SAFUN

We are done with domestic airlines and are utilizing the Italian Train, TrenItalia, for our next destinations: Venice to Florence and back to Rome.

We caught the train to Venice on Thursday afternoon. Once we arrived at the Venice train station, we had to catch a water taxi or water bus to our hotel as you do for pretty much everything in Venice being that the entire city is built on water. We hopped on a water taxi which is way more expensive than the water bus (4x) but really nice. The boat was really pretty and we were able to enjoy the scenery on our way through the city to our hotel.

We were staying at the Ca’Pisani Hotel, only a 15 min walk to the Plaza San Marco, which is essentially the city center. I think this hotel is my favorite so far out of all the cities we have visited. We only stayed one night but I really enjoyed it. It is very trendy, the service was outstanding and it was super cozy. I felt like I was staying at nice cabin in the mountains. We had access to the terrace and a steam room right down the hall.

As soon as we checked in, we dropped off our bags and headed towards to Plaza San Marco. It’s really difficult to follow street names in Venice because the city curves in all sorts of directions. For example, you won’t find one main street that will lead you through the city. It breaks up and you get interrupted by a Plaza or you will have to go down an alley to get where you are going. It’s best to just follow the crowds and trust that you will find your way. As we wandered through the streets and over bridges, we kept wanting to stop and take photos. There are so many beautiful photos you can take in Venice – from the canals, the interesting buildings, the bridges, the gondolas, the boats. There is a lot to take in.

We made it to Plaza San Marco which is the “happening” place of the city. It’s an enormous plaza centered around St. Mark’s Basilica and Doge’s Palace. There were cafes and shops galore. We also walked down to the water where there were street vendors and lots of people just wandering.

There were lots of shops selling authentic blown glass items and homemade Carnevale masks. The blown glass figurines and jewelry were made on the Murano island right there in Venice. The masks were made of paper mache and some were ceramic outlined with leather. The masks are made after the famous Carnevale that occurs in Venice every February for 7 days leading to Ash Wednesday. It’s a festival where everyone wears masks made for parties and parades all throughout the city. People from all over come to celebrate.

We went to a restaurant I had read about in a book, Osteria Al Bacareto. It was excellent. I had a plate full of fresh fried seafood and Jason had the beef steak. Wine, beer and then tiramisu and cappuccino to finish it off. We were so full and ready to back to the hotel and crash. Venice, unlike Rome and MIlan, quiets down in the evenings. At around 11pm, it was silent in the streets. You could probably hear a pen drop.

The next morning we didn’t need an alarm because the church bells rang right next to our window, 7:30 am sharp. We had breakfast and packed our bags so we could check out. Our train didn’t leave until 2:45pm but we had a tour scheduled so we didn’t want to miss the check out time.

We had the Secret Doge’s Tour scheduled at 9:55 am. This tour takes you through the secret passages of the Palace. We saw where prisoners were kept and interrogated. And of course we saw Casanova’s (the one and only) prison cell. It was an interesting tour.

Following, we decided to walk the streets and shop. That’s really all you do in Venice or you can take a gondola. We opted not to do it. I mean it looks nice and all but it just seems like you are trying too hard to be romantic. It actually would be fun with a group of friends.

Anyways, I really wanted a handmade mask. We had our eye on the paper mache with the leather outline which is a new style of the masks for this year. We also wanted a blown glass figurine. We found a beautiful blown glass figurine of a couple. We bought that and I purchased some other little things. Didn’t find a mask though. It was getting close to our train departure time so we headed back. We stopped to grab sandwiches on the way and sat on the bridge eating and watching people go by.

This time we were going to catch the water bus back to the train station. Well, our water bus happened to be a little delayed. So, yes you guessed it, we missed our train by like 2 minutes! We had to go stand in line and get tickets for the next train which was at 4:45pm, only 2 hours later.

That gave me time to have some gelato. And there was a shop at the train station that sold the masks. I finally found one I liked and we bought it. I guess it was kind of a good thing that we missed our train

So we are now on the train to Florence about to arrive in about 20 minutes.

