The food in Venice was okay, but lacked the pizzazz and wow that we experienced in Florence.

By the time that we arrived in Venice it was already 12:30 and we could not check into the hotel until 2:00. So to kill some time, we grabbed a couple of paninis at a snack shop near St. Mark’s Basilica and proceeded to walk around the square.

For supper that evening, we wanted to try a place that we read about in Rick Steve’s Italy. In the book, it states that place opens at 6:00. It was 6:30 when we got there and the place was gated shut with a guy inside on the phone. Although disappointed, we consulted Rick again, and found a place near our hotel that has a relaxed atmosphere and great fish. So, we get there a few minutes after 7:00 (we don’t have the recommended reservation so we are hoping for a table) and are quickly seated at one of the 10 tables in the restaurant. We ordered a plate of Cod to start and Penne with Crab to split. After the waiter/owner takes our order to the kitchen, he returns to ask if we would like to try the chef’s specialty, fresh Gnocchi instead of the penne. Sure, sounds greats! 15/20 minutes and half a bottle of wine later, the Gnocchi shows up. This was delicious, melt in your mouth pasta with a sauce to die for! Wait a minute, what about our cod? Oops, he forgot about it, he’ll go get it now. Before he brought it out, we were expecting a plate of fried cod… Nope! It was a plate of cod salad (you know, shredded cod with cream sauce all mashed together like you are going to spread it on a sandwich) and three squares of what we finally concluded were grilled potato of some sort. Although hesitant, it was very good. I am beginning to like eating outside of my box! As we were finishing up with our delayed cod plate, the restaurant was full; not an empty table in the place. Wait, they can squeeze in a few more groups… Any table that had four chairs but only had two people sitting at it started to receive guests at their table. Ours included. He sat another couple from Switzerland (???) at our two empty chairs. What an evening of oddities, but the food was good. [We keep forgetting to take pictures of our food, so no pictures to make your mouth water.]

The following day started with more of the same: a roll with meat and cheese for breakfast and a panini for lunch. This time dinner came with a recommendation from our hotel. We arrived and were promptly stalked by our possibly hung-over 40-something waiter until we ordered. Carson started with a macaroni dish and I started with ham ravioli in a cream sauce. Both were very good, although Carson’s came out looking like penne instead of macaroni so we’re not sure he got what he actually ordered, nevertheless, it was still good. For the main meal, Carson had Filet Mignon, and I had Veal in a Lemon Sauce. Both of which were OK, but nothing to write home about. We did finish with dessert this time, a “truffle” that came in the form of a very liquored slice of white cake. [Of course we forgot to take pictures of the most interesting part, the pasta. Here’s the second course.]

On to Cinque Terre!

Our second tour of the day was to see the St. Mark’s Clock Tower. The tour was almost over even before it began. With rain in the area, there was a good chance we would not get to see the fourth and fifth levels of the tower since they are outside and it would have been too dangerous if wet. However, we decided to go anyway and chance it with the weather.

The tour started in the living room of the clock-watcher’s apartment, which is also where the weights that power the main mechanism hang. While on this level, we learned that in order to build the clock tower, several buildings were demolished to make room. Built around 1496 and completed within 4 years, this clock tower was also home to each clock-watcher and his family until renovations began in 1998.

Next we proceeded to the second level where the main mechanism is housed. Also on this level was the former kitchen, which is no longer much to see as it is now the cleaning lady’s closet.

This is the main mechanism (actually 5) that makes the whole thing work.

The third level housed the Procession of the Kings until 19^th century renovations upgraded their doors to house a more modern digital clock, the first in the world. Since the Kings were replaced, they are returned to center stage twice a year: once in February for Annunciation of the Kings and again after Easter for Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension.

The fourth level is where the Winged Lion of Venice guards the city.  On this level, the weather held up and we got to walk on the terraces on each side and watch as the Moors struck the bell to mark the time.

The last level, the fifth level, is the top of the Clock Tower that houses the Moors and the bell.  These specific Moors, contrary to popular belief, are not African males but instead, got the title of Moors because of the dark color of the aged copper. While on this level, we noticed that one Moor is old with a long beard and aged skin, while the other Moor is young with strong muscles.  This was done intentionally as each Moor strikes the bell at different times: the old Moor strikes the bell two minutes before the hour to acknowledge the time past and the young Moor strikes the bell two minutes after the hour to acknowledge the future.  Oddly, this clock is never struck on the hour, only two min before and two min after. This level also presented with several wonderful photo opps and a spectacular view of the city and the square below.

