The Alps from the Sky ...

Ok, so where was I ...? Oh yes, the bus. Nicole and I took the bus to an airport about an hour outside of Paris. I don't remember much of the ride because I fell asleep and probably made loud breathing noises while I was at it. The airport itself was more like an airplane hanger with a little restaurant than an actual airport. The doors were made of that thick plastic-like material used between compartments in industrial freezers (if you have never been in one, well, too bad for you). When the wind blew, the doors opened. The wind blew a lot. It was cold.

After checking in our bags, we merged with other sleepy people into the line for the restaurant. Being France, the breakfast selection consisted of croissants, bread with chocolate in the middle and/or breakfast drinks. I love croissants! My breakfast was a delightful meal of croissants and peach nectar. How wonderful!

To board the plane, I had to walk through a metal detector. Simple enough. Nicole had some problems though. After removing every article of metal on her body, she still set off the detector. Oh well. After being thoroughly searched, Nicole was declared as not a terroristic threat and we boarded the plane. I got lucky with a window seat. I love window seats! I can open the little window blind at my leisure and look out at the world below me. It thrills me every time. I digress. I fell asleep as the cabin crew went over the safely instructions. Good thing we didn't crash because I would not have known where my lifejacket was ... not that it would help much.

After sleeping for some time, I awake to an attendant offering coffee. I decline the offer and open the window. The plane was above the cloud line but as I find clouds amazing, I gazed at the cloud formations. Suddenly I saw a jagged white something sticking out of the clouds. It was a snow-covered peak!!! I got so excited that I woke up Nicole. As we flew, I continued to see white peaks. As the plane began it's descent, blue/gray mountains appeared. Ah, the beauty!



We landed in a small italian town in the Alps called Bergamo. Bergamo is about a 1.5 hour train ride from Milano. I had researched online and found that Bergamo had been a fortress city - with the fortified parts now called the old town. The old town was built on a mountain and still retains its original design complete with cobblestone streets. Since we were in Bergamo anyway, we took the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon to explore the old town. It was my favorite part of the trip. We ate gelato and walked the narrow streets. I would imagine that living there requires physical leg strength because the hills are quite large. In other words, my legs were extremely tired. I'm glad I was not wearing heels and that it was not raining as one or both might have been disastrous. Photos coming soon. Until next time ... much love.