- Thursday and Friday – Susan gave me a ride to IAD to catch a 10 PM flight to Munich, with a connection there to Milan. The departure was on time, but at about 1 AM, the crew detected smoke in the galley, and the flight was turned around and diverted back to Boston. We landed at about 2 AM, waited in the plane until about 3, and were then evacuated into an empty airport with one Lufthansa ground associate there to help the hundreds of passengers find lodging and alternate flights. I was able to contact Lufthansa by phone, after about an hour, and scheduled a 5 PM SwissAir flight to Milan. I then grabbed a cab to an airport motel, arriving about 6 AM. I slept until about 1 PM, then headed back to the airport to talk to the Lufthansa people about reimbursement (the airport ground staff weren’t able to describe the process) and to grab the evening flight to Italy. The SwissAir flight was pleasant. I sat next to a Swiss guy who had also been on the diverted flight from the night before and an Israeli traveler.
- Saturday – We arrived in Milan [map] about 9 AM. I was able to retrieve my luggage by about 10 and headed to the city on the train. I forgot to have my train ticket validated, and a checker on board the train fined me 21 Euros (all of the Euros I could come up with). I met two women from Washington state on the train who were on a Rick Steves tour with their husbands. I got to my hotel (Glam Milano) around 10 AM, too late to join the Milan tour (including a viewing of the Last Supper) I had scheduled, and rested for a while. After the brief rest, I roamed around town for a few hours, returning to the hotel at 7 PM for dinner (nice buffet, included in my room rate). After dinner, a little more roaming, then back to the hotel around 10 PM. [Finished DeLillo’s “Zero K”, started Calvino’s “Invisible Cities”]
- Sunday – After an early breakfast I took a quick hike into the city center, briefly checking out the Duomo, the Galleria, and the Sforza Castle. After the walk, I took the metro back to the hotel, packed up, and caught the train back to Malpensa airport for the rendezvous with the REI group. The group included Lois and Bill Black from New Jersey, Don and Nacole Ellis from San Francisco, Anthony from South Dakota, Katherine Smith from New Orleans, Diedra Seeber from New Orleans, Michelle Gosom from Los Angeles, Jim and Anne Hardebeck from southern California, Susan and Bob Beatty, and John and Debbie Buswell from Washington. Our guides were Chiara Pulvirenti from Sicily, and Andrea Fornaroli from Milan. We loaded our stuff into the bus that would take us to Lake Como [map] and hit the road around 2 PM. After negotiating the narrow streets into Bellagio, we got to our hotel, the Hotel Excelsior Splendide, where I had an “attic room” with a small balcony that overlooked the lake. I unpacked, and met the REI group in the lobby for a hike around town. We toured the Villa Melzi garden where we had brief introductions, then walked across town to the other branch of Lake Como. We walked to a seafood restaurant in town [seafood ravioli, orzo with battered fish, etc.], and then strolled back to the hotel.
- Monday – Breakfast at the hotel, and then down to the lake to take a boat to Varenna [map], which was the starting point for the day’s hike. The hike followed the The Path of the Wanderer to the Castle of Vezio, and then to Bellano [map]. In Bellano, we stopped for lunch at a lakeside cafe (pizza Napoli, gelato), and then visited the Orrido of Bellano, a deep gorge cut by glacial action. After touring the gorge, we took a boat back to Bellagio. I rested in the hotel for an hour or so, then met the group for the bus ride into the hills for dinner. We stopped by a high viewpoint on the road to take pictures. At the viewpoint, Andrea Mizzani (the guide who led my Volcano Route tour a few years earlier, and a colleague of Andrea and Chiara) stopped by to say hi (he lived near the viewpoint). After the visit, we drove to the Madonna del Ghisalla church (“home to the patron saint of cyclists), and then to a mountain restaurant (I had polenta with venison). After dinner, some of us took a brief stroll to the tip of Bellagio, “the point that divides the wind.”
