Italy Trip 2004
(Sept 21st - Oct 3rd)
INTRODUCTION
When coming back from a vacation, everyone asks the same questions over and over and over. I decided to post this to answer most questions about the trip.
You can view larger versions of each picture on this page by simply clicking on them. Be sure to disable automatic image resizing in Internet Explorer! A few videos are also thrown in, which will make you feel like you're right there in Italy.
All questions and comments about this page should be sent to goldensdomain@gmail.com.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 20, 2004 / TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 21, 2004
The flight was supposed to leave at 10:45PM, but was delayed to 12:15AM as someone died on the way back to Toronto. The flight had to make a stop in Ireland which caused the delay. We didn't end up taking off until 1:00AM.
When checking in to the SkyService desk, Adam got some attitude from one of the customer service reps for borrowing her pen to fill out a form. It was really odd and quite rude.
Neither of us got much sleep on the flight. The entire flight crew handled the trip extremely poorly. They started the flight by serving a full dinner. Who wants dinner at 1:00AM??? Every time there was the slightest bit of turbulence, the pilot would turn on the seatbelt light and the cabin crew would go through their noisy routine. First, they'd make an announcement on the PA that seatbelts must be put on, while seats and trays should be in their upright position. This message would be given in English, French and Italian. Then they'd make a noisy trip up and down the isles checking that everyone followed the instructions given in the announcement.
After landing, we met with an Alba Tours guide and boarded a bus to the hotel.
We were a little surprised to find a RECTANGULAR toilet in the bathroom, along with a bedai. There are two buttons of the wall to flush the toilet. A small button is used for #1, the large for #2. The shower was nothing more than a bathtub with a handheld shower head.
We went walking around the immediate area around the hotel. McDonalds seems to like advertising they serve an "American Breakfast". It seems breakfast isn't a big part of an Italian diet, so I guess an Egg McMuffin is a big deal here.
So far, all the restaurants we've seen are smaller family owned places. No huge chains. There are numerous restaurants down every block we walked down. We stopped in to a restaurant and I had a soup with meat tortellini in a beef broth and meat ravioli in a meat sauce. The pasta is so good hear. It practically melts in your mouth. I have a feeling it has more to do with the cooking method, rather than the pasta itself.
Grabbed a chocolate gelato before heading back to the hotel. This is how ice cream should be.
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
Today we covered east and central Rome.
Here's the street were our hotel is located.
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We started the day at Santa Maria Maggiore.
I didn't take many pictures inside, mainly because of multiple signs saying pictures were not allowed. But I couldn't leave without any pictures at all. While the church was large, it was smaller than the ones I saw during my trip to London.
Walked through a park area called Domus Aurea on the way to the Coliseum. Nothing really stood out there, but there was a nice view of a nearby street.
At the other end of the park, we were greeted with this view.
We decided to take a guided tour. The tour was quite short, but provided some interesting information about the area. We also learned that the Romans weren't discriminating against other religions when they killed people whose religion didn't agree with their beliefs. Ya .... didn't make much sense to us either. But it must be true, as the guide said so.
Apparently the Coliseum was built in 8 years. From the Coliseum, you can see Nero's residence
and Palatino.
The Arch of Constantine is in front of the Coliseum.
We walked through the Palatino ruins.
There was a great view of the Roman Forum.
The Arch of Titus is located at the west end of the forum.
The Victor Emmanuel Monument (first king of Italy) greeted us on the other side of forum.
Went to a small restaurant for lunch. I had spaghetti with bacon in a tomato sauce and creme caramel.
The traffic in Rome is crazy. But at least you can rely on drivers to not run you over. I won't even try to explain it in words. Here's a video.
After our near death experience, we found our way to Trevi Fountain. Never seen anything quite like it.
Our next stop was the Pantheon. On the way there, we came upon a fountain.
We sat around it for a while to relax. There was a large, unimpressive building next to the fountain which we chose to ignore. A few minutes after leaving the fountain area, we discovered that building was actually the Pantheon. We went back to look around.
We weren't completely sure what we were looking at inside. The guide books all had contradicting information.
Here's a cool picture I got while trying to photograph the exterior.
Walked over to Piazza Navona, which is a large square with street vendors.
