La Dolce Vita

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Buon giorno! Gretchen and I have just left Venezia (Venice) and are currently on a train going to Firenze (Florence), home of the Italian Renaissance . We had a wonderful time in Venice. We got there Sunday night after a three hour train ride from Milano. Because it was late, we caught a taxi from the train station in Venice to our hotel, which was close to Venice’s Marco Polo Airport. Once again, the taxi ride was horrendous. We’ve had several taxi drivers who drive just fine, but there are a few out there that seem to not have a car equipped with a brake pedal—this cabbie in Venice was one of the latter. When we got to our hotel, the Marriott restaurant was already closed, and so Gretchen and I walked to a little Pizzeria down the street, which the hotel receptionist recommended. It was called Pizzeria Crazy. From the name it sounded authentic, so we gave it a try. It turned out to be really good—so good, in fact, that Gretchen and I just had lunch there again today before we caught this train. We would have eaten there yesterday, too, but they are closed Tuesdays. They have this pizza here called quattro stagioni (“four seasons”). It has prosciutto di Parma on a quarter, olives on a quarter, funghi (mushrooms) on a quarter, and artichokes on the last quarter. It’s really good! The waitress was kind enough to provide us with an English translation of the menu the first night. It had really interesting translations such as “Spinach Jumped in Butter” (what?!?), something with “ninced horse meat” (we avoided that one), and a drink featuring “the cold of the peach.” But le pizze that we had there were great!

On Monday the four of us caught a bus from the hotel to Piazzale Roma at one end of the Grand Canal. From there we got on a Venetian public transport bus (which is, in fact, a boat) and headed down the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco, which is the main tourist attraction in Venice. We walked around and looked at the bazillions of Venetian masks for sale before Gretchen and I headed out on our own to walk around. We walked all over the place, found ourselves on various dead end alleys (the alleys literally will dead end at a canal, so you have to walk back through this maze of narrow alleys until you find either a bridge to cross or a traghetto, which is basically a little gondola/ferry that takes you across the canal for about 50 cents). Another interesting thing in Venice is that there aren’t any cars in the city itself—there are no roads! The buses, delivery trucks, and even the ambulances are all boats!

On Tuesday (yesterday), Gretchen and I took a boat to the island of Murano, which is about a 30 minute trip from Venice. Murano, as many of you probably know, is home to the famous Murano glass—the beautiful and colorful artisan-blown glass creations. Many of the Murano glass pieces have the “millefiori” design. Apparently way back when (several centuries ago), the glassmakers were sent to the island of Murano to try to protect the art/science of their glassmaking from foreigners. While in Murano, Gretchen found lots of glass beads that she liked, plus a little turquoise and pink hand-blown vase, and other little things like that. There were several other beautiful things that we would have loved to get and bring home, but the “bring home” part is extremely difficult, especially since we have a few more train trips in Italy (Florence, Cinque Terre, and Rome) this week before flying back to London. And then to pack it across the Atlantic would be tough. So we got just a few small items.

Last night Gretchen and I went and ate at a restaurant right on the water. In fact, we ate on the patio, which was floating out on the Adriatic Sea. The dinner was really good, and it was a great little location. It was a chilly night, so we were the only people on the “floating patio,” although there were lots of people eating inside. Out across the water we could see some churches and other buildings that were all lit up and sparkling on the water in the distance. In addition to all of the smaller boats, we saw a few large ferries and an enormous cruise ship pass by while we ate. We had planned on getting some gelato after dinner on our walk back to the boat, but we decided to order dessert at the restaurant just so we could sit there on the patio longer.

All in all, Venice was wonderful! We both really loved it, and Gretchen says it is unimaginable and far exceeded her expectations—which were already high to begin with. Gretchen, especially, loved everything about that city. She loved the color of the water, the hidden sidewalks and bridges, the colorful laundry hung out to dry, the cobblestones, and the mint-chocolate gelato. We were both very impressed. I would definitely want to go back someday.



