Italia 2013: Hiking, Tuscan Sun, and Delicious Food

Day 0: airport
My darling sister Josie dropped me off at airport and I was off with a start! Well, actually I had mixed feelings about going to Italy for a month. On the one hand: sounds amazing. On the other hand: I had just finished a colossally exhausting six month project called Insta-tangram where we made interactive 3 foot by 3 foot woodcut tangram prints with a steamroller (video). In the one week leading up to the trip there was lots of chaos and scrambling. Not really any time to feel rested and ready to embark on a month-long sojourn in a foreign country.
Before we even left the ground, I found myself in my second insurance claim situation in the past few months. I was bending forward in my aisle seat to get something out of my carry on at my feet and my head was a few centimeters in the aisle. A flight attendant came flying toward the front and swept my sunglasses off my head and projecting them two rows ahead. Sadly the sunglasses were not made for impromptu air travel and one side became bent beyond repair. I bought new ones at JFK and hoped that would be the worst thing that happened during the plane trip, which it was.
The transatlantic flight was mildly uncomfortable but not horrible. I'm out of practice taking 8+ hour flights. My personalized tv was broken, but I was focusing on trying to sleep anyway. I ended up getting about 4 hours on the plane.

Day 1: Milano
I arrived in MXP at 7 am on July 1 and managed to swap out my US Sim card for a European one. I headed to Milano Centrale on a bus and met up with Sylva, who I hadn't seen in about a year! We chilled in a park and munched on a brioche while catching up. After I got my Milan-legs we headed to the apartment where we were couchsurfing with a really nice Italian couple. I dropped off my bags and then we ventured into the city to see what we could see. Twice we fell asleep on grass, but only once did the police scold us so you could say we're fast learners. We meandered toward the part of the city with canals and then later saw the Castello Sforzesco. Dinner was at Pizza Big with Matia and his colleague Daniele. After delicious pizza Napoletana we drove around and ended up at the canal area again. At night the atmosphere is totally different with lots of people dining outside and enjoying the cool weather. It ended up being a pretty late night, which was difficult but helped flush the jet lag out.

Day 2: Milano
Sylva let me sleep in til almost 10 and then we had to get a move on since we were heading to the Politecnico di Milano to meet up with a lady I met at the Digital Media Leaning Conference in March of this year. She teaches  at the university and gave us a nice introduction to some of the programs. We of course enjoyed a macchiato in true Italian fashion. Afterwards we ate some panini for lunch and then headed back to Milano Centrale. It ended up taking a while to get our train for Chiasso sorted out so we decided to just head directly there instead of squeezing one more thing in. Chiasso is actually just across the border in Switzerland, and it was the next couchsurfing destination. The train ride from Milan was about 30 minutes and then we hung out in the train station until meeting our host. The European sim card that I was using apparently only worked in Italy since I had no service in Switzerland, so that was a fun surprise. But even without a way to make contact we found our host Michael and settled into his apartment. After a light dinner we went out and headed through windy Swiss roads to Lugano, where there was a music festival happening. We walked along the lake and heard great music coming from the band stand. The band performing was called Tuba Skinny and they hailed from New Orleans! It was lots of fun to listen and dance to late into the night. After their set we had a tranquil aperitivo along the water and then headed back where sleeping came very rapidly.

Day 3: Chiasso, Lugano
We woke up reasonably early and meandered to get an Italian style breakfast with cappuccino and brioche. After the leisurely breakfast we started on our hike to Como. Since Chiasso is right on the border, we walked through a nonexistent checkpoint and headed on our merry way. We found out later that they haven't stamped passports there since 2007. As we walked along provincial roads in and out of little towns there was a slight sprinkling of rain, which helped cool us off. The walk was lovely and walking into Como on unusual paths was nice and non-touristy. We walked a bunch around the lake of Como and then took the funicular up to a town called Burate. There, we ate lunch overlooking the lovely vista and then explored the historic town by foot. Back down in Como, we met up with a super nice guy named Tomaso who lives in Como. He and his girlfriend took us on another tour around the lake and town center and then we all went back to his apartment to eat some raspberry cheesecake and hang out for a while. It was really pleasant to meet them. Tomaso studied cinematography in Rome where he met Tim Burton one time. After our early evening snack, they helped us navigate back to Chiasso. We decided to go by bus to save time. Once back in Chiasso, we met up with our couchsurfing host. He wanted to go back to Lugano for the music festival since there were new groups playing. The weather was lovely once more and we stayed out fairly late listening to the different groups.

