maolor.blogspot.com: 08/01/2013

*CAUTION: Very long blog BUT lots of pictures!!! AND tips when traveling abroad!*

And the journey continues…. Castle stay in Turin to Milan to Venice to Florence.

Oh! I do want to mention one more thing about London. Tip #4: (And this may be more common sense knowledge than a tip – LOL!) If you’re trying to get to a place, whether it’s a restaurant, pub, etc., be sure to ask locals where it’s at first before you hop in a cab or hitch a carriage ride. Because this trip right here (picture below), cost us 20 British pounds AND the place we were going was literally AROUND THE CORNER. FYI – 20 British pounds is equivalent to approximately $31 USD. And that’s a lot to just go around the corner!

Castello Di Pavone!

After Paris, we hopped on a train and headed towards Turin. Why Turin? Well, we decided that since we were going to be in Europe, why not splurge just a little and stay in a castle for one night. So, we found one that would accommodate four people in a room and wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg – even though it kind of did. It was worth it! We stayed at Castello Di Pavone in Turin, Italy. The staff was very accommodating, brought our HEAVY luggage to our room, and we had a welcome basket of wine and treats!

After we finally figured out how to get to the castle from the train station and settled in, they fed us pre-dinner snacks – bread, fruits, juice, wine, crackers, and cheese. It felt more like a mini snack buffet. Then they gave us a tour of the castle and told us this scary lover’s tale about how the queen still roams the castle calling out her loved one’s name at night and if you listened, you could hear it. UGH! WTF? Right? LOL! After that great story, we still roamed the castle taking pictures. Then…. the best part – DINNER! We had a four course meal. Each plate was better than the one before. Sorry, I wish I could find the food pictures but between four cameras we can’t seem to find who took those pictures. LOL!

Before we get to the pictures from the castle… Tip #5: If you’re traveling to a really small town in Europe and it’s not known to be very touristy, make sure you arrange transportation or know how to get to your destination from the train station. Because it took us a good 30 minutes to figure out what a taxi looked like, find the taxi driver, and somehow point to the picture/name of the castle. No one spoke English except for the workers at the castle!

Now, pictures from Castello Di Pavone…

Treats and wine. ^_^

Our massive bathroom.

Feeding us upon our arrival.

Touring the castle. The family tree.

Then we went off on our own and explored the castle.

A bed fit for Queens. Ha ha ha.

Two of the girls decided after dinner to tour the night scene of the castle.

But they returned pretty quickly because they got scared. Ha ha ha.

Milan!

We had high hopes for Milan. We heard so much about it being the fashion capital, etc., etc. BUT it really was disappointing! First, it took us 3 HOURS to find our hotel! I am not kidding! Three hours of dragging our luggage through streets, parks, scary places, etc. The streets there and almost everywhere in Europe go something like this: you’re walking on Malone Street, two minutes into walking on the same street all of a sudden it’s Thomas Street, and then it’s August Street. Seriously, the streets are not defined like how it is in the states. You could be walking straight on the same road but it has two different or maybe three different street names. On top of that, people gave direction based off of buildings, number of blocks, and landmarks. No one really knows the name of the streets. So, imagine our frustration after three hours. We finally found a cab and he took us to our hotel. And get this … it was literally three blocks from the train station but in the opposite direction! It wasn't completely our fault because we did ask the man in the train station on how to get there and he pointed us in the wrong direction. Of course we had to laugh about it because…. Well, just because. Ha ha ha! People kept telling us to look for the big grocery store. Really? LOL!

Anyways, since we were only in Milan for one night, we had to make the most of it. We left right after we got to the hotel and here are the directions that the front desk gave us on how to get back to the train station since our hotel was only three blocks away. I kid you not, these are his exact words: Go out, make a left, then make a right, then make a left and the train station is right there. LOL!

These are the only pictures from Milan because it really was...... here’s downtown Milan, here’s all the really expensive high end stores, and everything outside of that area = DO NOT ENTER! Seriously, that was it, which leads me to tip #6 and this is a very important tip when you’re in Milan.

Tip #6: DO NOT FEED THE BIRDS BY THE CATHEDRAL! DO NOT EVEN TALK TO THE RANDOM “SELLERS” THERE!! Just listen to me and walk away from these people! Short version of what happened – my friend was standing in the middle of the birds, random guys comes up to her and puts corn in her hand, birds flock to her and eats the corn out of her hand. Then they put corn in the rest of our hands, offers to take a picture, THEN said, “20 Euros each” … Excuse me? We didn't ask you to give us corn or even take it from you. You literally threw it our hands and birds just started flocking towards us. Of course I ended up giving them 20 Euros because Iwas so scared at these pushy hobos but my friends brushed them off and started walking towards the soldiers at the cathedral.

Now, if you remember the picture from Part One of me feed the birds outside of Notre Dame … that guy were NOTHING like these. These were hobo hustlers. But they weren't the only ones. There are some other guys who will put a friendship bracelet on you and demand money. When you try to give it back they won’t take it. How do I know? I saw it!

The first victim. LOL!

The photo that cost me 20 Euros!

Inside the "fashion capital" shopping center.

Venice!

I LOVE Venice! I am extremely disappointed that we only stayed one night. I will blame a friend who gave us bad advice saying Venice was only worth a one night stay. He was WRONG! When we got to Venice that was when it finally hit us that we were on vacation! The scenery was just like the movies – gondolas all throughout the water, bridges connecting one side to the other, water taxis, beautiful square/shopping, gorgeous night life, there was nothing that I didn't like about Venice! (Note: Dangerous Beauty is one of my favorite movies. To be there was … breathtaking!)

Pictures, pictures, pictures!

The view from when we first got off the train from Turin.

On the water taxi on our way to our hotel.

Then... out and about exploring Venice!

We stayed out all night.

Panoramic shot of the square that played music at night. Love it!!!

Played and danced around all night.

We loved it so much, it was sad to say good bye. *tear*

Florence!

Going from Venice to Florence was quite difficult BUT the shopping made up for it! Our hotel was about a 15 minute bus ride from the center of the shopping area and train station – Hotel Diva. It wasn't horribly far. It was located far enough from the tourist attraction but not too far where we felt our life was in danger because we weren't locals. LOL! We did actually walk from our hotel to the shopping place one day. We visited a ton of random museums, artists square, ate gelato, and SHOPPED A LOT!!!! We spent an entire day combing through all their shops and their markets, which leads to tip #7: ANY shopping that you do in Italy, make sure you BARGAIN for a better price! Most of the prices are jacked up really high AND there are a lot of sellers with the same merchandise who will most likely sell it to you for cheaper. I literally purchases 95% of my gifts at half off, if not more. Sometimes, two for one offers will get them to sell it too because that’s merchandise off their racks and money in their pockets (i.e. I got three pairs of shoes for 15 Euros – originally selling for 5 Euro for one and 10 Euros for the other two). AND of course, don’t be afraid to walk away if the price isn't what you’re willing to pay, most of the time they’ll cave. But! Keep in mind they are trying to make a living too so don’t completely rip them off. Be reasonable.

The nice thing about having a hotel not located in the touristy places is …. The FOOD! Our nice front desk lady pointed us to a local restaurant and the food was AMAZING! It was fresh, the food was cooked well, and the seasoning was right on. I would have to say, it was the best place we ate on the entire trip!

Now… pictures galore.