Northern Italy - La Dolce Vita, with a Side of G-Forces

It's time for our big vacation of the year! After David missed out on Paul's two-week roller coaster trip to Europe, he got to pick this year and he decided it was time to head back to Italy. After wanting to go to Northern Italy for a few years, it seemed like the logical choice for a two week fall trip. 

Next stop Italy!

After the overnight flight, we arrived in Milan on a Friday morning at 9:30am. We decided to start the trip with a rental car, which we would have for about a week, to explore the more rural areas of Northern Italy around Lake Garda and the Dolomites. The first thing we noticed driving away from the airport was the bad air quality. The Po river valley is a natural basin shape, and in fall and winter the surrounding mountains trap stagnant air from Italy's industrial heartland. Luckily this would clear up when we left the valley a few days later, but our first couple days had poor visibility - which actually impacted our plans around the lake.

We've been to central Italy (Rome, Naples, Florence) and Southern Italy (Bari, Matera, Puglia), so this time we planned a vacation in the north. Paul was briefly in Milan in 2012 at the start of a roller coaster trip, and in Venice/Padua when he was a teenager, but otherwise we haven't been to this part of the country. You can find our other Italy trips with this tag - David & Paul Italy.

Driving northeast from Milan, our first stop was the city of Bergamo were we would spend a few hours. We parked just outside the Città Alta, which is the historic center of the city perched on a defensive hill surrounded by Venetian walls. We started at the city museum, which we hadn't planned but it was right next to where we parked. It mostly had exhibits on the modern history of the city from the past 150 years or so, but was a nice quick stop.

We then walked around the small pedestrian center, had a pastry (sfogliatelle with pistachio) and coffee, and then climbed the tower and visited the attached museum. The views from the tower were nice despite the haze. A man was singing opera for tourists in the city center, near the church where he found a spot with great acoustics.

We then visited the Venetian walls that surround the old city, which are a UNESCO World heritage site. We walked around a bit more before going back to the car. Bergamo is a pleasant place to visit and a nice stop to spend a few hours if you're passing through - but there's not too much to see here.

Bicycle dudes in the city museum photo exhibit.

Chimneys of Bergamo.

Woo! Italian pastries!

The main piazza in Bergamo.

Views from the tower.

Paul on top of the tower in Bergamo.

Looking down at the basilica.

The museum had a few high-tech exhibits.

One of the multiple facades of the basilica.

David on the Venetian walls.

Random sheep next to the walls.

We continued driving east, stopping for a little pizza snack at rest area. As we approached Lake Garda, which we would be exploring for the next few days, our first stop was Desenzano del Garda. This is a small tourist town right on the lake shore, also known for a Roman villa archaeological site. There were some remaining floor mosaics and also an active site they were still digging up. We then walked around a little bit by the lake before heading back to the car. There are a ton of towns around the lake. The ones on the south side where the lake reaches the Po Valley are a bit larger, with more space to grow. Many that we visited along the east and west side and the north are very small with steep grades up to the mountains.

Our first pizza of the trip! Gas station pizza. :)

Mosaic floors in the Roman villa.

Walking down to the lake.

It was now late afternoon, and we had one more stop before sunset. We drove to Sermione, a town on a thin peninsula at the southern end of Lake Garda. It's very popular, with a huge parking lot and a lot of groups of tourists on tour buses. It's a picturesque little town, with an entrance through a castle gate and about a million gelato shops. We started with the castle (Castello Scaligero di Sermione), climbing up the tower for early evening views. We walked around the pedestrian streets, had our first - but not last - gelato of the trip, and then walked back to the car. 

The castle in Sermione.

Late afternoon views from the tower...so hazy.

Sermione is on a narrow peninsula in the lake and used to host a Roman villa at the tip.

Most of the town is pedestrian-only.

Gelato time!

Our hotel, Hotel Campanello, was a short drive away, on the southeast side of the lake. This area was less busy because there's not really a town there. Our room had a big terrace overlooking the lake, where there was a nice walking path. We were only here one night, but could have easily stayed a few days enjoying the relaxing atmosphere and touristic places on the south side of the lake.

Since the weather was unseasonably warm, we had dinner al fresco at Porticciolo del Campanello which was one of the few restaurants within walking distance of our hotel. It was a great first dinner, with yummy pumpkin and sage ravioli and lake fish. We would see a lot of pumpkin dishes on the trip since it was in season.  