Gretchen and I are sitting on a train at the station in Florence. We should depart at any minute—and the doors just closed, so we should be underway. We are heading to Cinque Terre. Gretchen’s parents are spending another day in Florence, so we’ll meet up with them in Rome this weekend. In Cinque Terre, Gretchen and I are staying in the town of La Spezia, which is on a little tiny jut of land—a mini-peninsula, I guess—on the west coast of Italy, somewhat toward the north. We have to change trains in Pisa, but I’m not sure whether we’ll see the Leaning Tower. From what I’ve heard from several people, it isn’t really worth the trip—supposedly it’s small, and there is nothing else in the town. So if we see it from the train station, great; if not, that’s fine too.

When we first got to Florence, I stopped at the tourist information booth to get a map and find out about bus routes (I am becoming increasingly anti-taxi after riding with some of these drivers!). Most of the cities’ tourist info booths have provided free city maps, but not in Florence. I told the lady where our hotel was, she sold me a map, and then after selling me the map, she told me that our hotel was not on that map—which only had the city center. Nice. So I called the hotel, they told me which bus to take, and I now have a map of Florence that is unopened and in mint condition, if anybody wants it.

In Florence we got to see some of the major tourist attractions—Michelangelo’s David; the duomo (cathedral), which was built in the early 1400s and has the oldest dome of any cathedral; the Ponte Vecchio (an old bridge with lots of jewelry shops); and the Uffizi (did I spell that right?) Art Museum (at least the outside courtyard). Gretchen and I also spent a bunch of time in an outdoor market dickering over prices on leather goods and Pashminas. (I love how you walk up, look at the price tag, and they instantly offer you a 25%!d(MISSING)iscount!) Our other favorite part of Florence was a little pizzeria near our hotel, where we ate dinner both nights. You can get delicious full size pizzas (thin crust, light sauce, and fresh toppings) here at most pizzerias for €4 to €7, so we are getting our fill. This place also had this dessert called a tartufo, which our waitress recommended—it was an ice cream dish of sorts. It had a thick creamy vanilla core, surrounded by chocolate gelato, covered with chocolate powder, and covered with chocolate sauce. It was about the size of a softball. As good as all of that was, I think my favorite part of Italy so far may quite possibly be that there are TV channels dedicated 24/7 to football (soccer)—Premiership, Series A, Champions League, you name it. (These channels are much better than ESPN because they don’t bore you with poker tournaments.) Wednesday night, when I should have been sleeping so we could get up early and go sightseeing, I was up way too late watching football. So I was a little tired and grumpy walking around on Thursday.

There were still a lot of tourists in Florence, which surprised me a little. I’m sure it was nowhere near as bad as during the summer, but there were still substantial crowds. We got in line at the duomo just before it opened, and were lucky enough to only have about a dozen people in front of us. Shortly after we got in line, several tour groups with hundreds of people showed up and got in line behind us. So we timed that one pretty well and were able to get in and get out fairly quickly. However, our timing at L’Accademia, to see Michelangelo’s David, was not nearly as good. By the time we got there, the line winded down the sidewalk and around the corner. I stood in line eating fresh roasted chestnuts (which is one of my new favorite treats) and listening to a guy across the street playing an accordion. Oddly enough, he played La Vie en Rose, which, as Gretchen astutely pointed out, is French, but I’m guessing most people didn’t give it a second thought. Waiting in that line on the street was one of those situations where the only thing to do is listen to the various ring tones on your cell phone and see if you find one you like better. At least, that’s what a lot of people seemed to be doing...but maybe that was just to drown out the accordion. Meanwhile, Gretchen got out of line, found a McDonald’s, and came back with fries and little baggies of “fresh” apple slices. All in all, it took about an hour and a half to get in. There wasn’t a lot going on in the line, other than listening to the accordion and reading the graffiti on the walls (which is really sad to see these historical buildings defaced). From what I can tell, Spaniards are the best “graffiti-ists”—much more original comments than the Americans. There were also little souvenir stands set up, and unfortunately the most popular souvenirs here seem to be paraphernalia that focuses on the wrong part of the David statue, if you know what I mean. In fact, I felt really bad for an Australian couple in line behind us who had to answer questions from their three little children about what those souvenirs were. As a parent, what do you do in a situation like that?!?

