Into thin air

We woke up in Bolzano to a stunning (if cold) sunrise.

We grabbed a coffee and some pastries from the local cafe (pretty much a daily ritual by now) and walked to the centre of town to the Christmas markets.

The sun was just rising over the mountains when we found them.

I love a culture when you can calmly sit and drink a glass of wine at 10am and nobody blinks.

We decided ‘When in Bolzano…’ so we found an outdoor bar with a fire and ordered hot apple juice and brandy.

The girls had major fashion FOMO over these fur-lined hooded jackets that everyone seemed to wearing. We’d been into every H&M we’d come across but they never had their sizes. After discovering there was one in Bolzano we headed for it.

Success!

Audrey even found a toy store with a giant slide connecting the floors.

After an unsuccessful attempt to find a supermarket on foot, we went back to the apartment, grabbed the car and started following directions. Unfortunately through some combination of Google Maps, Mandi’s directions and my driving we ended up in the middle of the ABSOLUTELY PEDESTRIAN ONLY Christmas market we were just in.

Pretty soon the car was surrounded by people which made progress in any direction almost impossible. We inched our way forward with me yelling at the kids to be quiet so I could concentrate on not running over toddlers and causing an international incident. After a block of this, we saw a couple of police officers up ahead, blocking traffic (too bad they didn’t block us before we came into the Piazza) and looking perplexed. They didn’t speak English but with Google Translate and hand gestures we managed to explain our predicament and they offered to move their car to let us out.

We crawled two more blocks to the end of the pedestrian area and back to the normal road. I have never been more happy to see a street sign.

We had just passed the supermarket we were looking for so Mandi got out of the car, opening her door into a passing cyclist with her toddler in a baby seat. After a quick ‘vaffanculo’ from the rider Mandi finally made it to the supermarket.

The next day we decided to head to Merano. First stop was a cafe for a coffee and strudel (there’s a lot of Austrian influence in this region). Audrey decided to make the most of the sunlight for some quick meditation (that’s Paddington primary schools for you).

After refuelling we headed up into the mountains for our first taste of snow.

The kids’ only other experience of snow is in Thredbo, so heading up in the cable car was pretty amazing.

As was the view from the top.

We spent a few hours on our $5 Decathlon sleds enjoying the snow.

Then Mandi and I took a much-needed Aperol Spritz break.

The sun was setting so we headed back down the cable car.

We headed back into Merano to get some food at the markets.

It was great to get some different food after all the pizza and pasta of the past week.

Although the kids somehow managed us to convince us to let them have a giant sugar-glazed pretzel for dinner.

One ride on the carousel and it was time to head back to our apartment for the night.

To market, to market

So, three days into our Italian adventure we left to go on a holiday to the Dolomites (about 500km north of Siena). The clouds of the previous two days had cleared, leaving us with perfectly clear blue skies as the sun came up over our apartment.

First thing on the list was thawing and packing the new Volvo (that’s three cars in four days for anyone keeping track). Credit goes to Hayley for the composition of the next photo:

Then a quick family portrait outside our apartment before heading off.

We only got 2km when we realised we were going past the cannoleria we hadn’t tried yet. They are piped to order, so we had to get one each.

They were excellent.

Next stop along the way was Bologna. It’s often challenging finding parking near the centre of town, but it’s best not to try to drive into the main pedestrian-only piazza on a busy Saturday like I did. These locals however are completely unconcerned as it’s almost certainly not the craziest thing they’ve seen an Italian driver do that day (more on that in another post).

Bologna bubble blowing:

Lots of nice architecture (and stylishly-dressed locals) in the Piazza Maggiore:

Hayley, Polly and I were all taking photos of the buildings in the plaza and Audrey wanted to join in. It took her a little while to get the hang of my camera.

But she figured it out pretty quickly:

We went to a great little food market for lunch, the Mercato Delle Erbe. They had (among many other things), amazing old signage:

This has become my go-to meal in Italy (and it’s even low-carb). Available pretty much everywhere and always excellent.

After lunch we headed back to the car and continued to Modena where were staying the night. We still haven’t gotten in sync with dining times here (lots of restaurants don’t open until 7) so we had to keep the kids awake long enough to eat. We found a great little board game/pop culture store across the road that had just opened. The owners were SUPER eager to teach us their favourite games.

We made it to dinner and went back to our Airbnb, which had a amazing Wes Anderson lift:

And that was day one:

The next day we decided to head to the Enzo Ferrari museum before continuing north (Modena is the home of Ferrari) . Two minutes into the drive we realised we were behind a Ferrari prototype wrapped in camouflage.

There’s a great mix of old and new cars and architecture at the museum, which is at the site of Enzo Ferrari’s house and workshop.

The kids were surprising interested in the cars:

Although I think Audrey just liked being in charge of the interactive tour on the iPad.

The section of the museum devoted to engines was a bridge too far for them though.

Next stop was Verona. It turned out that we were going to be there on the day of one of biggest events of the year - the Verona Christmas Run, where competitors run a 5k race dressed as Santa. We arrived two hours after the race started but the streets were still full of Santas and their supporters:

I still find it amazing that you can stumble across 2000-year old Roman arenas wedged between a Zara and an H&M.

We headed to the Christmas market - the first of many on this trip, I’m sure. Mandi was excited to have her first vino brulé (mulled wine).

