Reflections
I need a lot more time to assimilate all we took in for our three weeks in Italy. I can say it was a perfect amount of time -- not too short, not too long -- for an initial trip. The itinerary seemed busy, but it really wasn't. We found we had time to see and experience what we wanted (there is ALWAYS more) and I don't think we could have taken in much more. Sandy and I took time to relax and enjoy the country and to enjoy each other's company. That was very special to me. Our small hotels were all excellent and each had a flavor of its own. They weren't 5 star, but they were clean, pleasant, and all run by very nice and helpful people. I would recommend all of them, particularly the Albergo Marin in Venice (82 Euros a night), the Hotel Duomo in Cremona (85 Euros a night), the Hotel Porta Romana in Siena (110 Euros a night), and the Hotel Due Torri in Rome (about 160 Euros a night). The Cremona hotel was 20 steps from the Duomo piazza and the Rome hotel was in a quiet alley away from the fray. The final bills at these hotels were a little less when we paid in cash & had a Rick Steves discount.
Food was (as we had always heard) fabulous everywhere, even at the gas stops on the expressway. We didn't have one bad thing to eat, except we thought the wine at dinner in Sorrento was watered down. I'm hooked now on good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, prosecco, chianti, and Buffalo mozzarella cheese. I remember Ginny coming home from Italy with the same pensions! Can't wait to share with her! We didn't find it terribly expensive either. Breakfast was included in the hotel and Sandy and I split almost every lunch and dinner and had plenty to eat. She stopped at fish though -- one night I had to have my fresh whole fish! We spent about 15-20 euros on lunch and about 30-35 on dinner for both of us.
Gasoline was expensive but our little Smart Car didn't take much and we were very glad to have that, though I had thought differently before we left. It drove very well, albeit a little bumpy, and you really forgot you didn't have space in back of you until you went to park it. The automatic transmission overdrive worked differently from my car. You could push it in overdrive, then you had to push a button to upshift it again. I used that a lot on the mountainous terrain. Once we learned to touch the brake before we started the car, we had no trouble starting it.
It was easy and smart to limit ourselves to one carry-on bag each. I took a tote bag for the plane to carry my purse, my tablet, a sweater, and noise-cancelling headphones (a must). I also packed a tiny nylon collapsible tote to carry extra items on the way back when I checked my bag and carried the two totes. We didn't want to check anything on the way to Italy because we were taking the train straight to Venice and wouldn't be in Rome in case the bag got lost. I actually packed too much! I didn't need 3 pairs of shoes (tennis shoes were the best on the cobblestone streets) -- tennis shoes & one pair of sandals would have done it. I could have left home a couple of shirts and one pair of pants. I was glad to have packed my hairdryer that had a European plug. Some of the hose dryers are awful. I should have taken a washcloth, but Sandy had two -- thanks Sandy. It was easy to wash out things as we needed to.
People, people, people......I was actually glad to get away from so MANY people everywhere! Of course it was tourist season, but when you get back to the USA you appreciate how spread out we are. I will not complain about traffic here again (ha -- yes, I will!). It's nothing like traffic in Italy with the motor cycles weaving in and out and between very narrow lanes. You do have to travel with a lot of patience. Drivers in Italy are much more trusting of each other. They cut in front of you quickly and very close, they drive pretty fast, and they know exactly how big their cars are. They are generally good drivers -- no room for whimps here. If you are at all nervous about driving, don't drive there! People crowded around Trevi fountain, the Pieta, the Colosseum, etc. You just want to tell them all to get out of the way! It was a relief to get back to the hotel after a day of people.
On Sunday, Sandy and I took a taxi to the Fumicino Airport. It was very deserted & we both got through security in no time. I had to wait a while & staked out a seat near the gate. A man and his wife came over and he plopped in the chair next to me while his wife went shopping. "We're from Alabama" he said in a MAJOR Southern drawl, after our initial niceties. "Ma wife an' I decided tuh go tuh Rome fo' a few days - neva been there 'fore. Had the hardest tahme findin' our way round. All the streets are called VIA -- via this an via that. How d'ya tell the diffrence?"
OK, I'm back home in the South, thankfully not rural Alabama! It's quiet here -- not so many people -- but now I miss Italy! What a fabulous trip and a fabulous country. 'Bye for now!
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
10 hours of sleep!!
We really were tired! Must have
been all the walking, the wine, and the lemoncello yesterday. We dawdled over breakfast, then decided to
tackle the Forum again. The taxi to the
Forum entrance let us out at the Coliseum.
Well, FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM. We couldn’t find it! We asked the hotel clerk – it’s here, she pointed on the map. We asked the taxi – it’s there. We asked a guide – it’s over there, follow
the wall, up the hill. We did – no
entrance (yet another hill in Rome!). Go up the hill over there and
you’ll find an entrance. Went up
Palatine Hill – no entrance. Go to the
2nd traffic light and turn left.
No entrance. OK, good overall
views of the Forum (actually, very neat), but we NEVER found an entrance to get
in! We saw people in the Forum and tried to follow the lines, like ants, but couldn't find a beginning or end! There was a lot of construction for
a subway and all the entrances on our maps were closed. The ONE place – WAY back in the other direction
– we didn't try, is probably the only entrance now, but we were completely over
it by that time! We still saw where
Caesar was born, were he spoke, where he was burned and where his funeral was –
from above.
It’s pretty incredible how the city is built above and all
around the ruins. It is continually
being excavated. Even Caesar’s palace on
Palatine Hill is still being unearthed.
I noticed the top of an arch sticking up from the ground, so you know
there is more underneath. To think, ALL of this was covered in marble. How magnificent it must have been and SO HUGE!
We went to San
Clemente church down the road from the Coliseum. That’s a crazy, mixed up church and
fascinating. Inside is a mixture of
Medieval and Baroque. You pay to go down
underneath the church to find an earlier church, then go down ANOTHER level to
find the ruins of a pagan “church”.
Creepy down there and very humid and smelly, but amazing that was all found
and protected!
Back to the hotel for a break with fruit, cheese, crackers, and wine,
then out to stroll by the river, only a couple of blocks from the hotel. We crossed the Tiber River (Fiume Tevere) on
the Ponte Umberto directly in front of the Corte de Casserzone (the Palace of
Justice -- national supreme court), went past the very Gothic church Sandy was
so interested in – not open – and crossed back over the river again on Ponte Cavour.
Now we’ve crossed over 3 bridges in Rome.
Too bad we are leaving, now that we are just getting to know the city better!
We have a bottle of wine to consume tonight and some lemoncello. So after a pizza margarita (a popular one here, and boy, is it good!) and Chianti, I’m going to pack and get ready to leave this fascinating country in the morning. Goodbye Italy – hope to see you again soon! This has been the most wonderful trip in every way.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Up again and off to the Vatican, but this time we took a
little time for a quick breakfast and coffee & shared a taxi with another
couple. Daniella from Livitaly Tours was
waiting for us. There were only two
other people, a nice Australian couple, in our group. Daniella rushed us across the street to the
entrance so we would be only the 2nd group in line to enter at 8:00,
a half-hour earlier than anyone else.
While we were waiting to get in she told us about the Sistene Chapel
because once we got in we were only allowed to talk for a few minutes, then had
to be silent. She let us stay in there
to look for 15 minutes. There were
benches along the walls to sit so you could look up easily and only about 20 people in the room. We got there before it got crowded. When we went back through later, the room was PACKED and you could hardly move, let alone see the entire room! What an amazing place! Pictures just don’t do it justice. I’ll have to go back and read The Agony and the Ecstasy now. Daneilla proved to be an excellent guide,
gliding us through the whole Vatican in 3 hours. You could spend days looking at everything,
but this was exhausting enough and my brain would have exploded if it had been
longer. Ginny said to be sure to see
Laocoon by Michelangelo, which was beautiful but missing some parts. Laocoon’s arm was found not many years ago
(after a replacement arm had been put on centuries ago). On
investigation they realized that the found arm matched muscularly to this statue
and that it was in a different pose from the replacement one. I could have stood for a long time looking at Rafael’s School of Athens but we couldn't stay
long. Our guide told us this story: the Pope insisted upon seeing what
Michelangelo was doing in the Sistene (M. never let people see his work until
it was finished), so begrudgingly M. took all the scaffolding down & the
Pope invited Raphael, who was working in another room, the School of Athens room, to come view the chapel with him. Raphael was so awed by M’s work, he started
to change his style of painting to reflect the more muscular attributes of the
body. He paid further homage to M. by
putting M.’s face on the old man in the middle of the School of Athens. He put his own likeness on another figure,
the only way he could actually sign the work, since artists were not allowed to
sign their work. The painting on the
other side of the Raphael room, opposite the School of Athens, was started by
Rafael (left side) and finished by his assistants, with a definite change in
style from left to right. That must have
been the point at which Rafael saw the Sistene.
VERY cool.
We were, by then,
ushered quickly past CROWDS of people, but we got to walk through the hall of
maps, the corridors of papal gifts, incredible tapestries – so much – you could
spend DAYS there! There were marble
tables there which were originally sample slabs used by the Romans to display
the different kinds of marble that were available. Gorgeous.
I think we have seen every kind of marble available at some point, and
that’s A LOT of marble!
After floating through (literally) the contemporary gallery
(Dali, Cezanne, Matisse, etc.), we walked next door to St. Peter’s
Basilica. UNBELIEVABLE. That place is so big it’s inconceivable, even
after seeing all the biggest cathedrals in Italy! First you see the five bronze doors – one of
which, the really old beautiful one, is opened only every 25 years. I think it’s due to be opened in 2025. You enter through a door made in the last ¼
century. To the right directly is
Michelangelo’s Pieta. It was behind plexiglass and very hard to see
because of all the crowds – jillions of people by that time. Apparently some idiot in the 1970’s went up
to it and started beating at it saying “get this out of here” and cracked two
or three parts of the statue. The story
goes (according to our guide) that Michelangelo created the statue and no one
would believe he did it – they were saying someone else did – all kinds of
scandal – so he broke in one night with his chisel and wrote across it “made by
M…..”. Remember, artists weren't allowed
to sign their names to anything. In the
middle of the Basilica was St. Peter’s tomb with the most beautiful (and
contemporary-looking to me) bronze canopy over it made by Bernini with bronze
stolen from the Pantheon. ONLY the Pope
and those permitted by the Pope can speak from that spot. Daniella pointed out the windows of the Pope’s living
quarters and the place where the smoke comes from when a new Pope is elected,
also where the new Pope is introduced to the people. The Pope speaks to the people every Sunday
(all who gather in St. Peter’s Square – about 450,000 people and MANY chairs
were set up too).
Tired! This was a lot
to take in for a relatively short period of time! Back to the hotel to collapse for a while,
then off to the Colosseum in the afternoon. We're NOT walking this time! The taxi dropped us off in front where there were again jillions of
people. We had reserved tickets (the
hotel did it for us) so were got in pretty quickly. The size was impressive but I have to say I’m
glad I saw it, but that’s all I needed. I
don’t need to see or imagine what went on there. The animals and people on elevators, killing, killing,
killing. The fact they could flood the
arena for war games (imagine, WAR games -- better as video games!) and put a canopy over it is pretty
incredible, but, now that I have seen it, that's all I
need. Don’t need a tour. We were pretty tired. We tried to find the entrance to the forum
but to no avail. We asked one of the
“gladiators” (men in costume who wanted $ for a picture) who pointed us up the
street but we couldn’t find an entrance and by now were Romaned out. Maybe tomorrow. Time for dinner and wine. Very early to bed. We've decided to take it easy on our last day in Rome tomorrow. We've seen SO much and need time to assimilate all of it. Not possible!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Today is Borghese Gallery day. The hotel got us reservations for 1:00 so we took our time getting up and strolled to the park via the Spanish Steps (which I DID climb, by the way). I rather enjoyed standing on the steps and looking over the view that Goethe, Wagner, Keats, and many others would have seen. Keats died in a building next to the steps. The Sinking Boat fountain at the base of the steps was built by Bernini (or his dad?) and Sandy was particularly taken with that. We walked through the old Roman wall to the Central Park of Rome -- the Borghese Gardens -- and wandered through the quiet 3-square mile park, enjoying the lake with the Greek statuary, the many fountains, and the Roman race track. What a lovely break from the hectic city.