I’m going to fill in the rest of this part of the blog with pictures, so I’ll just mention one other thing that we have learned. Maybe this will be helpful to some of you some time in the future. Stars given to hotels (ie, a five star hotel) have nothing to do with overall environment/decor and are based strictly on amenities provided (without regard to quality/condition). We ended up staying at a four star hotel in Florence because I got a great deal on Expedia. While the hotel wasn’t terrible at all, it wasn’t what you would think of as a “four star hotel” in the States. The bathroom had this hideous green tile, and the rest of the hotel looked like something straight out of the Rockford Files—with its dark wood paneling, orange lighting in the lobby, etc. However, the hotel did have an expensive restaurant, which we avoided by eating at the pizzeria nearby. A couple of other nice things about the room were the 14” plasma TV (which had the two soccer channels), free wireless internet that actually worked (which hasn’t been very common so far in Europe), and a balcony from our room. However, our room was only on the second story, and our balcony offered a view of the parking lot, so we didn’t use the balcony at all. All in all, it was a comfortable hotel, but not at all what you would think of for a “four star” hotel. Oh, and the other thing, most hotels around here—even the “nice” ones—use vinegar instead of chlorine bleach to wash the linens. Seriously. So the towels and sheets often have a lingering smell of vinegar, which is exactly what you want to dry off with after getting clean in the shower!

Okay, we just switched trains in Pisa. I did not see the famous Leaning Tower—the closest thing I saw was a radio tower, and it appeared to be standing up straight. Getting back on the train and heading north from Pisa looks a lot like driving north up I-15 through Salt Lake City, for those of you who have done that. There are mountains off to the right on the other side of the city. To the left we see more of an industrial area. The mountains may be a little bit smaller here, but it is very similar. Pretty area.



Cinque Terre was unimaginably beautiful. On Friday we checked into our hotel and asked the hotel receptionist (who was really nice!) what she would recommend we do in the area. At her recommendation, we caught a local train from La Spezia northward through Cinque Terre (the total trip time on the train from La Spezia (at the south end) to Monterosso (at the north end) is only about half an hour, including 4-5 stops. From looking at the map, we expected the train to go right along the coastline, so we expected a beautiful view. Accordingly, we sat on the west side of the train. However, shortly after departing the La Spezia station, we went into a tunnel. We were in the tunnel for about 8 minutes and had just about given up on a nice view when suddenly and unexpectedly we emerged from the tunnel—and there was the Mediterranean Sea for as far as we could see to the west with breathtaking jagged cliffs and little yellow, pink, and peach colored buildings tucked away in the hillside. I can’t adequately describe how amazing it was! Gretchen literally gasped aloud when we came out of the tunnel and saw that view—I wish I could have recorded her reaction. We didn’t have that view for long before we went back into the tunnel, but that 30 seconds got us really excited about the decision we had made to abandon Florence early for Cinque Terre.

We got off the train at the north end of Cinque Terre, took some pictures, and then headed back south to Manarola (which is two stops north of La Spezia, where our hotel was). We got off at Manarola and walked from Manarola to Riomaggiore, the village between Manarola and La Spezia. (I should stop and clarify the geography. Along the west coast of northern Italy is Cinque Terre, which is comprised of about five little coastal villages (hence the name, I presume). The town of La Spezia is at the southern end. Proceeding north, you go through Riomaggiore, then Manarola, then two or three other villages, and then Monterosso al Mare (Monterosso) and Levanto. If that isn’t clear, look for a map on Google or Wikipedia.) So we walked southward from Manarola to Riomaggiore. There is a trail literally cut out of the rocky cliffs that goes right along the sea coast—it is about 2 meters/yards wide. The part of the trail between Manarola and Riomaggiore is called Via dell’Amore (roughly Lovers Lane). On the east side of the small trail there are tall cliffs that tower above the trail; on the west side of the trail is a 75-100 meter/yard rocky drop off down to the Mediterranean. As you walk along the trail you can hear the waves crashing in on the rocks and seagulls calling out. We walked along that part of the trail in the late afternoon/early evening, so the light blue sea and sky were shaded with blended pink, yellow, and orange rays from the sun. We decided to stop and sit on a small stone bench and watch the sunset over the Mediterranean. That was beautiful! We also saw lots of elderly local residents sitting out on benches near Riomaggiore, reading newspapers and chatting with each other.

