Thursday, October 6, 2011
Picnic on the train
The couple from Pittsburgh that we met told us how they buy some salami, cheese, and wine for their sunset watching sessions. They recommended a red wine for us to try that is only €3 ($4.12) for a bottle, so on Wednesday aft noon, I walked down to the co-op, and bought a bottle, and asked the woman behind the meat counter (her spotty english and my bad italian) for suggestions for meat and cheese. You buy these things by the 100 gram units (just under a quarter pound), so I got 100 grams each of salami and prosciutto, 50 grams of some scary looking meat (that was very tasty), and a small wedge of pecorino cheese. Total cost, along with the bottle of red, was less than €15 (approximately $20).
We ate some of that in the early evening last night, knocked off the wine pretty quickly, and just now had the remainder of the meat and cheese on the train for a little picnic. Across the aisle from us is a young Italian woman with a golden retriever, and the dog became quite interested in the tourists at that point. I offered a bit of cheese for the dog, but she declined.
We are also carrying a bunch of individual handi-wipes, for this purpose as well as occasional cleanup during long periods away our base.
More stories later...
Train challenges
First, I want to remember a technology visionary, Steve Jobs, who died yesterday, after a long struggle with cancer. The technology he imagined and mainstreamed is what enables me to share these words with you.
Now I'll whine about the train system a little bit. It's a great infrastructure, but occasionally tricky. You probably already read about our earlier late train/changed train excitement, so in an attempt to lessen the stress of standing in line at the station to but a ticket for today's travel, I went onto the internet yesterday to examine schedules and buy the tickets. That went very well, made payment, and then walked to the village station to pick up the paper tickets. There I learned that the station in Manarola does not link to the Italian train system (only the local Cinque Terre system), and I would need to go to Monterossa, another village in the Cinque Terre (translates as 5 lands), because they were connected and could print our tickets. So I went back into our village, extracted Jenae from her shopping, and explained what I needed to do. She decided to go with me, so we bought two local tickets to go to Monterossa (€1.80 each) and rode 15 minutes. Went to the ticket counter, explained what I needed, the agent smiled and said "Domani" - tomorrow. Their machine was not functioning, and they could not print tickets. They suggested I go the other end of the string of five villages to La Spezia to get my hardcopy tickets.
Monterossa is pretty and has a big sandy beach, so we did some people watching, had a drink, and an hour later bought tickets to return to our original village (another €1.80 each). This morning we packed, went to the local station, bought tickets (€1.80 again) to La Spezia, where we could get the Italian train system tickets to Florence. That all worked out, but the punchline is that I had to take 3 train rides just to get the main system tickets!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Travel to Manarola
About the picture of moonlight and reflections that I posted previously, this picture was taken from the Rialto Bridge, overlooking the Grand Canal. I got a lot of nice comments about it, and I appreciate that, but in the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I took about 30 pictures to get a couple of keepers. Jenae was with me most of the time, occasionally wandering off to look in the shops, which really gave me incentive to get it done.
The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel courtyard (included with the price of lodging), and the weather was good enough everyday for us to enjoy this setting to start the day:
And here we are, about to cross (by foot anyways) the final bridge in Venice, on the way to the train station on the other side. The luggage that you see there is all we have with us.
Now we're settled into comfortable seats on the high speed Frecciargento (orange arrow), which can go as fast as 155 mph. We had several banked curves between Venice and Bologna.
Upon arriving in Bologna, we learned that the connecting train was going to be arriving late, which meant that we would not be able to make the subsequent connections. Jenae "suggested" that I get up to the ticket counter and fix it, instead of simply hopping on the late arrival train. The first agent spoke no English, and I waited for an available agent that did, and used the train schedule on my iPad to communicate that we had a connection which could not be made. She was able to propose an alternative solution, which added about an hour and some extra expense.
After more than 7 hours of train travel (and associated station loitering), we arrived in Manarola at about 5:15 this afternoon. It's a cliffside village, and our apartment is up a steep path through the village (which I will refer to as the "trail of tears"):
and then down a couple dozen uneven stone steps ("the stairs of terror"):
Our apartment is the third level from the top near the right side of the buildings in this photo:
Here you see the "sunset gang", who would sit outside near our apartment to watch the sunset with their bottles of wine. Two couples from Pittsburgh, and a few folks from Australia. The Pittsburgh people moved to their next destination today, so perhaps we'll meet someone new there this evening.
