After packing up and leaving for the second time from Suzie's villa, we headed towards Florence.
Their suggestion had been to park in a lot outside of the city and then take a bus into town to see the sights. The "clearly marked parking lots" mentioned by both Suzie and Jerry as well as in our guidebook were not even a blip on our radar. We got all the way into town without seeing parking lots and were stymied from reaching our destination by the numerous roads marked with the international do not enter sign. Did I mention they automatically charge you $100 fine for driving on them without a special permit?
In the old town, the streets are barely wide enough for a car and the roads are restricted to local traffic only. We had set up Siri to take us to the museum with the Statue of David by Michelangelo. Oops. When that didn't work, we set up Siri to take us to the train station so we could return the damn car at one of two Avis areas in Florence and walk to see the statue. Oops again. When that didn't work we almost fled Florence completely to go return the car to Milan, but Richard's calmer head prevailed and we turned our sites on the airport rental car return, figuring that the car return there would feature highways, not restricted wagon carts from the 14th century.
We got the car returned and splurged on a cab ride back to the train station This was probably the most stressful day of our trip. We had pulled off on the side of the road twice when we could find a pseudo parking spot and tried to re-calculate some kind of trip but my navigation skills as well as Siri failed us in Florence. We couldn't park, we didn't see parking lots, we didn't see bus stops, and we couldn't drive directly to the area with the things we wanted to see.
Taking a cab was a luxury for us, this was our first and only cab ride on the entire trip, and it was SO worth it that day. One of the coolest things about Europe, at any large train station they had "bag drops", where you can pay to store your suitcases for the day while you tour the city. We asked around at the train station and found the bag drop area and delivered our backpacks for the day. The walk to see David was only about ten minutes. But first, let's have another cappuccino. We reactivated Siri and put her on walk mode. She worked flawlessly.
We got to the museum and saw an amazing statue that I promptly took a picture of when two guards started shaking their fingers and yelling "no pictures", or the Italian equivalent. I know I understood immediately what they were saying and after apologizing profusely, I put my iPhone away.
David was in the next room. He's immense. Nothing prepared me for the mastery of him in person. He's over 17 feet high. He has earthquake sensors on him. They closely monitor numerous hairline cracks in him, particularly in his right leg, which has the brunt of the weight resting on it. Truly an amazing feat of engineering as well as artistry, it was extraordinary and well worth the aggravation of getting into Florence.
Next up was the nearest piazza and church with a Duomo. This was the first dome after St. Peter's Basilica. For almost 1000 years, no one could recall how to build a Duomo. We currently refer to that period as the Middle ages. Or the dark ages, take your pick. In seeing what Rome had conjured up, I was leaning towards the dark ages at this point. This was the first time since Rome that we decided to inspect the inside of a church. In we went.
And there was a turnstile, a "pay here, please", and then we were shuttled into a small door.....uh oh. We are not small. And we thought we were entering the CHURCH. What we entered was the line to climb the Duomo! So up we went around and around on a small stone spiral staircase that went on and on and on and on....Richard found a few spots to stop to let people pass him, but eventually we both made it all the way to the top!
Then it was down and down and down. Unbelievably good exercise that day folks. And mediocre views at best. But at least we got to take a bullet train at the end of the day, and headed back to Milan for our connection to Lugano. The bullet train goins as fast as 240KM per hour, which was over 180MPH. This train was luxurious compared to our previous Italia Rail experience. We ended the day nicely:)
Friday, December 7, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Leaving Rome, or "Hey, come stay the night"!
We are Facebook friends with many, many people. Our connections with Landmark Education, our large and extended families, lots of friends and living in two different cities has created an enormous circle of friends and acquaintances for both of us. One friend of Richard's had protested last year when we went to Venice but didn't go visit her. Suzie lives in Tuscany, an hour south of Florence.
Leaving Rome and heading back north towards Zurich and our flight home, we had three days to pick and choose what to see on our way back. We got directions and headed north. Siri made good time, getting us to the Castle near her home just before dark. Unfortunately, the GPS won't provide directions to their Villa, so she had emailed instructions. We tried following them three times with no success, guessing at several points, and finally called Suzie to come meet us. Again, Richard had to go to the bathroom, so there was more urgency to get there than usual:)
She talked us into "one more try" and this time we went far enough to see the turnoff onto a dirt road. It certainly felt like home to me, having lived off a dirt road for nearly ten years. But what a different view. Instead of rolling hills and saguaro cactus, mesquite and ironwood, there were rolling hills, olive groves, villas and grape vines. Much, much greener, too. We pulled into their gate just at dark and marveled at their 14th century villa. It was just as gorgeous as a picture. Did I mention Richard had to go to the bathroom? That was the first room he saw:)
We had originally just planned a "real Tuscany dinner" that Suzie was going to cook but at some point on the way in from Rome she had also extended an overnight invitation. She showed us to our room, up an old, old stone circular staircase and into a beautiful room with a day bed. Pointing to the day bed, she said, "There's your bed, that's big enough for you two, right Richard?" Well it was a suite of rooms, this was the sitting room, complete with candies, cookies and candles. The bedroom was beautifully appointed with a net over over the bed, water pitchers on both nightstands and a small room heater blasting warm air. The bathroom was a bit more modern than the rest of the rooms.
