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Enjoying Venice

Yesterday was a day of exploring Venice and getting our bearings in this city of getting lost!! We started off by trying to make our way back to the Vaporetto stop near the apartment but of course failed and walked around in circles. We finally found another Vaporetto stop and hopped on to go to San Marco (as you do…and as do 50 million other tourists!!).

We went to San Marco Duomo with its golden mosaics and then spent time in the Doges Palace which was also very interesting. But the nicest part of the day is that the sun was shining very determinedly and the warmth was trying hard to push through the iciness. There are people parading everywhere in their Carnevale costumes, it is fantastic. Never a dull moment really. They are young and old, fat and thin and all decked out with masks and extraordinary costumes. Marvellous really. I think it reaches its pinnacle at the weekend.

This is such a nice apartment that it makes staying here a treat specially after the very basic place we stayed in Florence where my room smelt of mould. So we came back to the apartment earlyish, stopped at a Salumeria on the way back to pick up some cheese and Salami for lunch and had lunch back here. That was good and gave us some downtime.

Then later we went out again to find a place to eat. We sat down in the first restaurant, looked at the menu and realised that there weren’t dishes under 40 Euro. We nearly freaked and then had to explain that we weren’t staying. It was hard particularly as the waiter insisted on thinking we were saying we wanted the menu in English…humiliating!!! Tull had to put up with my bad mood until we found another place to eat that was acceptable. We had a nice meal of cuttlefish cooked in the ink. It is a signatory dish in Venice and absolutely delicious.

Then home to bed. I get woken in the morning by people in their boats outside my window, how lovely is that. Also a Skype call from Sally and Gordon this morning which was lovely.
Today we are going off to some islands to get a feel for them. We have to work out how to use the Vaporettos to get to them all and between them. More later then

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Arriving in Venezia

Well all, a very long day. But first let me send a big cheerio to the crew of Calimna. Firstly Angus told me this morning how great it was to see Meredith this week and how everyone just loves to see her. Then lo and behold I get an email from Mares with amazing photos of the exercises she is doing on her surfboard. So I’m missing the Tongan crew and although my brother no longer loves me, I still love him and send him my most sincere and fulsome greetings. I send these greeting even though it isn’t his birthday but I’m just feeling the love.

So back to getting ourselves to Venice. First off this morning I took myself to the central office of the bus company to plead my case, having done absolutely NOTHING wrong, I was sure they would say “don’t worry about the 55Euro fine, of course you did the right thing”. Oh yeh..ever come up against Italian bureaucracy?? They shrugged, told me it was my choice if I paid it or not, they weren’t going to waive it because they couldn’t see the time and if I didn’t pay in 5 days it goes to 100 Euro. I paid, stormed out and told them I was never coming back to Florence…did I catch a glimmer of a smile on their smug faces?????

So then we got on the train and came to Venezia. We followed instructions and were where we were supposed to be at the appointed time having got on the right water taxi etc. And we waited and waited, no Enrico. I rang him twice, no answer!! I was so sure that we stood out as the obvious people we were….2 women standing there like shags on a rock. Then I saw a man who had been standing around, who I thought was getting on the water bus. I eventually went up to him and asked if he was Enrico. Well he was and the very sad truth is that he ignored us because he was looking for 2 young women (he confirmed this, I’m not making it up!!)…good start wouldn’t you think!!

Anyway the apartment is just lovely. It overlooks a canal and is beautifully renovated so we are nicely ensconced. I have the real bed this time so no complaints from me, Tull is on the couch. Then we went off for a walk to see how lost I could get us before tea. I didn’t do too badly and we made our way to the Rialto Bridge and then Piazza San Marco. Well it was gorgeous. It is Carnivale and people are walking round completely decked out in amazing costumes and masks. So lovely and it isn’t even in full swing yet. I took some photos and I feel a Facebook moment coming on!!!

We even found our way back and went to a restaurant just near our apartment that Enrico had recommended. It was great, we had our mandatory bottle of wine and are now back in this lovely apartment all warm and ready to hop into bed and listen to the lapping of the water in the canal next to us.

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A day trip to Siena and finishing up in Florence

Two more days to report already.

I’ve just had a bad experience so will start with that cos I’m mad!!! Got on a bus to go up to the top of this hill for gorgeous views of Florence. A most wonderful day, sun shining and warmth for the first time in ages. The bus tickets last 90 minutes so I very carefully got back on the bus in time, validated my ticket like a good girl(I thought). Then the arsehole inspectors got on. Of course I thought I was squeaky clean but NO!! Because I had erroneously validated my ticket when I got on the bus the first time and then again when I got back on the second time it had over printed on the first time so they couldn’t see the times and didn’t know if I was within the 90 minutes. I’m so furious!! The fine is 50 Euro but if I go to their office in the morning I can plead my case. The train leaves for Venice at 12md tomorrow so I have to go to their head office (near the train station) before I leave Florence. I then either get the fine waved or I have to pay the 50Eu. If I don’t pay the 50E within 5 days it becomes 100Eu. He told me if I didn’t go in the morning the fine would be sent to Australia and would be 250Euro….my god I’m MAD!!!!!!

