One way to the UK?

Ciao, ciao. Gosh when I was in Italy I actually knew so many more words in the language, however they escape me now! I still have my talent for translating foreign languages either in writing or when listening to someone speak though which is always useful!

 Okay well I had written quite a decent entry on my birthday weekend away in Italy, however it never got ‘published’ to here and deleted itself to cyber-space which is very, very annoying. So now, to get you all up to date and to keep note of what Italy skiing is like I shall do an abridged entry.

So on Thursday 24 January I stayed back late at work and made sure everything was pretty much done and ready for Friday and then Mara and I met at home, did last minute packing and settled in to watch Transformers (great movie) until about 02:30am. We then had the alarms set for 04:00am to get the public bus to Stratford and then the National Express (A9) to Stanstead Airport to board our flight to Italy! I had to call in… well text in sick to work which I felt bad about, but hell when I asked back in December for the day off they wouldn’t let me, so after already booked out holiday tickets I was really left with no choice!

Our flight from Stanstead actually left on time with Ryanair for once, which was fantastic but probably because it was so damn early! About 90 minutes later we touched down in Bergamo, Italy. The same place we landed in for Mara’s birthday last July, although this time instead of heading south for sunshine we were heading north for the skiing slopes! After getting our bags and through customs, we grabbed the local bus and went all the way up cliff/big hill to Citta Alta, the ‘top old city’ of Bergamo. Luckily our packs were light (just ski clothes and jeans for two days) as we walked around the old town for a while, grabbed a choc/custard canoli and drooled over some other Italian foods in windows about the place. We walked a little way down the huge hill and then not finding bus ticket dispensers anywhere (and refusing to walk the entire way down), we headed back up the hill to the main bus turn around point where the machine was! It was a good potter around though, and definitely changed my views of Bergamo from last time we were there. It’s actually quite a nice place; probably wouldn’t specifically go there for a holiday but it is nice to explore. So after getting back into Bergamo town centre, we found a nice ‘music cafe’ for lunch where the food was so lovey. I think I had a bagette or something like that, cannot remember now, but it tasted damn good. AFter lunch we headed for the main bus termini and waited for the next bus out to Boario, the town where our Hotel was waiting, just at the foot of the skiing slope Mont Campione.

So after about 1hr 45 minutes and a few power naps we arrived in Boario and found Hotel Armonia. The town was nice and very quiet; it seems Summer is it’s best tourist time as everyone loves the lakes, but for winter, as we would notice further over the weekend, it’s not really a tourist place but a lot of Italians go there for their skiing breaks! This wasn’t a bad thing though, meant everyone was super friendly to us when they learnt we (only really) spoke Eng-a-lish.  We checked into the Hotel, got changed and then Roberto (roll your Rrrs) collected us for our night-hike and dinner. It was a little confusing as he didn’t know we were supposed to be going etc, etc so was a little late (but we weren’t ready anyhow) and he was verrry pleased that it was two lovely girls and not a boring couple he would be spending the night with… haha. We drove up to Mont Campione (Cam-pi-own-ee) and stopped between 1200ft and 1800ft for some gorgeous sunset views where you can see all the way back to Bergamo. Got in some piccies, and then jumped back in the heater car to 1800ft where we were issued with our ‘tennis racket’ snow shoes to begin our hike! Roberto took us here, there and everywhere on the snow to get some great views and experience Mont Campione by night… I was quite hungy and would have been okay just walking straight to the restaurant (haha) but of course the hike wasn’t bad and I loved being able to see all the stars in the sky. It’s something I definitely miss from home. London just has too many lights to see anything at nighttime (or it’s cloudy anyhow). The hike was also good to prepare us for the huge dinnner awaiting at the restaurant! We were told we had to eat EVERYTHING too otherwise we’d offent the chefs… well antipasto and starters were okay and then the main meal just kept coming so in the end we didn’t quite finish everything, but it was all lovely. Including the deer “oh my god you’re making me eat Bambi” to which Roberto was like “no no it not Bambi” all serious-like. haha. During the course of dinner as we were friendly Aussie girls Roberto ate with us, and the chefs came over and sat with us too for chats etc – they found out it was my birthday that we were there for, so we got cakes and candles and espresso and grappa thrown into the dinner! Very nice!

