This is one of the first images of Venice seared into my mind. What you don't see is the bridal party that has just entered this church. Maybe it was seeing a bride with this backdrop, maybe it was something else, but I have it in my head now that Venice just might be one of the most romantic places on earth.

While I have no problem admitting I found Venice fantastically romantic, I'd be remiss if I didn't also point out that it is (in my opinion) HANDS DOWN one of the biggest tourist ripoffs you will encounter. Truth be told, we came to the conclusion that Italians have mastered the art of bleeding tourists dry with ridiculously overpriced admissions, food, drink -- hidden charges. Still, I can totally imagine N & I returning to Venice some day. Next time, it will be sometime warmer than March!

Day 8: Getting to know Venice

We got to Venice around 1:30 in the afternoon. We exited the train station and hopped onto a vaperetto (water bus). Venice has only pedestrian traffic on its streets and bridges and if you want to get around it's by boat or foot. As our hotel was close to St. Mark's Square (the opposite side of the island) we hopped on a boat!

After checking in and a enjoying a horrendously expensive lunch, we made a bee-line for St. Mark's Square. Doge's Palace, the Basilica and the Square were all lovely. The square was covered in pigeons. It was so disturbing to see people letting the birds land on them... but then, birds kind of creep me out. It took all of my will power to block the birds out and focus on the fantastic architecture around me.

We wandered around and got lost. It was ok, the guide book actually suggested trying to get lost. The old buildings, the canals -- everything was so interesting to look at so it was fun in a way. We had a light supper later that evening (Kathy and I had yummy Bellini's) and then called it a night.

Day 9: Murano, the Grand Canal & Carnival

Venice is known for its glass. Our hotel offered a complimentary tour to the small island of Murano to tour a glass making facility. We decided to go and check it out. We got to have a short tour through some of the smaller canals via motorboat, a demonstration of how glass is blown, and we got a bit of a sales pitch to purchase some glass pieces in a showroom. Murano glass is uber expensive. Neil picked out some nice wine glasses -- they were only 700 Euros each (by 'each' I mean per glass and remember 1 Euro is 1.5 Canadian dollars)! We did end up buying a bit of jewelry -- it was a bit more reasonable. Murano was a cute little island that seemed to be filled with glass shops.

After a bit of shopping, we headed back to Venice and decided to take the slow boat down the Grand Canal. Here's a short video clip -- if you listen carefully, you can hear a Gondolier singing!

The Grand Canal is so beautiful I had to add one more picture.

Once we got to the Rialto Bridge, we got off and went searching for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around taking in the essence of Venice. We eventually found ourselves back at the train station so we hopped onto a vaperetto and made our way back down the Grand Canal to St. Mark's Square.

Rialto Bridge

That evening we had purchased tickets to a dinner theatre presentation called, Carnival. It was a nice change of pace. Dinner consisted of fancy Venetian finger foods and all the wine and champagne you could drink! The theatrical show was a mildly entertaining take on the history of Venice. I know that I thought it was hard to follow at times as they were not telling the story chronologically. Luckily for me, I had read a bit of the history prior to the show and that made it much easier for me to follow. Between the four of us, the show got mixed reviews but we all agreed that the evening itself, was a nice change of scenery from the rest of our trip thus far.

Our evening at Carnival!

Day 10: Doge's Palace, Milan and the long train ride to Luzern

We loved Venice so much, we pushed back our departure to Luzern a half day and spent one more morning in Venice. We got up early and were first in line to tour the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the leader of government in Venice. Wiki says, "Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city. The Venetian combination of elaborate monarchic pomp and a republican (though 'aristocratic') constitution with intricate checks and balances makes Venice a textbook example of a crowned Republic." The Doge's Palace, was not only the residence of the Doge, it also housed the government and prisons.

The Doge's Palace

Apart from the fantastic architecture, one feature many come to see is, the Bridge of Sighs. This is a covered bridge that leads from the Doge's Palace to the prisons. It was called the Bridge of Sighs because prisoners could get one last look a Venice (sigh) before rotting away in their cells.

Behind me, the Bridge of Sighs

I know a few of us were disappointed with the Doge's Palace. I think a guided tour would have helped immensely. We did purchase an audio guide but it was terrible and extremely hard to follow. The rooms, however, were impressive and I think having someone knowledgeable give commentary would have made the experience much more worthwhile.

After the Palace it was time to bid Venice farewell. We did so in typical N and MSK craziness... we almost missed our train. We were supposed to catch the fast vaperetto back to the train station and ended up at the wrong place to catch it. We had to pretty much run another three bridges over in order to catch the slow water bus which got us to the station with literally less than 5 minutes to spare. Just like that, we were off to Luzern, Switzerland!

The train had a 30 minute stop in Milan, so I can say I've been to Milan. Neil and I were in charge of gathering lunch for our group so we left the train station (rather dumb move in retrospect) and went to a McDonalds down the road. Well, it wasn't fast food. Neil and I had to run (literally) to catch our train. Had we missed it, it would have been extra dumb as Kathy and Ruth would have been on the train with no tickets because I had the tickets.

dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb!

