Month: May 2022

Thank God I set my alarm before going to sleep last night, because Mom slept through hers. I got up at 6:30 and got her up, too. We quickly got ready and packed up the rest of our stuff, then headed downstairs.

Alex and Morgana were both already awake, showered and fresh looking while the two of us looked like a bomb woke us up and we were still in shock from it.. haha. They had already taken the puppy out and everything. I never even heard them! I said my byes to my new furry best friends (Odin was playing hard to get, so he didn’t get kisses from me.. I did get to scratch his handsome little head though).

Alex drove us to the local train station and to our delight, they both walked us in! He navigated the local ticket purchasing for us and took us to our platform 🙂 These French trains give me anxiety. I better get the hell over that though, because Mom and I are traveling exclusively by train for the next 4 weeks!

We hugged and said our goodbyes. I’m still just so thankful to these two for all of their generosity. Morgana and I haven’t physically seen each other in years, potentially since college-unless there was a once off here or there.. and yet she welcomes me and my Mom into her home and showered us with so much kindness. It just felt easy.. no awkwardness or tension. I’m already missing them both!

We made our local train, got to the main train station and found us some breakfast- and then promptly hunted down the departures screen and stared at it for the next 20 or so minutes.. until it gave us a platform for our train to Milan. It worked just as Alex said it would. Ok, maybe i am starting to get the hang of these bad boys.

We lug our stuff on the train and get comfortable.. we have 5+ hours in those seats. Mom napped, I couldn’t-so I read. Another Colleen Hoover book. When my eyes start to cross, I try to sleep again-no dice. So, I get on the WiFi and play on social media, upload pictures and the last few days of the blog.

With about 30 minutes to go, and after 2 bathroom trips and a food car excursion (any reason to walk around), the lady across from me completely transforms herself. She was just a regular woman in her late 50s early 60s.. then, she pulled her hair down and fixed it, put on makeup, looked stunning and started talking to us.. hahaha she hadn’t said a peep for 5 hours, and now we couldn’t get her to shut up if we tried! Luckily, she was funny and wanting to practice her English.

She told us places to go, theaters to see, where she bought her makeup eyeshadow sticks and where a store is (in the train station). We learned all about her life, she’s a theatre performer and was coming back to Milan after singing in Paris. She’s a busy girl, telling us about her flights here and her trains there.. almost daily! And I thought our trip was jam packed!

We made it into Milan.. we left the train and walked toward the metro, until we saw that makeup store and promptly halted our travels to go find some pretty new goodies. With new stuff in tow, we eventually did make it to the metro station and got our tickets, found our subway and got on it. When we got off-we were just a short walk to our hotel. It was raining but we didn’t care!

We checked in and our room was ready, so we went to unload our stuff. The room is gorgeous! Our twin beds make me cackle, they always have them shoved together.. if we wanted to sleep that close we’d just get the queen sized bed and share! Lol The bathroom is spacious and has a feel of luxury to it. It’s perfect!

We were pretty worn out from traveling, and hungry.. plus we had a ton of dirty clothes that we needed to wash, so we got the dirty clothes in a bag, put on running shorts and rain jackets, and headed out into the mist to walk a mile to a laundromat. The services at the hotel would be astronomical and the lady told us that they have the weekends off and aren’t taking anymore clothes today-so that wasn’t an option.

We got some entertaining stares as we walked with our bags in the rain. Italians are known for being well dressed always, and here we were walking around in running shorts in the rain in 60 degree weather! Haha, I got a good giggle out of it. I told Mom that we couldn’t go into a restaurant dressed like we were because they probably wouldn’t serve us. The first tiny place we tried to eat at didn’t really go so well, we were having a language barrier for certain, plus he was looking at us and shaking his head.. so, we continued on..

The next place was nothing like that one. The man was patient, able to speak some English and didn’t mind my choppy attempts at Italian (Duolingo helps some, but not nearly enough). We ordered a slice of pizza each and a glass of wine each. White for Mom, red for me.. and the man was a bit flirty with mom, too. Exactly how you’d expect a 50s handsome Italian man to be. He had no idea he was making my Italian dreams for Mom come true!