We only had a few ‘falls’ on the way hiking to the restaurant and after a few too many wines the prospect of hiking back to 1800ft was really quite amusing! We made it however, and while waiting for our lift back to Boario (Roberto was staying in his ‘snow top’ house overnight) we were looking around his parents ski shop (whole family works at the snow in winter) and picked up some sunglasses each at a discount price :o) Mara and I of course forgot our normal sunnies back in London as we hadn’t needed them there since lord knows when… I think mine are in my drawer somewhere, just waiting for summer. Okay so the first night was good, but we were pretty damn stuffed after being up since 0400am!!! We got home about 1230am and crashed right to sleep.

Saturday morning (Australia Day) we got up early-ish, went and crammed in breakfast and then got the bus up to the resort at 1200ft for our skiing day! The bus was only 3 Euro each was which is a good price, however inside the bus the seats are wooden park benches! Bizarre and uncomfortable, especially as ski-pants slide on the seats when the bus turns around the sharp corners; but it was pretty funny. Norman was our allocated instructor from Scuola Sci, and he was fantastic, and not too bad looking either! The scariest thing was him dragging us straight onto the chair lift and telling us we would ‘learn ata the-a toppa’! ARGH! He understands good English too and knew exactly what I meant when I commented ‘well that’s just f&%*#$g fantastic’. The ‘patch’ when you get pushed off the lift at the top is about 2m wide and then you are straight down the hill! All I’ll say is that we learnt snow plough pretty damn quick and it became the word and the move of the entire day! Oh we also had no stocks ‘as they’re mainly for decoration or for good skiiers’ because you learn better without them as it all comes down to balance and ploughing, not stopping with stocks. The concept actually worked believe it or not. We had an our of lessons (only Mara fell and got taught how to get up) and then Norman left us to play the rest of the day on our own! Mara and I spent another 6 hours on the snow, up the lift, down the hill, up lift, down hill… with an hour break for lunch. I really wanted to learn to snowboard but after seeing how they actually get taught how to fall over  (obviously cannot snow plough on one) I’m beginning to rethink the concept of both feet being in bindings on the one board! Looks wicked well done correctly though. Umm what else? Oh of course, we both had our little falls… and Mara had some big, pretty spectacular ones! I am disappointed I didn’t get any on camera to show you all, but believe me it was hilarious!!! My funniest stack was when I was at the bottom of the hill about to stop before the chairlift line and I fell back on my skis (hence no control) and slid into a group of boarders talking… hhehe sheepishly I accepted a hand-up from one of the girls. I’m sure they were saying things in Italian but I wasn’t bothered as couldn’t understand them.

Anyhow it was an awesome day and I really want to try fit in a ski trip every year of my life from now on! Hopefully I will be able to keep that promise to myself! Saturday night we had arranged to meet up with Roberto… thought why not? He’s a nice guy and offered to show us around his town, and our other option was sitting by ourselves in the Hotel bar/bedroom… little did I know he had other thoughts about me ‘very nice thoughts and good feelings for you’ as he put it – argh! Run for the Italian hills! Anyhow I pretty much knew he would be thinking something like that being weary as I am, but just played down things for the night so Mara and I could have fun experiencing Boario pubs and clubs, but final was when Roberto announced it was 1am and our Hotel would probably be closed and we should stay at his house. ahahaha I had to be stern and make sure he took us back to the Hotel! I mean it probably would have been okay…. but still! I’m sure he meant well. He said you only have one life and you should have fun, and I was like yeah fair enough, but I just don’t like you more than friends dude! Oh what a heartbreaker.

What next? This was supposed to be abridged but you’re getting pretty much the full weekend story. Sunday we slept in a bit and then went down for breakfast and packed up our bags also. Our flight wasn’t until 10pm (car to airport at 530pm) and as the Hotel was quiet they let us leave our stuff in the room and still use it, and also gave us free lunch as on the first night Hotel dinner was included but we’d booked the snow hike dinner. The hotel staff were really lovely, even got free espresso from them :o)

Mara and I went walking around all of Boario, which took just about 2 hours (we walked slowly) and we found a supermarket and also a little plaza with shops open on a Sunday. I even saw some job ads for Admin staff… hmm tempting to live there and ski after work each day, even just for three months… damn if only Roberto had been someone else Italian then I could have considered moving there HAHAHA (whatever). Umm so we bought some things to eat and I bought a purse-sized makeup kit from a nice shop and then we spotted a shop with glasses (sunnies and reading)… and noticed the 20% off signage… and not that I have ever been, or am now, big on brand names but I found some gorgeous GUCCI reading glasses for about 135 Euros which is only about 100 Pounds and SO much cheaper than what you would ever buy them in the UK for… so I now have 4 pairs of reading glasses… still need to get my proper lenses in these ones once I get paid next haha. 

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