Una Hotel Mediterraneo Milan

... as autumn was in full swing.  The mountainsides were sponge-painted in festive autumn colors of orange, red and yellow.  Purple branches projected from the mountain as creamy green and valencia orange leaves presented themselves vibrantly in the sun.  Water rushed over rocks falling to the river at their feet.  The whole scene was spectacular like something out of a fairytale.  As we passed through the town of Bellegarde, I looked out the window to see a ...

... gigantesques.

nous avons dinner dans un resto sur la rue tres touristique qui relis le duomo au chateau... un petit diner leger avec lequel emilie a pris une coupe de vin blanc qui coutait le prix total de nos 3 dernieres bouteilles de vin!!


je vais tenter d'ajouter des photos a mon blog le plus tot possible.

... hill to the Volta Lighthouse. If it wasn't for the foggy view we would have had a great panoramic view of Lake Como and it's surrounds.
After walking back down to Como we caught the bus out to Belaggio which is at the furthest point on the lake. Town was completely dead. a couple of cafes and post card shops open and that was it!
Some nice ...

... a cool little wine bar/tobacco shop/lottery agent to have an aperitif and got to hear the waitress singing along to the radio in broken English with lots of made up words.
Had an AMAZING seafood paella at Osteria del Lazzaretto as well as the biggest piece of bruschetta I've had in my life! They also had half a litre of house wine for 4 Euro! Score!

... me with alternative travel plans to Mike and I's best ideas, which now included Rome for the weekend or going to Slovenia for a couple days. Christina had bigger ideas; Prague, Vienna, but what she really wash pushing was a trip to Barcelona. First she checked into international trains with no success, couldn't get through on the phone, and finally told me just to go to the train station and ask how to get to Slovenia via train. Then she printed out the ...

... world's most famous opera house since 1776. Niweis, we stayed there overnight at the Hotel du Giardini ...

After Istanbul and Rome... even Venice looked dull .. so what do you say about Milan!

Though we did go to see the famous Leonardo Da Vince's Last Supper. For the nerds likes me, let me tell you that the painting is not on a canvas but on the wall of the church (don't remember the name of the church) ... the experience was Wow... it almost felt that you were having dinner with Jesus and his group .. its costs about 25Euro per person ...

Today the leaders of our Study Abroad program (IES) took all of us on a short tour of the city center of Milano. Finally the sun came out, and although it was still cold (about 40) it was a gorgeous day and the city looked beautiful! We also toured the Universita' Cattolica (the school where I will be taking classes). Later they took us to an Aperitivo, and Italian (and especially Milanese) tradition which is kind of like Happy Hour in the US, but is ...

... but also keep with the budget. Food for me is where I can save money, not needing a gelato or coffee every hour. I eat out once a day, if that, and find a market for fresh produce, fruits, yogurt, nuts, etc for meals the rest of the day. Most countries have specialties on the street for super cheap, so I hit that up as much as possible.

The cities that I choose to visit are largely based on sights I must see, recommendations ...

... ask directions after traveling the entire length of the street looking for the proper crossroad. A little Italian woman tries to help us, but she speaks no English. We get the gist of what she is saying and trudge on. After a couple blocks, the old woman catches up with us. She is quite insistent on walking us to the street we need to be on. It's quite a walk, and this 70 ish woman is just trucking! She was so nice and helpful ...