Congratulations Drew and Simona!

The reason for our trip to Italy this summer was to witness the nuptials of Drew and Simona and enjoy a fun-filled wedding weekend with their friends and family from around the world.

The fairytale wedding was held on July 11th at Villa Mocale in Montefiridolfi, Chianti and the settling could not have been more beautiful.

But Simona and Drew didn't plan just a day of festivities, but a whole weekend of activities with their family and friends from around the world - literally. Our table at the reception was representative of the diversity of their friends. There were 8 people at our table, composing 4 couples, and all 8 people were from different countries: France, Spain, Italy, Greece, UK, Serbia, India and the US.

Our hotel was absolutely beautiful. with awe-inspiring views of vineyards from the pool! When we weren't relaxing there, we spent an afternoon in Greve in Chianti, followed by a lovely lunch at Ristoro di Lamole and a pre-wedding dinner at Ristoro l'Antica Scuderia. We also managed to squeeze in an afternoon trip to Florence where we met up with Armen and Nyree, who were also staying nearby for a friend's wedding!

All in all, the wedding in Chianti was amazing. Thanks Simona and Drew for allowing us to be part of your celebration!

Happy Independence Day!

Today, August 15th, India celebrates 63 years of independence from British rule.




To my disappointment, the holiday falls on a Sunday, which means we don't get a day off from work. No three day weekend here. Boo.

Hiking in Cinque Terre

To start, here's a view of the five towns of Cinque Terre that we captured over the course of our two days there.

The five towns of Cinque Terre, from top (clockwise): Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

On our first of two nights in Cinque Terre, we immediately headed to the furthest most town of Riomaggiore for a brief peak of the trail and the easiest of the walks, "Via dell'Amore." We were treated to amazing views of the cliffs and a spectacular sunset.

On the second day, we set off a bit late, but finally entered the trail in Monterosso, where we were staying. From our reading, we knew that the Monterosso-Vernazza trail was one of the longest and should take us about 90 minutes to complete. While we stopped to enjoy the views (and to catch our breathe) at almost every opportunity, we finished the first trail in just over 90 minutes. Our reward was the view of the town from above on the trail, probably the best view of the entire day.


We had pizza for lunch and contemplated whether or not to push on and hike to Corniglia. Feeling recharged after lunch and lots of water, we decided that we could handle another hike and that the hardest one was behind us. Well, in hindsight, I would say that Monterosso-Vernazza and Vernazza-Corniglia are equally hard with their fair share of steep climbs and unstable stairs. And once again, the views and the satisfaction at the end were worth the struggles of the hike. Once in Corniglia, we hung out for a bit before deciding to travel by train to Manarola, the next town. What we didn't realize was that the walk to the travel station was half of the walk. We could have easily pushed on and walked in about the same time it took us to wait for and ride the train.

In Manarola, we found a nice perch on some rocks and used this as our launching spot for dips in the water. The water was clean, cool and super refreshing. We ended this part of our day with gelato (of course) and a ferry ride back to Monterosso. This gave us the perfect opportunity to view all of the towns from the water.

Back in Monterosso, we talked to the hotel staff about our planned travel to Chianti (via Florence) the next day. We were fortunate enough to be there right in a middle of a country-wide train strike. We decided not to let the impending strike get the best of us (like the American family sitting next to us at breakfast that morning who decided to leave one day early as to not risk missing their flight home). I guess, because we had another week in Italy, we weren't as pressured as many other people. We were told by Drew and the hotel staff, that despite the strike, some trains would be running the following day, probably in the early morning. The hotel staff called the station a few times to find out which trains were still scheduled and urged us to run back there to buy tickets for the next day. We (well, I) did just this and encountered a long line of other travelers frantically trying to ensure they could make it to their next destination.

Content that we had our arrangements sorted for the next day, we ventured out for dinner and to enjoy our last night in Cinque Terre. We headed to the New Town of Monterosso and selected a restaurant called Miky's, a popular local spot, which did not disappoint. After dinner, strolled back to our hotel and prepared for our early train to Florence (fingers crossed).

Bye, Bye Cinque Terre

Relaxing in Lake Como

The train ride from Zurich to Como was a beautiful one and we sat staring out the window for much of it. From the train station, we waited awhile for our bus to Tremezzo. It seemed to be the easiest way to get there because to go by train, we had to reach the other train station, which was across town. After about an hour wait, followed by an hour ride right along the coast, we found our way to the lovely Hotel Villa Marie. To give you an idea of just how lovely it was, this was the view from the window and from across the street:

On our first day, we wandered around Tremezzo, enjoying the combination of wine and spectacular views of the lake and a visit to Villa Carlotta.

