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.
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!!!
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...)
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!
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.
