So I've decided I should go to Italy more often (and before I start, all the photos are here)

I left Oslo on Tuesday morning, flying out with Ryanair on a ticket that cost 1 NOK (about 20 AUD cents).With the whole free seating option, I don't know why I always choose a wing seat because it freaks me out more than any other place in the plane since you can see that thing wobbling all over the place. And then at some point in the flight I started thinking to myself, you know, if the fuselage ripped off the plane, then the window seat is probably more likely to get sucked out by the decompression etc. And then I started thinking that I really need to stop watching Air Crash Investigation. Hmmn.

When I arrived at Bergamo I realised again just how much I love border control in Europe, especially at marginal airports. I think I've mentioned this before, but in Scandinavia, border control is basically just a sleepy looking guy with a cup of coffee. In Italy there wasn't even a sleepy looking guy.

But anyway, let's get down to it. I'm going to go through day by day:

Day 1.
So as I already said, I flew into Bergamo airport and had arranged with Viki to catch the shuttle to Milan Central, where she would meet me and we'd go to her parent's place from there. After a slight mix up involving a few missed phone calls and some confusion as to where either of us was, we found each other front of a candy store called Le Goloserie, and it was on to another train. We got off at the biggest town near Viki's village, called respectively Tortona ("Big Cake"), and Carbonara (which, to my eternal disappointment is not the birthplace of the pasta...), and then drove to Viki's place. Where Viki's lovely mother had made spinach lasagne, veal in carrot and onion gravy, and cassata. Mmmmmn.
I bonded with my newest friend, Sheva, using Schmackos: whoever said you can't buy love?.

Day 2.
Viki and I got up early and caught the train back into Milan for the requisite touristy sightseeing :D
First we went to Duomo, the second largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the world. It's dedicated to the Madonna and construction was started in 1386, but it took so long to build that architectural styles evolved during the course of its construction and it ranges from Baroque and Neo-Classical to Gothic.
Then we wandered through the Galleria Vittorio Emanule II, and I imagined being rich enough to shop there.


I loved the fact that they have a net suspended over the big majestic entrance..its purpose? To keep the pigeons out. Reminds me of the Great Wall and the rabbits..


From there we went to the castle...


..and I ate gelato


That afternoon we caught the train to the seaside house. It's quite close to Genova, in the region called Liguria: home of pesto and of foccacia. The seaside house is in Rapallo..

..which is close to Santa Margherita..

..and also to San Lorenzo..


Anyway, Day 3.
We were going to take a boat from Santa Margherita to Portovenere, but the sea was choppy and the boats weren't running and we had to catch the train instead. We met up with Viki's friends Filippo and Francesca and caught the train to La Spezia, where we spent quite a long time waiting for the bus to Portovenere only to discover we were waiting in the wrong spot.

Then we made it to Portovenere...

...and found a pesto vending machine!..

We caught a boat to a small island off the headland called Palmaria and basically just chilled all say.

Day 4.
Pippi drove to the seaside the night before and then we went down into Santa Margherita for lunch in the morning.

After lunch we caught the boat to Portofino and I, again, imagined what it would be like to be rich.



Pippi left that afternoon and later that night Viki and I walked up along a very dark, windy road with very few footpaths to San Lorenzo and met Filippo and Fra for the fireworks.

Day 5.
Viki and I bummed around all morning on the beach at Portofino and then caught the train back to Tortona that afternoon. Where we bummed around at home and ate more good food.

Day 6.
Viki drove me to the station at 4.30am, I caught the train to Milan, I caught a bus to Bergamo, I caught a plane to Sanderfjord, I caught a bus to Oslo. I slept.


Again, all the photos are here