While walking through Piazza Navona, two guys approached us and started tying colored string around our wrists. After finishing, they wanted us to pay for them. Sadly to say, we paid 15 Euro for both.
Went in to a church located in the area called San Luigi dei Francesi. Didn't take any pictures as it was rather small and unimpressive.
On many streets, you will find public water spouts. We've been told these provide very good quality water. You'll often see people filling up water bottles or washing their hands with them.
Walked over to the Tevere for a shortcut.
Palazzo Di Giustieria is located on the other side of the Tevere. No idea what it is.
We tried to find this thing called Mauseleo Di Augusto. Didn't know what is was, only that it was on the way to the Spanish Steps. Turned out to be nothing much of anything.
Got to the Spanish Steps. It was crowded as expected.
We didn't walk the steps as we were both tired. We'll come back another day.
This obelisk was located a block from the steps.
Using my "Top 10" book of Rome attractions, we tried to find the #3 Pizzeria on the list. When we got there, we found the restaurant had closed.
Went back to the hotel for a pit stop before dinner. Met two guys from La Spezia (near Cinque Terres). One of them was helping Adam learn Italian. I ordered pizza with salami and profitoroles.
Got some gelato and found an internet access point near the hotel before calling it a night.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2004
Used the Metro (subway) today. It was just as busy as the Underground in London. Unfortunately, it's not as well organized. Unlike the Underground, people entering and exiting the stations clash (just like in Toronto). The stations are not well maintained, with both the stations and trains full of graffiti.
After a quick ride of the metro and a short walk, we arrived at Vatican City. The main square is a large, open area. There are two fountains and an obelisk within the main walls, with St. Peter Basilica at the west end. The Spanish Guards can be seen at certain building entrances.
St. Peter's Basilica is the largest church in the world. It's definitely quite a site to behold. Unfortunately, it's hard to take pictures inside due to its size and low amount of light.
After entering St. Peter's, we were approached by a tour guide letting us know she was providing a free English tour. We couldn't turn that down. She took us around most of the inside of the Basilica and was quite entertaining to listen to.
Michelangelo's Piata was the main attraction inside. With the large amount of people crowding around, there wasn't time to get a good picture.
At the end of the tour, the guide provided an option to take a paid tour of the Vatican Museum. Since we enjoyed the tour at St. Peter's we took her up on the offer. Since the Vatican Museum is huge, she concentrated the 2.5 hour tour to show the galleries which were directly related to the paintings in the Sistine Chapel.
The Pinecone Garden.
Roman sculptures.
A balcony at a higher floor provided a nice view on the immediate area.
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Sculptures and other thing we passed by.
The sculpture has glass eyes.
The tapestry room. The ceiling of the room is painted to give an effect of it being carved. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the effect was outstanding.
The map room was quite an eye catcher. The walls were covered in tapestries of maps, while the ceiling was filled with paintings. A window in the room provided a view of the Vatican Gardens.
The Raphael Rooms were jaw dropping. See for yourself.
Our next stop was the one we were all waiting for, The Sistine Chapel. We you enter the chapel, everyone is forced in to the center. Guards surround the room, making sure everyone stays quite and no pictures are taken. I wasn't going to let that stop me.
The staircase leaving the Vatican Museum.
After the tour, we returned to the main square.
We decided to climb the dome of St. Peter's.
I was disappointed after our elevator ride only took us to a high point inside the chapel. I had heard about a long climb of stairs and expected a great view of the city. It was still cool inside the dome, as you really got a good sense of scale. The letters around the dome are taller than me.
BINGO! We found the stairs to the outer part of the dome. There are 320 stairs to climb in a relatively cramped staircase. A window on the way up provided a nice view.
Here's one of the more open areas of the stair case, about halfway up.
When we got to the top, we knew the climb was worth it.
After spending a little bit of time at the top, we made our way down. The sculptures line the base of the dome.
Our guide told us this would be a great time to return to St. Peter's since there wouldn't be as many people. She was right. I had time to take some better pictures.
The underground tombs are also accessible from within St. Peter's. The low light and lack of flat surfaces to place the camera on resulted in dark pictures.
We left Vatican City and headed back to Rome for dinner. We had to cross the water to get back to central Rome.
