Italy Trip March 2007

Day 1: Venice.  

After arriving in the Milan Malpensa Airport, Tony went to get cash out on his bankcard and it was taken and given to the Carabinari.  It seems he hadn't used the card in 2 years and the bank noted it as "stolen".....important note for the future.  Notify the bank when going away!!!  Fortunately, after many long distance phone calls (can't wait to get the bill next month) we were able to move cash around and use my cards.  We then went off to find the car rental shop and picked up a tiny, bright blue Daihatsu "Cuore"--about the size of a Mini Cooper.  After circling the airport twice, we managed to figure out the signage and by chance get onto the highway to head towards the Veneto and our lodging just outside of Venice.  Another important note here, do not ever rely on Mapquest to get you where you need to go--it works up until the last, most important part of the trip.  We were introduced to the rush hour madness of Milan traffic and a 3 hour drive ended up taking us over 4 hours--this on very little sleep from the overnight flight.  We pulled into a town we believed to be where the hotel was located (according to Mapquest) and had to stop into a real estate office to get the proper directions.  Our hotel actually was located in a tiny section of Dolo called Cesare Musatti, along the Brenta River.  The hotel, Villa Gasparini, is a converted villa in an area filled with villas that open to tourists in the latter part of the spring for the tourist season.  I had never heard of this area but highly recommend it as a good day trip from Venice--or stay there and enjoy the towns.  Our hosts, Ricardo and Michaela, were very helpful and fun to chat with.  They gave us tips on getting to Venice without having to park in the garage (about 25 Euros/day)--we parked in a lot for E4.50 a day (about $7 US) and took a bus into the Piazza Roma (E2.oo round trip per person).  We had dinner at a small pizzeria in a town close by.  Cute place owned by United Artists--food was reasonable with a large menu and staff spoke some English, depending on who was working.  A pizza is served on a dinner plate--thin crust--nothing like what we get here and substantially better than American pizza.  We had a bottle of wine and toasted our success in  getting to Italy and finally getting checked into the hotel and out of the car.

Day 2:

Breakfast is served right outside of our room, continental style with a large espresso/cappuccino machine to get the daily dose of caffeine.  After checking our directions we head off in the car to the parking area.  Parking in Italy is a challenge--there isn't much of it that is all-day parking.  Driving is especially a challenge--everyone drives really fast (I eventually would drive on the highways at 90 MPH which would get me a hefty ticket if I did that in the States) and if you are in their way, you get headlights flashed and horns honked at you to pull aside.  Signage, for those not familiar with European traffic signs, is difficult to decipher too.  

We park the car, grab bus tickets and run off to the bus stand.  It's a short ride into Piazza Roma and well worth it to get into Venice this way.  Tony gets out the map he'd bought from a bookstore at home that has tons of information on it.  On this first day, he's a little more than obsessed with that map and marking off where we have walked so that we can get back to the Piazza later in the day.  At one point, I told him I was going to take it away if he didn't get a hold of himself.  You really can't get lost in Venice.  Yes, there hundreds of tiny alley ways--some dead-ending and others leading you into wonderful visual surprises.  Take the chance and work Venice without the maps unless you have a specific place you want to get to.  Even then, the big places like Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge have signs at cross roads.

Anyway, Venice was busy so I can only imagine how packed it gets over the summer.  For an artist, it is truly eye candy and all I kept thinking was this place was all about "Elegant Decay".  It's hard to imagine what it must be like to live in one of the most unique places in the world.  I was a little disturbed by the amount of modern graffiti going on there but after a while you begin not to notice it so much.