We had a very nice dinner at Trattoria dal Billy, with first course of pasta and second course of grilled fish. The owner has been a fisherman in this area all of his life, and the fish was very fresh and simply prepared. At the adjacent table, a couple sat, in which the man spoke fluent italian, but both he and his wife were blonde. About 30 minutes into dinner, he turned to us, and said something like "I just have to ask, where are you from?", and that became the start of a lot of fun and interesting dinner conversation. They are from Miami, about our age, but he grew up in Sicily, and is now a colonel in the Marines. They both had great stories, and convinced the restaurant owner to park bottles of several kinds of Italian liquor on our tables, which we all repeatedly enjoyed.
And that leads to the final point in this posting, that we've had the opportunity to meet several nice people, including the first tourists we met while coming from the Venice airport to that hotel (they were from San Antonio), other guests at the Venice hotel, from Virginia, people from Boston at Piazza San Marco, another couple from Texas, another couple from Virginia on the train, who talked about UT football, the people here from Pittsburgh, the couple from Miami, and a couple from Canada. It all adds to the fun!
The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel courtyard (included with the price of lodging), and the weather was good enough everyday for us to enjoy this setting to start the day:
And here we are, about to cross (by foot anyways) the final bridge in Venice, on the way to the train station on the other side. The luggage that you see there is all we have with us.
Now we're settled into comfortable seats on the high speed Frecciargento (orange arrow), which can go as fast as 155 mph. We had several banked curves between Venice and Bologna.
Upon arriving in Bologna, we learned that the connecting train was going to be arriving late, which meant that we would not be able to make the subsequent connections. Jenae "suggested" that I get up to the ticket counter and fix it, instead of simply hopping on the late arrival train. The first agent spoke no English, and I waited for an available agent that did, and used the train schedule on my iPad to communicate that we had a connection which could not be made. She was able to propose an alternative solution, which added about an hour and some extra expense.
After more than 7 hours of train travel (and associated station loitering), we arrived in Manarola at about 5:15 this afternoon. It's a cliffside village, and our apartment is up a steep path through the village (which I will refer to as the "trail of tears"):
and then down a couple dozen uneven stone steps ("the stairs of terror"):
Our apartment is the third level from the top near the right side of the buildings in this photo:
Here you see the "sunset gang", who would sit outside near our apartment to watch the sunset with their bottles of wine. Two couples from Pittsburgh, and a few folks from Australia. The Pittsburgh people moved to their next destination today, so perhaps we'll meet someone new there this evening.
We had a very nice dinner at Trattoria dal Billy, with first course of pasta and second course of grilled fish. The owner has been a fisherman in this area all of his life, and the fish was very fresh and simply prepared. At the adjacent table, a couple sat, in which the man spoke fluent italian, but both he and his wife were blonde. About 30 minutes into dinner, he turned to us, and said something like "I just have to ask, where are you from?", and that became the start of a lot of fun and interesting dinner conversation. They are from Miami, about our age, but he grew up in Sicily, and is now a colonel in the Marines. They both had great stories, and convinced the restaurant owner to park bottles of several kinds of Italian liquor on our tables, which we all repeatedly enjoyed.
And that leads to the final point in this posting, that we've had the opportunity to meet several nice people, including the first tourists we met while coming from the Venice airport to that hotel (they were from San Antonio), other guests at the Venice hotel, from Virginia, people from Boston at Piazza San Marco, another couple from Texas, another couple from Virginia on the train, who talked about UT football, the people here from Pittsburgh, the couple from Miami, and a couple from Canada. It all adds to the fun!
Monday, October 3, 2011
Monday at Piazza San Marco
Today we went to Piazza San Marco. After breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel, we walked about 10 minutes to Rialto Market, and then another 15 minutes to Piazza San Marco, stood in line for about 10 minutes, and then entered the Basilica. While waiting in line, I took this photo:
The picture is a mosaic composed entirely of individual tiles, each less than a half inch. Now look at this photo from the inside of the basilica, and note the tiny people near the bottom of the photo:
The entire inside of the basilica is done with millions of the same tiles, many of them gold, which makes the place glow during with reflected sunlight. Now here is a photo taken from the top of the adjacent bell tower, looking down upon the bell tower. Do you see the tiny people down there? It gives you an idea of the size of the place. It's also hundreds of years old.
Learn more at the official website for the Basilica.
Following the visit to the basilica and the top of the bell tower (the tallest building in Venice), we went next door to Palazzo Ducale, and we were overwhelmed by the art in there. All told, we spent about 6 hours, and didn't come close to seeing it all, but we needed to get some lunch and take a break.
