Venezia

 

Yesterday we took the train to Venice for the day.   From the train station we got on a water taxi and took in the sights of the Grand Canal, which really is quite grand. What was amazing to me is that the canals are the only way to get things around in Venice so there are garbage boats, fuel boats, ambulance boats, water taxis, private boats and gondolas all trying to get through the canal at the same time. There was a lot of traffic.

The buildings lining the canal are very interesting in their architecture, design and color.

We made our way to St. Mark's Square….

and looked around St. Mark's Basilica (no photos allowed inside).  It was a really interesting church with a lot of brilliant gold mosaics and a floor that rolls like the sea from the shifting and sinking of Venice.

 We walked around looking through some shops and made our way to the Rialto Bridge where we sat in the sun eating gelato and watching the grand canal traffic go by.

Then we made our way back to the train station to head back to Florence.  It was  quick trip but worth the time to see the Grand Canal and experience the magic of Venice.

Maija

A day with Giacomo

On Monday we set out for a driving tour of the Tuscan countryside.  Our escort on our trip was going to be "Giacomo", a 64' Fiat 500.  A vintage Italian car.


We found Giacomo in  a garage a 10 minute walk from our B&;B in Florence.  These cars have to be double clutched, so I had take an operators lesson in a Fiat simulator.  Turns out my farm upbringing benefited me once again, the proprietor said I was a natural and turned us loose with a google map showing us the way out of town, well the first 5 turns anyway and how to get the car back into the garage

 

         

Monday is a national holiday here in Italy, Easter Monday. Therefore nothing was open, no stores, no gas stattions. So we were unable to buy a map. We pulled out our trusty Rick Steves book and with his rough sketched maps we were on our way. Sometimes the wrong way, sometimes on the autostrada all in a car with at top end of 80 kph.  Oh yeah, picture us smoking up the freeway in our rodeo clown car going 50 MPH!!!

But the good news is we we lucked into all the right places, happened onto some others and returned the car safely to it's owners.


It is still early spring here in Italy, the trees and flowers are not quite out yet.  So although the countryside was beautiful, with hills that rolled to the snow capped mountains, you could see that late summer or fall would be exquisite.  Another trip I guess. 

When in Rome

Our last day in Rome was very low key and relaxing. We did laundry at the apartment (washer only), went to the internet café to blog and do banking/blog/email.  In the mid afternoon we headed out to explore a little more of our “neighborhood”. 


We stopped by the Church of Santa Maria della Immaculata Concezion to see the Cappucino Crypt.  There are bones here of more than 4,000 friars who died between 1528 and 1870.  

They arrange the bones into art patterns.  This is the ceiling in one of the alcoves of the crypt.

This is a chandelier made of bones.  Everything in the pictures are bones!!!

The crypt was an interesting yet odd arrangement of bone art. Definitely something we have never seen.

We walked around the neighborhood, had some gelato and did a little window shopping.

We ended up at the Spanish Steps where we sat in the sun for a while observing the huge crowds of people.  Easter weekend in Rome is VERY busy.

We have loved being somewhat “locals” while here in Rome. Well, as local as two non-Italian speakers can be. Our studio apartment has been very comfortable.  We had a washing machine, private bath (not always the case in Italy) and a kitchenette where we were able to cook some of our meals and save on costs.

The only drawback was that the apartment is on the top floor and there is no lift.  The apartment is the skinny redish building in this picture. It is the top one with the black balcony.  We climbed 112 marble stairs (Mom, I counted them just for you) every time we came back up to the apartment.  Some days it was 3 times, but it kept us from feeling guilty about all the gelato.

We were right in the center of Rome near Piazza Bernini.  This is the view from our balcony.  The metro was a 2 minute walk and all the main sights were within 20 minutues walking distance.

We have also fallen into the Italian way of having lunch at 3 and dinner at 9.  It just seemed to be the way that it usually worked out. 

We have walked by the Trevi Fountain everyday since we have been here.

James threw in a coin for us to insure that we will return again to Rome.

 














We have enjoyed this part of our Italian journey.  We learned that Roma, the Italian way to spell Rome, is Amor  (love)  spelled backwards since this the city of love.  We have loved it and hope to return someday.

Happy Easter!

Maija

Ancient Rome

Yesterday we had a nice relaxing morning at our apartment then headed to do some sightseeing.  We ended up having a really long day.

 

We started at the Colosseum which was only a few metro stops from our apartment.  We purchased a Roma Pass when we got to Rome which allowed us to get into 3 sights and use the metro for three days.  What was most beneficial about the Roma Pass was that it allowed us to skip the line and go directly into the Colosseum.  Which was a good thing.  We got there around 12:15 and overheard that both the Colossuem and Forum (our next stop) were closing their gates at 2pm and everyone had to be out be 3 pm.

The Colossuem is 2,000 years old and it is amazing to think about how old it is and that it is still standing for us to be able to see.

We listened to an audio guide on our iPods (from Rick Steves) while walking around. From the guide we learned that the people were given a broken piece of pottery to use as a ticket into the Colossuem and that the events would last 8-10 hours.   We also learned that the on Good Friday the Pope comes to the Colossuem to do the stations of the cross for Holy Week.    Yesterday was Good Friday….which is why the Colossuem was closing early.  We asked at the information booth and they confirmed that the Pope was coming that night around 9:15 pm.  (more on this topic later….).

