When you haven't had to full-on travel plan in a while, you shouldn't be surprised when things don't seem to go smoothly.
Well, the start to our Italian adventure wasn't as creamy as risotto. We
flew from Houston to Istanbul to Milan on Turkish Air. Overall, good
flights and no real complaints.
We got into Milan after midnight and had to figure our way to get to the
airport shuttle bus. The bus would drop us close to the airport hotel
we'd picked for our short stay. Well, it did drop us off somewhat near
the hotel, but upon getting off the bus on a dark street, we realized
the wheel to our big suitcase was broken. Great, two weeks of intense
travel ahead of us and our 65 pound suitcase only has one good wheel.
We set out in the morning to the airport to file a complaint with the
airline, and then make our way to Venice. The complaint process was a
bit frustrating, red tape, etc.
Finally, we made it to the train we needed, and off to Venice we went.
Well, we ended up going one stop too many, had to take another train
back to the other stop, and then once we got to Mestre (the town outside
Venice we stayed in), we had to figure out which bus to take to get to
the hotel. So, already we'd experience planes, trains and automobiles.
I'm thinking, next time, travel agency!!!
We settled into the hotel before making
our journey to meet Dana for dinner. Ah yes, the first introduction in
this post of Dana, our great friend from our time in Singapore.
Her fiancé, Zach, and her decided to get married in Italy, and when we
heard, we immediately tried to figure out how we could go!
Fast forward eleven months later and dinner is upon us at a restaurant
at the Hilton hotel. Very nice view of the waterway, great conversation
and a ravioli I hope to never forget. It was ravioli with beef inside
and meat sauce on top - I used bread to mop up every bit. On top of
that, the balsamic vinegar they had was delicious.
After a few drinks, we adventured back to the hotel which included a bus
ride that reminded me of a Singapore MRT at rush hour - loads of
people, no space and some ripe smells. It worked though, getting us
where we needed to be.
-----
Saturday was excellent. We decided to go on a free walking tour. It took
us through Venice's Jewish Ghetto (talk about Jewish guilt, walking by a
synagogue with people praying on Shabbos, while Amanda and I simply
tour. Must go to confessional, oops, right country, wrong religion).
After, our tour guide took us across the many squares and bridges, she explained the Carnival masks that were worn and the history
of the city. We found it to be a great tour lasting about two and a
half hours.
From there, we got lunch, first attempting a fried cheese snack (good
until hitting the sardine in the middle), and then getting two slices of
pizza at a stand and eating them on one of the bridges.
This brings up something that bothered me a bit - the cover charge to
eat at a restaurant. I understand the city's main income is tourism, but
it just felt like there was a charge for everything - the restroom, a
seat at the gelato shop, best not to cough, there might be a charge. I
get why it's done, but still, frustrating. Turns out, the cover charge occurs all across Italy.
Following lunch, we walked through the small streets to get to St.
Mark's Square. The square doesn't look like any other part of Venice. It
was our first taste of the beautiful and massive churches in Italy.
From there, we meandered around, getting lost through the streets as we
made our way to the other side of a waterway to visit a recommended
gelato shop. Then, perhaps my favorite and Amanda's least favorite
moment of the day. We stumbled into a showing of an opera movie. It was
so weird! At first, it showed men being strapped into devices by women,
and then the women were holding on to animals with different anatomical
parts (a dog's head on a lizard body). Amanda quickly left, fearing
nightmares, and I kept watching just for the sheer oddity of it all.
We found a spot for dinner and headed back to the hotel for an early night. At least, I thought it'd be an early night.
Trying to improve on my travel skills, I attempted to book our ticket to
Florence for the next day. On accident, I booked the wrong day. Trying
to change it online was a headache. Frustrated, we just went to bed and
hoped we could figure it out the next morning at the train station.
Fortunately, we were able to change the ticket at the station and off to Florence we went!
-------
Our arrival into Florence was much smoother than Venice as it only took
us five minutes or so to walk to the hotel. After a quick nap, we set
off to lunch before a walking tour.
Lunch at McDonald's was a failure. For the first time at any of the
McD's we've been to around the world, they charged for ketchup! Being
the cheapo I am, I opted for no ketchup. Turns out, food from there
needs ketchup.
Our walking tour was centered around the Medici family, which ruled
Florence for three centuries. All in all, the tour was fairly average,
but it gave us a sense of where everything was including the Duomo,
three Medici palaces and the city hall. As our tour wrapped up, we
decided to visit the David. It's a must see right?
We enjoyed seeing the statue, but probably didn't appreciate all the
other art work on show. Amanda and I just aren't art enthusiasts (which
is obviously a huge part of Italy's tourism).
From there, we bargained in a cheap shop for a suitcase (a lovely Asian
woman, made me feel in my element haha. The suitcase was made in China.