Day 3:

Another trip into Venice.  Dinner last night was at our little pizzeria in Dolo.  Their menu is so large and the food so good, why mess with it?  Today is more walking Venice, more photos too.  Yesterday we had stopped at one of the little cafes that have service windows on the side and seating inside.  I pointed at what sounded interesting and got a delightful "sandwich" that is a sort of thin but fluffy pizza crust (pianina) with a thin amount of tomato sauce on it, speck (a type of ham) arugula and cheese--warmed.  Tony got it today after tasting mine yesterday--we both grabbed beer to take to sit in a small piazza nearby.  There is a lovely, tiny old church that was having an exhibit on violin making inside--it's no longer used as a church--so we went in to see that.  Afterwards, more walking and photos--a little shopping for the kid's gifts as well.  Lizzie has been asking for a leather purse--easy to find, not so easy to choose as there are so many.   We come across a show of self-portraits (we'd been seeing the flyers all over) from the Uffizi Gallery on tour.  We get our tickets and go in.  Tony and I are blown away by the artists represented there!  I nearly fell over when I came across Rembrandt's most well-known self-portrait.  We also looked up to see dazzling Venetian glass chandeliers--boy, wouldn't they be great to bring home?  I think we'd need a house with much taller ceilings....hmm, it's a thought.

Day 4:

 Day trip to Padova (Padua).  The sky is beginning to look threatening but we can't seem to find out much about the weather and the television news is all in Italian.  Fortunately, Tony knows some Italian (don't ever let anyone tell you that everyone speaks English--they absolutely do not but try to help us as best they can) as we'd be sunk without that.  Anyway, once we manage to find parking (the only parking garage we actually see the entire trip and it takes photos of your license plate so that you key it into a payment machine at the end of the day--interesting and luckily it had a menu in a variety of languages) we head off into town.  We find the church of St. Anthony--very beautiful--and go in.   The tomb of St. Anthony (Tony's patron saint) is highly popular and we walk around it.  It is covered with photos, letters and all sorts of devotionals from people whose prayers have been answered by this saint.  It is the only tomb we saw like this during the 2 weeks there.  More walking around then hit up the gift shop for mementos for some family members back home and went off to explore other areas of the city.  

Day 5:

Boo!  A nasty storm has blown in overnight and it's raining and blowing quite hard at times.  At Ricardo's suggestion we try a day trip to Treviso.  OK parking is a problem again.  We find a spot--thank goodness the car is small-- buy a parking ticket and later find out that it was only good for an hour--fortunately, we had gone back to that car as the rain wasn't letting up and we were getting cold.  By the time we got back to the hotel, the rain had let up and the sky was attempting to clear so we took a walk along the river to check out some of those famous villas.  We also could see the Dolomites off in the distance.  We heard later that the storm had brought in a bit of snow to the mountains.

*note about parking--Ricardo tells us that under Italian law there is to be 30% free parking and 70% paid parking--he says he has yet to find the free parking--good laughs on that one

Day 6:

Murano.  The famous island of glass making.  What a treat!  We took our first boat ride in Venice out to Murano with several stops along the way to other islands.  When we got to Murano and hopped off the boat, I had one of the pigeons fly up and into me--Yuck!  Thank goodness he only hit my arm and flew off from there.  We spent the day window shopping and going in and out of tons of little shops.  At one shop, I found a pendant for my mom who would be watching the kids for the 2nd week.  The lady of the shop asked us if we wanted to come see her chandeliers.  Not wanting to insult her and honestly being curious, we agreed and she took us upstairs to an even larger shop.  None of the other customers had been invited up and I worried that she thought we could afford to buy one of those fabulous pieces of glass art.  She was very proud of them all and told us that her husband made them--they were 6th generation glass blowers and her son did the modern pieces of glass work.  Tony and I both saw a stunning opaline and gold chandelier that would have worked very well in our dining room but it just isn't in the budget for now.  I asked her for her business card and it does have their internet address on it too.  Our little pizzeria is closed for the night and we go off to find a place to eat, ending up at an osteccheria with no menu and a sassy waitress who tells us to trust her.  We do and we are glad for it--the meal was outstanding and she was great fun.  She eventually tells us that she is not Italian, learned English and several other languages from music and that she is Gypsy.  I explain to Tony later that the Gypsy people are not well-liked in Europe so that is why she was so shy in telling us.