We are looking forward to a relaxed weekend in Florence.

After the Palace of Versailles, we had to catch a flight that evening to our next destination, Milan. Our flight was at 7:20pm so we had the taxi pick us up at 5pm.

Although it was right in the middle of rush hour, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. Check in ended at 6:40pm and we were in line to check in at 5:30pm. It took us about 20 min before getting to the front of the line.

I gave the attendant our tickets. She looked at us and said “Um, I’m sorry, you are at the wrong airport. You are at Orly and you leave from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle.“ I think my heart fell straight to my stomach. I didn’t read my ticket thoroughly. We had arrived at Orly and since it was a low cost carrier I figured we were leaving from Orly but we were leaving from the main Paris airport.

And on top of all that, it was the last flight of the day.  We started running to find the taxi line and pushed our way to the front. I told the taxi driver the situation and I said do you think you can make it to Roissy-Charles by 6:40pm? He kind of laughed and said he would try but it was rush hour so it probably wasn’t doable. We were off!

Traffic was crazy and then on top of that, one lane was closed for construction. He looked back at us and said, I’m sorry I don’t think we are going to make it. We decided to keep going anyways.

We got to the airport at 7:05pm and we didn’t even bother to try to check in – there was just no way.

I want to the EasyJet help desk and asked for the next flight. It was at 6:50am the next morning and it was going to cost 50 Euro per person. We really had no other option.

We debated about sleeping at the airport or getting a hotel. We weren’t about to go back into town to stay for less than 8 hours. There about 8 hotels there at the airport luckily. Roissy-Charles is a large hub attracting businesses all over the world. We decided it would be best if we stayed at a hotel so we can shower and get a good night’s rest.

It was 170 Euro for the night. On top of that, we had already paid for our Milan hotel.

And most importantly, we were going to miss our scheduled 8:30am time to see the Last Supper. You have to book the Last Supper months in advance and I found a reseller and bought tickets 2 weeks ago but the only opening they had was for 8:30 am. I went for it, not knowing I was going to stay in Paris another night. That was really a bummer.

The hotel was at Terminal 3 and our flight left from Terminal 2. You’d think that since we were staying at the airport we’d be at our flight on time. Nope – we barely made the cut off time. Then at security, I lost my boarding pass. It was so embarrassing because everyone was waiting behind me. I searched the floor and found it on the other side of the scanner. I guess it flew out, I don’t know.

Most travelers on this flight were business travelers. They were all men in suits with their brief cases. It’s about the same time it takes to fly from Dallas to San Antonio.

I crashed on the plane and I had crazy dreams about flying. If you ever have flown with me you’d know that it tends to be stressful – I promise, I don’t do it on purpose.

Oh well, you can’t expect for everything to go perfectly because if you do, you will always be disappointed.

We finally get to Milan. The Milan airport is really far from the city center and it is more economical to catch a bus in town. We had to wait for the bus and finally made it to the Central Station at around 10am. Our hotel was about a 10 min walk from the station but we took a taxi, haha. We were so beat. We got to the hotel and our free breakfast buffet had ended. Since we missed the Last Supper and our breakfast we just fell asleep.

We were staying at the NH Grand Hotel Verdi near the Central Station. It was part of a European chain hotel that caters to business people. Milan is not really a tourist attraction city, mostly a business city. It does have the famous Duomo Cathedral and Leonardo’s Last Supper. And of course, attracts fashionistas and shopping lovers.

We woke up around 1pm and decided to walk to the Duomo. It is the 4th largest Cathedral in the world and took 5 centuries to build.

On our walk down to the cathedral, we stopped at a trendy pizza place to have lunch. We had pizza and beer. Milan, being the fashion capital of the world, is very trendy. Everyone looks their best and it is easy to stick out like a sore thumb if you don’t dress like them.  While we were eating, everyone was whispering to each other and pointing at some table in the other room. Apparently, some famous model was there. Jason and I didn’t recognize her but she had all her crew with her.

