23/4/06
Greve in Chianti -> Pisa -> Lucca -> Greve in Chianti
Highlight
- Our record continues, we got stuck in another accident on the autostrada for >0.5 hr. I think it's not us, it's just that there are so many accidents that you have a very high percentage of being stuck in one if you travel like we do.
- The alarm didn't work (again) and we ended up being late (again) by 2 hrs.
- We finally made it to Pisa. It's actually a really really beautiful city. Yes, there were lots of tourists, but they have a good system as well as the lines are only about 10 minutes wait. So when Italians decide to get organised, everything works! Plus, they took credit cards!!!
- While we waited for our climb up the tower, we walked around the town. I am actually surprised that people don't wonder out of the main square. There is a river with grand old palaces on either side which is a pleasant stroll.
- We took our turn climbing up the steps. The view from the top was sensational, the experience was really worth it. Because of their tight schedule though, you don't really get that long to linger and appreciate it all.
- We spent ages looking for a supermarket or even food shop or deli for lunch between Pisa and Lucca but we couldn't find anything at all, EVERYTHING was shut down for the holidays or on their extended lunch break, even the restaurants!!
- Lucca was also charming. It's a little town with a rampart all around. The nicest part was walking around the rampart, seeing the mountains in the background. This is definitely a family hangout though, with everyone riding their bikes, carnival rides, lots of eating...
- Spent ages looking for a FREE toilet anyway, and finally found one at the Palazzo Ducale
- We still can't get any money out of the ATM.
- We stayed in and had our first cooked meal at the castle.
Food
- Mixed ham and salami.
- Bread.
- Fried donut, a Lucca specialty and a Slokky favourite. It tastes pretty much the same all over the world (1).
- Gelato with pineapple, pear and banana (1.8).
- Pici pasta with tomatoes and percorino Crotonese semistragionato (11.7).
- Coffee.
- Lotte Ghana chocolate.
- Wine and fig chocolate.
- Biocake from Ramada Hotel.
Florence -> Castalina in Chianti -> Greve in Chianti
Highlight
- Finally made it to Florence, in the dead of the morning. Again, we had the whole place to ourselves. We walked to all the famous site, and watched the town slowly come to life around us.
- My feelings about Florence? I was disappointed. Everyone always rave on about how great Florence was, but apart from the food places that were recommended by Sunday Life, it didn't have anything going for it. The buildings were ugly,m things were expensive, and there were tourists everywhere. The only thing that I found pretty was the Duomo, which actually looked a lot better than the pictures.
- We only saw the 1st part of Tuscany but we were already stuck in a traffic jam, meaning it took us > 2 hrs to reach the castle. All the other couples were even later than us though, being stuck in the same jam but without the benefits of the GPS. But my general impression? Really really pretty, just like they said, but very touristy. Hopefully other parts further away from Siena would be better.
- Our castle though, was absolutely wonderful. Set in its own hectares of vine, with sweeping views of other growing area. The day we arrived a wedding was taking place in the gardens and the "balcony". Our room was on the 2nd floor, which we made our way up through very narrow staircase, but what a surprise when we found an absolutely spacious space, decorated in a tasteful country style, with a separate kitchen and bathroom. We felt very exclusive as there were only 10 rooms in the whole castle.
- I was so disappointed. Our first meal in one of the gastronomic capitals of Italy, and our dinner at Restaurant La Locanda was really really crap. We had to wait for longer than 1 hour for our meal. We had to ask repeatedly for bread, and when they finally arrived, not only were the food of bad quality, we had also lost our appetite and our hunger. To make matters worst it was expensive and the service was non-existent. As I write this now I can say that at least this was to be the worst restaurant we were to experience for the WHOLE TRIP, and our Tuscan experience do get redeemed later.
Food
- Mixed cold cuts of prosciutto and salami (7).
- Cappuccino (.85).
- Espresso (.75).
- Biocake from Ramada.
- Panini with bologni and eggplant (2.1).
- Gelato with mango and crema giotto (almonds, coconut, hazelnut) (1.8).
- Porchini mushroom soup (7).
- Tagielle with wild boar sauce (7).
- Pizza bread.
Sant' Agnello -> Sorrento -> Almalfi -> Ravello -> Almalfi -> Positano -> Sant' Agnello -> Mystery Town -> Sant' Agnello -> Surlerno -> Florence
Highlight
- The Almalfi Coast is the latest on the hit-list of the (old) American tourist. We lined up early in the morning for the one SITA bus (there's only one bus per hour, even though there was enough demand for 10) that winds its way down the Almalfi from Sorrento. Of course, there was absolutely no concept of lines, so when the bus finally came, 15 minutes late, everyone was pushing and shoving each other to get on. We managed to squeeze onto the 2nd bus, although we had to stand as the bus winded its way through narrow cliff-side roads that should no way be two way. The way that the bus driver let others know he was coming around the corner? By honking before, during, and after every turn. The coast line was amazing, but I think everyone was more holding on for dear life to enjoy it that much.
