La Dolce Vita (or the first Italian Adventure)

We finally made it on our trip to Italy, finally!  I think that I have wanted to go to Italy for as long as I can remember so it was very exciting to finally go there.  

Getting there was quite fun as well...

We took the night train to Munich. What fun!

Kyle demonstrating the bunks on the train

Joanne in the dining car the next day traveling from Munich to Verona, Italy through Austria

Our first stop was in Verona - not somewhere I knew much about, aside from the fact that Shakespeare set his play "Romeo & Juliet"there.  We thought it was fascinating and would go back.

Kyle in the Roman Stadium of Verona

Above the River Adige  looking towards the hills

Castelvecchio (City museum with art and antiquities) originally built in 12th century basically for the local nobleman to hide out from the rest of the city (especially during tax collection time).

The old synagogue - taken from our bedroom window.

The next day we took a little train to a little city called Modena.  We took the slow train because it was about 1/4 price and way more interesting passing through little towns along the way.  We stopped for lunch in a tiny little trattoria run by an old couple (he runs the front, she does the cooking in the back).  Kyle thinks it was the some of the best food he had ever eaten.  It was delicious!  Part of the fun was that no one spoke english.  It made it very interesting, we didn't really know what we were ordering but no problem, it was all fabulous.  Our after lunch activity was a cool trip to the Ferrari Museum.  I now know more about Ferraris than I ever thought I would...

Kyle really enjoying himself

There were a bunch of Maseratis there as well (I can't really tell the difference myself...)

We then went to Modena Cathedral and climbed the bell tower.

  

 The next day we were on the road (train) again and made our way into Florence! 

Yay Florence!!

We went for a quick lunch and then I dragged Kyle immediately to the Piazza del Duomo.  We still don't believe in taking photos inside churches as per the signs everywhere despite what everyone else does. Consequently, we only have photos of the outside.  But what an outside!!!

The south doors of the baptistery (by Pisano) - we weren't able to see the originals of Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise" since the museum wasn't open but we did see the copies on the door.  We loved the baptistry the best of all the churches we went to - it is built over the oldest church in Florence.

 

Next we went up the bell tower (we started to think that maybe we shouldn't go up so many bell towers...the stairs are pretty numerous)

A lovely view from the top of the bell tower.

Kyle in front of the Cathedral (Duomo)  We were amazed by the intricacy of the sculpture and decoration - so much detail that you almost can't take it in.

 Finally we went into the Duomo itself.  It's overwhelmingly massive, we explored it all; down into the underground excavations all the way up to cupola at the top of the dome.  (more stairs...)

At the top of the Duomo overlooking the south part of Florence

Our last stop of the day was the Galleria dell'Accademia, apparently you normally have to stand in line forever to get in but we seemed to do OK.  We really enjoyed it.  There's was several unfinished works from Michaelangelo and one very famous finished one.

Michaelangelo's David - a piece of art that actually lives up to all the hype

The next day we were really feeling a bit done in from our marathon of the day before.  We were rather slow moving but finally managed to make our way to the Uffizi Gallery.  The problem, as Kyle pointed out, is the "Art overload".  At some point it gets to be super overwhelming.  In retrospect I think I missed some pieces that I wanted to see but it's just too much.  We decided however, that Boticelli's "The Birth of Venus" is overrated and many of the other Renaissance artists are underrated (See for example: http://www.virtualuffizi.com/adoration-of-the-child.html).

Kyle resting at the Uffizi

As we stumbled out of the Ufizzi, we decided we really needed to eat.   There was a lovely-looking sidewalk cafe right there so we sat down to grab something.  Bad idea.  Terrible food, terrible service, hideous prices.  It turns out, out of the 1864 eating establishments listed on TripAdvisor in Italy, we managed to pick the 1861st ranked one.  Nice. (To give you an idea - McDonalds ranks higher).  This seems to be a trend with Kyle and me.  Whenever we wander into a random restaurant, it's either the greatest food ever or it's a complete disaster, there is no middle ground for us.  Ah well.  For the rest of the day we walked around Florence seeing lovely scenery and eating gelato to make up for our terrible lunch.

Back on the road again, our next stop was a somewhat non-traditional one for an Italian vacation.  Kyle had looked into diving (of course) and found out that the diving wasn't really great as far north as we were going to be.  He also found out that the deepest pool in the world is right outside Venice, strangely enough in a spa town.  He dove down to 40 metres and had a lovely time - especially since it's all hot-spring fed water!  Lovely.  I was an observer only.

Later that night we made our way to Venice.  I must admit, I've always been a bit ambivalent about Venice - it seemed super-hyped and I always wondered about the smell...Well, I really liked it - although I think October is actually a good time to go, no smell, OK weather and apparently fewer people.  Although it did seem like hoards of people to me, I'd hate to be there during the summer or vacation time.  Some highlights:

Gondolas and cool architecture

Really quite lovely

Piazza San Marco (with another bell tower - Kyle went up but I'd had enough of bell towers by that point, or, more correctly my knee had already had enough of stairs) and numerous tourists

Basilica San Marco from inside the Doge's Palace

Bridge of Sighs

Inside the bridge of sighs 

(So, somehow I had the idea that the Bridge of Sighs had something to do with some romantic Venetian story.  Not so much.  It's the bridge between the old courtrooms and the old prison where prisoners would sigh to see the freedom that they couldn't have).