Once settled, we joined Suzie down in the kitchen. The eat in kitchen was a grand space with high ceilings, and a reach in fireplace next to the modern, six burner gas stove. This "old meets new" was all over the house, and eventually we learned that the original building was the center section. Built with three stories with cooking on the bottom, living in the middle and sleeping at the top, along with a guard to keep watch. We were directly above the kitchen so part of our rooms were the original structure. We ate a delicious caprese salad with olive oil produced from their very own olives. This was a working farm that also included a winery. Suzie had made spaghetti and meatballs, which we learned are traditionally served as two courses, and then we had a wonderful time with Suzie and her husband Jerry, listening to youtube videos of Patti Lupone and Lea Solanga. Wow, what amazing voices those dames have!
Jerry put together a great three day tour of Tuscany, we slept well, then packed up the next day. At breakfast they issued another invite to spend the night. We left undecided, but if we were staying again, they must let us treat to dinner out.
Jerry's plan included a trip to Siena and San Gimignano. Siena has a great piazza that they still race horses in today. Twice a year they run around the clam shaped Piazza del Campo. It was amazing to see the piazza and also to know that their cathedral was completed in the 13 century. In another amazing "old meets new", this town up on a hill is equipped with a series of escalators that take people up almost six floors to the town.
San Gimignano was incredible. The original sky scrapers are here. The feudal warring of the medieval ages took many of the towers in the region down but several survived here and it is an amazing skyline to come up on for an ancient town. As an added bonus, this place had the best leather shopping I had seen, so to fulfill on my obligation to go home with some Italian leather, this was where I shopped! Suzie had told me this was the place and I could see why she recommended it.
We were still listening to the church bells and I took some video of them here as well, so that tells me they were still "magical" at this point.
Suzie and Jerry took us to a great neighborhood spot that had wonderful food and Jerry shared more about his executive training programs that he is setting up to be delivered from their Villa. This was one of the restaurants they intended to support with program attendees. He also shared the veteran "get the house wine" suggestion that we'd heard elsewhere. It's true, in the heart of the Chianti region there was no bad house wine. After dinner they recommended yet another day plan for travel and invited us for a third night to stay, but we knew we were ready to move further north after Florence.
While we were in San Gimignano, we weren't certain we would stay again or have the opportunity, so we ferreted out some gifts for our generous housemates. In Siena, Richard had found a universal remote too, as Jerry said the TV delivery didn't have a remote, or forgot to bring it. So Richard programmed everything to work before we left the next morning. Then I found the aged Balsamic vinegar for Suzie and bottle of Barolo region wine for Jerry. I hope they know how much we appreciated their hospitality, it was an amazing gift.
Leaving Rome and heading back north towards Zurich and our flight home, we had three days to pick and choose what to see on our way back. We got directions and headed north. Siri made good time, getting us to the Castle near her home just before dark. Unfortunately, the GPS won't provide directions to their Villa, so she had emailed instructions. We tried following them three times with no success, guessing at several points, and finally called Suzie to come meet us. Again, Richard had to go to the bathroom, so there was more urgency to get there than usual:)
She talked us into "one more try" and this time we went far enough to see the turnoff onto a dirt road. It certainly felt like home to me, having lived off a dirt road for nearly ten years. But what a different view. Instead of rolling hills and saguaro cactus, mesquite and ironwood, there were rolling hills, olive groves, villas and grape vines. Much, much greener, too. We pulled into their gate just at dark and marveled at their 14th century villa. It was just as gorgeous as a picture. Did I mention Richard had to go to the bathroom? That was the first room he saw:)
We had originally just planned a "real Tuscany dinner" that Suzie was going to cook but at some point on the way in from Rome she had also extended an overnight invitation. She showed us to our room, up an old, old stone circular staircase and into a beautiful room with a day bed. Pointing to the day bed, she said, "There's your bed, that's big enough for you two, right Richard?" Well it was a suite of rooms, this was the sitting room, complete with candies, cookies and candles. The bedroom was beautifully appointed with a net over over the bed, water pitchers on both nightstands and a small room heater blasting warm air. The bathroom was a bit more modern than the rest of the rooms.
Once settled, we joined Suzie down in the kitchen. The eat in kitchen was a grand space with high ceilings, and a reach in fireplace next to the modern, six burner gas stove. This "old meets new" was all over the house, and eventually we learned that the original building was the center section. Built with three stories with cooking on the bottom, living in the middle and sleeping at the top, along with a guard to keep watch. We were directly above the kitchen so part of our rooms were the original structure. We ate a delicious caprese salad with olive oil produced from their very own olives. This was a working farm that also included a winery. Suzie had made spaghetti and meatballs, which we learned are traditionally served as two courses, and then we had a wonderful time with Suzie and her husband Jerry, listening to youtube videos of Patti Lupone and Lea Solanga. Wow, what amazing voices those dames have!
Jerry put together a great three day tour of Tuscany, we slept well, then packed up the next day. At breakfast they issued another invite to spend the night. We left undecided, but if we were staying again, they must let us treat to dinner out.