- We were very relieved to reach Almalfi, our first town to explore. In general, each Almalfi town was very touristy, with one main street filled with all manners of Almalfi products, in particular huge lemons, limoncello and ceramics. Amazingly, as soon as you step into a side street, it's like you're in a whole other world.
- Ravello was great, with excellent view of Almalfi and other towns.
- Villa Cimbrone (5) was absolutely beautiful. Lush gardens surrounding an old-style villa, and the famous Belvedere dell 'Infinita - a balcony to die for, or you could die on. Basically it's built on the edge of the cliff, so if you look down, you see air. Slokky was really scared and won't walk to the edge of the balcony.
- We walked from Ravello to Almalfi instead of trying to fight it with the hoards to catch the bus. It was an hour of walking down stairs, quite scary as we didn't know where we would come out. Surprisingly, this "stairway" is the only way some people can reach their houses, imagine doing that trek every day. Maybe that's why people can eat so much and not get fat. The walk had absolutely stunning view, and we got glimpses into the backyard of the homes, and saw how people lived in that area. One part of the stairway had actually crumbled away, but we weren't going to turn back, so we climbed over all the rubble and hoped that nothing was going to fall.
- Our last town was Positano, maybe because we were rushed for time and it was raining, we didn't find it that much different to the other towns. This town had a so-called beach, but it was nothing to write home about.
- Slokky got off the SITA bus early because he thought he heard we were at Sant' Agnello. We ended up being stranded in some unknown town with no other buses for about 3 hrs and a train connection to Florence waiting for us, that we'd already fully paid for.
- Good old Slokky then decided just in case the trains were wait, we had to wait at Surlerno for our connecting train to Florence. We had to Stand, as all the seats were already taken and the waiting room was taken up by all the homeless people and drunks, in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night.
- Missing out on visiting Naples completely because of the above bungle.
- Catching a sleeper. It's pretty much like the Countrylink. We didn't really get to know the environment though as we were only on the sleeper for 5 hours. The only piece of Italianess? They tell you the seat on the ticket, but they don't tell you whereabouts on the platform that car is likely to appear. So you have to wait for the train to get to the station and then do a mad dash to your carriage before the train took off. Of course this train was late too, so we needn't have worried so much.
Food
- Casa Suzy breakfast:
- Lollies.
- Chilli olives (1.62).
- Bread.
- Apricot tart.
- Margarita pizza (3).
- Gelato with banana and tiramisu (1.5)
Sant' Agnello -> Pompeii -> Sorrento -> Sant' Agnello
Highlight
- Pompeii is an amazing place. We spent 6 hours there wondering around the ruins and still didn't finish seeing everything. Just beware that lots of places that they said were supposed to be opened were actually closed. It wasn't as touristy or crowded as I'd imagined, when you wondered away from the main road, you can almost have the place to yourself.
- Meeting the guy from the train yesterday again at the station this morning. We had a good conversation. He is very friendly and is very opinionated. It turns out that he is working as a receptionist at a hotel to improve his English so he can be a teacher. He gave us tips on all these places to go in Naples.
- I did't stick to my plans again, and we didn't make it to Naples afterall, instead, we wondered around the coastal town of Sorrento for a few hours, wondering along the harbour and the tourist shops, selling everything to do with lemons. Slokky actually tried some limoncello even after I warned him it was alcoholic. We bought some limoncello in cute little bottles for 5 euro and found out later that we got ripped off. The town itself is beautiful, like all the times around the Amalfi Coast, but I found it a bit too touristy. Also, they seem to have an Emporio Armani in almost every town, even Sant' Agnello, a very small town, has a designer shop, but I haven't seen that many well dressed Italians yet.
- Slokky didn't make me mad today... he didn't get lost (much) and we didn't have to go to the Vatican.
- Having dinner at the cheapest place yet, a little tavern called Taverna Rosso, not far from our B&B. We decided to finally try pizza in Italy since we didn't manage to make it to Naples, the place famous for pizza. Plus, it would be good to compare pizzas from different regions of Italy to see if they are the same. The place was excellent, with authentic pizzas... I don't know if I can have another pizza elsewhere in Italy though unless they were as cheap and as good!
Food
- Breakfast from Casa Suzy, our B&B, consisting of very fresh bread, the typical Italian spreads:
- strawberry jam
- peach jam
- apricot jam
- cherry jam
- orange jam
- hazelnut spread
- milky butter
, packaged cheese, chocolate donut, hazelnut biscuits and cappaccino. - Rice cracker chocolate cookie.
