Hail ROS!

Woke up a bit later as today was planned to be our day of really really old stuff. We were going to hit the trifecta: Palatine Hill, Colosseum, and Roman Forum. By design our hotel was dead center in Rome so we could walk to everything if we wanted. This group was the closest as we were just north of it all by about a block. Since most of Rome is about seven stories or less, we did not realize our proximity. Also, most of the ancient city is about two stories underground, so it is that much easier to hide behind buildings.

He's A-Cookin' A-Somethin' Up...

Courtyard at Vatican Museum

Okay, so today (day 2 in Rome) was a big day.  Lots to do, only a day to squeeze it in.  First up, the Vatican.  We were told it would take 30 minutes from our hotel, by foot, to walk to the Vatican.  Maybe this was true, Rome is rather small compared to New York.  Turns out when we asked the desk clerk in the morning he told us a different story...more like an hour or more and we had about 36 minutes!  A quick adjustment, hop on the bus, transfer to the metro and a short run up several flights of ancient steps and we were at the back door to the Vatican Museum.  Crazy long lines and we were able to avoid them thanks to a reservation made four days prior.

Notice the tiny cat in the jug!

On this epic tour of stolen artifacts, taken in the name of His Holiness, was Egypt!  All of these were claimed by the Roman army when they went out to conquer, brought back as trophies to show their city how great Rome was.  Lots of statues of ancient Egyptian gods, temple guardians, and some columns, then Greek statues and so forth, then bits and pieces of other ancient Mediterranean cultures like the Babylonians.  Stunning how much the church claimed from the city as being necessary for their collection, fortunately many pieces were in great repair including the famous Laocoön.  Good or bad, the church did preserve these treasures for us to see today.

Roma - First Day

Lindsey, the bunny whisperer.

We took a morning train out of La Spezia, the closest major city to Cinque Terre. I was hoping for the Frecciarossa, the fastest train in Italy, but it only runs from Florence. So we "settled" for a Frecciabianca, also fast - averaging around 80-100mph from what I could tell. The train took us down the west coast of Italy, giving us a wonderful view of the water and coastal towns separated by groves of olive trees, fields of wheat, and other crops unidentifiable from a moving train. Along the way we picked up a teenager headed home to Rome and his pet rabbit that he left in Lindsey's care while he went to for a smoke. This little bunny was rather cute, I must admit.

We got into Rome's Termini station at about 5pm amidst a buzz of Roman activity. The day was already winding down for most people and you could see city exodus about to happen at the train station. We decided to walk up to the Repubblica, a plaza much like NYC's Columbus Circle, fountain and all, only there was the ancient remains of a building (church?) now converted into something Frankenstein would be proud of with metal and glass additions, repurposed into offices perhaps.

Manarola - Day 2

Enjoying Manarola as one of our locations for rest and relaxation, we naturally slept in as late as possible. That means 9am, which was when our breakfast in bed arrived, a small cornucopia of baked treats.

We decided to walk around the hills in Manarola, as the via d'amore was closed in both directions thanks to heavy rain the night before. This lead us way up above the village into the grapevines that cover the hills, used to make a local white sweet dessert wine called sciacchetrà. The views up here were unparalled to sights found on the tourist paths around town. Narrow and steep enough for billy goats, we went up as far as we dared which was only about half way, as the vines and stone stairs kept going up. It was so steep and tall that we could not see the sun rise!

Manarola - Cinque Terre

We organized our trip around tourist sights/locations and places of relaxation. This was the latter and the hotel helped make it so. After arriving by train to La Spezia via Pisa (no time to stop for the ROS there), we picked up a little old train from La Spezia that runs to Bologna and back, hitting each of the five (cinque) towns. Lindsey actually gasped when she had her first glimpse of the coastline around Rio Maggiore. The rocky cliffs, crashing soft blue waves, and brilliant sun were incredible to behold before the train ducked into a tunnel again. This went on for several minutes and shortly thereafter it was our stop.

Entering the town by way of a tunnel, we studied the map closely. It looked huge with buildings, significant landmarks, paths, stores, restaurants, etc. That is until we realized there was only one road that snaked through Manarola. Realizing we may be over-thinking this we just headed to the end and confirmed our suspicions. The map labelled everything in town! Our hotel was just up the road, a rather steep but entirely manageable walk.

Florence - Final Day

Leisurely morning today with a nice, light, simple breakfast and fresh made juice and cappuccinos at "home". Made our way into the city center, specifically for the open air markets where leather, antiques, clothes, and assorted baubles and junk are sold. We strolled, talked, wandered, haggled, shopped, and meandered some more. The leather market lightened our wallets and was cheaper than anything comparable found in NYC, made by hand no less! You could have easily walked away with anything made out of leather here: a new suit jacket, purses, pants, boots, hats, capes, and probably underwear if we had only asked. The one advantage to having locals with us was keeping the price down (slightly - we still looked like tourists without our fashion sunglasses, t-shirts with labels, and nice leather shoes). We were told that being non-Italians tends to leave prices at sticker, or about 50% more than asking.

