I’m currently sitting at Charles De Gua airport in Paris. After 5 days in Milan, 2 days in Paris, a day in Nice, a day in Cannes, and then one more night in Paris, I am heading back to Italy to Positano on the Amalfi Coast. I finally have some time to sit and write for a bit because they over-booked me on my flight from Paris back to Bologna. I am now instead taking a flight into Rome, but have to wait here at the airport for 5 hours. From Rome, I will take the train into Naples and from there figure out how to arrive at the Villa in Positano.

As far as my travels have been concerned, I must say that I really enjoyed Milan. Prior to visiting Milan, I have heard nothing but bad things sucha as: there is nothing to see in Milan, its always smoggy and cloudy, the food sucks, and so on and so forth. A friend of a friend of mine, who travels around the world as a model, invited me to come experience fashion week in Milan. After experiencing all that Milan has to offer, I have concluded that I actually really enjoy Milan. It is a vibrant city full of great energy, pretty women, and diverse industry. Yes, Milan is not as beautiful as many other cities in Italy, but it seems like a great place to work and live. Also, on the last day in Milan, we took the train up to Lake Como.

Here we rented a boat and took a tour of the lake. The villas here are incredible and the lake itself is gorgeous. Set in the base of the Alps, the lake offers a quiet, serene retreat just minutes away from the bustling city of Milan. We had a very enjoyable day on the lake looking at the houses and the scenery, imagining where our future villa will be. After a day on the lake, it was time for me to catch a train back to Bologna for my flight to Paris in the morning, but b y the time we arrived back in Milan, the last train of the night had already gone out and I would have to wait til morning to go. We decided to share one last night in Milan together. We went to another fashion week party, I stayed up the whole night and then jumped on a train around 6 a.m. back to Bologna. Once back in Bologna, I had just enough time to catch the bus back to the apartment, grab some things I needed then get a cab to the airport to catch my flight. In my rushing to get to the airport, I forgot the suit a teammate had lent me for the wedding I was to attend in Nice. I did not figure this out until I was at the airport, but I figured I would find a solution once arriving in France. I got to Paris around 3 in the afternoon where I met a friend of mine from college at a hotel near the Louve. We decided to start the sightseeing right away…I was running on fumes without sleep, but was not about to wuss out of seeing Paris. My friend was amazed to find that I knew my way around the city. I have only been to Paris once before when I was 15. I won a trip to Europe and was accompanied by my mom. Paris was one of our destinations, so I remembered a lot about where things were located and what to see. Paris is a very very big city and is quite remarkable. There is a ton to see and do.

In a day and a half, we covered a good amount of the sites, but my favorite thing we saw was the museum of modern art. They had some very cool exhibits here that were very strange, but also very intriguing. We walked the museum for several hours with our last exhibit of the day being the ……………………. This really can’t be fully explained in words but the just of it was this dark lit room with speakers lined on both walls. At the end of the room there was a forest trail being projected onto the wall by this huge machine. I decided to stand in front of the machine and gaze down the path in the forest. After a short time of staring at the screen, I notice myself wanting to move forward as if I was actually walking down the path myself. Every logical reasoning in my head was telling me to just stand still, but something in my subconscious psyche was pulling me forward and forcing me to continue down the path. I would slowly inch toward the wall, taking one small, cautious step after another. I was being sucked into the experience. As I got closer to the wall and figuratively further into the woods down the trail, my heart began to race and my steps became more timid. Finally when I was just a foot or two from the wall, I decided I had had enough and stepped away…sweating. It was very very bizarre. It was almost like some sort of hypnosis or something. Very strange, but very neat at the same time. The next day we traveled to Nice. The hotel we stayed at was incredible!

After checking into the hotel, we spent several hours working out and relaxing in the hotel spa and fitness center. The weather wasn’t very nice, so this was a good alternative to spend the day. That night, we had a delicious meal of sushi at the hotel restaurant…finally! Sushi! It has been far too long that I’ve gone without good sushi and this place hit the spot. We took the waitor’s recommendation which included three big plates of different kinds of sashimi, rolls, etc. It was delicious!

