sylvia’s travels

We call Franco to pick us up at 8:30 for our 9:13 train to Livorno, armed with our Magellan we call Maggie. Train right on time, 1 minute at each stop so you had better be ready – we pass thru lovely rural countryside, along the sea, making stops only at Castagneto, Cecina, Roignano, pass thru Castiglioncello, then Livorno; about 45 minutes.

Ok here we go again – we are supposed to pick up our car at the Port of Livorno but have no idea how far or what direction. There don’t seem to be any cabs around, only buses but with no idea which number goes where. Back inside to the cafe/store looking for someone to ask. A very nice young gal tries her best to stagger thru english and us staggering thru Italian finally get the idea we had better not walk. Finally a cab pulls up and off we go.

It seems to me like a pretty long way but even worse is none of the streets are straight – all just curve around every which way. Finally arrive at a huge dock, we never would have known which building was ours – even the cabbie had to go in with us and find the Europcar rental place, 3rd floor, way off in a corner.

Again, a nice young woman but seems to be a little limited in her abilities. Back downstairs to see our vehicle, a Lancia, a nice small, 2 door but going over everything we discover the passenger window doesn’t work. She works on it inside the panel but she has no idea so she says we could drive over to Pisa airport to see what they have. Since we are leaving from Pisa when we fly home we decide it won’t hurt to check it out. We plug in Maggie (thank goodness for her, again around curvy streets, then on to the highway and she takes us straight there. This car is a 4 door Puegot, very nice.

So now we are feeling pretty good about Maggie so we decide to locate the leaning tower as long as we’re here. Round and round we go with her leading us down dead ends, left turns when there aren’t any etc; 40 minutes or so later we decide to give up.

We punch Maggie in to least use of freeways and meander all the way back thru countryside, sometimes along the ocean, very nice and relaxing. Around 2 we come across a very small place with only a restaurant and a couple of stores, so we decide to stop and see if they are still serving lunch. “La Stazione” S. Ta Luce Pisa (I think the town is Luce in the county of Pisa.) We enter a huge bar area where it looks like some locals are enjoying conversation and beer. We are ushered thru a pair of double doors into a very large and charming dining room with no one in it. ( got pics) We order pizza and beer and it is wonderful. Nice and light and yummy. The waitress speaks good english and gives us a little info of the surrounding area.

Following lunch we decide to head out to an area called Marina di Castegneto Carducci on the sea. Cute little resort area, no hotels just small places and a small residential area, (again get lots of pics of the waterfront and town). We lollygag around here for about an hour then head the rest of the way to San Vincenzo along local roads.

When we get to S. V. apparently they have just constructed a new road to go under the railroad tracks – not in Maggie’s repertoire, wind up taking a road that leads us way out in the country, turn around, go back, find the original roundabout that takes us under.

Going this way we did discover where the big grocery market is located (Uni coop Tirreno) so we stop to load up. Now this is a fun adventure you don’t get to experience when on a tour. Very large – many fresh vegetables, fruits, fresh meats & fish; many varieties of cheese, large selection of fresh breads (foccocia, tuscany, etc), fresh deli; much more fresh foods that our stores. All of the products our stores carry plus they also have a large selection of hard liquor and liquors. What areas they are in was a challenge as not much english is spoken and of course everything is written in Italian.

Their check out methods were different as they have a separate line for members; (of course we chose wrong the first time). Their carts are very light weight with 2 baskets (about the size and shape of our carry baskets), stacked one on top – one on bottom and you must pay in cash unless you are a member; also many people have their own bags.

Now we have everything for breakfast, lunch – even tonic and limes. We bought a little for evening meals but since we have no oven, toaster oven or microwave we can’t do much that way. Little disappointing as we were told before we left these would be provided. Oh well, go with the flow.