While we were eating, he came over with something that looked like a calzone sort of.. and said it was too good for us to not have, all while smiling intently at Mom. Now my dreams really were coming true-he’s flirting with Mom and I get extra food out of it! Heck yeah! Hahaha (I’m going to regret all this extra food when we put on bathing suits in a couple weeks!)

After we finish up, we walk the rest of the way to the laundromat. It’s a small one, 4 washers and 2 dryers. One man is in there already, so we wait for a washer to open up. We end up doing 3 loads of laundry! (Mom actually separates her clothes, I throw it all in and say it is what it is.. ha So, we sit and scroll the internet and i chat with my friend Meredith (she’s always an early riser, I’m really loving that with this time difference thing!).

When we finish folding and putting our clean clothes back in our bags, we start the walk back in the rain. After seeing and hearing the way these drivers are, I’m glad we didn’t rent a car. In the 15 minutes it took us to get home, we saw a car knock off the mirror of another car, we heard a cacophony of horns blaring almost the entire time, and watched several cop cars and ambulances fly by while other cars popped up on the sidewalks to get out of their way! Sheesh!

Back at the room, we decided we were too tired to change clothes and venture out into the rain again. So, we enjoyed the new room.. laid on our beds and watched TV. Somehow Mom was able to get one of the channels to swap into English. Alright, How I Met Your Mother marathon it is! Too bad it wasn’t SVU.

It was some time during this marathon that I awkwardly ran my mile in the room. I was able to make an ‘L’ shape to run in and set my watch to treadmill mode-it worked and I guess went off my arm swing and heart rate, because it said it took me 11 minutes to do a mile, which felt accurate in that environment. I had asked the concierge if they had a gym and he laughed a little while shaking his head-damn Americans.

We eventually ordered room service (because why not), and I’m here to tell you I enjoyed every bite of whatever i ordered. It was some kind of bread with a “mountain cheese” and ham on it.. not quite pizza, not quite bruschetta, but all the way good! I do wish they did have an actual gym here, because I need it! The only real workout I’m getting seems to be my stomach, and not in a good way!

It wasn’t too long after inhaling all of that yummy food and wine that I was fast asleep.. and a good sleep it was, too.

We got to sleep in today! We both woke up sometime after 9, got ready and went downstairs for the breakfast buffet. It was a good one too! Scrambled eggs that actually looked like eggs, breads and jams, jellies, and cream cheese, smoked salmon, bacon, fruit.. coffee and several types of juices.. and the highlight to Mom’s morning: PANCAKES!

I had already made myself a salmon and cream cheese “bagel” when I saw them, so I’m saving them for another day. The food was delicious and the atmosphere was very nice, with a cute fish tank beside our table giving us free entertainment. I should be embarrassed by how long I watched those fish..

We went back to the room to get some stuff and then started walking towards the Duomo. It was so crowded today! People everywhere, including street performers dancing! We took our time, taking pictures and people watching, and staring at the gorgeous buildings in awe. We continued on to the plaza our tour of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” was at. Since we were early, we went to a cafe on the corner to sip some water, rest, and use the restroom.

When the tour did start, it was only a group of 5 of us. Seeing this, I think that’s why the rest of our big tour today was canceled.. not enough people. We were supposed to be on a 6 hour tour that included The Last Supper, but also included going inside the Duomo and a history tour on the way to where we were currently standing. It worked out though, because had it not been canceled, we would have had to get up early today.

Anyway, our tour guide wasn’t quite as entertaining as our Parisian guide at the Louvre, but I enjoyed her all the same. I could tell Mom was struggling to understand her, because she spoke fast and had that beautiful Italian “ehh” attached to the end of most words.. which I loved. She told us the history of Leonardo da Vinci creating the painting, his techniques, and how lucky we are that it’s survived for so long.

It took him 4 years to paint it, on a wall inside this church hall. It was painted in the dining hall, and the kitchen was the door right under the painting, so a lot of steam came up through the door, causing some damage. Plus the technique he used caused the paint to disintegrate over time. In the 1970s someone started the restoration process and it took over 20 years to complete it. Also, during WWII, they put sandbag walls in front of it to protect it as much as possible, a bomb literally destroyed the entire building except for that wall and the wall across from it containing the painting of the crucifixion.