- Black sesame rice cracker.
- Chocolate cake we stole from Welcome Residences buffet.
- Roasted eggplant and zucchini (4 euro)
- Margaherita pizza (3).
- Real foccacia with rocket and tomatoes (4.5).
- Loads of bread (actually free for once).
Rome -> Naples -> Sant' Agnello
Highlight
- Didn't have to go to The Vatican!
- We spent our last day finishing off all the things we didn't get to finish. First stop was Gallery Borghese - a very pretty gallery with an exclusive booking system. Only 360 people are allowed in at one time, for a two hour slot. We didn't know what any of the art was about, but it made me realise that with fewer people, you can really appreciate the art works. It also made me realise that Italians CAN be organised if they so chooses. It made me actually feel good that I'd made a booking and it was WORTH IT!
- We walked around the Villa Borghese after the gallery. It's a pretty park, and on this sunny day, made for a very relaxing stroll.
- Riding on a mini bus with the traffic down the Via de Corso. We were actually going slower than people walking most of the time. Just part of Italian life right?
- We spent two hours at the Crypta Balbi, it was an interesting museum with very cool ruins, but we still couldn't figure out what a crypta is!
- Browsing the Lindt store at Termini station. There were so many different types not available in Oz. I really wonder what's the point of the Martin Place store when you can't get even some of the common varieties available at the supermarkets in Europe! However, they were very expensive at 2.2 Euros a block so I refrained. Pity the Easter eggs were still not on special.
- We caught the local train to Naples. It was really crowded, sped along, and left "almost" on time.
- From Naples, we went down a long corridor with our heavy luggage to catch the connection to Sant 'Agnello. Despite the lateness, the train was still crowded. A guy stopped to talk to us because he was curious as we were Asians but speaking in English. More on him later.
- Finally found our B&B, it's in a residential building, run by a brother and sister team. We shared the downstairs apartment with 2 girls. We had our own bathroom but the shared kitchen was not functional yet.
Food
- Welcome Residences Breakfast.
Rome
Highlight
- We didn't go to the Vatican!
- Some stupid ethnic kid tried to steal stuff from my bag near Termini station. Luckily I noticed before he could do anything. I hit him with a magazin and he spat at me. I should've seriously hurt him. I'm fuming just thinking of how easily he got away with it. I hope he rots in hell.
- Slokky getting lost constantly.
- Another day of rain.
- We visited the Campo de' Fiori "morning" markets, except when we got there in the '"morning", half the stalls haven't even been set up.
- My favourite day in Rome so far as I got to visit the less touristy areas.
- We went out to Via Appia Antica, the "Queen of Road", the ancient road out of the city. It was amazing, one long narrow road, with trees and green fields on both sides, if it wasn't for the constant whirl of cars going past, you can almost imagine you were back in Ancient Rome.
- Nearly getting killed by cars while walking along the road - there are no footpaths, like most of the rest of Rome, so you are forced to walk at the edge of the road, with roads speeding around the corners.
- Catacomb di San Callisto is the largest of the Catacombs opened to the public. You follow small tour groups, down tunnels, where you see row upon row of graves (thankfully already exhumed). It was eerie as there were lots and lots of very small grave, made for the children. The remains of St Cecilia are buried here, completing the journey from St Cecilia church (where the tomb is) to here, where the remains are. We also managed to bump into an Italian teacher from Beverly Hills Girls High on our tour. Talk about coincidence.
- Catacomb di San Sebastiano was great. Our guide was very informative. This tomb was smaller, but its claim to fame is that St Peter was originally buried here, before he was later taken to The Vatican. We found out a lot of history about Rome that tied together all the sites we saw in the last few days. The Christians built the Catacombs when the Pagans ruled, and they had to bury the dead underground, outside of Rome city. Later, when Christians reined, they came back to the Catacombs to pay their respects to the dead, turning the Catacombs into a place of pilgrimage. The church later purposely built on top of the Catacombs.
- Sepolcro di Cecilia Metella was the grave of some pagan noble woman with my name. It was just some strange architectural ruins.
- Last stop on the Appia way was the HUGE Terme di Caraccalla complex, ruins of an ancient Roman bathhouse. There were absolutely no explanation of any of the ruins however, so we had no idea what we were seeing. It was amazing just to see the vastness of it. There are still lots of execuvation works being carried out.
- I finally decided I wanted to get the statue of St Cecilia as my souvenir, so we went back to my church to get it.
- Catching every mode of public transport available in Rome. We finally figured out (on the last day so way too late) that you don't need to buy a tix for anything as they never check.
- We had dinner in quirky Trastevere, but Slokky got ripped off when we paid the bill. They advertised the meal for 13 Euros pp then they charged 15 Euro, but he just paid up. Note to self - never let Slokky pay the bill by himself to save time.
