Firenze

Our second day in Florence, began with us getting separated. We lost Jon and Katie in the Market place and decided to head towards the Duomo. Mom and I actually got dad to enter the cathedral-probably because there was no line. The inside of the church cannot compete with the beautiful exterior, this is probably because most of the sculptural work has been removed and placed in a museum behind the duomo (a museum which was under construction while we were there).  The doom itself was an architectual feet at the time of its construction and is pretty amazing to stand under. One day I will attempt to hike the 500 or so steps to the top of it, but I was still recovering from Notre Dame. Besides, I can't climb to the top of every Duomo in one trip.

After admiring the Duomo, we headed to the San Lorenzo Market Place. My dad had gotten idea in his head that he HAD to buy a "good looking" pair of shoes in florence, it was all he talked about the entire trip thus far. After wandering the numerous stalls, he ended up walking away with a nice looking belt. I found a nice black glass ring to replace the glass ring I broke earlier that day. I know I couldn't keep the ring in one piece for a week- luckily the cheaper knock off ring I bought in florence has dropped multiple times and has yet to shatter. Maybe those Venetians aren't that good with glass after all...

Andiamo Firenze

The hour and flirty minute train was barely long enough for me to finish  my wine, but it get us to Florence. I have traveled in and out of the Santa Maria novella train station more times than I can remember and not much has changed. The same can be said about Florence, some new restaurants have opened and a few have closed, but the city is the same as it was 10 years ago and probably even 100 years ago. 

We hopped a cab to the hotel. Katy and Jon had there first real taste of "Italian driving"- red lights are just suggestions and it's goes virtually unnoticed when say your cab driver takes out a parked Vespa. The hotel was the perfect location about equidistant from Palazzo Vecchio and Rupublicia. The duomo was only a ten minute walk and the Ponte Vecchio was right around the corner a few blocks. 

We settled into the hotel and then crossed the Arno to see if an old panino haunt was still in business. 

Gustopanino was the best panini place we found in Florence back in the day (according us). It has recently expanded and added on a pizzeria. It was good but not as good  I remembered.   We then walked across the Ponte Vecchio and returned to the hotel so the kids could take a nap.

Mom and I took a stroll around town. We ended up circling the duomo and coming back to wake everyone up for dinner. 

Katy had found a mozzarella bar on yelp, we decided to try and it was amazing. We decided to spilt the tasting plate which came with five different types of mozzarella, a charcuterie plate, focaccia and grilled veggies. To say it was amazingly magically delicious not only sounds like a lucky charms commercial but it doesn't do it justice- hopefully the photos will help:

Milan

We hired a car to drive us from Moltrasio to Milan. The drive took about an hour to reach the hot sticky metropolis of Milan. I'm gonna keep it real: I don't love Milan. It's too modern. The people are rude-like the level rude people who have never been to France say the French are. It's a uppity city- people wear Prada and Gucci and if you don't you are treated like you showed up to the oscars wearing clearance clothes from the dollar store.  It's just not my cup of tea- sorry Milano. I wanted to see Davinci's Last Super, but the next opening to view it wasn't until November. Epic fail. 

As a result my Milano experience is gonna have minimal play in this blog. We hit the Italian Rodeo Drive, where we couldn't afford to even window shop. Mom and I decided to see what the hotel called an Italian version of Nordstrums- try Bergdorf Goodman- The aisles we lined with red carpet dress designers, the shoe section was like falling into Carrie Bradshaw's closet. 