We will have to go back someday I think.  Too much to see and not enough time to see it.  We flew home on RyanAir (which turns out to be a good idea since then it forces you to avoid buying any souvenirs given the strict luggage policies).   We arrived home quite tired but excited for our next trip. 

The Ghent Adventure

Ooops,  I always have the greatest of intentions to post blogs but was a bit lazy the last couple of weeks.  Or, at least, occupied by other things.  We did have a great adventure the other weekend that I thought I should share.  We decided to nip over to Belgium.  I say nip deliberately because a lot of people make it into a day trip.  We could have done that but decided we wanted to spend a bit more time and have a more relaxing visit.  The train goes directly to Antwerp from The Hague.  It's apparently one of the most beautiful stations - I can attest that it's a lovely site on it's own.

Time goes by so quickly on the trains.  I haven't figured out why it seems so much faster than driving even when you go on the more regional trains that stop more often.  For Kyle it's because he takes the opportunity to nap.

Our destination was Ghent, Belgium mostly because I'd wanted to see the Ghent Altarpiece ever since taking an Art history class during my undergrad days.  But Ghent itself is extremely cool and I think I'd like to go back.  As soon as we stowed our bags off we went to find the tourist info booth.   We did eventually make it there but got waylaid by some fabulous scenery.

St Micheal's Bridge is apparently the most famous in Ghent, justifiably so, as you can spend hours just looking at the architecture and watching the boats go by on the canals.

We almost made it to the tourist info when we stumbled across a REAL castle.  

Yes, a moat and a dungeon and everything!!!  I was super excited (and so was Kyle even though he made fun of me:  "A REAL castle, as opposed to an imaginary one Jo?").  So, we decided to tour the castle immediately.  

Through the entrance way

Full of funny little stairwells like this

Kyle walking around the castle walls

Me sitting in a window seat 

On the top of the castle

So this castle was originally started in about 900 AD and then kept getting added on over the next 600 or so years.  It was for a long while the town courts and then became a textile factory.  Then, interestingly enough became student housing up until around the 1930s when people got interested in restoring it.  Kyle and I took a million pictures here (except apparently not of the dungeon) which is kind of nutty I know, especially for us but how often do you get to tour a REAL castle?  After that we had to have a food break.  Fortunately for Kyle, one of Ghent's specialities is All-you-can-eat Ribs.

We did eventually make it to the tourist info place (in case you were wondering).  The next day we spent wandering around the medieval parts of Ghent.  To be honest, we were mostly in old churches. We felt it was rude to take pictures (unlike MANY other tourists) when there are clearly signs in all three languages (English, French and Flemish/Dutch) asking you not to take pictures.   So that's my excuse for not having many pictures.  We also went on a little canal boat ride and, hmmm, well the pictures are highly unflattering (worse than usual even for Kyle and myself who are notoriously un-photogenic).  Our favourite site of all, however, was the site of the ruins of a 6th century abbey.  It was originally founded by the first missionary who came to preach to the heathen in what is now Belgium.  It was very peaceful and quiet and since Kyle and I never seem to tire of old buildings, it was a lovely place to explore.

  Incidentally I did get to see the Ghent Altarpiece.  (A bit of a rant:  No photos allowed of course but really, I don't understand why people take pictures of famous artwork anyway.  It's not like their pathetic camera is going to give you a better shot than what's available from professional photographers on the internet anyway.  Even if they have a very expensive camera, it's likely still not going to be as good.  For instance - we were also in the Maurithuis museum this week (Dutch Royal Art Collection) where people kept taking pictures of Vermeer's "The Girl with a Pearl Earring".  Why?!  I can see if they took a picture with someone in it to prove they'd been there but they never seem to - just the painting itself.  It's so odd to me. OK, rant done)  If you want to see really cool digital images of the Ghent Altarpiece Click here.   This is very neat but still not as good as the real thing.  The colours are glorious and the detail is breathtaking.

Maybe I fit in here...

Just a short little note.  Sometimes I feel kind of all alone and I miss Canada where I know what to expect and how to get things done.  Other days I love it here and feel like they really do things well.  I feel like my neat freak tendencies fit in here though.  Note this picture, at first it just seems like a quaint little street in the city centre of The Hague.  But look closer, yep, you saw right, that is a huge VACUUM CLEANER sucking up trash from the streets.

Actually, they really only do this in the centre parts of the city, where the tourists go.  But I think it's cool none the less.  (And I also might point out that if people didn't smoke so much, or at least throw their cigarette butts so much, there wouldn't be nearly as much to vacuum.)

Downs and (Mostly) Ups of Adjusting to a big move

Anyone who has moved long distances knows that there are ups and downs while trying to adjust to the new place.  Overall things are great but there are always bumps in the road.   My bumps in the road this week were:
1)  Some guy running me off the road on my bike - and then blaming me when his (actually his friend's) car had a small scratch - no worries, I wasn't hurt and the police were serious underwhelmed by his complaints about the scratch.
2)  Ongoing delays in the temporary resident permit application (sigh)

I think these bumps in the road were more than mitigated by the good stuff though:
1)  Bike ride trip to the beach (and Kyle finding a Lindt chocolate store - note the strawberry cream Lindt ball, not available in North America as far as I'm aware)

2)  Walks to random places past beautiful scenery

3)  Trip to Leiden (a university town 25 km away) - it has been a university town since 1575, seeing windmills/canals, old millstones and our very first castle on this trip...(more of a fort on a hill really, but built in approximately 1200 AD)

4)  Trying delicious Dutch treats - Cocos balls and Pannekoeken!!