Food
- Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
- Set Menu dinner:
- Water (0.5 L)
- wine (0.25L)
- bread
- spaghetti all'amatriciana
- gnoccehetti with roasted veal sauce
- roast lamb
- slow roasted pig
- pannacotta with honey syrup
- creme caramel with honey syrup
Rome -> Vatican -> Rome
Highlight
- Slokky tried to get his mobile back, but couldn't contact the guy in time.
- We wasted a long time logging a police report. The Italians are so slow and inefficient!
- It rained for the first time since we landed in Rome.
- Another day of having no money. Slokky got ripped off at the exchange place.
- ALL shops were closed today except for some food places. Even the shops at the very very touristy area around the Spanish Steps. Italians sure enjoy their holidays more than they like to make money.
- Visiting the Vatican for the 4th time. As expected, the dome and the treasury both cost money and accepted only cash so we couldn't go. We went to the tombs area, where heaps of people were fussing over the tombs of John Paul II and Peter.
- Spanish Steps - were really not that pretty, I dunno what the fuzz is all about.
- We visited Trastevere - it's a great neighborhood with a slight alternate vibe. There were heaps of cool side Sts filled with restaurants.
- Park area:
- Fonte Acqua Paola
- Porta San Pancrozio
- Piazzale Giuseppe Garibaudi - great view over Rome
- Highlight of the day? Visiting St Cecilia church and the Piazza di St Cecilia. Very pretty with a nice garden outside.
- Piazza del Popolo - very symmetrical. You can get a great view of Rome from the top.
- Santa Giovanni e Paolo - another old church.
- Palazzo Massimo - like the Santa Maria degli Angeli. They also close earlier than their stated time though, and we were almost pushed out the door.
- Walking all the way in the rain to get only ok gelatos.
Food
- Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
- Gelato from It Gelato di San Crispino - valrhona chocolate and honey (2.5).
- Gelato from Fiocco di Neve - rice and chocolate & zabaliogne (2.3).
- Orange juice.
- Dried squid.
- Rice crackers.
Rome -> Vatican -> Rome
Highlight
- Running around all of Rome trying to find a FX place that doesn't rip you off, as well as a police station to file our missing mobile report. Italians NEVER stick to their opening and closing times. Several places said they were opened today but weren't. I really should've known better than to believe them.
- Getting crush at Easter Sunday mass at the Vatican, including some lady who used my butt cheek as a lever. As usual, the ticket we got meant nothing, the Vatican square was opened for all, and it was fight to the death to even get a spot. There was also no use getting there early, as people who came later climb on top of you and then sit on top of you to fit in anyway.
- Getting in line to see St Peter's dome, but they have no control or information system. We lined up for 1.5 hrs only to find out that the dome was closed for Easter Sunday.
- Have I mentioned that The Vatican is ruining my holidays with their inefficiencies and lack of communications. They think they are the best and can stuff everyone else around.
- We asked the guard before we lined up at Castel Sant’Angelo whether we can pay by credit card. He told us yes of course, so we lined up. When we got to the ticket booth we found that it was cash only (yet again).
- Santa Maria sopra Minerva - great church and museum, which was luckily not on the tourist trap.
- Walking through Rome on a Sunday morning is pretty cool. All the Italians have gone to church, and the tourists are still sleeping after having a big Saturday night, you have the city almost all to yourself. We visited the (this time deserted) Pantheon again.
- Slokky not checking the bill before paying AGAIN, so we got charged more for the spaghetti carbonara.
- Slokky ordering my dinner FOR me, how rude!
Food
- Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
- Pineapple juice.
- Lollies.
- Dinner at...:
- egg soup (4)
- spaghetti carbonara (6.5)
- roast lamb (18)
- saltimbocca (18)
- bread
Rome -> Vatican -> Rome
Highlight
- We woke up early to try to beat the crowd to the Vatican museum, but because we had to wait for brekkie at the hotel, we didn't get there as early as we hoped. When we got there the line was massive. There were people toting that they could get us in without waiting in line, so we thought it might be worth it to save some time. It cost us 42 Euros EACH and we could only pay in cash. Little did we know that once we paid the money, we were also waiting, just not in the Vatican line, we were waiting in the people who ripped us off's office for about 30 minutes, then we did skip the line. We then waited another 15 minutes for our personal guide, 5 minutes to check our audio guides were working, so we didn't save any time at all!
- Slokky being sick again, this time with a stomach ache. He kept having to visit the toilets every couple of minutes, not a very pleasant experience.
- The amount of people at the Vatican and the inefficiencies and lack of crowd control. The Sistine Chapel was amazing, but the experience was ruined by the noisy crowd, and the loudspeaker announcements constantly telling people to be quiet.