That is how our Italian adventure ended. We spent the last 2 days in Switzerland... more on that in the next post.

Continuing on from my last post, we arrived in Florence late on Day 4. Florence was the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was home to many famous people. Do you recognize some of these names? Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, DaVinci, Raphael.

We stayed in Florence 4 nights. It served as a good home base for day trips to the surrounding countryside. Due to our late arrival, our first night (day 4) consisted of checking into our hotel and then a late supper.

Day 5 - The Leaning Tower and "David"

Our first morning in Florence, we were up early to catch the one hour train to Pisa. I had talked to a few people that had been to Pisa before and they all said that there wasn't much to see but the Tower. Still, I am glad we went. It was a Sunday morning and nothing was opened when we arrived. The quiet made it feel like we had the whole city to ourselves. The tower sits in the Piazza Dei Miracoli ("Square of Miracles") along with the Duomo (Cathedral) and the Baptistry. Yes, the tower leans - a lot. You can climb the tower but we didn't. Overall, the "Square of Miracles" was pretty touristy -- lots of kiosks selling your basic touristy knick-knacks. We tried to get a picture of us pushing over the tower but it didn't work out to great, have a look:

We spent a half day in Pisa and then returned to Florence. In the afternoon we had reservations to visit the Accademia Museum which is home to Michelangelo's David. David is 17 feet tall and carved from one block of marble. The attention to detail is amazing. The museum also featured several incomplete works by Michelangelo. To me, seeing these incomplete sculptures made David that much more spectacular. In them, you could see every little chisel mark and could get an understanding of how much work it must have been to complete something as perfectly sculpted as the completed David -- especially in a time when you couldn't just plug in an electric sander.

Copy of Michelangelo's David in the Piazza della Signoria --

pictures were not allowed inside the Accademia

Day 6 - Siena and San Gimignano

On day 6 we took a bus tour and ventured out to two medieval villages: Siena and San Gimignano. First, we toured Siena... we walked through the narrow cobblestoned streets to see the Duomo, the Duomo Museum and then finally the town square, Il Campo. Il Campo is the setting for a famous horse race called Palio held yearly in Siena. Wiki says, "The Palio is a traditional medieval horse race that is run around the Piazza del Campo each year. This event is attended by large crowds, and is widely televised. Seventeen Contrade (which are city neighbourhoods originally formed as battalions for the city's defense) vie for the trophy: a painted flag, or Palio bearing an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary." Our tour guide for Siena was fantastic (she belonged to the Caterpillar Contrade) and she made a town I'd never heard of interesting. We were glad to have visited!

San Gimignano is a Tuscan hill town that is famous for its towers/ Medieval architecture. It was absolutely beautiful.

We enjoyed some free time to shop and explore. Everywhere you looked the views of the Tuscan landscape where spectacular.

Getting ready to hit the shops in San Gimignano!

The Ponte Vecchio

 

Rome. Quite possibly my favourite part of our Italian adventure. So much history... and we only had 3.5 days. Well, 2.5 days as we did a side trip to Naples and Pompeii from Rome. I think you could revisit Rome over and over and still have plenty to see and learn. Here's what we did on our first visit!

Day 1:

We arrived at the airport and waited about a half hour for Neil's flight to get in from Geneva. Once he had arrived, it was a half hour train ride from the airport to Rome's main train station, Termini. Our hotel was supposed to be a 10 minute walk from the station... however, I was in charge of the map.... naturally, I set us off in the wrong direction!! Neil got us back on track and as a result, won control of all maps for the rest of our trip!

By the time we get checked in at our hotel, it was 3PM. Still, we managed to cover a lot of ground on day 1. We grabbed some supper (pizza), walked by the Coliseum/Forum, toured the Pantheon, enjoyed our first bottle of wine, and strolled past a flood-lit Trevi fountain before retiring for the night. Whew! You have to cram a lot in when your time is limited!!

Day 2: The Vatican

We booked a tour with Angel Tours (**review below). We toured the Vatican Museum (including the Sistine Chapel) and St. Peter's Basilica. I don't think I can adequately describe the riches of the Vatican. Let's just say that the corrupt past of the Church is evident in it's wealth. The Vatican, being its own country, has its own army, post office, etc. We sent a few postcards and they even beat us home! Everything about the Vatican was grand in scope and scale. I'll admit to being a bit awestruck. While there, I touched the St. Peter's foot -- apparently this is the thing to do (it's supposed to help convince him to open those pearly gates when you arrive). We'd have passed through the Holy Door had it been opened, alas it was not. Passing through it apparently absolves you of all sin -- the modern day equivalent to purchasing indulgences.

After touring the Vatican, we had a yummy lunch (I had Gnocchi) and then we ventured out to the Castel Sant'Angelo. Now anyone that has read Dan Brown's, Angels and Demons, will have heard of this building that was built to be the resting place of the Emperor Hadrian. In the 14th, the Pope converted the structure into a castle, and connected the castle to St. Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo.