The Borghese Gallery is astounding! My all time favorite. The 17th century villa itself is beautiful and the art -- be still my heart! One after another of works that are beyond fabulous. We weren't allowed to stay more than 2 hours and we left enough time to go backwards through it again quickly. I've found that you see so much more than you did the first time if you go back in the other direction. It also serves as a review of what you've seen which is nice. Seeing the Bernini David after seeing Michelangelo's David was really interesting. Michelangelo's David is so perfect, powerful, and graceful and Bernini's is full of action and determination. Many works by Raphael, Rubens, Carivaggio, Bernini, and many others, but not Michelangelo or DaVinci. I guess that is explained by the fact that this was a collection of works chosen to adorn the villa (and the tastes) of the Borghese family, not collected to perpetuate art and demonstrate styles as in a museum. The only downside for me were the steps. Up 4 LONG flights of stairs, then down of course in time! I found a friend in a man and his wife who were about as excited about that as I was and we encouraged each other. Sandy can just fly up but she is very patient with me.
We walked and walked and walked again today -- Sandy's pedometer said about 6 miles. We were pretty exhausted. Back "home" at the hotel, after collapsing on our beds for a while, we asked where we could get a good dinner and the woman recommended a restaurant at a nearby piazza that "is full of local people and not very touristy -- a nice place to people-watch and eat good food". She was right. What a lovely evening sipping wine, eating good food, and enjoying all the people out for an evening on the piazza. When evening rolls around, the tables, chairs, and umbrellas are set up outside (more added for the dinner hours), people socialize around a meal, kids play in the piazza, stores re-open after a mid-day rest, and neighbors are out for a pre-dinner stroll, greeting each other & window shopping. The city seems to calm down, and, at the same time, it comes alive in a different way. Time is taken to retire the busy day and savor the end of it. We've found the Italian people to be very warm and friendly and very proud of their country and its heritage.
Today is Borghese Gallery day. The hotel got us reservations for 1:00 so we took our time getting up and strolled to the park via the Spanish Steps (which I DID climb, by the way). I rather enjoyed standing on the steps and looking over the view that Goethe, Wagner, Keats, and many others would have seen. Keats died in a building next to the steps. The Sinking Boat fountain at the base of the steps was built by Bernini (or his dad?) and Sandy was particularly taken with that. We walked through the old Roman wall to the Central Park of Rome -- the Borghese Gardens -- and wandered through the quiet 3-square mile park, enjoying the lake with the Greek statuary, the many fountains, and the Roman race track. What a lovely break from the hectic city.
The Borghese Gallery is astounding! My all time favorite. The 17th century villa itself is beautiful and the art -- be still my heart! One after another of works that are beyond fabulous. We weren't allowed to stay more than 2 hours and we left enough time to go backwards through it again quickly. I've found that you see so much more than you did the first time if you go back in the other direction. It also serves as a review of what you've seen which is nice. Seeing the Bernini David after seeing Michelangelo's David was really interesting. Michelangelo's David is so perfect, powerful, and graceful and Bernini's is full of action and determination. Many works by Raphael, Rubens, Carivaggio, Bernini, and many others, but not Michelangelo or DaVinci. I guess that is explained by the fact that this was a collection of works chosen to adorn the villa (and the tastes) of the Borghese family, not collected to perpetuate art and demonstrate styles as in a museum. The only downside for me were the steps. Up 4 LONG flights of stairs, then down of course in time! I found a friend in a man and his wife who were about as excited about that as I was and we encouraged each other. Sandy can just fly up but she is very patient with me.
We walked and walked and walked again today -- Sandy's pedometer said about 6 miles. We were pretty exhausted. Back "home" at the hotel, after collapsing on our beds for a while, we asked where we could get a good dinner and the woman recommended a restaurant at a nearby piazza that "is full of local people and not very touristy -- a nice place to people-watch and eat good food". She was right. What a lovely evening sipping wine, eating good food, and enjoying all the people out for an evening on the piazza. When evening rolls around, the tables, chairs, and umbrellas are set up outside (more added for the dinner hours), people socialize around a meal, kids play in the piazza, stores re-open after a mid-day rest, and neighbors are out for a pre-dinner stroll, greeting each other & window shopping. The city seems to calm down, and, at the same time, it comes alive in a different way. Time is taken to retire the busy day and savor the end of it. We've found the Italian people to be very warm and friendly and very proud of their country and its heritage.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
I am a “dumb butt” according to Sandy (and me). We got up at 6:30 and called a taxi that
picked us up at 7:00 to go to the Café Vatican to meet our tour guide by
7:20. Too early for coffee and
breakfast, but we got there just as they were opening the cafe and got some
coffee. We waited until about 7:40 and I
happened to re-check my receipt. It said
FRIDAY, SEPT. 20! Damn!!! I had it in my brain we were taking that tour
the 2nd day we were in Rome.
Of course, we got here a day earlier, so it was the 3rd
day! Sandy was so nice about it but I
was really mad at myself since I was the one in charge of that. So, we walked back to the hotel. It was a long way, but we saw things we might
not have seen otherwise and got back to the hotel in time for breakfast! We got a glimpse of St. Peter’s square from
the street. It didn't look as large as I
expected somehow. I was rather
surprised. Then we walked up to Sant’Angelo
Castle, Hadrian’s tomb turned castle, but we didn't go in – too early. We crossed the Sant’Angelo bridge and saw
all the Bernini statues that lined it.
After a rest, we took off for the nearby
Museo Altemps, associated with the National Museum of Rome which we went to
next. Both specialized in ancient Roman
works, many of them restored in the 16th – 18th
centuries. Seeing these things really
puts perspective on Roman art and how it influenced later artists. Interesting to see the hairstyles of the day,
see fragments of the first Julian calendar, and try to recall some of the myths I've
long forgotten. We got Roman-ed out
though fairly quickly and left to find an interesting nearby church we read
about – Santa Maria della Vittoria.
Bernini’s St. Teresa in Ecstasy
was there. Bernini staged the altar by
sculpting “theater boxes” on either side with statues of men looking down and
commenting on the “main event” (Teresa).) This was very cool and, in some ways, rather
shocking. The interesting thing was that
the men sitting in the boxes were supposed to be of the Cornaro family, likely the same
family who built Sally & Carl’s Villa Cornaro.
Walk, walk, walk and more walk. Past a HUGE building, blocks long, with all
kinds of flags and dressed up guards and guards with guns. Hmm? Turned out to be the President of Italy’s home – the Quirinale. To get back to the hotel we had to go down
the highest of the 7 hills of Rome.
Downstairs, many levels, then downhill.
Time for a dinner stop! We found
a little place in an alley off the main street and had a salad bar (the first we've found here, though we've had some wonderful salads) with all kinds of vegetables and a wonderful spaghetti dish. On the way back home we stopped in again at
the Pantheon and saw the tomb of Raphael.
It’s amazing to think of what the Pantheon must have been like before it
was stripped of all its marble and bronze by those damn Christians! The Pope ordered Bernini (we found out later)
to use the bronze in the Pantheon to make the canopy over St. Peter’s tomb in
the middle of St. Peter’s Basilica. The
canopy is incredible, but REALLY?
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Driving day! Up early & check out. Sandy's turn to now get out of Sorrento the way we came in. So much traffic. It's stop and go, slowly, all the way through the little towns. Thank goodness she is a good driver. I get to look around this time. The view is hazy -- cloudy but not raining ....... yet. Fortunately it rained only slightly once we got on A-1. Vesuvius is more clouded over the top than it has been, and the cliffs have eerie shadows. The navigation on my cell phone is working today and we pretty much breeze to the Chiampino Airport outside of Rome. It didn't take long to find the Auto Europa place, turn in the car (no problem, even though it was a day late and another dropoff point), and take the shuttle to the front of the airport where we got a taxi to our hotel. Well, almost to our hotel. It's on a little side alley, so she left us off and pointed. We did feel a little abandoned, but not for long. The Hotel Due Torri is a nice little hotel on a supposedly quiet (except for the loudmouth dog and his owner) street in the Pantheon district. We found it quickly, rattled our suitcases over the square cobblestoned street and checked in. Up one flight -- not too bad. Elevator if necessary, air conditioning, small but nice room with refrigerator, TV (haven't put one on since we got to Italy!), and a small but nice shower.
We HAD to get something to eat, so we went to nearby Obiko at the suggestion of the woman at the hotel desk. Wonderful and huge salad, bread, and pasta. After a short siesta back at the hotel, we ventured out again. Our map reading prowess proved shaky again as we found our way first to the Pantheon, then Trevi fountain. I was blown away by the size of the Pantheon. I expected big, but this is HUGE! How did the Romans build such a huge dome?? Interesting to see the two rectangular cutouts done by Brunelleshi (by special permission) to discover the materials used so he could build the dome for the Florence cathedral. Ginny says we have to go back and see Rafael's tomb. We will, gladly.
Trevi fountain is a must see, but not when we did! We hit it right at "stroll time" for all the Italians and all the tourists. It was SO crowded! We did manage to get pictures and to admire it and that's all we needed to do. A fellow peddling polaroid pictures of people in front of the fountain took a picture of us with Sandy's camera, then was disgusted when we wouldn't buy one of his pictures.
Speaking of which, there are quite a few people sitting on the steps of buildings with cups for handouts. In Florence we saw several crippled people walking the streets with cups. Then you have the musicians. The ones in Venice who just wouldn't go away while I was on the phone with Ginny. Street corner violinists and accordion players. A couple of musicians on the Ercolano train playing, then passing a cup. A cellist playing Bach in front of the Pantheon.
Off to the Piazza Navona with it's Egyptian obelisk and beautiful fountain. And, of course, its church and all the ones we popped into along the way. Even the most humble of them are works of art.
We've covered enough territory today. After some fruit, cheese, left over lunch, and wine, we are off to read, write, relax, and sleep. We're in ROME!
Driving day! Up early & check out. Sandy's turn to now get out of Sorrento the way we came in. So much traffic. It's stop and go, slowly, all the way through the little towns. Thank goodness she is a good driver. I get to look around this time. The view is hazy -- cloudy but not raining ....... yet. Fortunately it rained only slightly once we got on A-1. Vesuvius is more clouded over the top than it has been, and the cliffs have eerie shadows. The navigation on my cell phone is working today and we pretty much breeze to the Chiampino Airport outside of Rome. It didn't take long to find the Auto Europa place, turn in the car (no problem, even though it was a day late and another dropoff point), and take the shuttle to the front of the airport where we got a taxi to our hotel. Well, almost to our hotel. It's on a little side alley, so she left us off and pointed. We did feel a little abandoned, but not for long. The Hotel Due Torri is a nice little hotel on a supposedly quiet (except for the loudmouth dog and his owner) street in the Pantheon district. We found it quickly, rattled our suitcases over the square cobblestoned street and checked in. Up one flight -- not too bad. Elevator if necessary, air conditioning, small but nice room with refrigerator, TV (haven't put one on since we got to Italy!), and a small but nice shower.
We HAD to get something to eat, so we went to nearby Obiko at the suggestion of the woman at the hotel desk. Wonderful and huge salad, bread, and pasta. After a short siesta back at the hotel, we ventured out again. Our map reading prowess proved shaky again as we found our way first to the Pantheon, then Trevi fountain. I was blown away by the size of the Pantheon. I expected big, but this is HUGE! How did the Romans build such a huge dome?? Interesting to see the two rectangular cutouts done by Brunelleshi (by special permission) to discover the materials used so he could build the dome for the Florence cathedral. Ginny says we have to go back and see Rafael's tomb. We will, gladly.
Trevi fountain is a must see, but not when we did! We hit it right at "stroll time" for all the Italians and all the tourists. It was SO crowded! We did manage to get pictures and to admire it and that's all we needed to do. A fellow peddling polaroid pictures of people in front of the fountain took a picture of us with Sandy's camera, then was disgusted when we wouldn't buy one of his pictures.
Speaking of which, there are quite a few people sitting on the steps of buildings with cups for handouts. In Florence we saw several crippled people walking the streets with cups. Then you have the musicians. The ones in Venice who just wouldn't go away while I was on the phone with Ginny. Street corner violinists and accordion players. A couple of musicians on the Ercolano train playing, then passing a cup. A cellist playing Bach in front of the Pantheon.