This is a view from the fourth level out over the square, past St. Mark's Basilica and the Bell Tower and over the lagoon. The two pillars near the water were used to hang people during executions, among other things.

Our guide let us pass the rope line long enough to snap a shot of us in front of the bell and the moors.

Before I forget to mention it, the design and location of the clock tower were picked specifically to welcome the ships from the sea into Venice.  The arch at the bottom of the tower opens into the main market street of Venice.  This street is also a direct route to the Rialto Bridge and the rest of Venice.

Our full day in Venice started with a tour of the Doge’s Palace. The tour was called the “Secret Itineraries” tour, which is an odd name but basically means, “we’re going to take you to parts of the palace most people don’t get to see.” Our guide was Italian, but spoke passable English. “Photos are forbidden inside. Once we pass the golden staircase, no more. *smile* Sorry.” She was pretty adamant that no one touch, sit, or lean on anything which became quite a challenge as our group of 20 or so squeezed into a tiny half office belonging to the Venetian secret-keeper.

This is a shot in the courtyard of the palace, one of the few places where photos were allowed.

Apparently the Doge (ruler of Venice) chose a single commoner to protect all of the empire’s secret documents. This sounds a lot sexier than it really was; most of the secret documents pertained to contracts or war. This chancellor spent all day in a tiny little office, occasionally venturing over to a room that stored all of the documents in cabinets lining the walls. This room was filled with secretaries and other workers, none of whom actually ever saw the secret documents around them. Each document had just a single copy. What did they workers do? They spent their time making two additional copies of all of the non-secret documents.

Next we found ourselves in the Venetian torture room. Here, they would tie peoples hands behind their backs and repeatedly lift them to the ceiling until they confessed their crimes. There were always three magistrates present, along with other prisoners waiting in the wings so they could hear the agony of the one being tortured.

From there we were led through a tiny doorway (maybe 4’ tall) into a prison cell. This cell would typically hold just one or two prisoners, so it was quite large by most standards, probably 15 x 15 x 6+. It was just tall enough for me to stand up inside. Here we learned the “true story” of a prisoner who was held there.

This guy was quite a ladies man. Venetian law allowed anyone to accuse anyone of a crime by putting a letter in a drop box. As you may imagine, there were many angry husbands accusing him of adultery. He was eventually arrested, but there was no evidence of adultery. Instead, the charge was possession of magic books. He was sentenced to 5 years. He actually got off easy because his offenses had been punishable by death until 6 months before he was arrested.

The prisoner was mostly well liked, so he was allowed to have a chair (he was taller than the cell) and to walk alone in an attic on occasion. It was in that attic that he found a piece of iron and started hatching an escape plan. He slowly created a hole in the wooden floor under his bed. Just as he was about to break through to the office below, the prison-keeper informed him that he was to be moved to a new cell. When the prison-keeper moved his bed and found the hole, he went to the prisoner with his discovery. He was promptly blackmailed; the prisoner explained he would tell everyone that the prison-keeper had given him the tool for his escape. The prisoner was able to stow the piece of iron in his chair to get it into his new cell.

This new cell was different; the floor and most of the walls were made of stone. However, he was near another prisoner, a priest, in an adjacent cell. Since they had only a handful of books each, they were allowed to exchange and started passing messages. They agreed that they would work on an escape together. The piece of iron was passed to the priest inside a bible and he started making a hole in the ceiling of his cell. After gaining access to an attic space, a second hole was made into the other prisoner’s cell. Once both men were free, they simply walked out the front door of the palace.

Who was this prisoner? Giacomo Casanova. The story was apparently written by him, so outside of the escape, who knows how much of it is true.

After the Casanova story, the rest of the tour wasn’t that exciting. We saw a few other offices of judges and magistrates, and then she left us to wander through the rest of the palace rooms on our own. We eventually made it over to another prison and walked across the bridge of sighs. Even from the inside, we could tell it was mostly covered in blue on the outside.

