Summary of trip - Part 10 and maybe the last

It is now Thursday, July 10th and today we decided to go to the heart of Venice and see the sites. We took the water bus to St. Mark's place. We saw the tall tower known as the Campanile, which is about 300 feet tall. We tried to get into the Byzantine church known as Saint Mark's Basilica, but the lines were extremely long, so we gave it a pass. We visited the Bridge of Sighs, which was called that because it connected the courts to the prison, people who walked across that bridge sighed because they knew that was often the last time they would see their beautiful city. We strolled through the streets and looked in many little tourist shops and we slowly worked our way over to the famous Rialto bridge. Along the way, we decided to do the typical tourist thing, and we took a gondola ride. It cost us 80 euros (about 120 dollars) and took about 40 minutes. The gondolier pointed out many interesting sites as we toured down the Grand Canal and then entered a labyrinth of small charming side canals. One interesting thing that occurred on the ride was the strange sound that gondoliers make when they come to a corner. They make a strange howl that sounds like a whale call, he explained that the gondolas don't have a horn. Here are some photos from that nice day.









After touring around the city all day we headed back to our hotel. That evening, we went to Cafe Diana again, and the owner was happy to see us again. At the end of our meal, he treated my wife and I to a shot of limoncello. It's a very nice liqueur that is made from lemon skins. Delicious !

The following day we walked to Santa Lucia train station and caught our train back to Munich. It was about a seven hour ride and unlike our trip down, it was fairly uneventful. It started raining as we neared Munich, but luckily we were met by my wife's cousin's husband at the station, and he drove us back to the cousin's home.

The weather back in Germany was cooler and wetter for the next few days, but it was a nice change over the much hotter weather in Italy, and Rome in particular. We used those days to shop, visit friends, visit the very impressive German Museum in Munich. It was something like the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. We also visited the very artistic BMW headquarters where we could see the latest BMW models. We also visited the Olympic Park, home to the 1972 Summer games.

The last few days were quiet as we were tired from our travels. One interesting place we visited was called the Ritterturnier Kaltenberg. This was a medieval times aka Renaissance Fair type festival. My eldest daughter was in her glory, as it seemed we were in a far away time. We watched jousting and horse acrobats. We had quite an enjoyable day.





So on Wednesday, July 16th, we headed back to Munich main station to catch our very fast train back to Frankfurt. We had to stay the night at the Sheraton at the airport because our flight was at 11:30 the next morning. The hotel was very nice and modern, the rooms were very large, so I was pleased with the place. The next morning, Thursday, Jul 17th, we had breakfast and walked over to the terminal to catch our return flight.

The flight was nice, although it was 8 1/2 hours flying to JFK. I watched three movies, The Bucket List, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Charlie Wilson's War. All three movies were very good and it helped to pass the time. There was a young child in front of us, who kept my daughters amused when we would always reach around to turn off their tv screens. One strange occurrence on the flight was upon landing, we were held at the end of the runway for a while. During this time, I noticed a police car off our left side. We were first told there was an incident at the gate, so we needed to be held here will they find somewhere for us to park. After nearly a half hour we pull up to the gate, and at first, everyone gets up to get their things, but we were told to sit back down. We thought this was strange, but the next thing we know, a bunch of Port Authority cops come on board and go a few rows behind us, and take this guy off the plane. Very strange indeed, we think there may have been a fight or something during the flight, and the crew called the cops. Luckily, we arrived safely. My sister in law met us at the terminal, so we had a ride back home. It was great to be back home.

Oh well, I think this is the end of the saga of the European trip. I hope you may have enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed reminiscing and writing about the fun we had. European travel can be challenging, but it also can be quite rewarding. It sure can make life a little more interesting. As Saint Augustine once said, "The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Summary of trip - Part 9

It is now Wednesday, July 9th and our first full day in Venice. We decide to take a trip to the neighboring islands of Burano and Murano. Burano is a 40 minute water bus ride from the water bus stop nearest our hotel. It is about 5 miles from Venice. It is a charming picturesque fishing village that is famous for its hand made lace. The town is very clean and colorful, truly a photographers paradise. Here are some of my favorite shots.







They say the colorful houses helped the fishermen find their way back to their homes. It really is a beautiful place, and I strongly recommend seeing it.

We then took the water bus over to the island of Murano. Murano is known for its glass making. It is said that the glass makers were forced to leave the main city of Venice to work on the outer island of Murano because of the risk of fire. We explored many shops that sold different glass wares. My daughter even purchased some small charms on a necklace, and some glass earrings. We watch some local craftsmen blowing glass as well. After all this we took the water bus back to our hotel and decided to look for somewhere nice to go for dinner.

Venetians seem to eat earlier than their Roman counterparts usually around 7PM. We had very nice dinner in a local restaurant called Cafe Diana. The owner was a big friendly man who encouraged passersby to look at the menu and have a seat if they liked what they saw. I knew he was the owner because he had the name Diana tattooed on his arm. It seemed to be a real family business, with his sons working as waiters. The restaurant specialized in many types of seafood. We were very happy with the meal, so we returned there the next day.

