rest of my stay with katia & guido

Sunday morning, we went to the local pasticciera in Rovato for a coffee and brioche for breakfast and then we stopped to see Katia’s older brother, his wife and their 2 little girls, Marta who is 2 and Emma who is 2 months old. Marta was so cute pretending to make us some coffee with her little toy kitchen and toy moka. We had a nice visit. For lunch, Katia made the most delicious chicken rolled up with cheese inside and cooked in some white wine. I made some grilled cheese sandwiches – something new for Katia, Guido, and Katia’s brother to try.

After lunch, we watched the motor bike race on TV and then went to Lake Iseo for a long walk by the lake.

When we returned to Katia's house, we began to prepare dinner. Katia invited all the people I have met during my visits there. All but one were able to come. We ate for 2 1/2 hours! We had a delicious seafood risotto that Katia made, grilled shrimp and 2 types of scampi, salad, fruit salad, and then for dessert a very special cake that Katia & Guido ordered in honor of my visit with the word "Bentornata" written on it (which means welcome back) and a toast of prosecco.

I have been so fortunate to have met such wonderful friends. After dinner, we spent more time talking and laughing. Such a wonderful night to end another great visit.

Monday morning, Katia and I spent a long breakfast chatting some more and then we walked over the the little bread store to buy some rolls. By then it was lunchtime. Katia made some more ravioli with burro and salve and then she drove me to the train station. We both said that we wait for so long to see each other again and then the time goes by so quickly.

I had a wonderful stay and look forward to showing Katia and Guido Hawaii next summer when they visit for their honeymoon (they will marry this December).

soave & the big match - italia vs us

Saturday morning...I slept well but woke up with a very sore eye. I noticed that my eye was red after landing in Milan and thought it was due to my allergies and so I thought that my allergy drops would solve the problem but this morning when I woke up, it felt like there was a scratch on my eye.

After breakfast we went to the grocery store to pick up some food for later and then went to the panificio (bread store). I love getting to do the normal every day things in Italy. I am now at Katia's other working place posting this and will then go to the Farmacia to try to get some eye drops. Luckily Katia is here to interpret. It seems that every year, I visit the Farmacia at least once. The visit to the Farmacia was a success! I found out that the allergy eye drops I was using were drying out my eyes. The new drops worked wonderfully and now my eyes are fine.

Lunch...
Katia made wonderful lunch - one of my favorite meals - ravioli con salve e burro (ravioli with sage and butter).

After lunch, we decided to go to Soave. Soave is a little town surrounded by beautiful valleys full of vineyards.

(entrance to the town)

There is a huge castle at the top of the town where we had a wonderful time exploring.

(view from outside the castle)

After walking around the inside of the castle, we decided to climb to the top. Guido and I were able to talk Katia into going about halfway up to the top of the castle where you will find a thin walkway which goes over to the top of the tower (a tower which was once used to torture people). Guido and I went the rest of the way while Katia waited for us (she is afraid of heights).

(view from the castle)

(heading to the tower)

(views from the top of the tower)

After spending about an hour in the castle, we walked back down into the town and stopped for a gelato. I chose mango & fragola (strawberry). It is so hard to describe the difference between ice cream/gelato in Italy and the US, but there is definitely a difference!! The flavors are so much more intense! The gelato was wonderful...I would have to say one of the best I have ever had.

(the most wonderful gelateria)

(town of Soave)

On our way out of town, I took a picture of the Soave Bolla building which is located right at the edge of the town. It is funny that Soave Bolla is so famous in the US but is not considered a very good wine here in Italy (or at least according to Katia & Guido - although they are spoiled with the wines of Franciacorta).

(Soave Bolla building - taken while riding in the car)

(views of the castle from the car)

After a beautiful drive back, we stopped at another grocery store to pick up some food for dinner and for all the people coming over to watch the big match.

(an entire aisle of pasta!)

(so many types of cheese!!)

We had a wonderful caprese salad for dinner as well as some proscuitto and melone.

Tonight is the big match - Italy & the US. I have been told that I can sleep in the garden if the US wins! After dinner, we waited with anticipation for the big game. Katia’s brother is a HUGE soccer fan. There were 8 people strongly rooting for Italy to win and me. Everyone joked about my allegiance to the US and how the garden would be ready for me if Italy lost. Right when the game started, it began to rain outside. I asked if they had a tent for me.

It was lots of fun watching the game and listening to the reactions when either the US or Italy got a warning or thrown out of the game with a red card. Italy scored first. Then one of the Italian players scored a goal for the US!! That did not go over well. In the end, the 2 teams tied. It ended perfectly for me as they could not be upset with the US team since Italy scored both goals.

