European Vacation Day 5 - Venice

Our legs are quite sore today, I think it’s the DOMS kicking in from Rome two days ago, when we spent around 9 hours walking in total. Yesterday was only about 5 hours walking. I hope our legs get used to this quick!

Another day at the office

On the Rialto bridge, highest point in Venice

After brekkie we got the bus into Venice. We walked though the town to the Rialto bridge, and from there to St Marks Square. We then went for a gondola ride and had to wait a while for our turn. The smell at this little basin was really bad, but after a while we got our turn. There were six of us in the boat and it was fun traveling down the narrow canals between peoples houses and restaurants. We eventually emerged into the Grand Canal and traveled along it for a while before returning to the starting point. One of the people on our gondola was a guy called Glen who was from Newcastle in the UK originally but has lived in Sydney for 16 years. His accent was seriously messed up!

Gondola ride

On the Grand Canal, Rialto bridge in the background

After the gondola ride we had an hour to kill so got some lunch with Andy and Wen E. The food was good but the service was truly appalling and I was pretty disgusted by the behaviour of the staff. At one point one of them stopped a couple passing to try to get them to eat in the restaurant. He completely blocked them and they thought he meant the lane was closed so walked back the way they came. The staff then all had a good laugh about it.

un cavallo!

View from the Campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore

After lunch we went to a lace museum which was very nice but more like a sales pitch. After that we went to a Murano glass factory to see some glass blowing where the guy made a Ferrari horse in about 30 seconds!

The Bridge in Front of the Bridge of Sighs

Me, the Doge's palace & the Campanile

We then went out on our own and visited St Marks Basilica which was quite dark and gothic inside and very different to St Peters yesterday. We went up the Campanile and got some amazing views of Venice. We strolled around the shops and ended up at a small bistro where we had some wine. Again the service, while friendly this time, was quite poor. The girl forgot she was bringing us our bill, then took ages to bring me my change.

The flag of Venice

Water, water, everywhere

By then it was time for dinner so we crossed over into the area called Cannaregio. Venetian house numbering is mental. All the houses in an area are sequentially numbered, rather than by street. We managed to find 4582 Cannaregio, but it was not as veggie-friendly as we had been led to believe. Not to worry though as just round the corner we found a nice restaurant and had a great pasta meal.

Move along, nothing to see here

Down a lane opposite the restaurant I had seen boats passing so we investigated and found it was a dead end with a little jetty on it. We got some great canal pics using our new Gorillapod (thanks Edinburgh Airport!). Then we went home, exhausted and ready for an early night. It’s now 10.30 and I am still writing so that didn’t really work out.

European Vacation Day 4 – Rome to Venice

Up early today for brekkie at 6.30am. At 7 we were on our way back into town to the Vatican City. Once there we met our guide, an Irishman called Jimmy. He gave us lots of interesting information and had many great anecdotes about Michelangelo!

Nero's bathtub

The Laocoon statue

There were amazing sights such as Nero’s bathtub and Raphael’s tapestries, including one where the end of the table follows you as you pass.

The original statue of The Thinker, and Jimmy the Guide

I twisted my ankle taking this picture so I'm damn well going to use it!

We saw the stunning Sistine Chapel and got mooned by God. After leaving there our tour ended, and we were left to stroll around by ourselves. We went into St Peters Basilica and I was taken aback by the sheer scale of the building inside. Our camera has been playing up so hopefully our pictures turn out ok. We went down to the catacombs to see the coffins of the old popes, including the one for Pope John Paul II.

Inside the basilica

Another of Michelangelo's pieces

[One thing I didn’t know until Jimmy told us is that the reason you are not allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel is nothing to do with damaging the paintings with flash photography (which is what I had assumed) as non-flash photography is also banned. Rather it is because the Japanese TV network NHK paid for the cleanup of the paintings back in the 1980s and as part of the deal they now have exclusive rights to pictures of the chapel. Something about that really bothers me.]

The lighting in the basilica was very atmospheric

The dome of the basilica

After that we were pretty much done but still managed to make everyone wait for us as we were a couple of minutes late back to the meeting point.

