Tomorrow I head to Italy, flying into Torino. I have spent the last couple of days checking, re-checking, printing and printing and printing! all the various train schedules, hostel reservations, phone numbers etc.. etc.. of everything possible. Of course about a half hour ago I realized I forgot to check on how to get from the Torino airport to the downtown train station! I now have a confidence in traveling by bus and train in Belgium and France, but Italy is going to be a whole other story! We shall see. Torino will be my first challenge as I am right off the bat going to try to take (find!) a bus that will take me to the little town where my Italian ancestors came from. Probably the most challenging transportation adventure right off the bat!
The first two weeks of my trip are going to be tourist mania. While trying to figure out just what to do and when, I have come up with this motto:
Accept that I am not going to do everything I want to do! Know that I am going to do things and meet that weren't even on my radar and that those will trump not doing things that I wanted to do but didn't!
So my schedule for the next two weeks:
14th: Fly to Turin, go to Pratiglione (the town where my Italian ancestors came from), stay in Turin
15th: Travel to Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre!)
16th: do the Cinque Terre coastal walk
17th: go to Florence via Pisa
18th: explore Florence or go to Sienna or hill town like San Gimignano
19th: explore Florence or go to Sienna or hill town like San Gimignano
20th: explore Florence or go to Sienna or hill town like San Gimignano
21st: book it up to Bolzano (where the Ice man is) to get ready to hike in Dolomites
22nd: hike in Dolomites stay in place up in mountains
23rd: hike around and descend, stay in Brissanone
24th: side trip to Munich to visit Devan Wardrop-Saxton!
25th: Munich! Devan!
26th: leave Munich to Bologna (tentatively stay in Bologna)
27th: arrive at first help x site near Cita di Castello - stay for two weeks!
Blatently missing: Venice ---- aaahh, kept getting bumped down on my list. Dolomite hiking officially trumped it. And I wasn't even originally planning on going to the Dolomites, but then I started reading about hiking, and of course that's where I went. I *must* make time for Venice, but I'm going to be okay if I don't make it there.
not-so blatently missing but still missing: Milan - would love to see the Duomo there, and I actually pondered a side trip, but then came to my senses and realized a six hour round-trip train ride to see a church (and if really lucky see the painting of the Last Supper) was kind of silly
Things I have not posted yet that I still need to
My trip to Barlin and Noeux-Les-Mines, France (where my French great-great grandparents came from)
Also, I my posts my decrease in frequency, as I don't know when and where I will post. I may have to let go off having so many pictures included!
No comments:
Post a Comment