Category: London, France, Italy, Greece & Malta ’22

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!

Since I booked us an afternoon train to Florence, we didn’t have to rush this morning. We went down to the breakfast buffet to get our fill before coming back to the room to shower and pack. We checked out of our hotel at noon and started the slow walk with our luggage to the metro station. It’s like everything expanded overnight! This stuff was definitely not this heavy the other day!

We made it to our train station and platform without issue and waited for our 1:20 train to come. We did almost get on the 12:50 one since we were there so early, but thankfully we didn’t. Not sure if it would have been a problem or not, but I don’t want to find out. I’ve read horror stories online of people getting charged €50-75 for not validating their tickets and things like that. Who knows what they’d charge if they realized we got on an earlier train (that has assigned seats).

Speaking of, this train claimed to have WiFi, too, but it wouldn’t connect. So I read my book and worked on the blog. It look less than 2 hours to get to Florence. We got off the train and made our way outside. What a beautiful city even from this busy spot! We decided on a taxi to get to our Airbnb instead of walking, there’s not a bus or subway here to take us any closer to our Airbnb, and it’s almost a mile walk on uneven cobblestones.. which is fine normally, but not while toting some heavy luggage.

Our taxi driver got us right in front of our door, and the Airbnb host, Andrea (said like On-drey-ah), met us at the front door. We’re right in the heart of the city, 4-5 minute walk to the river and less than that to get to the Uffizi Gallery. It’s gorgeous! Andrea carried mom’s luggage up the 3 flights of stairs and I followed him.. whew, I guess I was complaining I needed more exercise! Hahaha, I started having flashbacks of running the stairs at work with Kristi one night that had me drenched in sweat after 3 minutes..

Our Airbnb is incredibly gorgeous! Two bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room with two small terraces, a full kitchen and a washer and dryer! It’s always exciting when the place exceeds your expectations and not the other way around! It was too soon to pick our rooms, we were overwhelmed with the views and hungry, too. So, we connected to WiFi and googled Andrea’s sandwich shop recommendations, and left the unpacking for when we return. Florence is known for having incredible sandwiches and we were ready to figure out why!

We decided on a shop that was a 4 minute walk from our apartment. As we walked out, we realized our place is next to a museum and across from a church with a huge bell tower.. which is an awesome way to locate our road! The sandwich shop was easy to find and the food itself was so dang good! The meat was stacked so thick and every bite was full of flavor. Don’t even get me started on the bread-the baked daily fresh bread.. ah. The guys working spoke Italian, English, and Spanish. They were cracking me up because they sang along with their playlist while they worked, songs came on in different languages, different styles-and man it was such a nice difference, seeing people enjoying their jobs. They just seemed happy. And with those sandwiches, we were happy, too!

We went exploring the cobblestone roads and stone store fronts. The building all looked to be very old, and so stunning. You could smell the leather in the air.. and then suddenly the tight roads and tiny alley ways would open up into a square or piazza filled with fountains and statues. It felt like a scene from a movie. We were in love!

We walked down a road next to the museums where people were selling their artwork.. many had prints of their work, but one man was actually sitting there painting with his watercolors. His work had beautiful scenes of Tuscan wineries and views of Florence from the waterway. I had to have one! I already know it will hang in my office with the watercolor painting I got from Paris in 2019 and the paintings from a man in Peru the year before that. I’m literally so fascinated by people and their talent, whether it be artists or musicians or performers. Maybe in my next life I’ll have some skill that blows people away with one look or listen (I think we all know it’s not going to be for my profound writing skills).

From there we walked along the water and snapped photos of the bridges connecting the two sides of the city. One of the leather stores ended up catching mom’s attention.. purses and jackets and wallets, oh my! The man, Marco, was quite the salesman. He asked if I’d like to see a jacket, I say no.. because I just saw the price on one beside me (€750).. he goes, “trust me, I have the perfect one for you..” yeah, ok-whatever. I say yes, fully expecting to not like what he picked for me.

He comes back with a camel colored leather jacket. The sleeves and hips have detailing on them, it’s a side zip with a pretty collar.. and, it is incredible! I think, no way will it look good on me though.. he zips it-spins me around, checks the sleeves, and then tells me he’d tailor it for me-the sleeves were a bit long. I’m starting to get sad, because I just know it’s going to be way too much money.. but Mom is asking him how much and it was no where near as expensive as the ones I had been seeing, like a fraction of the cost! Mom decided to get it for me as a gift, and I am still reeling over how much I love it! It felt weird to pay for it and leave it there with Marco, but he said he’d have it tailored tonight and ready in the morning for us to pick up.. Wow!

He even told mom he’d make her a completely custom jacket of her liking, if she’d tell him the specifics of the colors and details that she prefers-and it would be ready before we leave Florence, but it was getting hot in the shop and she was over it.. so she declined and we went on our way. At some point we found a shoe store that caught Mom’s eye, and she ended up picking out a pair of leather shoes she fell in love with. She tried them on and walked around and we couldn’t leave without them. We’ve been in Florence only a few hours and we’ve already bought all the leather things!

We took her new shoes back to the room and rested our feet while we looked for a place for dinner. We settled on one that had been recommended by our host and also had great reviews online. On our walk there, I got us a little lost and we passed a different restaurant that smelling amazing-but we kept going. We found our place and got a seat inside. It was a small place and the lady working was so kind.. but Mom didn’t quite love her food.. (I did, I think I’d love anything anyone here gave me..)

She ordered the walnut ravioli, I ordered the mushroom risotto. I knew she didn’t like hers because she actually asked for a bite of mine-and then let me share some with her! I loved her ravioli, although the walnut taste was a strong one.. she said it was too strong and tasted like dirt. I thought she was being a little dramatic 😉 We vowed to stop at any restaurant that smelled phenomenal from outside any time we cross one from now on.. and I promised I’d find that place we skipped tomorrow.

We walked around a bit more, and Mom got an ice cream (gelato in Italian) by the river while I ran my mile in a figure 8 by the water and across 3 bridges. It was so beautiful at night and less crowded than during the day.. although I was still bobbing and weaving.. plus the roads were well lit so I could watch my footing on the uneven cobblestones. It was one of my favorite runs so far, I need to learn to get up before I have to and get my runs in during the morning where there is plenty of sunlight, no crowds, and I can actually get more than a mile in because I haven’t just devoured my meal, some of Mom’s, a basket of bread and half a bottle of wine.. hmmm.. maybe tomorrow..

We leisurely walk back, enjoying the scenery, listening to the different languages of the people passing us-and hearing some music in the background being played by street performers. Such an absolutely beautiful city. Neither of us really wanted to go inside yet, but our feet are sore and we are tired, so we call it a night and head up our several flights of stairs. I let Mom pick her room, and then we start unpacking, showering, and getting into our pjs.

It’s been a wonderful day, I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us! The only thing planned is seeing the sculpture of David by Michaelangelo.. which I can’t wait to see in person.

And with that, Goodnight!