We found a nice sidewalk cafe, and had salad, and here's Jenae, glad to finally have a seat:
We walked the 25 minutes back to our hotel, and while crossing one of the many tiny bridges, another tourist greeted us. I asked where he was from, and he replied Texas. I replied by pointing out that he would need to be more specific because he wasn't the only Texan on the bridge, although it was only him and me. He laughed, explained he was from near Houston, and our wives soon joined us for a nice visit, in spite of the fact he was an Aggie. I should also mention that the very first tourists that we met on Saturday while riding the boat from the airport to the stop near our hotel were from San Antonio, so we've been lucky to meet so many friendly folks thus far.
Jenae did just a little shopping today, and I also learned something. We've seen quite a few dogs in Venice, and apparently the more photos you take of dogs, the more likely you are to step in dog by-product. Apparently, I took too many such photos, although it was only two. Go figure.
The weather has been just great during our time in Venice, with temps in the low 80's, and slightly sticky, and no rain. Tomorrow we board a train and ride over to spend a couple days in a small village (Manarola) on the west coast of Italy. The exchange rate has also worked in our favor, about $1.36 per Euro, the best it's been in several months.
Before I sign, off, here's a view of the Grand Canal with the moon rising this evening:
The picture is a mosaic composed entirely of individual tiles, each less than a half inch. Now look at this photo from the inside of the basilica, and note the tiny people near the bottom of the photo:
The entire inside of the basilica is done with millions of the same tiles, many of them gold, which makes the place glow during with reflected sunlight. Now here is a photo taken from the top of the adjacent bell tower, looking down upon the bell tower. Do you see the tiny people down there? It gives you an idea of the size of the place. It's also hundreds of years old.
Learn more at the official website for the Basilica.
Following the visit to the basilica and the top of the bell tower (the tallest building in Venice), we went next door to Palazzo Ducale, and we were overwhelmed by the art in there. All told, we spent about 6 hours, and didn't come close to seeing it all, but we needed to get some lunch and take a break.
We found a nice sidewalk cafe, and had salad, and here's Jenae, glad to finally have a seat:
We walked the 25 minutes back to our hotel, and while crossing one of the many tiny bridges, another tourist greeted us. I asked where he was from, and he replied Texas. I replied by pointing out that he would need to be more specific because he wasn't the only Texan on the bridge, although it was only him and me. He laughed, explained he was from near Houston, and our wives soon joined us for a nice visit, in spite of the fact he was an Aggie. I should also mention that the very first tourists that we met on Saturday while riding the boat from the airport to the stop near our hotel were from San Antonio, so we've been lucky to meet so many friendly folks thus far.
Jenae did just a little shopping today, and I also learned something. We've seen quite a few dogs in Venice, and apparently the more photos you take of dogs, the more likely you are to step in dog by-product. Apparently, I took too many such photos, although it was only two. Go figure.
The weather has been just great during our time in Venice, with temps in the low 80's, and slightly sticky, and no rain. Tomorrow we board a train and ride over to spend a couple days in a small village (Manarola) on the west coast of Italy. The exchange rate has also worked in our favor, about $1.36 per Euro, the best it's been in several months.
Before I sign, off, here's a view of the Grand Canal with the moon rising this evening:
Sunday, October 2, 2011
A Night at the Opera
This evening we went La Traviata and it was performed in a few rooms inside the Palazzo Barbarigo-Minotto, and it was great! Only about 80 people in the sold out audience, and we sit scattered about in the rooms with a soprano, tenor, baritone, 3 strings, and a pianist. Between acts, the audience would be moved to different rooms, so your seat advantage would change. For many of us, the performers were just a few feet from us. It was really something.
To avoid repeating our getting lost scenario, Jenae said we should ask the front desk for directions, and the clerk suggest taking the vaporetto (water bus), but said it would take 25 minutes, or 30 to walk. We ended up walking because I was taking too long to figure out the ticket machine, but she was keeping a close eye on me, and we got there early. We had enough time to stop for something to eat, so we had pizza in the piazza, and then some prosecco. On the radio at the bar where we had the drink was Pink Floyd doing the reprise to "Time" from Dark Side of the Moon, and just as the song got to the words:
Far away
Across the field
Tolling on the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell...
the 7:30 church bells started ringing at the nearby churches.
I'm not making this stuff up. It all really happened.
Tomorrow we go Piazza San Marco - St. Mark's Square. Lots of things to see there. It's after midnight here now, so I better rest.
To avoid repeating our getting lost scenario, Jenae said we should ask the front desk for directions, and the clerk suggest taking the vaporetto (water bus), but said it would take 25 minutes, or 30 to walk. We ended up walking because I was taking too long to figure out the ticket machine, but she was keeping a close eye on me, and we got there early. We had enough time to stop for something to eat, so we had pizza in the piazza, and then some prosecco. On the radio at the bar where we had the drink was Pink Floyd doing the reprise to "Time" from Dark Side of the Moon, and just as the song got to the words:
Far away
Across the field
Tolling on the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spell...
the 7:30 church bells started ringing at the nearby churches.