Off to the Piazza Navona with it's Egyptian obelisk and beautiful fountain. And, of course, its church and all the ones we popped into along the way. Even the most humble of them are works of art.
We've covered enough territory today. After some fruit, cheese, left over lunch, and wine, we are off to read, write, relax, and sleep. We're in ROME!
Sunday & Monday, September 15 & 16, 2013
I neglected to mention that our room is DOWN 4 flights of stairs! We are supposed to move after tonight, but we have decided to stay only 3 nights in Sorrento and go to Rome earlier so we have 5 nights in Rome. The hotel in Rome had availability. We'll just stay in the room we are in here for two more nights and I'll count stairs like G-ma.
Today was Herculaneum day -- or, rather (as an Italian man corrected me) Er-co-lano. We walked DOWN the mountain for the 20 or 25 minutes to the train station after all the buses passed us up while we were standing at the bus stop by our hotel. No one told us until later that we were supposed to hail them! Getting the train ticket & getting on the train was easy enough and we arrived in Erculano about 50 minutes later after about 10 stops. We sat across from a young couple in their 20's from Australia who were backpacking across Europe, starting in Singapore actually, for 10 months. We had a nice chat until they got off at Pompeii. We've met a lot of Australians and English on this trip.
Yes, now a 20 minute walk DOWN to "Scavi Ercolano" and another 5 to the ticket booth, all the while looking down on the relatively compact area of excavated ruins. I'm glad we chose this and not Pompeii. Later, after talking to people who had done both, everyone seemed to prefer Herculaneum. It was pretty incredible. No, we didn't see dead people. They were all taken to the archeological museum in Naples. We did see bones, but not a close view. But we saw houses, frescoes, and some beautiful marble and mosaics. Amazing that there is so much known about what all this is and I can't imagine how painstaking it must have been an still is to excavate all this. We saw a loaf of bread and timbers and walked through people's homes -- creepy and rather irreverent to me. The most poignant of all was looking from the ruins, up through the poor city of Erculano, with apartment building after apartments building filled with people, and up to Mount Vesuvius, thinking about where these people would go if it ever erupted again?
We got dinner on the way back in Sorrento before we hoofed it again back up the mountain to the hotel, stopping to get wine and lemoncello, our staples. Sandy's pedometer says we walked almost 6 miles today! Yes, I can feel every one of those miles tonight!
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Monday
We're tired. We slept late. There was a thunder shower last night -- rather neat. I woke up seeing the lightning in the distance over the mountain. We were sleeping soundly with a fan and the French windows (like French doors) opened up. No bugs. The air was cool and wonderful and smelled of rain. Ah...zzzz. The hand towels are linen towels but the bath towels are terry cloth (last hotel they were linen too). We have had soap and shampoo all along but no wash cloths. Sandy brought two. All the bathrooms had hair dryers, but I had a hard time drying my hair with the last one -- puny. Fortunately I brought one that works directly on this current. Our bathroom is pretty big in Sorrento so we did laundry last night in the tub which has a shower removable shower head in it about knee height. The floors of all the hotel rooms have been tile -- no rugs. So much marble in Italy. No such thing as wall to wall carpeting.
Today we just took it easy, walking downtown after a lazy morning to stroll the old part of town, have some gelato, and look in the shops. Lemons, lemons, lemons. Lemons and olives and mozzarella cheese and fresh tomatoes. Yum. Amazing how much time you can waste when you work at it! What a lovely day. Nice breeze, sunny, not too hot -- no sweater yet except maybe at night. Nice to take time to do much of nothing. Did I mention the incredible view on our mountain walks? The Tyrrhenian Sea way below us and Mt.Vesuvius framed right there in the distance but not far. The little fishing area where we had dinner last night WAY down there. We opted not to take the bus down the other side of the Amalfi coast even though it's supposed to be gorgeous. We have plenty of gorgeous right here. Tomorrow is a driving day & we expect it to be rather stressful. We've decided to leave our little car at the smaller Ciampino airport in Rome and take a taxi to our hotel. Sandy gets to drive us OUT of Sorrento to Rome since I did the long drive IN a few days ago. We are turning in early tonight, of course after our lemoncello (just for me now -- Sandy's tired of it and has gone back to wine).
I neglected to mention that our room is DOWN 4 flights of stairs! We are supposed to move after tonight, but we have decided to stay only 3 nights in Sorrento and go to Rome earlier so we have 5 nights in Rome. The hotel in Rome had availability. We'll just stay in the room we are in here for two more nights and I'll count stairs like G-ma.
Today was Herculaneum day -- or, rather (as an Italian man corrected me) Er-co-lano. We walked DOWN the mountain for the 20 or 25 minutes to the train station after all the buses passed us up while we were standing at the bus stop by our hotel. No one told us until later that we were supposed to hail them! Getting the train ticket & getting on the train was easy enough and we arrived in Erculano about 50 minutes later after about 10 stops. We sat across from a young couple in their 20's from Australia who were backpacking across Europe, starting in Singapore actually, for 10 months. We had a nice chat until they got off at Pompeii. We've met a lot of Australians and English on this trip.
Yes, now a 20 minute walk DOWN to "Scavi Ercolano" and another 5 to the ticket booth, all the while looking down on the relatively compact area of excavated ruins. I'm glad we chose this and not Pompeii. Later, after talking to people who had done both, everyone seemed to prefer Herculaneum. It was pretty incredible. No, we didn't see dead people. They were all taken to the archeological museum in Naples. We did see bones, but not a close view. But we saw houses, frescoes, and some beautiful marble and mosaics. Amazing that there is so much known about what all this is and I can't imagine how painstaking it must have been an still is to excavate all this. We saw a loaf of bread and timbers and walked through people's homes -- creepy and rather irreverent to me. The most poignant of all was looking from the ruins, up through the poor city of Erculano, with apartment building after apartments building filled with people, and up to Mount Vesuvius, thinking about where these people would go if it ever erupted again?
We got dinner on the way back in Sorrento before we hoofed it again back up the mountain to the hotel, stopping to get wine and lemoncello, our staples. Sandy's pedometer says we walked almost 6 miles today! Yes, I can feel every one of those miles tonight!
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Monday
We're tired. We slept late. There was a thunder shower last night -- rather neat. I woke up seeing the lightning in the distance over the mountain. We were sleeping soundly with a fan and the French windows (like French doors) opened up. No bugs. The air was cool and wonderful and smelled of rain. Ah...zzzz. The hand towels are linen towels but the bath towels are terry cloth (last hotel they were linen too). We have had soap and shampoo all along but no wash cloths. Sandy brought two. All the bathrooms had hair dryers, but I had a hard time drying my hair with the last one -- puny. Fortunately I brought one that works directly on this current. Our bathroom is pretty big in Sorrento so we did laundry last night in the tub which has a shower removable shower head in it about knee height. The floors of all the hotel rooms have been tile -- no rugs. So much marble in Italy. No such thing as wall to wall carpeting.
Today we just took it easy, walking downtown after a lazy morning to stroll the old part of town, have some gelato, and look in the shops. Lemons, lemons, lemons. Lemons and olives and mozzarella cheese and fresh tomatoes. Yum. Amazing how much time you can waste when you work at it! What a lovely day. Nice breeze, sunny, not too hot -- no sweater yet except maybe at night. Nice to take time to do much of nothing. Did I mention the incredible view on our mountain walks? The Tyrrhenian Sea way below us and Mt.Vesuvius framed right there in the distance but not far. The little fishing area where we had dinner last night WAY down there. We opted not to take the bus down the other side of the Amalfi coast even though it's supposed to be gorgeous. We have plenty of gorgeous right here. Tomorrow is a driving day & we expect it to be rather stressful. We've decided to leave our little car at the smaller Ciampino airport in Rome and take a taxi to our hotel. Sandy gets to drive us OUT of Sorrento to Rome since I did the long drive IN a few days ago. We are turning in early tonight, of course after our lemoncello (just for me now -- Sandy's tired of it and has gone back to wine).
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Today we had a long drive through Umbria, past Rome and southwest to Sorrento on the Amalfi coast. It was my turn to drive. We've split the driving very nicely -- especially for me! Sandy has (by pure chance) driven every time it has rained! But I drove today and what a drive it was! The navigation quit working so we just had to follow signs. That in itself is a challenge here! Sometimes there is a sign and sometimes not. You have to know the next town you are aiming for, not necessarily your destination. Roads are very narrow, there's A LOT of traffic through small towns once you get off the freeway A-1, and the drivers are crazy, doing everything you are taught not to do in the U.S. They ride right on your tail so no one can squeeze in, they pass on curves, they pass you on the right if they can and feel they need to, they never signal, and there are thousands (it seems) of motorcycles who weave in and out, every side and between the two lanes of traffic. If you are the least bit timid driving, DON'T drive in Italy. On the freeway, they will pass you on the left (you HAVE to stay right except to pass), then come back in immediately in front of you, a half a car length. Or you may have the one who straddles the two lanes for a mile or so. The freeways are bumpy but good. Many tolls. It's very expensive to take these roads. There are frequent rest areas for gas and food (the food by the way is great, even in these places). But in the toilette, expect to squat to pee (also in many other public places, like restaurants and museums). No toilet seats for the women! Unlike China though, there is toilet paper.
We arrived in Sorrento but had a hard time finding the hotel. We had to turn around, a feat in itself on that road with no places to turn around (turn in a short drive and BACK OUT into the road -- ACK! We finally arrived about 4:00, tired and hungry. We asked if there was a place close by to eat. The woman at the hotel said "a 10-minte walk downtown". Now, downtown there means DOWNtown. Then UPtown. No energy. But, she said, we have a place here you can get a sandwich. Just go over there (she pointed) and take the elevator down to -2 (we've run into a lot of elevators with -1,-2,-3 levels under the main level) and follow the path. We did. Down the elevator, down the path, down the stairs, down the path, down the stairs, down more stairs, and DOWN the path to the small pebble beach. After good tomato and mozzarella sandwiches, it was back UP all of that. Needless to say we got back and took a nap!
Later we decided to look in Rick Steve's for a dinner-by-the-sea recommendation. After another directional challenge and another parking challenge we walked to a picturesque little area of restaurants. Before we could figure out what direction to go in, this woman, in front of her little restaurant, starting talking to us in English -- "ah, Rick Steven, fuck Rick Steven (she said that, not me)! Throw book in sea. He getta money from all these restaurants -- they pay him to be in book, then people like us don't getta business. We have best food. You know Sophia Loren (not personally)? She eat at this restaurant -- look at picture. I make good dinner for you." We got a table by the sea and tried out her food which turned out to be just fine, except for the Classico wine (white) which was VERY bland. I was served a whole fish. It was delicious, but I haven't filleted a fish in a long time. I have to say I did it quite well and enjoyed the meal and the scenery. Afterwards we strolled down to the restaurant Rick Steve's recommended which turned out to be much too expensive for us, so we were glad we made that decision. There were cats all over the area. They would sit right next to your table waiting for a dropped scrap. And I guess Sophia ate at most of the restaurants there! We found out she did film 3 movies there, most notably "Scandal in Sorrento".
So far, so good. No accidents, no squashed cars or people. Weather has been great all the way, except when Sandy drove.
Today we had a long drive through Umbria, past Rome and southwest to Sorrento on the Amalfi coast. It was my turn to drive. We've split the driving very nicely -- especially for me! Sandy has (by pure chance) driven every time it has rained! But I drove today and what a drive it was! The navigation quit working so we just had to follow signs. That in itself is a challenge here! Sometimes there is a sign and sometimes not. You have to know the next town you are aiming for, not necessarily your destination. Roads are very narrow, there's A LOT of traffic through small towns once you get off the freeway A-1, and the drivers are crazy, doing everything you are taught not to do in the U.S. They ride right on your tail so no one can squeeze in, they pass on curves, they pass you on the right if they can and feel they need to, they never signal, and there are thousands (it seems) of motorcycles who weave in and out, every side and between the two lanes of traffic. If you are the least bit timid driving, DON'T drive in Italy. On the freeway, they will pass you on the left (you HAVE to stay right except to pass), then come back in immediately in front of you, a half a car length. Or you may have the one who straddles the two lanes for a mile or so. The freeways are bumpy but good. Many tolls. It's very expensive to take these roads. There are frequent rest areas for gas and food (the food by the way is great, even in these places). But in the toilette, expect to squat to pee (also in many other public places, like restaurants and museums). No toilet seats for the women! Unlike China though, there is toilet paper.
