Day Eleven -- Venice

Our hotel obviously caters to Americans because we had omelets and bacon for breakfast with the first coffee that tasted like home. I don't need to have an American breakfast but it was nice. We chose to walk to St. Mark's Square when we realized how close it is. We were a bit early for our timed tickets into St. Mark's Basilica. So we found a place to sit down and listen to a podcast on what we would see inside, while we people watched. My favorite were the Leatherman winners from various countries.

 

The timed reservations turned out to be a great idea.  We bypassed a long line of people and went right into the basilica. 

 

We slowly made our way up the right side with a huge crowd of people. We broke off into a side room and paid 3E to see the treasury of St. Mark's -- two rooms of gold goblets, icons  and crosses, encrusted with precious gems. I found the opulence disturbing. Back into the basilica to join the crowd. We paid 2E to see the altar area. It was fascinating but even more opulent than what we had just seen. Mass was going on in the left transept and the chanting of the priest was ethereal. We crossed the nave and then down the right side towards the exit. We were never allowed in the middle section of the church. Signs every where told visitors not to talk or take videos.  Everyone must have felt those signs were only for others. People were taking photos constantly. The inside walls and ceiling are covered with mosaics -- enough to cover 1.5 football fields and most of it in gold. We had read that if you were lucky enough to get inside around noon the place literally glows. Back at the exit we paid 5E to climb to the balcony, which has a nice view of the interior, the real bronze horses (the ones on the outside of the church are just replicas) and an outdoor balcony with an excellent view of the square.  We stayed outside quite awhile, recording the bronze men on the clock tower clanging noon and snapping photos of the Square.

 

We got back inside to see the interior glow. It was beautiful and amazing but I felt like the opulence did not reflect the life and death of Jesus. It left me feeling discouraged. We exited the basilica and found a touristy spot around the corner to sit down and get some respite. Next we used our San Marco passes and skipped the line into the Doge's Palace. They were also having a special exhibit of a few paintings of Hieronymous Bosch -- a painter from the 16th century that did such bizarre paintings with monsters, often with a religious theme. We decided to pay to see the exhibit.  This is a painting of the crucifixion of a female saint --notice her beard.

 

At the end of the exhibit was a chance to sit down and put on a virtual reality headset to experience his works of the hereafter.

 

We left the exhibit and headed into the Doge Palace -- which is one grand room after another. After awhile I began to feel like I was in IKEA and I had to walk through the whole huge place in order to get out. We skipped the prison and the Bridge of Sighs.  We were just too tired to see it all. We returned to our room to rest our weary feet. 

 

At 6:30 p.m. we headed out again. We took the #2 vaporetto to Pizzale Roma, got off and caught the #1 back down the Grand Canal. We got seats in the very front and put our headphones on to listen to an audio tour of what we were seeing. It was fun to sit up front and see all the wonder the canal has to offer. 

 

But by the time we were done it was 8 p.m. and I was getting a headache. We caught the  #1 back up the canal and ate dinner in our hotel at 9:30 p.m. We fell asleep around midnight to the sounds of a bachelor party on the Rialto Bridge, in which the groomsmen were singing, "Don't get married!" 

 

Day Ten -- Travel Day

I had a wakeful night but my sister, who lives in Kansas, slept well. I awoke with a start at 3 a.m. thinking someone had pounded on our door.  I jumped out of bed and looked through the peephole and saw no one. In my sleepy brain I wondered who was playing "knock and run" at 3 a.m. Then I realized that we had left the door to the terrace open and the wind was causing it to bang open and shut. I closed the door and crawled back in bed. I fell back to sleep and then the shutters for the terrace door began to bang against the door.  I got up and fought the shutters against the wind and got them closed. I tried to fall back to sleep but the wind was whipping against our room on the hill. Then the shutters on the next room began to bang against our wall. Perhaps it was an empty room or our neighbors were wearing earplugs but they never secured the shutter. For the rest of the night it banged. I could hear glass shatter on the large terrace where we ate breakfast. I spent the rest of the night imagining the roof blowing off our room. Meanwhile, Gayle slept.  In the morning she told me that 40 m.p.h. winds are nothing. 