We found the #1 pizzeria listed in my Rome book. They make thin crust pizzas which are baked in a stone oven. It was quite good.
Took a walk to Trevi Fountain at night. It was incredibly crowded, so I couldn't take the quality of pictures that I wanted. I decided not to take any.
Went back to the hotel to call it an early night. Tomorrow .... Pompeii..
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2004
Started today at Termini train station.
We went to cash some travelers checks and was shocked at the commission they wanted to charge. They wanted to only give us 78 Euro for 100 Euro in travelers checks. We ended up bargaining up to 89.50 Euro. The next time we pass an American Express location, we'll cash the rest of our checks for free.
Had to wait in line for over 30 minutes in order to get our train pass validated. This made us miss the first train and threw our plans off quite a bit. We were also surprised to discover a 12 Euro booking charge when taking the EU trains. We'll try to stick with IC trains which don't have this charge.
Walked around the station for a bit then hopped on the train. Two hours later we found ourselves in Naples where we caught a local train to Pompeii.
The local train was more like a subway. The area we traveled through looked quite poor and wasn't well kept. Even the train wasn't in great shape.
We got to Pompeii and explored the ruins. There were body casts in some locations made from the remains of the people who once lived here. Their poses are a little chilling.
It took us about 2 hours to walk around the main section of ruins. We then headed back to the train station.
Because of the delay earlier in the morning, we didn't have much time to explorer Naples. We stayed in the area around the train station and weren't impressed at all. This part of the town is quite dirty. The traffic is similar to Rome, except drivers will NOT stop if you happen to be in front of them.
We decided to catch the next train back to Rome, as it was starting to rain. On the train, Adam met a girl who allowed him to practice his Italian.
Back in Rome, we found a nice little restaurant with great food. I had Risoto with Scampi sauce. For desert, the waiter was nice enough to provide me with a sampling of 3 of their available cakes.
Adam ordered from the tourist fixed price menu. For 18 Euro, it provided a multi course Italian meal. Since the menu was in Italian and the waiter didn't speak English, he wasn't sure what he'd be getting.
The meal started with two appetizer plates. One had a selection of grilled vegetables, while the other has a selection of deli meats. The next plate was a pasta dish, which he really enjoyed. When the waiter came to clear the plate, Adam tried to ask the waiter what the dish was called. The waiter didn't understand. From his reaction, I felt he thought Adam wanted another pasta dish. I told this to Adam and he started to worry about how he'd finish all this food, considering there was still a meat dish to come.
As expected, the next plate was a pork chop which was cooked to perfection. After finishing it he was stuffed. Minutes after the plate was cleared, the waiter came out with another plate of pasta! Adam had to refuse it as there was no way he could eat it. The waiter took it back without any fuss. I couldn't help but laugh.
We made our way back to the hotel after dinner and called it a night.
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2004
Today we chose to have a quite day, walking around Rome.
We decided to check out the Capuchin Crypt. The area we walked through to get there was much quieter than the rest of Rome. There was a small restaurant on one of the streets where we stopped to have some pizza. It was a nice place where everyone seemed to know one another.
Here's the road where the Crypt is located.
We got to the crypt around 1:30PM and found the door to be locked. It was only then we noticed our guide book listed it as being closed between 1PM - 3PM.
We decided to head over to the local AMEX office to cash our travelers checks. To get there, we returned to the Spanish Steps.
It was even busier than the last time we were there. We started at the top and walked down. While walking down, we saw the Jamaican guys how scammed us with the bracelets earlier in the week. They were pulling the same routine on other tourists. I have to give them credit as they have their act down.
When we got to the AMEX office, we found they close at 12:30PM on Saturdays.
Since we still had time to kill before the crypt opened, we walked back up the steps and headed north to a large park area. It was quite a change from the rest of the city.
At one point, we stopped to watch these kids rollerblade. We had never seen people with such dexterity before.
We came to a hybrid car exhibition in the park. All the cars we prototypes. Adam was quite impressed with a new Toyota they were showing. It's a sports car with cameras on the side instead of mirrors.
We headed back to the crypt and ran in to a protest against the war in Iraq. We didn't know it at the time, but it was prompted by two Italian girls who were being held hostage in Iraq.