"Please work," I prayed).
Our dinner was in a nice restaurant the hotel suggested. Amanda ordered
gnocchi, which was delicious, and the cheese helped me as I accidentally
ordered a cheeseless pizza! It was a simple mistake, and truthfully, it
was still tasty with great dough and marinara sauce. After, we got the
early night we'd been seeking.
-----------
On Monday, we took a day tour to Cinque Terre, a beautiful area with
five seaside towns on the coast of the Mediterranean. We'd seen pictures
before our trip and didn't think we'd have time, but the day tour made
it possible.
The views are stunning. I would love to know what the first settlers were thinking.
"Eh, there's some land that could be tough to cultivate. Screw it, there's nothing better to do!"
We had gelato in one of the towns (better than our first experience) and
then a nice lunch in another (pizza again- this time with cheese,
yeehaw!).
Shortly after, we went swimming on the beach for a little. I've always
loved the water and a short little boat trip between two of the islands
hadn't been enough!
The bus ride back to Florence provided some excellent views of vineyards and mountain sides.
For dinner, we again took the hotel's recommendation, and it was spot on
for the second night in a row. The trattoria we ate in gave us a really
nice dining experience. The tripadvisor reviews had all suggested the
food was good, but it was geared for tourists. Well, good thing I'm a
tourist! We had to wait for a table, but the host gave us prosecco
while we waited. The waiter's English was excellent. The food was all
very tasty (we shared a caprese salad, vegetable soup and spaghetti
bolognese). The best part was the host. He understood customer service.
We talked about how he's visited Houston, he gave us a discount since
the hotel referred us and also gave us some chocolates on the way out.
It just shows little bits of appreciation, leaves customers with a good
feeling.
======
On Tuesday morning, we got a train to Lucca, a town in Tuscany, and made
our way to the Airbnb we were staying at with our friend, Ben (a French
friend of ours from our time in Singapore who also came in for the
wedding). Here, we realized google maps works without your phone being connected to the internet, talk about a lifesaver! The apartment was inside Lucca's city walls. The town built
walls in the 15th century as a means of protection.
We met up with Zach and Dana and the rest of their party for lunch near a
beautiful church in the center of Lucca. Amanda and I both got
bruschetta sandwiches, with the difference here being cheese was melted
on the bread and then the tomato topped it off. Yes, that could be
considered pizza in my book, and yes, it was delicious.
From there, we went with a group from the wedding up to a tower and
climbed the steps to get an awesome view of the city. This really is a
cool city, and for us, a real respite from the packed tourism areas of
Venice and Florence.
After strolling back to the apartment, stopping wherever we chose, it was nap time.
We met back up with the group for dinner and enjoyed a great evening of
food, prosecco and conversation. Traveling is fun, but sharing the
experience with others is special.
The next day, Ben and I took a nice walk through the city, seeing a street market and just figuring out things as we went.
We picked up Amanda for lunch and found a quaint spot on a small street to have pizza and bruschetta. To walk it all off (or at least two bites), we walked through the city and around
the city walls. It was just nice and peaceful, and it was fantastic to
catch up with Ben.
Wednesday night was wedding night. The ceremony was gorgeous, set in a
villa overlooking a vineyard. Being a part of a wedding is a blessing in
my eyes, as it's a chance to see moments of happiness unlike any
others.
With only about 50 people or so, the vibe was fantastic. The only
downside, towards the middle of the night, I developed a headache. I
tried to stick it out, but once 11 o'clock came, that's as much as I
could stick around for. Thank goodness the pain subsided shortly after
we got back to the apartment.
Thursday, we went back to the villa for brunch with the wedding party.
Because of the limited amount of people there, it really felt like
everyone got to know each other well. Saying goodbye was tough, but we
ripped the bandaid off so to say and can look back knowing we had a
great experience and met new friends.
Next up, train time again, and away to Rome.
--------
Walking through Rome is unlike anything I've experienced. You look one
way, you have late 19th century buildings, you look the other way, and
there's ruins from more than 2,000 years ago.
We first got a taste for this by walking from our hotel to dinner in
Rome's Jewish Ghetto area. We met up with a friend from our time in
Singapore named Lorenzo. He's an Italian, originally from Milan, but has
been working in Rome with a documentary production company.
Our dinner with Lorenzo and some of his friends was great. The food
was nice, but getting to eat with three Italians was the best part. It
was cool to hear how they talked to each other, ordered, their passion
for the area, etc. Following dinner, Lorenzo played tour guide while walking
back to the hotel. He knew so much about the history - very impressive.
If someone came to visit me in Houston, I wouldn't be able to do nearly
as well.