I still had not completely recovered from jet lag and once again I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

friday in coccaglio with katia & guido

Friday morning, I was up early. I was very excited to travel to Coccaglio to spend the weekend with Katia and Guido. After stopping at a bar to have my morning espresso macchiato and a brioche, I bought a yogurt and picked up a newspaper and headed to La Rocca, a very peaceful place with a beautiful view of the city below to hang out for a while. After eating my yogurt and reading the newspaper, I went back to my hotel to check out.

When leaving the hotel with all of my luggage, I realized that I was blocked in by 2 cars. Outside the hotel, there are planters with trees in them that makes a U shape. Right next to the tiny place to exit was a car parked with only about 3 inches to spare. I had to have one of the people at the hotel help me get my bag rolling bag to fit between the planters and the car (she actually just pushed it through which was what I did not want to do as the car was pretty dirty and I did not want to get dirt all over my bag). Then I had to squeeze by almost knocking down all the branches along the way to get out with my 2nd bag on my back.

I took the funicular back down, and then caught the bus back to the train station. The train was pretty full and running about 10 minutes late. I printed out the schedule of times/stops so that I would know when we would arrive in Coccaglio. Because Coccaglio is a tiny town, the train only stops for about 30 seconds and so you need to be right at the door ready to depart. I got a little nervous as the train did not stop at the first planned stop and so I was not sure if it was going to stop at all the other stops. Also, this train did not have automatic doors that opened and so I would have to figure out how to open the door on my own. Luckily, there was a man at the door that helped me with open the door when the train stopped. Coccaglio is so small that you actually have to walk across the train tracks to get to the other side instead of going under the underpass to get to the other side.

When I got off the train, I did not see Katia at first as my train was on track 2 and she was waiting on the other side. For a moment, I had this fear that perhaps I did not get off at Coccaglio. After the train went by, I saw Katia on the other side of the track waiting for me! We were both so happy to see each and other, that we hugged right in the middle of the tracks!!

Katia took me back to her house and had lunch ready for me. She made a delicious pasta with tomatoes and a caprese salad. YUM!

(caprese salad)

After lunch, we went to the preschool where she works. She helps a student with special needs in a regular preschool setting. The children were all so cute! They have been learning about volcanoes and asked me questions about the volcano in Hawaii. I taught them the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes". They really enjoyed as we went faster and faster each time. They also taught me a song that is similar to the “Hokey Pokey”. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the preschools in Hawaii and the preschool here in Coccaglio.

When we left, we met Guido and then went to look at some apartments that Katia and Guido may rent when they get married. Then we went to see the historical part of Rovato, the town that Guido is from, and we also stopped at the mall where I bought a DVD and a CD.

We went back to Katia's house for a little while until dinner.

(this moka which was made out of cans was
next door to Katia's house at the community center)

For dinner, we went to this beautiful place on Lake Iseo to have pizza.

(view from the restaurant)

I still have not completely adjusted to the time difference and was pretty tired when we got back to Katia's house. I must have fallen asleep as soon as I hit the pillow.

departure, jet lag haze, & bergamo

Flying is so much easier now with the e-ticket system. After printing out my ticket at home, all I had to do was input the e-reservation number and a person came by to ticket my bag. I did much better this year with packing - my check in weighed 28 or 29 pounds, my carry on weighed 20 pounds and my small backpack weighed 9 pounds. I think this is the lightest I have ever traveled! All went smoothly in departing from Honolulu. The flight was on time. I sat next to a friendly guy who now lives in Ireland. Interestingly, he also is not a fan of flying. As I took my ativan before the plane took off, he took his zantax (think that is what it is called). I was able to sleep at least half of the flight.

I spent 5 hours wandering most of Newark, mainly because my connecting flight gate was listed on the board as a gate located at the other end of the airport but once I got there, I found out that they changed gates and my flight now was departing from a gate one gate away from the original gate I arrived at and so I walked all the way back through the airport back to the point where I started. Unfortunately I was not as lucky on this flight as I sat next to the crabbiest guy who said not one word and was not happy at all whenever I had to get up to go to the bathroom.

The flight was over booked and so a bargaining session began as Continental begged 3 people to give up their seats and take the same flight tomorrow with hotel accommodations and $500.00 coupon for a future flight. This went on for a while and with no takers the price slowly went up. I would have considered it if they were offering a first class ride the next day but I didn’t feel it was worth it for all the extra hassle. The final price was $900.00. Because of needing to “kick” 3 people off the plane and then because of some "baggage problem", we sat on the plane for an hour before departing.