Got to the crypt, only to find it still locked. There was a couple from Canada at the gates, also trying to get in. It turned out there was a sign right in front of us the whole time (in English) which said the crypt would be closed for repairs as of December 2003. We spoke to the couple for a while. They recommended a restaurant called Capitello which happens to be two blocks from our hotel.
We stopped at a clothing store on the way back to the hotel. I picked up a nice sweater/jacket.
On the way back, we passed a few new areas.
Via Delle Quattro Fontane
Piazza Del Quirinaile
We stopped at a local supermarket and bought some salami, procuitto, crackers and water for the train ride tomorrow. Unlike the UK, we can get a lot of the same products in Canada.
After returning to the hotel, we went to do laundry. At the laundromat, we met four backpackers from Alberta. Luckily, they didn't stick around for very long. They weren't the type of people I enjoy being around.
The laundry place was quite strange. It was run by two Indian men, one of whom was named the 'laundry nazi' from other travelers They also offered internet access and ran an Indian restaurant down the street.
After being there for an hour or so, a couple from San Francisco came in. We began talking and got along quite well. Rebecca and Sheldon quit their jobs, chose to travel a bit and are moving to Perth, Australia. Rebecca is originally from Perth, while Sheldon's from Trinidad. Once our laundry was done, we made plans to meet up with them for dinner when they were finished.
We quickly dropped off our clothes at the hotel and went to an internet cafe to check e-mail. I used a service they provide to burn a CD from my digital camera's memory card. Unfortunately, none of the systems had a CD-ROM, so I couldn't verify the disk. I decided not to erase my card yet. I'm already on my second memory card. Hopefully I'll have enough space left for the rest of the trip. If not, I'll need to validate the CD somewhere.
At 10PM we met with Rebecca and Sheldon for dinner. We decided to try Capitello. They had a fixed price menu for people staying in hostels. While Rebecca and Sheldon were staying in a hostel, we weren't. The restaurant staff didn't care. The special menu offered water, bread, a choice of multiple pasta dishes, a choice of multiple meat dishes and a choice of salad or potatoes. I started with Spaghetti a la Carbonara. It's spaghetti with egg, cheese and bacon. After the pasta course, we were all getting quite full, but there was more to come. My next course was grilled pork and roasted potatoes.
Throughout the meal, the owner continued to come out and joke around with was. It was a really great atmosphere. At the end of the meal, he came to see if we wanted any drinks. We were all stuffed and decided not to order anything. He insisted and brought us complementary glasses of an Italian lemon liquor called Limoncello. It was good, but kind of reminded me of lemon Halls cough drops.
Before we left, we asked the owner to take our picture.
On the way back to the hotel, we found a pair or underwear, a small piece of toilet paper, a pile of shit and a shit stained car. Not sure what to make of that.
Overall, it was a great evening to end our stay in Rome.
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2004
Since we were up late last night, we decided to sleep in a bit and take an early afternoon train out of Rome.
When arriving at the station, we found we had an hour wait until our train would leave. We went to a restaurant in the station called Roadhouse Grill. It was VERY strange there. It was basically a Montana's type of restaurant. There wasn't a single Italian dish on the menu. Everything was 100% American there. Neither of us were very hungry, so we each ordered a small Caesar salad.
At the tables, they had a pale of peanuts along with a basket of tortilla chips with salsa. The salsa was different as it was very sweet, yet still had some spice to it. Upon receiving the bill, we found they automatically charged 3.20 Euro for these. I read about such automatic charges, but this is the first time we've experienced it.
I picked up a bag of Biscotti for the train ride from a store in the station, along with a small bottle of Limoncello.
Before getting on the train, we stopped at the money exchange booth. We wanted to see if they'd lower their commission any further. This time, they wanted to give us 127 Euro for 200 Euro in travelers checks!!! We just walked away in total shock.
On the train back from Naples, we were surprised when we got a train car with individual compartments. We has the same today.
From what we've been able to tell, there's no real difference between 1st and 2nd class seats. Only that the 1st class cars are at the front of the train.
The view on the train was incredible. The beginning of the trip was right along the water. We also passed multiple hill towns and farms.