Other than that I had a lovely day today. Tull and I went our separate ways and I went to the last church I wanted to see!! San Marco, and as always it was remarkable. Remarkable in a rather different way in that the most interesting thing was the monastery where all the little monastic cells had been frescoed by Fra Angelico and were very lovely. It was also an amazing insight into their lives in their little cells. I loved it. I then went into the cloister and the sun was shining like I haven’t seen it shine for ages so I sat in the cloister with the sun beating down on my face. I gave myself half an hour just to sit there and absorb the sun. It’s surprising how hard it is just to sit for a whole half hour and how rewarding it is when you force yourself to just absorb a sunny moment in beautiful surroundings.

I was very laid back today and so then wandered off to find the bus to take me up through the green hills behind Firenze with their splendid gardens. I got to this wonderful vantage point that gives you truly unequalled views of Florence and absorbed that for another half an hour (in the sun). Then mindful of the bus ticket, got back on a bus to take me down…and the rest, as they say, is history!!!

That’s today so far. I think I’ll take myself off to have a drink in the lovely bar next to the accommodation. It’s the one that plays all the 70s music and makes me feel as if I’m in a wonderful time warp as I have told Rose when I speak to her with the music blaring in the background. It’s morning coffee then but now I need alcohol!!!

Yesterday Tull and I got on a bus and took ourselves to Siena for the day. A lovely city as you know with a Piazza to beat all Piazza’s. We went to the Museo Civico and to the Duomo and Battisteri and then just walked around the streets for a while and came home. The bus ride is nice through the Chianti area. Then we tried a new restaurant last night and had the Florentine Bisteca. A MASSIVE T-Bone that was cooked to perfection and as tender as you could possibly imagine. It was superb except that I nearly died half way through and just couldn’t go on. So much meat is almost unimaginable, particularly when you aren’t in the habit of so much meat…it was a shock to the system!!!

I think that’s it for the last 2 days. Tomorrow it’s Venice…arguably the Jewel in the Crown for this little adventure with Tull…but we’ll see.

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3 more days in Firenze already

I havent emailed for the past 3 days. All full days of activities to make a good tourist very proud. It’s go, go, go as we see and do as much as we can for the week we are spending in each city. And there is no shortage of things to keep us occupied and on the move.

So… Tuesday was Uffizzi day. It is such a great time of year to travel, the best I reckon. We bowled up and walked straight into the Uffizzi instead of queueing for 4 hours like other times of the year. It is, as you will know, a feast of renaissance art equal to none. After 3 hours you go into gallery fatigue and I at least just can’t take in any more. But it is truly magnificent and awe inspiring.

After finishing up there we went and had some lunch in a nice little place and then decided to head for The Academy to see David..the big two in one day!! Well you can never get sick of gazing at David, he is truly splendid. That was it for me for the day and we headed home to have a little downtime before we took ourselves off for a meal. We are finding great little restaurants in this area (with a bit of help from LPG) and this night was no exception. It was called Casalinga. Great food in a terrific area and such lovely people.

The next day Tull took herself off by train for a day in Pisa. I opted not to go and had a lovely day walking in Firenze by myself. I went to the Palazzo Vecchio…all these things just overwhelm you…they are amazing with the richness of the art and the fact that they are just crammed full of beautiful objects. Here the Medici’s lived before they moved to Palazzo Pitti (tomorrow’s expedition). There is a mighty Michelangelo here among so many other beautiful artworks. So I spent hours meandering the rooms and trying to absorb it all. Then I went to the Bargello Museum known mainly for the sculptures it houses. There is a room full of Sculptures by Donatello which I loved, I think even more than the room full of Michelangelo’s that it also houses. Once again it just takes your breath away. There are also many smalIer objects that are also delightful. Then had a little lunch by myself, went off to find another Palace…the Strozzi this time only to find that it was closed until March. So sat and had a coffee instead then decided to head home.

Tull returned soon after…which just went to show that she can do it by herself when she has to pay attention!!! ( dig at her for when she reads the blog). Most of the time we are the only people in the place we are staying, occasionally others come and go, but not for long. Well on this night a young Korean girl arrived. She had one day in Florence and was heading off to use it at the Uffizzi. She was so sweet, young and naive. We asked her if she wanted to eat with us and she was thrilled!!So we took her to one of the local restaurants…one we particularly like. The poor girl speaks very little English and absolutely no Italian so it is nearly impossible to make yourself understood, must be terrible. Anyway we managed to get her a meal. She was in total awe of the amount of wine we drank (which was only a bottle between us…very moderate!!!), then told us we had red faces!!!! Anyway off she went next morning for another 1 day adventure in Venice.

