On Saturday, I took the train from Milano to Lago di Como, where I met Fernando and his wife, his son, and his baby daughter. Fernando is Spanish, with dark coloring, and his wife Italian, also with brown eyes, but both kids have blue eyes! Very cute!
He speaks Spanish to the kids (and to his wife, who also speaks it) and she speaks Italian to them (also to Fernando), and they both of course, speak fluent English...
Before they got there, I took a cable car up to the top of the mountain, the steepest cable car I've ever seen! Then I wandered around town a bit.
Fernando chasing his son in the mini car...
Alejandro was being very shy around me.. and I tried everything to get him to smile... then I brought out my camera and all of a sudden, he starts posing and smiling! Adorable!
Isabella...
After lunch, they left, and I took a cruise on the lake.
A water view of the cable car tracks...
The Duomo...
After returning back to Milan, I thought I would go eat dinner near the famous Duomo in Milan... when the train pulled into the subway station near Duomo Plaza, I was horrified to see thousands of football fans trying to jam onto the train. I barely made my way off, and out of the station. Thinking it was some kind of game which had ended, I got above ground only to witness this spectacle! I found out later that Milan had won the championship the previous weekend at an out of town game, and so they had a big screen in Duomo Plaza to play the game and celebrate on the Saturday night!
Empty beer bottles and trash everywhere!
There was no way you could get near a restaurant with those crowds, and so claustrophobic as I am, I had to get out of there. No use trying to get back into that train station, where the line to buy tickets was about 100 people long... so I walked all the way to the next subway station and got on there.
On Sunday, Fernando came to pick me up, and we drove halfway to meet Leonardo coming from Venice, which happened to be Verona. We had a very good meeting and signed our contract/agreement.
Fernando, Laurie, Leonardo.
Since it's rather silly to go all the way to Italy for 2 days, I decided to go to the Cinque Terre, a place I've wanted to go to since the 2006 PJ tour of Europe which I had to abort (except for Verona)...
Took the train south to the coast, to the area known as Cinque Terre or "5 towns". It is a Unesco World Heritage area, and the 5 towns are linked by walking paths, a ferry and a train. I stayed in Monterosso, the first of the towns.
On the way, as we were slowing through a town, I saw that they had painted false decorations on the buildings facing the train tracks... too funny!
Monterosso.
The old town was linked to the "new town" where the train station and beach was, by a tunnel. In the tunnel were these dioramas, very interesting...
The New Town from the tunnel...
The next day, I took the train to the furthest village, Riomaggiore, and walked to the next village, Manarola, the easiest of the 4 walks and the one called the Lover's Walk. It was fairly level and paved.
Yes, that's a man down there sunbathing on the "beach"...
Traditionally, couples write their initials on a lock and place it near this statue, to lock in their love...
And there is even a bar on this walk...
And of course, I managed to catch a picture of a couple of lovers...
The next town, Manarola, was gorgeous... I walked all the way to the top to get the view, and it was well worth it!
Inside this little church...
In the evening, I took a Sunset Cruise with Angelo... He drove, his wife cooked a meal, and then we anchored at one of the towns and he then grilled some chicken and shrimp and fresh salmon, and we ate some more while watching the sun set... the sun making the towns glow...
Monterosso from the water.
The train...
4 of the 5 towns at night...
Next day, I worked all morning, then took the train to Riomaggiore again, and this time, walked to the top.
A mural on the street...
This town was a bit run-down compared to the others I saw:
But had the cutest waterfront...
I took the ferry from there back to Monterosso.
Next day, on the way back to Milan to fly home, I decided to stop by Pistoia, site of the 2006 town square concert depicted in the Immagine en Cornice movie... It was a challenge taking 2 trains there, and 2 more to Milan, and then a bus to the airport, and a shuttle to the hotel... Evidently, Italians don't believe in escalators, so I had to lug my luggage up and down stairs everywhere....
Pistoia was not the prettiest town, and the square looked much smaller than in the movie, and more run down... But the church shown in the movie was just as beautiful inside, and there was lots of black and white architecture.
The church where Boom played the organ...
Another church in Pistoia...
Uh... where am I?
The old city walls...
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