We arrived in Sorrento but had a hard time finding the hotel. We had to turn around, a feat in itself on that road with no places to turn around (turn in a short drive and BACK OUT into the road -- ACK! We finally arrived about 4:00, tired and hungry. We asked if there was a place close by to eat. The woman at the hotel said "a 10-minte walk downtown". Now, downtown there means DOWNtown. Then UPtown. No energy. But, she said, we have a place here you can get a sandwich. Just go over there (she pointed) and take the elevator down to -2 (we've run into a lot of elevators with -1,-2,-3 levels under the main level) and follow the path. We did. Down the elevator, down the path, down the stairs, down the path, down the stairs, down more stairs, and DOWN the path to the small pebble beach. After good tomato and mozzarella sandwiches, it was back UP all of that. Needless to say we got back and took a nap!
Later we decided to look in Rick Steve's for a dinner-by-the-sea recommendation. After another directional challenge and another parking challenge we walked to a picturesque little area of restaurants. Before we could figure out what direction to go in, this woman, in front of her little restaurant, starting talking to us in English -- "ah, Rick Steven, fuck Rick Steven (she said that, not me)! Throw book in sea. He getta money from all these restaurants -- they pay him to be in book, then people like us don't getta business. We have best food. You know Sophia Loren (not personally)? She eat at this restaurant -- look at picture. I make good dinner for you." We got a table by the sea and tried out her food which turned out to be just fine, except for the Classico wine (white) which was VERY bland. I was served a whole fish. It was delicious, but I haven't filleted a fish in a long time. I have to say I did it quite well and enjoyed the meal and the scenery. Afterwards we strolled down to the restaurant Rick Steve's recommended which turned out to be much too expensive for us, so we were glad we made that decision. There were cats all over the area. They would sit right next to your table waiting for a dropped scrap. And I guess Sophia ate at most of the restaurants there! We found out she did film 3 movies there, most notably "Scandal in Sorrento".
So far, so good. No accidents, no squashed cars or people. Weather has been great all the way, except when Sandy drove.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Thursday & Friday, September 12 & 13
Today our destination is Orvieto in Umbria. We had a wonderful ride through the Tuscany "hills" with the fertile farmlands, mostly tilled up now, the vineyards, and glimpses of castles and walled cities at the tops of the hills. We drove up, up, up to the walled city of Montalcino. The views going up were stunning. There are just certain places you can park outside an old city and you have to walk into the city. Parking here was a challenge. We found one of those spots where you just pick up the car and set it in the space! VERY hairy! Lucky AGAIN that we have this little Smart car! Montalcino is famous for its Brunello wine but we didn't get any -- we just looked and tasted. Yum. We had lunch and watched some kids next to us rolling cigarettes. We later saw that on a train too -- must be cheaper/better than bought cigarettes? The town was small but lovely and not terribly busy -- a nice change from our days in Florence.
Down the mountain and south to Umbria (we finally saw some sheep) and Orvieto. Our navigation tried to take us directly to the hotel, but we got terribly lost driving in little streets/alleys that we probably weren't supposed to be in! Sandy was driving and had a few choice short words. We finally gave up and parked outside town & walked up the main street to our hotel, Hotel Corso. Later we were told we could drive to the door to deliver and get luggage, then park in an underground area, coming up by elevator to the old city near the hotel. We found the hotel to be in a perfect location, just a short 10 minute (that's short in Italy I've found -- and that doesn't include hills and steps) walk to the Duomo (which is usually the center of town). The town wasn't so terribly busy. We strolled up to the Duomo (also striped) and had a late lunch/dinner -- wonderful food and great beer, Amacord bionda, in the shadows of the Duomo and the cool fresh air.
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Friday we took a day off and just relaxed. Orvieto was a great place to do it. We got up for breakfast (horrible coffee this time though, but great fruit) and wandered through the streets looking in all the small shops. It's fun to talk to the proprietors along the way. Most of them are very willing to talk and many ask where we are from and want to talk about their "aunt in Chicago who moved to Florida", their trip to Miami to see the "real, TV America", their trip to LA & the Grand Canyon. Then there are some people in the streets of the bigger cities, selling things, peddling, or trying to get you into restaurants, who sneer at Americans -- but that isn't the norm. Most people are very nice and helpful. Americans don't know what to do with people who come into their "space" to beg or try to sell something and often are awkward & not decent to these people. There is a way to say "no" without being ugly. Back to Orvieto -- easy day. We went into the duomo which was really quite beautif'ul. The frescos by Luca Signorelli and Fra Angelico inspired Michelango's Last Judgement.
Dinner again by the Duomo -- quiet, lovely, beautiful weather. Nice "day off".
Today our destination is Orvieto in Umbria. We had a wonderful ride through the Tuscany "hills" with the fertile farmlands, mostly tilled up now, the vineyards, and glimpses of castles and walled cities at the tops of the hills. We drove up, up, up to the walled city of Montalcino. The views going up were stunning. There are just certain places you can park outside an old city and you have to walk into the city. Parking here was a challenge. We found one of those spots where you just pick up the car and set it in the space! VERY hairy! Lucky AGAIN that we have this little Smart car! Montalcino is famous for its Brunello wine but we didn't get any -- we just looked and tasted. Yum. We had lunch and watched some kids next to us rolling cigarettes. We later saw that on a train too -- must be cheaper/better than bought cigarettes? The town was small but lovely and not terribly busy -- a nice change from our days in Florence.
Down the mountain and south to Umbria (we finally saw some sheep) and Orvieto. Our navigation tried to take us directly to the hotel, but we got terribly lost driving in little streets/alleys that we probably weren't supposed to be in! Sandy was driving and had a few choice short words. We finally gave up and parked outside town & walked up the main street to our hotel, Hotel Corso. Later we were told we could drive to the door to deliver and get luggage, then park in an underground area, coming up by elevator to the old city near the hotel. We found the hotel to be in a perfect location, just a short 10 minute (that's short in Italy I've found -- and that doesn't include hills and steps) walk to the Duomo (which is usually the center of town). The town wasn't so terribly busy. We strolled up to the Duomo (also striped) and had a late lunch/dinner -- wonderful food and great beer, Amacord bionda, in the shadows of the Duomo and the cool fresh air.
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Friday we took a day off and just relaxed. Orvieto was a great place to do it. We got up for breakfast (horrible coffee this time though, but great fruit) and wandered through the streets looking in all the small shops. It's fun to talk to the proprietors along the way. Most of them are very willing to talk and many ask where we are from and want to talk about their "aunt in Chicago who moved to Florida", their trip to Miami to see the "real, TV America", their trip to LA & the Grand Canyon. Then there are some people in the streets of the bigger cities, selling things, peddling, or trying to get you into restaurants, who sneer at Americans -- but that isn't the norm. Most people are very nice and helpful. Americans don't know what to do with people who come into their "space" to beg or try to sell something and often are awkward & not decent to these people. There is a way to say "no" without being ugly. Back to Orvieto -- easy day. We went into the duomo which was really quite beautif'ul. The frescos by Luca Signorelli and Fra Angelico inspired Michelango's Last Judgement.
Dinner again by the Duomo -- quiet, lovely, beautiful weather. Nice "day off".
Tuesday/Wednesday, September 10/11
Florence
Tuesday: Woke up ready to take the bus DOWN the hill (mountain) to Florence. Coffee not so good -- I miss my coffee. Cappucino takes like coffee-flavored milk & espresso is too little of too much! Sandy has started to get 2 expressos with hot water. Don't even order American coffee -- that IS dishwater! It's getting progressively worse as we move south!
But the view is getting better. I'm getting good at driving through the small winding roads to the little town of Fiesole. We parked in a lot next to the Roman ruins of an amphitheater. A view of Florence is spread out in small glimpses as we descend rather quickly in the #7 bus. It took about 20 minutes. Off the bus, into the BUSY city of Florence. It didn't take long not to like the city. We bought a Firenze card at the nearest tourist place--turns out this was a GREAT investment. It got us into most (not all) of the sights and gave us transportation on city buses which we used going back and forth to our hotel. The first day we stumbled around a bit trying to find things (great map readers we THOUGHT we were!). We went into the Academia first. Ginny told me that turning the corner and seeing Michelangelo's David was an incredible experience, but I still wasn't prepared. It really took my breath away! Seeing that made battling the Florence crowds already well worth it. SO BIG! I never realized that the sculptors & painters made all the hands much bigger than the norm. Sandy read it was so they looked proportionate from far away. It's weird up close. But, what a beautiful work of art. Strong but rather feminine face (many of the faces in early art works seem to have what we consider feminine faces and poses), but strong, muscular body and determined expression. We spent quite a while in awe.
Then off to the cathedral. The line was long & we decided to go into the Baptistry instead -- incredible gold doors, but they were only replicas of the ones we later saw in the Duomo museum by Ghiberti (Gates of Paradise). Michelangelo's Pieta was also in the museum. Wow! To see that in person! Then we wandered off trying to find the Medici palace and bumped into the San Lorenzo church which was older than the cathedral and very plain on the outside -- not so on the inside though. Lunch back at the cathedral (still long lines) and off to the Lorenzo Medici palace again, finally realizing it was right next to where we bought the Ferenzi card! How frustrating! We expected the palace to be very lavish. It wasn't, except for a few rooms on the 2nd floor (where all the "living" rooms were). The little Chapel of the Magi was exquisite and what we guessed were the "receiving room" and the "ballroom" were beautifully frescoed and statued. We had the place practically to ourselves, not even a guard of any kind around. The outside was very plain, more like a fortress in the city. The bottom floor where visitors rode in, was surprisingly plain. I'm sure this was one of many Medici palaces....but, still....? Before getting to the Palace, we bumped into the San Lorenzo church and was struck by the plainness of it's architecture compared to everything else. The church was designed by Brunelleschi but was left unfinished by (of course) a Medici because of lack of funds. The inside was gorgeous but the outside was quite ugly!
Back to Fiesole. We picked up food to have back at the hotel so we could have our Prosecco and not have to drive those roads afterwards! Bad enough when sober!
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Wednesday: Up, up, up out of bed and down, down, down the mountain on good old (now) #7 bus. We are pros now! We went straight to the Cathedral, waited in line for 15 minutes before it opened and went right in. Actually, when I first saw the cathedral the day before, I thought it was rather ugly on the outside. Somehow, looking at it at the end of a busy commercial street, it almost looked like a great big cardboard cut-out put up to stop traffic! I know that's weird, but didn't seem real to me. But Ginny said don't miss it, so we didn't. Outside it is striped green and white marble, with pink accents. I didn't expect that! Nobody told me the cathedrals in Italy were zebra-striped! Siena with black and white, Florence with green and white, and (later) Orvieto with dark green (almost black) and white. The Siena one was striped inside too, but this one wasn't. It really was magnificent and huger than huge! The dome was gigantic. When the cathedral was built, it was built with a big hole at the top, awaiting the technology to build a dome! Brunelleschi knew how to do it (he studied the Roman dome of the Pantheon) and gradually, over 14 years, the largest dome since Rome's Pantheon was built. The coolest part though was going underneath the cathedral to the crypt that had excavations from the Romans in the 6th century (and Brunelleschi's tomb).
Next was the Bargello Museum, full of Florentine Renaissance sculptures (I think we didn't get as much out of that as we should have) and off to the Uffizi which I remembered better. Nearby, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, was a replica of Michaelangelo's David, which showed it off more in the setting it was made for, rather than in the constricts of a museum, which made the proportions more understandable. Rick Steve said the "Uffizi is small and in a convenient U-shape so it is easily covered in 2 hours". He neglected to say there were 2 floors of U-shape AND 6 flights of stairs to get to the top before you start. The rewards were many once we got there. Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring were quite surprising to me. His style was very different on these non-religious paintings -- the colors were very subdued. There was a wonderful view of the Ponte Vecchio from the window. This is a very old bridge (14th or 15th century) on which shops were built, originally a lot of butcher shops so their waste could be thrown in the river. It was cleaned up by the Medici's (of course) and the shops became more elegant. Now (of course) it's tacky tourism but beautiful from afar. There was a painting by a friend of Michelangelo's (I wish I remembered the name of the artist) that looked very different from others of the time -- almost impressionist in its colors and lack of line definition.
