Category: 2016 Italy-Germany

  • Day 09, Tuesday, Caserta

    This morning the window shutters at Roberto’s worked so well that I slept until 7am. The room was the antithesis of Giuseppena’s. Hard concrete floor, spare modern decor, and an ensuite! It was on the 5th floor of a very nice stone building with a cavernous ground floor, marble stairs, and one of those tiny lifts where you open an external door then 2 internal doors to get into the lift, close them all again to get moving, do it all again at the destination. Almost easier to just run up the 5 flights. (more…)

  • Day 08, Monday, La Spezia

    I’m sitting in a laundrette in La Spezia right now, so I may as well write this. This morning Guiseppena served me a traditional Italian breakfast of fruit, prosciutto, cheese, bread, croissant with cherry jam, juice and coffee. It was a work of art, but I could not get through it all. (more…)

  • Day 07, Sunday, La Spezia

    Breakfast at the Best Western was typical of a chain hotel, not like a BnB. It was OK. My friends left for the airport. I walked into the village looking for an ATM. I wasn’t even going to get on the bike without cash. The first ATM Google indicated turned out to be within a bank that was closed and locked for the weekend. The owner of the Gelati shop next door directed me to another one 500m away.  (more…)

  • Day 06, Saturday, Milan

    Unfortunately the wifi had not been working. My phone could see the router, but the router could not see the internet. I had trouble telling the hotel management about the problem. Anne had found me an old Italian phrase book, circa 1968 but it didn’t have a phrase for “the wifi isn’t working”. A phone call to the provider fixed it while I was checking out. (more…)