Us outside the basilica

The Vatican's last line of defence against the outside world

The bus then took us to Venice. The journey took seven and a half hours, with one fifteen and one thirty minute break. I was a bit worried that the others on the tour were already established in little groups, but after we were introduced to everyone, an Aussie girl called Amy came over to talk to us in the hotel reception in Venice, and at our evening group meal we sat with a really nice couple from Singapore, Andy and Wen E. We had a great chat about anything and everything. The food at dinner was fine, but the main was a margarita pizza. J got hers changed for a salad, but I was not so lucky/forceful. I peeled the cheese off (in one big lump) and ate the foccacia pizza bread with the tomato sauce. It was fine. Dessert was a fruit strudel which was great.

The hotel room is huge with two double beds, the TV is the same model as our one back home, and we have a bath! Tomorrow is a full day in Venice, which should be fun.

I thought I had taken enough podcasts with me, but now only have around 18 hours of Double Feature podcasts left. I think I’ll run out in about 4 days if I don’t ration them!

[I really like Double Feature. If you ever want to listen to a couple of guys from Chicago talking about 2 movies for an hour then that’s the place to go!]

European Vacation Day 3 – Rome

What a great day! Had breakfast at a local coffee shop, right across from the Corriere Della Sport offices. I felt just like James Richardson! We made our way to our new hotel and met up with our Aussie tour leader Michelle and the others joining the tour today. They all seem very friendly. There are 2 Aussies (Scott and Erin), a Kiwi (Katie) and an American (Mariam).

Some of our party: me, trainee Greg, 'Chell and Mariam

Me at the gates of Rome

We started out on our walking tour by passing through the original gate of Rome into the Piazza del Popolo. From here we went to the Spanish Steps for some photos and to refill our water bottles at the fountain. Then it was on to the Trevi Fountain which was a spectacular sight. We got some granita (slushies), cherry for J and mint for me which was very refreshing.

Us at the Spanish Steps

J and the Trevi Fountain

After that we went to the Pantheon. It was a bit disappointing that half the facade was covered in scaffolding, but not much different to Edinburgh Castle most of the time. Inside the Pantheon was breathtaking. It was much, much bigger than I expected.

The best shot we managed to get of the Pantheon

From here we carried on to the monument of Vittorio Emmanuel II, Italy’s first king. Again the size of it was surprising and the relative modernity made it stand out against the ancient monuments. Fact time: The monument holds the world record for the largest moustache at 3 metres on the statue of VEII himself. Also here were Trajan’s column and Trajan’s Forum. Trajan is one of my favourite emperors so I enjoyed seeing these. Also from here we got our first sight of the Colloseum looming in the distance.

VE II monument - AKA The Wedding Cake

Trajan's Column

We walked down the road to the Colloseum past the Roman Forum. The tour ended at the Colloseum so we paid to go in and have a look around. It was amazing, and with that I think I’ve run out of superlatives for the day! During the tour I was good and stopped myself from correcting our guide (especially on the vomitarium myth) and really enjoyed seeing all these places I had read so much about.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum...

Inside the Collosseum

My only disappointment was that when we got out of the Colloseum the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill was closed. These were 2 of the things I wanted to see most, but they will have to wait for another time.

We took the Metro back to the Spanish Steps and from there walked to a vegetarian restaurant near the Piazza del Popolo. I was expecting a fairly low key place but it was very big, modern and stylish. The staff were excellent and very helpful. We both had the vegan set menu which consisted of 5 courses followed by coffee. I think I can safely say it was the best restaurant meal I have ever had.

We took the Metro home and met Scott and Erin as we left the station. They had done much the same as us and we got the bus back from the station to the hotel together, sharing stories of the day.

The weather was amazing again, I’m going to struggle to maintain my pale complexion if this carries on much longer! Peace out for another night!

European Vacation Day 2 – Milan to Rome via Pisa

Today did not quite go to plan.

Got up a little hung over and had breakfast. Checked the train times to Pisa with reception who confirmed the only direct train would leave Milan at 1200 and get to Pisa at 1700. We had to get a train from Pisa to Rome at 1700. There was a train at 1100 that had one change and arrived at 1500, so we decided to go for that and took a tram then the Metro to Centrale Station. The station was amazing, massive and inside looked like it was all made of marble. J said it was just like Bayonetta. Waited ages in a queue only to be told that our train was full, but there was a fast train to Florence at 1100, where we would change for Pisa. It was about 60% more expensive than the other train but we had no choice. The train was packed so we had to sit in the corridor for 2 hours, not great with a hangover. We never left Florence station so I don’t think I can count it as a place I’ve visited! As it was a fast train we got in to Pisa by 1400.