Pretty incredible, really. I loved the tour and soaked up as much of what our guide told us as I could. Before we knew it, the hour was over and we were released back into the hoards of people. We walked the streets and popped in and out of little shops that we passed. Almost all of them were so stupidly expensive, like €480 for a shirt. It was nuts.. when we came to a store that felt like Europe’s Old Navy, I was thrilled!

I ended up getting some shirts and a dress. I even took the time to try them on first. Who am I? Haha-actually, I knew we wouldn’t be coming back for me to return them if they didn’t work, so, best to be sure! Sometime around 4 our stomachs started talking to us. We stopped at a little Poke Bowl place and had their smallest option, which was very good! We didn’t want to be too full to eat dinner tonight, because I made us reservations at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel.

We dropped my clothes off at the hotel and continued walking to find more shoe stores for Mom. She came up empty handed though, because none of the shoes she found were the kind she was looking for. So we made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We wore our dresses (I wore the one I just bought) and cute sandals and hoped that counted as enough elegance for them to let us in since they have a dress code for the restaurant and bar.

The views were gorgeous from up there! We snapped some pictures and then followed the hostess to our seats. We had wine and coffee (the man was flabbergasted that Mom wanted an americano before dinner lol), different types of bread to dip in oil, and then our main dishes. I chose the risotto which was awesome, Mom got the beef Wellington, which was even better than my risotto. She shared 🙂 even though she wouldn’t even try my risotto.

We each got desert, too. Strawberry cheesecake for me, Tiramisu for her.. when I tell you I was stuffed, Lord I needed a wheelchair to get out of there! The entire dinner took just over 2 hours, but it didn’t feel like it was that long of a meal. Everything was timed out perfectly. The music was fun, and the entire atmosphere was exciting. When we finally got back to our room, I was asleep within minutes! I was in a food and wine coma!

We had to get up super early today for our day trip to Lake Como. By super early, I mean 5:30am. Yikes! We were up and leaving by 6:15, impressive for the 2 of us. We walked to the subway, rode 5 stops, then navigated through to the train station, snagged some food for breakfast, and then found our platform for the 7:20 train to Varenna.

It was a an hour and a half train ride to Varenna, with no WiFi for me so I read my book since I couldn’t sleep. At 8:26 we got off the train in a cute little town, in the rain, and found bathrooms before attempting to figure out where we’re supposed to meet our tour guide. As I pulled my phone out and take it out of airplane mode to call Luca, the guide, my phone starts ringing-it’s an Italian number.. it’s Luka looking for us! But the best part? I was standing in front of him! Hahaha

So, Luca seems a little flabbergasted and I’m tired as can be.. he says we missed the meeting point at 8am and they were worried because they couldn’t find us. Yesterday morning, I got an email telling us to be at the meeting point at the train station we came from at 8am. But then, a few hours later, we got an email from him with our train tickets saying 7:20 departure. Being the psychos we are about missing trains, I assumed we had to be on that 7:20 train. Apparently, you can get on any train up to 6 hours after the time it’s scheduled for.. but we didn’t know that. I assumed we were the only two customers coming from Milan and so they changed our meeting point to Varenna.. hahaha

Luca called the other guide that had been looking for us and informed her that we were with him, and then he bought us croissants and coffee for our early rising lol.. and the three of us waited until 9:26 when the rest of the group got off the 8:20 train from Milan. Fun times. Ooops. At least we weren’t late!

Once everyone else arrived, Luca started our tour of Varenna. There was 8 of us total, a couple from Los Angeles: Kris and Mark, a couple from Mexico City, Anna and Alejandro, a father daughter duo from Indiana, Sam and Jen, and then Mom and I. Luca walked us down to the lake, Lake Como, and then across the waterline and up to a Piazza where we waited for our private shuttle bus. The walk itself was a good 30-40 minutes with stunning views with every step taken. The stores and homes were built up into the cliff sides surrounding the lake. Across from us we could see other towns along the water, the one we couldn’t actually spot but happens to be on the point of the lake’s split was Bellagio. I wondered if the town has a spectacular fountain show like the hotel in Vegas does. Ha

We loaded onto the bus all chitter chattering to each other. Nicolas drove us for about an hour and a half to a winery in the valley of the Alps, well past the lake. I don’t think any of us were quite expecting such a long bus ride, but we had fantastic views the entire way, so it was still very enjoyable.