We got up in time to make our train. We hired some strong, young man to carry our bags down the hill. Lisa and Lorena brought our breakfast to our room because there was no way to sit on the terrace and eat. In fact, they were busy cleaning up all the broken things on the terrace.

We had to take four different trains to get from Vernazza to Venice. We worried about the quick changes we had to make but Gayle and I are a good team. Our day was uneventful and we pulled into Venezia Saint Lucia right on time. We stopped in the tourist shop and bought San Marco passes and 72 hour vaporetto passes. We boarded the fast vaporetto and headed to the Rialto Bridge stop. We took turns watching the bags so that each of us could look at the glory of Venice.

 

We are staying at the Hotel Rialto, on the Grand Canal right next to the bridge. We have a corner room with four windows and a canal view. It was our splurge and we are thoroughly enjoying it.

 

We headed out pretty quickly to take a quick look at St. Mark's Square. On the vaporetto ride over we thought we saw St. Mark's Basilica as we neared the Accademia Bridge. We jumped off the boat to take some photos. Then Gayle realized that it wasn't St. Mark's because it was on the wrong side of the canal. We consulted the map, realized our mistake and caught the next boat to San Marco. Venice is filled with beautiful, magnificent churches.

 

St. Mark's Square is magical, especially in the setting sun. We walked past the Doge's Palace; admired the two columns (one topped with a winged lion and the other with St. Theodore battling a crocodile); watched the bronze men on top of the clock tower swing their clappers to announce 8 p.m.; marveled at the opulence on the facade of St. Mark's Basilica; and took way too many photos. 

 

The orchestras were playing at a couple of the outdoor cafes. We contemplated sitting down at one of them until we saw their prices. We went to the one cafe without an orchestra and without a cover charge but close enough to enjoy the music. They played the theme from "Dr. Zhivago"and every song from the "Sound of Music." Some people danced on the square. It was magical.

We found our vaporetto back to our hotel. Gayle made skip-the-line timed reservations for St. Mark's Basilica for tomorrow and we went to bed smiling. We are in Venice!

Day Nine -- Exploring Cinque Terre

When we woke up this morning it was not raining. The weather prediction for the day was that it won't begin raining until 1 p.m. We were among the first to breakfast. Our plan was to take a shuttle up out of town and then walk down. In talking with Lisa we decided instead to go to Riomaggiore, the town on the south end of Cinque Terre. At the train station we bought day passes for the train, validated them and got on the next train towards Riomaggiore. Once off the train we followed Rick Steve's recommendation on how to experience this town. The sun was out, the sea was a beautiful turquoise color and around every corner was another gorgeous view.  The citrus trees were blooming and the sweet smell filled the air.
 

We stopped in the San Giovanni Church. Traveling with me includes stops in every available church. Gayle has been most patient with me. I was especially intrigued by the statue of our Lady of Sorrows.

 

Outside the church is a nice view of the town, which is devoid of antennae. The residents got cable in the eighties.

 

On the main thoroughfare in town is a tiny little church with the most welcoming statue of the Virgin Mary I have ever seen. So different from Our Lady of Sorrows.

 

We climbed the steps to the Via dell'Amore, where lovers place locks on the rails with their names and the date. A landslide washed out the trail and there were hopes that it would open in 2017. Alas, it was closed but the view was excellent.

 

We decided that the day still had sunshine and so we went seeking more adventure. We boarded the train to the next town, Manarola. We headed down to the harbor and then up the hill to the north. What a picturesque little town.

 

We hiked up to their cemetery. Being the granddaughters of a sociologist/anthropologist our summer vacations often included cemeteries.

 

We were going to hike up further and do a vineyard hike but decided to be gentler with ourselves. We went back down the way we came up and found a restaurant near the harbor. We ate cheeseburgers and fries. It tasted like home. Back on the train to the next town, Corniglia. We read that there are 385 steps to get to Corniglia from the train station. We have no intention of taking them but we did want to see them.

 

Back on the train we decided that even though it was after 1 p.m. and rain was imminent, once in for a penny we were in for a pound. We took the train to Monterosso al Mare, the northernmost town in the Cinque Terre. It was raining when we got off the train. I had brought my umbrella and Gayle had her raincoat. We prepared ourselves and set out to find the Zii di Frati (the switchback of the friars). We made our way past a very old section of the town. Then up the switchback between two groups of high school students on a field trip.

