51 Minutes in Milan

On our way back from Rome we changed trains in Milan.  We had a short layover there.  51 minutes, to be exact.  So what do you do with 51 minutes in Milan?

 

Check out the street vendors outside of the train station.  

Then buy a bag of dried kiwi for less than three Euros.

Attempt to find gelato.  Unfortunately all we could find was two McDonald's a block apart from each other.  Sad day.

 

Then finally, admire the beautiful train station.

I also spent about 10 minutes buying one postcard, because I paid with a 20, but only got a five and change back.  I tried to explain, using sign language, that I needed more change.  We eventually figured it out.  All and all I enjoyed Milan, or at least the train station!

P.S. 8 days until I head back to the U.S.A.

Sign of the U.S.

Just a little post about the slightly American invasion of Italy.

You Know You Are in Rome When...

 

Pasta and Gelato

You Wonder If You are in the U.S. When... 

  
A McDonald's and an Extra Large clothing store

P.S. The lovely chica over at Wearing Mascara is hosting a giveaway.  Go ahead and enter (or don't so that I can win and replace my nearly non-existent supply of makeup)!

Rome: Day II

After a good night's sleep we enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and checked out of the hotel.  We began to walk back into the heart of Rome. 

Our $80 hotel room, which included breakfast, but did have a shared bathroom.

At this point there were a few random rain drops falling, but over the course of an hour this progressed into huge fat rain drops.  The rain was still coming down when we boarded the train, and for all I know, it is still raining in Rome.  So this really put a damper on the day.  This is what we saw and did, in spite of the rain.

Though you can't tell from this picture there was rain coming in the building.

Jumping photos in the rain.

While we were temporarily lost a very nice Israeli guy stopped to help use.  After giving us directions he told us that "to trust is good, but not to trust is even better!"  He was referring to the crowds at the big sights.  I found it ironic though, because we were trusting his directions, which turned out to be legitimate.

Rome: Day I

So a few weeks ago I decided that I really needed to get out of Switzerland.  Don't get me wrong, I love the land of the Swiss, but there are many cool European cities that I need to visit.  Last weekend that city was Rome.  

    

We left Geneva on Friday night and boarded the overnight train.  We were both on the top bunk of a 6 bunk room.  It wasn't as bad as expected, until I realized that our "roommates" had moved the ladder in the middle of the night.  I was trapped, which was not as dramatic as it could of been.  I consumed just enough water to not die of thirst and just enough not to need to leave my bed.  

                                                          

Here is my friend on the right and our Canadian "roommate" on the left, sitting under my bunk.

After arriving at 9 a.m. the next day we located our hotel, dropped off our bags, and proceeded to walk around for the next 12 hours.  We stop for lunch, dinner, and many photo opportunities.  Here is what I saw and ate: 

  
     

 Making my wish at the fountain.
  

This is the view from the steps where we sat and enjoyed gelato.

   

 

The Basilica

  

 

   
Though this tortellini may not look that great, it was truly AMAZING.

RECAP

Food Consumed: Pizza, Tortellini, Gelato, Buffalo Mozzarella, and Bruschetta

Hours Walked: 11ish

Euros Spent: about 50

When Karma Meets Swiss Laundry Detergant

So I had intended to blog about the trip I took to Rome last weekend, but an unplanned event changed all that.  It started simply with the need to do laundry.  After bringing everything down to the laundry room I realized that I am basically out of laundry detergent, which I was unaware of, because I share the bottle of detergent with my roommate.  So I made the executive decision to borrow (with no intent to return) some detergent from someone else.  I loaded the washer, added soap, and went into the other room to study, which turned into blog reading.  I head back to the laundry room 12 minutes later to discover THIS:

   

     

Soap EVERYWHERE.  Big soap puddle on the floor.  Soap flowing from the machine.  This is what I get for stealing laundry detergent.  I ran to the next room, where we keep the extra towels, and grabbed as many as I could carry.  Of course I never read the directions on the bottle, because I knew that they would be in French or German.  This what I get.  And at this point even the machine figured out that something was wrong, and changed the time remaining from 12 minutes to 19 minutes.  This was also one of those moments where I felt like my life was a sitcom, or like I was Truman in the Truman Show, or possibly on candid camera.  Soon after the machine began to retaliate.  Though there were 0 minutes left on the machine it continued to tumble for at least 5 minutes, hence the dryer photo taken out of boredom.  Moral of the story: there will be consequences for stealing swiss laundry detergent from your housemates.  

P.S. Rome post soon to come.

Happy Earth Day

    

Milan, Italy                              Paris, France

              

                    London, England   

HAPPY EARTH DAY!  In honor of this great day I have posted some lovely photos of recycling around the world.  But, as my boss reminded me today, everyday should be "earth day."  I also want to take this opportunity to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little sister, who makes the world a better place.  I'm still not sure if she reads my blog, but she deserves a shout out regardless.  

Here is a great environmental blog that someone recently told me about: http://climateprogress.org/ .  One of the great things about this blog is that, since it has multiple authors, it is update multiple times every day.  For those of us slightly addicted to blogs, this is a wonderful gift.  

Locarno, Switzerland: The Hike

We spent part of Sunday morning trying to figure out how to spend our time.  We wanted to visit a nearby island, but, due to the multiple stops, the boat would take two hours to get there.  We decided to stay on the mainland, but were still slightly lost about what to do.  I felt a compulsive need to climb, but my travel buddy did not.  So we decided to split up, which is rather rare for us.  I decided to climb to this church while she spent time near the lake.  Here are the photos of my gradual progress up the hill.  


    

 

After some pain, a little internal motivation, and a few photo stops I made it to the top.  Much to my surprise there was actually a service going on in the church.  I should have considered this, since it was Easter Sunday.  However, I had just figured that the church was no longer in use.  I did peek inside, and spent a little bit of time in the back of the service.  I couldn't stay long though, because, unlike everyone else who took the tram up, I was overheating and visibly red.  After some photos at the top, I made my way back down, which was almost as equally painful due to the awkward stairs.  I am very glad I did it, even just for the view.  The overall trip took about 90 minutes.

  

   

   

   

 

Locarno, Switzerland: Day II

After a fabulous night sleep we woke up to a great hotel breakfast.  They had a cheese tray with five kinds of cheese, and if you know me you know that I love cheese.  They had a huge basket of fresh breads.  The list of treats goes on and on: five kinds of jam, hard boiled eggs, easter baskets with chocolate bunnies, orange juice, coffee, tea...  Perfect way to start Easter Sunday!

We wandered around the city and decided to take the little train around town.  We saw the scenic sites, including a campground and a Ford dealerships. It was slightly unconventional, but I enjoyed it.

 After meandering around the city we decided to have a long lunch.  Since we were as close to Italy as we could get, we decided to go for Italian food.  The pizza and past were just perfect.