I'm not making this stuff up. It all really happened.
Tomorrow we go Piazza San Marco - St. Mark's Square. Lots of things to see there. It's after midnight here now, so I better rest.
Sunday afternoon update
Now we've spent 24 hours in Venice, and we love it. After arriving Saturday evening, we got cleaned up, and went to small restaurant nearby, which is owned by a young couple. She works everything out front and he is the chef. Fortunately, it is very close, and also highly rated by Trip Advisor. Jenae ordered everything, which we shared: steamed mussels and clams for an appetizer:
scallops and asparagus over fresh arugula with pasta for first course, cuttlefish with ink sauce with polenta for the second, and chocolate mousse for dessert. We also enjoyed a liter of a nice red house wine. After dinner, we strolled through the Rialto area, taking in the evening sights. Lots of activity, tourists, locals, shoppers, bars, restaurants, but didn't seem too crowded. Returned to the hotel shortly after 10.
We both slept well on a very firm bed, then had breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel before finding a Vodaphone store to buy a sim card for internet service for the iPad, then slowly wandering to the Gallerie dell’Accademia, a museum of 14 - 18 century Venetian paintings.
After a couple hours there, we went to the Guggenheim museum, but the line was too long, and we didn't want to spend first day in Venice waiting in the hot sun, so we strolled around in search of a drink and lunch. Had a selection of cheeses and meats antipasto with artichokes, tomatoes, walnuts, etc. at a sidewalk cafe watching people go by.
Then we attempted to find our way back to the hotel, but gps technology failed us miserably, and we ended up very lost. The guide books said this would happen, and as we walked along, we encountered many other people also lost. People looking confusedly at their maps, families dragging crying children like a forced march, and us. We gave up on the gps and iPad, and the paper map wasn't much help since we couldn't easily determine where we were, and started asking the locals. The first guy laughed when I told him we wanted to go, but he got us started in the right direction, and then we learned to stop every 5 minutes or so and ask. Even then, one time we went into a cafe and asked,and she said "go over the bridge", so we go outside, and right in front of the cafe are 2 bridges! Lots of very narrow alleys and even more bridges. We finally got our bearing, found some familiar signs, and got back to the hotel where we're relaxing a bit before this evening music performance of Musica a Palazzo.
Before signing off for now, here's an image captured during our near-hopeless wandering this afternoon:
scallops and asparagus over fresh arugula with pasta for first course, cuttlefish with ink sauce with polenta for the second, and chocolate mousse for dessert. We also enjoyed a liter of a nice red house wine. After dinner, we strolled through the Rialto area, taking in the evening sights. Lots of activity, tourists, locals, shoppers, bars, restaurants, but didn't seem too crowded. Returned to the hotel shortly after 10.
We both slept well on a very firm bed, then had breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel before finding a Vodaphone store to buy a sim card for internet service for the iPad, then slowly wandering to the Gallerie dell’Accademia, a museum of 14 - 18 century Venetian paintings.
After a couple hours there, we went to the Guggenheim museum, but the line was too long, and we didn't want to spend first day in Venice waiting in the hot sun, so we strolled around in search of a drink and lunch. Had a selection of cheeses and meats antipasto with artichokes, tomatoes, walnuts, etc. at a sidewalk cafe watching people go by.
Then we attempted to find our way back to the hotel, but gps technology failed us miserably, and we ended up very lost. The guide books said this would happen, and as we walked along, we encountered many other people also lost. People looking confusedly at their maps, families dragging crying children like a forced march, and us. We gave up on the gps and iPad, and the paper map wasn't much help since we couldn't easily determine where we were, and started asking the locals. The first guy laughed when I told him we wanted to go, but he got us started in the right direction, and then we learned to stop every 5 minutes or so and ask. Even then, one time we went into a cafe and asked,and she said "go over the bridge", so we go outside, and right in front of the cafe are 2 bridges! Lots of very narrow alleys and even more bridges. We finally got our bearing, found some familiar signs, and got back to the hotel where we're relaxing a bit before this evening music performance of Musica a Palazzo.
Before signing off for now, here's an image captured during our near-hopeless wandering this afternoon:
Arrival!
After 3 planes, 1 boat, and about 21 hours of travel (7 hours waiting in airports), we have arrived at our hotel in Venice.
We'll get cleaned up and then walk about to see how quickly we can get lost among the canals and alleys.
We'll get cleaned up and then walk about to see how quickly we can get lost among the canals and alleys.
Location:Sestiere Santa Croce,Venice,Italy
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