A 25th anniversary for being married together is worth celebrating! Our planned trip to Europe was postponed prior to my father’s passing and our move to the east coast. When we started planning our trip over a year ago, a summer in Europe became less appealing: hot, expensive and crowded. As teachers though, we are bound by the school calendar. This fall, both of us were substitute teaching and out daughter was working in Milan, so an impromptu trip was in order for three weeks in November.
[photo credits: Amber, Acadia, Zaak]
Milano, Lombardy, Italia
We began our journey hosted by Christian and Andreana, Acadia’s host family, and gracious hosts they were. They made a deliberate effort to ensure we tasted local delicacies (3 cheers for ossobuco!) and made terrific suggestions of what to see in Milan and around Italy. Acadia accompanied us for most of our days when she wasn’t in Italian language class or tending to her two charges.
Milan is a stunning city – as will be easily understood when it is featured as the host city of the 2026 Winter Olympics. Here are my highlights (among the ever present amazing food and drink):
- Verdi’s stirring Requiem performed by the Orchestra e Coro Sinfonica di Milano at the elegant Auditorio di Milano
- M.C. Escher Between Art and Science exhibit at the MUDEC
- The Fondazione Prada‘s unique complex and many provocative art installations including Iñárritu’s Sueño Perro and the Wes Anderson designed Bar Luce
- Castello Sforza‘s grounds and museum (especially the vast collection of musical instruments)
- Pinacoteca di Brera‘s amazing collection of art and their exhibit of Giorgio Armani designs scattered throughout the gallery.
Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italia
I was aware that Radiohead had announced a five city European tour, but as I had no plans to be in Europe in the fall, it only struck me a few days before we flew out that we were in Italy for the Bologna concert dates. Without disclosing ticket costs to her, Amber gave her approval and Acadia was enthusiastic and willing. I picked up 3 tickets for the second show in Bologna.
We took a high speed train from Milano to Bologna, got our special concert venue bus tickets, walked to our hotel and then explored the old city. By suppertime, my StubHub tickets hadn’t been released yet and I was beginning to stress. We were on the bus to the venue when I finally was able to chat with a StubHub agent and she replaced my tickets with other ones minutes before we got to the venue.
The show itself was a blast – most of my favourite Radiohead songs made it into the setlist. Italian fans are amazingly polite and fun. They strongly sang along to every song. The band appeared to be enjoying themselves. We met friends Gauthier and Alessia in the crowd and Alessia offered us a ride back to our hotel along with a guided tour of northwestern Bologna.
My pistachio pastry the next morning at the exquisite Doppio Civico lives on in my memory.
Sori | Portofino, Liguria, Italia
We were hosted by Marina at her beautiful home in Sori, east of Genova. We had the treat of watching tennis phenom Jannik Sinner win the ATP finals on TV (live from Torino) with Marina, a superfan. We also got bus to the trailhead of a very gratifying hiking trail from San Rocco to San Fruttuoso to Portofino. The panoramas from leading from Camogli to to the trailhead in San Rocco had Amber exclaiming that this was the most beautiful place she had ever been.
After two park rangers attempted to dissuade us from hiking to San Fruttuoso because it had rained recently and we only had sneakers for footwear, we confidently climbed the trail in the tropical forest. The foliage and vistas made for easy hiking and we arrived at the secluded coastal monastery of San Fruttuoso in time for a picnic lunch. It was closed for the season and only 2 other people were seen during our rest stop (and some goats). The girls got their feet wet in the Mediterranean before we completed our 17 km day hike into magical Portofino. We enjoyed café and gelato before bussing/training back to Sori.
Genova, Liguria, Italia
We had a morning with Acadia in Genova, famously known as the birthplace of genocidal criminal Christopher Columbus – but even more importantly of Genoa salami. We took the Zecca-Righi Funicular up to a high point in the city to get a quick majestic view of the port city before walking the famed Via Garibaldi, a short street lined with 12 renaissance era palaces. Amber and I explored the palaces in the afternoon and the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata del Vastato which has an extraordinary amount of inlaid gold around the frescos and images.
Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
Amber and I spent six romantic nights in Nice, France on the Côte d’Azur. We walked all over the city and visited museums and galleries and had some excellent meals (La Cantine de Mémé and Restaurant L’Ecurie were my favourites). The public art and old city parks and ceramic tile roofs make Nice a stunning place to relax in. And, like Italy, there are cafés, bakeries and inexpensive wine everywhere (we picnicked with wine everyday).
