New Year's Eve

We woke up on Friday morning to discover the fog had followed us to Siena.

Even though we’d spend two week all over Northern Italy, we hadn’t ventured into the area right around our villa, so we decided to decided to explore.

Apparently there’s a law in this area that the government can reclaim private land that isn’t being used, so people plant things just to hold on to their property. In the case of the property our villa is on, it’s olive and walnut trees.

After an aborted river crossing while trying to get to the supermarket, we decided to get lunch at the local deli, which is the oldest salumeria still curing their own meat in Tuscany. I’m already planning my apprenticeship.

It was pretty easy to decide what to order.

It was so good I even forgave the Comic Sans on the label for the house wine.

After that it was time to head back to Avis(!) to exchange our Volvo for a smaller car. This is officially our most-visited location in Italy.

We returned with a very practical (but according to Polly very boring) Ford Fiesta manual. Driving a little manual hatchback in Tuscany feels like the real Italian motoring experience.

The next day, after learning the that the salumeria opened at 7:30 am for coffee, I decided to risk the hundred- meter walk along the footpath-free road. The first fifty meters wasn’t so bad.

The second fifty gets a bit more interesting.

The next couple of days we ran errands, explored Siena and discovered that our oven has a perfect ‘Pizza’ setting.

On New Year’s Eve morning we decided to go to the nearest thermal springs, about half and hour drive away. It was about 2 degrees outside but the water is about 40.

We got home to discover our first Amazon Prime order had been delivered. Turns out Amazon is amazing when living in a small town in a foreign country.

That night we had decided to have a late (for us, early for Italians) dinner at a Chinese restaurant in town and then join the festivities for New Years Eve.

The restaurant was surprisingly good with a menu clearly designed by an engineer.

After dinner, we wandered around the city, listened to music and tried to work out why the military was out in force (turns out there had been problems with people bringing their own fireworks into the piazza last year).

We were all getting tired and the music was too loud for Audrey so we headed home at about 11, put this kids to bed and Mandi and I watched the fireworks over the city from our bedroom.

Home sweet home

We decided to head through Varese on our way to Parma and then back to Tuscany. There wasn’t much open, as it was the day after Christmas (St. Stephen's Day) but we managed to stumble upon an amazing Sicilian bakery, called imaginatively ‘Pasticceria Tipica Siciliana’ (Typical Sicilian Bakery).

After we awoke from our carbohydrate comas, we got back to the car and continued south to Parma, where we were spending the night. About an hour from Parma, we ran into fog, that apparently is pretty much a feature of that region during Autumn and winter.

We arrived at our guesthouse for the night - a converted 14th century abbey.

The fog definitely added to the ‘atmosphere’.

The next day was much the same.

After sampling some local parmigiano reggiano we headed into the city of Parma to a sandwich shop we had heard about - Pepèn Parma. There was a line out the door when we arrived.

And it was even more crowded inside.

It’s famous for (among other things) their raw horse meat panini.

So, of course that’s what I ordered.

It was very similar to beef tartare.

After eating our sandwiches out on the street we got back into the car for our last two hours back to Siena. About twenty minutes from home the fog cleared and were were treated to another stunning Tuscan sunset.

And then we were home.

Buon Natale

We got up bright and early on Monday to the first rainy morning of our trip. I had two eager companions for my morning coffee at one of the cafes near the slopes in Bormio.

We packed the car to capacity (the Tetris packing game was getting even more challenging as we accumulated bottles of wine, secret Santa gifts, and other Christmas supplies). We were heading to a small village near Lake Lugano where were spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with friends.

The rain cleared pretty quickly, leaving us with another wonderful morning on northern Italy’s incredible roads.

And phenomenal tunnels - many of which go for tens of kilometres through the mountains (literally).

First stop was Varenna, on the shores of Lake Como, for a quick lunch, then on to Como itself. We were aiming for a special Christmas event, but hadn’t told the kids in case the timing didn’t work out. Como was cold and windy but still had a great view.

And a Christmas market (of course).

But the reason we were there was to see Santa and his elves abseil down the cathedral(!).

And then give candy to the waiting kids (and adults).

Then it was back in the car to find our Airbnb for the next two nights. We’ve been using a combination of Waze, Google Maps and Via Michelin to plan our driving. This trip I happened to use Waze, which I’d forgotten does not notify you of border crossings.

If you’ve been following our trip so far, you’ll know that we’re sill not sure our immigration status is 100% legal. As such we are trying to avoid immigration officers wherever possible. So you can understand we were pretty startled when we passed through an official-looking checkpoint and started seeing a lot of Swiss number plates.

We frantically checked the map and realised that we had indeed crossed into Switzerland. Our only hope was that since the crossing from Italy into Switzerland wasn’t manned, that the crossing back wouldn’t be either. We spent the next five minutes with rising anxiety and then…

…crossed quietly back into Italy without incident. Perhaps travelling on Christmas Eve has its benefits.

After five minutes lost in translation with the cleaner, we found our apartment that overlooked (the now pitch black) Lake Lugano. We decided it would probably have a great view in the morning.

We unpacked, changed and headed up the road to our friends’ house where we had an amazing dinner with their extended family. Mandi drove us back (her first driving in Italy - on windy way-too-narrow roads with no street lights well after midnight) and we all collapsed into bed.

The next day we awoke to the view.

We relaxed around the apartment and then headed back to our friends’ house (a converted 5th-century monastery) for Part Two of the Christmas extravaganza - lunch.

The house was amazing, as was the food and the company.