OK, A LOT of wonderful art, big hands, blond Jesus', small penises, strong bodies, and feminine faces. It's really much more than I can digest in a day. We limped back to the bus through this dirty and congested city and were very glad we were staying up on the mountain.
Florence
Tuesday: Woke up ready to take the bus DOWN the hill (mountain) to Florence. Coffee not so good -- I miss my coffee. Cappucino takes like coffee-flavored milk & espresso is too little of too much! Sandy has started to get 2 expressos with hot water. Don't even order American coffee -- that IS dishwater! It's getting progressively worse as we move south!
But the view is getting better. I'm getting good at driving through the small winding roads to the little town of Fiesole. We parked in a lot next to the Roman ruins of an amphitheater. A view of Florence is spread out in small glimpses as we descend rather quickly in the #7 bus. It took about 20 minutes. Off the bus, into the BUSY city of Florence. It didn't take long not to like the city. We bought a Firenze card at the nearest tourist place--turns out this was a GREAT investment. It got us into most (not all) of the sights and gave us transportation on city buses which we used going back and forth to our hotel. The first day we stumbled around a bit trying to find things (great map readers we THOUGHT we were!). We went into the Academia first. Ginny told me that turning the corner and seeing Michelangelo's David was an incredible experience, but I still wasn't prepared. It really took my breath away! Seeing that made battling the Florence crowds already well worth it. SO BIG! I never realized that the sculptors & painters made all the hands much bigger than the norm. Sandy read it was so they looked proportionate from far away. It's weird up close. But, what a beautiful work of art. Strong but rather feminine face (many of the faces in early art works seem to have what we consider feminine faces and poses), but strong, muscular body and determined expression. We spent quite a while in awe.
Then off to the cathedral. The line was long & we decided to go into the Baptistry instead -- incredible gold doors, but they were only replicas of the ones we later saw in the Duomo museum by Ghiberti (Gates of Paradise). Michelangelo's Pieta was also in the museum. Wow! To see that in person! Then we wandered off trying to find the Medici palace and bumped into the San Lorenzo church which was older than the cathedral and very plain on the outside -- not so on the inside though. Lunch back at the cathedral (still long lines) and off to the Lorenzo Medici palace again, finally realizing it was right next to where we bought the Ferenzi card! How frustrating! We expected the palace to be very lavish. It wasn't, except for a few rooms on the 2nd floor (where all the "living" rooms were). The little Chapel of the Magi was exquisite and what we guessed were the "receiving room" and the "ballroom" were beautifully frescoed and statued. We had the place practically to ourselves, not even a guard of any kind around. The outside was very plain, more like a fortress in the city. The bottom floor where visitors rode in, was surprisingly plain. I'm sure this was one of many Medici palaces....but, still....? Before getting to the Palace, we bumped into the San Lorenzo church and was struck by the plainness of it's architecture compared to everything else. The church was designed by Brunelleschi but was left unfinished by (of course) a Medici because of lack of funds. The inside was gorgeous but the outside was quite ugly!
Back to Fiesole. We picked up food to have back at the hotel so we could have our Prosecco and not have to drive those roads afterwards! Bad enough when sober!
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Wednesday: Up, up, up out of bed and down, down, down the mountain on good old (now) #7 bus. We are pros now! We went straight to the Cathedral, waited in line for 15 minutes before it opened and went right in. Actually, when I first saw the cathedral the day before, I thought it was rather ugly on the outside. Somehow, looking at it at the end of a busy commercial street, it almost looked like a great big cardboard cut-out put up to stop traffic! I know that's weird, but didn't seem real to me. But Ginny said don't miss it, so we didn't. Outside it is striped green and white marble, with pink accents. I didn't expect that! Nobody told me the cathedrals in Italy were zebra-striped! Siena with black and white, Florence with green and white, and (later) Orvieto with dark green (almost black) and white. The Siena one was striped inside too, but this one wasn't. It really was magnificent and huger than huge! The dome was gigantic. When the cathedral was built, it was built with a big hole at the top, awaiting the technology to build a dome! Brunelleschi knew how to do it (he studied the Roman dome of the Pantheon) and gradually, over 14 years, the largest dome since Rome's Pantheon was built. The coolest part though was going underneath the cathedral to the crypt that had excavations from the Romans in the 6th century (and Brunelleschi's tomb).
Next was the Bargello Museum, full of Florentine Renaissance sculptures (I think we didn't get as much out of that as we should have) and off to the Uffizi which I remembered better. Nearby, in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, was a replica of Michaelangelo's David, which showed it off more in the setting it was made for, rather than in the constricts of a museum, which made the proportions more understandable. Rick Steve said the "Uffizi is small and in a convenient U-shape so it is easily covered in 2 hours". He neglected to say there were 2 floors of U-shape AND 6 flights of stairs to get to the top before you start. The rewards were many once we got there. Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Allegory of Spring were quite surprising to me. His style was very different on these non-religious paintings -- the colors were very subdued. There was a wonderful view of the Ponte Vecchio from the window. This is a very old bridge (14th or 15th century) on which shops were built, originally a lot of butcher shops so their waste could be thrown in the river. It was cleaned up by the Medici's (of course) and the shops became more elegant. Now (of course) it's tacky tourism but beautiful from afar. There was a painting by a friend of Michelangelo's (I wish I remembered the name of the artist) that looked very different from others of the time -- almost impressionist in its colors and lack of line definition.
OK, A LOT of wonderful art, big hands, blond Jesus', small penises, strong bodies, and feminine faces. It's really much more than I can digest in a day. We limped back to the bus through this dirty and congested city and were very glad we were staying up on the mountain.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Monday, Sept. 9, 2013
Siena to Fiesole
Cool, crisp air and a fabulous view for miles of Tuscany. What more can you want? Ah, Siena. I forgot to mention that last night, when we arrived hungry at 9:00 or so, the man at the hotel (he was "1/2 English and 1/2 Italian") suggested a restaurant "only a one minute walk from here". It was fabulous -- wine and all -- but it wasn't one minute. It was a very hairy 5 or 6 minutes with no sidewalk and a road just wide enough for two cars -- buildings on either side -- at night. OK, fabulous, melt-in-your-mouth dinner, and a wide-awake walk back to the hotel.
After a lovely breakfast (again)--room and breakfast for 55 Euros each-- we walked uphill for 15 minutes, through the gates, and into the center of Siena. (Yes, there was a lot of the color sienna, but with only one "n".) Walking through narrow streets to the Campo, we were surprised they allowed so many vehicles in the old town. Buses stopped just inside the gates, but taxis and motorcycles were allowed and we were constantly having to watch so as not to get run over (at least we felt that way). We stopped in a lovely little shop selling hand painted Tuscan ceramics and talked to Max (Masimo) for a while. We had to go up steep steps to get to the Campo, a HUGE piazza, actually round rather than square. The Campo was originally outside the city walls, but the city expanded to include it and the walls were moved. Now, every summer, there is some kind of horse race in the Campo. I can't imagine hoofs on that beautiful brick! Vendors sell all kinds of schlock all around the Campo and people lie down on the slightly sloped sides to rest in the sun. Interesting that if you want a snack, you go to a coffee bar (throughout our whole trip so far) and either stand up or possibly sit at tables inside or outside, but you can't sit and eat in the piazzas. You have to walk and eat (but people don't do that). There are often public benches around the piazzas, but often they won't let you sit on the cathedral steps. If you go to a restaurante, you get a fancier meal with a cover charge and 10% tip already added.
Surprise! A short walk to the duomo (main cathedral with dome, bapistry, and bell tower in the center of the old town) revealed a black and white striped marble church, inside and out! That really surprised me and I thought it was beautiful.
Disclaimer: I took some pictures with my camera and then the battery ran out of juice. Of course, I forgot to bring the charger, so I'm using my cell phone. Those pictures I can name, but the camera ones I haven't learned how to name yet, so I'll do the best I can with those.
Sandy and I both loved Siena and would have liked to stay there longer, but we were worn out and headed back the way we came, stopping in again to see Max. He spoke very good English and had visited (of all places) Arkansas and Memphis, giving lectures on stained glass making. He and his brother are artisans who work mostly on commission and on bigger projects. They had a couple of small things in the shop. Ginny, I liked what you did better! Theirs was commercial, for the shop only I guess. He said they are the ONLY stained glass artists left in Siena. They studied with the masters of the craft and have tried to keep it going in Siena when everyone else was leaving for Germany where their art was more appreciated. They almost did that too, but his brother is 63 and ready to retire so they decided to give it a go some more in their home town and open a shop with some internet business. He was lamenting the fact that Italy is not appreciating its artists and everything is done for money's sake. Sound familiar? (Of course, Italy is in quite a bind monetarily now and its hard on everyone, like in the USA.).
We were tired of walking (especially me) uphill, downhill, up steps, down steps.....I am starting to do what Mama Respess did -- count steps to get myself going, especially on all the stairs! I haven't let it stop me yet, but we did decide to take a taxi (very cheap) down the hill to the hotel. Down is harder than up for me. Sandy is very patient and I think I'm keeping up with her OK in spite of the fact my knee hurts me a lot. There's too much to see and do, so I take ibuprophen and suck it up.
Off to Fiesole and another entirely different experience. I'm driving today. The drive through Tuscany was lovely. The drive through Florence at rush hour was not so pleasant, but we got through OK, thanks to the navigation system. That 100mb of data I bought was well worth it -- again! Oh, yes, and how! Up, up, up, wind around, turn, up, wind around, gorgeous view of all of Florence from way up on the mountain! Whoops, wrong turn! Can't go back -- no place to turn around. Road is just big enough for 1-1/2 cars. Another car coming -- what to do? -- think thin, pull over into the slight bulge in the road, wait for the other car and pray he doesn't hit us. Whew! This is fun! I love it and it's beautiful. We found our way through the winding road of the town of Fiesole. IF there is a sidewalk, it's about 1-1/2 feet wide at most. People come right out of their doors onto the road! There are mirrors around the corners to let you know a car is careening toward you. They drive fast here. I don't mind the little cars, but the trucks........! All pretty small too fortunately.
Hotel Dei Bosconi is past the town about 2 miles. We have a room facing the pool with a beautiful view of the Tuscan hillsides for about 65 Euros a night each of our three nights here. We are sleeping with the window open again -- ah, nice and cool. A good change from the sweating I've been doing lately. Love the mattress here too -- it's like the one we had in Cremona. Maybe like a Temperpedic, but not hot. Firm but not stiff -- good sleeping -- ah..........I'll have to look i n t o i t.....zzzz.
Siena to Fiesole
Cool, crisp air and a fabulous view for miles of Tuscany. What more can you want? Ah, Siena. I forgot to mention that last night, when we arrived hungry at 9:00 or so, the man at the hotel (he was "1/2 English and 1/2 Italian") suggested a restaurant "only a one minute walk from here". It was fabulous -- wine and all -- but it wasn't one minute. It was a very hairy 5 or 6 minutes with no sidewalk and a road just wide enough for two cars -- buildings on either side -- at night. OK, fabulous, melt-in-your-mouth dinner, and a wide-awake walk back to the hotel.
After a lovely breakfast (again)--room and breakfast for 55 Euros each-- we walked uphill for 15 minutes, through the gates, and into the center of Siena. (Yes, there was a lot of the color sienna, but with only one "n".) Walking through narrow streets to the Campo, we were surprised they allowed so many vehicles in the old town. Buses stopped just inside the gates, but taxis and motorcycles were allowed and we were constantly having to watch so as not to get run over (at least we felt that way). We stopped in a lovely little shop selling hand painted Tuscan ceramics and talked to Max (Masimo) for a while. We had to go up steep steps to get to the Campo, a HUGE piazza, actually round rather than square. The Campo was originally outside the city walls, but the city expanded to include it and the walls were moved. Now, every summer, there is some kind of horse race in the Campo. I can't imagine hoofs on that beautiful brick! Vendors sell all kinds of schlock all around the Campo and people lie down on the slightly sloped sides to rest in the sun. Interesting that if you want a snack, you go to a coffee bar (throughout our whole trip so far) and either stand up or possibly sit at tables inside or outside, but you can't sit and eat in the piazzas. You have to walk and eat (but people don't do that). There are often public benches around the piazzas, but often they won't let you sit on the cathedral steps. If you go to a restaurante, you get a fancier meal with a cover charge and 10% tip already added.
