Long Weekend Route: Monza, Italy -> Bolzano, Italy -> Salzburg, Austria -> Hall, Austria -> Monza, Italy
Notice the newspaper is in german; this region speaks both Italian and German
Row of window seats in old town Bolzano
Antique doorbell system in old town Salzburg
Salzburg Cathedral (you can only call it a 'Duomo' in Italy)
This post is probably long overdue considering we live right outside the city and have for the past 6 months (wow, times flies) but I’m finally getting around to posting on Milan. While at first glance Milan is an unattractive, dirty and chaotic place if you visit it enough it starts to grow on you. And while I’d gone into Milan for many beer runs, dinners, and hosting tours I hadn’t really taken my camera along until Julie’s parents, Cyndi and Scott, made it to town a couple weeks back. We rode the metro in and spent most of the day wandering the Duomo and Navigli districts and had a great time. Here are the photos from that day.
Genova is a town I wasn’t crazy about visiting. For whatever reason my initial thoughts about Genova were that it was a gritty port town with nice history but with little to do or see but Julie was pretty excited and we didn’t have anything to do so we hit the road. We ended up spending a very long day walking all over Genova, seeing everything from the port to the palazzi and although the weather wasn’t awesome it ended up being a great city to visit (and photograph). I think Julie captured it perfectly when she came to the epiphany that the cool part about traveling is that sometimes those places you travel to with low expectations end up being the best because they surprise you.
Great light in the crowded old town
Narrow alleys
In awe of the Genova Duomo
Violinist
Genova Market
Beautiful church in middle of ancient old town
Crosswalk
Stunning architecture of Palazzo Reale
Lonely statue
Courtyard of Palazzo Reale
We finally made time to ride the Bernina Express and had a great time. The Bernina Express is a scenic railway connecting southern Switzerland with northern Italy over the Swiss Alps, specifically the Bernina Pass which at it’s highest point is 2,253 high meters in altitude. The Bernina Express was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.
Near the Bernina Pass summit
Enjoying the ride
Bernina Pass Alps
St. Moritz stop
Bernina Express train map
Looking up train times
A couple weekends back we made the short drive up to Luzern, Switzerland. Luzern is one of those places that is hard to leave…even if it was totally freezing while we were there. Anyways below is a visual play-by-play of our time there. Also check out Julie’s take on it at her new blog here.
We started by walking the streets of old town Luzern
We also made it to the famous Lion Statue
We had a beer and bratwurst from the Rathaus Brauerei
Luzern old town as we were headed to dinner
Another on the way to dinner (fondue)
Looking up the Reuss River at the beautiful Luzern architecture
Everyone celebrating Carnevale under city hall
I love the old wooden bridge in Luzern...it's even better at night with all of the buildings lit up