We arrived at La Spezia station and jumped on a local train to take us to Cinque Terres. We purchased tickets for the local train and went to the platform. The train wasn't anywhere to be seen and it was supposed to leave in a few minutes. Suddenly, there was an announcement on the PA which was not repeated in English. Practically everyone at the platform rushed from our platform and got on another train. Apparently the track was changed for the train. Unfortunately, we got there too late. We caught the next train which came 30min later.
We decided to stop at the south most town of Cinque Terres call Riomaggiore. It's pretty much a postcard hill town.
When we arrived, I got this shot of the sunset.
We started looking for a place to stay. Walking around, we found a sign listing apartments for rent. We went to the office, only to find they were fully booked. A waiter at a nearby restaurant suggested we speak to the owner of the local bar.
When arriving at the bar, the owner approached us and asked if we were looking for a place to stay. When we said yes, he called over an older Italian man. The man's name was Anthony and he rents units in his house to travelers He showed us one unit where 4 people were already staying. We asked if there was a private room, he said yes and he showed it to us. Since it was only 10 Euro more per night, we took the private room.
The room was a nice size and had a terrace which overlooked the town. The washroom was shared with the room below us. The toilet was extremely awkward to use as it was crammed in a very small corner.
Anthony suggested a family owned restaurant for dinner, so we went there. I ordered Penne with Scampi and was surprised to find 3 COMPLETE scampi on my plate. When I say 'complete', I mean they were still in their shells with all appendages still intact. The dish wasn't my favorite so far. It was very salty and the scampi were nearly impossible to eat.
Walking around this town, I find myself being slightly turned off. There's a 'fake' feeling to this place. Tourists have taken Cinque Terre for themselves and left little for the locals. Anthony was telling us how the population of Cinque Terres is less than 1/3 what it was before the tourists started coming.
Don't get me wrong though, it's a very beautiful place and I'll definitely have some great pictures tomorrow. I'll save my final judgment until I see the other 4 towns. For now, here's a night shot of Riomaggiore.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2004
We were both very tired this morning, so we slept in. At about 11am, we started our long journey across Cinque Terres.
Since we started in Riomaggiore (the south most town), our first stop would be Manarola. It was a 15 minute hike, which wasn't hard at all. The view we were treated to was incredible.
Manarola was a quieter town than Riomaggiore. There were more locals going around the streets than tourists, which made it feel more like a real town instead of a tourist trap.
We left Manarola to our next destination, Corniglia.
The view we got on this part of our hike was even better as we got to higher ground.
The hike took 30 minutes and was noticeably tougher than the first hike. Many more stairs to climb. Keep in mind these are not your ordinary building steps. These steps are many (hundreds?) years old and are made of dirt and rocks. Their surface is not flat. Instead, they are jagged from the rocks they are built with.
Corniglia was pretty much the same as Manarola. There were quite a lot of cats and dogs throughout the town.
We stopped for lunch to recharge our energy. I had a sandwich of cheese and spinach. for dessert, we each ordered a large gilato desert. It came with three large scoops of ice cream, whipping cream, 2 small cones and 2 small cookies. A great way to get a much needed sugar boost.
After lunch, we began the next hike on our journey to Vernazzia.
We'd been warned about the increasing difficulty of the hikes, but we had no idea that this hike would be so difficult. Within the first few minutes we quickly realized the challenge currently in front of us. There were an incredible number of stairs to navigate, along with uneven terrain. But the effort was worth it for the view.
Vernazzia felt very much like Riomaggiore. We didn't stay in the town very long as we'd been told the last hike was the longest and toughest. So without wasting any time, we were on our way to Monterosso.
The hike started with a constant 20 minutes of stair climbing. Luckily, it was mostly level terrain until the last 10 minutes where more stairs had to be navigated. The difficulty wasn't as bad as the previous hike. The one difference was the path was quite narrow. You basically had the mountain on your right and a nice fall to your death on the left. One missed step and this webpage would have never been posted.
After a 1.5 hour hike, we finally made it to Monterosso.
It turns out we have a family restaurant there.
Monterosso was the largest and most tourist oriented town of the five. It's pretty much a resort town, complete with its own beach (Sorry, no beach pictures as we all know what a beach looks like).