Summary of trip - Part 8

So, now it's the early morning of Tuesday, July 8th, and I have been awakened about 2 o'clock in the morning by the sound of nothing. The nothing that I'm not hearing is our air conditioner not being on. I had become very accustomed to the sound of our air conditioner running. And while it wasn't the greatest air conditioner that I ever felt, it was much better that nothing at all. The room grew incredibly warm without the damp cool air that the unit blew. I got up out of bed to investigate and discovered the entire room was without any power. It was completely dark, with the exception of a rather bright emergency light that now lite up the entire lower section of out suite. I checked the room circuit breakers and tried resetting them, but to no avail. I looked outside the window and there appeared to be power as I saw the street lights on.

I quickly got dressed an walked outside where I saw another person who seemed to be investigating the same problem. Luckily, they too were American, so I spoke to them, and they too were in the dark. I went up to the front desk, and the night watchman was sitting outside, and told me in very broken English, that there was no power. Now at this time, I had no idea what this might mean. Was there no power in the hotel, or in the neighborhood, or Rome, or the whole country. I was thinking about the previous day, with the transit strike. Maybe the Italian electrical workers were now taking their turn to strike. I was also thinking that we had a train in the morning, and I was worried whether the train to Venice would be affected. So I went back to the room, and opened the windows to allow some of the cooler night air in. The open windows helped to cool off the room, so we were able to attempt to get some sleep. Luckily, after about an hour, the power came back, so we were able once again to have our air conditioning and some well needed sleep.

So after having breakfast, we asked the front desk to order a cab to Rome's main train station. The person behind the desk said it was about a fifteen minute drive to the station. The cab finally showed up and we had another suicidal drive through the streets of Rome. We made it to the station with fifteen minutes to spare. We boarded the train, which was a very modern Eurostar Italia train for a four and half hour ride to Venice. The train was nice, comfortable, and fast, although some of the things on board like the window shade didn't work. Our tour guide from the previous day had mentioned that electronic devices, such as ticket machines, phones, ATMs, etc had a 50/50 chance of working in Italy.

The first class compartment that we were in was filled with American tourists. I spoke with a few people from Tennessee and Alabama who had just come from Naples, stayed a few days in Rome and were continuing to Florence. They mentioned that they were not impressed with Naples at all after having spent 3 days there. They said it was a very dirty and crowded city. I asked them whether they knew about the garbage strike that has been going on there for the last six months. They hadn't heard about it, but after learning about it from me, they said that explained why there was enormous piles of trash on all the streets. I asked them whether they had done any nice side trips from Naples, such as Pompeii, Capri, or Mount Vesuvius. They said that they hadn't. I was surprise at that, and thought they made a big mistake having missed out on some incredible places, when they were so close to where they were. I guess this proves that you really need to research your trips before you go.

After our four and a half hour ride, which went pretty quickly, we arrived in the very beautiful city of Venice. The very first thing I noticed was how much cooler, and drier the weather was in Venice. It was so comfortable compared with the weather in Rome. The station's entrance is located right on the Grand Canal, so it is very scenic when you exit. We had a fifteen or twenty minute walk to the Cannaregio section of Venice, where our hotel was situated. It is possible to get there by water bus or private water taxi, but after being on the train so long, we thought the walk would be good.

After about a twenty minute walk with map in hand, we slowly found our way to our hotel which was named Residenza Cannaregio. It was a charming hotel and very modern. The building was build in the 17th century as a monastery. However, inside it was very very modern structure. Our room was upgraded from a garden view to a canal view. It was very cool that the hotel actually had an entrance on the canal, to facilitate visitors who arrived by water taxi. Here are some of the pictures of the place. The first couple are the view from our window.





The hotel was very charming and was definitely away from the tourist areas. It was nice living in any area where the average Venetian lived. In the mornings and evening, you would see people on their way to work and school. Venice is also a much cleaner city than Rome. It did not suffer from the problem with graffiti that Rome had. The neighborhood of Cannaregio has nice wide sidewalks along the canals. They are filled with charming local restaurants and small shops. The local people also seemed friendlier than their Roman counterparts.


One terrific thing about staying in a non-tourist area was seeing the inner workings of Venetian society. Since Venice is a city built on a countless number of small islands, travel and commerce must take place on the network of canals that interlace the city. We got a big kick out of seeing the DHL and Fed Ex boats, or the boats which collected the garbage every few days or the construction boats that had small cranes on them to work on construction sites. We saw many boats making deliveries to the homes and shops in the area. It was very interesting seeing how things work in a city built on the water.

During our exploration of the area, we discovered a touristy area about ten minutes walk from our hotel. We actually found a McDonald's there and the kids were glad to have some typical American style food for a change. After dinner we settled back for a quiet evening at the hotel and enjoyed a good night sleep after a long travel day.

