Mantova, Italy
We took a day-trip to Mantova (Mantua) on February 17th with our program group. To be honest, I had never heard of the town so I was simply along for the ride and had no expectations. Mantova is actually said to be the best place to live in Italy and the Capital of Italian Culture. It was definitely a well-preserved secret with basically no tourists (besides, of course, our group of 15 following our program director like little ducklings). We saw Piazza Sordello, Casa del Mantegna and Palazza Te. I can't sit here and pretend like I know much about art history but the frescos in Palazza Te were unlike anything I've ever seen in my life. Our director kept talking about the frescos we would see and I kind of brushed it off as just more art in an old palace but real frescos are so stunning. They are detailed and romantic and they were painted all over the rooms-some completely covered from ceiling to floor in the most beautiful elaborate style. It was actually very overwhelming to me.
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| Like any good historical architecture, the castle housing these frescos was built for the duke's mistress. |
Mantua is also known for their dishes with zucca (pumpkin). However, I am not just talking about pumpkin pie or pumpkin bars here, they eat tortellini or ravioli with pumpkin in them. I figured I might as well give this a go and ordered tortello con zucca. It was quite delicious but I will say that I felt a little strange eating something so sweet as a meal and not just dessert.
Trento
Now here comes a funny story. Maddie, Madison, Elizabeth, Andrew and I spent the day after Mantua exploring Verona and we climbed up a mountain to this sanctuary which had an incredible view and was so peaceful and it was just a really awesome day. We were feeling great and adventurous and decided we'd buy tickets to explore a new city the next day. We decided Turin would be great because it is one of the biggest cities in Italy and famous for lots of things. The next morning we met in the lobby where Andrew decided to announce to us that we had accidentally bought tickets to TRENTO not TURIN. We had absolutely no idea what Trento was.
The train ride to Trento alone was worth the money we spent on the tickets. It kept getting even better when we arrived to this beautiful town at the foot of the Dolomites. We climbed up another mountain (yes that is two in two days-if you know me, you know I was not wearing the proper shoes for this) and got the most incredible view.
On our way down we stopped at an adorable hole in the wall authentic place for lunch. There was this incredible homemade bread, fresh mozzarella on juicy tomatoes and this mushroom pasta that was to die for. We got to practice our Italian and dine like the locals. We took a gondola back up the mountain and adventured around for a bit, stumbling upon a small village on the other side with absolutely no one in it-the type of place where a little old lady peeked at us through her curtains because there weren't usually people out and about.
It was here that I started to get a little overwhelmed and frustrated. The five of us sat looking out over the mountains and I had some ambience music going on (of course) and it just hit me how sad I was that I can't give any of these experiences to the people I love. I can write them down as detailed as possible and take as many pictures as I want but I can never give any of you the feeling of the wind in your hair when you're up that high. Or let you feel how easy the air was to breathe even though the overwhelming view was suffocating you. You can't hear how well the beat of the soft music went with the sound of the birds. And you for sure can't know what it's like to feel all of these things at once. This makes me very sad. I'm going to keep trying my best to describe some of these for you because this life I've been living is simply too good not to share as best as I can.
Unfortunately, on the way home we hopped on the wrong train (it was the rich people train, we knew we didn't belong) and then the wrong bus. Long story short, we had to take a taxi back into the city from about 20 miles away. But we made it!
Zürich, Switzerland
Wow. I do not even know where to start with Switzerland. At this point in my travels, I would probably call it my favorite place I have been. We took a bus to Milan and then from there a bus to Zürich for a total travel time of about 6 hours including a short layover which was not bad at all.
We got to Switzerland around 9 PM but even in the dark it was clear to see that this place was incredible. It was so stinking clean and luxurious and everyone was so nice and helpful and I swear we hit every crosswalk light. We walked along this beautiful, peaceful river to our AirBnB which ended up being very hip, cozy and quaint. This was possibly the first time we traveled without any hiccups at all...we knew right away that Switzerland was full of all the good things in the world. We we very hungry but didn't get settled and adjusted until around 10:30 so most places were closed except Burger King which we gave into. We quickly realized that Switzerland's notoriety for being expensive was indeed true and that this would be where we would be eating the rest of the weekend (my chicken strips meal alone was 14 swiss francs...).
In the morning, the beauty of this city was confirmed right away. This stunning river runs right through the center of the city and if you cross it and walk a bit, you will reach this UNBELIEVABLE calm, crystal clear lake with the Alps in the background...it was almost too much for my eyes.
I really don't even know how to explain the views of this city. It was so fresh and clear it was absolutely surreal, there were even a great number of beautiful white swans just swimming around. Not to mention the city itself. Surrounding the lake is what's known as Old Town. I am positive that this is where all storybook fairytales were inspired because that is how it felt around every corner.
We climbed up a church tower for a stunning view of the entire city and hopped on a boat for even better views of the incredible houses along the lake and a wonderful view of the Alps from the water. At night we enjoyed our only non-BK meal which was fondue. I learned that I do not like fondue. Before heading home, we stopped at this eccentric and quirky bar called Ole Ole where we played some hits on the juke box. I was very broke at this point.
I cannot say enough about the beauty of this place as well as how clean and fresh everything was. Everyone was so kind and helpful to us. This place is what dreams are made of, it was heaven on Earth. If you get the chance in your life, visit Switzerland. Make sure to save up your money before so you don't have to rely on Burger King.
Next Up
My Italian class officially ended on Tuesday so the trip to Zürich was the first weekend of a 6-weekend streak of traveling. On Friday we head out for a 3-day trip hitting three cities in Italy as well as Innsbruck, Austria. It's cheesy and said so often but it really is amazing me how much I'm growing being here. I think about when things have gone terribly wrong-missing a train, getting on the wrong bus, etc and I know that the version of myself I was in December would have cried, gotten so upset that things didn't go as planned, probably even called my parents to help me. Here I simply have to deal with it, accept that things don't always go smoothly, and figure out how to fix it. I'm really proud of myself honestly. Here's to continuing to grow.
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