Jerry's plan included a trip to Siena and San Gimignano. Siena has a great piazza that they still race horses in today. Twice a year they run around the clam shaped Piazza del Campo. It was amazing to see the piazza and also to know that their cathedral was completed in the 13 century. In another amazing "old meets new", this town up on a hill is equipped with a series of escalators that take people up almost six floors to the town.
San Gimignano was incredible. The original sky scrapers are here. The feudal warring of the medieval ages took many of the towers in the region down but several survived here and it is an amazing skyline to come up on for an ancient town. As an added bonus, this place had the best leather shopping I had seen, so to fulfill on my obligation to go home with some Italian leather, this was where I shopped! Suzie had told me this was the place and I could see why she recommended it.
We were still listening to the church bells and I took some video of them here as well, so that tells me they were still "magical" at this point.
Suzie and Jerry took us to a great neighborhood spot that had wonderful food and Jerry shared more about his executive training programs that he is setting up to be delivered from their Villa. This was one of the restaurants they intended to support with program attendees. He also shared the veteran "get the house wine" suggestion that we'd heard elsewhere. It's true, in the heart of the Chianti region there was no bad house wine. After dinner they recommended yet another day plan for travel and invited us for a third night to stay, but we knew we were ready to move further north after Florence.
While we were in San Gimignano, we weren't certain we would stay again or have the opportunity, so we ferreted out some gifts for our generous housemates. In Siena, Richard had found a universal remote too, as Jerry said the TV delivery didn't have a remote, or forgot to bring it. So Richard programmed everything to work before we left the next morning. Then I found the aged Balsamic vinegar for Suzie and bottle of Barolo region wine for Jerry. I hope they know how much we appreciated their hospitality, it was an amazing gift.
Miscellaneous Serendipity
We backpacked in Europe this time. Sounds very athletic but really it wasn't. What we mean when we say it is that we packed all our junk into a backpack to carry on our back instead of wheelio-ing around with all the cobblestones. I should have re-read my notes from last year that declared "next time only bring three pants and five shirts and wash things'. I actually still brought too many shirts for layering and ended up being incredibly warm for much of the time in the two cashmere sweaters I had brought. I wore my sleeveless shirt with a long sweatercoat over it and was the most comfortable in that.
The weather was warm. One of the things I loved was that each day in Switzerland it was supposed to be gray, cloudy or raining. And it mostly wasn't. We would get clear skies day after day! There was one day of rain and one day of cloudiness. The rest of the time, wonderful weather to view those magnificent Alps and cows, and clocks.
We did get rain in Rome. Richard marveled that the street vendors so quickly shifted their gear from toys to umbrellas and rain ponchos. He paid too much for a poncho he used exactly once.
The night we left the bright green restaurant we stopped at at ATM for some cash. Good thing because the next day our cards all stopped working. Richard spent a good hour getting in contact with the bank once they were open (2PM our time in Rome) in order to have them free the cards up. They had inadvertently marked one week of European use instead of the 16 days we were to be gone. And we had cash. Plus that morning we had grabbed a bread, meat and cheese to go from our hotel breakfast. It just always seemed to work out, that was my experience in Europe.
Richard tried for two days to find a special shopping spot that he had visited before and then we stumbled into it in Rome near the end of day two. The old area of Rome with streets the size of sidewalks. Quaint and quirky shops and locals galore. Antique stores that looked like they had looted Versailles. Ornate and glittery objects packed one tiny shop we passed, I think it was good we found that area when the cards didn't work!
The tree getting placed in Lugano's piazza was a memorable moment. What an amazing feat to copter that thing in and get the trunk down into the hole and how awesome that we just happened to pick that 15 minute stretch to be sitting in a glassed in restaurant with a birds eye view of the whole thing!
Following the walking tour in Zurich which included a visit to the police station. Rick Steve's was right, the art in the police station moved me to tears. From "inyourpocket" tour guides is this: "In the entrance hall to the city's police headquarters, Augusto Giacometti's magnificent murals (1923-1925) adorn the vaulted ceiling and the walls".
They are joyful, bright and vibrant, painted in his gratitude fot he end of World War I. Oranges, reds and yellows dominate. No photos allowed but I found one on the internet...
The weather was warm. One of the things I loved was that each day in Switzerland it was supposed to be gray, cloudy or raining. And it mostly wasn't. We would get clear skies day after day! There was one day of rain and one day of cloudiness. The rest of the time, wonderful weather to view those magnificent Alps and cows, and clocks.
We did get rain in Rome. Richard marveled that the street vendors so quickly shifted their gear from toys to umbrellas and rain ponchos. He paid too much for a poncho he used exactly once.
The night we left the bright green restaurant we stopped at at ATM for some cash. Good thing because the next day our cards all stopped working. Richard spent a good hour getting in contact with the bank once they were open (2PM our time in Rome) in order to have them free the cards up. They had inadvertently marked one week of European use instead of the 16 days we were to be gone. And we had cash. Plus that morning we had grabbed a bread, meat and cheese to go from our hotel breakfast. It just always seemed to work out, that was my experience in Europe.
Richard tried for two days to find a special shopping spot that he had visited before and then we stumbled into it in Rome near the end of day two. The old area of Rome with streets the size of sidewalks. Quaint and quirky shops and locals galore. Antique stores that looked like they had looted Versailles. Ornate and glittery objects packed one tiny shop we passed, I think it was good we found that area when the cards didn't work!