The Duomo was another experience. They were renovating it and either DKNY is paying for it or the chruch has majorly sold out. There were billboards plastered on the side of it and around the front they actually had a digital billboard- on the church! Once you got in the duomo, you had the option to buy a two euro wristband so God will allow you to photograph the interior. My mom and I decided to forego that fee and take photos anyway. (We figure she was already going to hell since the first words she uttered in the Duomo was "that bitch"). We lit a few candles and wandered around. The church is pretty from the outside. It's sort of a mix bag of architectural styles because it's construction took over six centuries to complete. It's a little bit gothic with a splash of Neo-classical and a hint of crazy. It's the forth largest church in the world (or maybe just Europe, my google memory skills are lacking as I write this on the train.)  The inside of the church is alright, not worth the 2 euro few to take photos. Here are some illegally taken photos: 

I will fully admit I'm biased and will never love Milan as much as Paris or Florence - so if you find yourself in Milan check it out (you'll probably have to cause there ain't much to do). Last time we were in Milan, my mom and I did go to the roof of the duomo- there is an elevator unlike Notre Dame- and that was pretty cool. 

We also went to the Galleria Victorio Emanuele II, it is foundly refered to as the living room of Milan and that is because you can see everything walking around the esplanade. 

We played tourist and did the traditional spinning in the bull's balls for good luck. I guess in the central point of this cross shaped galleria the coat of arms of Rome, Milan, Florence and Torino are displayed. Milan and Torino have some classical giants/dodger feud going on, so it is said that if you put your right heel in the Torino' bull's balls and spin around three times good luck will find you. I have started to question the validity of these touristy traditions- part of me believes that a few drunk Europeans got together and made up these so called "traditions". Either way it has caught on because there is a huge dent in the mosaic of the bull, where tourist have trampled his testicles. My dad and I both took our turns with the bull-hopefully it will pay off in Vegas.

A lot of our time in Milan was spent on the rooftop bar at our hotel, which had the most amazing view of the Duomo. 

The best food was we found was at a cafe called Charlston. It was packed full of locals and the food was amazing. The food was good enough to make the poor service worth it. 

 

Lago di Como

We left Venice the same way we arrived, on a private water taxi and not wanting to go. The water taci took us down the grand canal one last time before dropping us at the train station. We boarded a train to Milan, where we would transfer on the way to Lake Como. 

George Clooney was not at the station to meet us or offer us his villa to stay at, but we are staying at a hotel right on the lake in the small town of Moltrasio. We were starving from the commute to Como and the hotel restaurant did not open until 8. Jon, Katy, and mom napped while dad and I ventured out to find something to hold us over for the next 2 hours. Right around the corner from the hotel was a cafe which had the best panini and really cheap cocktails. 

At 8 o'clock we made our way to the hotel restaurant, which was on a terrace over looking the lake. It was beautiful but mom had a no electronic rule at dinner so my photos are lacking. I'll try to sneak down before we leave today and get photos. Dinner was really good, minus the fish bone that got lodged in my esophagus. The chocolate mousse was not- it tastes like soggy oatmeal. We made plans to take the ferry and spend the day in Bellagio the next day. 

We returned to that cafe to have paninis for breakfast before boarding the ferry to Bellagio. The ferry from Moltrasio takes over an hour to reach Bellagio. It bounces along the coastline stopping at the small villages around the lake and give you the best views of the fancy villas around the lake. 

Most of us enjoyed the view, while dad slept. 

Bellagio looks like a set from a movie with a Main Street that runs parallel to the water. The buildings are all covered in ivy and every restaurant has an amazing view of the water. 

We had a wonderful lunch over looking the lake. Afterwards we window

Shopped along the promenade and I ate some more gelato. We had a few drinks and some more gelato before catching the ferry back to Moltrasio. 

We decided to explore the town, which meant we walked to the hotel next door to their restaurant. Katy and my mom ordered enough risotto to feed a family of 6, while I ordered cannoli. I will have dreams about this dinner. 😋 

The next morning I woke up early, hoping to get some pool time in but unfortunatly the sun didn't break through until we right before we had to leave for

Milan. However, my dad and I did get the waterfront patio all to ourselves. I would have loved to spend an extra day in Como. Mostly because it was so

Relaxing and beautiful, but also because I loath Milan. 