We now have two days to rest and do we need it! First thing is the little grocery store for some basics. I brought 1 cup bags of coffee so we had our american coffee. They only have espresso or capuccino which neither of us are that fond of. Straight black, that’s us. They have everything in this tiny market; ie deli with lovely fresh meats; all kinds of cheeses; wine beer, booze of all kinds, cereals, fresh bread, dairy, soaps, you name it they seem to have. The lady is from Hungary, has a husband and 1 daughter (11) living here as well. We buy a box of toast squares and some nice soft cheese to spread on it; some lunch stuff; ie fococcia bread, the most beautiful lean salami the size of a roast not in small rounds like we have. Really fun trying to figure what the items are as everything of course is in Italian.

After breakfast we head off for the beach. It is about 1 1/2 blocks through the woods, and under the highway; our place has a little shack that provides drinks etc with tables under the trees. Beautiful beach, nice and sandy, lounge chairs with a cover for your head and an umbrella table provided by our resort. We are on the Ligurian Sea which runs all the way up to Genoa and the French border – you can see north for many miles. South for about 5 miles as the peninsula containing Piombino juts out with the island of Elba (Napoleon held here) just off the coast.

We spend most of our two days here on the beach – wonderful weather and there is a little beach cafe with a deck we have our snacks, drinks and the wonderful italian gelato ice cream. The beach is not at all crowded but plenty to watch as there are many people walking up and down the beach, some out in catamarans, paddle or sail boats, very entertaining. Ahh the good life.

In the evening we eat at our little ristorante. They don’t open until 7:30 and even tho we are late eaters at home we find we are starving by the time they open so we are often the among the first to arrive. The food is excellent and all the people are of course tourists from all over so we have many interesting conversations. Many Canadians and of course lots of English. This is the end of relaxing (didn’t even go into town) as tomorrow we catch the train to Livorno to pick up our car. Another adventure.

We decide to walk thru the park toward the Colosseum as it is more direct and downhill. Across from the Colosseum we find our Angels, again we split into two groups, our guide is Jimmy, he majored in History and turns out to be great, and boy did he give us a lot of it.

We start with the Forum looking up toward Palatine Hill – this area is so vast and has so much history you cannot begin to take it all in. Our tour lasts 3 1/2 hours which only covers the Forum and the Colosseum so you can imagine how much history was thrown at us and he talked non stop. I did buy a picture book of the ruins we are seeing today then it has overlays of the way it was in ancient Roman times. The Forum was the political, religious and commercial center of the city, and as the empire expanded it became the center of the civilized world, spanning about 1,000 years. (500 B.C. to A.D. 500) It started as a republic governed by elected senators, over the last 500 years it was an empire ruled by a military-backed dictator. At her peak she controlled an empire that stretched from Scotland to Egypt and from Turkey to Morocco. America is only just over 200 years old, I wonder where we’re headed.

Next the Colosseum – we wait a short time in line but skip the really big line (sometimes it really pays to take a tour). Rick Steves guided us well.This 2,000 year old building is the great example of Roman engineering, built at Rome’s peak A.D. 80. They pioneered the use of concrete and the rounded arch. It held 50,000 spectators, covered by an enormous canvas awning pulled by armies of sailors for shade – the first domed stadium.

After saying goodbye to “Jimmy” we were going to see the Victor Emanuelle monument but it was way across the other side opposite to the way back to our hotel so we climbed the hill back thru the park, verrry slowly, back to our hotel.

Our train leaves at 2:09 pm for San Vincenzo and since we are walking to the train station figured we better get on the stick. We grab one of their wonderful unique pizza’s in the station restaurant and go in search of our track. Okay another adventure. The tracks we see in front of us go from 1 – 24 and our track is 25. Ok where is it? We go to #24 – figure it must be somewhere down here – about 6 blocks later pulling our luggage – walking pretty quickly as we have no idea how far, we find our car. Boy this is work! Today we have no assigned seat but we manage to find a couple where we can keep our luggage beside us.

Robert had printed out all the stops we go thru before San Vincenzo (pop around 2 – 300) so that made it really easy to identify where we get off. This time we are at street level – no problem figuring where the front of the station is. There are 2 taxi parking areas but no taxis. We wait around for a few minutes hoping one would pull up. Eventually Rod decides to walk into town to see what he can find. About 5 minutes later a taxi pulls up and Franco jumps out and says well here I am. okay now how was I going to find Rod. Franco says go on I’ll be right here with your luggage. Down the stairs in to town, walk up and down, no Rod, so back I go and within a few minutes here he comes. He had stopped in “Jimmy’s ristorante” and they called for a cab so Franco had to get on his phone and call him off.