The tree getting placed in Lugano's piazza was a memorable moment. What an amazing feat to copter that thing in and get the trunk down into the hole and how awesome that we just happened to pick that 15 minute stretch to be sitting in a glassed in restaurant with a birds eye view of the whole thing!
They are joyful, bright and vibrant, painted in his gratitude fot he end of World War I. Oranges, reds and yellows dominate. No photos allowed but I found one on the internet...
Misto, misto!
Day one in Rome completed with a nighttime view of the Trevi Fountain. I had heard Richard's story of his first visit to Rome....a local had asked him if he had seen the fountain yet. Richard said, no not yet. The man replied "You MUST see it at NIGHT"! (Can you hear the emphasis?) "Most people wish three times....to return to Rome, to find love, and to have money. But ME, I am MARRIED, and I LIVE in Rome, so I toss the coins over my shoulders and say MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!".
I love the way Richard tells that story, and we saw the fountains at night and they were indeed incredible. We saw them during the day as well. Still lovely. HUGE. Like so many common areas of Rome, I was surprised by the scope of it all. There are a number of public fountains where you can get a drink. This is not normal in most of Europe and we enjoyed being able to fill up a water bottle here and there.
The second night at dinner was a Sunday, and the little place across the street was closed, so we asked the front desk for a referral to a "real" Rome restaurant off the beaten path that might be open. Our front desk clerk obliged and off we went with her map. We ended up alone in a bright green restaurant, having passed two other booming places. I was hungry enough to want to stop sooner and was a bit taken aback at the empty interior of the place we were sent to. But in we went. The waiter spoke almost no english. Perfect!
We ordered wine and then put ourselves in his capable hands. I said I wanted the beans, he said "they're beans", I reconfirmed that I like beans, and he said "Ok, MISTO" for the appetizer choice! Which we interpreted to mean "everything" because soon our table was filled with small plates of everything! Later I read that it means mixture, or variety, or medley. Cold zucchini and eggplant salad with parmesan, clams, caprese salad, the bean dish, which was excellent, and many more.
We were stuffed but were dying to try at least one pasta dish at the now FULL restaurant. We had forgotten that the locals don't eat until 7:30PM. They only open earlier than that in tourist areas.
Our order was for a linguini dish that ended up looking like the entire sea was mixed with our pasta and it was fabulous. Similar to a Cioppino. We rolled ourselves back to our hotel after a leisurly and long meal that culminated with creme brûlée, also lovely although by then we couldn't finish it.
We are learning as we go. Trust the recommendations. Eat later, don't eat at the full restaurants at 6PM, they're for tourists, MISTO is GOOD!
We snuck some video of the hapless waiter, at some point in the dinner I realized he reminded me of an old boyfriend John, whom Richard also knows and we are still friends with. I blurted out, "he could be John's uncle!" and Richard almost snorted wine. So I have that memory as well:) This turned out to be our best meal on the entire trip.
As a followup, John came by for dinner this week, we showed him the video and he confirms the guy could be a long lost relative.
I love the way Richard tells that story, and we saw the fountains at night and they were indeed incredible. We saw them during the day as well. Still lovely. HUGE. Like so many common areas of Rome, I was surprised by the scope of it all. There are a number of public fountains where you can get a drink. This is not normal in most of Europe and we enjoyed being able to fill up a water bottle here and there.
The second night at dinner was a Sunday, and the little place across the street was closed, so we asked the front desk for a referral to a "real" Rome restaurant off the beaten path that might be open. Our front desk clerk obliged and off we went with her map. We ended up alone in a bright green restaurant, having passed two other booming places. I was hungry enough to want to stop sooner and was a bit taken aback at the empty interior of the place we were sent to. But in we went. The waiter spoke almost no english. Perfect!
We ordered wine and then put ourselves in his capable hands. I said I wanted the beans, he said "they're beans", I reconfirmed that I like beans, and he said "Ok, MISTO" for the appetizer choice! Which we interpreted to mean "everything" because soon our table was filled with small plates of everything! Later I read that it means mixture, or variety, or medley. Cold zucchini and eggplant salad with parmesan, clams, caprese salad, the bean dish, which was excellent, and many more.
We were stuffed but were dying to try at least one pasta dish at the now FULL restaurant. We had forgotten that the locals don't eat until 7:30PM. They only open earlier than that in tourist areas.
Our order was for a linguini dish that ended up looking like the entire sea was mixed with our pasta and it was fabulous. Similar to a Cioppino. We rolled ourselves back to our hotel after a leisurly and long meal that culminated with creme brûlée, also lovely although by then we couldn't finish it.
We are learning as we go. Trust the recommendations. Eat later, don't eat at the full restaurants at 6PM, they're for tourists, MISTO is GOOD!
We snuck some video of the hapless waiter, at some point in the dinner I realized he reminded me of an old boyfriend John, whom Richard also knows and we are still friends with. I blurted out, "he could be John's uncle!" and Richard almost snorted wine. So I have that memory as well:) This turned out to be our best meal on the entire trip.
