The Curti Abroad: So Much Wine!: Part 1

Oh, Italia. You did not disappoint.

At the end of May, Megan, Josh, and I went to Italy. Unfortunately Josh had to work and was unable to take part in all of the Italian adventures, but he did meet up with us for the last part of the trip in the Cinque Terre.That, my dearies, will be its own post. Preview: It's amazing. Preview picture:


Me enjoying the amazingness

But because I'm weird and I can't do things out of order, and because these two cities are awesome themselves, we must discuss Milan and Venice first!

So our good friend, Megan, came to visit and travel with us in Europe for a few weeks. All three of us spent an incredible, but tiring, weekend in Prague (there was an all night art student party right across the alley from our hostel window...both nights. Apparently this only happens one weekend a year. Gah!). Josh went back to work for the week while Megan and I took off for Italy bright and early on a Tuesday morning. First stop, Milan.

Honestly, I didn't have very high expectations for Milan. I knew I was going to enjoy it at the very least because of the food, but I more or less just thought it would be normal big city and there wouldn't be much of the Italian flair. Well, I was wrong. The architecture of the Duomo and the buildings around it are gorgeous. We were also able to take the stairs up to the roof of the cathedral and walk around among the flying buttresses and also up to the very top to walk along the peak, or what I like to call the spine.

Milan Duomo

Flying Buttress(-es?)

The Duomo spine. I walked out on it as far as I could go. No railings. It was all I could do not to crawl or butt-scoot my way back to safety. It's not that I have any dignity, I just didn't want to embarrass Megs.

For dinner that night we went to the Barrera art district in Milan, took advantage of the happy hour specials at an outdoor cafe, and looked at all the beautiful people and clothes. Damn. Don't tell Josh, but there were some fine looking mens. This Clive Owen look-alike in a charcoal gray suit caught me gawking at him on his bike and threw me the most rakish grin as he rode by. I about died. I know he did it because he caught me staring, but I don't care! (Don't feel sorry for Josh, there were many incredibly gorgeous, mostly naked women in the Cinque Terre).

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Buildings near Duomo Square


I never did figure out was going on here, but I liked it!

We were only in Milan for about 24 hours before we made our journey to beautiful, breathtaking Venice. Venezia. There really are no words or images that can capture this city. The closest I have been able to come is: decaying old world decadence. I had heard mixed reviews from people about Venice (mostly good), but I think you'd have to be insane to not love it. It's unlike any place I've ever been. There are canals everywhere. Everywhere. Therefore, there are a lot of beautiful bridges. Cafes, shops, museums, and old merchant mansions line these canals. The residences and museums entrances are literally on the water, if not sunken into it. I had the pleasure of celebrating Megan's birthday while there. It was a perfect day and we posted up for the afternoon along a canal with a bottle of wine. So that is me trying to use my words to describe Venice, now I will try to use my pictures.