Prosciutto, prosciutto, prosciutto

Our second day in Venice, we had breakfast at the hotel which put out a nice little spread. Instead of the usual pastries most European hotels give you with the free breakfast; they had fruit, cheese, charcuterie, booze, eggs, pancakes, and little hampster balls of caprese salad (see below). 

I loaded my plate up with prosciutto as I would continue to do every morning until we left Venice. I'm pretty sure the wait staff attempted to ration the prosciutto for me, but I wore them down and it wasn't long before they were giving me my own platter. "Some of us" had a hard time getting started that morning ... And pouring the coffee. 

When we finally found our map we decided to head to the Rialto Bridge- which was ridiculously full of tourists. Naturally, we stopped for a beverage and people watched before hiking across the Rialto bridge and checking out the market across the canal. 

Then came lunch, I don't remember the name of the restaurant or how we found it- I think we must have just wandered down a random alleyway, but it was so good. My second meal of the day was primarily prosciutto based. I was supposed to share the plate with my mom- but I,embarrassingly, ate the WHOLE plate solo. Don't judge me- you would have done the same. 

After lunch, in true Italiano fashion, Jon and Katy needed a nap. Mom and I somehow roped Dad into going to Palozzo Grassi- the last villa that was built on the Grand Canal and is now a museum housing contenporary art installations. The first installation was the best and arguably the only thing worth seeing in the whole villa. It was a completely white room that was domed off and the lighting made it look like it went on forever. After buying your ticket and putting booties on you could walk in it and see how far it went back. When you looked back toward the exit, it looked like a regular white room with harsh lighting and curved walls- but while you looked ahead you didn't know where the room ended till you started walking up the curve of the wall. 

The rest of the museum was .... Interesting. If you ask my dad he would say "it sucked". And to be fair, it was weird. It was one of those pretentious art museums where they housed three all white canvases called Red, Blue, and Green. Dad decided to sit in one of the installations claiming he could only make it better (the picture is somewhere on my camera). The photography exhibit was ok, but not really worth the price of admission. It also seemed like a waste of such an incredible building. They basically gutted the place to make room for the "art". Quelle Dommage.

After that farce, I was in desperate need of pizza. We went to this place that was passable but not worth mentioning by name. There was no basil on my margarita pizza and Katy had to make her own caprese. However,  I rediscovered my love for lemonata. I had completely forgotten about this drink, which-other than wine- I lived on when I studied abroad. It's basically fizzy lemonade and is super tasty. I know Louie and Tante H are judging me for not having Vino but it was like a million degrees in the restaurant and I needed something refreshing. Before returning to the hotel, a gelato stop was also made. 

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Our last full day in Venice had a rather long to do list to accomplish and it started with my personal mission of eating all the prociutto in Venice: mission accomplished. ✔️

Then came the Venice tradition of Harry's Bar. Hemingway considered it his cheers bar and ever since mom and Haroldine found it- we always have to stop in for a Bellini whenever we find ourselves in Venice or any other city with a ciprianis. 

Every other time we go, dad gets denied entry because he isn't wearing long pants. This time they allowed him and Jon in with there shorts but banished us to the second floor.  Where the bellini are still over priced but delicious. They even gave us yummy appetizers to hold us over til we stumbled over to St. Mark's Square. 

The chruch was being renovated so we decided to have dessert on the piazza and take silly pictures while tripling our caloric intake for the day. 

Mom took us down a small alley leading off the piazza where she once bought some vases from a little old man on her first visit to Venice. The shop now belongs to the man's son who sells traditional Venitian masks. He was very friendly telling us how he made all the masks with his wife by hand. He explained the different types of masks and even let us take photos in them without the pressure of buying them. Katy and I both got two masks because we are greedy and they were just too beautiful not to get. Katy has all the pictures which I'll get eventually and if you watch her YouTube Chanel she posted a video of it and the rest of her time in Venice :(http://youtu.be/ZdJJICl9toY) 

For lunch, we had to try one of the ristorante that Tante H recommended. She didn't let us down, it was delicious! I had spaghetti with black truffles and olive oil. I couldn't even tell you what everyone else ordered cause I was too focused on my vino and pasta. Thanks for the tip, Tante! 

