The rest of the trip
May. 7th, 2009 03:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancerjodiSan Marino: Its own republic (‘nobody wanted it’ in the struggle for land, being up at the top of a mountain, having a small population and no natural resources. We took some beautiful pictures and marveled at the view, and had the best pizza of our trip at a little café.
Venice: arrived a bit late due to some traffic, dropped at the bus depot and walked over the newest bridge to our hotel, right on the grand canal. The hotel was wonderful – good location, lots of Murano glass lights, and we had a room with windows facing the moon. After dinner in the hotel (very yummy) we walked around the city a bit, first over the bridge opposite the hotel to look down the canal and then down to the Rialto bridge. I’m amazed at how good the signage is there – with a mediocre map and an idea of where the major sights are (in relation to each other) its very easy to find your way around these twisty streets.
The next morning we had a good breakfast and headed to the boat to the Murano Island factory to learn how this famous glass is made. There were so many beautiful and crazy expensive things (for instance, the red glass is made by using gold) – we did get a couple of small and inexpensive souveneirs there. We took the boat back to the St. Mark’s square area, where we met a guide and went into the Doge’s Palace for a tour and into the Duomo (main church) next store. It’s the first Byzantine style church I’ve been in, and it was neat to see something of that type after all of the Franciscan/Medieval and Gothic/Renaissance ones we’ve been in.
We wandered for lunch and dessert and crossed the grand canal to the other more residential side of the island(s) to see how the ‘normal’ folks live there. This was the most favorite part of our trip, and it was very easy, despite the twisting streets (we just kept following signs to the train station which was near our hotel. We found what Brian had been looking for – a creepy leather carnival mask with a long nose – and we found the Friar’s church http://www.frommers.com/destinations/venice/A25505.html – another Franciscan one with works of various artists and with our last ninja turtle (we were seeking to see all of them), Donatello. They had such amazing pieces here, and I’m sure most folks don’t even get here on their trips since its not near the main traps, and its not boasted about in tour books. Brian bought a post card of a particularly creepy crypt with skeletons, and slaves holding up the likeness of one of the old Doche’s.
We got back to the hotel just as the rain was coming and rested in our room a bit before meeting the group for our gondola ride. Cheezy yes, but we had fun, had music (singer and accordion) and our boat had the hottest stereotypical buff Italian guy driver out of the 5 boats going along. We split for our own for dinner, where I had linguine with a lobster sauce – what’s the Italian to English equivalent of “Engrish”? They described it as linguine with “rocklobstersauce”, which Brian and I would laugh about for the rest of the night but DAMN was it good! We wandered for the rest of the night, down to Saint Marc’s square for the ‘dueling’ orchestras, to find dessert and back to the hotel to pack up for the next morning.
We left Venice in the rain for Lake Como (Naboo) where we had a few hours. Alas, we didn’t get out as far as the Nabierre Villa, but it was amazing how much the scenery was like Naboo (well, because it was). From there it was a drive to Milan for the last night dinner and goodbye at our near the airport hotel (after a stop at a silk shop, http://www.latessitura.com/goToHome.do ).
What an awesome trip, and I’m glad we finally did this! My pictures can be found here (I’ll be scanning the picture of our whole group later):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/collections/72157617568514532/
Venice: arrived a bit late due to some traffic, dropped at the bus depot and walked over the newest bridge to our hotel, right on the grand canal. The hotel was wonderful – good location, lots of Murano glass lights, and we had a room with windows facing the moon. After dinner in the hotel (very yummy) we walked around the city a bit, first over the bridge opposite the hotel to look down the canal and then down to the Rialto bridge. I’m amazed at how good the signage is there – with a mediocre map and an idea of where the major sights are (in relation to each other) its very easy to find your way around these twisty streets.
The next morning we had a good breakfast and headed to the boat to the Murano Island factory to learn how this famous glass is made. There were so many beautiful and crazy expensive things (for instance, the red glass is made by using gold) – we did get a couple of small and inexpensive souveneirs there. We took the boat back to the St. Mark’s square area, where we met a guide and went into the Doge’s Palace for a tour and into the Duomo (main church) next store. It’s the first Byzantine style church I’ve been in, and it was neat to see something of that type after all of the Franciscan/Medieval and Gothic/Renaissance ones we’ve been in.
We wandered for lunch and dessert and crossed the grand canal to the other more residential side of the island(s) to see how the ‘normal’ folks live there. This was the most favorite part of our trip, and it was very easy, despite the twisting streets (we just kept following signs to the train station which was near our hotel. We found what Brian had been looking for – a creepy leather carnival mask with a long nose – and we found the Friar’s church http://www.frommers.com/destinations/venice/A25505.html – another Franciscan one with works of various artists and with our last ninja turtle (we were seeking to see all of them), Donatello. They had such amazing pieces here, and I’m sure most folks don’t even get here on their trips since its not near the main traps, and its not boasted about in tour books. Brian bought a post card of a particularly creepy crypt with skeletons, and slaves holding up the likeness of one of the old Doche’s.
We got back to the hotel just as the rain was coming and rested in our room a bit before meeting the group for our gondola ride. Cheezy yes, but we had fun, had music (singer and accordion) and our boat had the hottest stereotypical buff Italian guy driver out of the 5 boats going along. We split for our own for dinner, where I had linguine with a lobster sauce – what’s the Italian to English equivalent of “Engrish”? They described it as linguine with “rocklobstersauce”, which Brian and I would laugh about for the rest of the night but DAMN was it good! We wandered for the rest of the night, down to Saint Marc’s square for the ‘dueling’ orchestras, to find dessert and back to the hotel to pack up for the next morning.
We left Venice in the rain for Lake Como (Naboo) where we had a few hours. Alas, we didn’t get out as far as the Nabierre Villa, but it was amazing how much the scenery was like Naboo (well, because it was). From there it was a drive to Milan for the last night dinner and goodbye at our near the airport hotel (after a stop at a silk shop, http://www.latessitura.com/goToHome.do ).
What an awesome trip, and I’m glad we finally did this! My pictures can be found here (I’ll be scanning the picture of our whole group later):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dancerjodi/collections/72157617568514532/
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 02:10 am (UTC)i'm so glad you guys have had an amazing trip.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-07 02:13 am (UTC)just thought i'd throw that out there. ;)
i've only looked at the thumbnails, but they look fabulous!!
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Date: 2009-05-07 03:37 am (UTC)Yai Italia!
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Date: 2009-05-07 11:16 am (UTC)That's awesome! I don't think I'd noticed you doing that earlier, but it's so perfect for an Italian vacation :) What a cool way to bring a little pop culture to art history.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 03:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 03:21 pm (UTC)You know, I always thought that pizza was an American thing, and the Italians scoffed at it the French scoff at french fries. Is Italian pizza more like the brick oven/stone hearth pizzas you can find here rather than the mass-market chains like Domino's and Pizza Hut?
I would love to go to Venice. It looks like such an amazing city. Confusing, and I'm not too sure about their watery roads (canals), but the architecture and the history... wow.
our boat had the hottest stereotypical buff Italian guy driver out of the 5 boats going along.
Whoo!!
Pizza
Date: 2009-05-08 04:28 pm (UTC)Most often it was a very thin crust (though sometimes there would be the square 'Sicilian style' ones precooked in some take away stands). I think the style may depend on where you are in the country, like all of their food. We were in the northern part of the country, and we gathered that its much different in the south.