We were both tired and VERY sweaty after the hike, so we headed to the train station for a ride back to Riomaggiore (NO!!! We were not going to walk back!!). At the station, it seemed there was a hidden message in the power lines. What do you think?
After washing and changing in to clean clothes, we had dinner at a local restaurant. I had pasta with pesto sauce, green beans and potatoes. For dessert, I had tiramisu.
After having a few glasses of wine, Adam decided to ask for waitress for the check in Italian. Instead of asking for 'il conto' he asked for 'il scronto'. We have no idea if that means anything else. Personally, I'm hoping is means something really nasty :-)
As the ritual continues, I grabbed a gilato before heading back to the room.
My feelings this evening are pretty much the same as last night. The city is purely a tourist attraction. Anthony was telling us more than 2/3 of the population of Cinque Terres left once the tourists started flooding the towns.
Cinque Terres is known for its Olives and Grapes. Both of these, along with the tourist activities are controlled by the Cinque Terres corporation. It just seems wrong that five towns are governed by a corporation. Can you believe they charge 3 Euro to hike between the towns? that just doesn't seem right.
Tomorrow ... Pisa and Venice.
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2004
Slept in again today. Woke up at 8:45am instead of 8:00am as we originally wanted to. But it didn't make much of a difference as the train schedule didn't have an earlier departure time.
We left Riomaggiore for Le Spezia on the local train. It was only a single stop, which took a few minutes. Once arriving in La Spezia, we boarded the train for Pisa.
Once arriving in Pisa, we had 1.5 hours before our train to Venice would leave. We decided to hightail it over to the leaning tower, which is on the other side of town. The train station pretty much sits at the southern border of Pisa, while the tower is at the northern border. With our backpacks on, we headed north.
Pisa is a small town. The road we walked down seems to be the main shopping strip. Here you'll find all the big name stores (which are just as expensive as back home).
In just under 30 minutes, we found ourselves at the tower.
Compared to the other sights we've seen, it's surprisingly unimpressive. Since we didn't have time, nor wanted to pay the 15 Euro, we chose not to walk up the tower.
I took some pictures of the city on the way back to the station.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet, but bikes and scooters are a major form of transportation in Italy.
Since we arrived in Italy, I was shocked to be unable to find a single restaurant or bakery selling cannolis On the way back to the station, I found one! It was great! The cream inside was soft, not the dried out stuff you get when you order one at home.
Our train to Venice was a EuroStar train. It was the first we'd been on and will hopefully be the last. We were surprised to have very little room compared to the other trains. We'll definitely stick with the IC (InterCity) trains the rest of the trip.
As we approached Venice, nearly all the passengers left the train too soon. There are two stations in Venice. The first is for the mainland and the other is for the island. A few realized their mistake and got back on the train. Considering there was no water to be seen, you'd think people would realize they weren't in the right spot.
Approaching the island was pretty cool, as you get to a point where it seems the train is riding on water.
After getting off the train, we signed in at the hostel office and were brought to our room. It's a small room, with a private bathroom.
Breakfast is also included.
Oh .... the twin beds are the smaller type of twin.
The view from the room isn't very good.
But there's a better view from another window in the building.
Once settled in at the hostel, we took a walk around the city. Shopping and eating seem to be a major part of everyday life in Venice. Bakeries, glass shops and big label stores fill the streets.
You wouldn't think that a place filled with stores would be a place you'd want to go, but it's a gorgeous place. There are quite areas where you get scenery like this.
We ended our walk at San Marco Square which is a main area of the city.
Tomorrow we'll view the sites during the day and check out the shops at night.
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2004
I woke up at 6:45am and Adam was still asleep. I decided to go for a little walk around the immediate area.
I think I was one of the only tourists on the street. Instead of tourists, the streets were filled with locals heading to work. Some getting ready to open their shops, others heading for the water taxis.
All the bakeries had their doors and windows open while baking fresh bread and pastries. I couldn't resist the smell and bought these terrific apple filled pastries for breakfast.
One Adam was ready, we headed for the water taxi. We passed by the Rialto bridge and I took a few pictures along the way.