Franco was full of information for us – showed us how to get out of town and on to the ocean road. There is only one way to get from the ocean road and town under the tracks to the highway running north and south, in days to come this comes into play big time for us after we pick up our car. Within about 10 minutes here we are at our Residenza dei Cavallageri. Lovely place, a bedroom, living room, kitchen & bathroom facing on to the pool area. Not a very large complex (ours that is) but there are 2 other condo type associations in our area with a restaurant, grocery store, beach shop, leather and jewelry store. We have plenty here to accommodate us for the next couple of days because we are going to do NOTHING.

Tonight we head over to the Ristorante in our little circle. Great little place, seats about 44 when full. Very extensive menu, all cooked fresh at the time. Wonderful pasta, fish dishes, pizza (Italian style), and a full litre of wine only 6 euro, 3/4 litre was 5.50 euro so we always opted for the litre. Great start to a great place.

Breakfast is served in a different area than last time – ground floor up by the door. The man who is on during the day is the owner and his wife assists in the breakfast room. He started years ago in this hotel with his brother, who later opened another hotel down the way so he has this to himself. Very nice people.

Off we go to meet the Angels at 9 am. We decide to catch a cab as it is a very long way and the bus might take too long. Lots to see on the way, ie the enormous Victor Emanuel monument to past heroes, the Parthenon, old vatican Castel Saint Angelo – the disappointing Tiber River (from high school history I thought it was supposed to be large). Boom we arrive in plenty of time. We have about 30 in the group so they split us in two. We wind up with the younger group led by the cutest little gal, an art major (perfect for what we are about to see) from England, who is engaged to one of the Vatican police.

First we walk a number of blocks around the Vatican wall passing the great long line of those without reservations (thank goodness). This all takes about 30 minutes so you can imagine what it is like the other way – sometimes you can be in line 3 hours.

Our guide is pointiing out all the time, we pass the Vatican guards in their special outfits finally arrive to go thru security – a very complicated process. We start our tour in the Egypt and Mesopotamias courtyard; then the Pio Clementino collection of Greek and Roman statues (some of the best in captivity from lst century BC). The next hall contains the Belvedere Torso (2,000 yrs old) that had a great influence on Michaelangelo ; two 4th C porphyry (a very hard stone requiring a special tempering of metal) sarcophagi made for Constantine’s mother and daughter, both quarried & worked in Egypt.

Next is the Tapestry room (where the eyes follow you), lots of old maps etc; followed by the Raphael rooms; frescoes (fresh in Italian) where color is mixed with wet plaster so when the plaster dries the painting is actually part of the wall. Requires a lot of speed and accuracy.

We now wind slowly down many stairs to the Sistine Chapel (pope’s personal) where Michaelangelo’s pictorial culmination of the Renaissance is on the ceiling showing the story of creation. Done when he was 33 and took four years to complete. Behind the altar is Michaelangelo’s Last Judgment painted much later. The restoration (very controversial) reveals the bright original colors of the master’s work. Incredibly beautiful. No photos allowed but no photo can do it justice. It has to be seen.

It is now 1:pm – 4 hours later and our tour guide leaves us. We decide not to eat now but carry on through St Peter’s Basilica. Huge white columns in front date from the 4th C; It can accommodate 60,000 worshippers on its 6 acres, so large that birds roost in here. The main altar sits directly over St. Peter’s tomb and under Bernini’s 7 story bronze canopy. Michaelangelo’s (age 25) “Pieta”, now behind bullet proof glass, is a wonder to see – incredibly beautiful. (A Pieta is a work that represents Mary with the body if Christtaken down from the cross).

The “Dome” Michaelangelo’s last work, is the biggest anywhere, and taller than a football field is long. You can climb to it but since the last 323 steps are very claustrophobic and anyway we have no energy.

