What is that smell?

Day 5 Venice to Florence

How could I have forgotten to post about Florence! I teased Tom today that he least liked Florence (and our guide, Antonella), because he was still in love with Helene. Leaving Venice was hard as we had a fantastic time and, leaving Venice is complicated. Regardless of your what modes of transportation you use, water taxi, vaporetto, etc., there are always multiple steps...plus Venice is just so wonderful it is really hard to leave. But we had to leave...bags downstairs, bags to water's edge, bags on water taxi, water taxi to Piazzale Roma, bags into car, Kris and Tom into car. Dietzio heads for Florence via Ravenna!

Dietzio is very nice but a little hard to understand...but we cope. As we near Ravenna I review a little from the tour book so Tom and I know what we will be seeing...but wait...there is an aroma...unpleasant...after about 5 miles Dietzio announces that there are a lot of horse farms in the area and the aroma is horse manure...hmmmmm...I try to be polite and explain that I have some experience with manure and I am pretty sure it is not horse manure, or cow, but pig manure...Dietzio is sad....because he knows I am wrong...so he restates his position that it is horse manure... I explain further about my experience on my uncle's farm in Iowa and I am pretty sure it is pig manure...Alora, he says with infinite sadness - it is horse...just then the passing lane opens up and he passes not only the tractor trailer immediately in front of us but the one in front of that...the truck that is hauling pigs...I rest my case...don't mess with a woman who knows her manure.

Ravenna is incredible! The mosaics are simply stunning and there are 2 of the 5 churches I get to see in the time allowed. I am sorry not to have more time but maybe the next trip as the town itself is worth visiting in its own right. I see the incredible Bascillica di San Vitale with stunning mosaics but also stunning architecture. I hustle over to the Battistero degli Ariani - tiny, intimate, amazing. Sadly time to go.

We arrive in Florence at our hotel right next to the Ponte Vecchio. Our hoel, the Pitti Palace, has a roof deck with a view of the Duomo across the Arno River. So we have moved from a city that celebrates the Gothic to one that celebrates the Renaissance! We have a drink on the roof deck and dine at Cammillo's within walking distance. Molto bene!

Che- kettie

Cichetti (Che-kettie)
Better than tapas...one or two bites of 8 or 9 yummy appetizer/salad selections. We seriously need this in the US. Absolutely perfection – just enough of a portion and so tasty.

To Grotto or not to Grotto?

We meet our fearless leader, Vincent, for our guided trip to Capri. This may be a first for Tom – a group tour. Everyone seems nice, however, and we are a mix of English speaking travelers and a handful of Germans. Vincent is, of course, Italian but he speaks German and English so everyone is happy. We board the high speed ferry for the 20 minute ride to the island – one of 3 in the Bay of Naples – but certainly the most famous.

The day is sunny but overcast. Will this spoil my hope to see the Blue Grotto? Suddenly the precipitous cliffs of Capri appear and we pull into the Marina Grande. Capri appears to be a mountain on either end with a small section in between where you can build a village on the slightly less steep slopes…slightly. I am feeling very smug because I have grabbed a seat on the right side of one of the two tiny buses taking us to Ana Capri – up the mountain. When the Greeks lived here they built a staircase to get to where we are going that is still used today – 770 steps but we are driving up the narrow mountainside road that contains dozens (or so it seems) of switchbacks. Suddenly the bus is on part of the road that does not seem to be supported in any way and I stop breathing. I don’t breathe again until we reach the top. Ana Capri is charming and the views are spectacular!

Vincent marches us out to the overlook for a history lesson and the views. Small shops line the walk – lemons are a big theme…lemon motif linens, chocolate, Limoncello, etc., etc. Here is the same vendor who made a pair of sandals for Jackie Kennedy. Same guy. You pick the style, the strap color and he assembles them while you wait. We have a nice lunch at the place Vincent suggests – 12 Euro for a delicious plate of ravioli, a glass of wine and ice cream. And he knows where the free bathrooms are. We like Vincent.