The building is now a museum and is nothing overly special except for the fantastic views from the roof which I think were worth the price of admission alone!! Here are the panorama shots I took from the roof:

The Roman Skyline.

Day 3: Naples and Pompeii

This was a long day! It was a 2 hour train ride to Naples from Rome and a half hour trip via commuter train to Pompeii from Naples. Despite all the time wasted on the train, the ruins of Pompeii were totally worth making the trip for. I never realized how big Pompeii was. There were 20,000 people living in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius blew its top. Most of the city was covered by volcanic ash. The buildings were primarily made of stone thus the city was buried not burned. They are still digging on this site today so not all of the city has been uncovered. We ended up joining a tour and it was probably a good thing we did -- the excavated site is huge. Our tour guide was difficult to understand at times but he was able to convey to us just how complex this society was when it was destroyed in 79AD. N wanted me to add that Pompeii (for him) was a major highlight of our trip.

Naples was just plain chaotic. While at times pretty (especially the walk along the coast/Mediterranean) we just didn't have time to explore properly and as a result, it wasn't anything special. I bought Limoncello here.

Day 4: The Coliseum, Forum and Palatine Hill

On our final day in Rome, we toured the Coliseum, wandered up atop Palatine Hill and sashayed through the Roman Forum. We took guided tours of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill. It was a day of history overload, but as I love history, I found it fascinating. It was a touch surreal to see the ruins of this ancient civilization.

Wandering around afterward, we stumbled upon a major demonstration / parade for Woman's Day (March 8th). We wandered the streets until evening and then bid Rome farewell. It was time to head north into Tuscany -- Florence to be exact!

**Angel Tours was pretty good. I mean it would have been nice to maybe have more time in the Vatican Museum but their commentary was good, and was easy to understand (as our guide was from the UK -- understanding her English wasn't a problem) and we saw the highlights. The museum is vast so I imagine you could spend days in there! Apparently there is some controversy with Angel Tours... there are laws in Italy that state you must be a licensed guide to give tours. You must speak fluent Italian and you must pass an examination. Angel Tours is not licensed and they get around this law by calling themselves a "Cultural Association." Fees collected are "Cultural Association Fees." The bottom line, however, is that they give a good, clear, easy to understand English speaking tour and when you are paying $ for commentary you want to understand them. I was skeptical about them prior, as I'd read some poor reviews (they claim it is mudslinging by licensed Italian guides mad that they take business away from them) and I have no regrets now. We took 2 tours by licensed Italian guides -- one at the Coliseum and one in Pompeii. They both paled in comparison to this one. That said, Angel Tours was not the best tour we had... that would be our tour of Palatine Hill. Our guide's name was Kim and he was a grad student from the States living in Rome and he works for Through Eternity Tours... also a "Cultural Association" so go figure.

Ok... I have a ton of stuff to blog about but I've been so damn tired this week.  I promise by the end of the weekend I'll have a bunch of stuff posted...  I'm still sorting through the over 1100 pictures I took... yes, I'm ridiculous

 I realize that I don't post very regularly... often rather sporadically... I'm going to look into a way you can subscribe to the site... so that an email gets sent out if I post anything new... save the trouble of checking everyday...

If you use a rss reader (like google reader) you can subscribe using the RSS link at the bottom of the right column.

One bright note heading into a much needed long weekend (sad, I know... after a 12 day vacation and only 3 days back at work but in my defense it is not easy to get back on track after living 2 weeks with a time change of 6 hours....):

No kids were injured under my supervision today!! It's been a rough month.  Let's just say my name is on a few incident reports.  Though, in my defense, all incidents were beyond my control!  And yesterday was just silliness!!  What do you expect when you've replaced all chairs in the classroom with exercise balls?? Not sure about that idea.... 

So... my bag has been sitting there packed for 2-3 days. That hasn't stopped me from over-analyzing everything I put into my pack.

When the only luggage you are taking is a backpack and the max weight you want to haul in said pack is under 25lbs, packing becomes a challenge.

My dilemma is this:

I am taking 1 pair of shoes. They are Merrell Hikers and they are green and tan. They also were the shoes that got me through my last trip blister free and we did a LOT of walking. They look fine with jeans. They look fine with my tan/brown cargo pants (my current 2 pairs of pants). This morning, however, I am now in a tizzy as I have 3 black tops packed and I can't decide if black and tan/brown cargo pants match??? I have worn this combination many times before but that doesn't mean it is right?? I now wondering if I should pack 2 pairs of jeans and leave the cargo pants at home. Problem is... my 2 most comfortable pairs of jeans are pretty much exactly the same and then it will look like I am wearing the same pants everyday??? AHHHHHH!!!

What do I do?

BTW...here's a picture... what do you think??? What about the brown sweater?? Does it match the brown pants???

I'm retarded. I am aware. Still, please HELP!