 

Our destination was this view, in which you can see the four other cities of the Cinque Terre.

 

By then it was pouring rain and my umbrella kept turning inside from the wind. We headed down the slick, mossy switchback very slowly, aware that one misstep could ruin the rest of the trip. Back to the train station we made a run for the next train heading south but when it bypassed our station without slowing down we knew we had made a mistake. Gayle and I have a saying when we make a mistake on this trip: "It's a learning day." The train stopped at Riomaggiore, the town where we started our adventure today. We got off and picked our train home more carefully. Back in Vernazza we found our room a welcome sight. We spent the evening packing for tomorrow, eating our leftover groceries from yesterday and watching the pouring rain from the safety of our room.

Day Eight -- Vernazza

We slept in today. We woke up to the sound of wind, rain and the sounds of people gathering for breakfast on the terrace below us. We didn't shower. We just put on our clothes and dragged our smelly bodies down to join the others. The owner, Lisa (pronounced Lee-zah), was standing at the edge of the terrace handling three umbrellas in an attempt to keep people dry from the rain. Since we were the last ones down we got the wettest seats. Another woman was scurrying around making cappuccinos, drying off seats, etc. The breakfast array was perfect. I had coffee cake (made by Lisa) with clementine orange jam (made by Lisa). The couple sitting nearest to us are from Seal Beach. 

Everyone else seemed ready for adventure. We just want some clean clothes! Lisa said she would do one load for us. We were so grateful. Before it got any wetter we put on rain gear and went in search of the ATM. With more money in our pockets we found a small grocery store. We bought some cookies, strawberries, bananas, raisin bread and salami. Then back up the hill.  It was raining hard enough that water was beginning to run down the stone steps, making them slippery. 

 

Back in the room, Gayle had some work to do.  I caught up on my journal, my blog and wrote some postcards. We snacked on our groceries and then took naps. We woke up to the sounds of the rain, the train and church bells.  At 7 p.m. it stopped raining so hard and we ventured out in search of food. Vernazza is just as beautiful at night.

 

We ate in a pizzeria near the harbor. We capped off our meal with panna cotta doused in carmel sauce. We trudged up the main thoroughfare, past the tiny little Chapel and the WWI/WWII Memorial and back up the steep steps. I hope the rain stops tomorrow but we have desperately needed a day to be still.

Day Seven -- Pisa

Up early to get ready to leave Florence today. We had breakfast in the hotel and then hurried up the tower to the rooftop for one more gorgeous view of Florence. We locked our room, turned in the key and asked for a taxi. We were there before we knew it. Turns out that we went only 2/3 of a mile. Probably could have schlepped our luggage there but have I mentioned how tired we are? We stopped in the train station's cafe/bookshop, got espressos and caught up on some of the news. We boarded the train around 9:30 a.m. and made the hour journey to Pisa. Our plan was to check our luggage and take a taxi to the Field of Miracles, where the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and the bell tower (Leaning Tower of Pisa) are located. 

 

We can walk back if we have time. We had four hours before our next train left. We got to the Field of Miracles around 11 a.m. and feverishly took photos of the tower. In some locations it doesn't look like the tower leans very much. It does --15 feet off its vertical axis. In 1990 they spent $30 million to stabilize it. Gayle and I knew we didn't want to pay the 18 E to make the 30 minute timed 300 steps to climb to the top--that you also have to climb down. We figured that it's wonder was freely on display in front of us.

 

Then we headed to the entrance to the Duomo.

 

It is free. But we were told that we needed to go stand in the ticket line to get our free ticket to enter the Duomo.  It was frustrating because we had spent the evening before re-reading info about Pisa so that we would use our four hours wisely. Somehow we missed this bit of info. We hiked back to the ticket line and waited for about 20 minutes. We decided to pay the entrance fees to the Baptistery, the Camposanto and get an untimed entrance into the Duomo. The inside of the Duomo is impressive. It boasts Galileo's lamp (a replica) and the mummified corpse of Saint Ranieri. In 2000, using a computer scan of his skull, they created a silver mask that would look like his face.

 

But the center piece of the Duomo is this carved pulpit by Giovanni Pisano. It is definitely impressive.