The day seems a little sunnier…Blue Grotto? Back down the mountain to Capri Town. Vincent marches us through the town – much more crowded than Ana Capri but with its own unique charm. – we walk to an area where we can see the other side of the island. We go to the free viewing terrace, not the one where you have to pay 1 Euro. Yeah Vincent! Uh oh…the clouds are rolling in…maybe? We bus back to Marina Grande and I have to make the decision…Blue Grotto or boat ride around the island to see the other grottos. Tom has already decided on the island tour. Sigh. Unless the sun is shining and shining brightly the Blue Grotto does not get the ethereal blue glow and it isn’t happening today. Darn. Island tour it is.

I sulk for a while but eventually become seduced by the rugged beauty of the island. The Coral, White and Emerald grottos are all pretty cool and we see a family of black and white mountain goats. Very cool! We motor past the Blue Grotto and there are only two boats there packing up to leave. I see the tiny opening in to the cave…Wow! We board a much larger ferry for the return trip and take a shuttle bus back to the hotel. Maybe some day…

Every day is a bad hair day...

Italian hair dryers….come on! That isn’t a hair dryer it is, at best (and I am being kind), a hair warmer. Their idea of a hair dryer is a plastic box on the wall with a long tube attached. At the end of the tube is a hard plastic device with a smallish rectangular opening that the tepid air seeps out of…with infinite slowness. The only decent one was in the hotel in Venice but then that hotel was part of the American Best Western chain…do you think?

Memories, like the corners of my mind...

May 22 Day 8 Sorrento via Siena. Dietzio is very prompt and we arrive in Siena in good time but the Duomo is closed…I forgot about it being Sunday…so sad but we can peek in the door and see the incredible black and white horizontally striped interior and get a taste of the magnificence. We descend the hilly twisty streets but it becomes obvious that Tom might not make it back up the hill from the Piazza del Campo. I decide to worry about that later! The sense of stepping back in time is intense.

We stop in the lovely courtyard of the 13th century Palazzo Chigi-Saracini…my sense of déjà vu is strong and I suddenly remember Philip and his 8th grade classmates in this space having their picture taken. I am so glad we had that trip and that I have the wonderful memories. We arrive at the Campo and step into the brilliant sunlight – in very strong contrast to the narrow streets. It is as I remember and I am so thrilled to be revisiting. Tom and I find a seat outside a restaurant and have a mid-morning snack – pastry for him and wine for me to toast Philip and Jay Cheeseman – Philip’s 8th grade social studies teacher who led the trip but died a few years ago.

Dietzio arranges to pick us up at the bottom of the Campo (problem solved!) and we are on our way to Sorrento. We pull in to a highway rest stop to get a sandwich to go. Tom has prosciutto and cheese and I have a tomato and mozzarella with basil and they toast both! Fabulous fast food! We pass Naples and there it is – Vesuvius! It is just a two lane road along the Sorrento Peninsula side of the Bay of Naples - built by Mussolini in the 40’s it ended the isolation of the tiny fishing villages along the Sorrento and Amalfi Coasts and, ultimately, made way for the crush of tourism. The road moves up the mountainside giving incredible views of the Bay of Naples.

We round a corner and their it is – Sorrento! Bellissima! The Hotel Mediterraneo is excellent with a lovely garden and a pool. It is away from the center of Sorrento - much quieter. I can see Vesuvius from my window! We have a drink in the garden by the pool. An resident seagull has figured out that the cocktail hour means dropped bits of peanuts and snacks so he shows up every night, has a drink from the pool and waits for an opportunity…we name him Hector.

We have dinner on the terrace overlooking the Bay of Sorrento My Carpaccio of Salmone is outstanding dressed only in olive oil and local lemon juice on a bed of arugula – heavenly!