- After almost a whole day of wondering, we still haven't seen the whole museum. We visited the famous sites briefly, the highlights for me were the Maps Gallery and the Tapestries.
- We made our way to St Peter's for Good Friday Mass. After we made that special trip yesterday to get the tix, we thought we would be allocated a seat. Little did we know, the tix meant nothing at all. You have to line up like the rest of the world to get into the mass. We found out later that we could've skipped the line if we waved our tix, but when we asked the Vatican guards, they weren't any help at all. We ended up seating at the very back, I wasn't able to see a thing, especially when everyone started standing up. There were people everywhere, and about 10 minutes into the mass, Slokky had another stomach ache so we had to leave the mass anyway.
- After such a disappointing day, we did manage to discover a bit of magic. We wandered back to the hotel instead of catching public transport, visiting many lively piazzas and several famous fountains at night.
- We visited the foodie shops, were beautiful displays of all sort of antipasto products available. We didn't end up buying anything though 'cos there were so many people there.
- After complaining that our bathroom leaked and being assured that it would be fixed, we went back to discover, of course, that this was not the case. So we had to put down a whole bunch of towels on the floor so that the water didn't leak all over the floor.
- Finally got to the Internet after a looong stay away. We discovered that Mac Bank stuffed up my scheduled transfer and one of the bills didn't get paid.
Food
- Welcome Residences breakfast:
- croissants
- danish
- chocolate croissants
- brioche
- apricot pie
- chocolate tart
- sliced white bread
- jams, butter
- donuts
- coffee, tea, hot chocolate
- cereals
- yoghurts
- Almond Porky.
- Lollies.
- Chocolate, pistachio and coffee gelato with cream (1.8)
- Stuffed/crumbed vegetables (3.5)
- Biscuit with cheese.
Rome
Highlight
- We tried to beat the crowd by making our way very early to the Campidoglio - huge white structure, great view of Rome.
- First stop was the Colosseo - it was more grand and majestic than I imagined. We walked around with the audio guide to all sections - except there was more to the guide which we weren't told about, so we missed out on a huge chunk of the guide.
- Next stop was the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. It was really crowded, but the great weather and the sheer size of it made it special and you can really appreciate how advanced Roman society was.
- Went to the Pantheon for the 2nd time. The outside definitely look better than the inside.
- Walking along the Tiber river, observing the various bridges and palaces like the Farnesina and Spada.
- Slokky didn't set the alarm properly, causing us to be late for our start. He claimed that he set the alarm but the alarm went off.
- Slokky got lost (again).
- Slokky lost his mobile phone through his own stupidity - he put it in his OPEN pants pocket and it slipped out. The person who picked it up tried to return it to us, but had no way of contacting us.
- Spending all our cash on the Vatican Museum, then not being able to get more because of all the public holidays, meant we had to forego all attractions that accepted cash only (which was nearly everything) and only eat at establishments that took credit.
- We paid a visit to Uno e Bino, a Bib Gourmande, and it was absolutely fantastic. More expensive than what we've experienced so far, but the quality and the innovation far exceeded anything else (except for that really expensive meal at Le Calandre of course).
Food
- Welcome Residences buffet breakfast.
- Dinner at Uno e Bino:
- Parmesan soup (12)
- Ravioli with ricotta and percorino (13)
- basket of bread(2)
- ricotta and pecorino boccolini dumpling
- bullito (boiled meat) (15)
- oxtail crepette (14)
Verona -> L'azise -> Verona -> Rome
Highlight
- We woke to very early to make a trip to Lake Garda. We stopped off at our 1st "little" castle town, L'azise, overlooking Lake Garda. We watched the sun rise over the lake, some fishermen going out for their work, the town slowly waking up and the smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the morning air. Magical. This place is very tourism oriented too, a summer resort town. I'm glad we went at the off season, to have the lake all to ourselves.
- After our morning excursion, we enjoyed another huge breakfast at our hotel, then started on our long drive towards Rome. The scenery started changing as we drove along, the mountains turned into the rolling hills of Tuscany. We had a looong time to enjoy the view, as we were stuck in a traffic jam for more than 1.5 hrs. So much for getting to Rome on time. Good thing I budgeted lots of time for the process. It did mean that I missed out on going to a McArthur Glen outlet though!!
- We thought the driving was ok so far, until we got closer to Rome, the drivers got crazier and crazier, from going on a split road with no markings, to a 2 lane road somehow turning into 4 lanes. Traffic rules obviously mean nothing to the Romans. Cars were parked anywhere and everywhere, at places you didn't even think was possible. As long as there's enough space to fit a car (or sometimes not even that), there's a car there.
- Slokky can't drive and kept getting lost. He tries to be "considerate" and is scared all the time
- The weather has been the warmest we've experienced so far, it made everything more pleasant and somehow more beautiful... maybe except for the rubbish and graffiti that I am now coming to accept as a part of life.