When we left, we saw the Ferrari in the front. As we got closer to the Duomo, we started to notice more Ferrarris, Corvettes and Lamborghinis. Yep, this was Milan.

We got to the the Dumo plaza and wow, the Duomo was beautiful. We had tickets to go to the Terrace so we can look from the top.

We decided to walk through the trendiest shopping district passing by Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada – after all it was the home of the designers. There was  a bling cell phone store where you had to ring the door bell to go in. I did find a store I read about in a book that had discount designer clothes. You know, skirts for $300, discounted from $600. Haha. It was fun looking though.

We did some more window shopping and I had some gelato. I don’t know how they do it but their gelato is so amazing.

We got back to the hotel exhausted and just ordered in room service.

The next day we had to hop on a train to Venice at 1:30pm. We spent the morning shopping. I read about Corso Buenos Aires which is similar to Michigan Ave in Chicago. Store after store. Although it was great to find Milan boutiques that you won’t see in the states. We did shopping until about 12:15pm and then Jason had to grab my arm so we could get back to the hotel.

We made it to the train station in plenty of time. I had to go shopping in Milan so I was trying to use my time wisely

We missed the Last Supper so I know we will be back.

Off to Venice!

We boarded a flight to our next destination, Paris, on Sunday morning. We decided to fly because it saved time and it was cheap. We flew EasyJet which is comparable to Southwest Airlines for Europe. They charge you for everything – extra baggage, weight. Luckily I purchased 3 baggage allotments prior. Our  totaling to 40kg. It came out to 40.3kg. Phew! Good thing I hadn’t gone shopping yet.

I really have no complaints for EasyJet. The aisles were wide but the leg room was limited. Other than that, I thought the service and easy of use was great.

We landed in Paris around 1pm. We took a taxi straight to our hotel, Hotel Valadon.

The Hotel VALADON is a small town house built in the beginning of the last century. Its owners, Victor & Maria Orsenne have worked in the hospitality business for over 30 years.

They have about 12 rooms so it is imperative that you book in advance as well as pay 1 night in advance. It was located in a very nice neighborhood within a 10 min walk from the Eiffel Tower. There was also a fresh market around the corner. As soon as we arrived, the lady showed us our room, gave us the door code to the building, and let us know when breakfast was. The room was super cozy. We crashed as soon as we checked in.

We slept until right when the sun went down. We decided to take a walk to the Eiffel Tower and it was really magical at night. Our photos came out great except our lens was a bit dirty so you can see some spots. I will have to edit later.

The weather was perfect and the city was peaceful. I think it was due to it being a Sunday evening.  We ate at a local cafe and Jason got the famous hamburger and fries. It didn’t have a bun. I think the Americans added the bun for the fast food convenience.

Our Paris trip was way more laid back then Rome. We kind of went with the flow and weren’t on a time line. We woke up a little late the next morning and went down stairs to the kitchen where a fresh crescent, homemade jam and orange juice were waiting for us. Victor made jam and sold it there at the hotel.

We took a walk down to the Louvre. It was so lovely outside. The streets were clean, the architecture of the buildings were so interesting and everyone just walked – no rush. I now know why it is called the City of Love. The Louvre was so amazing. Plan to get lost – even you don’t plan to get lost, you will. But it was great. Getting lost in a museum filled with historical art is fun. Every corner there was a masterpiece. We saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace,  the Cupid and Psyche, The Raft of the Medusa and many others. I was really impressed with the Mona Lisa. Although a small painting, she really does feel like she is there and staring at you. All the paintings were enormous and the sculptures were just out of this world.

I also saw this beautiful painting that had my cousin’s dog in it – Chiquita. I thought it was funny because the dog really does look like my cousin’s dog – a city dog in Chicago.

You can spend days in the Louvre but we could only afford 2 hours before our stomachs began to growl.

We stopped at a cafe where I got a crepe and Jason got a hot dog. If you ever ask for egg, remember it’s fried, not scramble. So delicious!