The Plague and Lingerie

Our second full day in Venice dawns brilliantly and I throw open the window and shutters to once again stare blissfully at the top of the Campanile and the dome of San Zaccarria. We meet Helene at the Palazzo Ducale and head along the left side of Piazza San Marco toward the Grand Canale to the San Marco vaporetto stop. The view of Venice from the Grande Canal is beyond-words-glorious! We pass the Palazzo Barbaro and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum both of which figure prominently in The City of the Falling Angels.

Our tour today is through the Venetian areas of Dorsoduro and San Polo. We wander the streets arriving in Campo Santa Margherita, the largest open space in this part of Venice where Helene describes the Venetian process of collecting rain water through the use of the campos. Fascinating! Rain water drains through certain areas of paving into underground cisterns through a layer of sand with drainage into a well that would have been used by all the areas residents. We stop in front of Sucola Grande di San Rocco – founded in honor of San Rocco a saint who dedicated his life to helping the sick – those suffering from the plague in particular. Construction of this beautiful building was funded by donations from Venetians eager to invoke San Rocco’s protection.


Next stop Helene’s jeweler. I had mentioned that I would like to get a Nominations charm for my bracelet – something indicative of Venice. He mentions another shop but we take a look at a setting he is making for Helene…for her 3 carat diamond given to her by the mother of a friend!!!! Nice! It is lovely. We find the other jeweler and she has the charms! I buy, of course, a gondola.


Now to Santa Maria dei Frari aka the Frari. Huge church filled with masterworks by Titian, Giovanni Bellini and a statue by Donatello. I am in heaven! Our tour ends with a walk through the Rialto are open market – seafood, fruit, vegetables – wonderful! Then we walk through the financial district and pass the courts to an area along the Canal just above the Rialto Bridge. A perfect spot for a light lunch. Helene has another appointment so say Arrivaderci! but not without inviting her to visit and promising to send her the Winterthur website – she has a decorator friend in NYC she sometimes visits. Tom and I catch a vaporetto back to the San Marco stop to the hotel.


Tom feels a rest is in order for himself but I head back out to shop and see a few more things on the to do list. I wend my way through the narrow streets along the unbelievably picturesque canals. I end up at the Rialto Bridge and catch a vaproetto going up the canal toward the train station. I need to see all of the canal! I catch the express vaporetto back to San Zaccaria and then the vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore the monumental church by Palladio, my hero. The interior is serenity personified – perfect proportions, cool gray and white color scheme. Stunning. I take the elevator to the top of the campanile and I am rewarded with spectacular views of the entire area. Back to the hotel to pick up Tom for dinner.


We eat for the third night in “our” region of Venice – the Castello – this time at the Tratorria da Remigio. Another tiny jewel…we are seated next to Bob and Lynn from Manchester, UK. They own a lingerie manufacturing company and are on holiday to celebrate Bob’s 70th birthday (actually in March). He, seriously, looked 50…kind of Paul Newman looks? Great bones, as my mother used to say! We had a great meal and a great time with Bob and Lynn. They just do the design and distribution in Manchester now with manufacturing in China. Sad. They sell to fairly large retailers including Bon Marche. Very cool!

The Wonderful Ay-Len (Helene)

Another beautiful day in Venice! Our guide for our 3 hour walking tour this morning met us at the hotel at 9 AM. The plan was to see the kinds of sights first time visitors should see. Helene managed to show us those magnificent spots and more! We were delighted with Helene's warmth, humor and incredible depth of knowledge.

Our first stop was the charming Greek church, San Giorgio dei Greci. Our visit there certainly helped reinforce our understanding of the multiple influences on Venice by neighboring countries. The church was not open but we enjoyed looking at its lovely facade. Our second stop was San Zaccaria a church dedicated to the father of John the Baptist, St. Zacharias. This lovely 14th century church contains an important and beautiful painting that is the altarpiece, "The Madonna and Child with Saints". The painting is in a transitional that bridges the Gothic and the Renaissance. I was really looking forward to seeing art works I have studied in the locations for which they were intended.