We discovered water taxi tickets were unavailable for purchase at the stop we chose, so we moved to another. For 10.50 Euro, you get a 24 hour pass for all the water taxi routes. We purchased the pass and headed to St. Giorgio Maggiore.
Once arriving at the church, we were greeted with a nice view of San Marco Square from across the water.
We went inside the church to look around.
Once inside, we discovered we could take an elevator to the top of the church for a great view of Venice.
We headed back to the main island and walked around some more.
For our next destination, we needed to catch a taxi on the other side of the island. On the way to the taxi, we passed through San Marco Square. They were filming a movie at the back section. I saw Jeremy Irons getting in to costume.
I thought I also saw Heath Ledger, but I second guessed myself thinking he looked too small. Well, it turns out it was him. Not that I care though. I'm much more interested in Jeremy Irons.
We stayed around the square for a little while.
The square was full of pigeons. Feeding the pigeons is a main attraction at the square during the day. Adam decided to feed them and then talked me in to doing the same.
Here are two videos from Adam's camera.
It was hilarious, as we both had birds all over us. Surprisingly, after being with the pigeons for well over half an hour, neither of us were hit with any bird droppings.
We continued to the north end of the island to catch the taxi to Murano. Murano is where all the Venitian glass is made. We walked around a bit, looking at all the stores and watching some glass items being made. We then headed back to the island.
Adam decided to take a rest at the hostel, so I went for a walk. Aside from food and glass, Venice is also full of shops selling masks. For those familiar with Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, you know the type of masks I'm talking about. They are just so cool. I think I'll buy one before we leave.
I returned to the hostel and we headed out for a quick browse of the local shops. Since we started at 7pm, we only had an hour before most stores would close.
After window shopping, we grabbed some dinner. I had ravioli with cheese in spinach sauce and roast chicken.
When we met Sheldon and Rebecca in Rome, they told us we needed to try a sweet spritz . It was apparently important to get it sweet, as the regular version is bland. So after dinner, we stopped at a local bar for some gelato and a spritz.
The bartender didn't speak English, so Adam tried to order in Italian using the English to Italian phrase book. He successfully asked for a spritz, but had to look up the word for sweet. He found the translation and had the bartender read directly from the book instead of trying to pronounce the word. The bartender gave us a very odd look and seemed quite confused. Adam gave me the book and showed me the word he pointed out to the bartender. It turned out he pointed to the word 'sweat' instead of 'sweet'. The confusion was quickly cleared up and the three of us had a good laugh.
We returned to our room slightly buzzed from the drink and prepared for the last phase of our trip ... Florence.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2004
Checked out of our hostel this morning and took advantage of a free bag check service they offered. We weren't heading to Florence until early afternoon, so we hit the shops.
We went to a large mask store I found while on my late afternoon walk yesterday.
The pictures I took only show a small amount of their selection. It is easily the largest mask selection in all of Venice. I couldn't help myself and purchased two for myself.
At 1:27pm, we were on our way to Florence. The reason we caught a late train was because all the earlier departures were on EuroStar trains. The train we got was an IC train with the separate cabins.
The trip took 3 hours and was uneventful. Both of us are nearing the end of our traveling energy, so we're not as alert as we were previously.
Once arriving in Florence, we went to our hostel and were shocked at the large size of the room.
The hostel is run by a man called Oscar. He's very friendly and had quite a few rooms available for travelers I'd definitely recommend him to anyone going to Florence.
After settling in, we walked in to the main city core.
The cathedral (Duomo) and the Baptistery are the first things you see when arriving in the core.
Both of us were taken back by the size of Duomo. As we've both has our fill of churches for this trip, we decided not to enter either.
We walked down to the Arno river and long the Ponte Vencchio bridge.
As we crossed the bridge, a marching band came through the area. We later learned it was to celebrate (promote?) a wine tasting festival.
We found a nice restaurant on the other side of the Arno river. I had meat lasagne and sausages. Gilato was provided for desert, but wasn't very good. It was like vanilla ice cream which had been left in the freezer too long.
We decided to call it an early night. Tomorrow we're planning to visit two museums and visit Michelangelo Square.
I'm running out of memory for my digital camera. I hope I have enough.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1, 2004
I can't believe it's October already. Before I know it, it will be 2005.
