Andiamo a Cinque Terre e Milano!!

Ligurian coast near Manarola

Buongiorno tutti!!

I'm back to share photos of the glorious Cinque Terre & Milan!  Today I am enjoying sun & warm temps in Courmayeur.  I had planned to go to France today, Chamonix & on to Lyon but...  botched my transport plan due to reduced number of buses as of October.  Whoops!  Fortunately, through my months of travel I am able to adapt to plan failures easily.  So, I will just do a small hike today & visit the mountain town of Chamonix tomorrow.   It will be a nice daytrip to the other side of Mont Blanc in France, a country I have never been to!  Surely I'll get a feel for the country in one day.  :)  Too bad it's not winter because it is a virtual ski paradise here!  And that's what is going on with my travel planning today.  

In other news, I am really enjoying my time here working in the garden of a wonderful older couple.  Yesterday I cut & split wood in the morning (a good workout), managing to slightly smash my finger with an ax.  (no worries, just some light bruising).  That is one satisfying task, especially when you get the hang of it.  Then in the afternoon, I harvested a billion yummy pears using this extra long handled fruit capturing basket.  Awkward but, fun times.  It reminded me of doing the wonderland backpacking trail around Mount Ranier in Washington & having to hang the food bag for the night up on this tall hanger using a long handled thingy, equally awkward.  Anyways, I do amuse myself.  

My host Daniela is an amazing biodynamic gardener & cook, she knows everything about wild greens & herbs & I am learning a lot!  On top of that she is unbelievably agile & inspiring, I can only hope to be so fit at her age!  I prepared some wild kale for us for dinner the other night & what to me was yummy, was hard & unedible to these Italians.  I told them this is how we do it in America & they looked at eachother as if to say...  this woman knows nothing about food preparation.  They told me a story about an American guest who, at dinner time, took an artfully prepared risotto & salad meant to be eaten separately to experience the flavors & promptly mixed them together.  They were horrified by this but accepted the guest by acknowledging that she was an American.  And now my attempt at kale is a good joke, they humor me.  :)

Here are some photos taken the other week:  ENJOY!

enjoying some evening spumante by the sea in Riomaggiore!

looking fabulous!

the cute town of Manarola, clinging to the rocks

ciao tutti!!

the infamous rocky coastline

 There is a very famous hike that we had been wanting to taking along the coast between the five small towns of the Cinque Terre.  It was perhaps the main reason we had come here, to continue our hiking theme.  Wouldn't you know it, it had rained the day before causing some landslides & helicopter evacuations of Australian hikers &....   the entire trail had been closed to hikers!  Damn the luck!  So, we opted to take an overland route from Manarola to Corniglia, which turned out to be awesome.

what is this plant?

taking a break from hiking for a glass of vino :)

olives getting ready for harvest

pretty views from the terraced vineyards

these dudes are harvesting their grapes & hauling them up using this clever little train

up go the grapes!

coast from Vernazza

here in Vernazza we took advantage of the afternoon sun for a swim in the chilly waters.  refreshing!

vernazza

self indulgent yoga shot :)

last year there was a huge storm that filled the streets of Vernazza with mud!  a year after they seem to have recovered well!

ah, cinque terre...

enjoying an aperitivo in Monterossa!

cat in basket

Then, we hit Milano for a day to see the great Duomo!  It was fabulous & I couldn't stop taking photos of those statues & flying buttresses!

Duomo with Milan youth

piazza del Duomo

shopping galleria

it was rainy all day but, no matter.  voila, il duomo!

inside

excellent stained glass

what a muscular statue

 We climbed the stairs to the roof!  Of course there was some restoration going on of the very top up there but, still nice views & photos :)

could not stop taking photos...

 By a stoke of luck & cleverness we managed to score cheap, last minute tickets to opening night of Puccini's La Boheme @ Teatro La Scala!!!!  Perhaps the most famous opera house in the world!!!!  It was awesome!  Despite having to stand for the performance to see the stage it was a magical evening!  

La Scala!!

Kim got new shoes for the occasion so she didn't have to wear her classy flip flops :)

 And sadly, the next morning my friend Kim returned to the US, leaving me to visit Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper alone.  There is an intense reservation process & I had to get up early to hustle for my prenotazione.  It was worth it!  Sublime!  Rather than a wet fresco Leo used a dry method which caused the colors & painting to degrade rapidly.  It has been a long restoration process to get the painting to this viewable state & the painting (more of a mural on a church wall) is now in a climate controlled environment.  You are allowed in for 15 minutes in groups of about 30.  You aren't allowed to take photos so....  these are of a poster just outside :)  just imagine the real thing.

it was possible to stare at this lovely painting for a long time :)

the fabulous ceiling in the neighboring church

and these reliefs were amazing!

dome designed by Bramante

the outside of the church

I also went to the Brera Gallery to experience some religious art, it having been a while since I had immersed myself in many paintings of Madonna & child.  It was a great gallery!  Then...  I took a long haul bus north to the mountains where I am now.  I really enjoyed Milano!

Until next time...  xoxox!