Milan

So Milan has super delicious food.

After delicious pizza on Wednesday night (we’ve discussed - only Naples has had better pizza), we were ready for a couple of days of city sites. After getting a really good sleep, we took our time getting up & going on Thursday morning, detouring through a park by the hotel, where it looked more like fall than winter, and enjoying how decked out the city is for Christmas. Our first stop was at a fancy cafe on Via Monte Napoleone, getting delicious pastries and warm beverages to fortify us for the day, and where we could hear a lot of cheering - EDP thinks there’s a store that’s known for the crowd cheering every day when it opened but it seemed a bit excessive for that. It’ll always be a mystery because it was over by the time we emerged from the cafe.

We made our way down to the Duomo and to see the Christmas market in the Piazza del Duomo. We didn’t prebook tickets for the Duomo so when we arrived and there was pretty much no line up for the stairs to head up to the roof, we jumped online and got tickets, heading up the ~250 steps onto the terraces. I LOVED IT. We have a little bet going to see if I’m over or under 200 photos while we were up there. There is some pretty extensive restoration work going on currently so the dome & large portions of the roof were covered in scaffolding but we still got to wander around quite a bit of the terraces. I loved being able to see the detail of the stonework up close and there were a few places where the restoration was complete so everything just sparkled and shone in the sunlight. It was definitely the highlight of Milan for me. Once we made our way off the terraces, we went inside, where I was enamoured by the organs, the stained glass, and the architecture. No wonder it took them almost 600 years to complete the thing! Then, it was outside to see the market stalls and the front of the Duomo. The market had a lot of baked goods, candy, and jewellery, making it quite different than the German markets. We didn’t stop for anything since we had a date with a museum - plus, none of the Milanese specialities seemed to be on display, aside from panettone which we weren’t really in the market for.

So we wandered over to Biblioteca e Pinacoteca Ambrosiana for our first museum. The reading room was closed but we did get to see into it from one of the galleries in the Pinacoteca. We also got to see the cartoon for Raphael’s School of Athens, which was SO interesting and such an informative exhibit. It was really neat to see it! There was also the largest collection of Da Vinci’s writings & drawings in the Codex Atlanticus, which was EDP’s highlight. It was such a wonderful museum and I’m surprised it wasn’t busier but it was nice to have the place almost entirely to ourselves.After the Pinacoteca, it was time to find some lunch. We headed into Brera, one of the neighbourhoods known for good food. Armed with our phones, we wandered through the little streets until we found something that suited us and had a lovely outdoor lunch under the heaters. It was time to start in on the Milanese specialities so I went for Carbonara and EDP got talked out of the pizza by the waitress, settling on ragu. Then, we wandered around Milan, jumping between a couple of smaller sites, including the San Lorenzo columns, the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, the Tempio della Vittoria, and a chocolate shop we ran across. We ran into a bit of trouble trying to get back to the hotel because of protests outside the Teatro alla Scala. It was the opening night of the season. I had tried to get tickets for us but they sell out in minutes and I couldn’t get my account verified in time. It was likely for the best because we wouldn’t have wanted to bring appropriate clothes since we were trying to travel very lightly. And, it turns out, because so many politicians and dignitaries and whatnot attend the opening of the season, it’s SUPER popular to protest! So our route back to the hotel was interrupted by protestors and several kinds of police. It took us a minute to find a way around but eventually we did. We ended our day with a DELICIOUS meal, including what I’m pretty sure is the best risotto I’ve ever had.