A few things we noticed already on our first day: there are lots of ducks and swans on the lake. Realistically, this make sense, but since Lake Garda is so big (it looks like a sea) it was a bit surprising! There are also a lot of people on bikes. Usually, we associated bikes with northern Europe, and on our previous trips to Italy we didn't see many people on bikes, but this trip we would see a ton of people using bikes to get around in cities that seem to be increasingly retrofitted for them. There are also a lot of German-speaking tourists around Lake Garda. Our hotel even had German channels (no English ones) and this would especially be common as we went further north into the Dolomites. Also Italians be smoking. This isn't so much a surprise, we know Europeans are big smokers, but yikes...we forget how many people in Italy smoke - even in places where they're obviously not allowed to - like in theme parks directly in front of no smoking signs.

Hanging out on the terrace.

Sunset views from our hotel.

This pumpkin and sage pasta was one of the best of the trip.

So many macaroni dishes this trip...

Grilled lake fish.

Saturday was our first full day in Italy. We started with breakfast at our hotel. European hotel breakfasts are so much better than American hotel breakfasts, and this one was pretty good. We ate in a sunroom overlooking the lake. 

One of our main reasons for staying on the southern end of the lake for a night was Gardaland - probably the best theme park in Italy. It was only a five minute drive from our hotel, and we got there about 30 minutes before opening and joined the huge crowd waiting to get into the park. Since it was a Saturday with nice weather, and it was during the Halloween event, this was one of their busiest days of the year. Paul anticipated this and we had bought fast passes online, which were a huge time saver. The park opened with a little Halloween show where costumed characters danced on top of the entrance to the park. In total, it took about 2.5 hours to get the 7 coaster credits, see the highlights, ride the Jumanji dark ride, and do a little souvenir shopping.

Morning views of the lake from our hotel terrace, with a big exercise circle.

The song and dance before we entered.

Paul at Gardaland.

Wheeee! David did not like this one.

It was a very busy day in the park.

Lego Adventure area.

David ribbon dancing.

Happy Halloween from Gardaland!

Leaving the park in the early afternoon, we drove north along the eastern side of Lake Garda, stopping in the town of Cisano for lunch at Due Alfieri. We had a nice outdoor lunch by the water and enjoyed watching the people stroll and bike by. After lunch we kept driving north, stopping in Malcesine, which is a cute little tourist city. There's a cable car here that goes up to the top of a tall peak overlooking the water, but since the air was so hazy we decided it wouldn't be worth the time. So instead, we walked around exploring the pedestrian streets and having some gelato. Also, this would be the last t-shirt weather of the trip, as we would continue into the mountains and the unusually warm weather would pass.

Lakeside lunch.

More pasta!

Boats on the lake.

A parade of ducks, or "look at all those chickens!"

A pleasant day by the water.

The air quality was still bad but getting better by this point.

A cute little square in Malcesine.

Interestingly named gelato.

Walking around in Malcesine.

One of the few cats we saw in Italy. Of course David pet it.

The tower and a pomegranate.

From here we kept driving up to Riva del Garda, on the north end of the lake, where we rented an apartment right on the water-front square. It was a simple but really nice and spacious apartment with great views. 

That evening, we eased into our time in Riva del Garda with a trip to the grocery store, then a drink at Cafe del Deseo, which specializes in spritzes. The drinks came with some sizeable snacks, which served as half of our dinner (the other half was grocery store food while relaxing in our room). 

What a view from our apartment!

Heading out into town.

The mountains loom above Riva del Garda.

Drinks and snacks.

Night view from our window.

So ended our time on the south side of Lake Garda. Next up - a few days around the north end of the lake, then up into the Dolomites!

A Little Time in Bangkok

Earlier this month I (Paul) attended a meeting in Bangkok - and while I was mostly busy with the meeting each day, I did have a free day on either end as well as evenings to explore the city. Way back in 2007 I connected at the Bangkok airport on the way to Cambodia, but I've never been to Thailand, so I was excited to briefly explore a new country. I kept busy in my free time to see as much as possible!

After arriving at my hotel late at night, the next day I still woke up by 5am due to the time zone change. I caught the sunrise on the 9th floor pool deck of my hotel, grabbed some drinks and snacks for the week at a Lawson convenience store, and then took a Grab (similar to Lyft/Uber) to Roots Coffee at the Commons. It was still only a little after 7am, so I killed a little more time with a short walk to Wat Pha Si (วัดภาษี), a nearby temple that is not a tourist site. From their I took another Grab to Wat Benchamabophit Dusitwanaram, known as the Marble Temple. There were only a few other people there, so it was pleasant to wander the grounds and enjoy the architecture and peaceful setting. 