As a followup, John came by for dinner this week, we showed him the video and he confirms the guy could be a long lost relative.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Showering, or Ten Pounds in a Five Pound Sack
We woke to church bells in Rome. I know, right? "That just never happens in Europe", you're saying to yourself. We peeked out our window to the left and there was St. Peter's Basilica. We are walking distance to the Vatican! Also to the metro, but first, we must shower. It's a glassed in corner about two feet square. With a door about 16" wide. No joke.
I don't see it first though, Richard does. My "leather jacket=whole cow" hubs. In the grand tradition of southerners or burgermeisters, take your pick, he most closely resembles either Ben Franklin or the latter King Ludwig. Or a late Elvis. Take your pick again.
He finishes up with no protest whatsoever and I slip past him to go in the bathroom to shower. And I rub the shower door on the way in. Before turning the water on, I'm alarmed. I go back in the room and ask Richard how the hell he got in there?? I'm thinking about those mice that can somehow squeeze into microscopic holes as long as their skull fits, but this is a human, not a mouse. Richard then lifts his shirt to show me the plate sized RUBBED spot from squeezing into the shower. Unbelievable. This relates again to our earlier visit and interior spaces in Europe generally being smaller. We had joked in London that he could clean the shower just by turning around, but this one was the smallest yet.
Suitably clean, rubbed, and raring to go we then head to the nearest Metro station. We are looking for a Roma Pass that will allow metro entry as well as discounted or free entrance to attractions. And the nice lady has them there in a market at the train station. Our phones had begun to run really slow and some messages kept coming in from TIM in Italian, so we asked her help in reading them and Richard was able to recharge his phone, thinking that would speed up the data speeds. We ended up being wrong about that. We recharged but got no quicker speeds at all until our third day when we got Richard's phone on a different plan.
The metro was amazing. It was filled with Italians and tourists, it was on time and efficient. But the magic was that there were live musicians! I couldn't stop smiling, they were playing while we were all hanging on to avoid falling, then they sent one of the musicians to go collect coins. We paid handsomely. The first three times we rode the metro. Then we quit paying them. I am still trying to figure out when it stopped being magical and started being "normal". If I go back I will make a conscious effort to keep it being magical instead of mundane.
First stop, the Colosseum! These are ancient ruins! The images are instantly recognizable to anyone who ever had a history lesson. And it was amazing to see them in person.
From Wikipedia, which I now must sponsor with some cash as I keep quoting them:
"Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[5][6] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
The thing is massive. Originally topping out at three stories, then a fourth was added. It's huge. The ticketing was done with pottery shards. Incredible attention to detail. It was built after Rome's leaders took the land back after Nero was gone and built the thing to return the land to the people of Rome. Nero had taken it and built a private sanctuary including a lake after fire had devastated central Rome. Christian martyrs were not executed at this site, but at another nearby, and it is not considered a sacred site. What was fascinating in reading more about it was that at one point it was converted to housing! Shops! It was used like that throughout the middle ages. There is no mortar, the stones were set and held in place with bronze clamps.
I don't see it first though, Richard does. My "leather jacket=whole cow" hubs. In the grand tradition of southerners or burgermeisters, take your pick, he most closely resembles either Ben Franklin or the latter King Ludwig. Or a late Elvis. Take your pick again.
He finishes up with no protest whatsoever and I slip past him to go in the bathroom to shower. And I rub the shower door on the way in. Before turning the water on, I'm alarmed. I go back in the room and ask Richard how the hell he got in there?? I'm thinking about those mice that can somehow squeeze into microscopic holes as long as their skull fits, but this is a human, not a mouse. Richard then lifts his shirt to show me the plate sized RUBBED spot from squeezing into the shower. Unbelievable. This relates again to our earlier visit and interior spaces in Europe generally being smaller. We had joked in London that he could clean the shower just by turning around, but this one was the smallest yet.
Suitably clean, rubbed, and raring to go we then head to the nearest Metro station. We are looking for a Roma Pass that will allow metro entry as well as discounted or free entrance to attractions. And the nice lady has them there in a market at the train station. Our phones had begun to run really slow and some messages kept coming in from TIM in Italian, so we asked her help in reading them and Richard was able to recharge his phone, thinking that would speed up the data speeds. We ended up being wrong about that. We recharged but got no quicker speeds at all until our third day when we got Richard's phone on a different plan.
The metro was amazing. It was filled with Italians and tourists, it was on time and efficient. But the magic was that there were live musicians! I couldn't stop smiling, they were playing while we were all hanging on to avoid falling, then they sent one of the musicians to go collect coins. We paid handsomely. The first three times we rode the metro. Then we quit paying them. I am still trying to figure out when it stopped being magical and started being "normal". If I go back I will make a conscious effort to keep it being magical instead of mundane.
First stop, the Colosseum! These are ancient ruins! The images are instantly recognizable to anyone who ever had a history lesson. And it was amazing to see them in person.
From Wikipedia, which I now must sponsor with some cash as I keep quoting them:
"Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[5][6] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.
Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[7"
The thing is massive. Originally topping out at three stories, then a fourth was added. It's huge. The ticketing was done with pottery shards. Incredible attention to detail. It was built after Rome's leaders took the land back after Nero was gone and built the thing to return the land to the people of Rome. Nero had taken it and built a private sanctuary including a lake after fire had devastated central Rome. Christian martyrs were not executed at this site, but at another nearby, and it is not considered a sacred site. What was fascinating in reading more about it was that at one point it was converted to housing! Shops! It was used like that throughout the middle ages. There is no mortar, the stones were set and held in place with bronze clamps.
We moved on to tour the other archeological sites in the area, which were numerous and walked non stop for the entire day. May I plug "The Walking Store" now? Both Richard and I bought new shoes and inserts just before leaving and it was the best thing we did for ourselves on that entire trip. We wore them for a week before leaving for Europe. The feet were quiet as a mouse on the entire trip, but this day was their biggest workout. We ended up clocking out at over six miles that day. Just for fun I had activated my pedometer app on the iPhone at some point during the day and we had already walked a couple of miles when I kicked it on.
Next stop was The Forum. We ended up choosing a path up instead of a path down and boy was that the right choice from that point. We got a gorgeous panoramic view with both the Collosseum and The Forum! Beautiful and once again the size and scope of these ancient engineering projects just astonished me. I work now with civil engineers who do infrastructure engineering so I completely geeked out on that aspect of these works.
Being on the same steps that the Senators stood on was just really awe inspiring. Especially given our current election at the time! We had mailed in our ballots before leaving and were nail biting the results from Stefan's apartment in Zurich. The irony was inescapable and it was difficult for me to escape the similarities in pathways. When you look at the downfall of Rome, the finger gets pointed in numerous directions. However, I like the theory that it merely transformed and that the Germanic rulers actually kept much of the Roman traditions as they approached the era known as "The Middle Ages".
Saturday, December 1, 2012
All Roads Lead to Rome?
We left Milan bright and early and tracked a path through Pisa, then our plan was to take the coastal highway. Who doesn't like a coastal highway, right? We arrived at Pisa and you could see the tower, but Siri got us a bit lost there, and took us into town instead of to the old town, so we took a road that looked like it was heading back to the tower and found a nice parking spot. This was the one time I felt like we were in a pretty sketchy place. This was a pay lot with no attendant, near the tower and basilica. Just outside were several loitering folks, and I asked Richard to put everything we had in the trunk and park as far away and out of sight from them as possible, no harm minimizing a break in to the car.
Then we walked over the old walled area. What was my immediate impression is that it was just huge. The whole area, the marketplace, the church, the basilica, the large field in front of it with dozens of folks lounging around and picnicking, or kicking soccer balls. It was clearly a community gathering place, not just a tourist attraction.
I know I mentioned the picture earlier, and we did take the obligatory "holding the tower up" photos. We hung out for a bit, walked all the way around the piazza and noticed all the families. There was the cutest little dog with a young couple that looked a bit like a Jack Russell terrier. He ran at the speed of light and was well trained to his master's whistles. Once we had our pics we were antsy to leave and get to Rome.
We got back to the car and charted a course along the coast. This portion of Tuscany had experienced severe flooding the week before, Venice had been under 5 feet of water not long ago and torrential rains that dropped an annual amount in nine days had done some damage in parts of Italy. But we had Siri, so off we went. Our goal was to get to a nice seaside bistro just at sunset. And we did pretty well, we found a nice bistro but they don't open for dinner until 7:30PM, so we settled for a cappuccino and then drove up in the hillside to have a look around. What we found was a really beautiful enclave of high end villas and newly constructed homes mixed together. Many of them looked abandoned or partially finished and after taking a few more snaps of the sea from up high on the hillside, Richard backed us up before it turned full dark and got us back on the highway. This was a good kind of lost and it didn't last long.
It wasn't more than an hour or so later, and now dark, when we saw the flashing lights ahead. There was a detour to "Roma", the officer spoke little English, but we got enough to know to follow the yellow signs to Roma. We hadn't eaten and no restaurants were nearby and we had now discovered that Italy had a time warp. If it said 2 hours, it would take 3. If it said 45 minutes, it would take 60 or more. You could drive 140kilometers per hour and still it took more time than Siri said it should. We had snackage and plenty of water, so we knew we'd survive and then determined what we really wanted was to get to Roma tonight. I had looked at the map again and realized there were road closures listed on the map on both highways heading south. So we turned off Siri and followed the signs.
The signs led us into the middle of Italy on the smallest one lane dirt roads I've seen since I used to hunt. We were in flooded farmland and we saw one vehicle off and in a full ditch at one point. The highways were going to take longer to repair from flooding than these tracks had, so we stayed the course and followed the yellow Roma signs all the way down. We polished off the chocolate covered espresso candies, a couple of tins of Paprika flavored Pringles (they rock and we should have them here), and quite a bit of our water. About an hour north of Rome we were back on highway, looking for a hotel.
I found a Best Western, it looked like it was near the old city, and when I called she said, no problem, just come on in. So we entered Rome with some trepidation, driving in Rome being one of the top ten adventures, but once we adjusted for Siri's slowness, we made all our turns and got to the hotel. Which was nowhere near the sights we wanted to see. And they were FULL!!! This was not looking good. Oh, and our bladders were full, too.
