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January 6th 2012
Much to our surprise we woke up to yet another Roman holiday...who knew...Apparently on January 6 the Catholic Church celebrates the solemnity of the Epiphany details found on Wikipedia as we can not understand what anyone is saying other than "holiday". Italy's traditional celebration includes the tale of a witch known asLa Befana who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones. Major stores, banks, trains, other transportation shut down, and some restaurants close for the holiday. Of course the part of town we were planning on spending our last day is the hub of this event. Parades, street vendors, total chaos. We think all of Rome was out today. It was about the ... read more
January 5th 2012
Walking many miles in the steps of Ancient Roman time was Incredible. Truly the most facinating tour of the trip. 4 hours of historic buildings, ruins, arches, ending at the collisium. Awe struck. Horrifying as to what took place at the collisium, sad as to the destruction, fascinated by the how it was all managed and built, and continual debates between Leslie and our guide made for an unforgettable experience. (Stay tuned for the newest version of the Buns of Steel video, by Leslie and Jill it's not a pretty sight...We must have climbed a thousand stairs today.) This afternoon was our cooking class with Chef Gaetano Costa as we prepared a fabulous four course Italian meal. What a blast. Learning a few new tricks of the trade by means of authentic highend Roman style cooking ... read more
January 4th 2012
What a surprise tour....Picture being lead through the Vatican by Woody Allen. It was something else, we are at a loss for words. Having our private tour guide really was an advantage. Lines were hours long to get in and through certain sections, with our guide we were usered to the front and around no questions asked. After we found our way back to the Jewish Getto via our double decker tour bus to Nonna Betta - for one of the best meals of the trip. As we first entered the restaurant we were teetering on being thrown out by the waiter who we think was a former Isreali Commando as he had just ushered out two other American girls for trying to order only dessert and coffee? Apparently they required a full meal or nothing. ... read more
January 3rd 2012
TCBn - Taking Care of Business in Rome the Miller Worden way.... Terenchal downpour throughout the night we woke up to grey but dry sky's. Breakfast at our hotels rooftop deck with a 360 degree view of the city was a spectacular way to start the morning. Having the whole day to roam in Rome we decided to take the double decker tour bus around the city. Yep super tourist.. On the top deck taking-photos as we saw all of the main sites in Rome. Piazza Barberini - check, San Maria Maggiore - check, S Pierto in Vincoli - check, colosseum- check, Roseto Comunale Massimo - check, Teatro do Marcello - check, Jewish Getto - check, isola Tiberina - check, pizza Navonna - check, Pizza Augusto - check, Vatican - check, Spagna -check, Villa Borghese - ... read more
January 2nd 2012
Finally Internet that works fairly decent. Here are a few extra pictures from Veniza... read more
January 2nd 2012
Today we woke up to grey sky's in Venice. Couldn't have asked for a more spectaular last full day yesterday with the sun shining while we took in the Grand Canal. In the light rain we made our way back to the Veniza train station via vaboretto ( water bus) and off to Rome. With the rain it made for a perfect travel day. The train ride was a three hour tour, Veniza, Bologona, Florence, lush rolling hills and vineyards through Tuscany ending in Rome. Quick taxi ride and we were settled at the Marriott Grand Flora. Each Marriott being grander than the last. Customized welcome sign and a nice bottle of vino waiting in the spacious room. We dropped our bags and headed out for a quick tour and snack. We are centrally located, a ... read more
January 1st 2012
In spite of the New Years Eve party at our hotel going on until 3 am, it was delightful to wake up to picture perfect blue sky's, glistening waters in the canals, and peaceful quietness in the air. Casually walking through empty streets we made our way back to St Mark's Square only to find it still full with people, although much more manageable than last night. Weaving through the crowd we crossed over the square to the Grand Canal to find a sunny place for lunch (this the only place on Venice where the sun hits the streets) we found ourselves a little table at a waterfront restaurant ordered a bottle of wine and pizza and relaxed as we watched gondolas, cruise ships, water taxis, and foot traffic meander by as the sun warmed our ... read more
January 1st 2012
Happy New Year to all from Veniza, Italy. One of the highest caliber meals we have ever experienced. It was like we were one of the Top Chef judges and we were greatful for the experience. After dinner there 30 min left in the new year like two salmon swimming up stream we made our way to St Mark's Square. I would imagine it was much like Time Square. Wall to wall people, sardines squished into a tin can we rung in the new year. Fireworks were spectacular. Happy to be back at our beautiful hotel and ready to kick off 2012. Happy New Year to all XO J&L... read more
December 31st 2011
Another fantastico day in Venice. Sun shining with temps in the 30's crisp and clear. Today we visited the Jewish Getho, a tribute to the Venicans sent to concentration camps during the Holocost. In Venice there are so much diversity, that many be one reason why it is such an amazing city. As we walked around the city we made our way to the world famous Rialto bridge. On to utter chaos at the Rialto fish market. We stumbled across a curious line in the middle of the square which we discovered was serving white wine and fresh seafood plates; shrimp, calamari, fish right off the boat into the fryer where the rotund proprietor was screaming in Italian to his kitchen staff to speed up delivery as he kept running out of food keeping up with ... read more
December 30th 2011
What an amazing day. As we become experts in navigating the Italian railway we made it to Venezia with no major obsticals, what a relief. As our train arrived you step right out onto the canal and into a water bus. (we learned from our last trip here a water taxi osts a minimum of $100 US to get anywhere, so we explored other optiond today we were pleased with our $12 water bus) 20 min of fantasic photoshots from the bow of the boat as if we owned it...lol, we arrived at our hotel. It is a cute little boutique. Christmas treesblining the front door, Murano glass chandlers, lobby decorated to the nines for the holiday. As we are escorted to our room we are greeted with a bottle of champagne. Got to love that! ... read more
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