Transferring in Seoul.

Good morning Bangkok!

View from my hotel roof.

The streets of Bangkok.

It seems like there's a 7-11 on every corner.

Breakfast at Roots.

A mosque and a skyscraper.

Just a car on a bench.

It was nice to see a non-tourist temple. This one had weird architecture.

An interesting painting in the temple.

The "Marble Temple" had serene grounds.

Statue at the temple.

The temple's Buddha.

I love the ornate roofs.

The courtyard of the Marble Temple.

Hey there kitty.

There's a canal passing through the temple grounds.

Then came the journey to my first an only coasters of the trip, at Dream World. The park is quite a bit north of central Bangkok, so it took over an hour to get there. Bangkok had some bad flooding in the week before I arrived, and this was still visible in the areas around the park. There's also a second amusement park in Bangkok that was closed for at least six month due to extensive flooding. Dream World is a pleasant little park with some good landscaping and a surprisingly large ride selection. I spent a couple hours here. I got 2 of 3 credits (Black Hole Coaster closed for annual maintenance). It started to get busy with school groups just as I was getting ready to leave; it was particularly hilarious seeing the kids scream and run in the walk-through haunted house attraction.

Flood waters remaining on the side of the road.

Welcome to Dream World!

Speedy Mouse seen from the sky ride.

Sky Coaster seen from the sky ride.

Ohio one way, "Mecican" desert the other way.

There were some interesting statues around the park.

A monitor lizard!

A giant projected aquarium walk through.

I then took a Grab back into Bangkok straight to King Power Mahanakhon, a large skyscraper with an observation deck. It rained during the drive, and there was still lightning in the area so the outside observation deck wasn't open, but I had amazing views from the indoor viewing areas. There was also a small but cool indoor exhibit with laser and light shows. It was now mid-afternoon, and I walked a block to Bar Sathorn for a cocktail and some snacks. This was a very nice bar in a historic building, ranked as the 17th best bar in Asia. My cocktail was excellent and had a house-made alcohol. I then took the skytrain (BTS) two stops to Limpini Park, which is like the central park of Bangkok. I walked around a bit and some some monitors lizards in the water. By now I was hot and sticky from the sun and humidity, so I took the subway back to my hotel and took a shower. The rest of the day was relaxing; just a short walk through Benchasiri Park right next to my hotel and hainanese chicken for dinner from the the Gourmet Eats food hall.

View from King Power.

Now that's a corner view!

The train passing by.

The bathroom view was great too.

A laser show on the 4th floor.

You could color a picture, scan it, and it would appear on the screen.

A neon Bangkok exhibit.

Lighted pillars.

Outside of the building (on the right). Looks like jenga.

Bar Sathorn is in this historic building.

My drink was great.

Limpini Park views.

A monitor lizard swimming in the lake.

It was Bangkok climate action week.

Nice place to sit and enjoy the city.

Another big monitor lizard.

Mopeds probably outnumber cars in Bangkok.

Benchasiri Park was very popular for exercising.

Another high-end mall near my hotel. There are a lot of these.

A simple dinner.

The rest of the week I fit some things in here and there where I could, including an organized food tour in Chinatown. There was a quirky Australian family from Perth on the tour, and we had way too much food. Our tour guide, Bow, didn't really explain much about the history of the food, but did take us to a number of delicious places - pictures below!

Chinatown was bustling.

These crispy Thai pancakes were delicious.

A mountain of food.

Our tour group.

Street stall fried donuts.

Fish cake soup at a table on the street.

A little local temple we walked by.

Mango sticky rice to close out the night.

I also was able to squeeze in a late afternoon visit to a few attractions in the most historic area of Bangkok. I started with the Reclining Buddha (at Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan), one of the most famous sites in Bangkok. It was a large and sprawling temple grounds and is definitely work a visit. 

Overview of the temple complex, which is quite large and busy.

Stupa spires.

Views of the landscaped grounds.

There are colors and textures everywhere.

The huge reclining Buddha.

Me with the Buddha.

Buddha toes.

Temple roofs.

Another ornately decorated room.