After an epic lunch, the female members of the family took the dog for a walk in the village while the men went to have coffees and digestifs and play Italian Billiards at the local bar.

Then it was back to the house for an equally epic dinner.

The next day three of us had decided to go for an early-morning hike before we all left to go our separate ways. We headed up the (surprisingly steep and rocky and would definitely not be accessible to the public in Australia) trail at Poncione di Ganna.

It was worth it.

Then I headed back to meet Mandi and the girls to pack the car for our two-day trip back to Siena.

Bormio

At 7am on Friday I had planned to slip out for a coffee by myself, but Audrey insisted on coming on an adventure so we headed out together for a coffee and a pastry.

We got back and all packed up everything. After arguing about how to fit the new sled in the car (it was a good thing we’d swapped the Mercedes for the Volvo), Mandi and I managed to get everything in and head off to Bormio.

The fastest way from Bolzano to Bormio is through the Stelvio Pass, which is the highest road in Europe. However, it was closed for the winter so that left two other routes - one that would take us north through Switzerland and one that went south. The north route was (on paper) 20 minutes faster, but snow was predicted and I wasn’t that thrilled about driving 200km in the snow. Also, we still hadn’t resolved our uncertain immigration situation so we decided a border crossing wasn’t the best idea. We headed south.

The added bonus of the route we took was that it avoided the Autostrada and took us on perfect windy mountain roads weaving through little mountain towns with almost no traffic. It was four hours of this road:

With this view:

Broken up with another snow-covered playground.

After an amazing drive (and only one case of mild carsickness) we made it to Bormio. We found the address of our chalet and parked the car.

We unpacked and enjoyed the view before heading into town for a late lunch and supplies.

On the way the girls made friends with some locals.

And then back to our chalet for this view.

The next day we headed out early for the girls’ first ever day of skiing. Mandi and I had decided not to ski and just to enjoy a day sitting and relaxing, which we haven't been able to do much of in the past few months.

Hayley and Audrey couldn’t wait to ski.

Although Polly wasn’t quite so convinced.

We got them kitted up.

Then it time for the lesson with Ninja, their moustachioed instructor.

Mandi and I grabbed a table at the bar, ordered drinks (again, alcohol before 10am), this time a glühwein for Mandi and an espresso with Sambuca for me. Perfect for the -5 degree morning.

They all loved it, especially Polly who had been the most nervous at the beginning of the day.

Watching the girls have such a great time gave Mandi and me serious FOMO. I think we’ll be planning more ski trips over the winter. We stayed until the sun set at 4:30pm, and headed back down the mountain.

The next day thanks to Mandi’s perseverance, we managed to get tickets to the Bagni Vecchi, a health spa that utilises thermal springs that the Romans discovered in Bormio 2000 years ago. The original Roman baths are still in use at the spa today.

The spa has 36 different rooms that have been added on over the years - everything from Himalayan salt rooms to 18th-century salons to infra-red spas The views are incredible.

After that it was off to the Husky Village to spend the afternoon in charge of our own dog sleds. We had a VERY quick briefing, considering the trail we were leading the dogs on had sheer drops of hundreds of feet. It’s actually refreshing how much less hand-holding there is in Italy compared with Australia. We didn’t even have to sign a waiver.

The experience was amazing and the girls got to have lots of cuddles with the dogs afterwards.

Polly has a particularly strong connection with dogs in general and huskies in particular. It was a very special day for her.

On the way back to the car it started snowing again. We went back into town and managed to find a restaurant that was serving dinner at 5:30, which is close to lunch by Italian standards. We headed back to our chalet early to get ready for another three-hour drive to Cuasso Al Piano near Lake Lugano (where were were spending Christmas with friends) the next day.

The Dolomites

On Wednesday we decided to have a fairly low-key day. We needed to get groceries, go to Decathlon to get ski gear (again) and run a few errands.

After an uneventful day at a shopping center in Bolzano, we went to an Austrian restaurant for dinner. We had just gotten in the car when we noticed it was snowing! We headed back to our apartment as quickly as possible and the kids raced out to experience their first snowfall ever.

It was very light snow so we didn’t expect there to be much left the next day. We were pretty surprised to see a good inch of fresh snow covering everything in the morning. Audrey was thrilled to try out her new Decathlon ski suit.

Even if it was just in the car park.

The day before we had realised that ‘Ötzi The Iceman’, a 5000-year-old man that was discovered in the 90s by some hikers in the Dolomites (and that Hayley had studied in history class) was kept on display in Bolzano. We cleared off the car and headed into town to check it out.

The exhibit was actually really good, with the original mummy (which totally freaked out the kids) kept in a temperature-controlled room behind a tiny viewing window.

They also had other belongings found at the site as well as a recreation of what he might have looked like.

After our token educational visit we headed to Brixen, a little town about 45 minutes north of Bolzano to eat more strudel and drink more alcoholic drinks before lunch. The impetus behind these whole two weeks on the road was for Mandi to experience a white Christmas, so it was amazing that it worked out so well. Brixen was like a postcard.

We wandered around the Christmas market and explored the grounds of the beautiful old church.

And spent more time playing in and with the snow.

Then we got back in the car and headed further north to Vipiteno, just 16km from the Austrian border.

We decided we needed to share a white hot chocolate to give us energy for more Christmas markets.

After we reached market saturation we managed to find a couple of playgrounds nearby.

No locals were crazy enough to be in a playground in -2 degrees. We were.

As the sun started to set it got even colder so we called it a day and headed back to Bolzano to get a good night sleep for the long drive to Bormio.