Surprise! A short walk to the duomo (main cathedral with dome, bapistry, and bell tower in the center of the old town) revealed a black and white striped marble church, inside and out! That really surprised me and I thought it was beautiful.
Disclaimer: I took some pictures with my camera and then the battery ran out of juice. Of course, I forgot to bring the charger, so I'm using my cell phone. Those pictures I can name, but the camera ones I haven't learned how to name yet, so I'll do the best I can with those.
Sandy and I both loved Siena and would have liked to stay there longer, but we were worn out and headed back the way we came, stopping in again to see Max. He spoke very good English and had visited (of all places) Arkansas and Memphis, giving lectures on stained glass making. He and his brother are artisans who work mostly on commission and on bigger projects. They had a couple of small things in the shop. Ginny, I liked what you did better! Theirs was commercial, for the shop only I guess. He said they are the ONLY stained glass artists left in Siena. They studied with the masters of the craft and have tried to keep it going in Siena when everyone else was leaving for Germany where their art was more appreciated. They almost did that too, but his brother is 63 and ready to retire so they decided to give it a go some more in their home town and open a shop with some internet business. He was lamenting the fact that Italy is not appreciating its artists and everything is done for money's sake. Sound familiar? (Of course, Italy is in quite a bind monetarily now and its hard on everyone, like in the USA.).
We were tired of walking (especially me) uphill, downhill, up steps, down steps.....I am starting to do what Mama Respess did -- count steps to get myself going, especially on all the stairs! I haven't let it stop me yet, but we did decide to take a taxi (very cheap) down the hill to the hotel. Down is harder than up for me. Sandy is very patient and I think I'm keeping up with her OK in spite of the fact my knee hurts me a lot. There's too much to see and do, so I take ibuprophen and suck it up.
Off to Fiesole and another entirely different experience. I'm driving today. The drive through Tuscany was lovely. The drive through Florence at rush hour was not so pleasant, but we got through OK, thanks to the navigation system. That 100mb of data I bought was well worth it -- again! Oh, yes, and how! Up, up, up, wind around, turn, up, wind around, gorgeous view of all of Florence from way up on the mountain! Whoops, wrong turn! Can't go back -- no place to turn around. Road is just big enough for 1-1/2 cars. Another car coming -- what to do? -- think thin, pull over into the slight bulge in the road, wait for the other car and pray he doesn't hit us. Whew! This is fun! I love it and it's beautiful. We found our way through the winding road of the town of Fiesole. IF there is a sidewalk, it's about 1-1/2 feet wide at most. People come right out of their doors onto the road! There are mirrors around the corners to let you know a car is careening toward you. They drive fast here. I don't mind the little cars, but the trucks........! All pretty small too fortunately.
Hotel Dei Bosconi is past the town about 2 miles. We have a room facing the pool with a beautiful view of the Tuscan hillsides for about 65 Euros a night each of our three nights here. We are sleeping with the window open again -- ah, nice and cool. A good change from the sweating I've been doing lately. Love the mattress here too -- it's like the one we had in Cremona. Maybe like a Temperpedic, but not hot. Firm but not stiff -- good sleeping -- ah..........I'll have to look i n t o i t.....zzzz.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Sunday, Sept. 8, 2013
Parma, Lucca, Pisa, Siena
Off we went in the morning, rather sad to leave Cremona. With the help of Verizon we drove to Parma, in hopes of seeing something of Paganini. No such luck. There was some kind of marathon going on and almost all the streets except for the main thoroughfares were blocked off. We only saw interesting street names like Donnezetti Street and Puccini Street. No Paganini! Can't win them all. Anyway, this was going to be our busiest day so we marched on. On to Lucca, the birth home of Puccini. After a gelato and the toillete we walked through the city walls, across a big moat (no water now) and into the city -- a very old and charming city. Like most of these cities, only special vehicles are allowed so there is a lot of walking to be done, in Puccini's footsteps. We visited his birth home and saw much memorabilia, including original Ricordi scores of many of his works with his editing marks and a lot of his original hard written scores. We didn't see his grave, but that's OK. I'd rather think of him in living form!
It was just before dusk when we found a parking space close to Pisa and walked to the entrance to that walled city. We turned the corner and........gasp! I had NO IDEA it was all so enormous. There it was, spread out in front of us. A huge and gorgeous cathedral, a baptistery, and, of course, the leaning bell tower! It was really beautiful -- much more so than I expected. We were both VERY glad we got to see it in person so it's not just an icon for us any more. The tower won't fall over now. 10 tons of earth were taken out in 2000-2002 to stabilize it. But it started leaning as soon as it was built in 1173 when they got to the 3rd tier. They tried to fix it but it just got worse, so I guess they just said "the hell with it" and finished it anyway! It has slowly been leaning more ever since, until the final fix in 2002.
Our long day (the only one for this trip) ended with Sandy driving at night to Siena. Thankfully we went right to our hotel with our navigation. We were really tired, but glad we did what we did. The Hotel Porta Romana was up in the Tuscan hills - no air conditioning, but a lovely breeze. We were awakened in the night by a thunder shower, but went right back to sleep knowing we would be waking up in Siena.
Parma, Lucca, Pisa, Siena
Off we went in the morning, rather sad to leave Cremona. With the help of Verizon we drove to Parma, in hopes of seeing something of Paganini. No such luck. There was some kind of marathon going on and almost all the streets except for the main thoroughfares were blocked off. We only saw interesting street names like Donnezetti Street and Puccini Street. No Paganini! Can't win them all. Anyway, this was going to be our busiest day so we marched on. On to Lucca, the birth home of Puccini. After a gelato and the toillete we walked through the city walls, across a big moat (no water now) and into the city -- a very old and charming city. Like most of these cities, only special vehicles are allowed so there is a lot of walking to be done, in Puccini's footsteps. We visited his birth home and saw much memorabilia, including original Ricordi scores of many of his works with his editing marks and a lot of his original hard written scores. We didn't see his grave, but that's OK. I'd rather think of him in living form!
It was just before dusk when we found a parking space close to Pisa and walked to the entrance to that walled city. We turned the corner and........gasp! I had NO IDEA it was all so enormous. There it was, spread out in front of us. A huge and gorgeous cathedral, a baptistery, and, of course, the leaning bell tower! It was really beautiful -- much more so than I expected. We were both VERY glad we got to see it in person so it's not just an icon for us any more. The tower won't fall over now. 10 tons of earth were taken out in 2000-2002 to stabilize it. But it started leaning as soon as it was built in 1173 when they got to the 3rd tier. They tried to fix it but it just got worse, so I guess they just said "the hell with it" and finished it anyway! It has slowly been leaning more ever since, until the final fix in 2002.
Our long day (the only one for this trip) ended with Sandy driving at night to Siena. Thankfully we went right to our hotel with our navigation. We were really tired, but glad we did what we did. The Hotel Porta Romana was up in the Tuscan hills - no air conditioning, but a lovely breeze. We were awakened in the night by a thunder shower, but went right back to sleep knowing we would be waking up in Siena.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Sept. 7, 2013
Cremona
Ha, joke's on us! The Violins of Antiquity museum is closed this week because they are moving to another location. We can see Stradavari's house from the outside only, because a private family lives there (imagine!). We can go to his grave, but no one is sure if he's actually buried there. We can't see anything of Guarneri because he was too old and history was lost about him and Amati (so the tourist office says). There are 202 registered luthiers in town. AND Sandy and I discovered neither of us can read an Italian map (we THOUGHT we were good at that!). Sorry Shawn, we gave up trying to find Eric Blot -- ran out of steam. We did see Piazza Stradavari with his statue in the middle. We did go into the beautiful duomo with the clock tower that is the 3rd highest brickwork tower in the world -- 502 steps. No, I didn't go up! And the oldest brick structure taller than 100m that is still standing. By the way, clock towers here are separate buildings from the church. Interesting. We did have warm friendly people helping us all the way. We did have lunch (before we walked around), prosecco at 6:00 and dinner until 9:00 with another glass of wine, risotto, tiramisu, and limoncello on the house. I am writing this in a very inebriated state! Sandy had to back the car out of the little garage under the hotel and move back in, in the same state. We laughed all the way. We decided this is the life. The Italians really know how to live. They work hard and play hard and eat well. We haven't had a bad meal yet! The piazzas come alive when it gets dark. I feel perfectly safe walking around with so many people out. The people are all warm and friendly. We both love it here.
OK, back up, We got up at 6:30 this morning and had the breakfast they fixed early just for us (they generally opened up at 8:00). Then we hiked 1/4 mile (2 bridges
-- up and down) to the bus -- a regular bus with tires and all) -- and drove to the airport. After finding out Budget didn't have our car reservation (I had a confirmation number and all) we went to the next booth and rented from Auto-Europe (like everyone said in the first place). All they had was a Mercedes Smart car, but our luggage and selves fit perfectly -- barely. We were glad to have this tiny thing when we were roaming the narrow streets of Cremora. We broke down and used my navigation to get to the hotel. Trouble is, it doesn't know that some streets are for pedestrians only as you get closer to the center of town (you always know center by the duomo and clock tower). We got within a block though. The navigator said it was in the next block, but that was all garages. I asked a lady walking where the hotel was & she pointed around the corner, then pointed to a garage and said "this is it" -- in Italian of course. When I walked around to the front entrance, she had already gone to the front and told the people at the desk they had customers that were lost. 3 people greeted me like a long lost friend and came to the car to get our bags so we wouldn't have to haul them from the cark-park a few blocks away. When they saw the little car (thank goodness!), they motioned to just drive down to the garage, where they stuffed our little bug in back of 2 other employee cars and led us through the back door. All this with a friendly and very helpful attitude, like it was fun for them! They have been our friends ever since. Tonight, AFTER we were in a drunken stupor, Sandy had to back the car out of the garage to let someone out, and move it back in. All is well. Whew!
Early to bed, early to rise - maybe. It's 10:08 and the people are buzzing outside. They are just getting started but it's been a long day for us. I didn't sleep well last night, but I'm sure I will tonight!
Cremona
Ha, joke's on us! The Violins of Antiquity museum is closed this week because they are moving to another location. We can see Stradavari's house from the outside only, because a private family lives there (imagine!). We can go to his grave, but no one is sure if he's actually buried there. We can't see anything of Guarneri because he was too old and history was lost about him and Amati (so the tourist office says). There are 202 registered luthiers in town. AND Sandy and I discovered neither of us can read an Italian map (we THOUGHT we were good at that!). Sorry Shawn, we gave up trying to find Eric Blot -- ran out of steam. We did see Piazza Stradavari with his statue in the middle. We did go into the beautiful duomo with the clock tower that is the 3rd highest brickwork tower in the world -- 502 steps. No, I didn't go up! And the oldest brick structure taller than 100m that is still standing. By the way, clock towers here are separate buildings from the church. Interesting. We did have warm friendly people helping us all the way. We did have lunch (before we walked around), prosecco at 6:00 and dinner until 9:00 with another glass of wine, risotto, tiramisu, and limoncello on the house. I am writing this in a very inebriated state! Sandy had to back the car out of the little garage under the hotel and move back in, in the same state. We laughed all the way. We decided this is the life. The Italians really know how to live. They work hard and play hard and eat well. We haven't had a bad meal yet! The piazzas come alive when it gets dark. I feel perfectly safe walking around with so many people out. The people are all warm and friendly. We both love it here.
OK, back up, We got up at 6:30 this morning and had the breakfast they fixed early just for us (they generally opened up at 8:00). Then we hiked 1/4 mile (2 bridges
-- up and down) to the bus -- a regular bus with tires and all) -- and drove to the airport. After finding out Budget didn't have our car reservation (I had a confirmation number and all) we went to the next booth and rented from Auto-Europe (like everyone said in the first place). All they had was a Mercedes Smart car, but our luggage and selves fit perfectly -- barely. We were glad to have this tiny thing when we were roaming the narrow streets of Cremora. We broke down and used my navigation to get to the hotel. Trouble is, it doesn't know that some streets are for pedestrians only as you get closer to the center of town (you always know center by the duomo and clock tower). We got within a block though. The navigator said it was in the next block, but that was all garages. I asked a lady walking where the hotel was & she pointed around the corner, then pointed to a garage and said "this is it" -- in Italian of course. When I walked around to the front entrance, she had already gone to the front and told the people at the desk they had customers that were lost. 3 people greeted me like a long lost friend and came to the car to get our bags so we wouldn't have to haul them from the cark-park a few blocks away. When they saw the little car (thank goodness!), they motioned to just drive down to the garage, where they stuffed our little bug in back of 2 other employee cars and led us through the back door. All this with a friendly and very helpful attitude, like it was fun for them! They have been our friends ever since. Tonight, AFTER we were in a drunken stupor, Sandy had to back the car out of the garage to let someone out, and move it back in. All is well. Whew!
