Florence - Day 1

Good news. I got on the internet after dinner (steak florentine - a specialty of Florence, obviously). So let me detail the day. We got up VERY early to catch the shuttle boat in Venice to the bus that took us to Florence. We passed Padua (where Di's grandfather was from) and Bologna before getting to Lucca, a side trip we all agreed to. It was a couple hours on twisty mountain freeways through many, many tunnels. Lots of trucks on the road. But the driver got us there after one rest stop half way.

Lucca is a typical medieval town with narrow streets, a wall encircling the city, and a Roman amphitheater that has been built over. The pictures will explain. I liked Lucca and had a good lunch.

Then we went to Florence and found that our hotel (Cerretani) is within sight of the famous Duomo, one of the largest cathedrals in the world. The tour is tomorrow morning and we should be seeing the real statue of David.

Here are the pictures:

 

The Dolomites in Padua. On a clear day you can see the beginning of the Italian Alps in the background.

 

 

Padua countryside.

 

 

Mountains around Balogna. Taken from a moving bus, same as the pics above.

 

 

The Apennines approaching Lucca and Florence. I compared them to the Smokies or Alleghenies in the US, but they are probably higher.

 

 

Part of the wall around Lucca.

 

 

A typical street in Lucca. In fact, this is a typical street in Italy. Those of you with sharp eyes will pick out Diane.

 

 

St. Michael's church in Lucca. Like most churches we see, it had very ornate artwork on the outside.

 

 

That's me on the right having lunch at the Roman amphitheater in Lucca.

 

 

If you look close, the buildings are forming a circle. They were built on top of the remains of the amphitheater. In the middle of what is the square now, gladiators used to fight.

 

 

Out of order photo. This is artwork on the corner of the St. Michael's church in Lucca.

 

 

This is a statue of an historical figure from Lucca. I have no details. It stands outside the church.

 

 

The home of the composer Puccini.

 

 

A few steps from our hotel. The duomo of Florence in the center. The babtistery on the right.

 

 

The east door of the baptistery was called the Gates of Paradise by Michelangelo. When the light is better tomorrow I'll get a closeup of the panels.

 

 

Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

 

 

Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

 

More tomorrow!

Firenze via Lucca

We are in Florence (Firenze over here) after a bus ride from Venice. We paid 20 euros per person to bribe the driver to go to Lucca, a walled city dating back to Julius Caesar. Then we came to Florence.

Now the bad news. Diane can connect to the 'internets' on her iPad but I can not on my computer. Thus, a description and pictures will have to wait until Friday when we are in Rome.

Apologies to anyone who cares what I'm doing here. C'e la vie. That's Italian, right?

Late night update - Venice

Mainly for the people who have said they are going on this trip later, here are some restaurant recommendations, with location followed by what I ordered. I can say that all of them were in the 40 euro range for two without wine. One 50 euro dinner, no wine.

1. B Restaurant Alla Vecchia Pescheria (Murano) - Spaghetti Cozze and Vongole (mussles and clams)

2. Trattoria Pizzeria ai Fabbri (Venice) - Pizza

3. Rossopomodoro (Venice) - Gnocchi

4. Ristorante Terrazza Sommariva (Venice) - Spaghetti Vongole

Some miscellaneous pictures, starting with a series from a glass blowing demonstration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very typical Venice calle (street).

 

 

The famous Rialto market on a rainy day. Go early (before noon) before they start to close.

 

 

The Rialto fish market. The aroma was...well...it's a fish market. Go early. This is where all the restaurants in Venice get their fish for the day. Closed on Monday because fishermen don't go out on Sundays.

 

Tomorrow is Lucca and Florence!!

More Venice

For the benefit of those of you who have written to let me know you will be doing the same tour in the future, I will explain what we did the first day. On Tuesday evening, the day before we started the guided tour of Venice, the 16 people in our group met in a meeting room of the hotel. We met Christina, the Royal Caribbean tour director, who lives an hour north of Venice in the mountains. She explained we would gather the next day and be joined by a local guide. The guide will take us through the Doges Palace and St. Mark’s Cathedral and then we would have the rest of the day on our own.

Christina explained what the proper dress is for the cathedrals we will visit during the week (no miniskirts or sleeveless tops—no problem for me) and a general review of the week’s agenda. She asked us to decide as a group what side trip we wanted to make on the bus ride from Venice to Florence. It was decided we will go to Luca (sp?). We have never been there so it should be good.

After Christina’s talk, we introduced ourselves. Everybody in our group is from the US and eight people all came together. Then we sampled some local wine and what Christina called ‘sweet’ olives. They tasted like the black olives in the US except they were green.

The guided tour starts at 8:15 AM on Wednesday, which we hope will beat some of the mid-day crowds. More in the morning.

We just got back from the morning and early afternoon in Venice. We did the tour first, beginning with the Doges Palace and then St. Mark's. I'll let the pictures explain.

 

Bridge of Sighs. On the left is the Doges Palace. On the right is the prison. After a prisoner was sentenced in the Palace, he was led across the bridge to the prison. In literature, it is said the prisoner would sigh as he got his final look out at Venice.