Testy doesn't begin to cover it. This had been one heck of a long day. Richard double-parked on the side street on I got back online and found another Best Western near the Vatican and a metro station. And they had an opening. Richard dashed into the nearest neighborhood restaurant to use the bathroom. Then we booked the hotel and on we drove. The 20 minutes took 40 of course, but once we saw the place we booked for all three nights we were staying. Maybe we should have waited until we saw the shower stall before booking two more nights.
Then we walked over the old walled area. What was my immediate impression is that it was just huge. The whole area, the marketplace, the church, the basilica, the large field in front of it with dozens of folks lounging around and picnicking, or kicking soccer balls. It was clearly a community gathering place, not just a tourist attraction.
I know I mentioned the picture earlier, and we did take the obligatory "holding the tower up" photos. We hung out for a bit, walked all the way around the piazza and noticed all the families. There was the cutest little dog with a young couple that looked a bit like a Jack Russell terrier. He ran at the speed of light and was well trained to his master's whistles. Once we had our pics we were antsy to leave and get to Rome.
We got back to the car and charted a course along the coast. This portion of Tuscany had experienced severe flooding the week before, Venice had been under 5 feet of water not long ago and torrential rains that dropped an annual amount in nine days had done some damage in parts of Italy. But we had Siri, so off we went. Our goal was to get to a nice seaside bistro just at sunset. And we did pretty well, we found a nice bistro but they don't open for dinner until 7:30PM, so we settled for a cappuccino and then drove up in the hillside to have a look around. What we found was a really beautiful enclave of high end villas and newly constructed homes mixed together. Many of them looked abandoned or partially finished and after taking a few more snaps of the sea from up high on the hillside, Richard backed us up before it turned full dark and got us back on the highway. This was a good kind of lost and it didn't last long.
It wasn't more than an hour or so later, and now dark, when we saw the flashing lights ahead. There was a detour to "Roma", the officer spoke little English, but we got enough to know to follow the yellow signs to Roma. We hadn't eaten and no restaurants were nearby and we had now discovered that Italy had a time warp. If it said 2 hours, it would take 3. If it said 45 minutes, it would take 60 or more. You could drive 140kilometers per hour and still it took more time than Siri said it should. We had snackage and plenty of water, so we knew we'd survive and then determined what we really wanted was to get to Roma tonight. I had looked at the map again and realized there were road closures listed on the map on both highways heading south. So we turned off Siri and followed the signs.
The signs led us into the middle of Italy on the smallest one lane dirt roads I've seen since I used to hunt. We were in flooded farmland and we saw one vehicle off and in a full ditch at one point. The highways were going to take longer to repair from flooding than these tracks had, so we stayed the course and followed the yellow Roma signs all the way down. We polished off the chocolate covered espresso candies, a couple of tins of Paprika flavored Pringles (they rock and we should have them here), and quite a bit of our water. About an hour north of Rome we were back on highway, looking for a hotel.
I found a Best Western, it looked like it was near the old city, and when I called she said, no problem, just come on in. So we entered Rome with some trepidation, driving in Rome being one of the top ten adventures, but once we adjusted for Siri's slowness, we made all our turns and got to the hotel. Which was nowhere near the sights we wanted to see. And they were FULL!!! This was not looking good. Oh, and our bladders were full, too.
Testy doesn't begin to cover it. This had been one heck of a long day. Richard double-parked on the side street on I got back online and found another Best Western near the Vatican and a metro station. And they had an opening. Richard dashed into the nearest neighborhood restaurant to use the bathroom. Then we booked the hotel and on we drove. The 20 minutes took 40 of course, but once we saw the place we booked for all three nights we were staying. Maybe we should have waited until we saw the shower stall before booking two more nights.
In 500 Feet Make your Third Right in the Round-a-bout
Some of you remember that last year in Europe we discovered a couple of technical glitches. One, you put a SIM card in, but the data portion won't work for a two day hold in many countries. France and Germany were both this way last year, although that may have changed. Two, our beloved Apple phone with the brand spanking new Siri did NOT work in France. "Siri don't do France." No directions, no restaurant recommendations, no nothing. We couldn't get out of the airport parking lot without going back for the GPS.
But this year, in Switzerland and Italy, we were able to buy and use the SIM cards right away. And Siri's new Apple Maps. Mostly as pedestrians in Switzerland. But they were flawless! That's right, the troublesome, "no good", crappy maps of Apple worked just dandy in Switzerland as pedestrians. Landmarks were listed, restaurants, and of course, the Apple store itself in Zurich. So we felt pretty confident that we wouldn't need a GPS with our rental car to around in Italy.
We pick up in Milan, where we went finally from the airport in our rental car to a to be determined hotel. With no working SIM card. This was a minor problem, and the airport didn't have a TIM store which was the recommended telecom we were in search of. But we saw a huge mall right next to the airport and after a couple of circles around the round-a-bout, we found our way to the huge mall across the freeway.
I took a picture of the parking area and off we went to find an Italian SIM card for our phones. And some dinner. And we found our destination, got the nice lady to put two SIM cards in, then sat down to our first Italian pasta in a mall and found a hotel to go to. I want you to know that even in the mall the pasta is perfectly en dente, and sauced to order, it seemed amazing and we ate it all.
