Julius Ceasar is credited with a Latin phrase that reads - Veni, Vidi, Vici as in he came, he saw and he conquered.
The summer vacation for the child meant we needed to do what we do as an annual event. Go see a new place. Italy won the draw this year.
So we went for a couple weeks. To check out the land of fairy tales, of great warriors and amazing inventions; birthplace of Christianity and its current CEO, land of Romeo and Juliet, a land in many ways similar to our home state of California.
In terms of its geography and populations and their respective shapes CA resembles Italy a lot. Both have a grand coastline, they both have multi cultural groups of people residing in its lands and mountains, both have northern edges covered by snow covered high mountain ranges that are formed of volcanic and tectonic activity over millenia.
What we do not have in the Golden State is the renaissance, the art, the history. It was a particular interest of our daughter to visit the ancient sites and she put together her own list of things to do which made it exciting to Vidi and Video.
Our basic plot was to land in the northern city of Milan, also called Europe's fashion capital and then travel south hitting up the major cultural centers and places of interest. Then turn around and do the other coast and end up in Milan with a quick side trip further north to Switzerland.
And we did. Milan - Rome - Naples - Florence - Venice - Milan and Lugano.
With multiple side shows along the way. Some really amazing destinations. Largely traveled with the Italian state owned and operated railways. Not a bad experience for the most part.
The high speed service is labeled Freccia and it has several variants. We used a lot of the Frecciarossa kind which means Red Arrow which traveled at approx 250 km per hour on 'average'. Quiet, efficient and air conditioned it was the one thing that made a difference in the close to 90 degree heat that took hold in week 1 of our travels. That and the diet of a Gelato every four hours.
Where train stations also resemble large cathedrals the journey is one big overload for the senses.
I will write more about the individual trips later.
The summer vacation for the child meant we needed to do what we do as an annual event. Go see a new place. Italy won the draw this year.
So we went for a couple weeks. To check out the land of fairy tales, of great warriors and amazing inventions; birthplace of Christianity and its current CEO, land of Romeo and Juliet, a land in many ways similar to our home state of California.
In terms of its geography and populations and their respective shapes CA resembles Italy a lot. Both have a grand coastline, they both have multi cultural groups of people residing in its lands and mountains, both have northern edges covered by snow covered high mountain ranges that are formed of volcanic and tectonic activity over millenia.
What we do not have in the Golden State is the renaissance, the art, the history. It was a particular interest of our daughter to visit the ancient sites and she put together her own list of things to do which made it exciting to Vidi and Video.
Our basic plot was to land in the northern city of Milan, also called Europe's fashion capital and then travel south hitting up the major cultural centers and places of interest. Then turn around and do the other coast and end up in Milan with a quick side trip further north to Switzerland.
And we did. Milan - Rome - Naples - Florence - Venice - Milan and Lugano.
The high speed service is labeled Freccia and it has several variants. We used a lot of the Frecciarossa kind which means Red Arrow which traveled at approx 250 km per hour on 'average'. Quiet, efficient and air conditioned it was the one thing that made a difference in the close to 90 degree heat that took hold in week 1 of our travels. That and the diet of a Gelato every four hours.
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| Milano Centrale - the main train station |
I will write more about the individual trips later.
Sounds like a great trip. I want to go there again. The last trip was in 1987, and have some fond memories. Rome, Venice, Florence and Pisa were the places I remember visiting.
ReplyDeleteDoc. I remember seeing some of your pics. I had low expectations overall of Italy before the visit but some of the stuff albeit too much to take in was indeed mind blowing. Both nature and man made.
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