Next day which was yesterday so I am catching up we mucked around a bit in the morning. My room has a leaking toilet which we told the landlord lady and she said she come at 9am…she didn’t show up so Tull and I parted company while I waited and Tull went to enquire about a particular tour. We said we’d meet at the Pitti Palace but weren’t nearly explicit enough so there was a bit of unnecessary waiting around and not knowing whether to go ahead or not which made me particularly grumpy. Anyway I went my own way and stopped worrying about it but we finally met up…blah,blah. The Pitti Palace was again totally amazing with a priceless art collection and invaluable object d’art. It just leaves you breathless…I think there is a limit in the end to how much you can absorb day after day, it is astounding really and nowhere more so than in Florence. The unique thing about the Pitti was the beautiful gardens that I wandered in (fortunately the rain let up to allow me to enjoy them). There was a long walk up to the top of the gardens that then overlooked superb vineyards and olive trees.

When we finally met up we followed up the day with another Basilica, Santa Croce, that is full to the brim with frescoes by Giotto among others. Unbelievably beautiful. It is so boring to go on about it but you would never run out of things to do and see in Firenze. Last night we went off to the restaurant you recommended Hammy, Risotto de cambi. It was good but very noisy and full of Americans. Nonetheless I had a great Ossobucco.

Now I’ve caught up to today. Again today Tull and I parted company so she could catch u p on what she missed when she went to Pisa. So off I tootled with my own little agenda but not wanting to have too big a day. So first to The Basilica di Maria Novella. It didn’t open til 11am so I headed off to find the Cappella Medicee which was on my list to see. It was so bloody grand, the Medici’s weren’t shy about glorifying themselves so here is this enormous chapel where they are all buried and glorified. It is grandiose to say the least. There are 3 major tombs adorned with massive statues by Michelangelo. Here is where many of his major works are and it is mind blowing. Take it all in then onward and upward I go…back to Santa Maria Novella and all the same adjectives are again appropriate. It drips with Frescoes by extraordinary people the main one being Ghirlandaio who has frescoes the main chapel, the Cappella Maggiore, silly…so magnificent. You finish in the church and out to the Cloisters where once again you find treasure after treasure in Chapels all over the place. Well that was it for me. Very early (2pm) but I decided to come home, do my email and have a break from it all.

Two jobs on the way home: Go to bank and pick up a bottle of wine. Went to the ATM and had my fingers all over it, noting a stain on the screen but only slowly did it dawn on me that the stain was a massive glob of spit kindly left by someone (probably with a dread disease). YUCK!! Then to get wine, picked a nice bottle…lashed out a bit! Coming into the apartment knocked it, quite lightly actually but must have been on the wrong spot, it breaks and I’m left holding a plastic bag dripping red wine. Cant bring that inside so it’s down in the courtyard waiting for me to come back to deal with it somehow…and to go and buy another bottle.

Also today bought a new purse….probably got ripped off there too but it definitely smells strongly of leather and it says made in Italy…what more can I do???

So…best go down and clean up my mess and get myself another bottle of wine.

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First day in Firenze

Well first the accommodation…nice and cheapish, good location on ‘other’ side of the river so away from the bulk of the tourists but a very trendy area with wine bars, good restaurants etc. We each have our own room which is a definite treat but the 2 rooms couldn’t be more different, Tull’s is light and bright and mine is so dark it’s hard to see anything and it smells strongly of mould. It’s OK but good thing it’s cheap!!

No brekky included but we’ve already found a good coffee bar to go to each morning…an essential ingredient to survival.

So after coffee and croissant (cornetto) we headed off to start to explore Firenze. First stop the Duomo, Baptistery etc. Well you all know Firenze so I won’t go on. It takes ages to explore it all. The Duomo’s glory is mainly external but there are some lovely things inside as well. There are the ruins of the Cathedral that was there in the early ADs underneath the Duomo, it has recently been opened to the public and is lovely. The Baptistery is splendid too with its magnificent doors by Ghiberti and it’s mosaic dome. We then went to the Palazzo Di Medici-Ricardo. This town is all about the Medici as you all know. They lost no time in glorifying themselves and we now benefit from some wonderful pieces of art, and they do it here in the Cappella dei Magi painted by Benozzo Gozzoli. Then it was time for a very late lunch. We went to an LPG recommendation that was overflowing with people all sharing tables and stools. It was a wonderful atmosphere and great cheap food.