Friday was an early day. We had the first tickets of the day to see the Last Supper at Cenacolo Vinciano so we were up and out early, walking through the quiet streets, arriving at the museum before there was full daylight. Entry is a timed 15-minute visit, limited to 30 people. They are taking every precaution they can with the fresco so doors don’t open until other close and they really limit the number of people going through each day. But, there’s also an app that tells you all sorts of interesting things and while 15 minutes doesn’t seem very long, it is actually quite a long time to look at one fresco. Once we were back out onto the street, the rain was starting so we headed off to find a cafe with some seating (harder than you’d think…) to get something to eat before our time at the Pinacoteca di Brera. We prebooked the Pinacoteca and I’m glad we did since tickets were sold out for the next few hours. It was much busier than the Ambrosiana, but that isn’t a surprise since it’s considered one of Italy’s most important galleries. There was lots to take in and the building was quite beautiful. They are building another gallery to display more of the collection and they had some miniature exhibits that will be in the new gallery when it’s completed, which was a nice addition. Once we were through the gallery, we headed off to find a little sandwich shop EDP was excited about. Sadly, it was closed because Thursday was a national holiday and so a lot of places were closed on Friday, as well. But we found another shop where to able to get fresh sandwiches made - one with prosciutto, one with salami, and both with smoked cheese. We stopped in a grocery story for a bottle of Prosecco, chilling it with our now signature outside-the-hotel-room chilling method (no balcony here but there was a ledge outside the window that was more than wide enough for a bottle of wine) making for an excellent late lunch. We topped that off with a walk for some gelato, stumbling across a children’s Christmas market, which we wandered through on our way back to the hotel. We ended the day with ANOTHER amazing dinner where I was finally able to find Milan’s franciacorta wine by the glass, which was a nice treat.

Saturday was all about Castello Sforzesco. We had timed entry tickets for 10:30 so we took our time getting up and finding breakfast before heading into the castle area. There was another market set up around the castle and we had time to go through some of it before making our way inside. The Castello museums are extensive - I think there are 9 in total? They have it well laid out so you just sort of flow from one to the next, each in a different part of the castle. I really enjoyed how many different little hallways and nooks and balconies and whatnot that we went through. After we emerged, we wandered around the grounds a bit, making our way down to Arco della Pace and then back up to see more of the Christmas market. We saw a really gorgeous-looking nougat stall before we headed in so we found that again, getting some tasty nougat to take home and some candied nuts for the walk. I also invested in the world’s largest arancini, which was SO GOOD and soon we were through the market and in front of the castle. We started wandering towards one last church I had heard had some lovely frescos and got most of the way there before I realised it was the Last Supper we were headed towards. So we pulled the plug on that, found a little cafe for lunch/dessert and then headed back to the hotel to get started on packing up for our flight home. With that taken care of, we headed out for an aperitivo at a tiny bar around the corner. It was so fun - we had excellent cocktails and then most adorable little tray of snacks, with some salami & cheese, breadsticks & toasts, a trio of dips, carrots & edamame, and the most delicious warm dish that turned out to be mashed potatoes topped with a ratatouille. Aperitivo is really popular in Milan so it was good to end our couple of days in the city with one. Then, we headed back to the pizza place from our first night, enjoying another delicious round of pizzas. As we were headed out, the host recognised us as return guests, he seemed delighted we had come back for a second night. But it was really good pizza!!! I’d go back again any day!

In the morning, we made our way back to the train station, barely catching the train to the airport. We got to the station with plenty of time but it took longer than expected to get tickets and then there was no track number displayed for the train! We weren’t the only ones confused, another woman was also trying to find it and when EDP finally found someone who was able to tell him what track, we were right at the departure time for the train. All 3 of us ran. The track number showed up on the departures board and suddenly, we weren’t the only ones running! But we made it - all dozen or so of us and we were soon at the airport and boarding our very empty flight to Montreal. We did have to clear customs in Montreal and then our flight was delayed so we ended up landing much later than expected in Toronto but we made it home.

Even with our weather challenges, it was a great trip. The Christmas markets were such a travel highlight for me and getting to Milan has been on our list for a long time, too. We’ll try to make it back to Nuremberg in a few years - and maybe get EDP on his World Cup run, too.

The Dolomites

How nice to have a couple of quiet days after the weather-related chaos of Munich.