Friday, we started with a walking tour in the morning. It took us from
the Spanish Steps over to Saint Peter's Square by the Vatican. The guide
pointed out one of the very cool things about Rome, it's a changing city
that keeps adding to its history and was never fully abandoned. She
showed how in one square, there could be four very different
buildings from four different generations with completely different
styles.
The stand out moment for me on this day was seeing the Pantheon. It's
the first domed structure of its type in the world. Incredibly, it is
still in extremely good condition 2,000 years later. The interior is
stacked with marble and beautiful tribute areas to two former kings of
Rome and Raphael. Truly, this is on the list of most amazing things I've
seen in the world.
We finished the tour by the Vatican, and of course, you have to be
impressed by the size. After people watching for a bit in Saint Peter's
Square, we walked back toward the hotel, stopping for lunch. As we sat
down, it started to pour. That felt like a sign that we should take it
easy the rest of the day, and so we went back to the hotel and recharged
with a nap.
For dinner, we met up with Andy and Sierra Clark, two fellow Mizzou
grads. They have spent the last year traveling the globe. Truthfully, it
is one of the most amazing undertakings. Amanda and I had a hard enough
time with two weeks of traveling and organizing, a year seems
impossible. It sounds like they've had their trials, but in the end,
they've seen things many of us will never get to. Dinner that night was
also fun because the manager took a liking to Andy, constantly calling
him "Mr. Andrew."
Saturday morning, we made our way to the Vatican Museum. The rain hit
just as we were standing outside. We tried to wait it out under an
awning, but decided to buy a cheap umbrella. Good thing, because after
thinking the rain had passed, down it came again. Amanda and I squeezed tight
under the umbrella - those are the moments traveling brings, a push out
of the ordinary.
Once inside, we went to the spot where we were going to meet Andy and
Sierra, but we couldn't find them and had no way to contact them.
We decided to walk into a cafe hoping for wifi and guess who walks in,
Andy and Sierra! Maybe miracles do exist inside the Vatican?!? Now that
we had our buddies, we made our way through the museum. The place is
majestic with artwork from head to toe, literally. In a way, it's a
sensory overload.
In each square of each room, there's art considered to be some of the
best in the history of the world. There's statues, mosaics, busts,
paintings, tapestry, ceiling decorations and more. For Amanda and me,
the Sisteen Chapel was very impressive, but we didn't feel more blown
away than some of the other rooms-it's just incredible.
What I struggle with art is, it seems some group has
decided what's good and what's not, and now the rest of us have to see
it.
Like I felt about the David, it's awesome, but why is it better than the
sculpture of Hercules in the Vatican? The Sistine Chapel is gorgeous,
but why is it so much better than the decorations in the previous three
rooms? The one continual truth - what these artists did is remarkable
and should be appreciated.
From the Vatican, Amanda and I went on a tour that would end at the
Colosseum. Unfortunately, the Trevi Fountain is being restored, but we
were able to get an idea of how beautiful it is. The Forum area is quite
impressive, and then the Colosseum.
As a sports fan, of course this is a site to behold. Our stadiums are
all built off the example set by the Colosseum. We watched the sunset
from a bridge overlooking the structure and then went to dinner.
Okay, now time for a dinner description. We'd passed a place each night
that seemed to be packed, so we decided to try it. The wait was about
thirty minutes, but we could tell this wasn't a place just aimed at
tourists.
The vibe in the restaurant was really good. I had a glass of prosecco
while waiting for the table, and once we got to our table, the meal was
worth the wait!
Amanda went for an eggplant parmigiana, and I had lasagne. Holy smokes the
lasagna. It was the best thing I'd had since the first night in Venice.
Seriously, I may not ever order lasagna again because of how good it
was. When dessert time came around, we were both full, but hey, this is
vacation (plus, we'd walked about 10 miles that day, we'd earned it).
We got the "chocolate salami" - deeeelcious. It was a chocolate fudge
with what I believe to be some cookie dough mixed in. Let's just say,
right choice.
In the morning, we saw some sites with a local family. My fraternity
brother, Jordan, set me up with his cousin, Stefano. Stefano brought
along his three kids to show us around the forum area, giving us some
great knowledge about the Arch of Titus' Jewish links, and then we also
went to a museum's roof to get a birds eye view of Rome. It's a stunning
way to see the city from four different directions.
From there, we went inside a church, where of course, the decorations
are mind blowing - perfect ambiance for the wedding taking place there.
By that point, we were very close to the Jewish Ghetto, so Amanda and I
said goodbye to Stefano and the kids, and went to Rome's Jewish Museum.
The museum did a very nice job showing the roots of the Jews in Rome as
well as some modern day aspects. There was a special section to a man
who had been Chief Rabbi for about 50 years and passed away earlier this
year.