Early to bed, early to rise - maybe. It's 10:08 and the people are buzzing outside. They are just getting started but it's been a long day for us. I didn't sleep well last night, but I'm sure I will tonight!
Friday, September 6, 2013
Sept.6, 2013
Venice
Woke up rather groggy and stuffy today but took medicine Sally Gable helped me get yesterday and it cleared up pretty well. Pill packaging isn't as hard to get into here -- that you very much. After breakfast we followed the directions given by the man at the desk (the same one who didn't understand the 2 glasses of wine the other night) to catch the vaporetto to Murano. Well, we went in the wrong direction for a couple of stops until we realized what happened and got off. Back on the right track, we docked in Murano (know for its glass) about 1/2 hour later. Our first stop was the museum. How any kind of glass can be preserved from the 14th century is beyond me, but there it was! We noticed there was glass from the 1920's and 30's and the 50's and 60's, but not from the 40's. The glassblowers were long ago banished to an island with their fires so Venice wouldn't burn down. What a quaint place. We strolled along the canal, looking in the shops and quickly learning the difference between the studio shops and the chotskys (how do you spell that??). We had long conversations about America with a couple of shopkeepers. One had visited America to see the gleaming white beaches and all the wonderful things you see in the movies, but went to Miami beach and found nothing pleasant there. People didn't try to understand him (they can't understand Americans down there sometimes! -- there are so many Cubans) and he got kicked out of a bar because he didn't have a license (no passport?). It was dirty and ugly and nothing like the movies. We had a long discussion! Another fellow had been several times to Charleston. He was friendlier. One woman designed some really lovely lamps. I wanted to bring one home, but decided against it. She made jewelry as a hobby and was happy to help us and talk.
We got back about 6:00, had our prosecco (cheers Russell and Shawn), talked to Linda and Larry, our new friends here, and went back to last nights' restaurant for spaghetti in clam sauce and a salad. Back early tonight to shower and pack for an early morning. We checked out with Phillipe, one of the proprietor's 4 sons who just finished his Masters degree in engineering and is home helping and trying to find a job. 296 euros for 5 nights, including breakfast and evening wine! This place is a bargain and I will recommend it happily to anyone traveling to Venice.
Venice
Woke up rather groggy and stuffy today but took medicine Sally Gable helped me get yesterday and it cleared up pretty well. Pill packaging isn't as hard to get into here -- that you very much. After breakfast we followed the directions given by the man at the desk (the same one who didn't understand the 2 glasses of wine the other night) to catch the vaporetto to Murano. Well, we went in the wrong direction for a couple of stops until we realized what happened and got off. Back on the right track, we docked in Murano (know for its glass) about 1/2 hour later. Our first stop was the museum. How any kind of glass can be preserved from the 14th century is beyond me, but there it was! We noticed there was glass from the 1920's and 30's and the 50's and 60's, but not from the 40's. The glassblowers were long ago banished to an island with their fires so Venice wouldn't burn down. What a quaint place. We strolled along the canal, looking in the shops and quickly learning the difference between the studio shops and the chotskys (how do you spell that??). We had long conversations about America with a couple of shopkeepers. One had visited America to see the gleaming white beaches and all the wonderful things you see in the movies, but went to Miami beach and found nothing pleasant there. People didn't try to understand him (they can't understand Americans down there sometimes! -- there are so many Cubans) and he got kicked out of a bar because he didn't have a license (no passport?). It was dirty and ugly and nothing like the movies. We had a long discussion! Another fellow had been several times to Charleston. He was friendlier. One woman designed some really lovely lamps. I wanted to bring one home, but decided against it. She made jewelry as a hobby and was happy to help us and talk.
We got back about 6:00, had our prosecco (cheers Russell and Shawn), talked to Linda and Larry, our new friends here, and went back to last nights' restaurant for spaghetti in clam sauce and a salad. Back early tonight to shower and pack for an early morning. We checked out with Phillipe, one of the proprietor's 4 sons who just finished his Masters degree in engineering and is home helping and trying to find a job. 296 euros for 5 nights, including breakfast and evening wine! This place is a bargain and I will recommend it happily to anyone traveling to Venice.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Sept. 5, 2013
Venice Day 5
Good night's sleep but woke up with mosquito bites and the sniffles! Guess Venice does have bugs and we won't sleep with the window open tonight! After a lovely breakfast at the hotel (part of our room rate) we hoofed it about 7 minutes to San Frari church where Rick Steves said we would see art where art was made to be. It was WONDERFUL and we wanted to stay longer than we could. We may go back tomorrow. Interesting that in two churches now we've seen large statues of black people (Moors?), I think working as slaves, but part of the story nevertheless. Sandy stumbled upon a corner alter that was the tomb of Monteverdi, complete with his bust and an original manuscript of one of his works. What a find!
We boarded the train to Piombino Dese at 11:30 and got there in time for lunch. Sally Gable met us at the train station and walked us the long block to Villa Cornaro, one of Palladio's villas. And, there it was, right in front of us -- right on the main street with a row of stores opposite it! Very imposing. We walked right up to the gate, opened it, walked up the main stairs, unlocked the doors, and entered their home. What a home!! I took many pictures but can't show them on line -- look up Villa Cornaro on the internet. Sally and Carl whisked us off to a lovely lunch of pasta, cake, and espresso at Café Palladio before the lunch rush hour and we had a nice visit. We then went back to the villa and had the grandest tour in the world of the whole place! Absolutely astounding! The nicest people in the world are responsible (and lovingly care for) one of the most important buildings in the world. So gorgeous, with statues and frescos adorning the "sala" or main downstairs room in the middle back of the house. Sally said it was the first and only house to ever use statues to tell a family history. They stood in imposing niches in the sala. Built in 1552, the back yard slopes down to a Roman gate and a yet stagnant body of water that is soon to be restored to the original fishpond. Each year that pond is drained and the townspeople are invited to come and get the many fish. The lot, even in 1552, was long and narrow and the villa was built to make the most of it. We ate fresh figs Sally picked right off the tree in back (the tree was probably very old, large and prolific) and marveled at the graffiti from the 17th century on the stucco (over brick) walls of the porch and attic, where the grain was kept. There are two living floors, a basement (for wine), and the attic. The double portico was very unusual for Palladio.
If this wasn't enough of a "to be believed" day, Sally drove us into the countryside to visit a beautiful and surprisingly modern tomb structure and chapel for Guiseppe Brion and his wife designed by the architect Carlo Scarpa. Serene and Japanese-like, it was built next to a cemetery where Scarpa himself was buried after his untimely death in 1978. In the cemeteries here people put flowers galore and pictures of the deceased. It was really quite beautiful.
A short ride took us past Villa Barbaro and, down the street, the last church (unfinished) that Palladio built. The V. Barbaro is very wide, with the "barchesse" (barn alcolves) on either side, but is still considered one of the "smaller" villas. It was set more in the country on a large amount of land so it looked quite imposing. There were two giant sundials above either end of the barchesse.
Our last stop was to visit an old and very gorgeous village nestled into the foothills of the Dolomites called Asolo. Narrow brick streets and quaint shops made this town a little paradise and the views of the countryside were spectacular. It's amazing to think all these buildings (everywhere) are 400-500 and more years old, even the shops! Robert Browning had a home in Asolo.
After our nightly prosecco and call to Ginny, we had a lovely dinner of Italian lasagna and wine at a delicious and busy (at 9:00pm) restaurant around the corner from our hotel and went back to call it a night. No fire alarms, please! Oh, while we were having our wine and talking to a couple we met here (we've talked to a lot of people and it's so interesting), a fellow came up to me and insisted I take a rose from him. I said no but he wouldn't go away so I took it. He started off, then turned around and put his hand out saying "do you have something for me". I was in a mean frame of mind (not liking his forcing his damn rose on me), so I handed him back the rose and said "sure, have a rose". He took it and left in a huff.
Venice Day 5
Good night's sleep but woke up with mosquito bites and the sniffles! Guess Venice does have bugs and we won't sleep with the window open tonight! After a lovely breakfast at the hotel (part of our room rate) we hoofed it about 7 minutes to San Frari church where Rick Steves said we would see art where art was made to be. It was WONDERFUL and we wanted to stay longer than we could. We may go back tomorrow. Interesting that in two churches now we've seen large statues of black people (Moors?), I think working as slaves, but part of the story nevertheless. Sandy stumbled upon a corner alter that was the tomb of Monteverdi, complete with his bust and an original manuscript of one of his works. What a find!
We boarded the train to Piombino Dese at 11:30 and got there in time for lunch. Sally Gable met us at the train station and walked us the long block to Villa Cornaro, one of Palladio's villas. And, there it was, right in front of us -- right on the main street with a row of stores opposite it! Very imposing. We walked right up to the gate, opened it, walked up the main stairs, unlocked the doors, and entered their home. What a home!! I took many pictures but can't show them on line -- look up Villa Cornaro on the internet. Sally and Carl whisked us off to a lovely lunch of pasta, cake, and espresso at Café Palladio before the lunch rush hour and we had a nice visit. We then went back to the villa and had the grandest tour in the world of the whole place! Absolutely astounding! The nicest people in the world are responsible (and lovingly care for) one of the most important buildings in the world. So gorgeous, with statues and frescos adorning the "sala" or main downstairs room in the middle back of the house. Sally said it was the first and only house to ever use statues to tell a family history. They stood in imposing niches in the sala. Built in 1552, the back yard slopes down to a Roman gate and a yet stagnant body of water that is soon to be restored to the original fishpond. Each year that pond is drained and the townspeople are invited to come and get the many fish. The lot, even in 1552, was long and narrow and the villa was built to make the most of it. We ate fresh figs Sally picked right off the tree in back (the tree was probably very old, large and prolific) and marveled at the graffiti from the 17th century on the stucco (over brick) walls of the porch and attic, where the grain was kept. There are two living floors, a basement (for wine), and the attic. The double portico was very unusual for Palladio.
If this wasn't enough of a "to be believed" day, Sally drove us into the countryside to visit a beautiful and surprisingly modern tomb structure and chapel for Guiseppe Brion and his wife designed by the architect Carlo Scarpa. Serene and Japanese-like, it was built next to a cemetery where Scarpa himself was buried after his untimely death in 1978. In the cemeteries here people put flowers galore and pictures of the deceased. It was really quite beautiful.
A short ride took us past Villa Barbaro and, down the street, the last church (unfinished) that Palladio built. The V. Barbaro is very wide, with the "barchesse" (barn alcolves) on either side, but is still considered one of the "smaller" villas. It was set more in the country on a large amount of land so it looked quite imposing. There were two giant sundials above either end of the barchesse.
Our last stop was to visit an old and very gorgeous village nestled into the foothills of the Dolomites called Asolo. Narrow brick streets and quaint shops made this town a little paradise and the views of the countryside were spectacular. It's amazing to think all these buildings (everywhere) are 400-500 and more years old, even the shops! Robert Browning had a home in Asolo.
After our nightly prosecco and call to Ginny, we had a lovely dinner of Italian lasagna and wine at a delicious and busy (at 9:00pm) restaurant around the corner from our hotel and went back to call it a night. No fire alarms, please! Oh, while we were having our wine and talking to a couple we met here (we've talked to a lot of people and it's so interesting), a fellow came up to me and insisted I take a rose from him. I said no but he wouldn't go away so I took it. He started off, then turned around and put his hand out saying "do you have something for me". I was in a mean frame of mind (not liking his forcing his damn rose on me), so I handed him back the rose and said "sure, have a rose". He took it and left in a huff.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Sept.4, 2013
Venice
TIRED! But much better now at 6:30 after a 20 minute nap and a glass of prosecco! Thanks Shawn and Russell for getting me started on that! Sandy is off right now to apologize to our hotel clerk for "not speaking Italian better" (she's looking up how to do it in Italian in her book). We asked for 2 glasses of prosecco and he brought us 2 bottles. When we said no and indicated 2 glasses, he took the wine back and brought 2 plastic glasses! We said no and he brought two empty wine glasses. Finally Sandy gave him all her pantomime skills and we got the 2 glasses of prosecco. So here we sit before a late dinner having prosecco and potato chips.