 

 

EVERYTHING is imported in Venice. Here is a delivery boat.

 

 

It was cloudy and misty this morning. Pictures are not the greatest today. The first public library in Europe is on the left and the St. Mark's bell tower (campanile) is in the background.

 

 

The couryard of the Doges Palace. St. Mark's in the background.

 

 

The same courtyard from the second floor of the palace.

 

 

A closeup of some of the sculptures in the courtyard.

 

 

The ceiling of the Golden Stairway inside the palace. Yes. That is 24 carat gold.

 

 

A closeup of one of the panels in the ceiling.

 

 

A cell in the prison. You were not expected to come out. Most prisoners were convicted of crimes against the state. The Venetian empire was large and had their own version of a secret service.

 

A closeup of a small portion of the front of St. Mark's. The marble was gorgeous in person. Anything you see that looks gold is 24 carat gold.

 

 

Another shot of the first public library in Europe.

 

 

You can not take flash photos inside St. Mark's. I set my camera to no flash and lucked out with the shot of the altar area. The 'entrance' used to be a curtained area to keep the worshipers on this side. Beyond the arches in the background is the altar. Under the altar are the remains of St. Mark. The tour did not include the altar area. I'm not sure any tour does. The church was built in the Eastern Orthodox style, not western Roman Catholic.

 

More tomorrow!

Venice - Day 2

It was lightly raining when we got up this morning so we had the breakfast buffet and checked in with the Royal Caribbean tour director before heading over to Venice. We wanted to take the vaporetto from Saint Mark's Square to Murano but had to find a ticket station first. Then we waited for the right vaporetto to come along and about thirty of us, maybe a little more, took the one hour ride. Lots of stops along the way, just like a normal land bus. More on Murano in a second, but here are some miscellaneous pictures.

The Doges Palace on the Grand Canal in Venice.

 

Gondolas in Venice. Imagine that.

 

 

 

Blown glass sculpture in the street on Murano.

 

 

 

Another blown glass sculpture.

 

 

 

Di doing her best Samantha pose by the canal in Murano. That's a family story. Ask Di.

 

 

Looking the other way on the canal in Murano.

 

 

 

The best restaurant in Murano. Actually, it is voted #1 on Trip Advisor. Just ask or look for directions to the "B" ristorante. And get the spaghetti with cozze and vongole.

 

 

Did I mention that they have blown glass on Murano?

 

 

 

 

A street view in Murano. Or a canal view. Not sure what to call it.

 

 

If you are in Venice, you have to go to Murano. It is cleaner, newer, and quieter. The whole place looks more 'modern', but over here that's a relative term. Lots and lots of glass factories and stores. Lots of restaurants. Not lots of people. Private taxis are expensive and we paid 28 euros for two round trip tickets. And like I said, two hours on boats. Do it anyway.

 

More Venice tomorrow when the Royal Caribbean cruisetour begins.

Venice!

Following a long, long, long eight hour flight from Philadelphia, we arrived in beautiful Venice to beautiful weather. Before even landing, we got an incredible welcome.

This was sunrise somewhere over Switzerland.

 

More sunrise over Switzerland, as if you ever get tired of that.

 

We landed in Venice at about 8:40 AM Venice time. That's 2:40 AM Columbus time. Yikes. We took the Alilaguna Orancia Line (Orange Line for anybody who didn't study Rosetta Stone), a water bus, through the length of the Grand Canal to Saint Mark's Square. Fabulous ride.

 

Then the San Clemente Palace Resort and Hotel shuttle boat took us the rest of the way to the island hotel. Total travel time from airport to hotel was a couple hours, lugging four pieces of luggage and backpacks the whole way.

 

 Soon, we were ready to explore Venice. Here are some pictures:

 

 

The entrance to the San Clemente Palace

 

 

The grounds of the hotel remind me of a college.

 

 

The Doges Palace, with St. Mark's on the far left. This is where the leaders of Venice lived.

 

 

A great building next to St. Mark's. Excuse me for not knowing the name...yet. Have I mentioned the crowds??

 

 

St. Mark's Cathedral. Notice the scaffolding in the upper left. I'll get better shots of this later in the week.

 

 

A view of the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge.

 

 

Venice!

 

One half of the Rialto Bridge market. If you turned around, you would see the exact same thing going down the other side of the bridge. And just as many people.

 



 

Very Venice.

 

Well, we're off to dinner. More later.

One week until Venice!

One week from today we will be in Venice, probably very tired from an all-night flight from Philadelphia. So far the weather forecast is good for the days we will be there, with some sun and highs in the 60's.

Meanwhile, I spent the weekend in Chicago with my son attending the Ryder Cup golf matches at famous Medinah Country Club. Friday was a good day for the US. Sunday, not so much.

You weren't allowed to take photos of the players up close, but here's one of the 17th green from across the lake. We did actually see a guy have his phone taken away for taking pictures next to another green.

We stood next to the 8th and 16th greens at different times and got within a few feet of several golfers. Very cool.

Here's the huge clubhouse.

 

I would definitely do it again, although everything is pretty expensive. Probably just like Venice.