Italy

We will be in Italy from the 15 - 22 April.

21 April - Cathie and Maree

Yesterday was a wonderful start to our very short stay in Venice and today continued with the great experience. We had a breakfast cooked by Marco our host - bread and sweet things - not our preference but it is a common breakfast in Southern Europe. After this we caught a vaporetta to do a full tour of the Grand Canal to take us to St Mark's Square.

Venice is a beautiful city.  Even though I had seen photos of Venice, nothing prepares you for this experience.  To see this place surrounded by water and joined by hundreds of canals is amazing.  The place we are staying is lovely and is an old Venetian building with parts of it built about the 13th century.  The church next to it was built in about the 10th century. The building has 4 floors with three guest rooms. The ground floor has one and there are 2 on the second floor which is where we are. Our room looks out onto a garden which is owned by the church. On the next floor is a dining room and sitting room which is where Marco serves breakfast in the morning. The top floor are Marco's and his partner's private rooms. Marco's partner is an architect. Marco's family have lived in Venice for centuries, mainly as fishermen though Marco's father was in the merchant navy. The family is particularly associated with one of the islands and there are so many Busettos there that they have resorted to double-barrelled names to distinguish themselves though Marco has not done this.

One could easily get lost exploring this city.  All the buildings here appear to be very old and there is no traffic to contend with.  As I write this the bells are ringing.  This is a sound that happens frequently.  Most of our exploring was done by vaporetto which are water buses which took us through the Grand Canal and to some of islands.  Such a great way to get around. There were lots of photos taken.

Today we went to St Mark's Basilica and Square - what a wonderful building - again beautiful architecture and superb artwork everywhere eg floors and ceilings.  St Mark's Square is huge and full of activity and music. The Doge's palace was certainly a highlight.  This is where the Dukes of Venice lived and was where the administration took place. Venice was a republic run by a Senate and the Senate meeting room in the Palazzo Ducale holds the largest painting in Europe. This is a place full of the history of Venice and has magnificent artwork, antique furniture and artefacts. It has an arms rooms which shows the weapons used during that time. Going down to where the prisoners were kept was both wonderful and profound.  It would have be a dreadful place to be kept and probably very cold.  The cells were very small and bleak.  One can only imagine. We also saw the Bridge of Sighs which was said to be the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment.

We wandered through the city as much as possible but Venice really does need more time. It is also very busy so if I came again I would pick a less touristy time of the year.

I have enjoyed being here in Italy very much.  I hope one day to come back especially to the areas around Florence and Venice.  It has been just a wonderful experience.

Tomorrow we leave for Switzerland, catching the train to Milan and then another to Montreux where Didi, our second cousin, will pick us up and drive us to Bulle, where she lives.

20 April Venice

We caught the 9.30 train from Florence to Venice. It was very crowded and Maree and I were not sitting together for the trip. I had an Italian couple opposite me and an American woman beside me. She was quite interesting as she and her husband were Iraqi and had left Iraq 15 years ago to go to the U.S. She had a daughter who lived in Melbourne and 2 others in the U.S. The B & B in which we are staying is a very old house almost opposite the railway station so the walk to it with our suitcases took no time at all, except for having to lug them over the bridge which is full of steps - up and then down. Marco, the owner of the B & B, speaks excellent English and he is a born Venetian. 

The day was lovely so we decided to take a water bus to Burano rather than wait until tomorrow. The vaporettos are everywhere and are the main transport for Venice. Burano is an island about 30 minutes away from Venice and it is famous for its brightly painted houses and beautiful lace. This was a great trip.  So already we have been along the grand canal and walked some of the streets.

Tomorrow will be more vaporetto rides, St Marks square, the palace  and whatever else we can fit in.

18 & 19 April Florence - Maree and Cathie

We are now at the end of our lovely stay in Florence and head to Venice today. The train trip from Rome was uneventful though the train was packed and luggage was piled everywhere. We sat next to a lovely Italian man whose English was about as good as our Italian but we managed to converse with some words, lots of sign language and writing words down. He came from Florence and either owned or managed an abattoir. Huge T bone steaks are a speciality of the Tuscan region and we certainly do not have steaks this big as they are MASSIVE!! The B & B where we stayed is in an old building and faces a square, only a block away from the Duomo, Florence's beautiful cathedral. We could walk everywhere to see the sights. The room was lovely and very helpful staff - a good pick, though more expensive than Rome.

Florence is a beautiful city, much cleaner than Rome and appears more cultural if this is the right word. It is full of historical architecture and  has wonderful scenery.  It has narrow cobblestone streets in which cars and people all appear to get on well together. Most of the buildings have a sandstone appearance.

