Month: July 2017

After several days of being on the move, including the flight  over, we were both ready to sleep in and not have an agenda. I ended up missing breakfast (they serve until 10am), so Dana was kind enough to head out around the little town with me once I was ready and have a few more cappuccinos. 🙂

We found a cute little place and people watched for a bit. Dana was ready for a pool day at the fancy adjacent hotel that we had access to use, and I was ready to start blogging. I know if I get too far behind, I will never catch up!

Getting to blogging was so much drama. Trying to find wi-fi in this little town that didn’t keep crashing seemed almost impossible. I almost missed the days when you could ask for an Internet cafe and be assured of dependable wifi. Nowadays, all of the hotels and public spots offer ‘free wifi’ but depending on how many people are using the network, it can be so slow it is not worth the effort. Our hotel’s wifi, for example, is horrible…it works great between about 2pm-4pm, but that is about it.

I finally found a spot at a nearby restaurant bar that let me order minimal food and start blogging. Cheers to ‘Paulon Di Vino Caffe’ – Yelp review coming right up! I felt the release I always feel when I blog, so happy to process and get it all out before I forget. And Dana, she was happy as could be poolside next door. It was a great day and afternoon!

 

So after all of the thrills of Alpyland and not getting back to the hotel until around 7:00pm, we decided to find the town grocery store and possibly just pick up ‘snacks’ to eat on our balcony and watch the sunset in the comfort of our room. The store closed at 7:30pm so we had to hustle.

Our main goal was getting ‘big waters’ for the room as we had been paying 2 Euro a pop for the little water bottles. We found the big liter water bottles thinking they were 1 euro per bottle, such a deal! Only to find out the next day, they were only actually .19 cents per bottle. What? How can we be in a country where great wine is 4 Euro a glass and a liter of water is about 20 cents? Italy is truly a marvel.

Anyway, we get to the store and Dana finds some ‘to go’ salads. We then try to roam around and find salami and cheese. I suggest we forgo the pressed salami meats in the cold section and buy some of the good stuff in the back. The only challenge is they won’t slice the salami for you. That was fun to try to slice back in the room with a table knife. I feel lucky to still have all of my fingers. I pick out a local salami and cheese to go and then Dana says, ‘Hey, should we grab a bottle of wine?’ Sure, why not? We peruse the wines and NOTHING looks familiar. We could go with a 5 Euro Chianti or a 22 Euro with all kinds of awards on it. We figured, we had a cheap dinner tonight so lets splurge on the wine. Happy with our selections we head back to the hotel to begin our picnic.

The sunset doesn’t set here until like 9pm or something. You can still see light in the sky at 10pm and the sun is up by 5am. It makes for long days and so much opportunity to see and do a lot in the daylight. It was fun to have this evening to relax in the room and eat our picnic.

I start unpacking more of my clothes and Dana opens the wine and goes out on the balcony to read a little bit and sip the wine. After 10 minutes, I ask her ‘how is the wine?’ She says, ‘Oh I don’t know, I’m hoping it grows on me.’ I decide to try it and pour a glass. And oh my! First it comes out like a brownish color – the same color the wine is when you save the bottle way too long and it may just be okay for a cooking wine, but probably not. I taste it and want to spit it out. I say, ‘Hey, it’s not you, I think this fancy bottle we got has been spoiled on the shelves of that hot grocery store.’ We bemoan that we spent so much and a spoiled bottle of wine.

Dana is not going to let the evening be ruined. She goes downstairs to get another bottle. She tells the sad story to the old bartender who she said was very empathetic, not making her feel bad – kind of like ‘hey, we have all been there, but don’t EVER buy wine at a grocery in Italy! The grocery is for grocery. Let me fix this for you and find you something worthy of sipping on tonight!’

He comes through…so now we are 44 Euro in with the wine and I am feeling more and more annoyed at the injustice of the grocery wine fail and wishing/hoping the grocery was like Trader Joe’s where you could just go back and say, ‘Hey, it’s no good.’ And with a smile, they refund your money. I tell Dana, ‘Tomorrow, I will go speak to the manager, we at least have to try.’ She said, ‘Good, good, I will not say a word but stand behind you for tall moral support.’

So the next day, we did go to that store and we found the ‘manager’s’ counter, which kind of looked like it doubled as a tourist office. I said, “Hi, we bought this wine and well, when we poured it, it was brown.” She replied, “Well, OF COURSE, it’s brown, it’s a (ees-a) Barrolo.” I said, thinking how can I say this delicately, ‘Well, it tastes like vinegar, please try it.’ NEVER dreaming she would try it. At Trader Joe’s, you basically just have to say ‘Hey, I actually decided I feel like Chardonnay tonight’ and they say, “Of course, here is your refund!” Not quite, but love me some TJs. So she goes and pulls a mini-Dixie cup and starts pouring the wine.