*here my digital decided to have a "moment" so I am waiting to have some film processed

Day 7:

Check out from Hotel Gasparini and the road trip to Tuscany begins.  It's a 3.5 hour drive south with us crossing the Apennine Mountains--they have snow on them and we are getting snowed on.  It wasn't bad enough to worry about but it was a surprise.  There are many tunnels we go through too and we wonder what travel must have been like before the super highways and tunnels were built.  Going down the other side of the mountains into Tuscany was unreal.  The hills are dotted with stone farmhouses with tendrils of smoke coming from the chimneys.  Every photo you have ever seen of Tuscany simply cannot do it justice.  Once again, Mapquest blows it near the end of the trip so we stop at a tiny convenience store to make a pit stop, grab a bite to eat and see if we can get the rest of the directions to the hotel.  No one has heard of San Cipriano!  They have heard of Valdarno and some other sections of the area and somehow we manage to find the hotel, Hotel del Lago--a converted Tuscan farmhouse alongside a manmade lake.  Once we get settled, we take a little walk down the road to stretch our legs.  One of the dogs from the hotel follows us part way.  Dinner is at the Taverna del Lago--terrific food (their Zuppa Toscana is perfect for a chilly day and add in a bottle of Chianti) and the closest place to the hotel without having to drive.

Day 8:

Arezzo.  Our introduction to walking the hilly towns of Tuscany and hometown of director Roberto Benigni.  There are commemorative signs with scenes from the film Life is Beautiful scattered around.  Much of the film was shot around town.  We have lunch in a neat restaurant with partially Plexiglas flooring that shows Roman ruins below.  Dessert was canoli made with Limoncello filling-- a real treat!  with all the good food and wine we are consuming, it's very good that we do so much walking daily.  I'm drinking quite a bit of espresso too--no obvious effects but I bet I'll be addicted in no time.

Day 9:

Siena.  The drive to Siena was an adventure in itself!  Route 408 is full of hills and hairpin turns enough that I was getting carsick and I was the driver!  We see signs that say if there is snow, you'd better have chains on your tires so we know this road can be dangerous but the scenery is worth it.  No wine at lunch for me if I'm to drive back this afternoon.  We got a little bit of a late start so the free parking in Siena is not easily found--one man waved us on to a tiny spot for the Cuore to squeeze into and we run to find the restrooms--be prepared to pay a euro or half euro for public restrooms.  Siena is much hillier than Arezzo and a lot more tourists.

Day 10:

Florence.  We are introduced to an Italian train strike--meaning limited schedule but Florence is so close to where we are staying that we are fine with the changes.  I had pre-purchased tickets for the Uffizi Gallery for today--very important thing to do unless you like standing on line for hours with only a "maybe" to get in and see the most fabulous and famous collection of Renaissance art.  We got there a few minutes early, got our tickets and whisked by those on line--thanking all who had told us to pre-purchase the tickets along the way.  The Birth of Venus is my most favorite Renaissance painting and I'd been dying to see it--I even have a tiny charm on a bracelet with a detail of the painting on it.  We also saw the Urbino portraits right before the got sent out to a show in Arezzo--what luck!  We also have some rain so it's a good day to be indoors.

Day 11 & 12:

Florence.  This time we spend walking the city and taking in the sights.  Santa Croce--the church with all the greats from Italian history buried within its walls--is packed with many student groups.  We find out later that schools have been on holiday for spring.  Boboli Gardens are not to be missed either--talk about your steep hills!  You can get great views of the city below and I wish we'd had time to see the interior of the Pitti Palace but we still have a lot to see and walking back across the Ponte Vecchio.

Day 13:

Good-bye Tuscany *sniff*  we have a long drive to Milan as we have a 10AM flight back to the States the next morning.  We made great time since I was now used to driving Italian speed--

Day 14:

A snap to get through airport security and customs--the US could learn a trick or 2 there--and the staff are pleasant and polite.  We get back to Newark just after the lunch hour and head home on the 3 hour drive.  Everyone is happy to see us and by the time we get to bed we realize we've been going 24 hours with no sleep. 

I've been asked what my favorite part of the trip was and I honestly couldn't say anything other than "all of it".  Tony was a little "arted out" by the time we left but I think I could have handled some more with a little break day.  The next trip we will spend more time watching the world go by and soaking in the Italian experience.  It was a great adventure and I can't wait to go again.  Now it's time to get back to reality, work on some painting ideas and get to work painting.