We’re done, but first we have to get Vatican stamps for Dolores. We find the Vatican post office, acquire our 12 stamps and head for one of the hop on, hop off buses they have running around the city. This one is two decker but we opt to collapse down below and view our journey back to the hotel from there, which is just fine as we are too tired to even turn our heads.

Tonight we decide to find a different ristorante so we wander the neighborhood looking for something which takes us into a kind of seedy street and nothing that looks up our alley. Earlier when we got off the bus I had seen an interesting place up a little alley about half a block from our hotel. We opted to eat inside and it was perfect. Like an old fashioned pub with a few locals having a beer. Beautiful wood finished walls and ceiling with plenty of old pictures, beer steins etc. The food was really good and of course accommpanied with wine. Boy between the wine or the gelato in Italy I can’t decide which I liked more. To bed for tomorrow we have made arrangements to again go with the Irish Angels to tour the Colosseum and Forum.

Today we are going to do the Accademia (Galleria dell’Accademia) where Michaelangelo’s David is located; also his unfinished “Prisoners”. We have to pack up first as we will be leaving for Rome today. We enjoy our delightful breakfast and the so accommodating staff – get guidance from our concierge and set off with our map in hand again. This place turns out to be quite difficult to find so we just take our time, cover some streets (not really streets more like lanes) and take in things we didn’t cover yesterday.

There is a slight drizzle today but it is no bother and it is plenty warm. We head back to the Duomo which again is incredibly huge and beautiful on the outside. We consider paying the 10 euro to go in – to a church yet – but decide we are already a little churched out. We encircle the church – which is a long way around (everything in Italy is in circles we come to find); and the maps don’t seem to match my sense of direction but we finally come to the museum.

It is a little crowded as this is a very small 1 story building. We just take our time following everyone else so we wait our turn to see. Michaelangelo’s “David” is at the end of the Gallery of Slaves (there are 4) including The Young Slave; and The Awakening Slave; The Bearded Slave and Atlas. We wind up having a good 20 25 minutes to just take in the David and Prisoners. It is so awsome and beautiful. I did not realize before that Michaelangelo made his right hand much larger than his left because it represents the hand of God or that he held the stone for the sling in his left. The carrera marble shows its superior qualities.

We then see the museum of musical instruments which was a surprise and very interesting, in english. It contains the first piano, Antonio Stradivari’s tenor viola, the earliest known upright piano and Bartolomeo Cristofori’s (inventor of the piano) Oval spinet. Large collection of instruments – you could even make some of them play.
We then went in to the “Hall of the Collossus” room filled with famous statues and artists; descriptions in english thank goodness so it good to know the theme. It contains the plaster model of “The Rape of the Sabine Women”; Lorenzo Bartolini’s Demidoff monument. Many paintings; “Botticelli’s Madonna & Child”; Sogliani, Lorenzo Di Credi, Bartolomeo, Perugino. This room took a long time to go thru as it had a myriad of items.

Again we stagger out of here exhuasted we head back toward the hotel as our train leaves for Rome at 3 pm. We arrive early enough to have a pizza at the train station. We really like Italian pizza as it is so much simpler than ours, just cheese and sauce with a light crust.

Again struggle, struggle with our 2 bags – a really nice young couple are sitting across from us and he just grabs them and runs them down to the storage section. Later we get talking to them, she was talking to their 3 children back home so that started where they were from – Newport Beach. They are over here because she went to school in Florence and wanted him to see it – celebrating their 10th anniversary. They also helped us off the train which was good because we were walking the four blocks to our Amalfi Hotel on Via Meraluna.

Oh boy kick back time. We then head down the street for a lovely Italian dinner at the Grotto – good food, nice atmosphere, serenaded by a piano and singer. Tomorrow the Vatican.

Hotel Cellai, via 27 Aprile 14, Firenze 50129 Italy. 4th floor up in a skinny little elevator (at least we have one).

Nice breakfast at the Cellai hotel – usual fare so we’re getting in to a routine of what to have. I love their little toasts with cheese and jam – their choice of juices are different and good, and of course Caffe Americano. (espresso with hot water added).