In driving to our hotel we thought no problem. Our cocky selves have traveled numerous other places with no problem. But then we left the mall and we couldn't find our car. We had stepped out into the parking area, we thought from the same floor, but there was no Orange A 3. There was no Orange. There was no A. There was no 3. And the mall is closing. This took us about 20 minutes of asking random mallgoers, flashing my phone and asking if they knew where my picture of Orange A 3 was located. It felt like a bad case of where's Waldo. But no one knew. One guy said "What color is the car?" I said, "White". He said, "Oh well! with his hands up in the air and a head shake, like that was going to be impossible to find.
Finally Richard decided there must be another parking floor so back in we went, up one floor and voila! Success. There's Orange. There's A, and there's our car. Yeah! And Whew! I have spent a number of years taking myself through the worst case scenarios to combat my own fears. I feel like I'm at a point where I could handle most things, and I was clear that eventually we would find the missing car. But someplace deep down, you know you are not "home". And so there's just a shade more anxiety when things go wrong. Fortunately I am married to a Zen Master who is just okey-dokey with all of what life throws at you. I really appreciate Richard and especially so when my own anxious meter could get stuck in the open position.
So we jauntily left the mall to head to the address of the hotel. We missed a turn on a round-a-bout and took twice as long to get there. Siri's a bit slower to catch up to where we are on the map, but once we figured that out, it worked great. The "Art Hotel" even had a bar and free breakfast and an enormous bathtub! All is well here in Milan.
In closing, that mall was by far the largest three storied, solid acre of materialistic extravagance that I have ever seen in my life. I've not been to the Mall of America, but I've been to three of the "Mills" malls (Franklin, Arizona and Colorado) and this one was by far the largest. My biggest memory is that everything was shiny. Glossy floors, lacquered furniture, shiny plastic and sparkling lights. And beautifully designed. That was all we saw of Milan for the whole trip, but it's been said that Milan is the "new" Italy. Industrial, design and manufacturing are primarily here.
And that "20 minutes" that the car was lost was likely only 5 to 10:)
But this year, in Switzerland and Italy, we were able to buy and use the SIM cards right away. And Siri's new Apple Maps. Mostly as pedestrians in Switzerland. But they were flawless! That's right, the troublesome, "no good", crappy maps of Apple worked just dandy in Switzerland as pedestrians. Landmarks were listed, restaurants, and of course, the Apple store itself in Zurich. So we felt pretty confident that we wouldn't need a GPS with our rental car to around in Italy.
We pick up in Milan, where we went finally from the airport in our rental car to a to be determined hotel. With no working SIM card. This was a minor problem, and the airport didn't have a TIM store which was the recommended telecom we were in search of. But we saw a huge mall right next to the airport and after a couple of circles around the round-a-bout, we found our way to the huge mall across the freeway.
I took a picture of the parking area and off we went to find an Italian SIM card for our phones. And some dinner. And we found our destination, got the nice lady to put two SIM cards in, then sat down to our first Italian pasta in a mall and found a hotel to go to. I want you to know that even in the mall the pasta is perfectly en dente, and sauced to order, it seemed amazing and we ate it all.
In driving to our hotel we thought no problem. Our cocky selves have traveled numerous other places with no problem. But then we left the mall and we couldn't find our car. We had stepped out into the parking area, we thought from the same floor, but there was no Orange A 3. There was no Orange. There was no A. There was no 3. And the mall is closing. This took us about 20 minutes of asking random mallgoers, flashing my phone and asking if they knew where my picture of Orange A 3 was located. It felt like a bad case of where's Waldo. But no one knew. One guy said "What color is the car?" I said, "White". He said, "Oh well! with his hands up in the air and a head shake, like that was going to be impossible to find.
Finally Richard decided there must be another parking floor so back in we went, up one floor and voila! Success. There's Orange. There's A, and there's our car. Yeah! And Whew! I have spent a number of years taking myself through the worst case scenarios to combat my own fears. I feel like I'm at a point where I could handle most things, and I was clear that eventually we would find the missing car. But someplace deep down, you know you are not "home". And so there's just a shade more anxiety when things go wrong. Fortunately I am married to a Zen Master who is just okey-dokey with all of what life throws at you. I really appreciate Richard and especially so when my own anxious meter could get stuck in the open position.
So we jauntily left the mall to head to the address of the hotel. We missed a turn on a round-a-bout and took twice as long to get there. Siri's a bit slower to catch up to where we are on the map, but once we figured that out, it worked great. The "Art Hotel" even had a bar and free breakfast and an enormous bathtub! All is well here in Milan.
In closing, that mall was by far the largest three storied, solid acre of materialistic extravagance that I have ever seen in my life. I've not been to the Mall of America, but I've been to three of the "Mills" malls (Franklin, Arizona and Colorado) and this one was by far the largest. My biggest memory is that everything was shiny. Glossy floors, lacquered furniture, shiny plastic and sparkling lights. And beautifully designed. That was all we saw of Milan for the whole trip, but it's been said that Milan is the "new" Italy. Industrial, design and manufacturing are primarily here.
And that "20 minutes" that the car was lost was likely only 5 to 10:)
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