We’ve been snuggled down in the Dolomites for the last few days. EDP has had two great days of skiing - no waits for lifts, lots of runs to choose from, and good conditions! I’ve been trucking around Val Gardena, enjoying a long walk on our first day and a lazy day yesterday.

Originally, we were booked in to stay in Selva, the third of the three small towns that make up Val Gardena. But the hotel is under renovations and they weren’t completed so we were moved (and upgraded!) to another hotel in Santa Cristina, the second town. It’s the smallest of the three towns with very little going on. The hotel and the upgrade are nice but this town has very little in the way of restaurants, which makes life a bit difficult because the busses between the towns don’t run very late. So we settled on one of three restaurants open in town L Fudlè where I had such good ravioli and EDP enjoyed a ragu and a pizza. Dessert was also excellent and then it was back up for a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, EDP took off for Selva where he was expecting only a few runs to be open but he was pleasantly surprised with 2 lifts and 7 runs open. The slopes were not full at all so he never had to wait and got lots of time on the hill. Meanwhile, I spent my day an old train line that has been converted to a walking trail. First, I got a hot chocolate and walked over to Selva. Selva’s Christmas market isn’t open yet but much of it was set up so I got a bit of a preview. Then, I walked back past Santa Cristina and into Ortesei. The second leg of the trail wasn’t as nice as the first. Heading into Selva, I was high up above the road and had amazing views. Heading into Ortesei, the trail crisscrossed with the road, sometimes sharing the road. It was noisier and a bit confusing at times but was a great way to log almost 20km, between my there-and-back to Selva plus wandering around Selva plus getting all turned around when part of the trail was closed and needing to find a way around. I got into Ortesei shortly before 3, which worked well since the Christmas market stalls open at 3. The stalls were scattered around the pedestrian street but seemed to mostly just be nearby shops and hotels versus local artisans. I did get a vin brülé to help warm me up before catching the bus back to Santa Cristina to meet EDP for dinner. We had enough time to take a dip in the hot tub before we headed off to find something to eat. Literally nothing was open since the restaurants are all closed on Mondays. We were able to grab sandwiches at a tiny little bar, which worked in a pinch, and then we had some Prosecco and a couple of chocolates I had picked up in Ortesei once we were snuggled back in our room.

Tuesday was a lazier day for me. I lounged all morning before meeting EDP in Ortesei for lunch and then I spent a couple of hours reading in a cafe before finding some apfel strudel to go. EDP was busier with almost all of the lifts and runs open (except for the World Cup run that he was really excited for - so I guess we’re coming back.) He logged over 40km of skiing so another soak in the hot tub before dinner was in order! Happily, a few places were open so we were able to get a proper dinner. We wrapped up our night with apfel strudel and more Prosecco, chilled on the balcony!

Our original plans had us getting out of Val Gardena quite late so that EDP could do a half day of skiing on Wednesday but with the World Cup run still closed (turns out, the World Cup is next week so who knows if it’s opening to the public before that…) and with him getting in so much more than expected on Monday and Tuesday, he skipped going back out and we headed off to Bolzano. We were hoping to change our train tickets to an earlier train but our fare didn’t allow that so instead, we spent a LONG time wandering through Bolzano’s Christmas market (charming but much smaller than Munich!) and enjoying a lengthy afternoon coffee. We did still have about 90 minutes to kill at the train station but happily, our train was on time and we got into Milan only a few minutes later than expected. It was a refreshing walk up to the hotel, with warmer temperatures here than in Munich or Val Gardena but still chilly.

Happily, because Milan doesn’t really get going for dinner until well after 7, getting dinner wasn’t a problem! We were able to get into a pizza place EDP was very excited for, having incredible pizza! It was on the schedule for later in our stay so we’ll probably go for a second dinner. So good!!

Tomorrow starts our Milan adventures. It’ll be warmer here than Munich, so that will be nice but there’s another storm coming through. We may get some freezing rain, which won’t be fun but Munich is going to get walloped again, this time with ice. I’m so happy we were able to get out when we did and that we’re not flying out of Munich to get home!!