Day 4: Como, La Spezia
This was Sylva's last day and she wanted to go kayaking on Lake Como so we took all of our luggage on a super crowded bus and made our way to the kayak rental place that Tomaso showed us the day before. We were out on the water before 11 am in a double kayak and the weather was just delightful. We headed away from the coast we had explored by foot the day before and saw lots of awesome architecture along with several water planes flying around. This was my fourth time kayaking and it was lots of fun! We stayed out on the water for two hours and then had to turn back since I had a train to catch. We made our way to the train station and grabbed panini along the way. Sylva and I headed to Milano Centrale where she connected with a train to the airport and I headed to La Spezia to see the Cinque Terre. The train ride was about three hours, during which time I wrote in my Italian journal and tried to eavesdrop on conversations around me. From La Spezia I took a bus to Biassa where the hostel was located. Ostello Tramonti is located in a really cute medieval town with a great view of La Spezia through the mountains. I checked into the hostel and then walked around in the dying light taking as many pictures as I could.

Day 5: Cinque Terre
The hostel offered a shuttle service to Riomaggiore but the earliest left at 8:30 and I really wanted to get an early start. So I woke up at 6 and took a bus into La Spezia where I then took a train to Monterosso, the northern most of the Cinque Terre (Five Lands). I started on the walking trail from the train station toward the next town called Vernazza. The Cinque Terre are famous because they are small villages right on the water and used to only be accessible by boat or by footpaths. Now with the railway it's easier to get between them, but the walking paths are a popular destination. I had my sketchbook with me and picked shaded spots throughout the day to draw. The path from Monterosso to Vernazza was very up and down with some spots of the path only 18" wide right next to a sheer drop. I heard lots of different languages throughout the day. After 11 am the number of tourists increased dramatically. I rested in Vernazza for a bit and then headed to Corniglia. These were the only two paths open and I could completely understand why since the paths are incredibly hard to manage. Some sections I passed were slightly blocked by stones from a crumbling wall. The path to Corniglia was a lot easier than the first one so it went by fairly quickly. The estimation is that it takes 2 hours to walk between each town, but I finished in less than 1.5. So I may be out of shape, but I can certainly hold my own in comparison to middle aged Australians.

Day 6: Biassa
I spent all morning painting around the small town of Biassa. Then in the afternoon I headed into La Spezia to take a train to Firenze. The train ride was pretty pleasant and I arrived in time to enjoy dinner prepared by my former host mother, Maria. We got to catch up during and after dinner and then I watched a documentary about Van Gogh dubbed in Italian on the tv.

Day 7: Firenze, Siena
I woke up before 7 so that could take a bus to Settignano and hike around. My breakfast overlapped with Maria's and Paolo's, which was nice. They are so great! I wish I could live with them again. The bus to Settignano was short and sweet and then I started off on one planned path that then turned into choosing random roads. I did a loop into Vincigliata and Montebelino and then back to Settignano in the early afternoon. I had already packed up my bags and was able to chill at Maria's house for an afternoon caffe and then head out to the bus station. I managed to not get lost heading to the station and caught a bus to Siena. The hostel where I was staying was located outside the city center so I walked around for a bit, but then decided to take a bus into the center and explore there. I saw a poster for a summer movie series at the medieval amphitheater in Siena and found out that they were showing the Great Gatsby tonight! Every day was a different movie, so it was pretty lucky. I hung around the medieval fortress and then got a seat for the movie. It was so great! And since I've seen the movie in English, I was able to understand almost everything and I even picked up some new vocabulary.

Day 8: Siena
After only one week I desperately needed to do some laundry so I went to a laundromat nearby the hostel in between eating breakfast. Then I set off into the city center and walked around all day. I tried to get lost and just absorb the beauty of the city. I of course went to the Piazza del Campo and the Duomo, but I also stopped into the Medieval Torture Museum, which was....interesting... In the Duomo I ended up drawing for three hours on a marble bench, which was nice and cool.

Day 9: Siena, Seggiano
I checked out of the hostel and then took a bus into the city center, then a bus toward Grosseto where I transferred at Paganico to Castel del Piano. There, I waited to be picked up by the director for the Women's Studio Workshop that I'm attending for a week in Tuscany. It was a stressful travel day, but everything worked out and I was able to relax at the agriturismo where the class was happening. And I've been there for a few days and making lots of new stuff.

I'll write more about the workshop later!