Blogs from Veneto, Italy, Europe
May 25th 2012
25thMay 2012 Friday Our little Granddaughter Imogen is 1 today – where did that year go!! Romeo Romeo wherefore art though Romeo? – well we did not see him but we were in Verona. Juliet’s house had the balcony fitted in 1935! But Shakespeare did base his tragedy on real Italian families. The walls into the courtyard are covered in pledges of love and once again there is a wall of padlocks where the betrothed lock their love!! There is a statue of Juliet in the courtyard and and packed with lots of tourists. Lovely expensive shopping area. We also visited the Arena one of the largest Roman amphitheatres in the world. The plazas are very swish and the streets very narrow The Torre dei Lamberti you can climb, however, in total there are 368 steps ... read more
May 18th 2012
The Rialto fish market this morning was amazing. I have never seen such an incredible selection of sea creatures in such quantities. Some of the creatures were so fresh they were still twitching, which was a little disturbing in some cases like lobster or mermaid. To get to the market from our side of the canal there is a little 50 cent gondola, which is quite fun. You stand the whole way and try not to gyrate against anyone too vigorously with the rocking of the gondola. We bought a fish to have this evening, and got some vegetables at the produce market, which was also very impressive. In these markets you have to push to the front and order in very authoritative Italian or you don't get service. We did not get service. Italians are ... read more
May 17th 2012
It has been pointed out to me by an astute reader that almost all of my posts involve a lot of tiramisu, and that is obviously because it is delicious. It is probably also because eating lots of sweets is a good way to feel better about having to leave Braedon behind to struggle away working in the ICU. There was no tiramisu today, but never fear, I had plenty of treats. Up early, the plan being to catch the vaporetti and take it through the grand canal to St. Mark's square. There are many routes going every which way, and with our 60 minute passes in hand we got on a vaporetti that did in fact go to St. Mark's square but not via the grand canal, but instead via the industrial district. This was ... read more
May 16th 2012
Correction: Yesterday I failed to mention in addition to spending ONE week here for a course, my mother spent an additional THREE weeks living here last year (one of three previous trips to Venice before this one), which begins to explain the astonishing knowledge of Venice and its art. And churches. Big storm last night. Apparently, in Italy, the day you arrive somewhere the weather is great, then your first night there's a thunderstorm and the second day is cold and cloudy and you have to go to a bunch of churches and museums. I think my mother has a deal with Zeus. Our bedrooms have skylights and it was very pleasant to lay in bed this morning and listen to the howling wind and pit pat of rain on my skylight. This resulted in a ... read more
May 15th 2012
Goodbye Verona. My parents had purchased a package of several train passes for all of us, and there was some stress to make sure they were activated correctly, and so we hustled and bustled to get to the station in time for the complications and rudeness one associates with public service employees. After a hitch or two we were actually able to catch an earlier train. Our first class ticket included a weensie little espresso and a bag of cookies. I love train travel. Much more humane than planes. No one in a cheap polyester suit ever paws my abdomen to see if I'm wearing a seatbelt while I'm sleeping on a train. After an hour we arrived in Venice and it was hard to see the city with the rolling waves of obese Americans spilling ... read more
May 15th 2012
We survived the night, and now we are on course for Venice. Thank goodness the blue sky is back and the sun is shining. Everyone was fighting for a good spot as we made the approach, but I pushed them all out of the way and took about 500 photos (I'll show them all off when I get back), and then we set off to see the sights. We began with Bellinis at Harrys Bar (at last I can say I have lived!) and finished with vino at Cafe Florian (my favourite place in the world). Perfect day! Dinner at Muranos with lobster flambed at the table - it's a hard life! No show tonight just the Russian personality who's had a personality bypass. In answer to Sally, Lorraine sang all female black vocalist songs not ... read more
May 14th 2012
The first destination today was The Duomo, which I'm told means the main cathedral of the town. It is large, and filled with interesting sights and sounds, which unfortunately included a vacuum cleaner. I wish it had included the organs, because those things are enormous. Speaking of organs, I've had to look at a bunch of crucified Christs today, and noticed in a lot of them that the soldiers appeared to have speared him right in the gallbladder. I got some satisfaction thinking his last act may have been to spray his tormentors with hot bile, and I imagined it melting their skin like the Alien Queen's blood in Aliens. My mother does not think the gallbladder theory holds much water, and my career as an art historian ended as quickly as it began. After that ... read more