We got a tour of the winery, saw the huge vats the grapes go into and then the oak barrels the wine ages in. Then, we got to have a tasting. It was 3 wines and only a sip or two, plus some bread and charcuterie. Yum! And lucky for me, mom doesn’t like red wine, so after she tried each one and hated it, I got to finish it 😉

From there, Nicolas drove us to the town that we’d end up getting on the Berina Express Scenic Train to go up into the Swiss Alps. Before our train arrival we had an hour to explore the little town and eat lunch. Luca recommended a pasta made only in this area, with homemade buckwheat pasta noodles, potatoes, cheese and cabbage. It’s called Pizzochero, and was absolutely phenomenal.

For whatever reason, mom and I were the only ones that went to the place Luca recommended, and we were the only ones that ordered his pasta recommendation, too. When mom saw Luca walking by she invited him to join us. He happily did. We talked, practiced Italian, sipped wine and devoured that incredible pasta. I also learned that a half liter of wine is way too much for one person at lunch. Whoops!

When it was time to leave, Mom surprised Luca by already paying for his meal. He truly was making this experience that much better! The group met up and he walked us into the train station and onto the train, showed us how to lower the windows and explained when to get off-he would instead go with Nicolas on the bus to meet up with us at the end of the train ride.

Boy did we have a flippin blast on that train! We went up into the Swiss Alps and had view after view at every turn! We passed little villages, cows and goats and chickens and churches.. people out walking their dogs and waving to us, cyclists pedaling their hearts out up steep mountain roads. It was so much fun! Thanks to my wine consumption, I talked everyone into leaning out the window for a picture.. haha then read the signs that said “do not lean out windows.” Welp. Sorry, Switzerland.

When we got off, Luca and Nicolas took us into the town of St. Moritz, a very popular ski town in Switzerland. Sadly for us, it was Sunday and the weather had threatened lots of rain (although it only spittled here and there and never for long) the majority of everything was closed. Also, it wasn’t a terrible thing really, though, because the stores were a bit too high end for my taste (and budget): Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Bvlgari, Gucci.. you get the picture..

We instead went to a German bar and had hot chocolate and carrot cake. Anna and Alejandro told us that they were expecting their first baby, they just found out yesterday the baby’s gender and so they were super excited to be on this trip together, celebrating. It was so sweet that I teared up a bit. I won’t blame the wine for that one, it had been hours by that point! 😉

We made it back on the bus and then Nicolas drove us for what felt like years to the train station back near Lake Como (2 stops after Varenna). We said our goodbyes to Luca and Kris and Mark (they were staying in Varenna), and the rest of us piled on for the almost 2 hour train ride back to Milan. We didn’t arrive in the train station until 8:40pm. Talk about a long ass day!

We made our way through to the subway station and took our 5 stops back to our hotel. We were back in our room, completely worn out, by 9. I still had my mile to run though. Mom worked on the TV, she figured out how to change some channels into English, while others would only come in in Italian. We started a show, I ran my mile awkwardly in our room, and then I ordered us some food from UberEats.

We had our “late night snack” and watched tv until we both ended up passing out. We had also already gotten the maintenance man to come to our room and set the temperature lower, we like a cold room when we sleep. I’m not sure how long I lasted once the air started to cool, but it couldn’t have been very long at all.

Today was an incredible day, one of our all time favorites so far.. and it just so happened to be Mother’s Day, too. I wish I could say I planned it that way, but I definitely didn’t. I do know I’m so very blessed to have such a loving, supportive, funny as hell, and strong mom like I do. I’ll never ever for a second take any moment with her for granted, even when we bicker and drive each other nuts, she’s still always my biggest cheerleader, and I’ll always be hers.

Happy Mother’s Day!