After a full stomach, we walked down to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The Plaza in front was full of people. This Cathedral was most amazing and beautiful inside the doors.

We strolled the streets and window shopped all the way back to our hotel.

It started to get cold later on that evening. A cold front was blowing in and some rain began to sprinkle. I think it followed us from Rome.

For dinner, we walked down our street where there were was  an alley full of cafes. We chose one. We sat on the covered patio where they also had heaters. I had the best penne pasta with mushrooms. I know it was France but they made it so perfectly.

In Paris, we did a lot of observing. We watched people. Sitting next to us was this French couple. Even though we don’t speak French, you knew that they were fighting. It’s funny when you don’t know the language, you can still understand what people are saying by looking at their facial expression and hand gestures.

The next day we had tickets for the Palace of Versailles. It was so cold and windy that day. We had to catch a train and it was about 45 minutes outside of Paris. The Palace was beautiful and interesting. We saw the famous Hall of Mirrors and Hall of Battles. The Kings of France during that time (late 1600 to late 1700), specifically King Louis XII wanted all his court to live with him making this estate so grand and spacious.

The Palace is known for it’s gardens but unfortunately the colorful plants don’t come out until May. The fountains were also not running. It was so cold and windy outside that we decided not to walk the gardens. We will have to come again.

We were hungry anyways so we went searching for a place to eat. We found a Spanish restaurant – tapas, yum!  I thought it had to be good because were so close to Spain. And it was.

I have to say that the French were very nice and accommodating. I know people say the French are rude to Americans but honestly, we didn’t run into that. Maybe because we weren’t there long enough.

…Eat pizza, have some gelato, drink lots of wine and enjoy your surroundings.

Our Hotel – WH Trastevere Hotel

We arrived in Rome safely and with all our luggage. We caught the metro from the airport to our neighborhood, WH Trastevere Hotel. Trastevere is the neighborhood on the “other” side of the Tiber river. You go east to cross the river into the city center of Rome. Our apartment/hotel was on a side street down an alley. It’s literally an apartment and we were on the 2nd floor. We walked in to find a greeting area where we met Alex and Maria. There was a community kitchen where can make some coffee and have a pastry. There were about 4 rooms and ours was the first on the right. They provided us with a laptop and free wireless internet. The weather was nice so we had the window open. We were so exhausted so we dropped our luggage and crashed.

Galleria Borghese

I had reservations for us to see the Galleria Borghese museum that evening. We woke up in just in time. The Galleria Borghese is famous for some the of the world’s most extensive art collections including paintings and sculptures by Raphael, Rubens, Titian, Caravaggio, Bernini, Antonello da Messina and Canova. It is located on the far north east side of Rome in a beautiful park.

Although we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the Galleria, I did get one photo of  Bernini’s Pluto and Proserpina sculpture. This piece was done in 1621 and the details are so amazing that you can sense the intensity. You can see where Pluto’s hand grabs into the flesh of Proerpina’s leg.

We had dinner at a cozy restaurant on our way back to our hotel. Jason had the biggest calzone I had ever seen. Forgot to get a photo.

Vatican City

The next morning we had a tour scheduled for Vatican City. A cold front blew in that night so it was about 20 degrees colder than the day before. So it isn’t just Texas that gets crazy weather! Booking a tour is the best way to go because you get priority admittance. If you go on our own, you will wait in a line for an hour or longer. The lines were crazy and this was only March, I can only imagine the summer. Cristina, our tour guide, was a native Italian but spoke English and she was an archeologist. She was great!  We had head phones so we could hear her more clearly. I cannot tell you how crowded Vatican city is. So many tourists packed into rooms like sardines. It’s hard to hear your tour guide and hard to appreciate the artwork because you are constantly moving. We saw the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. Photos cannot capture the beauty and the massiveness of everything we saw but we tried.

Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere Neighborhood

That afternoon, we had a separate walking tour scheduled for the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere, our neighborhood! There were only 4 of us on this tour and it is essentially wandering the streets but learning about your surroundings. The Jewish Ghetto is a neighborhood near the Tiber river. Historically, it is where the Jews were forced to live. It was chosen near the river because it often flooded and it wasn’t an ideal place to live. Today, the Jewish Ghetto is a desirable place to live because of the history and it’s characteristics. We did see a synagogue and it was the location where  a bombing occurred in 1982 killing a little boy.

We also saw an old amphitheater shaped like the Colosseum. People often mistake this theater to be the Colosseum if they hadn’t seen the Colosseum before. It was built before the Colosseum and it was where Romans would go to watch plays – mostly comedies. It was the main attraction until the Colosseum began having their Gladiator games. The amphitheater lost the popularity. They tried to compete by doing real enactments of murders where they would take live prisoners and kill them on stage. It still couldn’t compete with the Colosseum so it eventually closed down.

Here is the fountain of turtles. I took this photo for my brother since he likes turtles. The original fountain was built without the turtles and added hundreds of years later. This is the most simple fountain in Rome and I think is more appreciated for that reason.

We went on to tour the Trastevere neighborhood. We saw many churches and plazas. One of the churches we saw was the church of St. Cecilia founded in the 5th century. St. Cecilia suffered martyrdom between 176 and 180. I was so fascinated by the fact that when they opened her tomb in 1595, they found that her body wasn’t fully corrupted and you could still see blood from where her neck was cut. A statue was made based on this finding.

Our tour guide for the Jewish Ghetto and Trastevere was originally from Detroit. She studied in Florence while in college and went back to visit 2 years later. She never left and has been living in Rome for the past 9 years. She isn’t sure if or when she will go back. She had some great stories and was very educated on Roman history. We walked through a plaza in Trastevere and she said that there are Roman ruins of the baths under the parking area but the locals today don’t want to dig up because then they would have to give up their parking and parking was already limited. It made me laugh because I am sure the locals are so tired of ruins being found left and right because it takes up their space. Here is me standing on the oldest bridge in Rome, Ponte Frabricio, built in 62 B.C. Made me a little nervous to stand on it!

Restaurant in Trastevere- Spirito Di Vino

That night we ate at Spirito Di Vino. I had read about this restaurant in a book and it was actually located right down the street from our hotel. The cuisine was said to be outstanding and famous for the pork shoulder and extensive wine selection with a wine cellar in the basement. A roman statue was found under the restaurant and now sits in the Vatican museum which makes this place even more special. Since there were no nachos, Jason decided to try the pork shoulder. It is an ancient recipe said to be a favorite of Julius Cesar. The pork is marinated for 24 hours – Jason felt like a king after eating it
And to top it off, taramisu. The best both Jason and I ever had!

The Catacombs and Appian Way outside the Roman walls

The next morning we had a tour booked to see the Catacombs and ancient Roman countryside. We left the official Roman city walls to a more peaceful setting. The Catacombs are the ancient underground cemeteries of Christians dating back to the 1st century. It was very fascinating – a bit creepy too. I mean you are down deep underground in very narrow walkways with the dead… well where dead were buried. Some popes and saints were buried in these Catacombs. It was a very holy place. We weren’t allowed to take photos but we got a few.

We went down the countryside to Appian Way which is one of the most important Roman roads that connected Rome to other cities. Original parts of the road were still there. The stones were much larger.  We also saw the  Aqueducts which were large structures that allowed water to flow into Rome for the population of 1 million people to use. They went into the public baths and of course to the private baths of the wealthy. They were huge!

Ancient Rome

That afternoon we went to tour the rest of Ancient Rome within the city including the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Capitoline Hill, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and Piazza Navona. The Rome marathon was being set up for the next day so the streets were crowded. Around the Colosseum was where the marathon was ending so there were gates set up everywhere making it difficult to get good photos. Those marathoners!
The Colosseum was everything we expected. I really enjoyed the Roman Forum and learning the history. It’s amazing to learn about a civilization that existed for 1200 years which is half of what the US has existed for. And to see the architecture built on top of each other through the centuries was really interesting. The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous and crowded! As was the Pantheon.