Snowy Munich

The last couple of days have been both very eventful and very uneventful.

We left Toronto on Thursday evening for our overnight flight to Munich. We landed on Friday morning, just a touch later than expected, waited a LONG time for customs and a LONGER time for EDP’s ski bag before emerging from the airport to see our first Christmas market.

Because it was really early in the day, it wasn’t fully up and running yet but it was a pretty cute way to say hello to Munich again. We soon made it onto the S-Bahn and emerged from the station to find our hotel. It was supposed to be very close but we weren’t sure what exit to use so we picked one with an escalator and headed off in what we thought was the right direction.  It wasn’t. We turned around and headed back the way we came and did get to where we needed to be.

Now, it was snowing. It was quite a wet snow but snowing. We were really hoping our room would be ready so that we could change clothes and get down to the market since we only had a half day in Munich. And it was! So with bags dropped and hats, boots & mitts acquired, we headed off to Marienplatz. It was a snowy walk. The snow was still quite wet but who doesn’t want snow falling while they visit their first German Christmas market?? We got down into Marienplatz and got our first glühweins from the very first hut in the market. What a way to start! It was warm and tasty and just what we needed as we wandered around.

Something that’s quite lovely about the markets is that your hot beverages are served in mugs. You pay a deposit for the mug and you can either keep it or return it for a refund. We didn’t opt to keep any of our Munich mugs as souvenirs, which I may now be regretting since I didn’t add to my magnet collection with a Christmas stall magnet, but I guess that’s another reason we have to come back. Anyway. Armed with our glühwein, we wandered around, looking at all the stalls. There were so many food vendors - warm nuts and chocolate-covered fruit and gingerbread and SO MUCH WURST! It wasn’t very busy, which was great, so we got a snack (pretzel for me, wurst for EDP) and continued to wander. Most food and drink stalls will have some small standing tables, often covered, where you can enjoy your treat but we wanted to see as much as we could so we wandered through the main market and some of the side streets, taking it all in. EDP soon saw another wurst stand that he liked the look of so we shared another wurst before trying to find the Medieval market, which is know for its feuerzangenbowle, which is a glühwein with rum and spices.

We seemed to still be a bit of a ways when we saw what I thought was the right market so we abandoned the map and tucked into another market. This one was super cute with some lovely stalls. Much of what we saw at Marienplatz seemed quite commercial and many of the vendors had the same nutcrackers and candles and whatnot. Part of what we were looking forward to was the unique things - and there were a few of those at Marienplatz but it does seem to have become quite commercialized. This market seemed to have a few more unique things but still not a lot to catch the eye. We had the infamous feuerzangenbowle which was DELICIOUS and you could easily loose track of how many of those you had.

From there, we made our way over to the intended market, the Medieval market which was much smaller than I expected but we shared some käsespätzle (so yummy and warm) before heading back towards the main market to get apple donuts and some fried potatoes. We had seen both stalls earlier in the day but didn’t think to drop pins on a map so it took some work but we did manage to find them again. The donuts were amazing - basically an apple fritter but so much better than any I’ve had - and those St Jacob’s ones are pretty good! The snow was still coming down and was still quite wet so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel to dry out. We were quite full so we didn’t need dinner but I really wanted to see a market at night so I convinced EDP that we should go to a little market just around the corner from our hotel and I’m glad we did because it was so beautiful with the lights and the snow! We didn’t make any stops, just took a nice wander around before heading back to snuggle down for a good sleep.