The Duomo and the Tower

During my research I had noted that the leaning tower was just a couple of hundred metres from the train station. Arriving in Pisa I quickly discovered there were 2 stations in town, and the tower was near the other one. We took the leisurely ½ hour stroll across town to the tower. Despite having seen it on TV and in books, I was amazed at how much it leans! It felt quite surreal to be standing close to something so famous and it seemed a lot smaller than I expected. We did the obligatory “pretend to lean against/push the tower” pictures (along with everyone else!), then strolled back to the station. We went to McDonalds in Pisa keeping up our record of going to McDonalds in every country we have ever visited. [This record would soon be broken.]

Leaning on the Leaning Tower

Not in shot - 50 other people doing the same thing

Then on to Rome. The trains all day were excellent, and by the time we got to Rome, hangover was long gone. We found our accommodation, at the fantastically named Accommodation Planet 29 (I chose it because of the name) and then went out for dinner. The bruschetta was amazing, but both pizzas were pretty bland. We went to a convenience store for some supplies and were met by the bizarre sight of a shelf full of bottles of Tennents Super – I didn’t even know it came in bottles! Perhaps the Italians regard it as a delicacy.

So although things didn’t go to plan, it all worked out in the end. We’re meeting up with the tour tomorrow, which will be an interesting experience. It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to see any sights in Milan (I had really wanted to visit the San Siro) so we’ll need to go back some time as it looked like a really nice city.

European Vacation Day 1 – Edinburgh to Milan

[Finally posting the first journal entry from our European odyssey]

Spent a fortune in Edinburgh airport!  Flight left on time but J and I were not sitting together, the first time that has happened.  I got to sit in the aisle seat beside a couple with a small child.  No problem, put my ipod on and went to sleep. Woke up when something brushed my face.  It was the guy’s backpack, and he was in the aisle!  No idea how he got there.  When I had put my headphones in one of the rubber ear buds was missing.  Half way through the flight I saw it rolling down the aisle, so picked it up before any of the children could eat it!  Toddlers were pretty much running amok on the flight, staggering down the aisle with there mother or father attentively following them, letting them do pretty much whatever they wanted.  The alternative was being in a plane full of crying children for two hours, so I guess it was the lesser of two evils.

No problems getting into Milan and to our hotel using the train and then a tram from the station.  The weather was hot and sunny when we got off the train, in a very nice looking part of Milan.  Wide tree-lined streets everywhere! The hotel was very impressive, considering we had just booked it along with our easyJet flight.  It was quite plush and even had a balcony.  The staff were also very friendly and helpful.

Our tour begins!

Found a place for dinner, an “Irish tavern” improbably named Stalingrado.  Had a really nice meal, gnocchi alla pomodoro for me and penne arrabiatta for J.   The waiter misunderstood and brought us a bottle of wine instead of a half bottle.  We drank it all.  Then we went back to the hotel, where we had 2 more big glasses each!  The barman in the hotel was very nice and taught us some useful Italian.  We stumbled off to bed about 12.

Stalingrado, as Irish as the Blarney Stone

[Addendum: It turns out that the fortune we spent in Edinburgh Airport was on some of the best purchases we made during the entire holiday.  We got the notebook that I used for this journal, a Rough Guide to Europe which would prove invaluable (for the maps alone) and a Gorillapod, which enabled us to get some great pictures with our ageing camera (I have no doubt there will be more on the camera later)]

My travel journal

European Vacation diary: Preamble

After a month of sitting on my hands, I think I'm about ready to start posting the journal I kept while we were on our holiday last month.

I'll post it on a daily basis, keeping as close to the original entries as possible adding any contextual comments as required (I'd never written a diary before, so a lot of it is in a kind of stream of consciousness style). I'll add some of the better pictures from the trip as well.

Veganism

Everything you ever wanted to know about Veganism but were afraid to ask:

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Vegan