After a two hour train ride from Florence, we arrived in Venice. We walked from the train station and hopped on a vaporetto boat and rode it to the far end of the grand canal. We got off at the last main stop and noticed right away that there seemed to be way more people out and about than there was in Florence. It would be hard to imagine that there are busier times of the year.

As we walked through St. Mark’s Square, I noticed something a friend had warned me about. Some of the buildings are wrapped in giant ads. This is being done to help pay for building restoration, but it’s a little strange. Some of them aren’t so bad since they only cover a portion of a building with a repeating pattern. It’s not like you’re missing that much. Others cover an entire visible side of a building. The Bridge of Sighs is a good example; compare the shot on Wikipedia with this one obscured with ads.

After getting our bearings on the square, we decided to check our bags and see St. Mark’s Basilica. No photography allowed in there, so not much to show here. This seemed like one of the oldest buildings we’ve been in so far; I’m not sure if that is because it really is older or if it just has not been as well-kept and/or restored as the others. There was a lot of intricate marble work on the floor and lots of mosaics on the walls and ceilings. We did not pay to see any of the extra sites inside the Basilica.

We exited the church and checked out the rest of the square before grabbing our bags, buying a map, and heading for our hotel. Navigating in Venice is confusing as hell. We struggled to orient ourselves with the map, especially since there seem to be plenty of streets not on there at all. For the record: including a map on the back of a business card seems helpful. Leaving out 3 streets so the restaurant looks like it’s around the corner at the end of the block instead of 4 blocks away – not so helpful. Anyway, we found the church closest to our hotel (with the same name), but it still took us another 5 minutes to find the entrance. The stairs in this building leave you feeling like you’re walking into the wall. Here’s the view from one of the three windows in our room:

Later in the day, we started taking Rick Steves’ advice and stopped paying so much attention to individual street names and simply followed the signs in the general direction of major landmarks. I knew there were no cars in the city, but some of the streets here are barely wide enough for two people to pass one another without turning sideways. Add in people with strollers and shopping bags, stopping to look into shop windows and it’s totally insane. We walked a lot more this afternoon and evening; at least it seemed like a lot.

We crossed a good portion of Venice,  including a trek over the Rialto Bridge to see Frari Church. It’s filled with all kinds of artwork and everything has a permanent place inside the church. Again, no photos, so I can’t show some of the coolest statues.

After that, we spent longer than we really wanted trying to find a place to eat dinner. We’re both indecisive at times, and even though we were really hungry, we didn’t think any one thing sounded better than another. Many places open late, which made the choice more difficult. We finally settled on one, but of course we still had to wait for it to open. That place was an experience in itself, but it’s after midnight, so the story will have to wait.

After walking around it and even going inside to stand under it yesterday, we decided this morning was our best chance to actually climb Brunelleschi’s dome. We got there just as they were opening the doors and prepared for a long climb (463 steps). The first part was a series of small sets of stairs like you would climb around the inside edge of a square tower. After a larger landing, we switched to tight spiral stairs not more than two or two and a half feet wide. At one point our path took us out onto a ledge inside the cathedral where we could get a better look at the fresco painted on the ceiling. There are actually two domes, an interior one and an exterior one. Most of the way there were various sorts of windows, some larger ones and some very small, to provide additional light in the small space. The last part of our climb was actually through the space in between the two domes, slanting sideways as we went before moving to the inner dome itself. The last set of stairs were nearly vertical, and then we were finally at the top.

After being inside stone tunnels, the sun was extremely bright. We took a few moments to catch our breath and down some water before taking in the panoramic views of Florence. From up there, we could see every site we’d already visited and most of the rest of Florence and beyond.

I don’t think this is the worst climb we’ve ever attempted by a longshot; the Kansas state capital dome still wins that contest. However, there were some small spaces here that were pretty claustrophobic. Amber doesn’t like heights so portions were intense for her, especially coming back down. The worst part for me was early on the way down. The stairs are built right into the outside of the inner dome, which wouldn’t be so bad, but there wasn’t enough room for me to stand up straight. I had to either hunch really far forward or lean back awkwardly as I descended.

Back on solid ground at the bottom, we headed back to our hotel to check out. Before we left, Amber decided to check the booking confirmation for our next hotel in Venice and noticed that the days and dates did not match up. That was when I noticed that the year on the printout was 2011. Crap.