We also had what turned out to be our favorite meal of the trip in Tremezzo. We'd found this little restaurant called Pizzeria Balognett through TripAdvisor. Reviews warned that you would need to ask for directions because it was a bit of a walk from the main town. We asked for directions, a few times, but finally made our way there. It was definitely worth it. The pizzas were perfectly thin and absolutely amazing. The small restaurant only has about 10 tables, but it offers a view of the lake and is run by a very nice couple. After dinner, we even enjoyed some limoncello with the owner.

On our second day, we set off for our day-long adventure around the lake and planned to visit the towns of Lenno, Varenna and Bellagio. We started the day by heading off on a 2.4km walk from Tremezzo to Lenno. This was just part of the much longer Lake Como Greenway walk. We didn't have the time nor the energy for the longer walk. We were saving our energy for hiking in Cinque Terre, but we thought the shorter version would give us a great opportunity to wander through some of the smaller towns and capture amazing views of the countryside.

We ended in the town of Lenno on their market day, so we walked around and then searched for Vanini Osvaldo, a highly recommended local olive oil company. You can find this oil in almost every shop in Lake Como, but we were told to buy it here at a much lower price. Once again, we had to stop and ask for directions several times, but we eventually found the small shop, which was guarded by three large, but quite friendly shepherd/wolf dogs. Don't let the dogs scare you off. It's worth a visit.

Next, we made our way to the ferry and headed off to Varenna for lunch, wine and wandering.

After Varenna, we hopped back on the ferry and stopped at the next town - the very famous Bellagio. We stayed here for several hours, doing a little shopping, eating lots of gelato and just wandering the streets and alleyways. With an eye on the time, we managed to have an early and quick dinner at La Grotta before catching the last ferry back to Tremezzo. The pizza was good, but not as good as the night before, and we admit that the fact we were in a hurry probably affected our level of satisfaction.

Back in Tremezzo, we wandered around the town a bit and found a lovely wine bar and shop called Cantina La Follie that is located in the cellar of what used to be the main hotel in town. We wrapped up fairly early, as we had to get ready for another day of travel with a train from Como to Monterosso via Milan.

For anyone planning their own trip to Lake Como, here's a great article that highlights some of the best things the area has to offer: Lazy lakeside frolicking: an insider's guide to Lake Como.

Swiss Holiday

On July 2nd, Ani and I headed out from Delhi and DC, respectively, and met up at the CDG airport in Paris. This airport remains one of my least favorite in the whole world. On several occasions I've found it challenging to meet up with people (pre international roaming) here due to the size of the airport and the fact that you have to take buses from terminal to terminal. I had the same worries for this trip since Ani still does not have international roaming. To my surprise everything worked out as planned and we met up at the terminal for inter-Europe flights as scheduled. At the same time, I was glad that I'd allowed for a nearly five hour layover instead of a two hour one because we would have never made the first flight.

In any case, from CDG, we flew to Zurich for the first leg of our two week adventure. I quickly realized that while we've traveled a lot, it has been mostly long weekend trip or extended visits to the US with lots of mini-trips and this would be our first two week vacation!

We arrived in Zurich early in the morning, made the easy transfer to our hotel by train, and then ventured out to explore the city. One of our first stops was Sprungli, a very famous confectionery and home of the famous Luxembourgli.

As we continued down Bahnhofstrasse, we literally stumbled upon Zuri Fascht, a major street festival with rides, games, food and tons of people. So, we wandered the streets, alternating visits to Fraumuenster and Grossmuenster churches with stops for snacks at the various food stalls.

On our second day, we woke up early and caught a train to Arth-Goldau, the beginning of our journey to and up Mt. Rigi, one of the mountains near Lucerne. From Arth-Goldau, we took a train up to the top of the mountain where we enjoyed spectacular views in all directions.

We took the train down part of the way, but hopped off at Kaltbad, where we took a cable car the rest of the way. The ride was great and the views were even better. The cable car ended in the small town of Weggis. We enjoyed a lunch and drinks at a cute restaurant right on the lake. Weggis was a super cute town and we put it on our list, in case we should ever return to Switzerland.

From there we took a ferry to Lucerne, the last stop on our day-long adventure.

After a few hours (and a few drinks), we headed to the train station for our one-hour ride back to Zurich. Since Zuri Fascht was all weekend, we decided to return to central Zurich for a little more adventure. The festival offered a wide-variety of food options, making it an easy and smart place to have dinner. We also stopped into the famous Kronenhalle Bar for a drink, but it was unusually empty, probably because of the festival just outside their entrance.

Soon it was back to the hotel for us for a little packing and rest before we headed to the train station (again) for our trip into Italy!