We ate dinner at a little place in Riomaggiore. There were lots of people sitting out on the patio eating, so we thought it would be safe. Unfortunately, as we soon realized, all of the people there were American college students—not a single local! Needless to say, our food was pretty awful. Gretchen had what was apparently Pasta a la Chef Boyardee, and I had a poor imitation of a pizza. But I won’t dwell on this because aside from the dinner, everything there was beautiful and great. We caught a train back to La Spezia and then caught a bus to our hotel. We intended to take a boat north along the coast and then walk back along the coast of Cinque Terre this morning (Saturday), but when we woke up, it was raining. It has continued raining all day, so we decided to just go ahead and head to Rome early. So while we would have liked to spend more time in Cinque Terre, we are extremely grateful for the time that we did have there. It is a beautiful place. This whole trip through Austria and Italy has just been one beautiful place after another—filled with both natural beauty and man-made beauty. I am running out of adjectives here to describe our experience—awesome and beautiful seem to be terribly overused and inadequate to describe this trip.

While we were waiting for our train this morning at the station, we had a “fun” encounter with a drunk guy. We were sitting on a bench waiting for our train, and Gretchen was asking me to teach her a little bit of Italian. Some 30-year-old drunk guy came toward us after walking across the train tracks (even though the clearly posted signs say that it is prohibited to cross the railway lines—in both English and Italian). He had just mooched a cigarette off another guy and then wanted to come and talk to us. Because he was obviously drunk (from looking at him and smelling him) and was blowing cigarette smoke all over the place, I really didn’t want him hanging around and talking to us. So while I usually would make an effort to speak to someone in Italian, I told him that I didn’t speak much Italian and kept giving him blank looks, even thought I understood exactly what he was saying. Swaying back and forth, unable to stand up straight, he asked if we were from New York; if I knew Mike Tyson; if I liked the rapper, 50 Cent (Gretchen heard that part and thought he was asking for money); and other thought-provoking and deeply reflective questions. He got frustrated because I just kept giving him a blank stare. After a couple minutes of this, he started to get frustrated. He told us (in his drunken Italian) that he hated America; that we should get out of his country; that he loved Osama Bin Laden; and that Bill Clinton was better than George Bush. Well, after providing his enlightened political commentary on the state of the world, he finally walked away.

Now Gretchen and I have the pleasure of listening to an extremely LOUD American couple from Colorado sitting behind us explaining their life story to the last two people that have come to sit next to them—the first an American, and now a man from Rome. We have heard them explain their travel itinerary through Italy (twice now), and unfortunately, we now know that they are on this train for the full four hours to Rome. Seriously, both Gretchen and I put in earphones to try to drown them out with music, but we can still hear them. Apparently the Italian translation for “first time in Italy” is simply “FIRST TIME IN ITALY,” spoken very loudly and slowly… The poor elderly Italian gentleman with a cane sitting across from Gretchen and I is visibly annoyed because he can’t concentrate on his crossword puzzle. I just made eye contact with him and he pointed at the couple with his eyes and shook his head in disgust. So if any of you know a Dave and Maggie, from Denver, who have a 29-year-old-daughter that still lives at home with them and has a boyfriend in rehab, please pass along our regards. And if any of you draw their names for Secret Santa at work and don’t know what to get them, I think muzzles would be a great gift idea. Listening to that drunk guy is starting to sound like a nice alternative. [Oh, I thought I should update this story—during the part of the conversation when Dave and Maggie were listing every type of agricultural crop grown in the western United States, the lady who was sitting next to us just sighed loudly, grabbed her bag and walked to a different car! Now the Italian gentleman with whom they are talking just called them out—he was talking about some Spanish influence in the US, and Dave and Maggie just said that there was no Spanish influence in the US because the Spaniards never made it that far—then the Italian gentleman told them they didn’t know their American history very well because the Spaniards settled Florida and parts of California—and explained that this is why people speak Spanish all over South and Central America. Go Italian guy! Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped them from talking…]

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Photos

Lineadombra
Gretchen and I are sitting at that nice restaurant in Venice that is on the Adriatic Sea. Unfortunately, you can't see any of the water in the background. But if you look closely, you can see a domed church just over my right shoulder.