- Tuesday – Today’s hike was an 8 mile walk to the summit of Mount San Primo (5570′) [map]. We had a picnic lunch at the summit, where we were joined by three hungry horses. On the way back to the bus, we stopped for a rest and a beer. After a brief rest at the hotel, we met to go to a wine tasting, where we sampled three wines from the Valtellina Valley. After the wine tasting, we walked to a nearby restaurant (Andrea Mizzani joined us for dinner).
- Wednesday – We departed Bellagio about 8 am, taking a ferry to an awaiting bus that took us to Tirano, in the Valtellina Valley. In Tirano, we boarded the Bernina Express, a World Heritage train route that crosses the Swiss Engadin Alps, skirts the Piz Palu glacier, crosses the Bernina Pass (7600′), and that would take us to St. Moritz [map]. In St. Moritz, we checked into our hotel (Hotel Sonne), unpacked, and met for a walk to Lej da Staz. After the walk, we returned to the hotel for dinner.
- Thursday – After breakfast, we walked across town to the gondola station and rode into the Bernina mountain range for a half-day hike above the town. We hiked in a light rain for most of the walk, and decided to descend a little earlier then planned. On my way to breakfast, I seemed to pull a muscle in my left groin, and by the end of the day, my leg was sore enough to make walking difficult. Anne gave me some medicine for the pain and a long length of gauze to strap the pulled muscle. I skipped the afternoon activities (a visit to a museum dedicated to the work of Giavanni Segantini) and took a hot bath to relax my leg. Deidra stopped by on her way to dinner and invited me to join her and Kathryn at the hotel restaurant. We enjoyed an early dinner, and I returned to my room to rest for the long hike on Friday.
- Friday – Early breakfast at the hotel, and returned to the room to wrap my leg for the day’s hike. We took a city bus to Pontresina [map], where we loaded on to a couple of horse-drawn carriages that would take us to the Hotel Roseg Gletscher, where we started the day’s hike. We hiked to the Chamanna Tschierva hut (8441′) [map], where we had a picnic lunch in the shadow of the Biancograt. The 11 mile hike included some sections of beautifully built hiking trails, including long sections of stone turnpike at the higher elevations. A light rain started falling toward the end of the return to Pontresina.
- Saturday – We departed St. Moritz after breakfast, taking a bus back to Milan. En route, we drove through the Maloja Pass, visited the Cascate dell’Acqua Fraggia, and stopped for a walk and lunch in the ancient town of Chiavenna. In Milan, we checked in to our hotel (Andreola Central), then took the metro into the city center to meet our guide for a tour of the Duomo and other nearby sites. After the tour, we walked through town and had a late dinner and said our farewells.
- Sunday – Woke up feeling like a cold was coming on (sniffles, etc.). I skipped breakfast at the hotel, sleeping in until it was time to walk over to the train station to catch the train to Venice. I arrived in Venice [map] around 2 and caught the vaporetto to the Sant’Angelo station, which was close to my hotel (De l’Alboro). I checked in and unpacked, then roamed around streets near hotel. I had dinner at Campo St Stefano (shrimp, 4-cheese pizza, huge beer, then took an evening walk to the Accademia Bridge and then St Mark’s square.
- Monday – After breakfast at the hotel, I walked to the Gallerie dell’Accademia, getting there a few minutes before the gallery opened (first in line). I spent about three hours in the gallery, then took a long walk through Venice, visiting the Rialto Bridge and the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. I had lunch at a street stall [a cone of shrimp and squid, and two orders of grilled squid], and then took a vaporetto to Piazzale Roma, where I started the Steves’ “Grand Canal Cruise”, which ended at St. Mark’s. Walking back to my hotel, I ran into Jim and Anne, who had just run into Jim, Lois, and Michelle. I rested for a while at the hotel, then headed back to Campo St Stefano for dinner (biscoti, spaghetti, and wine).