We spent the next day driving into Cannes then laing on the sand on the sea. The wedding was at 2:00 that day, but we missed that and just went to the reception at 7, but arrived at 9. I had purchased a pair of slacks and a nice shirt so that I would look presentable. The wedding reception was at a beautiful villa in the hills overlooking the sea in a small town very near to Cannes. It was very very nice. It was all French people for the most part, but our table almost all spoke English. Many of them had gone to Stanford for graduate school, so I was pretty much surrounded by a bunch of geniuses. All the people were very nice and welcoming, and even offered to extend a helping hand in my search for the next step which is finding a nice career path. The wedding was similar to typical American weddings, but different at the same time. Before we arrived, there was a heavy cocktail reception so dinner was not served until around 10. In true European style, dinner was stretched out over a couple hours, culminated in the “cutting of the cake” for desert. Only, there wasn’t a cake, instead there was a pastry creation of the San Francisco bridge. The bridge didn’t last long however because the table it was on completely collapsed, destroying the entire creation…those San Francisco earthquakes are really no joke. After the disaster, people ate dessert, danced, etc. The night ended around 5 in the morning with the bride and groom being thrown in the pool and then all the groomsmen and friends jumping in after. It was a fun time, especially with having not have knowing but one person going into it. The last day on the French Rivieria was spent on the sea. We rented a jet ski and cruised around the coast and then lounged on the beach for a while. On the way to the airport we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the little 2 lane coastal highway. Making our flight did not look promising. We arrived at the airport just a half hour before departure. I took care of the rental car check in while my friend ran ahead to drop off her luggage and check us in. Fortunately for us, she had an Ace in her pocket that allowed us to check in and skip the line, despite the fact that they had already closed it. We made it! It was then back to Paris for one last night. We arrived back at the same hotel, but a much less desirable room. We requested a change, but the next was not much better because the AC unit was not working. At 12:15 at night, when all I wanted to do was sleep, we were looking for a hotel with vacancy to stay. After about 20 min or so in a taxi, we came upon a nice one and got lucky. After that, we got one final meal together before saying our goodbyes in the morning. I ordered the fixed menu which included oysters, French onion soup, duck, and some sort of strawberry sorbet for dessert. It was a very good last meal. My friend’s flight left earlier than mine, so we said our goodbyes this morning and she left to the airport. After a nice filling breakfast and shower, I too departed for the airport…only to find out that they overbooked me and I would be sitting around the airport ALL DAY! Oh well, that’s just part of traveling sometimes. Its all going to work out. I’m taking a flight into Rome now and from there the train into Naples. The tricky part is going to be getting from the Naples train station to the villa…is probably going to be another late night.
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It turned out to be exactly that…another late night. I arrived to Rome around 8:30 then took a train from the airport to the central station. When I arrived at the central station I discovered that the last train to Naples for the night had already gone out and the next one was not leaving until 5 in the morning. It was around 11:00 or so and I had not eaten so I decided to venture off to find a restaurant still open. I found a little sub-par place near to the train station and got a much needed pizza. After that, I stopped in to check the rates at a couple hotels and hostels, but they all wanted 60 Euro, despite the fact that I was only going to be there for a few hours. I somehow stumbled upon a bar with a bunch of young travelers and Internet connection. A kind Aussie lent me his passcode to access the Internet. I needed to figure out the best way to get to Positano from Rome, its not an easy task. I mapped it all out and spent a couple hours just wasting time surfing the web. The bar finally closed down at 2 so I forced to venture out on the streets. I kept looking for a place to stay, but it wasn’t looking too promising. Most hotels were closed at this hour or the person working the desk would be asleep on a couch in the lobby…hard at work. Finally after about an hour of just walking around, I walked into a hotel for one last try. I convinced the guy to let me relax in the lobby for an hour or two. Turns out it was his last day on the job and he was having some difficulties with the printer. I helped him get it right then took a chair in the lobby and caught a few zzzzz’s. At 4:30 a.m. I walked to the train station and caught the train to Naples. I was in and out of sleep, fearing I would miss my transfer station and be totally screwed, but somehow I made it to Naples on time.

My first impressions of Naples is that it smells and is quite dirty, just like many people had told me. I hopped in a cab to try to get to the Port where there was a ferry to take me to Positano, but the cab driver said that the ferry does not leave until 11 on weekdays, whereas I thought a could catch one at 8:30. He ended up trying to take me to the port anyways, but I refused and made him take me back to the train station. I was going to hop out without paying him because he didn’t take me anywhere except in a circle around the block, but when I went to leave he started with the Italian yelling. He wanted 8 Euros…I said 5, but I only had a 10. I gave him the 10 and he kept the whole thing…typical. At the train station I caught a different train to Sorrento. When I arrive there, I will catch a bus down the coast to Positano (supposedly a gorgeous drive) hopefully in time to catch the boat to Capri for the day.

Trains, planes, and automobiles…oh so much fun!