The plan for today was to see Michelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Accademia, The Birth of Venus at the Uffizi and visit Piazzale Michelanelo for a good view of the city.
Since the Galleria dell'Accademia was only a few minutes from the hostel, it was our first stop. There were two decent sized lines waiting to enter. One was for people with reservations, which the other was for people without. We didn't have reservations and got in the appropriate line.
It only took 15 minutes before we were in the gallery. It's a rather small place, mainly filled with religious paintings. Most of the people visiting the gallery are only there to see Michelangelo's David.
Michealandelo's David is the centerpiece of the second room. The first thing you notice is the immense size. It apparently measures 17' tall.
They are EXTREMELY strict with photography in the gallery. They won't even let you hold your camera. As in the Sistine Chapel, I wasn't going to let that stop me.
Because of the way I had to take these pictures, the statue isn't in focus. That's the price you pay for covert photos.
After seeing the rest of the gallery, we made our way to the Uffizi museum. The line to enter was huge. A digital sign at the entrance displayed the anticipated wait time .... 1.5 hours! Since we were only really interested in seeing a single painting, we decided not to wait around.
Our next stop was Piazzale Michelangelo. To get there, we took a side street which took us through a residential area with extremely steep streets.
To reach the square, we were greeted with what seemed like a never ending set of stairs. After all the walking we've done over the past two weeks and the climb we had just completed through the residential area, the stairs were not a welcome sight.
Before reaching the square, we stopped at a little restaurant for a drink and a bathroom break. You had to pay this old guy sitting at the door to use the washroom. For 50 cents, I had the pleasure of using this.
The weather in Florence has been cloudy and gray since we arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, that doesn't help when trying to take nice pictures of the city. Here's the view once we reach the square.
At the center of the square, there is a replica of Michelangelo's David.
On our was back, we found an international outdoor market at Piazza Santa Croce. There were vendors selling everything from perfume to sausages. I bought some great Belgian chocolates from one of the vendors.
We also popped in to a few local stores. Unlike Venice, there isn't much here that's a 'must buy'. That's a very good thing because I'm out of money. I'll have to use a bank machine if I want to eat these next two days. This will be the second time I'll have withdrawn money. By the end of the trip, I thing I'll have spent 700 Euro. It's a little more than I was planning on, but I guess it's not too bad for 13 days in Italy.
Before grabbing dinner, we stopped at a local grocery store. I bought some pasta and pesto sauce. I figured it made more sense to buy food from a regular grocery store instead of the specialty stores where a small bottle of pesto is 6 Euro or higher.
We found a nice restaurant just down the street from the hostel. I had crepes stuffed with spinach in a cheese sauce, roasted chicken with potatoes and creme caramel.
Went back to the hostel and called it a night. Tomorrow, we're heading back to Rome.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 2, 2004
Today we headed back to Rome. Since we have to be at the airport early tomorrow, it didn't make sense to go anywhere else.
When we got to Rome, our first objective was to find a place to stay. Four hotels in a row turned us away as they were booked. One of the hotels recommended the 'Hotel Dei Milles', which was just down the street. We went there are were lucky to find they had a single room left.
The room was a decent size, but the overall condition was poor. Lots of cracks in the walls, peeling wallpaper and noise from other hotel guests. As least we have a place to stay.
The bathroom was quite funny. The bathroom and shower were one in the same. Let me explain. There was no separate shower. The shower head was on the bathroom wall, with a drain on the floor.
After checking in, we walked around popping in to local shops. We were both completely wiped out from the trip.
After dinner (ravioli, pizza and cooked creme), we headed to the train station to buy our ticket for tomorrow back to the airport.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 3, 2004
I wasn't going to write anything today, but I had to get this down.
During our time in Italy, we noticed they have no concept of forming a single file line. This carried itself to the airport. At the security checkpoint, they pretty much forced 200+ people in a relatively small area which led to only 5 security booth. If someone would have turned on some Nirvana I'm pretty sure a moshpit would have formed.
To make things even better, I was stopped by security and they went through ALL my stuff. They even opened the gifts I bought. So much for the nice wrapping done at the stores.
In the end, we got home safe and sound. And thus ends my trip to Italy.