This was a reservation I’d already had issues with (they originally offered two nights but only listed dates for one), so I wanted to be doubly sure it was correct. I read back through the emails we had exchanged, and all of the details in the final email were good (dates were correct, number of nights correct, but no days mentioned). I decided we better pay the fee to make a phone call and be sure that they were expecting us today and not next year. Luckily, everything was fine and they even had a note about our arrival time I had sent a few days ago. For this particular reservation, I had to fill out a secure form online to send over credit card details to hold the reservation. I must have messed up the dates there, even though they had already marked down our correct reservation on their books. With a crisis averted, we headed for the train station to leave Florence behind.

Some random thoughts on food from Firenze:

• Gelato is good, but too much can get old (we need a few days break).
• Mint is my favorite gelato flavor so far. Strawberry will make a mess on your khaki pants.
• Not all diner sandwiches are created equal. Mine was OK with a combo of ham, cheese, and tomato, while Carson’s kinda sucked. His had salami (that was an accident).
• Italian restaurants open late, so when you get up early it’s hard to wait long enough for supper. So I have decided the best solution is to simply have 4 meals a day.

Our first full blown Italian meal consisted of a variety of cheese samples, a first dish of true fettuccine alfredo, and a main course of veal with rosemary potatoes and cacciatore chicken. We topped it off with a glass of Chianti each, and the whole meal was indisputably delicious. If you are ever in this area, you have to stop at Trattoria Za-Za.

For our next dinner, Carson was more brave than I was. He ordered stuffed rabbit, while I stuck with grilled chicken. However, he did get me to try prosciutto with Tuscan bruschetta (topped with liver patte). The best part of the meal was the full bottle of 13.5% Chianti; we felt pretty good when the meal was over. : ) All in all, the meal was OK, but it did not quite live up to Za-Za.

Today was a very full day!  We started the morning off with a 3.5hr guided walk through Florence. We started with quick history of Piazza della Repubblica and the Medici family.  From here we wound our way down back streets to the Orsanmichele Church where our guide explained the differences in Medieval, Renaissance, and Mannerist architectural eras.

This is one of the things we learned about on the tour. When rich families had a large dinner or a party, they would have leftovers. At the end of the night, they would push the leftovers out through this hole in the wall. Ever eaten at one of those kind of places?

As we made our way to the Ponte Vecchio , we learned about the Queen that didn’t like riding past the butchers on this bridge (they smelled bad and were not pretty to look at) so she had an enclosed path built that lead from one palace, through already existing homes, over the meat market (that she eventually had changed to a gold and jewels market), through more homes, and eventually ending at the Pitti Palace (her country home).

This is the Queen's walkway from one palace to another as it crosses the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River.

This tour eventually made its way inside the Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) and ended with an education on how Brunelleschi designed and built the massive dome.

After the tour, Carson and I hurried over to the Uffizi Gallery to marvel at the works of Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, and Botticelli.

Despite our feet begging us to stop, we proceeded to the Museo Galilei e Instituto di Storia della Scienza (Galileo Science Museum). Even with the really cool science tools and developing technologies, the best part was Galileo’s thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger in jars!

After all of this walking, we eventually made it back to the hotel for a few minutes of resting before heading out for dinner and an evening stroll through town.

Arrivederci!

Amber thinks everything was early today. We got up around 7am and headed down to our first Italian breakfast. <it was served on a nice garden patio but that was probably the best part. We knew not to expect much, but it was still a little disappointing, especially since we don’t drink coffee.

After breakfast, we decided to go right to the train station and see when the next train left for Florence. It was a pretty nice ride and only took a little over an hour. Amber grabbed a quick nap, while I figured out where we should go once we got there. With this kind of transportation possibilities, we’re not sure why so many people are fighting against high-speed rail in Wisconsin.

We decided to check our bags at the station and go explore for a bit before checking into our hotel. It didn’t take us long to find the massive duomo (cathedral) with it’s bell tower and dome. We walked for an hour or so, then grabbed a so-so lunch in a small bistro.

The Duomo's dome is larger than it looks in this shot. Everything is so close to the duomo, it's hard to get a good shot from here.