A stop for coffee in the Doge's Palace for fortification and we are off! Helene was very informative about the political history of Venice as well as the magnificent art. Next the Basilica di San Marco. A wonderful blend of Gothic and Byzantine architecture, fabulous mosaics in side and the incredible Pala D'Oro altarpiece...gold, pearls, rubies, sapphires, and amethysts! And the whole thing pivots!

We ended our 1/2 day tour with Helene and headed off to see La Fenice the opera house that burned in 1996. The fire was supposedly set by 2 electricians working on the massive restoration of the opera house. Tom and I had both listened to The City of the Falling Angels on CD's. The book was written by John Berendt about Venice and the burning of La Fenice (The Phoenix). Berendt wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil about Savannah. First things first, though, as it was lunch time. On our walk to La Fenice we passed a lovely little trattoria called Da' Nico. How lucky we were! Tom had the Pasta Fagioli and I had the Supa de Pesce. I hate to tell Richard Julian but this Supa de Pesce might have been almost as good as his!
We loved La Fenice and couldn't get over the beauty of the interiors. I only wish we could have heard an Italian opera while we were there they were not having peformances of any kind.

Some how I managed to get us back to our hotel with out going out onto the main Fondamenta until the very last righ before our hotel. I figure there was surely a shorter way but I was pretty excited that I figured it out. We had a short rest and then dined at another trattoria close to the hotel called Trattoria alla Rivetta. It had good reviews and live up to the promise. Tom and I each had the Branzino, Mediterranean sea bass, and it was excellent! So ends a wonderful day.

Planes, Trains, Boats and Cars

Our flight was a little late leaving Philly but Tom decided to upgrade our tickets so we suffered along in 1st class (Tom) and business class (me). Very nice! Hot towels and champagne and a seat that did everything but brush my teeth for me. We arrived in Rome close to our scheduled time, breezed through customs, caught a cab and were off. The ride through Rome to Roma Termini was scary (Rome crazy drivers) and fun...we went right past the Forum and around the Coliseum! We had an hour to kill until our train but found a seat and some very strong coffee.

The train was very comfortable and enjoyable as we sped through the gorgeous Italian countryside. Stops in Bologna, Florence (Santa Maria Novella), Padua and Mestre before arriving at 3:30 in Venice. I was thrilled when we stepped from the station out onto the edge of the Grand Canal! It was a spectacular day - brilliant sunshine and 72 degrees. I bought our Vaporetto tickets and off we went. I chose to take the #2 boat around the "back side" of Venice on the Giudecca Canal- not down the Grand Canal - figuring it would be our only chance to see that side. Coming toward San Giorgio Maggiore and then turning the corner to see St. Mark's, the Doge's Palace and that postcard view was dazzling.

Our hotel is perfect - a great location and yet quiet. It is just off the Fondamenta Degli Schiavoni very close to Piazza San Marco. From my window I can see the dome of San Zaccaria and the top of the Campanile in Piazza San Marco. Bella!

We pretty much dropped our bags and headed out to find something to eat around 5:30. This seemed to be a bit of a problem because some restaurants close Mondays and the dining hours for most are 11- 2 for lunch and 7-10 for dinner. We did, however, find a place where we had a glass of wine while we waited for the restaurant to open at 6:30. It is called the Aciugheta, or the "little anchovy"! Tom had the octopus salad and I had the cichetti (chee-keh-tee) which is small portions of food served on the same plate. Fantasic! I will try and describe it later...Ciao!

T-Minus 4 Hours and Counting!

Look out world! Tom and Kris are at it again...destination Italy! I leave shortly to pick up Tom and head to the airport. Joe is coming with us to drive my car home and will pick us up when we return. I have been practicing my Italian using my Pimsleur method CD's in my car. I figure I am in pretty good shape...I can tell someone I don't understand. I can ask where is...? And I can order food and beer and wine. Molto bene! Oh, and I can say please and thank you. No ugly Americans allowed! Ciao, bella!