The notable events and locations we enjoyed most were:
- La Promenade des Anglais beach walk
- Henri Matisse Museum
- Marc Chagall Museum
- Cimiez Roman baths and arena ruins and museum
- The Russian Orthodox Church gifted to Nice by Tzar Nicholas II just a couple years before his assassination by the Bolsheviks (though I had very mixed feelings knowing many of the faithful praying the church support Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, as the leadership of the Russian Church endorses and blesses whatever Putin does)
- Wine tasting and picnic at the Chateau Crémat
- An imperial stout aged in sherry oloroso barrels at Blue Coast Brewery
- a very chilly match between the Olympique de Marseille and OGC Nice (fireworks, smokebombs, massive flags, megaphone chanting and singing) – the home team lost 5-1
- The crème brulés and goat cheeses from heaven
Èze, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
A small medieval village sits atop a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Èze is a short bus ride from Nice. We explored and picnicked in the botanical gardens which features a lot of cacti varieties and statues of slim muses. As we explored the stone village, Amber spotted a hummingbird hawk-moth who was drawing nectar from some blue flowers on the side of a building – this stands as our wildlife highlight of the trip as we never spotted any of the silky-haired dolphins featured on the Nice city flag. We were travelling light, so we didn’t spend a fortune on beautiful trinkets in the tourist shops that have now overrun the ancient stone homes. Overall, this village is a feast for the eyes and I felt like a kid exploring an imaginary place.
We hiked down the 2 km Frederic Nietzsche trail to the train station by the beach. Nietzsche composed the structure and main themes of his Also Sprach Zarathustra while walking up this path.
Alba, Piemonte, Italia
We enjoyed a leisurely day of travel from Nice to Alba via trains and a bus. The alps had just enjoyed a thick blanket of snow as we cruised through. We stayed at the economical and comfortable Seminario Vescovile di Alba so we could spend our money on food. Alba is a famous wine region in Italy (nebbiolo, barbera, and dolcetto grapes), it’s weekend truffle market and its hazelnut groves (the birthplace of Nutella).
Our first night we ate with other happy patrons at the Osteria dei Sognatori – the least expensive supper we had in our three night stay and the only place with a line-up and one of the greatest meals I have ever had – I left a generous tip (not culturally expected) and the waiter waved me over and gave me a shot of grappa and a shot of limoncello to thank me.
We spent much of our first day joining an existing visit of the wine-making college, Scuola Enologica Alba. Marco gave us a private tour of the school which trains students aged 14-20. They have a large experimental and training vineyard and lots of winemaking tools and vats. I learned as much as a novice vintner could. The scheduled tour was for a brigade of winemakers from Georgia (the country), so we enjoyed the middle translation from Italian to English to Georgian. We had a nice tasting at the end of the day.
We hiked a large 12 km loop on trails extending out to the east and south of the town of Alba. The Sentiero delle Rocche and Sentiero Bricco Capre bring you over hills of vineyards with views of little castles in the distance and through hazelnut groves. We had a coffee halfway before picnicking on the western slope with a view of the Alps. Monviso is about a perfect as a mountain can look in the distance. There were persimmon and olive trees in people’s yards.
Torino, Piemonte, Italia
Finally, we arrived in Torino for 3 nights, hosted graciously by Giovanni and Mariana. Acadia will be their au pair beginning in January. Mariana took us up to a couple churches with views of Torino, but beautiful in their own right – especially with the Christmas lighting. We went out for aperativo and pizza together on our last night. I learned that we don’t share pizzas.
Torino gave us the Museo Egizio – the second largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world. The sheer volume of information at the museum was overwhelming, but also inspiring. I was struck just by the introduction to how they sourced their colours for dyes and inks and the display of all their wooden building materials – built to last. Also in the city, housed in the impressive Mole, is the National Museum of Cinema – great fun and fabulous early history of moving pictures. I was too tired to try to watch films at the Torino International Film Festival which we were town for the last 3 nights – all the films that interested me were ‘narrative adjacent’ and 3 hours long with late start times.
We visited the great market, walked by the chapel where the shroud of Turin was found (and continues to be stored in), a park along the Po River. Amber and I searched record stores on her birthday – she’s such a collector. She helped me locate a Jonathan Richman album I had to buy on Record Store Day and she pointed out a street market where I found my holy grail of Italian albums with – Adriano Celentano’s Prisencolinensinainciusol. Acadia joined us for our last day and we obligingly watched the first three episodes of Stranger Things season 5.
Europe was charming and inspiring and restful and delicious.
Things are built to last and culture is nurtured.
Amber was even more charming though. I love traveling with her because of her wonder, laughter and willingness to walk long distances.
Ambercita
Lovely recap babe! I feel very lucky that we got to experience this exquisite part of the world xo.