Spring Break 2006 - Day 1

I've had a couple of requests now to share the story of our spring break in Italy last year. This will be the first post of several about that trip. I plan to do an entry for each place we stopped.

So April 7 we left home on our way to Milan. We had reservations at the Army hotel at Vicenza. We planned to drive straight to Milan first, do a bit of sightseeing, and then drive back to Vicenza. Naturally, we spent most of the day driving, although we made really good time. I had borrowed a GPS unit from a friend of mine at work, although I had never used one and wasn't sure how it would work. So I also had printed off directions from a European website similar to Mapquest. I stopped trusting Mapquest for Europe the first time I drove to Paris...but that's another story.

So we headed south on the Autobahn. We decided that since we had never been to Switzerland we'd go that way. One of the highways that is on the Switzerland side of the Swiss/Austria border was on the route that I printed off the website. Hey, another country to add to our list of those we visited...I'm all for that! And I was not disappointed. It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL drive! We were in awe! I wasn't able to do a lot of sightseeing myself since I was driving, but the hubby got quite a few pictures. You can really see the reflection from the windshield in some of them, but we got some really good ones. In fact, those were really the only pictures we took that day.

So we arrived in Milan. The GPS took us there with no problems. Granted, we didn't have a specific address we were looking for in Milan - just a place to park so we could walk - but I still thought the GPS was pretty cool. So I found a place to park in Milan and we started walking. We really wanted to see Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." That was our main goal of being there. I tried to book most of our museum visits in advance for the really popular things like that. I wasn't able to get an advanced booking to see "The Last Supper," but we thought we'd take our chances that they reserved some tickets for same-day sales. But when we found the convent where it is located, there was no such luck. So we checked out the gift shop, got a few things, and took off to head back to Vicenza.

Some people LOVE Milan. I know we weren't there but a couple of hours, but I wasn't incredibly impressed. Milan is very much a modern European city. My favorites are the ones that have held on to their tradition in spite of time. When we went to Munich, I searched out the old part of town. I LOVE Rothenburg o.d. Tauber because when you enter the walls of the old town, it's almost like stepping back in time. Those are the kind of cities I love. Maybe I'll go back to Milan again and have a different opinion, especially if I get the chance to check out the shopping district!

We didn't take any pictures in Milan. They were doing construction on everything we saw that we wanted to take pictures of, which is very frustrating. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad they are so diligent about maintenance on their structures, but when everything is getting a facelift at once, it can be frustrating. Plus we didn't get a chance to visit the cathedral. Bummer! But I did get a beautiful print, so that will have to do until I get the chance to return.

So we made it back to Vicenza with no problems. the GPS wasn't much help there, because military installations over there aren't stored in those things...at least the one we were using. But I had printed out directions to the inn, and it was easy to find using those. We were really impressed with it, too. It was the nicest Army hotel we stayed in the whole time we were over there (not including Edelweiss in Garmish which isn't specifically Army). So we settled in for the night before heading off for Florence the next morning.

Below are the pictures we took that day. Aside from a couple pictures of the kids, all the pictures are pretty much of the scenery in Switzerland. Breathtaking! Enjoy!