Dad and I decided to have a few drinks while everyone slept in the afternoon. We started at the hotel next door because they had seating along the canal and it was 2 meters away from where we were standing. There's a pretty funny video of dad making friends with a seagull that I'll post when I get home. 

We then decided to wander the streets and find a new bar. Along the way we came across a small shop where a man was molding little glass sculptures and jewelry. Which reminded me of the first time I went to Venice and bought a beautiful glass ring that I manage to break in Siena about a week before I came back from study abroad. It was heartbreaking and I still have the the two pieces. My dad found a replacement :

We then headed to the Black Jack bar, where the do not play black jack or have vodka- but they do made amean cappuccino. 

     

We eventually returned to the hotel to collect everyone for the evening. Jono and Katy disappeared for a gondola ride for an hour-Leaving mom and I to explore the worlds smallest H & M and eat gelato (Roy disappeared to a bar). 

We had decided to eat our last meal on a piazza we must have past three times a day. It featured two tented restaurants, the first turned the men away because of the the shorts they were sporting. Feeling rejected we walked to the restaurant across the piazza. I think we all ordered pizza and it was magical. I know it sounds pretty basic to order pizza in Italy, but here pizza isn't papa johns- it is an art and not the art from that crappy museum. 

Everyone went back to bed after dinner, while I went to this bar behind the the opera house. We found it after lunch, and loved that it had these cozy arm chairs on the piazza to sit in. I did a midnight stroll around a deserted Piazza San Marco one last time before heading back to the hotel and getting lost about six times along the way. 

We finally made it to Venice!

We landed in Venice after a short flight from Paris. We took a private water taxi to our hotel which is located on the grand  canal. Jon was so excited to be in Italia he bolted of the plane and was walking about 10 meters ahead of the rest of us. In case you were wondering about Katy's baguette, she carried it on the plane and even bought cheese at the airport to eat with it.

Dad and I headed straight to the lobby bar, where I had the worst Martini ever created. When we all regrouped we decided to stroll around Venice, after about 10 minutes we realized no one had the forethought to grab a map and we were lost. We wandered the Canals and eventually ended up at cute looking restaurant on a small canal. The high light of diner was when miss Katy grabbed the wine bottle and poured it into her olive oil thinking it was balsamic vinager. Her loving husband just stood by as she was about to eat it. We called it an early night and eventually found our way back to the hotel. 

Au Revior Paris

In one of my favorite movies, Sabrina, as the title character is leaving Paris to return to America she says "America is my country and Paris is my hometown". I'm pretty sure she stole it from Gertrude Stien, but either way I have always felt that way about Paris. Even though it is a foreign city where I don't really speak the language, know a soul, and only know what I've seen in films or read in books- but it never has felt like a strange intimidating city. It always feels like home and it's always hard to leave.

Last night we returned to the restaurant we dined at the night before, St Regis Cafe on Ile St Louis and dominated the massive cheese plate that we regretted not getting the night before (that's clearly the before photo). We then walked around and said one final Au Revoir to Notre Dame. 

This morning we all spent the better part of it attempting to repack our suitcases. Surprisingly enough, Katy and I finished early enought to head to the pâtissiere for our croissant breakfast. She bought a baguette to bring to Italy with us just in case they ran out. 

 

My mom found the locks she brought with her and we all headed towards the bridge. Attaching a lock to a bridge and throwing the key into the water is an Italian tradition that has made it's way around the world. It is supposed to be symbolic that your love is eternal. A bridge in Paris has already been damaged and cumbled under the weight from all the locks. There  was very little room left on the bridge we selected, so Katy and my mom attached their locks to random strangers (I wonder if that changes the meaning behind it?). 

Currently we are sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Venice to begin boarding. I can't wait for some gelato and pizza. Ciao for now!