We wandered the streets for a while before coming back to our neighborhood. We ate at a local restaurant where I had meatballs and Jason had olive pizza.

In 3 days, I think we covered more than a local Roman will ever see. We still need time to take in everything. We will be coming back next Monday to wander the streets some more and spend time to take it all in.

I’d also like to comment that I booked all 4 of our tours through Enjoy Rome. As I mentioned before, it is ideal to book a tour especially for the Vatican and Ancient Rome (Colosseum and Roman Forum) because groups get priority admittance. Further, I enjoyed Enjoy Rome because the tour guides were highly educated with masters or PhD’s in archeology and history. They weren’t flamboyant and gave you factual historical information and were able to answer your questions. It was very educational. I do recommend that you take time to wander on your own to see the monuments yourself after the tour.

Time to rest up and get ready for our flight to Paris the next morning. More to come.

Jason and I are taking a 2 week vacation to visit Rome, Paris, Milan, Venice and Florence respectively starting today. We take many extended weekend trips and our last long trip was our honeymoon which was a week long. Sometimes you say you will take a vacation but when you take your Blackberry and your computer, it’s hardly a vacation. Jason – for the first time – is without his computer and a working Blackberry. Our industry revolves around the Internet and the Internet never sleeps so it is rare that Jason ever takes a break. He might have some withdrawals but I think the beautiful surroundings will keep him distracted. I brought my computer purposely to blog and post photos for family and friends to get updates.

When you are traveling for leisure, you tend to stop and notice your surroundings. I know when I am traveling on business, I am so focused on getting from point A to point B and don’t notice anything in between. My next few posts will cover my general thoughts and our experiences over the next couple of weeks.

Currently, we are about 30 min from arriving in Rome. It’s already been an interesting journey and we aren’t even there yet.

We left San Antonio around 12:20pm. I was so excited that I packed only 2 suitcases! One checked and one carry on (I packed a bag within a bag for room when we returned). When we went to check the bag, it was 9lbs overweight and it would be $150 to get it through. So there we were reorganizing our bags – no fun. We got it working though but now we have 3 bags, ugh. One more thing to worry about when umping on flights and trains. Staying positive here.

While in line for our flight we saw 2 business guys escorting another guy in handcuffs. Jason says that sometimes they have to transport prisoners on passenger planes to get them to their origin location. Never saw that before.

There was also a another couple with their big dog in a cage ready to check.  Wow, I could not imagine trying to take Sierra and Topaz on a flight.

We got to our gate in plenty of time. Our connection flight was in Chicago. I waved to Ma and Ca (my cousins) from O’hare.

On both flights, we had restless children sitting in front of us. This one lady had her newborn and her 2 year old who was super hyper. She through tantrums constantly until she was exhausted and finally crashed.

On our flight to Rome, we had another 2 year old in front of us. He was super cute and very friendly. However, when lights were off and we are all sleeping, he would randomly scream out. I couldn’t keep a consistent sleep. Oh well.

It’s got to be tough traveling with children.

So we are about to arrive in Rome, 8am Roman time. We are staying in a hip apartment/hotel in the Trastevere neighborhood which is similar to Greenwich village in NYC from what I have read. It’s non-touristy and full of people in our age group. Seems like our style, we will see soon!

Ugh. As I finished this post Jason looks over and says ” I have a feeling our bags won’t be there. “  Thanks Jason.

Speaking of lost bags. I remember when I studied in Spain about 6 years ago, my bags did get lost! I was arriving in Madrid and commuting to Seville to live for 5 months. I was traveling alone, going somewhere I had never been before and meeting people I had never met before. My bags didn’t arrive for 3 days and I had to borrow clothes from the girls that were rooming with me – never met them before. It was so embarrassing and uncomfortable. A memorable experience I suppose.

Jason, we have no friends or even strangers to borrow from. I hope our bags are there. Or I can go on a shopping spree! I am good at that