- We had to head to the Vatican to pick up tix for the masses on the next few days. Slokky got to walk up the steps to the bronzed door, and all the tourists thought he was some star or something and started snapping pics of him. All the Vatican guards saluted him as well!!
- Well, St Peter's Basilica was amazing, but I am so surprised at their lack of security... (more on this later)
Food
- Verona hotel breakfast (see yesterday's entry for details.
- Blood orange juice.
- Marinated vegetables (9.24).
- Our first "tourist menu" dinner at Antico Trattoria Pizzeria (10):
- penne all'arrabiata
- lasagne
- veal Roman style
- tripe Roman style
- various vegetables
- baked potatoes
Verona -> Padova -> Vicenza -> Verona
Highlight
- Slokky can't drive and keep braking at the wrong time.
- Slokky is completely useless.
- Slokky takes wrong turn again and doesn't understand what "After 800m" means.
- We were 1 hr late to the Padova museum and Scrovengni Chapel.
- Slokky took one hour to park the car.
- I had no time to wonder around Padova and browse the famous Palazzo della Ragiore.
- We didn't get our money's worth on the Padova card (15).
- Seeing our 2nd markets and the horse with the giant balls.
- Vicenza is a lot like Padova. The highlight was the Teatro Olimpico. However, we didn't have time to go in.
- Verona was the prettiest and the most touristy of the 3, a great town to walk around in. It was weird to finally walk on roads with cars - watch out for them!
- Everything in Verona was high class, designer label and tres expensivo!.
- Among the best of the sights are:
- Duomo - very grand, a bit like Basilica de St Marco, only less touristy and less gold.
- Bridges straddling the river and the sun setting over the waters in late evening.
- Arena di Verona - a mini Colosseo.
- Overrated:
- Juliet's house - really small with graffiti everywhere. We almost missed the entrance, and to continue the theme of the day, we didn't have time to go inside, so I can't comment on what it was like.
Food
- Ramada Fiera Hotel buffet breakfast:
- cold meats
- bread selection
- jam selection
- pastries and cakes
- muesli selection
- stewed fruit
- yoghurt
- juice selection
- scrambled eggs
- bacon
- potatoes
- boiled egg
- toast and bread
- Antipasto (capsicum, eggplants) (9.24).
- Cold cuts.
Venice -> Verona -> Sarmeola di Rubano -> Verona
Highlight
- Our hotel was even slacker on the 2nd day, there was no lemon tea as well as no cappuccino. They will be getting bad rap from me on Bookings.
- First stop, St Marks Basilica. We lined up with the rest of the tourists horde for 1/2 hour, but the wait was definitely worth it for the grandeur. The word that comes to mind? Gold. We went up to the top to have a look (3 euro), which is definitely worth it.
- Palazzo ducale is my favourite tourist spot so far. It's very impressive, with very grand ceilings and is absolutely HUGE!
- Our first morning markets in Venice. It was everything I expected an Italian market to be, but where were the shoppers?
- We visited a little known attraction, and all the better for it. Carlo Goldoni was a playwright I think, and his house has been filled with his memorabilia. We had the whole museum to ourselves for awhile, to admire the miniature models and the grand chandeliers on display.
- Ca'Pesaro - a grand palace with modern art, which makes a nice change to all the other stuff we've been looking at. A good stop for something different.
- Received another bit of Italian hospitality today. We had a booking to pick up our hired car from Avis Venice at 4pm. When we got there at 3.55pm, there was no one there, and a sign stuck on the door said "I'll be back soon". What could we do but wait? We thought maybe they needed to go to the toilet, but when they didn't show up until 4.20pm, I knew they probably just went for a coffee and a smoko! Imagine my anger though, when I found out that not only 1, but 2 of them were manning the office, and BOTH of them went off on their break at the same time.
- If that wasn't enough, when we FINALLY got our car, it was really, really, really dirty. I'm talking hair, food remnants, dirt, and who knows what else. I took a photo to prove it too if you don't believe me. Of course I complained, so what do they do? The Avis guy comes out with a hand-held vacuum cleaner, and starts vacuuming the front seat. When he asked if that was ok... well no, the windows were dirty, the front panel had marks all over, and the back was still gross, but by this time it was already nearing 5pm and I really wanted to get going, we were already very behind schedule, so I excepted the condition of this car, and we headed off on our first driving drip, to Verona.
- Here's a fact, even with GPS, Slokky kept getting lost constantly. All he does is keep looking at the GPS. He would be going, where's so and so... if only he'll look up from his PDA screen he'll realise that you can see the damn building in front of him. Conclusion - there's no use having GPS if it's used by an idiot.
- Slokky stalling the car all the time.