The plan for Saturday was to take a train up to Nuremberg, tour around the Old Town a bit before heading over to their famous market for a food tour and some time on our own before a late train back to Munich. But on Saturday morning, all the trains were cancelled. It was still snowing. Munich had already gotten about 30cm of snow. The city had ground to a halt. No trains were running until at least noon. So we figured out a plan - go get breakfast and then head to the train station to see about getting on a later train. We managed the first part with no problem but as we wandered, the city was so silent from the lack of traffic and I knew in my heart that we weren’t going to make it to Nuremberg. Everything was shut down. No flights in or out. No trains. No busses, trams, or S-Bahns. We took a quick tour through the little nearby market and the vendors were all shovelling and trying to clear snow off their roofs and off the trees. The roofs had all been clear when we made our first trip down to Marienplatz on Friday. It was so much snow. And we’re Canadian. We headed back to the hotel and I found a 24-hour news site that was running constant updates. Police were asking people not to travel. The airport was closed. The Friday flight from Toronto had been diverted to Paris. The hotel concierge told EDP that even if we could manage to get out, we might not get back. There were a lot of people without hotel rooms because the city was booked up. Our hotel was expecting a lot of cancellations but they hadn’t started to roll in yet. We were happy we had our room still!

So, we officially pulled the plug on the Nuremberg market and instead, headed back to the local market for lunch. After an eierpunsch for EDP and a heidelbeere glühwein for me, we acquired a salmon sandwich for EDP and a crepe with Nutella and marshmallows for me. Then, it was back to the hotel to keep an eye on things. By the early afternoon, it was looking like nothing was going to start back up any time soon. We tried to change our train tickets that were taking us out of Munich and into the Dolomites but after well over an hour without getting through, we headed back to Marienplatz for dinner. The snow had stopped, by that point.

We strolled through the market again - it was MUCH busier than our previous visit. One might say packed. But it was beautiful to see it all lit up at night! We went back to the same wurst stall we had been at on Friday so EDP could try a different wurst while I had raclette. EDP also had the world’s largest baked potato, which was so toasty warm and yummy. We topped that off with some warm candied almonds and another round of glühwein before heading back to the hotel to try to change train tickets again. By that point, everything had been cancelled for Sunday. It looked like some of the regional trains might be running but it wasn’t clear. While on hold, EDP had the genius idea to check busses. After some frantic googling and mapping, we eventually got tickets booked on a 6am bus out of Munich. It was after midnight before we got everything sorted and got all packed up. Neither of us slept well with alarms set for 4:45. If we didn’t make the bus (or the bus got cancelled), we’d be stuck in Munich. The hotel assured us there would be rooms but someone had posted to Reddit that he had been charged €650 for a night at a Hilton, which is where we were staying. No idea if it was the same Hilton but I bet we’d have been looking at a minimum of €350, not to mention losing a day in the Dolomites.

4:45 arrived and we were up, packed and checked out shortly after 5. We got to the S-Bahn and discovered only one line was running. It got us to the central train station around 5:30 and then we had a 5ish minute walk up the road to the bus station. It was pretty busy. When our bus arrived, it was swarmed by far more people than it had seats. We were so happy we had tickets and assigned seats as people were getting turned away and weren’t happy about it. I don’t blame them. Trains are far more popular than buses but nothing was running. We did learn that helicopters were being sent out to start identifying where tracks had issues that needed to be cleared so who knows when they’ll be running again.

It was a long night and a long bus ride with an extra transfer we wouldn’t have had if we took the train but we made it to Santa Christina, our base for 3 days in the Dolomites. It’s quite dead in town as the big opening for the lifts and gondolas isn’t until Tuesday but EDP will have a couple of runs to ski tomorrow before a hopefully great day on Tuesday (and part of Wednesday.) We did nap a little before dinner but exhaustion (and relief) is setting in.

In all, I’m so happy we got into Munich on Thursday versus being diverted to Paris. And I’m happy we got out today instead of waiting for trains to start up again. We lost our day in Nuremberg but EDP has agreed we’ll come back in a few years. The Munich market was wonderful to experience and the snow has been so beautiful. But I’m also really happy we’re in Italy now.

I'M GOING TO THE CHRISTMAS MARKETS!!!