Off we go down Aprile 27 to Piazza San Marco turn right on to Via Cavour which becomes Via dei Calzaiuoli – voila the Duomo (huge) as are most of the Duomos. Taking pics all the way we keep head for the Uffizi Galleria as time is getting close. Rick Steves is right, much easier to get reservations ahead.

Three flights of stairs, we opt for the elevator (good choice). This museum is incredible, almost overwhelming with the 50 – 70 rooms full of famous artists thru the ages. We try to take our time but you keep going from one master to another and how the color stayed true thru all the ages is amazing. Again it is something you have to see with your own eyes.

The views of Florence and the Ponte Vecchio bridge from here are great – managed a few good shots. Very tiring. R.S. says you should take no more than 2 hours to see, we take 3 1/2 and feel we rushed at that. The Uffizi itself is something to see, not just what it holds. We end up at the roof garden for a bite next to a couple from eastern U.S. with their 3 adult daughters. I think half the fun of traveling is visiting with others from all over the globe.

Bushed, we exit this building – view all the statues around Piazza d Signoria; gawk at the old architecture; beautiful brass hammered doors on many of the churches; then meander our way back toward the hotel, sightseeing and taking pics all the way. One of our favorite things to do in a strange city is either take a tour or else hop on a bus and just ride around. There were plenty of buses to do just that in Florence but we just didn’t have the energy, so we opt to just find a place to sit and watch the world go by.

It is around 5 pm, when we come across a cute little bar/restaurant with outside seating where we can people watch. This is very early for Florentinians but we have had it. They have a deal of a buffet meal at 7 pm with the price of a 7 Euro drink. We sit for the 2 hours absorbing all the sights and sounds – then we are treated to the most beautiful spread of food you can imagine. pastas, seafood dishes, etc. Of course we add wine. Nice evening, nice day.

Today we are off to St. Anthony’s basilica. Our hotel hostess heads us in the right direction as all the streets in Italy just curve around all over the place – it’s easy to get confused. After 2 short blocks we are on a sort of main street, very narrow, every shop is individual, no departments stores.

We first stop at a deli with fresh meats, pastries, cheese, vegetables – everything fresh and yummy looking. I took several pics of all these different shops as they were so interesting. Beautiful leather shops, toy store, furniture – looked like of the finest quality; lamp shops made from local alabaster; little sandwich shops (they all carry hard liquor) among the gelato and fresh bakery goods. I mean you can get a hard drink anywhere. The outside of these shops are very old and the insides very modern.

We arrive at the enormous piazza “Prato della Valle”. An enormous oval circled by a 10 foot wide moat lined with statues with two bridges going in to the center fountain. This is surrounded by lovely ornate buildings, two and three stories; the Basilica of Santa Giustina in the opposite corner. Two people in wedding attire are being photographed in several venues around this square. (at first we thought it was a wedding – probably pictures for promotion.

We went in to what we thought was St. Anthony’s but as found out later we were in Santa Giustina basdilica. This Basilica is huge as most of them are, very dark inside and probably about 10 or 15 enormous arched areas with enormous painting at the end – like chapels. Managed a few pictures so hope they turn out. This little old monk came up to us chattering away in Italian telling us about somewhere else to go but we didn’t understand. It turns out he was telling us to go to St. Anthony’s but that’s where we thought we were. Too late now, we were already tired. Next lifetime.

After touring the basilica we head back looking for a taverna for a little something to eat, sat outside over beer and munchies (again they always give you) and watched the people bicycling back from the fruit & vegetable market loaded with groceries. All shapes, sizes, ages etc. We retrace our steps noting buildings and unique doors we missed on our way down.

Our train leaves Padua at 5 pm so we bundle up, say goodbye to this beautiful town and head for Florence. The train ride is all through the mountains of central Italy, many, many tunnels, beautiful scenery. A young couple from England share our seats – they have just left Lake Gorda celebrating their anniversay where they had spent their honeymoon. They said it is very beautiful there and that we must see it but I think that will have to be another time. We have barely begun this venture. Our train leaves for Florence 3:11 p.m arriving 5:22 p m. Catch a cab to our Hotel Cellai.