- Slokky running more than 2 red lights.
- The drive to Verona was magical, our first drive through the country. The Italians are funny. There are houses built on hills, but all the flat land is left empty. We could see the mighty Dolmites in the background along the whole drive.
- Everybody speeding on the autostrada, as well as some crazy cutting in, lanes changes. It certainly makes traveling on the dead straight autostrada (they just tunnel through mountains, build bridges on top of rivers, and cut through cities to make the roads straight) a lot more interesting.
- Slokky making really stupid plans for dinner, making us drive 1 hr to Verona to drop off our luggage, then 1 hr back to Sarmeola di Rubano to have dinner, and another hour back to Verona, costing 2.6 Euro and 2.9 Euro each way, not to mention the petrol and time wasted when we could be sightseeing. We ended up getting back to our hotel at 1.30am.
- Was our 3 Michelin star restaurant, Le Calandre worth it? I was quite impressed, it's situated in a small hotel, with only about 6 tables, so you have very personalised service. The waiters all had good English, I guess they're used to International guests showing up. I was disappointed because they were a bit snobbish because we weren't dressed impeccably for the occasion, but they mucked up the food orders a few times, a def no-no for this kind of restaurant. The food is adventurous, but not really that tasty. I mean it was good, but it wasn't the blow you away kinda good, kinda in the style of Tetsuyas. I think for the money I would probably eat at Tets instead.
Food
- Chocolate donut.
- Cappuccino .
- Rice crackers.
- Coconut Porky.
- Sugared beans.
- Dried squid.
- Strawberry gelato (0.8).
- Hazelnut gelato (0.8).
- Le Calandre Grandi Classici dinner (150):
- assortment of bread
- cheese with bacon
- pastry circles with tomatoes and cheese
- menu items...
- espresso + chocolate (4.5)
Venice -> Murano -> Burano -> Torcello -> Burano -> Venice
Highlight
- We started off at the Campanile. It does have a great view of Venice, but unfortunately it was a foggy day.
- Today was our island hopping trip. First stop Murano, which is famous for its glass. All shops are filled with all things glass. We watched a glass blowing demo at a glass factory (looks exactly the same as the one in Japan!) and looked at lots of glass objects, the highlights are the several chandelier at the glass museum.
- Off to colourful Burano, which is famous for lace. So the first stop was the lace museum. It was very fascinating especially 'cos there were 2 grannies there actually doing the lace work.
- Something else Burano is also famous for, which is not as well known, is patisseries! For such a small island there were a lot of patisseries. They are famous for making bussola, a lemon biscuit.
- Our last island stop, but the best, was Torcello, because it is much harder to get there, you need to catch a ferry from Burano, so there were heaps less tourists (only less though, there are still plenty of people there!). Torcello is basically a very small island with a thousand year old church and some ruins...and not much else!
- Our best find so far at Trattoria Antica Mola. The food was great, the atmosphere better, and the meal was only 29.37 euro, including the "free" dessert we got.
- Slokky was too timid to ask for the waiter and the person next to us did it for us instead, how embarrassing!!
- Slokky forgetting to bring his phrasebook to the restaurant, when he carried it around all the other time, resulting to us being adventurous and ordering anything we couldn't figure out on the menu just for the sake of finding out what it was!
- Experiencing the floods they kept talking about first hand. Half the streets were submerged and you couldn't walk around San Marco at all!
- The hotel is very slack. First they skim on the lemon drink, now they don't give us cappuccino and don't change the sheets. Conclusion? Don't stay there! See my hotel review for details.
Food
- Chocolate donut.
- Dried squid.
- Coconut Porky.
- Jelly cake.
- Vegetable focaccia (alle verd) (1.34).
- Salumeria (ham/chicken roll) (1.30)
- Francesino panem (bread roll) (0.25).
- Burano lemon biscuit.
- Cappuccino.
- Pasta e figioli (pasta and bean soup) (5.16).
- Braciola ai Ferri (grilled pork chop) (7.75).
- Mazzancolle ai Ferri (grilled scampi) (12.33).
- Tiramisu (free!)
- Grissini.
Venice
Highlight
- Slokky getting lost in the winding, twisting "roads", even though we have GPS.
- Trying to find our way around, getting lost, discovering all these hidden corners and abadoned buildings, not to mention Gelato shops.
- Thorns and thorns of tourists and pigeons at St Marks Square, all of the time.
- Seeing loads of art at the Musee Corner and Galleria della Academia.
- Getting to the Rialto Bridge before the crowds and the lovely view.
- Eating gelato, many times, along the Grand Canal.
- Seeing lots of majestic churches.
- Our dinner at Osteria Ruga Rialto was great. We were a bit too early to get any atmosphere in the restaurant, but people were drinking up a storm in the bar.