The to the Basilica di San Lorenzo. The highlight here are the bronze pulpits sculpted by Donatello of which one is on display to the public. Then we came home…tired after a full day. And here we are. So much to see all the time, keeps us occupied and on the move.

Guess we’ll venture out later to eat but in the meantime I sit in the cold, draughty corridor, it being the only place to connect to WiFi. Also only Italian TV so I’m trying to download the next episode of Fargo to watch tonight so I can finish it and move onto the lovely diet of things Hammy loaded me with before I left London.

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Arrived in Firenze

Today was about a long train ride and arriving in a city so totally different to the one we had just left it was hard to believe. This elegant, gentile lady of a city hits you as soon as you get off the train. The chaos of humanity had gone and in it’s place was an aura of calm, expensive shops and tourists. So we walked the km or so to our hotel (sort of hotel, sort of B&B without the breakfast). It is a real come down from our plush hotel in Naples. It is very basic and very shabby. We changed our booking a couple of days ago to allow us to have a room each which I think was a really good move. Gives us both a break from too much ‘closeness’ i.e. away from each other’s snoring etc, etc. So that is a good thing but my room is very dingy, dull lighting and a smell of mothballs. For all that whinging it is quite adequate and will do nicely. It’s in a good position on the ‘other’ side of the river away from the tourist hoards but within walking distance to everything. It has trendy wine bars and restaurants but again not for the tourists.

We dropped our bags and headed off on a little Pasagiatta to get a feel for the city and eyeball Piazza Signoria and the Duomo. Then back for a glass of wine before going to find somewhere to eat. The main annoying thing for me, who relies so heavily on my ‘equipment’ is that there is no WiFi in the room and you have to sit in a drafty corridor to connect to a very shaky WiFi. Oh well!!

More from Firenze tomorrow.

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2 days in Naples

Today we move on to Florence. I’m behind with this email and two very full days have flown by since the last one.
A week in Napoli isn’t enough and we’ve tried to cram a lot in, sometimes ending up totally exhausted. So its back to Friday I think.

We went to a lovely Museum called Capodimonte. It is one of those museums crammed to the brim with surprises. Also ‘one of those Museums’ housed in a building that is as overwhelming as the Museum itself.

It is in superb gardens, in a wonderful Farnese Palace.

Unfortunately it was pouring down and it is quite hard to get to so we took the easy option and got a taxi (a rarity these days).
We spent hours there going our separate ways and getting completely absorbed in it all. I won’t go on any more, suffice to say I saw Caravaggio’s ‘Flagellation of Christ’…that was a highlight for me. But there were many because it isn’t just an art gallery it also takes you through the rooms of the palace with all their treasures….indescribable.

It was totally bucketing down when we came out, with water pouring down the streets. Notwithstanding, we walked downhill and got on a bus. We’ve finally come to terms with the public transport system which helps at times. We then found one of our favourite restaurants for a late lunch and some vino. Then walked back to the hotel. It was pouring and miserable so dinner consisted of a bottle of wine and chips in our little room at the hotel.

Yesterday was a bit along the same theme…we set off to another fabulous venue that is a museum on top of the highest hill tabove Naples. It is the Monastery and Museum of San Martino. Again, hard to get there so we got a taxi…it was raining again and is easier to work out how to find our way back than there. The views of Naples from up there are amazing, the monastery was amazing and the collection of art was amazing…let’s just say it was amazing and leave it at that!!

We then found a bus, followed by a Funicular (which we nearly didn’t find), that took us down the rather large hill. It was totally pissing down by then and very reminiscent of Milan, Rose. We walked through a massive Galleria just like Milan and went to the Opera House, the Teatro San Carlo…you’d think you were in Milan if was wasn’t seedy, chaotic, energetic and slightly delinquent Naples.

We did a marvellous tour of the Opera House with a man who was so full of enthusiasm and passion he almost made you laugh. It is the oldest Opera House in Europe…40 years older than La Scala. It is of course sumptuous and gorgeous. It was great. Then out into the pouring rain again and into the Palazzo Reale which is next door, former home of C16 Spanish kings and unbelievably sumptuous, dripping with amazing objects, frescoes, paintings etc etc. It is beautifully maintained and again quite extraordinary.

When we came out of there it was dark, pissing down and we were totally exhausted…such a huge day!! So we hopped in a taxi to come back to the hotel.

Last night we walked back to one of our favourite restaurants…Lombardi’s. They treat us well, give us free Limoncello and the food is great.
So now we are packing and getting ready to depart for Florence where we hear it is colder but hopefully not pissing down. But first our last great big hotel breakfast.

Florence is such a different city to Naples so it will be a very different experience I think….but more of the same adjectives!!!