I arrived in Italy 23 hours after departing from Honolulu. It was about 8:30 am Wed. morning (8:30 pm Tues night Hawaii time) when I arrived. There was no line at the passport control spot, the baggage came out pretty quickly and the bus was ready to go when I went outside. I took a bus to the train station in Milan and then a train to Bergamo. From the train station in Bergamo, I took a bus to the funicular and then the funicular to Bergamo Altà (the historical part of the city which is above the modern part of the city.

This was my second time in Bergamo. Last year I spent the morning in Bergamo while Katia went to a conference for work. I had such a nice time that I decided to return this year to have a little more time to explore.

I was pretty jet lagged when I arrived, so after about an hour of wandering the town, I took a long long nap. I woke up 5 hours later, just in time for dinner.

(2 pictures taken in Piazza Vecchia - 2 different ends of the piazza)

(Bergamo sweets)

The second picture is a picture of the famous Bergamo polenta cakes or "polenta e osei". I wasn't sure if I would like them but they were delicious!!

The following day, I spent some time wandering the town and then I took the funicular down to the lower city. After walking for a while, I found a great street with tons of stores.

(the lower town)

I only took a couple of pictures of the lower town as I was too busy looking in the shops.  After grabbing a bite to eat, everything shut down for the afternoon, so I headed back up to my hotel. I took another long long nap and woke up again just in time for dinner.

On the way back to my hotel after dinner, I noticed that the Duomo was lit up. I went to take a few pictures and saw that the church was open. There were only a few people inside and I thought it was quite strange that the church was open so late at night (it was about 9:30 or so).

After taking a few pictures, I started heading back to my hotel and noticed a policeman blocking traffic at an intersection. I looked up the side street and saw a procession heading towards the intersection. It was a procession of priest, nuns, townspeople, and at the end, the more important priests dressed in red and one older man with an important hat.

After they all walked by, everyone watching followed. I also followed and watched as they all proceeded to enter the church. The entire time, everyone was singing the most beautiful songs.

(blurry with no tripod but captures the moment)

Inside the church, there must have been at least 1000 people. It was the festival of celebration of the church, which I believe happens once a year. It was very interesting to watch and also very moving. There were a few prayers and more singing and then it was over.

I went back to my hotel and caught the end of the Sweden Paraguay game (World Cup or Monidiali di Calcio). It was pretty exciting as Sweden got a goal to win 1-0 right at the end of the match and I don’t think they were expected to win. It was a pretty dramatic goal.

My hotel was convenient, clean, and comfortable for my 2 night stay except for the loud noise that went on outside my hotel both nights until about 3 am. My room was decorated with photos of Hawaii!!

Bergamo is a lovely little town and a perfect way to spend the first couple of days in Italy.

2 days to go!!

Here is my final itinerary...

Dep Honolulu 9:30 pm - June 12
5 hour layover in Newark
Arrive Milano 7:55 am - June 14
(7:55 pm June 13 Hawaii time)

Bergamo (June 14-15)
Hotel Agnello d’Oro
Via Gombito, 22

Katia (June 16-18)
COCCAGLIO

Venice (June 19-22)
Hotel Al Ponte Mocenigo
S. Croce 2063

Irene & Francesco (June23-25)
EMPOLI

Lerici (June 26-29)
Doria Park Hotel
Via Doria, 2

Saluzzo (June 30 & July 1, 2, 3)
Hotel Antico Podere Propano
Via Torino, 75

Torino (June 4-8)
Hotel Victoria
Via Nino Costa, 4

Airport Hotel (June 9)
Hotel Villa Malpensa
Via Don Andrea Sacconago, 1

Dep Milano 10:30 am - July 10
short layover in Newark
Arr Honolulu 8:05 pm - July 10

1st time to Piemonte

I will end my trip in Piemonte. This will be my first visit to this region.

First stop is Saluzzo. This will be my longest train ride as there are not any direct connections from Genova to Saluzzo. I will actually change trains in Torino on the way there! While in Saluzzo, I will be staying at the Hotel Antico Podere Propano. Scroll down to the bottom of the website and click on the fotogallery link to see photos of the hotel. While in Saluzzo, I hope to do daytrips to Mondovì, Cuneo, and Savigliano. Here is a website with some photos of Saluzzo (website is only in Italian). And here is a website of Saluzzo in English.