It is a city of churches and wonderful statues which are so beautiful.  Cath and I have walked many steps today going up huge hills.  We are exercising well. This morning we walked to one of the highest points in Florence - the Piazzle Michelangelo. It is surrounded by lovely gardens and being spring here, the flowers are lovely. Along the way we crossed the Arno river by the Ponte Vecchio bridge and saw the jewellers setting up for the day's trade.  The place of trade is very unique and probably goes back to the time of the Medici's. Apparently the bridge used to be where the butchers plied their trade but one of the Medici family didn't like the smell, so he changed the merchants to jewellers and this continues today.

The walk to the garden and the top of the hill was wonderful and from here you can see the ancient wall of the city.  I have some lovely photos of tulips growing there and the wisteria was wonderful.

On the top of the hill was a monastery with a lovely church. This was a fantastic experience.   The monks who live here maintain all the buildings and are doing a great job.  They are restoring some frescoes on the wall which had been whitewashed over for centuries. The graves and the great tombs are so old - so much history and they look very much like the crypts you see in places like the Ingham cemetery.  It is a peaceful place and overlooks the city of Florence. We took some wonderful photos from here.

From here we went into the Duomo which is Florence's cathedral. The cathedral was huge but  nothing like the size of St Peters in Rome. People appeared much more respectful here.

We then spent a couple of hours looking through the Uffizi Gallery. This was originally a Medici palace and then the family turned it into a place to display all of their works of art collected over centuries. Perhaps the most famous piece is the painting of the Venus rising from the shell - painted by Botticelli.

We found a little supermarket and bought some Tuscan salami, marinated artichokes, salad and fruit and roast  potatoes for our tea with lovely vino - heaven!!

I am a little lost for words on how to describe this place except to say I could spend more time here again.  It is a city for anyone who loves the arts and culture.

Friday 17 April Pompeii - Maree 

Today we went to Pompeii.  We took the fast train from Rome to Naples. It reached speeds of 300kph but certainly didn't feel that fast. Once in Naples we caught a local train out to Pompeii. It was very busy, so different from when Cathie, Kirby and the boys were there in 2008 in October. Lots of school groups.

What a great place.  When I first got there I was amazed at how huge this place was.  I guess nothing prepares you for Pompeii, certainly it would be a place I would come back to. Just that this place dates back to 79AD is amazing. There is still work going on all the time here and more and more ruins are being discovered everyday.   I have taken lots of photos but I am not sure it will capture how very beautiful and how very awe inspiring this place is.  I also saw the mummies of some of the bodies that have been preserved by the lava.  That was both wonderful and sad knowing how many people died.

The journey out was a wonderful experience as well - the countryside is very beautiful and very green.  I saw snow on some of the mountains as well as the coast of Naples. However the beauty is spoilt by graffiti everywhere - on churches, walls, trains, houses. An American student we met on the train who was on her way to Capri said that they had been told that they must not stay in Naples at all as it was very dangerous. The young Italian men on the train were so full of themselves and so vey conscious of their appearance.

Again I have had  another wonderful day - I can ensure you all that I am smiling and cherishing every moment.  Next stop Florence.

Rome 16 April - Cathie

So at last we are in Rome and already my feet are killing me. We were up early this morning and after breakfast we took the Metro (the underground line) to near the Vatican. I had already bought our tickets online, thank heavens as the queue to get in was very, very long and this was quite early. It only took us about 10 minutes to get through security and into the main section. Maree couldn't get over how huge it all was.

We met a very nice priest from Nigeria in the Sistine Chapel and a guard who told us how to avoid the even longer queues to get into St Peter's by taking an exit from the Sistine Chapel. It has been about 40 years since I was last in St Peter's and I had forgotten how huge it is.

Maree

It is very hard to put into words how beautiful this experience was.  The artwork is just spectacular - it is everywhere  eg on the walls, the floor, the roof.   Wonderful statutes everywhere and gardens. The Sistine chapel was one of the highlights - I felt quite emotional there.  Everything in this area was just amazing and serene.

After here we went down the catacombs where the popes are buried.  This too is amazing -  full of history dating back to St Peter. After here we went to St. Peter's Basilica - this was breathtaking.  Again all the wonderful art and statues were everywhere.  It is very hard to put into words how spectacular it all was.

From here we went on an on and off bus ride (double decker bus) through Rome.  Although it is not the cleanest city it is a city full of old history.  From what we have seen, the Italians are good at maintaining their historical ruins like the colosseum.  That is a spectacular site knowing this dates back to Roman times and the gladiators.  It is a huge site and quite amazing.