport and home.This trip has been a long waited trip and definitely worth the wait. We flew out on a Friday night to PISA. Our crazy Italian taxi driver got us to our hotel in once piece, and although it was late we managed to fit in our first dose of gelato.
Saturday morning greeted us with gorgeous weather. We made our way to the leaning tower of PISA. We didn’t want to do the touristy shot, but in the end, we couldn’t resist. After spending some time there, we caught the noon train to Raggiomorre, the first town of Cinque Terre. The train ride was enjoyable as we passed through the countryside of Italy, passing fields of wild flowers. We knew we’d soon arrive as the train reached the coast. The view was breathtaking and this was only the beginning.
We quickly settled into our room which looked like an Italian household spare bedroom with an ensuite, but with a view out to the sea, we were happy. We got ready to tackle one of harder trek to break up it up.
Cinque Terre is made up of 5 coastal towns, (Raggiomore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso) all joined by coastal walks. Some walks were quite easy with proper paths, others a real trek. It is 9km in total. We broke up the trek over a few days, to enjoy the views. Spring is the perfect time to visit Cinque Terre, it’s warm (it was 22-27 degrees) but not too hot. The flowers are blooming, and the perfume of the flowers lingers, the birds are chirling and butterflies float through the air. It was truly the picture perfect. I haven’t even started on the food yet. Cinque Terre didn’t disappoint with its selection of pizza, pasta, gelato or coffee. We ate to our hearts content. Very happy indeed.
After indulging in 2 days in heaven, we headed off to Genoa where our flight leaves. Genoa is known for its blend of old and new. Its new architecture looks out of place, and for me it looked like a mess. Although there were many grand buildings, frankly I am getting abit over buildings. After seeing the natural beauty of Cinque Terre, it was hard to beat.
Cinque Terre has been the highlight of our travels since we’ve arrived, and what a great way to celebrate our 1 year anniversary of being here in the UK!
Lisa and I spent last weekend exploring Torino, in We once again flew out late Friday night, and fearing the worse (because we're flying with RyanAir), we went early to give us plenty of time to check in. Everything at this point was fine... until we had to board our plane. Once again Crying Air (as more commonly know here in the
The next day, we were greeted with beautiful-sunny-clear-warm Italian day. We headed for the town centre which was a 5 minute walk from the hotel. Starting off at 'via Roma' a boulevard lined with designer stores, and all manner of expensive things. Lisa worked her way through the rows of designer stores.
Most of the streets through the city centre was undercover thanks to 18 km's of Porticoes (built in the 16th century to provide shelter for the royal family as they walked through the city), but on this occasion we didn't need it. As Lisa shopped, and being in my home country in
'Uno Cappuccino per favore! and a minute later I was satisfied with what was the best cappuccino I have had for a long time, and for €1.20 a shot, I was even happier.... it just meant I can get another shot without burning a hole in my pockets.
Turin streets was very easy to navigate as they're all running parallel and perpendicular to each other so you can't really get lost. We did find it a little dusty and not as clean as other cities we've been too, because sometimes we felt like we were walking down some back alley. However, the architecture of