After 4 nights in Saluzzo, I will head to Torino for my last 5 nights before heading to the airport hotel. I will be staying at the Hotel Victoria. Torino has so many things to see. I definitely want to visit the Mole Antonelliana which houses the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (Cinema Museum), the Museo Egizio (the Egyptian Museum), and the famous Caffè Al Bicerin. I may also try to do one daytrip while in Torino to Asti and/or Alba, mostly to check out the area, as I was considering staying in one of these 2 towns and may decide to stay there on a future trip.

My last night will be spent in a hotel near the airport. I have decided to try the Hotel Villa Malpensa this year (hoping it will be a better hotel than last year's airport hotel choice).

23 more days til I leave for Italia!!!

info on Lerici

Since I have never been to Lerici, I do not have any photos to share but I can tell you a little about Lerici from what I have read and share some websites.

Lerici is a resort town located on the southern part of the Ligurian Coast also known as the Italian Riviera. It is nicknamed the Bay of Poets because Byron, Shelley and Keats all hung out here. Lerici is not on the train line but can be reached by local bus from La Spezia.

I will be staying at the Doria Park Hotel. This is my "splurge" hotel as I have reserved a deluxe room with balcony and sea view.

I do not feel comfortable linking personal websites and so the only site where I could find pictures is the Commune di Lerici website which is only in Italian. You don't need to read the page though, just click on each picture for a better view.

why Empoli??

Next on my trip, will be a visit to Empoli, a town located about 30 minutes from Florence (Firenze). This is where my dear friends Irene and Francesco live.

Piazza della Vittoria in the center of Empoli.

Piazza Farinata degli Uberti or Piazza dei Leoni

The tower of S. Brigida - ruins of the third and last circle of walls.

When planning my first trip to Europe back in 1999, I found a great travel discussion board which was very helpful in planning my trip. I was very fortunate to meet Francesco on this board. I was looking for information on Florence and he was interested in learning more English.

We began to write back and forth and after a few months of corresponding, we decided to meet for dinner during my stay in Florence. My mom was nervous about me meeting a strange man that I had met over the internet. I assured her that after many months of corresponding and the fact that he was bringing his girlfriend, Irene with him, everything would be fine.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Il Pizzaiuolo and then went up to Piazza Michelangelo, which overlooks the city of Florence. It was a wonderful night. I returned to Italy the following summer. Francesco and Irene met me while I was staying in Siena. We spent a wonderful afternoon and evening together.

In April 2001, Francesco and Irene were married. I was invited to the wedding but unfortunately could not attend due to my work schedule. We met again that summer. Francesco met me in Florence and brought me back to their house in Empoli where Irene was waiting for us. They have a beautiful house built on a lot next door to his parents. This was my first time in Empoli. We had a delicous dinner with 16 of their friends. Irene is a fabulous cook! After dinner, we watched their wedding video and had a great time chatting and laughing.

In 2003, I spent the weekend in Empoli with Irene and Francesco. I stayed at Francesco's parents house next door. His parents are very kind and I felt right at home. On Sunday, we had a huge lunch at Irene's parent's house. After we finished eating, Irene's father proceeded to tell me in great detail (all in Italian) that bull fighting was a good sport. This conversation started because there was a wall hanging with a picture of a bull and bullfighter in their house. I mentioned that I thought that it was a sad way for a bull to die. He became very animated as he told me step by step with gestures and expressions about the bullfighting. Everyone was in tears laughing and each time we thought he was finished, he would continue with more information. It was a very delicious and memorable lunch!

I happened to be in Empoli the weekend of the Corpus Domini celebration. We went to the center of the town to watch the religious procession, a parade with the priests, some church members including Francesco's parents, and children that have received first communion from each church. At the end of the procession was the town band.

That evening, we had a delicious dinner at Francesco's house. I brought a little package of li hing mui with me. Those of you that have tasted li hing mui know that it has a very strong taste and you either love it or hate it. Everyone tried some after dinner. It was pretty funny watching their expressions. Francesco was sure that his father would not like it. He ended up being the only one that did like it and proceeded to eat 2 pieces saying it was better than the ice cream we had! We were all in tears laughing so hard. It was a wonderful weekend.

The following May 2004, Irene and Francesco had a baby girl named Sara. I could not wait to meet her. I returned to Italy last summer and spent another wonderful weekend in Empoli with Irene and Francesco, their adorable daughter Sara, both of their families, and some of their friends. My adventure last summer in Empoli, including making butter mochi, is in my 2005 blog.

And so that brings me to this summer when I will return for another visit...AND...there is big news - Irene is pregnant!! She is due in August.