Venezia
This is basically Main Street, Venice. I took this while we were on a boat/bus on the Grand Canal, which runs right through the middle of the town.

Gretchen and I in Venice
This is more of the Grand Canal--almost the same view as the last one. But the added treat in this picture is the two people in the foreground!

A Joke Gone Bad
Here I thought I was going to be so clever. I took this picture in Venice, thinking that I could make a joke (albeit a stupid joke) about Venetian blinds. However, Gretchen pointed out to me that these are "shutters," not blinds. So the joke ends up being: Seth is an idiot.

No Room for a Porch Swing
How would you like this for a front yard? I wonder if people that first move to Venice from Rome or something forget that their front yard is a canal and leave the house for work in the morning and accidentally step into the canal...?

Le Gondole
These are a couple of gondolas on the Great Canal in Venice, Italy. In the background is the famous Rialto Bridge.

Venice, Italy
I'm including several pictures of the canals in Venice because if you've never been there, I just don't think you get the idea that the city really is on a network of canals. There aren't any cars driving in the city--the taxis, buses, and even ambulances, are ALL boats. I'd heard this before, but it never really "sunk" in until we got there.

Rush Hour
This is the morning Rush Hour in Venice. It was weird to see deliver trucks (boats) delivering and unloading all sorts of supplies to the various businesses. We saw a DHL boat delivering packages, boats unloading kegs to the bars, and other delivery boats unloading paper plates and cups to a little cafe.

Not Venetian Blinds
I just thought this was a neat picture of the Italian flag in front of a hotel in Venice. Most of the buildings are this color or bright oranges, yellows, or pinks. It's really bright and colorful.

Mosaics
I don't remember what this building was, but it had really pretty mosaics on the front. Like a lot of the other buildings, it's right up against the canal, which is just cut out of the foreground. There is art everywhere here--on the buildings, in the streets, in the museums, in the churches. It's icnredible!

A Church
I think this church is Santa Maria della Salute, but I'm not sure. There are lots of beautiful churches everywhere, and many of them look similar.

Gretchen and I
Just another picture of Gretchen and I with gondole (gondolas), water, and a church in the background. Typical Venice.

Piazza San Marco
Gretchen had me take this picture of the clock, which was really cool. It's hard to explain how bright this blue color was on the clock. This building is located right on the Piazza San Marco, which is probably the biggest tourist attraction in Venice.

St. Mark's Basilica
This is La Basilica San Marco in Venice. It is supposedly at least as beautiful on the inside as on the outside, but Gretchen and I weren't patient enough to wait in the really long line to get in. Besides, it was too pretty of a day to be indoors. The artwork on the exterior is all mosaic.

Piazza San Marco Again
Gretchen is sitting at an outdoor cafe's table on Piazza San Marco. In addition to wanting to get a picture of these "pretty blue chairs," I wanted to give you an idea of how popular the arch is here in Italy.

Gelato di Menta
Gretchen is enjoying one of the many ice cream cones we had in Venice. We had some really good gelato here--our favorite was the mint chocolate chip.

Un Traghetto
Gretchen took this picture of me while we were crossing the Great Canal on a traghetto. A traghetto is basically a gondola that carries people directly back and forth across the canal. I enjoyed this traghetto ride just as much as the gondola ride, and it was MUCH cheaper.

Santa Maria della Salute
I'm sure that this picture is of Santa Maria della Salute. We took this picture using the mini tripod that I bought on Ebay for $4.00--this has been a very good investment.

Just Me
This isn't anything special...just me in Venice. We saw a huge cruise ship going down this canal just minutes before we took this picture.

Just Chillin'
We do an awful lot more walking here than in the States. After walking around all morning, Gretchen wanted to just sit down and enjoy the scenery.

Another Big Tourist Attraction
One of the other popular tourist activities in Venice is gawking at people's laundry, which is hanging all over the place. It probably sounds silly, but it is kind of picturesque to see...