Milan and Venice, Italy

Doug and I began our trip to Milan and Venice, Italy for a long weekend. We grabbed our GPS and camera, ready for an adventure.

Entering the Mont Blanc Tunnel

We left Switzerland, traveled through France and entered Italy through the Mont Blanc tunnel. The four hour drive was filled with beauty. The majestic mountains were green and blue with evergreens until brown rocks jutted out sharply above the tree line. The twisting switchback road led to the 7.2 mile tunnel deep through the heart of Mont Blanc. The blue glacier ice hung onto the mountain in deep crevices and glistening, brilliant white snow covered the top of Mont Blanc. Medieval castles stood guard on top of the peaks in each valley. Waterfalls cascaded through ravines into rapidly flowing rivers below.  We traveled through a tunnel and over a bridge into a valley until another tunnel ushered us into the next valley. Over and over we went through mountains until suddenly everything was level and we reached the plains. Farmers were making hay and growing corn in their fields for the small herds of cows grazing on the pastures near the barn. Row after row of grape vines wrapped themselves around trellises on the steeply inclined terraces. A lone coyote walked across the field of foot high corn plants. A photo could not do justice to the profound beauty before us. Doug loved the two Lamborghini's that flew past us while we kept to the speed limit. Tickets are never fun, but substantially more difficult in a foreign country. We arrived in Milan just as the sun was setting.

Milan World Expo 2015

The United Kingdom Pavilion

After a great night sleep and a good breakfast, we headed to the World Fair. The Expo Milano 2015 was called "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." It was all about food; the relationship of people to the earth, biodiversity, sustainability, feeding the entire world, and productivity. The expo was on 490 acres and there were over 145 countries participating in this 6 month fair. We saw many things but we had our favorite pavilions. Austria created pathways surrounded by trees and plants to provide breathable air. The United Kingdom built a giant metal beehive complete with the sound of bees that we walked through giving us a bee's eyes view of the flowering garden below us. Switzerland filled four towers; one with coffee, one with salt, another with apples and the final one with water. Everything was free and we could take as much as we wanted but they were not going to refill the towers. We were encouraged to think about those who would come after us so there would be enough for everyone, even if they came at the end of the fair in October. I heard people say, "only take one." The architecture of Vietnam's pavilion was built to look like trees and Malasia's building was built out of self sustaining materials from the region. It was a great topic for a world fair that addressed a great need. 

Northern Italy countryside

We left the fair, took the bus back to our car and then drove 3 hours to Venice. Northern Italy is beautiful. This part of the drive was fairly flat with rolling hills that came into view as we continued to get closer to Venice. Castles and church spires stood tall on the hills, while farmland and small groups of homes reminded us of the communities living here. 

We arrived in town just outside of Venice where our hotel was located. In Venice, buildings are given their address based on when the building was built. They are not in sequential order. Our GPS kept saying we had arrived at our hotel but we could not find it. It was already dark, the roads were unfamiliar and I couldn't get my phone to work. After circling the area 3 times, we stopped at a hotel and asked them directions to our hotel. I know, right. Awkward. Thankfully, the woman at the reception desk spoke English and was friends with the manager at our hotel. She gave me directions, a map and a number to put in our GPS that would get us closer to our hotel. We arrived without any further difficulty. 

We have learned things on our adventure, like, be flexible, laugh often, enjoy the process, relax. Still, I was a bit apprehensive as we got on the bus toward Venice on Friday. There was a transportation strike that went into effect at 9 am. I wanted to get on a vaporetto before the strike so we left the hotel at 8, walked to the bus stop and got on a fairly full bus which was considerably packed by the time we arrived on the island of Venice twenty minutes later.

I saw a ticket booth as soon as we got off the bus, bought our two tickets and grabbed the first boat I saw. Unfortunately, the boat I chose was going in the opposite direction of where I wanted to go. We stayed on the boat until it got back to where we started and jumped on the correct boat one dock down from us. This boat was jammed full with barely standing room for all of us. But it was worth it. The view from the water was stunning as we saw the city unfold before our eyes. The buildings literally reached the edge of the canal and many of them had a landing for a boat to dock. We traveled down towards San Marco, our stop for the day, when suddenly the boat docked and we were all told to "get off". The strike had begun. We followed the crowd and twisted our way through the narrow paved streets for about 15 minutes. As we walked, we noticed, every once in a while, directional arrows on the buildings pointed us toward San Marco. We now understood how people found their way around the twisting streets.

We walked around the Piazza San Marco, rode the elevator to the top of the tower for beautiful views of the island and port, visited St. Mark's Church, walked to the water's edge, watched people riding in gondolas down the narrow canals. We climbed over bridges, wandered the streets, peaked into churches, shopped for treasures, tasted great gelato (strawberry cheesecake for me and peanut butter for Doug), had a delightful late lunch, and began to make our way back to the bus. The strike was only operating in the evening between 4:30 and 6:30 pm. We made it back and even got to shop at the mall next to the hotel.

The next day as we went back to Venice, I felt so much more relaxed. The weather was beautiful. I understood the transportation. I knew how to find my way around the island. I cherished every moment. We went to an art exhibit, wandered for a few hours watching people, found a nice restaurant with a great view, listened to musicians playing in the streets, sat at the canal and watched the traffic on the water, and kept remarking how amazing this trip had been. It was then time to say good bye to Venice and drive back to Milan for the evening.

Our GPS, my dear friend "Gen", directed us to our hotel without any problem. She began the trip telling us to "follow the highlighted route" to which I said, "we will do our best". The roads frequently have many names and numbers and they don't always match what "Gen" tells us but we have been successful so far with only a few recalculating statements from the GPS .

On our last day, we traveled into the city of Milan to see Duomo, Milan's Cathedral. This cathedral is the fourth largest in the world, the largest in Italy (St. Peter's is in Vatican City). It was completed in 1965. The first stone was laid in 1386. I was amazed when I learned there were 135 spires and 3,159 statues. There's even a statue of Napoleon because he helped push to finish the facade. This cathedral was where Napoleon crowned himself emperor. We climbed the 201 stairs to walk on the top of the cathedral and it was so worth it. We saw the spires from this new perspective which was simply stunning.

After we wandered around the area, saw Da Vinci's statue, and walked through the 5 story iron and glass covered Galleria (absolutely beautiful) it was time to begin our journey home.

We were headed back toward the Mont Blanc tunnel. The traffic is carefully regulated through this 7.2 mile, two lane, multi-country tunnel. There are customs on both sides of the tunnel since one side is Italy and the other France. Only one vehicle per every 150 meters is allowed in at a time so the traffic can back up significantly. We were 23 miles from the tunnel when signs began appearing. It seemed like there might be an issue but since we are unable to read Italian, or French for that matter, we weren't sure what was happening. At one point 99 percent of the cars exited the highway but we kept going forward. Traffic slowed, then stopped. It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the tunnel. Doug and I laughed and joked, took pictures, made up stories, hoped the tunnel wasn't closed, and loved every minute. I have to say it was the most beautiful, awe inspiring, drop dead gorgeous scenery I have had the pleasure of enjoying. Once we entered the tunnel the remaining hour to Geneva was clear sailing. I can't wait to do it again!