We had a leisurely breakfast and walked the 1/4 mile to the Calatrava bridge. Interesting: it cost 4 million dollars to build, but ended up costing Venice 11 million! Then it wasn't handicap friendly (like ANYTHING else is in Venice?) and they added a little lift caboose, like a covered ski lift, for even more money. To make things even worse, he designed it so the steps are uneven in number and size. All the other bridges have steps that are the same size and about the same number of steps. The big bridge by the train terminal that we go on quite a bit is up 7, 5, 4, 4, 4, and down 4, 4, 4, 5, 7. Safer that way. I guess it's a good thing he didn't design the Symphony Hall in Atlanta!
We thought we'd be smart and get tickets to the Academia before we got there. Long story short, the ticket lady gave us vaporetto tickets instead (turns out we couldn't get tickets ahead for the Academia & she misunderstood us). I fortunately noticed they weren't right and we went back, but Sandy had thrown away the receipt the woman needed to return them. Sandy went dumpster diving in Venice! Wish I had a picture of that! Finally, off to the Academia to see MANY paintings of the Madonna and Child. Hmm. Bellini always painted Christ with curly blond hair. I never pictured him that way. Then he did one painting with 5 totally RED angel heads -- what's with that? - the whole head.
The vaporetto (water bus) is still somewhat of a mystery for us. We have to constantly check we are on the right one, but so far have done well except for the first time. The traffic on "main street" is unbelievable! Think downtown connector on water! In rush hour the vaporettos are full and the local is very slow. Also think "no air conditioning". But the weather has been very nice and not really hot until you get to the piazzas in the sun. Walking through the narrow alleys is cool. The totally stone sidewalks (image, Michelangelo walked where we walked!) are easy to walk on with big flat stones in different sizes (20X8, 12X8, 10X10, etc.) -- easier than Atlanta sidewalks! Of course its all stone walks, buildings, or water -- no earth except in the monastery garden we saw and little patches by the doors of some homes. We hoofed it to Sans Salute church, perched on the tip of the island at the big canal intersection. On the way we stopped for a wonderful lunch where the waiter made Sandy mad by telling us our order was wrong! "You come here and order prosciutto! Go to McDonald's!" I think he meant that's like going to McDonald's in the USA. Sandy was really insulted. I asked him what he suggested (sardines & onions), he said "don't mind me, crazy man", I said "OK crazy man, we'll have prosciutto & melon & salad for lunch and sardines & onions for dinner! He laughed and served us a wonderful lunch -- just what we wanted. Then off to La Fenice (opera house) to see how they restored it after the 19th century fire. All gold, ornate, boxes. They were rehearsing a modern day Carmen with a Mercedes on stage.
Long enough -- off to dinner now and who knows what? Pizza and chianti, that's what. Tomorrow, off to the country to visit Palladio.
Venice
TIRED! But much better now at 6:30 after a 20 minute nap and a glass of prosecco! Thanks Shawn and Russell for getting me started on that! Sandy is off right now to apologize to our hotel clerk for "not speaking Italian better" (she's looking up how to do it in Italian in her book). We asked for 2 glasses of prosecco and he brought us 2 bottles. When we said no and indicated 2 glasses, he took the wine back and brought 2 plastic glasses! We said no and he brought two empty wine glasses. Finally Sandy gave him all her pantomime skills and we got the 2 glasses of prosecco. So here we sit before a late dinner having prosecco and potato chips.
We had a leisurely breakfast and walked the 1/4 mile to the Calatrava bridge. Interesting: it cost 4 million dollars to build, but ended up costing Venice 11 million! Then it wasn't handicap friendly (like ANYTHING else is in Venice?) and they added a little lift caboose, like a covered ski lift, for even more money. To make things even worse, he designed it so the steps are uneven in number and size. All the other bridges have steps that are the same size and about the same number of steps. The big bridge by the train terminal that we go on quite a bit is up 7, 5, 4, 4, 4, and down 4, 4, 4, 5, 7. Safer that way. I guess it's a good thing he didn't design the Symphony Hall in Atlanta!
We thought we'd be smart and get tickets to the Academia before we got there. Long story short, the ticket lady gave us vaporetto tickets instead (turns out we couldn't get tickets ahead for the Academia & she misunderstood us). I fortunately noticed they weren't right and we went back, but Sandy had thrown away the receipt the woman needed to return them. Sandy went dumpster diving in Venice! Wish I had a picture of that! Finally, off to the Academia to see MANY paintings of the Madonna and Child. Hmm. Bellini always painted Christ with curly blond hair. I never pictured him that way. Then he did one painting with 5 totally RED angel heads -- what's with that? - the whole head.
The vaporetto (water bus) is still somewhat of a mystery for us. We have to constantly check we are on the right one, but so far have done well except for the first time. The traffic on "main street" is unbelievable! Think downtown connector on water! In rush hour the vaporettos are full and the local is very slow. Also think "no air conditioning". But the weather has been very nice and not really hot until you get to the piazzas in the sun. Walking through the narrow alleys is cool. The totally stone sidewalks (image, Michelangelo walked where we walked!) are easy to walk on with big flat stones in different sizes (20X8, 12X8, 10X10, etc.) -- easier than Atlanta sidewalks! Of course its all stone walks, buildings, or water -- no earth except in the monastery garden we saw and little patches by the doors of some homes. We hoofed it to Sans Salute church, perched on the tip of the island at the big canal intersection. On the way we stopped for a wonderful lunch where the waiter made Sandy mad by telling us our order was wrong! "You come here and order prosciutto! Go to McDonald's!" I think he meant that's like going to McDonald's in the USA. Sandy was really insulted. I asked him what he suggested (sardines & onions), he said "don't mind me, crazy man", I said "OK crazy man, we'll have prosciutto & melon & salad for lunch and sardines & onions for dinner! He laughed and served us a wonderful lunch -- just what we wanted. Then off to La Fenice (opera house) to see how they restored it after the 19th century fire. All gold, ornate, boxes. They were rehearsing a modern day Carmen with a Mercedes on stage.
Long enough -- off to dinner now and who knows what? Pizza and chianti, that's what. Tomorrow, off to the country to visit Palladio.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Sept. 1-3, 2013
Sept. 1,2
to Venice
Actually EARLY to the airport! Good start for Ronda! The plane was an hour late taking off, but it was a good 9 hour flight, with a seat partner who was nice but kept to himself. Yay. After retrieving my sweater that I left on the plane, I met up with Sandy at Café Express and we got the train to the Termini in Rome where we took the fast train 3+ hours to Venice. Up & down over the bridge with our suitcases, and 2 blocks later at the Hotel Albergo Marin. PERFECT place. Small but clean and comfortable - and the best part is being able to keep the window open at night. Like everyone else, we got lost walking around and had a great time winding our way back to the hotel after a pizza meal. Slept soundly with a cool breeze until the fire alarm went off outside our room! It didn't take long to find out it was a false alarm & we went back to sleep. Sandy and I are going to get along fabulously. I'm so excited to be here! Can't believe it!
Sept.3
Venice
Woke up refreshed at 7:30 and had a great breakfast. Off to get vaporetto tickets at the rail station and take a tour of the Grand Canal.
Later: Well, we toured. Took the vaporetto the wrong way (we learn fast) around the port and to S. Marks that way. Actually we are glad we did that. We came home the other way -- during rush hour. We went into St. Marks today -- really different from what I envisioned. SO many colors & textures. I think I was actually impressed most with the mosaic floors and the patchwork of colors and different marbles used. Stonemasons were artists back then (maybe the good ones are now too?). Wondered about the half dome over the choir loft. Designed to throw sound out, then the other domes serve as microphones to the rest of the church?? I'm sure it also signifies the halo of the holy, like you see in the paintings. There are 10? small windows in the front dome. At 3:00 in the afternoon the sun came directly through the 3rd one......? I'm amazed at the Byzantine influence all over Venice -- didn't expect that. I didn't expect St. Marks Basilica to be as dark as it is either -- a lot of dark colors in the marble and stone. Really beautiful. The Doge's Palace is much more magnificent in person than pictures.
We stopped and listened to a very good young violinist in St. Mark's Square. I put money in his case and asked where he was from. He just finished college in St. Petersburg, Russia and wanted to come to Venice. He just arrived today and decided to earn his keep in the square. I said I loved his Gingold slides -- "ah, see, he's Russian!" was the answer. He was very excited to talk to American musicians.
We went to a concert of opera arias tonight and had a good time watching the small group of musicians. Some were good, some OK -- 1st violinist needed to be fired and the others would have been happier! Wish it had been at the Opera House, but it wasn't. You have to get those tickets way in advance. We had a wonderful dinner near the Rialto Bridge and came back early after the concert. I have to get used to all the walking, but, even more, the up and down bridges! We are both tired tonight.
Sept. 1,2
to Venice
Actually EARLY to the airport! Good start for Ronda! The plane was an hour late taking off, but it was a good 9 hour flight, with a seat partner who was nice but kept to himself. Yay. After retrieving my sweater that I left on the plane, I met up with Sandy at Café Express and we got the train to the Termini in Rome where we took the fast train 3+ hours to Venice. Up & down over the bridge with our suitcases, and 2 blocks later at the Hotel Albergo Marin. PERFECT place. Small but clean and comfortable - and the best part is being able to keep the window open at night. Like everyone else, we got lost walking around and had a great time winding our way back to the hotel after a pizza meal. Slept soundly with a cool breeze until the fire alarm went off outside our room! It didn't take long to find out it was a false alarm & we went back to sleep. Sandy and I are going to get along fabulously. I'm so excited to be here! Can't believe it!
Sept.3
Venice
Woke up refreshed at 7:30 and had a great breakfast. Off to get vaporetto tickets at the rail station and take a tour of the Grand Canal.
Later: Well, we toured. Took the vaporetto the wrong way (we learn fast) around the port and to S. Marks that way. Actually we are glad we did that. We came home the other way -- during rush hour. We went into St. Marks today -- really different from what I envisioned. SO many colors & textures. I think I was actually impressed most with the mosaic floors and the patchwork of colors and different marbles used. Stonemasons were artists back then (maybe the good ones are now too?). Wondered about the half dome over the choir loft. Designed to throw sound out, then the other domes serve as microphones to the rest of the church?? I'm sure it also signifies the halo of the holy, like you see in the paintings. There are 10? small windows in the front dome. At 3:00 in the afternoon the sun came directly through the 3rd one......? I'm amazed at the Byzantine influence all over Venice -- didn't expect that. I didn't expect St. Marks Basilica to be as dark as it is either -- a lot of dark colors in the marble and stone. Really beautiful. The Doge's Palace is much more magnificent in person than pictures.
We stopped and listened to a very good young violinist in St. Mark's Square. I put money in his case and asked where he was from. He just finished college in St. Petersburg, Russia and wanted to come to Venice. He just arrived today and decided to earn his keep in the square. I said I loved his Gingold slides -- "ah, see, he's Russian!" was the answer. He was very excited to talk to American musicians.
We went to a concert of opera arias tonight and had a good time watching the small group of musicians. Some were good, some OK -- 1st violinist needed to be fired and the others would have been happier! Wish it had been at the Opera House, but it wasn't. You have to get those tickets way in advance. We had a wonderful dinner near the Rialto Bridge and came back early after the concert. I have to get used to all the walking, but, even more, the up and down bridges! We are both tired tonight.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
The journey begins here, in the living room
There's nothing like someone besides the intended author writing the first words of a new blog, so why don't we consider this first entry a prologue of sorts. Ginny here, setting up Mom's blog for her. I'm so excited for her to begin her amazing three week trip! She's managed to pack like a champion, with only one carry-on suitcase and a handbag. I'm impressed. We're just about to leave for the train station, so...
Ready
Set
Go Mom!!!
Ready
Set
Go Mom!!!
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