Is something the Matter(horn)? (Cervi)no!

For a long time, since before I became a volcano-crazed geologist and put places like Iceland and New Zealand at the top of my places-I-want-to-go-to list, I always wanted to go skiing in the Alps. I also always wanted to engage in a high speed ski chase outrunning avalanches and machine gun-mounted, parachuting snow mobiles (so I guess Pierce is my hero for more than just Dante’s Peak). One could even argue that this entire studying-geology-in-Italy-thing was really just a cover to make both those things happen. You’d be wrong, but still, it’d be an interesting argument.

After the first couple days in the Milan area, we rented a car and drove a few hours north into the Aosta Valley, which is on the French and Swiss borders and contains a few major ski areas. But before we actually got to the skiing, we stopped at a really cool castle in a town nearby where we were staying. Castello di Fenis is an early middle ages that was used for a variety of things and renovated over the course of the millennium. It was pretty cool with the mountains in the background. We even got a tour of the inside, though no pictures were allowed indoors. The best part of the tour might have actually been the fact that, even though it was entirely in Italian, I was able to understand and translate reasonably well for my parents and even ask a question and understand the answer!

We stayed in the small town of Saint Vincent, close to the mountains, around a half hour from the skiing. There were some nice views there when the weather was nice, but not too much else to see. Don’t worry, though—I found the rocks and minerals museum!

And then, of course, the most important part—the skiing! The place we went to was called Cervinia, a massive area that connects to a Swiss area called Zermatt. The whole thing is sort of centered around one of the tallest mountains in the Alps, the Matterhorn (or Monte Cervino in Italian). Even just the drive in is breathtaking, but it’s even more amazing once you’re on the gondolas and lifts going up or skiing down surrounded by snow-covered mountains on all sides.

The skiing itself was certainly different from US skiing in most places I’ve been. Because of the altitude (around 2000m at the base, close to 3500m at the summit), the entire area is above the tree line. That means there aren’t actually trails per se. There’s just “on piste”, huge groomed roadlike “trails” and “off piste”, basically everywhere else that you can ski at your own risk. For the most part, the trails are relatively easy, not too steep, and well groomed. As a result, the skiing itself was actually a little underwhelming, not specifically that much better than American skiing that I’ve done. On the second day, though, we found some better pistes and better snow and the skiing was a lot more fun.

But, as you can see in the pictures, the skiing was pretty much secondary, because you were taking it easy the whole time just looking at the scenery around you. At one point, a guy completely wiped out in front of us on a gentle straightaway, and I’m pretty sure it was because he couldn’t take his eyes off the scenery.

 

One cool thing that I’ve never seen before is that the lift passes were magnetic cards that go inside the sleeve of your jacket. To get on the lift, you just hold up your arm and pass through a turnstile, like getting on the subway. No waiting for people to scan your ticket anymore. The robots are taking over ski-bum jobs!

We also got to enjoy European ski food, consisting of Bratwurst on the German-speaking Swiss side on day one and ravioli on the Italian side on the second day.

And, on the advice of my friend Alessandro, at the end of the day we tried a drink common to Italian ski slopes, the Bombardino. It was an amazing combination of brandy and an egg nog-like liquor topped with whipped cream. Fantastic, and definitely warms you up!

So, there you have it, the parental visit, boiled down, Peter Jackson style, to a trilogy of 3 hour posts! Now back to real life.

The first semester is officially over for me, and I’ve started classes for the second semester, but I can cover that next time. A dopo!

Are You Not Entertained?

Three of the days my parents were here, we took day trips by train to three cities in northern Italy, Bergamo, Verona, and Como. It’s funny, because all my Italian friends frequently complain about or apologize for the rail system in this country, but I think it’s great. The trains are fast, cheap, and not particularly more frequently late than trains in any other country I’ve been in.

Bergamo

I’d already been to Bergamo with my friend Andrea a little over a month ago, so I was able to be a tour guide of sorts for my parents here, though we also went to a couple new places. Also, my camera didn’t crap out this time, so I actually have pictures! For one thing, my mom walked through a door I didn’t realize was open which led to the stunning inside of the Duomo, a building that is deceptively unimpressive from the outside.

We also Walked deeper into the Citta Alta to see the citadel and the view north to the mountains, contrasting with the view of the Citta Bassa to the south.

Verona

After we returned from our skiing trip, we went to Verona for the day. Not the one in NJ. The one in Italy (just in case you didn’t realize). After figuring out the buses, we got to the center of the city and walked around a bit. The weather was nasty, but we persevered.

