So, I thought I would have made more blog posts this week. I’ve certainly had some good experiences that are worth sharing. For instance, I used to work with Juliana Park in San Francisco, and she now lives in Paris so we’ve been doing some stuff together.
And I’ve especially thought that I would make extra blog posts this week since Chad left for Milan on Tuesday morning for his conference. However, my blog posts will have to wait. This week, I’ve been trying to catch up on some work stuff and even get ahead so I can go offline for a few days. Also, I’ve been hanging out with my friend Juliana which sounds more fun than writing blog posts. Plus, after a while, blog posts become work, and I’m trying to be on vacation.
So, being that I’m on vacation… I fly to Milan tomorrow to meet up with Chad. He’ll still be at his conference when I arrive, so he’s emailed me detailed instructions on how to get from the airport to the apartment. Once at the apartment building, I’m supposed to smile and wave at the security guard and then take the elevator on the left to the 10th floor and then let myself into the apartment with keys that I will have retrieved from a secret hiding place along the way. Sounds very Harry Potter to me.
Chad is going to leave me a list of things to do near the apartment so I can entertain myself while he’s finishing up his conference. He said something about a wine bar so I guess I can kill some time in a boring old wine bar with my Kindle or fill some time eating some yucky, terrible, delicious gelato while I wait for him. Then dinner and stay the night in Milano.
On Saturday morning, we’ll check out of the apartment and then head to Cinque Terre via train. I have to say that I am really looking forward to the train ride. I will take a train trip over an airplane flight any day. 3 hours or so should get us to the Cinque Terre on the northwest coast of Italy. We’ve been to the Cinque Terre before, and I could go on and on about that place. Suffice it to say that we could retire there and be happy. This time around, we will stay 3 nights in Manarola.
We’ll get to see our friend Claudio in Manarola. He’s organizing a wine and food tasting on Sunday night at a new restaurant, should be fun. Then on Monday Claudio has organized a bread- and pizza-making class. We already know how to make pizza from scratch, but we’re hoping to learn the secret to making a stellar focaccia. Translated from Italian, “focaccia” roughly means “delicious bread from Italy that tastes like it came from Heaven that is a delicious bread that Juli loves.” Or something like that.
After the Cinque Terre, we head back to Paris for a couple of days and then fly back to Atlanta. OMG, I can’t believe I just typed “fly back to Atlanta.” Seems like we should have more time remaining in Europe. We need to figure out how to do another 7-month travel trip. I’m going to sound spoiled when I say this, but 5 weeks in Europe is just not enough time. I know. Sounds ridiculous, right?