We settle in, have a drink then head out to find some food. Since they “dine” in Italy it is hard to find just something to eat. We settle on a bar, where they warm up some food, not too bad. It is a swinging place so we get to enjoy the young people. Off to load up on zzz’s for tomorrow and the Uffizzi gallery ( supposed to be the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere.)

Well, guess what? Our time for the Scrovegni Chapel was 11 am. We woke up at 10:45 – and if you miss your time they don’t give you another so you have to start all over again – missed breakfast as well. We were starving so we thought what the heck, we’ll just set out to see Padua.

Found a cute little bar right on Piazza delle Erbe where a open air fruit and vegetable market was going on. This market has been renowned for centuries as having the freshest and greatest selection of herbs, fruits and veggies. The other side of the piazza is the grand 13th century palazzo, commonly called il Salone (great hall) at one time it was adorned by Giottos frescoes (a fire destroyed them) also once held the medieval law courts. Beautiful building. I took many pics of this square. So fun for people watching. Rod used his high school spanish to communicate with a very nice young man for croissants and coffee.

Now to see and feel this quaint town of Padua. Within two blocks of our hotel we’re on the main street Via Roma which ultimately runs into Corso Garibaldi where Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto’s Life of Christ frescoes are located.

Voila! Immediately came across the University (founded 1222) either 2nd or 3rd oldest in the world that hosted Galileo (inventor of the thermometer among many other inventions), Copernicus, Dante, and Petrarch. Students graduate on any given day all thru the year anywhere from 1 to 10 per week and their fellow students place caricature posters on the wall facing the street pointing out all their indiscretions while in university. Some were very explicit. Here the first woman to receive a university degree was in 1678.

Across from the university is city hall, old and new – we toured this beautiful courtyard – they light the facade of the new building at night.

Piazza Cavour – Caffe Pedrocchi built in 1831 is of neoclassical design, we stopped and had a glass of wine on the porch – another great people watching spot. They also practically serve you lunch whenever you have a drink in this country. The waiter told us the upstairs is now a museum so we had to check it out. The Piano Nobile (noble floor) is more elaborate. Each room is either done in Greek, Etruscan or Egyptian style and very elaborate. Here we also found a small museum of the Risorgimento which traces Padua’s role in Italian history from the downfall of the Venetian Republic (1797) to the founding of the Republic of Italy (1948). Also a 30 min. tv monitor showing Mussolini’s rise to power and pictures of the town in the 1930’s. Very interesting.

All this takes us several hours, window shopping (very upscale), people watching and taking many pictures of the wonderful old architecture (even a pic of the old post office for Dolores). We wind up at Scrovegni around 5 pm, no line. There is a 5 minute audio wait in the ante chamber where they acclimate you so as not to affect Giotti’s masterpiece. We luck out as there are only 6 of us so the guide is at our full disposal. (you have 15 minutes to take it all in.) This definately was worth the stop in Padua.

Tonight we dine at a little, teeny, tiny ristorante “Osteria Dal Capo – vie Soncin” recommended by the Majestic Toscanelli hotel. We were seated between two groups of men – they place you practically in one anothers laps so the conversations cross over. Next to us, 2 Italian, 1 german, 1 english talked to us a lot. Everyone it seems wants to know who we are going to vote for. They all have strong opinions about America and are very well informed. Fun and interesting. Our meals were superb (as were they all in Italy), 1 pasta and 1 swordfish, wine of course; we also split a yummy dessert. Not large portions as in America and of course everything is a la carte. A great ending to a great day.

Now remember all my friends and family – this is for my diary so I won’t be offended if you find it all too long or boring to just move along or skip it entirely. Seeing countryside, people, great architecture and enjoying good and unusual food are my prime reasons for traveling; cities are not my favorite but of course you have to see the great cities of the world.

Day 2 – We have turned day into night so a little sluggish getting started. Lovely european breakfast buffet in the hotel’s very attractive dining room. thinly sliced ham, bologna, cheeses, little dry toasts that we put cheese and jam on, croissants, rolls, several juices and american coffee. Espresso with hot water added. Off we go to examine this very unique city.