Just north of the temple is the National Palace area, another of Bangkok's biggest tourist destinations. It's full of impressive shiny buildings and temples, and a small textile museum. It was a bit crowded (and hot) but a must-visit in the city. After this, I had an early dinner and then hit two museums in the area. "Museum Pier" is a small private museum with some really interesting rotating modern art exhibits and a nice gift shop, and just north of that is the National Museum which is spread across a campus with several buildings. I was feeling quite hot at this point since I was wearing jeans (shorts are not allowed in temples, although this rule is quite lax for men), so rather than walking the 25 minutes back to the metro station I took a short tuktuk ride.

Paintings in the national palace.

It's impressive!

Gold and glitz.

A giant golden stupa.

Decorated spires and columns.

So much to look at everywhere.

Roofs and statues.

Three different style stupas.

Exhibit in Museum Pier.

Another neat Museum Pier piece.

A main room of the National Museum.

Masks in the museum.

There was a small puppet collection.

A temple door rescued from a fire - the entire left side is burned.

Mother-of-pearl inlay on a piece in the musuem.

On another night I met up with colleagues for cocktails at Bar Us, rated the 6th best bar in Asia, then dinner at Boat Noodle. Both were fantastic and made for a good combo in the Sukhumvit neighborhood. 

The inventive cocktail came with tofu skin.

Bar Us.

Delicious curry at Boat Noodle.

I never got tired of the view from my hotel!

On my final night, I took a boat cruise with colleagues. This was delightfully over-the-top. It started at Asiatique, a large river-front tourist destination with warehouses full of shops, a ferris wheel, restaurants, and a big Jurassic World Experience attraction. It was rainy, so at first we were all indoors on the boat, but it cleared up and the staff quickly dried off the top deck. There was singing, performances, and even a bridge with such low clearance that we all had to sit on the floor. 

Inside the boat.

Buffet dinner.

Boats like the go up and down the river.

Temple views.

Wat Arun from the river.

Going by the National Palace.

We turned around at this big bridge.

Our group on the boat.

Going under one of the two low-clearance bridges.

View of a fancy mall.

On my final day my flight wasn't until 11am, so I booked an organized tour to make the most of my time. It was to Ayutthaya, a UNESCO world heritage site that was a major Thai kindgom from the 1300s-1700s. There are a variety of temple remains and it's a very interesting place to visit. I was the only one to book the tour, so I had essentially a VIP experience! My guide Uma was great, and I had a bonus second guide Jida who was along for training. After driving about an hour north from Bangkok, we started at something a little different - a cable car ride over the river to Wat Niwet Thammaprawat, a western-style temple on an island. There were very few tourists here and it was a great experience seeing the juxtaposed temple style (it looked like a European church) and learning about Buddhist practices. The next stop down the road was the Ayutthaya Gold Treasure Exhibition, a museum with an impressive collection of gold artifacts found at the Ayutthaya site.

Crossing the river - the water was very high and we only cleared it by inches!

Me on the cable car.

Inside the temple.

It looks like a church!

Complete with stained glass windows.

Uma showing me how to put gold leaf on the Buddha.

Putting on the gold leaf.

Viewing the flood waters while crossing back over the river.

A golden elephant in the museum.

A huge golden stupa statue.

A little golden fruit.

We next drove to the main two sites in Ayutthaya, Wat Racha Burana and Wat Maha That. These temple complexes are in ruins after being attacked twice by the Burmese, but they are fascinating to visit and a number of large towers and walls still stand. There's not much shade, but luckily umbrellas are provided. Was Racha Burana wasn't very busy, but Wat Maha That had a few different tourist groups including a large group from Spain and some Thai school groups.

The main area of Wat Racha Burana.

This is the crypt where the gold objects in the museum were found.

Decorations on the prang/stupa.

Walking through the site was neat.

There were decorative remains here and there.

Some of the towers have developed a tilt over the centuries.

Photo shoot time!

The tuktuks have three wheels and are cute.

Overview model of Wat Maha That.

Wat Maha That.

The famous Buddha head in tree roots.

Me with the Buddha head.

The lush grass and blue sky made for great photos.

Me at the temple.

A foot decoration.

Postcard views!

Another Buddha.

Details on the tower.

In some places trees have taken over.

Umbrella family.

Portrait mode photo from my tour guides!

Coconut break.

Lunch was great.

Fruit for dessert.

And local thai floss/pancakes made fresh.

After coming back to Bangkok I did some final tourist shopping, picked up my bag from the hotel, and went to the airport. Since I really only had two tourist days, I would love to return to be able to go at a slower pace and see more things!

Korean air in flight meals are pretty good!