Side Note: we didn’t want to pay for WiFi, so we’re on the lobby computer. It has an international keyboard so some of the keys are in weird places, making it very difficult to type this. It’s also really slow. We will have to add some pictures later (pictures have been added now). There’s an American Country song on the radio currently. Bizzare.

I never realized how much I depend on the left shift key and the enter key being extra wide until they weren't. Notice the shift characters across the top don't match, nor do any of those on the right side.

We checked into Hotel Centrale and found that this room has a much larger bathroom than the last one, but the shower is still pretty small. Otherwise, the room seems nice (we’ll see about the bed in an hour or so).

Next it was time to see David at Galleria dell’Accademia. The statue itself is pretty remarkable; the rest of the gallery was not. To be fair, there were a series of unfinished statues by Michelangelo that were gave a pretty clear picture of how he got from a block of marble to the final product. They didn’t allow any photography, so we don’t have any photos to share.

The Rick Steves book mentioned a museum where they had recreated some of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions and we thought it sounded pretty cool. It was, but you could tell some of the exhibits were suffering from the encouragement to play with them. We were through it pretty quickly; I resisted the urge to buy a Vitruvian Homer T-shirt.

From the museum, we wandered back through the city and down to the Arno River. Rick Steves had an audio tour to tell us what we were seeing, which was pretty nice for being free. We grabbed some gelato and enjoyed our walk past squares, churches, and lots of statues. We got to the river and decided to checkout Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge covered in small shops. Almost all of them sold jewelry of some kind, and most seemed ridiculously expensive.

Yum!

After crossing the bridge and wandering a bit more, it was time to choose a restaurant for dinner. We picked one that was quite a ways from where we were, but not far from our hotel. It turned out to be a great choice – 3 courses, two glasses of wine – for €60. We started with an appetizer of mixed cheeses, shared some fettuccine alfredo (the real stuff), and finished it off with veal (Amber) and chicken (Carson).

Amber is about done with this post, and I’m getting sick of typing on this thing. Stay tuned for another update tomorrow.

After our marathon day of flights, we made it to Rome early – about 11:30am local time. Our flights were all uneventful, though it was a bit warm on the last leg (the long one). We both managed to get enough sleep to keep us going until a decent hour (almost 9pm currently). We took the Leonardo Express train from the airport to the main station in Rome and decided to try out the new Gorillapod. We had some trouble getting it to stay up straight and the next thing I knew, Amber had hung the camera upside down and was taking a picture.

She thinks she's funny.

After getting to Termini and walking to our hotel, we decided we had plenty of time left in the day to start exploring. We picked a direction and went wandering. The first major sight we came to was the Victor Emanuele II monument. This thing is massive. We climbed a bunch of steps, and then took an elevator to the top for some nice panoramic views of Rome. We stepped off the elevator and the camera died. Of course the batteries were in the other backpack – rookie mistake. Luckily, I had my phone so we were able to get a few nice shots anyway. I may include them later.

Amber managed a shot from across the square with almost no traffic.

After realizing how far we’d walked from the hotel, we decided we might as well keep going and find the Pantheon. We’d been struggling to find a good spot for it when we come back to Rome at the end of the trip, anyway. That place was pretty busy  for the middle of the day on a Monday, so I’d hate to see it during the high season.

The columns are actually shorter than originally intended.

After we finished at the Pantheon, we made our way back to the hotel with our feet starting to complain. We picked a place to eat dinner, only to walk over there and find that they didn’t open for another 30 minutes. At that point we were both pretty tired and hungry and didn’t really want to wait. In the end, we wound up at an Irish Pub for dinner. Our first real meal in Italy and it was from an Irish Pub. It sounds strange, but I don’t think there was much of an Irish touch on the menu. We ordered pizza and lasagna to share and both were quite tasty.

Now it’s time for a full night’s sleep before we head to Florence in the morning.

After putting in almost 50 hours this week, it felt great to walk out of work before 5:30 and know I wouldn’t have to think about any of it again for two and a half weeks. We’re getting everything in order for the trip; our first flight leaves Madison at noon on Sunday which gives us a little less than 40 hours. On the agenda for tomorrow: mowing, garden and flower bed cleanup, cleaning, laundry, packing, and other errands. And we’re trying to meet up with friends for dinner. Here we go…