 

We exited the Duomo and walked the few feet to the Baptistery. A huge baptismal, large enough for adult immersions, held the central spot.

 

Then we went into the Camposanto (cemetery). The walls are covered with frescoes of death, destruction and the devil. Saints are entombed in the wall and floor. 

 

It is actually a very lovely place. 

 

We went in search of food and had a terrible lunch. It's only saving grace was a view of the Leaning Tower. By that time it was too late to walk back. We stood at the taxi stand, made two phone call requests for a taxi and finally got a ride back to the train station in just enough time to collect our bags and make it to our assigned train track.  The next two train rides were pretty tough on us. On the first one we sat in some couple's seats not realizing that we had assigned seats. Another new learning. On the second train we thought we had all the room in the world until we came upon one stop in which we were suddenly inundated with people. We almost didn't make it off at our stop....another learning. 

We managed to fight our way off at Vernazza. We are staying at Casa Cato and we were supposed to go to the Gadget Shop (Souvenir Store) at the train station for help to our room. The man behind the counter shook both our hands, picked up our suitcases and headed up the steep stone stairs faster than we could keep up sans luggage. We are absolutely thrilled with our room and its location high on the hill. The view alone is outstanding.

 

We decided to head down the steep path into town before it got dark. 

 

However, people in Vernazza don't eat before 7 p.m. So we made a reservation for 7 and sat near the water watching a couple having their wedding photos taken by a drone.  Back up the hill after dark. Our room is close to the train station and provides earplugs. We put them in, refused to set our alarms and went to sleep with the window open and the smell of the sea covering us.

Day Six -- Florence

This is the first morning we did not set our alarms. We woke up at 11 a.m. What we obviously need is rest. We have been attacking Italy at a fast pace and our bodies are showing the signs of this abuse. We got ready slowly. I washed some clothes in the sink and hung them in the window. We headed out in search of adventure with no particular destination in mind. We ended up at the Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno. It was wall to wall people. It is the only bridge in Florence with shops on it -- well, except in the middle where everyone congregates to take selfies. We edged up to the edge of the bridge to take a picture of the scenery -- Florence, the Arno and rowers. 

 

While we were taking photos we noticed a little restaurant hanging over the river's edge. We were starving but, more importantly, in search of coffee. We found the restaurant and were seated so close to the moving water that each of us got a bit seasick. We ended our meals with family size servings of panna cotta. When we came out of the restaurant we headed south of the bridge. We found the Pitti Palace, the largest museum complex in Florence, which appears to have a current exhibition on Woman Power. We are museumed out. But we saw this curious sign pointing down a side street and followed it.

 

It led us to  Basilica di Santo Spirito, which houses Michelangelo's crucifix -- thus the sign. We paid 3E to enter the cloister to find the crucifix. It is in a side Chapel where an attendant makes sure no one takes a photo. It pales in comparison to Michelangelo's David. What we learned then was that the church was closed until 4 p.m. and it was only 3 p.m.

 

We found the Holy Spirit bathroom -- which costs 1 E.

 

Back across the river at Ponte S. Trinita, which has great views of Ponte Vecchio.

 

While Gayle answered her phone I wandered into the Palazzo Strozzi, which it turns out happens to house an art exhibit we have seen advertised on the sides of all the city buses. It is a modern, electronic (video) exhibit by an American named Bill Viola. He is inspired by masterpieces to create modern videos, some in slo-mo. Even though we are museumed out we decided to give it a try for 12 E. We saw the Crossing, the Greeting, the Path, the Emergence, the Deluge and more. I especially was transfixed by his series of four martyrs.

 

When we emerged back into daylight it was 6 p.m. We passed this bank of motorcycles. How does anyone find their own again? 

 

We headed back to the Duomo to do more gawking. We were astounded when we realized the facade is marble. How did we miss that the last two times we went by? We studied the Baptistery doors.

 

Then we went up to the Church of St. Lorenza and into the cloisters. 

 

We were looking for a way in but the Medici Chapel was closed. We headed for our hotel and stopped for a delightful dinner at the Fusion Bar around the corner from our hotel. We can't imagine eating any more pasta. Gayle had sushi and I had some Brazilian pork. The sushi was better. They also served us yucca and octopus. 

