It’s hard to write an interesting trip-review when I already posted daily updates while I was on the road! You already know what I did, so this might seem a little redundant, but I’ll do my best!
TURIN
As always, Italy was great – but in hindsight, I am not so sure Turin was the best choice for a home base. I liked the city, don’t get me wrong! But it was not touristy enough for an extended stay. It’s great city for a day trip or a “one nighter” but after that, there is not enough to explore.
Now some people might like that because it immerses you more into the local way of life and turns you into a temporary local – I can’t deny that’s a valid point, but personally I want more when I am on vacation.
I like piazzas filled with restaurants in the mid afternoon so I can have lunch at 3PM if I want. I want outdoor cafés near the attractions where I can sit, soak in the surroundings, admire the architecture and watch the world go by. Turin was lacking in that regard, and I missed that.
We had lots of great diners! No regrets! But on some days, waiting until 7PM for the restaurants to open was tedious. A couple of cafés here for example would have been really nice!!
MILAN
This was our 4th visit to Milan, so nothing was new. We knew what to expect and had a good idea of what we wanted to do but sadly, it was just too hot to enjoy properly.
Our primary goal was to explore the Cimitero Monumentale a little more than the first time we went, and we did that.
After that it just became: stay in the shade.
We settled into a nice café for a few drinks along a main pedestrian street behind the Duomo before lunch and just watched the world go by (something I was missing in Turin so I really soaked it up!)
That drink I having is a Rossini: puréed strawberries and champagne. It’s usually served in a champagne flute, but they must have run out of clean dishes since I got it a margarita glass! LOL But it was just as delicious!
Slowly, we made our way just around the corner to a nice resto we discovered in 2010 for lunch.
In this picture, you can see them both in the same shot. The Bar on the right with while umbrellas and the resto on the left with the red umbrellas.
After, we strolled through the galleria a little, then had another drink along another pedestrian street and then headed back “home”. I would have liked to have gone back up on the Duomo Roof, but it was just too hot for that kind of activity. Plus, there was lots of scaffolding this time so the pictures would not have been that great anyway.
SAN REMO
Essentially we travelled 8 hours just to have lunch because like Milan, it was just too bloody hot to do anything else!
You’ve heard me say before that we have a 2 hour travel perimeter set up around our home base for day trips and so we broke our own rule with this excursion.
We got a kick out of the train station! It’s an underground station, and the trains are about half a kilometre from the station entrance. A long looooong hallway with 4 sets of moving sidewalks moves people along. It takes over 15 minutes!
Neat, but not if you are late for your train!!!
By the time we walked from the station to the beach, we were getting cranky! We should have planned an honest-to-goodness beach day but that’s a little complicated. What do you do with your purse and money belt etc.? Take turns babysitting it while the other person takes a dip in the water?
Plus I am really not a beach person, and I hate that feeling of shaking sand out of your clothes for days afterwards! however I admit that a half day would have been ok. Given the heat, we were not up for much sight seeing anyway!
My cousin has visited San Remo on many occasions, so I asked him for a restaurant recommendation for lunch. He suggested: Dick Turpin.
From the outside, I was a little turned off because it looked kind of fast-foody whereas I prefer something nice and loungy…
… but I don’t regret it because even though it was more casual than I wanted, it was very comfortable and we got a great table in a corner by an indoor tree with beautiful views of the marina. The food was good and the service was extremely friendly.
It would have been too hot for us no matter where we went and what we did, but Asti and Alba would have been closer and we would have wasted fewer hours! Plus, there was no air on the train ride back from San Remo so it was an excruciatingly stifling 4 hours to Turin. Not a very productive day!
AOSTA
Easily the best daytrip of the entire trip.
We just LOVED Aosta from the moment we stepped off the train. Thanks to the scenic mountain views, it was love at first sight!! Plus, it was not hot! We could concentrate on exploring and sightseeing – not just focusing on finding some shade to hide in.
Aosta has everything we love: beautiful scenery (=mountains), pedestrian streets, large piazzas, LOTS of restaurants to chose from, packed full of sights for taking great pictures.
We hit the ground running!
We stopped for a drink in the main square - my husband had a coffee as usual and since it was too early for a cocktail, I ordered some Tea. Fruit Tea. The guy gave me a can Nestea Peach Ice Tea instead! HA-HA! but you know what? It was crazy good!!! I wish I had a better picture of the can – I want to see if I can buy a sugar free version at Loblaw’s… I must remember to check!
Aosta was a pleasure to explore! We loved every minute of it!
You can read all about our lunch at “Vecchia Aosta” here in my food blog.
It wasn’t until about 3:30 in the afternoon that the heat started impacting us and we started to slow down, but by then we were ready to slowly start making our way back to the train station anyway… but not before another food stop for a plate of Valdostan meats and chesses!!! I wish I had a picture of the plate! It was so delicious!
Out of all the places we visited, I would recommend Aosta to anyone without hesitation. It was really a fantastic day!
So over all, Italy was great fun… but WAY too hot. We decided that from now on, we won’t book our fall trips this early in September anymore. The only reason we did it this time is because when it was time to pick our 2012 vacation weeks, we were still considering going to Monza for the Grand Prix again. I don’t regret not going this time. We went in 2008 and 2010… it’s enough for a few years!! 
Aosta sounds really nice! It's amazing how much heat robs a person of energy, isn't it? I generally dislike being cold, but I have to admit I'm a lot more energetic in moderately cool temps. It's not good for sitting still, but for moving around it's perfect.
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
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