Food
- Hotel "breakfast":
- soft doughnut with chocolate cream filling
- apricot jam tart
- self-made cappaccino
- Dried squid.
- Red bean triangle (530y).
- Banana and panna cotta gelato (1.9).
- Cookies & bisuits and milk gelato (1.5).
- Melty kiss.
- Dinner:
- bread basket
- tasting plae of fish, prawns, mussels (9)
- sea bream grilled with lemon juice, olives and polenta and potatoes (12)
- balccala with white sauce (10)
Frankfurt -> Venice
Highlight
- The buffet breakfast from Diplomat was excellent. I was so full I didn't even try everything!!
- We went out, along the Main river to the flea market, and saw lots of people jogging and running.
- I was absolutely amazed at the stuff they sell at the flea market. Lots of old stuff, what I would call junk - 80s Nintendos, typewriters...etc, that people here actually throw out at garbage collection day. What's even more strange, people were actually interested in buying these stuff! Needless to say, I didn't pick up anything I want, but it was certainly interesting to observe the people.
- We really got to absorb Frankfurt. The squares with their bars, cheese and deli goods shops
- The Germans must have some obsession with Oz. We found an Oz pub, the Australian Homemade shop, Oz soccer jerseys (selling at a discount of course!)
- Frankfurt is not that big. We visited all the major sites already, so spent the rest of the time before our trip to Italy looking for soccer memorabilia and Ritter Sports bars!
- On our way to the airport, we were stuck on a train with the noisiest sports attending crowd, who were shouting, blowing whistles, it was very very annoying.
- Getting upgraded to business class, although this was the shortest sector we were to fly, for only 1 hr. Still, better than nothing. As far as I can tell though, the only difference is that there is a gap between the 2 seats and the food is better. If only we were upgraded for our last 10 hr flight.
- Flying over snow-covered mountains.
- Venice - it was beautiful, except for the graffiti and the amount of tourist.
- Slokky forgetting to bring our camera to the restaurant.
- Slokky getting lost.
- Our hotel was very disappointing, see review.
Food
- Hotel Diplomat buffet breakfast:
- lots of different cold cuts
- bread including wheat bread and German bread
- Brie and cheddar
- muesli (with hazelnut and chocolate!)
- cornflakes
- natural and strawberry yoghurt
- fruit salad
- apple
- coffee, tea, milk, orange juice
- Bretzel (.45).
- Chocolate palmier (.65).
- Ham and cheese danish (.79).
- Boiled lollies.
- Lufthansa business class meal:
- seafood salad
- brie
- cream cheese and walnut on bread
- grissini
- fruit tart
- apple juice
- Dinner:
- bread basket
- spaghetti with anchovies (7)
- cuttlefish with squid ink and polenta (10)
- liver and onion and polenta (9)
Ueno -> Narita -> Frankfurt
Highlight
- Sadly, we have to say goodbye to Japan. As soon as we were checking in at the airport, apart from everyone trying to speak to us in Japanese, it was a totally different atmosphere. The plane ride really reflected the German culture. Efficient, but unremarkable. Surprisingly though, the meals were quite good.
- What do you call people from Frankfurt? Frankfurters?? Anyway, they don't smile, are extremely tall, and have excellent English. They also speak very fast.
- Unfortunately, everything was more expensive than Japan.
- We caught a train into the city centre. What a shock! The trains are all very dirty and have graffiti all over, but at least they run on time.
- Frankfurt - the buildings are grey and dirty, but occasionally you get glimpses of beauty.
- I dunno if it's because we were in the touristy area, but all the cliches seem to hold true. You really can find pretzels and sausages everywhere, and the Germans themselves lap it all up.
- All the shops open until 8pm, which was a good sign, as it didn't get dark until around then.
- The department stores also have basements with food, but no taste testing or cheap discounts at the end of the day though :(
- With a few exceptions of European labels, the shops are almost the same as Oz.
- The women are especially tall. I saw so many tall women going out with shorter guys. And unlike Japan, there are actually fat people as well as thin.
- There are also lots and lots of punks around too!
- Our hotel is very basic but quite cute. See review.
Food
- Bento box- fried vegetable, chicken and fish on rice from Tokyo station kiosk (380).
- Red bean danish from kiosk (105).
- White bean bun.
- 'Anpan' - another red bean bun.
- Lufthansa snack 1:
- Lufthansa snack 2:
- salmon rice triangle
- egg and tomato sauce sandwich
- Lufthansa lunch 1:
- beef with mashed potatoes
- honey chicken
- prawn salad
- bread roll
- cucumber sushi
- fruit salad
- Lufthansa breakfast 1:
- salmon on noodles
- cashew chicken and noodles
- bread roll
- chocolate cake
- Instant noodles.
- Pastry triangles.