Florence & Siena

The girls woke up earlier, much earlier than the guys today. Early enough for them to go to the open air market for fruits, vegetables, and other assorted stuff. Lindsey purportedly caused mayhem when she asked to taste a string bean. That sort of thing just isn't done in Italy, so the old man misunderstood and snapped the bean in half showing how fresh and delicious it was.

Not satisfied, the request was repeated and all of the old nonnies standing nearby started to repeat what she was doing to others and clarifying their astonishment to one another. I was told this went on with much furor and excitement for the locals could not believe her actions! All in all they let the girls leave unharmed (probably thinking it safest to leave them alone) and they came back with bags of loot for a total of €18!

There was juice - freshly made juice from the market fruits and vegetables. Oddly, with the abundance of such lovely fresh fruits in Italy, the restaurants are extraordinarily missing them from the menus. Our diet has been a lopsided food pyramid, propped up by the occasional fiber. Stumbling through a slow morning/afternoon on the definition of a lazy Saturday, we finally managed to clean up and venture off into the day.

Truffles and a Tuscan Specialty

Friday morning we got up early and went into the city with NK. She headed off to work for an half day and we set out for breakfast followed by the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens. NK recommended a cafe for coffee and pastries just past the palace. We felt like natives as we stood at the bar, shared three pastries and a cappuccino each. One had ricotta and pinoli nuts, another chocolate and the last a fresh soft brioche.

The Duomo, The David, Oh My!

Knowing we were taking the first train from Venice to Florence at 8:27 am the next morning, we checked out the night before. Breakfast didn't start until 8 am, but our hotel's owner didn't understand us not taking the time to sit and eat. The concept of "to go" doesn't really exist for Italians. He kept saying "there's a table in the garden," and "sit for just five minutes."

We had learned our lesson re: reserved seats on the train, got there in plenty of time and took our seats. Easy once we knew what we were doing! We arrived in Florence about two hours later and took a cab to our friends apartment just 10 minutes west of the city center. We were lucky enough to have wonderful hosts for four nights (Thursday - Sunday), NK and MP. We headed into the city center with NK, she headed to work, and we set out to explore the city. First up was lunch. We found a bright busy looking place, Pizzeria Centropoveri, shared a pizza, then enjoyed a cappuccino after our meal. There were only two other tables of tourists, the rest of the customers were workers on their lunch break, from house painters (ate the pasta pomodoro special, a beer each and finished their meal with espressos), to business men in nice suits. Anyone who ordered pizza each had their own with four large slices.

Last Day In Venice

Our plan today was to start by going north to the Frari Church, over the Rialto Bridge, to the Correr Museum, and do some shopping before dinner. The only other couple at the B&B were telling us how the church bells were going all night, at odd hours, keeping them up (we had earplugs). Sure enough, at 7:45 the bells started ringing and again at 8:00. Not sure what kind of clock those monks were using, but our inn keeper stated they ring every hour and never after midnight...sure. It just made the point that Italians have their own time keeping system. Good luck figuring it out!

Sunshine, two brides and a meal to remember

We woke up Tuesday morning at 6 am refreshed from a good night's sleep, and headed to the sweet back garden of our hotel, Casa Rezzonzico, for breakfast.




Out the door by 8 am and on our way to St. Mark's square (the Time Square of Venice), before the masses. Much of the square and St Mark's Basilica were being restored and covered under scaffolding, and on top of that, large billboard sized ads. It's not what you'd expect, but it helps pay for the upkeep of this historic city center.



We headed just south of the Basilica (we didn't go in as they require you to check your backpacks/bags and there was no way we were leaving our camera in a coat check) to the Doge's Palace, took one look at the line and headed to the Correr Museum at the other end of the square to buy our museum pass, then back to Doge's Palace and right past all the sheeple, I mean tourists, in the "fast lane" and went right in. I got similar looks from the people on line that I get from tourists in Brooklyn when I walk past the endless line at Grimaldi's to pick up my called in order and zip past them all - hA ha!

Getting To Venice

Big day today. Long day today.


So we made it to Venice withstanding any complications I tried to throw in to spice up the trip. I probably deserve a gold star however. First we got on the "wrong" train to Milan, as it was fifteen minutes early, but the ticket person assured us it was okay, so we were nervous the entire way that we would miss our stop. Once we did get into Milan I could not recall what to do so an older American couple from Massachusetts helped point us to the metro for the Centrale train station. Trying my best to go south (the wrong way), my better half prevailed and put us on the uptown train. Once at Centrale I hopped into the automatic ticket machine line but had to solicit help from some Italian guy just wanting to get his ticket after me (no reserved seating available - I should have booked this train ahead of time). Then we got onto our train only to get stuck amongst hordes of people trying to find available unreserved seats like us. At this point invisible daggers were sticking out of my back, and hatchets, swords, glaives, halberds, and falchions were en route. I made the mistake of sitting in reserved seats...twice. I was one of those tourists. I then noticed the seat numbers started to repeat on the 2nd class cars as we were among the few left standing. Odd. I had no clue how this whole system worked (not sure I do now either) but I did notice two seats unoccupied except for personal belongings. So I politely asked in Italian if the seats were free and scored us two seats after some of their grumbled replies. One point for the visiting team! One step forward, three steps back. I forgot to punch our tickets before we got on. We were told this is the most heinous crime that anyone could commit and was punishable by severe fines and imminent death in my case. Fortunately my luck was starting to change and the conductor (the first one seen on our trains) gave us no trouble. I think it was because the tickets were for a specific time. That was a close one.