The first cool thing we saw there was the Arena, which is like a smaller, better-preserved version of the Coliseum in Rome. You could even go inside and walk in the corridors and out into the center of the arena. In retrospect, I really regret not walking out to the center, throwing my stuff on the ground, and bellowing, “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?” like Russell Crowe in Gladiator. Alas, he who hesitates is lost, and I failed to seize the moment.

There are a bunch of big, famous churches in Verona. We had neither the time, nor the inclination to visit them all, so we settled for two of them. First we went to Sant’Anastasia, located right next to the river at the north end of town.

Then we went to Duomo, nearby, but didn’t go inside.

We also walked around the various piazzas and such, including the big one, Piazza delle Erbe, which has at one end the Arco della Costa, an arch where a whale’s rib has supposedly been hanging for 1000 years. It will supposedly fall on the first person to walk underneath who has never told a lie.

Then, of course, we went to the Casa di Giulietta, where you can see “balcony” located at “Juliette’s” “house” of Shakespearian fame. I went into quotation mark overdrive there because while the house did probably belong to the Capuleti family, whether or not Juliette was real is up for debate. Assuming she was, there is little evidence to say that this was actually her house. And even if it was, there is evidence that balcony was added to the house in the 20^th century. The whole thing is a little speculative for my tastes. Also, there was a statue of Giulietta that all the tourists were groping, supposedly for luck. I didn’t really understand that part.

Como

Since we had one free day towards the end with nothing specific planned, I decided to take my mom and dad to Lake Como for the afternoon, since it’s cheap and easy to get to (see above about trains), and it’s nice! We walked around for a while, seeing the Duomo and the lakefront. Also, we had some good gelato. Also, some ducks mooned us. Either that, or they were fishing. Either way, it was rude.

Tune in soon for the third and final installation of the parental visit portion of my blog! I hope you’re enjoying it. If not, all I can say is: Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?

To Milan With Love

I passed my retake of my Volcanic Tectonics exam today, woo! A nice beginning to the week following a fun visit from my parents. We did a pretty wide variety of stuff, traveling to several cities in northern Italy, doing stuff in Milan (some of which I’d done before, and some of which I hadn’t), and, of course, went skiing in the Alps. It’s too much stuff to cover in a single post (unless you have a lot more spare time to read my blog than I think you do), so I’ll break it up into a couple posts, ordered by content rather than chronological order.

We’ll start with Milan. I’d thought I’d pretty much done everything there was to do in Milan already. Apparently not. The first day we spent in Milan, I mostly showed my parents stuff I’d already seen—Duomo, Castello Sforzesco, the Galleria, La Scala, Palazo Reale (which had a very strange exhibit of incredibly sexually explicit Bob Dylan paintings), etc. Still, we did a few new things, like visit the museums in Castello Sforzesco. The first had a temporary exhibit with art by Renzo Bergamo. I’m not much for modern art, but I really thought his stuff was cool.

The other museum was historical, with sculptures and tapestries and other things from Italian and other cultures.

Then we went to the Pinacoteca di Brera, an art museum with a lot of famous stuff. No pictures allowed! But I’m a crafty one.

Then we did other stuff for a bunch of days. Come back later for those exciting tales! The last couple days of their visit, we did more stuff in the city, including Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, the oldest church in Milan. It was pretty plain as far as big churches go, but there was a sarcophagus from the 4^th century as well as a really cool mosaic in the apse. One thing that puzzles me about churches here—there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason to which ones you can and can’t take pictures in (and which ones you can if you pay). So half the time I’ll be hiding behind pillars and lurking in dark corners to take photos when I realize that everyone is doing it!

While I’ve been in and around the Duomo a bunch, I’d never been to the top before. Unfortunately, there’s some scaffolding and stuff that ruins a little of the view up there, but there’s still a lot of fantastic architecture and intricate stonework to see, and a nice view of different parts of Milan from high up.

 

The final new thing we went to was Chiesa Santa Maria delle Grazie, which is where the Last Supper is located (in the building next door). First we checked out the church itself. Then we had an appointment to see da Vinci’s famous painting. Even during the winter when there’s not a lot of tourists, we had to book a month in advance and you only get to see the painting for a very strictly-enforced 15 minutes. We had a helpful English-speaking guide who explained the best place to view the painting from. From up close, it’s actually a little disappointing, but when you back up to the optimal place, the painting gains depth and you can understand why it’s so admired.

So now I feel mostly comfortable saying I have done everything touristy that there is to do in Milan. So now you should come visit me and I can be a great tour guide!

I apologize for the messiness of the format, I’m still learning the new site. Hopefully it’ll get better soon!