From the Colossuem we went to The Roman Forum which is the ancient Roman city that is right next to the Colossuem.  Julius Caesar lived and walked in this city.  Everywhere we looked was an amazing view of ancient ruins from 2,000 years ago.  We saw the place where Julius Caesar’s body was burned after he was assassinated.

 The Forum also had the Temple of Vesta which was a sacred place in ancient Rome where the Vestal Virgins of Rome kept an eternal flame burning. The Vestal Virgins lived next door to the Temple and were appointed at 10 years old to serve for 30 years.  After 30 years they were given a huge dowry and permitted to marry.

If they determined at some point that you were no longer a virgin and worthy to serve in the house they would strap you to a funeral car, parade you down the street to a crypt and bury you alive with only an oil lamp and a loaf of bread.

We then had a delicious pizza lunch, which I seem to have every day.  I have decided that the 3 food groups in Italy (for me) are pizza, pasta and gelato.

After lunch (which we ate at 4 pm)  we went to the Pantheon.  This building has an amazing domed roof and is the oldest continually used church in the world. It has been operating as a church for 1400 years.  The architecture was remarkable.

The dome has an opening at the top called the Oculus.  It is the only lighting in the church but it is not enclosed so the rain also comes in.  However, the church floor is slightly slanted towards the center and there are holes in the floor to drain the water.













It was very crowded in the city yesterday.  Most people were off people were off work for Good Friday and there were a lot of people out, locals and tourist. It reminded me of the crowds we saw at the Olympics in Vancouver.

In the early evening we headed back down to the Colossuem to watch what we thought was going to be a vehicle processional. We were hoping to try to get a glimpse of the Pope in his car.  We were allowed access into a section near the Colossuem that happened to be near some lights and cameras.  When we asked some people next to us if the processional would be close by we learned that the Pope would be doing the Stations of the Cross from a tent that was on a bluff about 30 feet above us and 50 feet away.  By pure luck we got a remarkable view of the Pope.  We did have to wait around for about 2 hours but we had a great view and it was worth it.

What we continue to find amazing about this city is that every street we walk down we run into some amazing structure and we don’t know what half of them are.  It seems that around every corner there is something even more amazing.  Here are a few other photos:

Arrivederci!

Maija

Where have all the peepees gone?

Today we visited Vatican City,  St Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

The Basilica didn't open today until 1pm because of a special mass for Easter.  Thus all the barriers and chairs in St Peters square.

Also, much of the Basilica was roped off.  We were not able to walk near the alter or get underneath the dome.  And, there were too many stairs(323) and the line was WAY too long for Maija in her clearly delicate condition, to climb to the cuppola.

This is picture inside St. Peters Basilica looking down the nave towards the alter.   The enormity of this edifice is mind boggling.  Nearly 2 football fields in length,  and covering 6 acres.  It can hold 60,000 standing patrons.  And, truly beautiful.  The alter is directly over the crypt of St. Peter who is believed to have been buried in the basement.  Pope John Paul II who died in 2002 is also buried there.

The only way to get to the Sistine Chapel is through the Vatican Museum.  The Building is of very beautiful architecture.  The  floors are covered in tile mosiacs and the ceilings in Frescoes.  And, the museum is full of naked statues of men missing their most important appendage.  Apparently during the Renaissance Period "they" decided it was in bad taste and lobbed them all off.  So really,  I'm wondering where are all the missing penises!!!!!  

This great hallway precedes the Sistine Chapel and you're not allowed to take pictures.  We had downloaded a Rick Steves narration of the Chapel.  We sat in there for 30 minutes and listened to that and stared at the ceiling.  So literally viewing Michelangelo's Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel is a pain in the neck!!

From the Vatican we headed over to the Spanish steps, which is a locals gathering place.  They sit on the steps, eat gelato and bask in the sunshine.  So as they say.....When in Rome.......

Ciao for now...we're going to walk 5 minutes from our flat to the Trevi Fountain for a night view and to get more gelato.  We have to climb about 6 flights of stairs to get to our apartment each time, so we've decided that we can have a scoop for each time we climb everyday!!!  James

Benvenuti a Roma!

We arrived in Rome yesterday afternoon after a long and sleepless 8 hour flight from Toronto.  We caught the train into Rome center then a metro to our apartment. We are 5 minutes walking distance from the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain and 20 minutes walking distance from everything else (Vatican, Colliseum etc.) and across the street from the metro. We couldn't have picked a better central location.  Our apartment is older but clean (more on it in a later post).

After quickly settling in we started walking around just to see what is in our neighborhood. We have decided that you could stay weeks in Rome since every single building and street are architectural wonders. Almost everything that you look at it is incredibly beautiful.

We were pretty tired after a night with no sleep so we took a city bus tour that lasted about 2 hours and gave us a good overview of the city and what things we most want to do since we have 4 days here.

Today we are up and heading to the grocery store for a few things then we will go to the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica this afternoon.

Maija

PS.  We have SLOW internet connection in our apartment so we will wait to post pics with our next blog when we can go to the internet cafe.