 

After finding a place that served sorbet popsicles we went back to our hotel, hoping we could actually lock our door. Luckily the elevator was empty.

 

Day Five -- Florence

We got up at 7 am to be ready to catch our train to Florence. We actually got to eat breakfast in the hotel.  They served eggs, hot dogs, pizza, cheese, prunes, pastries and yogurt.  But mostly we just cared about the coffee. We decided not to hike to the bus stop and took a taxi. It was expensive.  The driver said it was because it was Sunday. I think it was because we were tourists. We arrived way early so I took the time to write in my journal. When the train arrived we found seats in the middle of the car where we can face forward. Gayle slept and I worked on my blog. We arrived in Florence (Firenze SMN) and went directly to the taxi stand. Can you tell we are done lugging our things down narrow, uneven streets? We are staying at Hotel Torre Guelfa, very close to Ponte Vecchio and with a great rooftop view of Florence.

 

Our room was not ready and we had timed tickets to the Uffizi and Accademia museums. We left our luggage at the hotel and took off in search of lunch. Next door to the hotel was a restaurant and we hurried in and found seats. When we were done eating we checked back with our hotel to see if our room was ready but it wasn't. We hurried off to the Uffizi. We had reservations for 2 p.m.  It is the weirdest system. First you stand in a long line to turn in your reservation number to get your ticket. You aren't allowed to pick up your tickets until 10 minutes before your assigned time.  Then you move over to another long line to get into the museum. There are a limited number of people allowed into the museum and so new visitors aren't allowed in until others leave. Other people hang out at the front of the line and try to step in while people aren't paying attention. It is a weird system but still better than waiting without a reservation -- a long line that seemed never to move.

 

The Uffizi is huge, hot and crowded. We saw Botticelli, Michelangelo and more paintings of Madonna and Child than I could absorb. 

 

By the end we were just rushing to get out. We also had a timed ticket for the Accademia for 5 p.m.  The reason we tried to do both these museums on the same day was because after we booked everything we read that both museums are closed on Monday....our only other day in Florence. Our plan was to take a taxi between the two museums. What we didn't know was that the mile between these two museums has a large area that is pedestrian only.  We took off at a quick pace but the sites between were so amazing we stopped repeatedly to look in awe.

 

We arrived at the Accademia hot, exhausted, limping and discouraged. We expected the same long process we experienced at the Uffizi. It was a two step process but no one was in front of us. We took a few minutes to get something cold to drink in an attempt to rejuvenate ourselves. The signature piece of art in the Accademia is Michelangelo's 17 foot tall statue of David.  It is of David just before slaying Goliath. It is mesmerizing....awe-inspiring...absolutely beautiful.  We walked around it several times. Sat down and stared at it from every angle. We took more photos than we will want later. What a masterpiece. 

 

We also spent time studying the statue of the Rape of the Sabines. 

 

There was a second floor to the Accademia but we did not go up. My ankle was screaming by then and we knew we had to walk back to our hotel. We slowly made our way back, taking more time to admire the Duomo. 

We found a restaurant down a side alley from the Duomo. I had a delicious plate of eggplant parmigiana. We continued to slowly stroll back to the hotel but with gelato in our hands this time. We got back to our hotel at 8 p.m. And collected our key and bags from the desk clerk named Luigi. We took the lift to room 202. We figured out how to unlock our room but couldn't get it to lock on the other side. I told Gayle that I would go down and tell Luigi that we needed help. When I went back to the elevator (the one we just came up on 5 minutes ago) there was a huge pile of poop in the middle of the elevator. I returned to the room. Gayle knows that I am having trouble with stairs so she headed down the stairs to get Luigi's help. He said we just needed to turn the knob. Gayle came back up but it was clear that the knob isn't even connected to the lock. She headed back down the stairs more frustrated than before. This time Luigi said he would send the maintenance guy but that he was busy at that moment cleaning up a mess in the elevator. I'm sure that is true. The maintenance guy came and as he tried to show us how to lock the door he struggled with the lock. I told him that even if we did get it locked it is so hard to maneuver that if there was a fire we would probably burn to death. He tried to get us a new room but the hotel was full. Gayle managed to lock the door.  We went to bed praying there wasn't a fire.