Last Day On Lago Di Como

Expecting (and getting) some amazing weather this morning, we decided to start off early and catch the morning sun from castle Vezio above the sleepy town of Varenna overlooking the lake. Older (or slightly poorer) than Bellagio, Varenna was just getting the sun streaking down over ancient rooftops as we came ashore. Hardly anyone was awake and we had a nice and quiet hike up the mountain path.

The top greeted us with a small church, old ladies praying, a tiny graveyard for locals, and the castle walls. It turns out that the castle is really just a tower surrounded by walls with the best view around. They also do demonstrations with birds of prey that we didn't get to see, but we did see the main characters, including a beautiful owl named Artu and several hawks.

Weekend on Lake Como

Pouring rain Saturday turned to the most stunning fall day today (Sunday). Saturday morning we put on our rain gear and headed out into Bellagio after breakfast at our hotel. There were very few people walking around which made us feel like we had the town to ourselves. We roamed in and out of shops, enjoyed a pizza, some gelato, and later some treats from a pastry shop.

Under Construction...

Our blogger application is a little buggy, so we're taking some time this morning while it's pouring with rain (see below) to find solutions so we can keep sharing our adventures.




Even in the rain it's beautiful. Last night we walked home from dinner with the rain hitting the cobblestones. Perfect time to stroll in and out of shops ;).

Last night we met a sweet couple from Florida on their honeymoon and they had been here a week already. They observed that most people visiting Bellagio are older and from England, South Africa or Australia. Then this morning a very uppity British gentleman called the owner of the hotel over to say "I think we'll check out today a few days early. We've seen everything so we're going to move on." Hilarious. He fully intended to pay for 2 extra nights and not relax and enjoy himself.

And this is what we saw when we woke up...




Ciao for now -- LT

Location:Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini,Bellagio,Italy

Fixing Bugs

JFK to MXP

We started off on our journey like most everyone, on the ground. For three hours. Waiting for weather and forty planes in line ahead of us to take off before finally lifting into the sky over England, Netherlands, France, and Switzerland before arriving in Italy.



Some of our friends and family wanted pictures of food, so our first meal of the trip was the plane food. Enjoy! On the ground the weather was almost identical to New York just ten hours before, overcast and cool, but not unpleasant.



The train portion went smoothly. No surprises and very little waiting. It was rather impressive just how easy the train was to locate and figure out the transfer. Getting off in Como, we took a ferry from the bottom of Lake Como up to Bellagio.



It was a great way to take in the various towns on the lake as we stopped at several along the way. The towns are stunning in their colors and simplicity. Also wonderful are the flowers everywhere. When we landed in Bellagio almost immediately we both commented on the sweet aroma in the air. At first I thought it was gellaterias, but we kept getting traces of it all over town as we explored. Just heavenly.





Starving and certainly not adjusted yet to Italy time, we picked up some fantastic cow's cheese. Gooey, yet firm, and the rind was a real treat as it wasn't too pungent.


Just enough to tide us over for dinner. Apparently porcini mushrooms are in season and the restaurant we chose had a special menu based around them. Of course we ordered some and were well rewarded for doing so.

So it is 10:45pm here but we haven't slept for an entire day or more at this point. Time to fix that. Buona notte!

--NT

Location:Piazza Giuseppe Mazzini,Bellagio,Italy

Trial Post - A Day In Brooklyn

Today we wandered Brooklyn. In an attempt to get some weekend relaxation and material for a trial post on the blog, I took a few photos of the adventure to make sure it would work. We went to Flight 001 to pick up a couple necessary items before heading down to Buttermilk Channel for brunch. I have to say it was better than anticipated, with outstanding short rib hash and pecan French toast to die for. What a treat.




We then made our way north past some beautiful townhouses in Cobble Hill where we found an amazing building and adjacent two lots for sale. It probably would cost as much to renovate but what a home that would make.

On our way home we stopped over in the Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6. I quickly noticed there was a line for the ferry and made us run to take a trip over to Governor's Island. Surprisingly barren yet filled with city dwellers, we made a circle around, viewing the sights. No ice cream left unfortunately and took the ferry back home.


So fun, but we did a lot of walking. Ending the day with some fresh fettuccine, lamb sausage, tomato, and basil pasta. I would definitely eat that again. Such a great Saturday. Tomorrow: test packing and a few more things from stores not in Brooklyn. Hopefully the weather is just as amazing as today's!

Location:Henry St,Brooklyn,United States

Buon Giorno!

Very simply, we are finally going to Italy.  For a long time now we have wanted to go, and while the option was ours for a honeymoon destination, we thought it would be too much Italy and too little us.  Three years later, here we are, about to sojourn in the various locales of Italy.  Once we start our trip this blog will be updated with anecdotes, photos, and descriptions.  Ciao!