- Tuesday – After breakfast at the hotel, I took a vaporetto to St Marks, where I toured the Campanile, the Doge’s Palace, and St Mark’s Basillica. After seeing the sites at St. Marks, I took a vaporetto to the San Toma stop, stopped by my “regular” lunch place (see Monday), and then walked to the Scuola San Roco to see its collection of Tintorettos. I walked back to San Toma and took the vaporetto to Piazzale Roma to start the “Grand Canal Cruise” outline in the Rick Steves’ Italy book. After the tour, I rode the vaporetto back to the Ca D’Oro stop, and walked to Fondamente Nove, where I grabbed a vaporetto to Murano. After a brief walk in Murano (with dark storm clouds approaching), I took the vaporetto back to St Mark’s, and walked from there back to my hotel. I rested for a while, then walked back to Campo St Stefano for dinner. After dinner, I headed back to the hotel to pack for the trip to Florence.
- Wednesday – Breakfast at the hotel, and then a quick vaporetto ride to the Santa Lucia station to catch the train to Florence [map]. In Florence, I tried to use my off-line copy of Google maps to find my hotel (which was actually very close to the train station), but got lost (few street names included in the off-line version of Google maps) and ended up wheeling my suitcase through Florence for an hour or so, winding up in the Parco delle Cascine. I asked a bunch of older Italians at a vending truck about directions to the hotel, and although they were unfamiliar with the hotel and spoke no English, they were able to communicate the fact that I was going in the wrong direction (“Mama mia!”) and that I should head to the Arno and follow it upstream. After a nice walk along the river, I got to my hotel (arriving a little sweaty). The hotel, the Lungarno Vespucci 50, had recently been purchased by new owners and completely refurbished (very nicely done, with the friendliest staff imaginable). My room was on the first floor with large windows overlooking the Arno. I rested for a while, then stopped by the hotel desk for a map and suggestions, and headed out for an evening walk and dinner. I stopped by a tourist center to pick up a Firenze Card, then had dinner in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella. After dinner, I walked to the Fortezza da Basso, then back through central Florence to the Ponte Vecchio, and then followed the river back to my hotel as the sun was setting. At the hotel, I had a glass of wine on the terrace and met a nice couple from England (they owned a pub in Liverpool). We shared experiences in Italy (they were traveling in Tuscany), and with Lufthansa (they told me not to worry about reimbursements, which turned out to be good advice).
- Thursday – After an early breakfast in the lovely hotel dining room, I headed up to try to beat the crowds to the Ufizzi. I arrived early enough to walk right in (with my Firenze card), and found the galleries moderately crowded (when I left, the line went around the block). After a couple of hours in the Uffizi, I walked down to the Duomo, Baptistery, and Campanile (very long lines, so I put off visiting those sites), and then across the river to the Brancacci Chapel. After touring the chapel, I had a brief lunch in a nearby square, then walked across town to the Pitti Palace, touring the palace and some of the gardens. I then hiked back across the river, visited the Church of Santa Maria Novella, and then went to the train station to find a money changer (having no luck with Florentine ATMs). I had dinner in a sidewalk cafe (salad, pizza, beer) as the sun set, and then walked back to the Arno and my hotel.
- Friday – Another early breakfast in the hotel dining room, and then headed to the Accademia. I spent about an hour in the museum, then walked to the Museum of San Marco to see the amazing collection of works by Fra Angelico, and then back through town to see the Bargello. I headed back to the hotel in the early afternoon to rest for a few hours, then went back to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella for dinner, and stroll through town (celebrating my last night in Italy).
- Saturday – Got up very early to catch a 6 A.M. cab to the airport. At the relatively small Florence Airport, I ran into Ginny Dignum, who I met when we biked from Prague to Budapest in 2011. A delayed flight from Florence meant a rushed connection in Frankfurt, but I made the flight and landed at Dulles around 4 P.M. Susan was waiting to give me a ride home.
Kerry Snow's Travel Blog (and other stuff)