I’ve done it. I’ve roped EDP into going to the German Christmas markets with me. This is one of my greatest achievements. What’s even more amazing is he’s excited for them now, too, because he found out there’s a lot of food at them.

Originally, we were thinking about another trip to Italy for this year’s fall travel. San Marino has been on my list for years and there are still a couple of places in Italy we haven’t seen, particularly Milan. So we started with San Marino and Northern Italy. Then we decided to add a couple of days of snowboarding in for EDP. But once we pushed into winter, I wasn’t as keen on San Marino. I think we’d enjoy it more in the spring or fall. After a couple of days, EDP suggested we do 1 or 2 Christmas markets and I nearly died. I think he knew I’d try to steamroll him into dropping Milan entirely and JUST doing Christmas markets if not presented with a specific plan so he came armed with 2 markets that weren’t too far from where he wanted to snowboard AND are some of the best in the world - Munich and Nuremberg. Obviously, I suggested we add at least 15 others. That motion was denied. But we started building a plan around the Munich & Nuremberg markets, a couple of days in the Dolomites, and a few days in Milan.

The best part of this whole thing is that I’ve turned 2 markets into 7.

How did I manage that?

• From the beginning, the plan included Munich and Nuremberg because they aren’t far from the Dolomites and they are both pretty famous. That’s Market 1 and Market 2.

• We originally were going to fly through Rome but we were able to make it work to fly into Munich and out of Milan (who knew Milan had a bigger airport than Rome?!) And Munich has a Christmas market IN THE AIRPORT. That’s Market 3.

• It turns out, Bolzano is a hub for most of the travel in to and out of the Dolomites. Most folks will travel into Bolzano and then get regional transportation out to their particular village. That’s Market 4.

• And once we get into Val Gardena, the area of the Dolomites we’re staying in, there are 2 more small markets in the little towns. That’s Market 5 and 6! But the timing on Market 6 might not work out for me, we’ll see.

• And guess who else has a Christmas market? Yup. Milan. That’s Market 7.

Are we going to spend significant time in any other than Munich & Nuremberg? No. I think you have to walk through the Munich Airport market to get out but we want to spend our time at the proper market so we’ll be beelining for Marienplatz. Once we’re in the Dolomites, I’ll check out the Bolzano and Val Gardena markets on my own while EDP snowboards. The Milan market has a bunch of stuff going on while we’re there and we’ll probably wander through but it won’t be the point of our time in Milan the way the markets are for Nuremberg & Munich.

I’ve wanted to go to the Christmas markets for SO LONG. I’m so excited that I’m pretty sure I’m about to be given a limit on the amount of time I’m allowed to spend talking about them. We’re currently deep in negotiations on our arrival & departure time for Nuremberg. Obviously, I think we should be on the first train out of Munich and the last train back. EDP heartily disagrees. The talks continue.

In the meantime, we’ve got almost everything planned out:

• We fly into Munich on an overnight fight. We’ll get to our hotel as quickly as we can and spend the afternoon & evening at the Munich markets. hitting up the main market for gingerbread, the medieval market for bread, mulled wine & wurst, Rindermarkt for flame roast salmon and the Christmas Village for general Christmas frivolities.

• The next day, we’ll head up to Nuremberg. We’ll check out the castle in the morning, take a food tour of the market in the late afternoon and then stuff ourselves with more gingerbread, bread, wurst and most importantly, Feuerzangenbowle.

• The next day, we’ll head for Val Gardena in the Dolomites. EDP will snowboard. I’ll Christmas market and read. And eat the snacks I bought at the Christmas markets.

• We finish up in Milan where we’re going to take in the Duomo, a couple of museums, see the Last Supper and try to get to La Scala for a performance (I’m not holding my breath. The only performance while we’re there is the opening night of the entire season… Tickets sell out in minutes.)

• Finally, we’ll make our way back home again, with my Christmas market bounty taking over every bag we have and our lives, in general.

I’m so flipping excited.