As we planned our drive from Bologna down to Rome, we chose Orvieto as a lunch stop, more-or-less at random: about 2/3 of the way along, some recommended restaurants for lunch, guide book says it has a good cathedral. (The guidebook seems to sing the praises of most cathedrals, to be honest.) The meal was nothing special, but what a place to stop. Orvieto is a walled medieval town on a hill, and to judge by the acres of parking garages, clearly handles major crowds in peak season. But on a Tuesday in February, even if it was beautifully sunny, we
Bologna is often described as an 'overlooked' destination for visitors to Italy. Even in our planning, we knew we wanted to come to the broader Emilia-Romagna region, but vacillated quite a lot between Bologna, Modena, and Parma, with the idea that we would visit all three famous foodie places. In the end, we're ever-so-glad we picked Bologna and ended up spending a full three days in the city. Bologna has very charming laneways, where red, yellow, and orange buildings cluster together. Ambling up a back lane in Bologna The city is famous for its porticos — there are dozens of kilometres
On one of our days in Bologna, we took a day trip to Modena. The highlight for the boys was surely the 30-minute train journey. Catching the train at Bologna Centrale. Train buffs (hi, Dad) will want to know that we didn't actually ride this high-speed train, since it was 5x the price and only saved 10 minutes. Plus regular Italian trains feel plenty fast for our Canadian boys. Modena's laneways were very similar to Bologna, and indeed the whole town feels like a smaller, quainter version of its neighbour. The steeple of Modena's Duomo through the lanes We visited on a Saturday,
View from our window: Bologna, Italy. 8:53am, 03 February 2023.
Zedlitzdorf is a tiny village in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Sam's mother grew up holidaying in the area, and about 20 years ago she decided to build a holiday home here in this village. In the summer, it's a popular destination for hiking around and swimming in mountain lakes; but in January, we came planning to ski. There are three different ski hills within a 25-minute drive and lots more if you're willing to drive for 90 minutes, so we were spoilt for choice. There was a significant snowfall just before we arrived, so we started our ski adventures
Germany and Austria are perhaps not your first thought as a culinary destination. If you are a vegetarian, you should hew to that instinct — vegetables are rare, meat ubiquitous. But if you do find fleisch to be lecker, Bavaria and Carinthia have a lot to offer
View from our window: Zedlitzdorf, Austria. 8:56am, 18 January 2023.
The Old Town of Salzburg, with the Hohensalzburg Castle rising above Neither Susan or I had been to Salzburg before, so we didn't really have a sense of what to expect. All I'd heard were ominous warnings about tourist trap status, and Sound of Music tours. Well, it's really none of that, at least not in mid January. Salzburg was a joy to visit: compact and walkable, with winding cobbled laneways, viewpoints aplenty on the cliffs overlooking the town, and cakes and sausages and schnitzels galore for little boys (and their parents) to gobble. Sure, there's maybe a bit too much
View from our window: Salzburg, Austria. 8:58am, 16 January 2023, in the shadow of the Festungsberg.
The Partnach Gorge is one of the top non-skiing activities at Garmisch, and we had a lovely afternoon walking up the gorge and back.