For lunch, we stopped in a Kosher hamburger joint called Fonzie. To me,
this is the type of place that can succeed as a Kosher place in the
U.S. When you go in, it's not easy to tell it's Kosher. The menu and
logo are well designed and trendy. Most of all, the food is really good
and reasonably priced.
Next, it's time to go to the train station and head to Milan.
-----------
By this point in the trip, truthfully, Amanda and I were quite ready to
go home. Bouncing from city to city, in and out trains, one hotel to
another is fun, but also tiring (yes, it's hard to feel sad for us
vacationers, but it's the truth).
In Milan, we decided to relax a bit more. Sunday night, we simply went
out to dinner and then came back and watched some television.
In the morning, we were lucky enough to arrange a meet up with our
friend, Chloe. She still lives in Singapore, but was in Milan briefly to
watch a Formula 1 race.
Our reunion was wonderful. As we'd experienced a couple times on this
trip, being able to pick up where you left off with friends is
fantastic. We really enjoyed catching up with Chloe and getting updates
on Singapore life and the people still there. Of course, it made both of
us miss living there, but that's just how it is. Leaving Singapore has
been, and always will be tough because of the friends we had to say
goodbye to. Enough sap though, getting to see Chloe was the highlight of
our Milan visit.
After meeting her for breakfast, Amanda and I planned on going on a
walking tour. Too bad that like many others expecting the tour, for some
reason, no guide showed up. We made the best of the situation, walking
with an Australian couple to see a statue of Leonardo Da Vinci, the
Galleria shopping area and the Duomo of Milan. This church has one of
the most amazing outsides to a building I've seen. Built in gothic
style, there seem to be steeples everywhere.
From there, we walked around a bit before grabbing a quick lunch at
McDonald's. My bad feeling from our first experience in Florence was
quickly dissolved as this one had far better service. Yes, I gave in and
paid for ketchup - just had to do it.
One thing definitely sticking out about Milan, the fashion. Easily, this
is the best dressed city I've seen. All the men seemed to wear these
fantastic suits. In all reality, I'm glad my life doesn't require suits
on a daily basis, but man, it's fun to think about.
We got on the train to head out to the airport area. The hotel we were
staying at for the night (we had a 6:45 AM flight the next day and the
airport isn't close to Milan's center) was about 10 minutes drive from
the airport in a small town. What was great is they offered an included
car service to get us to and from the airport. For dinner, we found a
pizzeria a short walk (along a little farm road, because that's how
Amanda and I do) from the hotel. It was very nice and a good final meal
in Italy. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep early. That folks,
wraps up our Italian journey. Six cities in 13 days.
Final notes:
- I love pizza. It's always been my favorite food, and we had pizza 8
times on the trip. The Italian pizza normally has a thin crust, but one
of my favorites came in Milan where the restaurant served big slices
with a thick crust and plenty of cheese.
- Cheese, oh cheese. In addition to pizza, we had three or four caprese
salads with delicious mozzarella. It's funny to think that only four
years ago, I never had cold cheese.
- In some restaurants, our service was excellent, in others we were
clearly a nuisance to the staff's very important lives. It was kind of
amazing how drastically different some restaurant people were from city
to city. Rome's waiters clearly take advantage of not working for tips.
- "Beware pickpockets." That message came up every time we bought train
tickets. Apparently, it's a pretty big issue. Fortunately, traveling
together, Amanda and I are pretty good about looking out for each other.
One thing I hated in the train station were people hanging out by the
ticket stalls trying to "help." These people are clearly trying to get a
tip, or maybe have something else going on to take advantage of
tourists. Why isn't there more security staff to keep these people out
of the station?
- Cigarettes weren't nearly as bad as I'd expected. Yes, people have no
problem letting their puffs fly right near your face, but it didn't seem
as prevalent as I thought it would. Plus, my expectations were for the hotel
rooms to all stink from the smoke, but none did.
- We reached Fitbit levels we've never seen before! Amanda and I walked
an average of 18,000 steps a day (roughly 9 miles or so). Not sure my
body was quite ready for it, as I got blisters on two of my toes, and by
the end, my ankles could feel it as well. We just pushed on through
though. Come on, had to offset all that pizza!
- Last but not least, the name of this blog, selfie sticks. We haven't
been in intense tourist areas in a while, because apparently the sale of
cheap selfie sticks are everywhere. At every tourist site, men
(apparently from Bangladesh a friend said) sell the cheaply made selfie
sticks to the all too willing customers. Everywhere you turn, "Selfie
stick? Selfie stick, sir?" I get it, everyone needs to make a living,
but it can really take away from the trying to let a site sink in.
Alright, enough rabble rabble - a great trip overall with lots of
friends, food and experiences. Would I have planned a few things better?
Absolutely, but that's how traveling goes. Sometimes, the most
memorable parts of trips are when things go wrong. Best to just enjoy,
ciao!
|
| | |
|
|
