Izzy's Travel Log

Hey my pretties! Just to keep you up to date on my adventures cause I misses you! I'll post a few pics up now while I'm on the road and then once I'm home and have better internet, and more internet time, I'll make an album to share with you!

Friday 11th of December,

Today I set sail across icy seas. In the dark, the carriage was loaded onboard our vessel and on we went into the deep and the dark until dawn...

((Thus, Izzy crossed the Baltic on a ferry towards mainland Europe))

Saturday 12th of December,

The voyage of the six kingdoms.

Little did I know what was to come. All those days of planning gone to ruin. In my mind, there we're only three kingdoms to be crossed during the long days voyage, and yet, my guide led me through six. How could it be?

((The trip took me across all of Germany, into Austria, and then, to my surprise and because the GPS said so, into Switzerland, Lichtenstein, some more Switzerland and finally, Italy.))

After a long night and an even longer day, with the horses giving their all, I arrived in the city of fashion.

((You cross Germany with great haste. The average speed on the highway was about 110 mi/h and even then, people would wail past you. Speed limit you say? Where we're going, there is no speed limit. In the end, I slept in Milan.))

December 12th,

An odd nights rest. The inn I arrived at seemed like a fine establishment, gentle on the eye and spirit. Slowly did I make my way to my chambers before realizing how sorely mistaken I had been. It took no more than a glimpse into my chamber to realize my home for the night was more a brothel than an inn...

((So the hotel I stayed in was by all means, the definition of bad Italian taste. I dare say it wasn't a motel because it was clearly a newly renovated hotel but...

this was the lighting to the bathroom...and placed above the bed. It burned the eyes...))

The only comfort I found was in the fact that I had been charged by the night, and not the hour.

December the 14th,

The city is a blend of old and new, the best of the former and the worst of the latter. The monuments of old dazzle the eye and bring the spirit to a halt, whereas the dazzling and twinkling shoes worth several months wages revolt the stomach and make one lose faith in humanity.

((Milan isn’t the greatest of cities, however, from what I have seen in life, I have to admit that I agree with Mark Twain, for once. 

"They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands.”

The Duomo of Milan is the single most breathtaking and amazing creation I have witnessed. I could spend a week here, sitting on the square just looking at it. I will let you know if it is second to St. Pete's later))

The Duomo

The Sforza Castle

December 15th,

I left the town of blinding lights and glimmering shoes for one more to my liking. A town of narrow streets, cheese and meats. A town where rain matters not to the pedestrian and towers lean.

((The cheese! The meats! Bologna is heaven. I regret not staying longer just to walk through the streets. All the sidewalks are covered by overhangs from the building lining the streets. It is a wonderful medieval city.

One understands why the Roman Empire fell. It literally just fell over. Their greatest works that still stand are falling. The rest fell long ago...One questions their engineering.

((Great pictures Izzy!  The Cathedral is especially breathtaking.))