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Skiing the alps

The Alps

Kind of like Disneyland, this day featured Matterhorn as our backdrop.  We start the day early from Torino as we drive our rented Fiat 500 towards Cervinia and the mountains.  As we drive, night turns to dawn, and the mountains along with Roman ruins in their foothills come into view. 

We aren’t entirely sure what we are getting ourselves into.  The mountains are relatively naked of snow, the weather warm, we haven’t really packed a lot of ski stuff (as we both only brought carry-ons), and we’re hoping it’s going to be easy to figure out lift tickets, rentals, and the rest.  We are also hoping that I’m going to be able to manage the narrow, mountains roads in our manual car.  

After a couple false starts like the most convenient rental spot being out of skis, we hit the slopes just as the sun is hitting the entirety of the mountain.  And although they are having to make some of their own snow, our first several chair lift rides to get up the mountain are as spectacular as we imagined they would be.

Alpine Skiing with Matterhorn

Usually while skiing (for the once-every-other-year ski trip I typically take), I enjoy chili in a bread bowl with some grated cheese on top for lunch.  It turns out Cervinia doesn’t have this on the menu.  We grab our trays and enter the line not really knowing what’s going to end up on them by the end.  We immediately grab a pair of rolls (which turned out to be free… we should’ve gotten more) and some nice cheeses.  We continue down the line, skip the prosciutto, reluctantly skip the buffalo mozzarella, and then order some pasta.  The lunch is a delicious reminder that we’re definitely still in Italy.  We eat sitting outside overlooking the Alps.

Lunch while skiing in the Alps

Before the day wraps, we make it to the top of the mountain.  The winds are heavier, the temperatures are a little colder, but all is worth it because the views are even more spectacular.  Surrounded by mountains on every side, I feel at the same time so small and so big.  And as we ski down the last run of the day, the sun slowly slips behind one of these peaks leaving only the tops of other mountains still in light.  Exhausted, we find a local coffee shop on the road back to Torino for a cafe dopio and a chance to flip through the many pictures so we can immediately relive what we just did.  Looking at these pictures kind of feels like looking at the picture of yourself with your hands raised in the white and red carriage of Disneyland’s Matterhorn already feeling nostalgic for the amazing day that isn’t quite yet over.

Chairlift to the top

Us at the top of the mountain

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The lights of Torino, Italy

Many streets of this northern Italian city are decorated with thematic sets of lights to celebrate this festive time of year.  There are a series of birds carrying a string.  There are strings of words that make a story.  There are lights in the shapes of constellations.  The colors around Torino make exploring all the more fun! 

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More Copenhagen highlights

Before leaving Copenhagen, we wanted to share a couple other highlights of our adventure here.

Our stop at the 1847-founded Carlsberg Brewery was both educational and tasty, and it featured some very nice clydesdale horses.

Carlsberg Clydesdale

We enjoyed a slightly more refined evening at the Jazzhus Montmartre, a Copenhagen institution that was lost and brought back relatively recently.  We actually sat next to an older man who had used to come to the old Montmartre back in the day, and he said that it was almost the same today as it used to be.  He also pointed us to another more hidden jazz club in the middle of town that was open all night.  We made sure to check this other spot out as well, but unfortunately, they didn’t have any live music the night we were there.

Jazzhus Montmartre

We had a pair of very traditional Danish Christmas lunches complete with pan-fried filet of fish, slices of pork, smoked salmon, some pickled vegetables, and rye bread.  Although it may not have been our favorite cuisine of the trip, we were happy to be able to walk away from our journey having tasted traditional Danish foods.

Danish lunch

We visited Nyhavn, a 17th century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen.  The canal is lined with brightly colored townhouses that all have fun little restaurants on their bottom floors.  The best way to describe this area is cute.  We enjoyed some lunch, some shopping, and some walking around while in Nyhavn.

Us in Nyhavn

Nyhavn Copenhagen

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Ciao, Amalfi

After leaving Vico Equense, I drive half the Amalfi Coast and then start climbing until I reach Ravello, a villa-filled town that often overlooks the sea.  I visit a couple of the more famous villas, as I gather this is what is supposed to be done in Ravello, and then I grab a panino in the main piazza before heading onwards to Ronciglione.  The day is a success in terms of weather, my driving, and not getting too lost along the way.