Years ago at their height Venetians numbered in the many thousands but today most live outside of Venice and only come in to work. Very, very expensive to live here. The waterfront is a wonderful collage of piazzas (ie St Marks Plaza, Doges palace etc.), the grand canal like a very busy freeway – vaporettos, chris craft type water taxis; many gondolas (although these are mostly used in the smaller canals for tourists), even cruise ships and freighters go through the end of the canal.

We then proceed to get lost on the curvy walkways that run in between the endless canals and bridges that cross over. This is where people live, only a door with a number indicating there might be a residence. All of a sudden you come across a store, or several very exclusive shops, or a piazza with all this wonderful very old architecture. These streets, more like lanes, meander all over the place. If we had the energy you could be entertained for hours on end just watching the people and drinking all these wonderful old structures in. We have one of the to be many gelato ice cream cones. Truly it is the most divine ice cream ever. We had one almost evey day we were in Italy. The gelato I’ve had in America doesn’t hold a candle.

Our train leaves for Padua at 5 o’clock which is at the other end of the Grand Canal so we thought it would be fun to take the slow Vaporetto which has the most amount of stops. Wrong!!! Here we are pulling our luggage, everyone pushing and shoving just to get on this very small ferry boat I call it; finally find a seat at the back and this boat is packed. We stopped at every little place on the grand canal all right. Then we worried about being able to get off and through this huge crush of people. It was fun even though a little stressful.

Then the train station – they are really big in Italy with many tracks and trying to find the right one was quite a feat; also getting our luggage up the 4 narrow stairs and a place to put it was another adventure, but we made it!

30 minute ride to Padua through little towns and interesting countryside. We didn’t know how to exit once we got off the train so we wound up on the wrong side of the train station pulling our luggage up many stairs, on to a grubby street, not a cab in sight and of course can’t read or speak Italian. Who is it that said most Italians speak english. Not. Finally called the hotel and they told us to go back down and go out the other side, again hauling our luggage up and down the stairs.

Hurrah, civilization and taxis. Pronto we arrive at our Majestic Toscanelli hotel exhausted but in a very lovely suite. We have no energy to go out and find a dining establishment but the man who operates the bar runs upstairs and cooks us up some wonderful pasta – we are content. We have an 11 am reservation tomorrow to see the Scrovegni chapel and Giotto’s wall paintings of the life of Christ.

Our trip is already done but no computers available wherever we went – didn’t want to take time out to search them out so here we go now that we are back from our adventures.

First day – 9/14/08 – left sat arrived Venice 1:30 pm Sunday. Good flight over, landed successfully and met immediately by our water taxi escort, very pricey $355.00 but well worth it as we never would have found our Hotel Castello. If you are flying in the only way you can actually in to Venice is by water taxi; about a 30 minute ride; it cuts across the bay to the 100 islands that make up Venice, connected by 400 bridges and 2,000 alleys. There are only 3 actual canals as they are the main large ones, the rest are called rivers. If you are coming in by train then you can catch the Vaporetto (like a small ferry boat) down the Grand Canal to your stop.

We were the last to check in to our hotel – the only room left was on the 3rd floor – no lift, so they let us stay in a broom closet on the main floor. I mean literally, we could barely get ourselves and our 2 pieces of luggage inside the room as the bed took up all the space there was. Sure beat lugging our bags up 3 flights though.

We immediately left the hotel to orient ourselves to Venice, we were very close to St. Mark’s square, the Campanile, Doge’s palace, cathedral etc. so we toured that and the waterfront. You truly have to see this with your own eyeballs, I always say as you just can’t imagine it. We also had to head over to “Harry’s Bar” made famous by Hemingway – and had their infamous drink. We wandered for 3 or 4 hours then went to a very nice little place Ristorante “All’ Antica Sacrestia” by our hotel – excellent seafood meal but verrry pricey. 100 euro so about $146.00 american. Returned to our hotel and collapsed in our expensive closet.