Our eyes get big and we both start internally doubting our wine tasting abilities for about 2 seconds. It only takes that long for her to taste and say ‘Oh, that’s TERRIBLE!’  While they don’t refund money, she says we can go  pick out another bottle of the same wine. We say, um, we don’t trust that wine anymore. She then says, let me help you and personally walks us over to pick out another great wine of equal value. We both are so relieved and felt a small win – Dana and Lisa =  1, Grocery Store = 1 (giving them a point for being great and acknowledging it was a bad wine!) Giving us a big point for being almost 50 and not afraid to go right wrongs.

One experience Dana wanted to make sure she did again this trip that she had enjoyed when she was here 2 years ago. Was a visit to Alpyland. Which is an alpine slide roller coaster where you are ‘in control.’ As it required taking a ‘cable car’ lift to ascend to the 5,000 mountain – we figured it was also a good day to go as the air would be much cooler than it was down at the lake on this day. It was at least in the low 90’s with high humidity – so you were feeling hot and wanting any relief. This seemed like a great idea.

It only required a 15-minute walk to the cable car lift station. The 15-minute walk felt like an hour walk in the heat and it gives you time to think about what you brought in your suitcase to survive the rest of this heat wave the next 2 weeks. I was recalling every non-cotton top I had packed and thinking, why, why, why?

We finally made it to the cable car station and took the ride up. Halfway up you change cable cars, and then to get to the tippy top where Alpyland is…it requires getting on one last lift, which is basically a 2 man chair lift. In the winter, this is a ski-resort.

Up at Alpyland (I like saying Alpyland), Dana tells the ticket guy, ‘Three rides each please.’ I was thinking, ‘Wow! She really IS into it.’ Couldn’t imagine I’d want three rides, but I trusted her judgement. Here to say the ride did NOT disappoint! It was thrill to whip around on that alpine slide which they said was completely safe at full speed, but still you had to wonder…really?

We did our 3 rides each and couldn’t have been happier to be cool and feel like a kid again on this ride. It did all of the same things to your stomach that Space Mountain does at Disneyland and made you laugh and scream all at once. I’m certain thousands of vacation happy endorphins were released this afternoon all over Alpyland!

We had pre-purchased rail tickets prior to our trip which made travel super easy and guaranteed seating during busy summer travel. The Milano Centrale train station was hopping and definitely has the feel of place where the center of Europe converges and travelers from all over the world pass through.

The train station was hot and we arrived a little early so passed some time in a lavishly air-conditioned Sephora to cool down. We then people watched as we waited for our train to arrive that would take us to Stresa on Lake Maggiore.

It was absolutely fun to people-watch at the train station, busy with the hub-bub of summer travel.

As we waited for our train to make it to the station, we laughed when we heard them announce ‘Stresa’ – realizing this whole time we had been saying ‘Stressa’  – like how we felt prior to leaving. Stresa (stray-sah) had a much better feel to it.

We boarded our train and for only $10 Euro each were in the first class train cabin with tons of room and more reclining seats. You are required to store you luggage above your head on the racks and I am thankful for Dana’s height to get both of our bags above our heads. And I am IMPRESSED that she can lift hers above her head that far – she went with the ‘I am 50 and want more options’ method of packing this trip and is carrying around more than usual. She is up for the task though and willing to carry the best up and down any stair case and over her head at any time. I would never last – but size is all relative right? Our luggage kind of looks like us standing next to each other.

The train ride was only about an hour and a very smooth ride. Soon enough we were in Stresa and easily took a cab to our lakeside room. Although the decor in the room is a little gaudy, we coudn’t be happier with the balcony and views. We are excited to have the next 3 days and nights here!

By now we were ready for a little lunch. Dana had remembered a great place when she was here 2 years ago with her daughter, Megan. It did not disappoint. We enjoyed a most delicious lunch under the shade, completely thrilled with our lunch selections and Chardonnay selection.

Such fresh, local ingredients. The tomatoes were unreal as were all of the flavors together. We were in heaven.  #lunch #winning

Milan was really just a ‘landing’ place for us after our international flight before we headed to our first destination, Lake Maggiore.

