Off to Italy!

Having spent 5 odd years in France we felt we should see a little more of Europe.  We had managed trips to Spain and Portugal, but Italy is only a few hours drive from Roanne.  So onto the Internet, a few clicks later and we had our bookings in place.

Our friends Lyn and Steve were over from Australia on a cruise up the Rhone (a trip we had done on Affleur D'O) and then on to Paris.  As they were stopping in Lyon we decided to start our trip by meeting up with them as this was on our way.

It was lovely to catch up with them and their news from home.  So we headed off for a lovely dinner in Vieux Lyon...and checked out some of the sights of this wonderful area. the weather was cold but not unbearable...ideal for strolling.

The next morning we headed off for a couple of nights in Grenoble, only a few hours drive and our last stop in France. This is a very pretty city positioned at the start of the Alps.

The town is surrounding by unusual rock formations that appear and disappear in the fog that comes and goes at will.

The oldest constantly used building in Genoble, starting in the 13th century and most famous as the Ancien Palais du Parlement de Dauphine.

This picture is for Miranda, just part of the macaroon selection at the local market. Yumbo!

This was taken just before we entered Grenoble....no wonder it is such a popular place to live, and it also has a huge University population...the students keep it lively .

The view from our hotel...which kept disappearing in the sudden swirls of mist and fog....and the back to bright sunlight.

We did a quick side trip whilst in Grenoble....to the home of Chartreuse...that famous liqueur that most people have ...but hardly ever use....the monks have been making it here for centuries, with several changes in location...they now make it in an old distillery that the 'poor' monks purchased from a company that had gone broke. The make several varieties [and to my palate all horrible] as well as herb and fruit varieties.....the tour included as many tastings as you liked...but sad to say could not find one l liked....shame. However it was one of the most professional tours l have been on.....multi lingual guides, detailed explanations and a comprehensive tour of the maturation cellars...and all for free.

Our next stop was Turin.  There are two routes - one via the motorway, and the other winds its way through the Alps.  We decided to take the route through the Alps and come back by the motorway through spectacular tunnels.

It was a beautiful drive, with huge peaks soaring up on either side of the road. There was just a touch of snow on the higher peaks.   On the way we filled up with diesel, as it is much more expensive in France - but when we crossed the border we stopped for a cappuccino, which was about half the price in Italy!

Typical of the many small villages that only come to life in the ski season.

Around every corner was yet another spectacular vista.

Typical of the sharp rock formations right through this part of France,

One of dozens of short tunnels that cling to the mountain side...more worrying was passing a number that had been crushed by rockfalls...and not that long ago!

 It was a long sweep down onto the flat plain that led to Turin.  This is a pretty industrial city being the home of Fiat, Alfa and Lancia.  So the outer suburbs are dominated by car plants.  We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and decided to head into the main Square area, here we met our first 'free enterprise' scam. A local had bought himself a book of raffle tickets and as you entered the 'free' municipal carpark he endeavoured to 'sell' you a parking ticket. Needless to say he was doing a roaring trade with the many tourists...we realised it was a scam once we got a close look at the 'parking' picket and just kept going ...parked on the street for free...as parking is free on Sundays in Turin. Good luck to the guy though....it was a clever plan..

Royal Palace of Turin or Palazzo Reale. It was the royal palace of the House of Savoy. It was modernised greatly by the French born Madama Reale Christine Marie of France in the 17th century.

Inventive Italian parking....we thought the French took parking anywhere as a given..in Italy the bar was raised mightily, and this one was a winner...across a pedestrian crossing, right on a corner,  on a one way street.[Yes of course it was the other way]

This is huge square formed by three sides of stunning arcades of shops and restaurants, the open side faced onto the river Po, this picture was taken later in the week, on Sunday it was so crowded that you could not see the extent of the open space. They sure built with a grand plan in their minds. Three other shopping streets fan out from the bottom of the square and the whole town is well served with trams radiating out from the heart of the city to the outer suburbs.

Being a car town it had a wonderful new car museum, which Andrew visited, whilst Laurel went shopping. (A complete washout...all the shops were French...grrr.) Car buffs supply your own captions!

Nearly my Alfa!

 And so up the Motorway (only about an hour) to Milan.Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital of Lombardy. The city proper has a population of about 1.35 million, while its urban area is the 5th largest in the EU and the largest in Italy .  As you approach you can see the smog which is apparently nearly always there.   We stayed in a lovely apartment not too far from the city centre - for us barge dwellers it was quite a treat to have a lovely big space to stay in.

 We were only a few minutes walk from the tram line, so we headed off into town for lunch (we had arrived about 11 am). We got to the tram stop to find that they were on strike until 3pm.  So we had lunch and then went into town afterwards. ..when we arrived in the centre we thought the main square was packed with tourists....but they were local folk waiting for the underground system to start up. We spent about an hour in the Duomo and came out to an empty square

. On our tram ride into town we were surprised to pass through a large area that was totally Chinese...shops, factories, restaurants and street signs.....not just one street,but kilometres long. Very interesting. 

Milan is famous for the big square with the Doumo dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Angelo Scola. The Gothic cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete..... and has nearby a beautiful shopping arcade.

 Not the faithful...just passengers waiting for the Metro to start. The Duomo has been cleaned since l last saw it many years ago, it just looks so spectacular

Waiting, waiting ,waiting...it was a snap three hour strike, not unusual here they tell us.

A beautiful arcade - but still the golden arches!

We had some wonderful meals in Italy - Pizza everywhere, even in posh restaurants.  On evening we saw this large restaurant with people queuing to get in - we thought it looked pretty good, so asked to see the menu - they didn't have one - they only sold one dish - Pizza Margarita - it was delicious - all those people couldn't be wrong, and they weren't!.

We went to several museums the most interesting one was Castello Sforzesco  that used to be the seat and residence of the Duchy of Milan and one of the biggest citadels in Europe. It now houses several of the city's museums and art collections and had a collection of musical instruments that dated back for over a thousand years...we had to keep guessing what some would sound like, but no doubt about it, man has always made music! 

So after two lovely days in Milan, we headed back via the motorway - this passes through spectacular tunnels, some many kms long. However the tolls are pretty high, with the biggest tunnel costing over 40Euros!, and over 100 Euros in total for the trip.

We thought this might have been a monument to Hannibal, but NON, it was in honour of a local merchant who had a fondness for elephants....what a hoot! Chambray was very pretty.

Our lunch stop back in France

And so home to Roanne after about a 6 hour drive.