The kids tried to buy everything in sight.

Lots of christmasy snacks. I’m getting addicted to these little Bussolai cookies:

Half the ‘centro storico’ is pedestrian-only

We walked back to the car across the river.

And drove the final 200km to Bolzano.

Tomorrow we start exploring the Dolomites. Stay tuned…

Run flats

Things didn’t quite go according to plan today.

We started the day with another jet-lag party. This time helped with our landlady’s excellent crostata alla marmellata that she dropped off as a welcome gift

We headed to Monteriggioni, a 13th-century walled town about 20 minutes away.

You can walk along a section of the battlements. The girls all got excited talking about medieval warfare. Of course I helped fill in the gruesome details.

More battlements

There’s a little armoury museum inside the walls. You know you’ve left Australia when they let children play with a 13th-century (surprisingly sharp) longsword with no supervision.

They also let adults play with a 13th-century longsword with no supervision.

Lances and crossbows and muskets, oh my.

I was trying to work out why there was so much Asassin’s Creed stuff at the gift shop. Here’s why:

Sadly for the kids, the only place open for lunch was a gelateria.

More Game of Thrones vibes

More vibes

Back to the car

Heading to Castellina in Chianti we stumbled past a classic Tuscan cypress-lined driveway

Lots of amazing views

Quick selfie before getting back in the car to head to the new school’s end-of year movie night fundraiser.

20 minutes later I learned two new things: 1: the Mercedes-Benz CLA 200d has run-flat tires instead of a spare. 2: rental care companies are cheap so they use regular tires instead of run-flats.

After about an hour I managed to get through to a human at Avis customer service and booked a tow truck. It was getting dark and cold (about 2 degrees) and we were in the middle of nowhere so Mandi and the girls got a taxi to the school event (good to know you can get a cab on some tiny backroad in Tuscany). I waited another hour for the tow truck.

This isn’t a great photo but I had to document the most terrifying 15 minutes I have ever spent inside a moving vehicle. I now know what it’s like to be in a 5 ton vehicle tailgating a tiny hatchback around blind corners in the dark at 90km/h.

We got to the nearest tire place. Of course, they didn’t have the right tires for the car so the only option was to walk to Avis (which was still open for another 5 minutes), get another car, come back to this car before they closed, swap over all the stuff we had in the boot and leave the keys so Avis could come back and get it in the morning. Then go to the school and pick up Mandi & Co. Time elapsed: 3 hours. We all survived and have a story to tell.

Out and about

After we all woke up at 12am, we spent out first two days exploring the local area.

Monte Carlo-fueled jet lag party at 1am

2nd breakfast at 5am. We’re stuck between two worlds eating prosciutto and eggs for breakfast.

About to head off on a school orientation visit

New school (and by new, I mean the building only opened a month ago)

We had to rush out for a panini break after a gruelling (but lovely) day at the school.

First cloudy (and cold!) sunrise the next day

Quick walk in the countryside while the car defrosts

Our first stop in town was, of course a pasticceria

Coffee at the bar (note: a latte macchiato is not what I thought it would be)

Heading into the big smoke. Trying to explain to the girls how a city can be 2000 years old.

Nothing like the mental image of medieval archers shooting out from the arrow slits to get kids excited about history.

Medieval architecture portrait.

More architecture

Mandi and Audrey taking the lead

Amazing views down every alley

Actually pretty much in every direction

More alleyways

More alleyways

Yes, more alleyways

My new favourite cafe. Interesting, nobody touches their phone when having a coffee.

Art Deco typography

Great little stationary store

Covered alleyways

Alleyway/tunnel

Salami. Lots of salami.

Polly loving the King’s Landing vibe…

Yes, I know it’s cheesy.

You know you’re in Europe when every homewares store sells ashtrays

Clowning around the Piazza del Campo

Back to the car

Highlights so far. I’ll keep updating this map as we keep exploring the area.

Day Zero

Here’s what happened today…

149kg of luggage packed ready to go. Our limit was 150.

Last Sydney coffee at Gusto, Paddington.

The car went to storage, ironically surrounded by old Italian classics.

Turns out we booked the ‘Bling Bling Maxi’ taxi. Hijinx ensued..

Just made it under the limit with this bag. Turns out our luggage scale was faulty and we actually had 159kg, but the nice Italian guy at the check-in counter bent the rules. Good thing he didn’t weigh our carry-on.

The point of no return

Strapped in.

Departure selfie

First flight went fine (apart from a little gastro). Ready for the second flight to Pisa.

Through customs without incident. Although I’m pretty sure Mandi and the girls are on the wrong visas. We’ll worry about it later. The rental car place doesn’t open for another hour.

First coffee as an Italian resident

Getting the shuttle to Avis. It’s -3 degrees.

We rented a 9-seater to get us and all our luggage to Siena. The perfect vehicle to manhandle around tiny Italian streets after 24 hours of flying.

Did I mention it was cold? Frost does not help visibility.

Driving on the right-hand side of the road for the first time in 15 years. With jet lag.

Looks like Tuscany

The drive from Pisa to Siena

Made it to our house!

Our home for the next three months

Views from every window

The house is ready for Tuscan Ninja Warrior

Jet lag kicking in at 4pm.

Made it till 5. Not bad.