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Pompeii

Pompeii is overwhelming.  This city, which was captured because of the preserving ashes of the nearby volcano Vesuvio, shows a very different time of human culture.  Strolling through the maze of stones and rubble, I find myself trying to imagine this other time.  The hoards of tourists do not help, and I am reminded when my dad and I visited Jerash in northern Jordan, which was also an unreal and expansive exhibition of Roman ruins but without a tourist in sight.  Pompeii and Jerash are on two different scales in terms of grandeur; however, given the lack of other human life when walking through the ruins of Jerash, it was a bit easier to transport myself to that earlier time thousands of years ago.

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Sentiero degli Dei

Trying to prepare for this trek the night before, I realize that the internet provides me with only little and dispersed information about the hike.  Therefore, I will dedicate this post to providing a little more information for those that in the future might want to try the trail, one which I highly recommend.

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The trail begins in Bomerano.  I take it to the beaches of Positano through Nocelle, and then figure out the public busses for my return route.  Some guides will say the trail starts in Bomerano, and others will say Agerola.  Conveniently, they are the same thing—Bomerano is a part of Agerola.  If you have a car, there is a free, nearby parking lot.  If you are on foot, there are buses that run to Bomerano from Almalfi.

From Bomerano, there is a small sign off of the main piazza that indicates the trailhead.  Ask any shop owner and they will point you in the right direction; otherwise, the rather understated sign is easy to miss.  Luckily, from this point, the trail is remarkably well indicated to Nocelle.  There are signs, there are red and white paint marks and there are decent trails, which help to differentiate what is the path versus everything else.  At Nocelle, there is not necessarily one route down to Positano and all routes require a nice descent.  Some options are more road-based while others are more stair-based.  I took the stair option and loved the views that it provided.  Again, if you ask local shop owners how to get down to Positano, they can be very helpful.  I have also included the path that I took in this post for reference.

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Upon reaching Positano, get on the bus to Almalfi and then connect from there to Bomerano.  There are not too many busses to Bomerano and they fill up quickly so be sure to check the schedule and to board the bus with some buffer so that you have a seat.

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Different sources that I used while researching the trail included these helpful sites:
giovis.com
walkopedia.net
ondaverde.it

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Capri

My first full day in Italy is spent on the nearby island of Capri with its overgrown vegetable plots, sun-bleached peeling stucco and banks of brilliantly colored bougainvillea.  I enjoy exploring and stopping for coffee and gelato when I need a break.

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Ethiopian mini-buses

Although the minibuses are technically a means to get from one place to another, when taking them in and around Addis, they become an adventure in themselves.  Step one of the adventure is getting on the right bus.  Each bus is painted blue on its bottom half and white on its top, and each holds about ten passengers plus the driver and money-collector.  The money-collector leans out the side window and yells the bus’ destination.  However, even if I know which bus I am looking for, the names of the final destinations are pronounced so differently than what I would have expected, that I still find a hard time figuring out which bus is the correct bus.  For example, if I am headed to the stadium, which is near the center of town, “stadium” is pronounced as a one-syllable word that only contains the consonants from the original.  Harya and I hear “stdm, stdm” as they pass.  As of a couple years ago, there is stricter regulations surrounding over-packing these buses, and therefore, every passenger must have a “seat”, which is still not large by any means.  Harya and I eventually find a bus that has two open seats and is heading in the direction we want to travel, we board the bus, pay the very reasonable fare, and then continue on our way.

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We take many of these buses in our time in Addis as well as when we venture on our day trip to Kuriftu Lake.  For the most part, it is a relatively easy even if not the most comfortable experience.  However, there is one occasion where Harya and I find the last two available seats located in the back row, which they claim can fit four people across.  In the rows ahead of us, we smell that someone has lathered their hair with butter in the morning, and then probably has spent most of the day outside in the sun allowing the butter to become rancid.  I learn that buttering one’s hair can make it incredibly soft; however, I would prefer not to be victim to the smell of this process.  We are lucky that in this particular case, the windows of the mini-bus have not been sealed shut (as they often are) and we alternate between being smelling the heavy exhaust of the road and the rancid butter from the hair ahead of us.  This is a bit of a longer ride, as it is part of our journey back from the lake; however, we chalk it up as just part of the possibly too-authentic mini-bus experience.

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Kuriftu Lake in Bishoftu

This was a small piece of paradise just two hours worth of mini-buses outside of Addis.  For the very reasonable fee of about 12 USD per person, Harya and I enjoy a three-course lunch, lounging by Lake Kuriftu, and some kayaking.

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