Our hotel had a cool downstairs restaurant for dining. We enjoyed our breakfast here, but for the life of us couldn’t eat anyone to bring us our FIRST Italian cappuccino. I decided to ‘yelp’ a good coffee spot. You can’t mess up your first coffee experience in Italy, it might mess up your whole trip! Thank you Yelp, we found a spot just an 8 minute walk away. Couldn’t have asked for a better cappuccino or more patient barista. Dana asked for a ‘latte’ and he said ‘milk only?’ She said, ‘yes’ as in ‘don’t need sugar.’ He said, ‘hot?’ She said, ‘yes.’ So that’s what she got, hot milk. LOL. When he served it up right in front of us sans coffee and she saw my cappucino, she said ‘no, no…that is what I wanted, the cappuccino.’ He was so gracious and quickly disposed of the hot milk drink and we had 2 cappuccinos presented as our ‘firsts’ of the trip. Vacation saved! Ha ha.

24 hours before our flight departure, Air France emailed us for check-in and gave us a tempting offer. For just 15% more of our ticket price they wanted to know if we want to upgrade to Business Class where we could lay flat? The question was not whether or not we wanted to lay flat on an red-eye 11 hour flight, it was, did we want to spend 15% more? It took us about 15 seconds to decide, um, yes. Upgrade please! The most challenging part of any international travel is the discomfort of a coach seat for so long and trying to get comfortable – to have this opportunity – we were both so excited at even the thought.

From the moment we found our seats – and were offered champagne pre-flight, we couldn’t have been more giddy to discover all of the luxuries of the upgrade. Our own space, non-stop meal service, slippers, toiletries, unlimited movies, your own down comforter. How do you even want to sleep? The whole time I felt like Belle in the ‘Be Our Guest’ scene of Beauty and the Beast.

We kept looking over at each other with the happiest grins as we were discovering all of the extras of the flight. Worth EVERY BIT of the 15%. After dinner was served (and they get to it very quickly so you can maximize the flight time and sleep), I finished watching my movie, did my nighttime routine and fell blissfully asleep for the rest of the flight. It felt impossible that they woke me up one hour prior to landing to serve breakfast. That was the quickest 11 hour flight EVER!

 

 

When we arrived in Paris we had about 1 hour and 30 minutes to get to our next flight. That seems like a good buffer – but really, it is tight as you have to get through security again and passport control. And for some reason Passport Control had only 3 agents open for plane loads of passengers. The passport control area is muggy and you are in a sea of people – you feel yourself melting and you slowly get processed through and you remember the unique joys of summer travel. One hour later we were at our gate for Milan and they were already boarding.

Our flight to Milan was grounded after we boarded for 35 minutes because of the Paris air show, huh? And, ironically, the hour flight seemed longer than the whole 11 hour flight to Paris. Also, once we boarded, it felt really hungry as we were now used to eating every 3-4 hours. We awaited the air service with eager anticipation. And they served us….wait for it, wait for it…our choice of beverages and two tiny tiny fruit cobblers. That was a first? We were like, welllll, we are hungry and this is what they are serving, so ‘Bon Appetit!’

We arrived in Milan, claimed our bags and headed to the train station to take the 1 hour train to Milano Centrale, (the train station closest to our hotel). The train ride was about an hour but very comfortable and in an air conditioned coach. It didn’t seem long at all and it was very easy to get to our final destination. Once in Milano Centrale, we took a cab to our hotel – which was really only about a 5 minute cab ride.

Our air conditioned room was waiting for us and we grabbed a quick bite in our hotel restaurant where we dined on wine, proseco, salads, meatballs, and risotto. The beverages were lovely, the risotto was outstanding, the meatballs not so much. It was like a cross between a crab cake and a meatball with no sauce. But still, it was altogether good. And we had arrived safely, cheers to that!

 

When you are ready for a vacation, perhaps nothing is more thrilling than doing your work ‘out of office’ reply on your email realizing you’ll be gone for 16 days. You actually feel gleeful when typing up your automated response. Oh, the joys of ‘checking out.’

Ten years ago, my high school BFF (Dana) and I celebrated our 40th birthday in Italy. It was the trip of a lifetime and we mused back then over wine and an exquisite plate of meat and cheese, ‘We must do this again on our 50th!’

Who knew the last decade would pass so quickly and we would be looking forward to ‘Over the Hill’ celebrations in September (when we actually both turn 50) so quickly?

You are welcome to join us for our adventures if you need a little break in the next two weeks. We’ll be traveling to Milan, Lake Maggiore, Tuscany, and Florence. Believe it or not, blogging is how I relax at night and absorb all of the magic of the day. I also do a blog to create a history and memory for myself to read at a future time.

Here is a picture of us from our trip 10 years ago. Younger then – yes, wiser now – yes. Here we go again…