Summary of trip - Part 7

It is now Monday, July 7th and after a nice breakfast we decide to visit the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter's. After having a successful mission using the taxi the following day, we decide once again to take a cab up to the Vatican and then walk home from there. I went to the front desk to ask the person at reception to order a cab for us. I was told that it would be impossible today, because there was a transit strike that day. There would be no public bus, subway, streetcar, or long distance trains that day. Taxi cabs would be harder to find and none would make the trip to the hotel through the labyrinth of small alleyways. However, we were informed that we could walk several blocks out to the main thoroughfare to the local taxi stand, we could have more luck finding a cab there.

Strikes in Italy, and Rome in particular, are a normal part of life. We were later informed by a tour guide, that everyone strikes in Italy. The transit workers, taxi drivers, telecommunication workers, truck drivers, supermarket workers, hotel workers, shipyard, restaurant workers and even students all take their turns calling for a strike. I was told that strikes will usually occur once or twice every month. The strikes only last from 1/2 to a whole day. The interesting fact too is that they are not always striking for money or benefits, but often strike just to have a day away from work. It seems Monday is a popular striking day. Later that afternoon, in time for the evening rush hour, the transit workers were back on the job.


We headed out for the taxi stand, and with the exception of seeing fewer available taxis, and no public transportation, the traffic looked like its normal chaotic self. After waiting at the taxi stand for ten minutes, we managed to get a cab, and headed up to the Vatican. Traffic near the Vatican seemed heavy, and the driver explained in very broken English that it was because of the strike. The driver took a very strange route to the Vatican and often seemed to double back away from it, when it appeared close. And despite the fact that our hotel was on the same side of the Tiber as the Vatican, we still managed to cross the river, which seemed unnecessary. However, Rome is a jumble of winding, one way streets, so it is very possible that the shortest distance between two points is not necessarily a straight line.

Upon arriving in front of the giant square in front of Saint Peters, literally within seconds of exiting the cab, we were approached by someone representing an English language tour group. The price was right and they would be covering the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel and Saint Peters. The tour guide was a young guy from San Diego who studied art in Rome and had lived there for three years. He worked for this tour company three or four times a week to help pay the bills. He was very knowledgeable about the history of the Vatican and about the wonderful masterpieces we would see in the Museum and the Cathedral.

Here are just a few of the incredible works of art that we saw that day. The third picture is of particular interest because it was the Emperor Nero's bathtub. It is made with an extremely rare Egyptian purple marble, whose supply has been exhausted. The Vatican Museum contains some 90% of the world's supply of this rare stone, the price of which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.








After viewing a large number of very incredible works of art, you begin to suffer from information overload. The tour guide said that the Museum has such an enormous amount of art, that if a person were to spend just 10 seconds in front of every piece, it would take you 12 years to see everything. The collection truly rivals that of the Louvre or the Metropolitan Museum.

The next stop on our tour was the Sistine chapel. We were unable to photograph in the Sistine chapel. It was very warm, damp, and crowded. But on its ceilings and walls were an incredible collection of art, including the masterpieces by Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam and The Last Judgment. The chapel was much smaller than I would have imagined. It was good to get out of the chapel into the somewhat cooler outside air.

We then continued into the huge cathedral of Saint Peters Basilica. The present church which is reported to have been built over the site of Saint Peters tomb was completed in 1626. The cathedral in gigantic and is filled with so many wonderful works of art by many of the great artists and sculptors. Here are a few of my photos. The first is the Pietà by Michelangelo.







After exiting the cathedral we went out to the huge square in front of the Basilica. Here are a few more photos.





After feeling tired after a long day of sightseeing, we started our slow walk back to the hotel. This would be our last full day in Rome and our last evening. Once again, we went to Per Unto, our favorite little pizzeria. After having gone there for all four nights, we were recognized each night and treated very nicely. This last night, our usual waitress (who I suspect may have been the owner) wasn't there as she had been the previous four nights. But after a while, she actually came to the restaurant and had a meal with her family. She waved enthusiastically when she saw us. We were always the only Americans in this pizzeria each night, so I thought it was a good sign that the locals ate there. A very interesting thing about restaurants in Rome is that they typically do not open until 7:30 or 8 PM. A typical Roman won't go to dinner until 9PM. We usually went around 8:30 and the place was usually fairly empty. After 9PM or so, the place comes alive. See enjoyed our final meal in Rome, and had a gelato afterwards in the square. We packed for our departure to Venice in the morning and went to bed.

Summary of trip - Part 6

It's now Sunday, July 6th. We heard that it wouldn't be a good idea to visit the Vatican on a Sunday, so we decided to tour the other sites in Rome. After a lot of grumbling and arguing about tired feet, I decided to make the kids lives a little easier by taking a cab one way and then we could walk back. I asked the person in the reception to order a cab for us, and in this case the cab was able to get all the way down the small alley like street that our hotel was located.

Our hotel, as I previously mentioned is a very nice, clean, and modern hotel. Many of the guests were American or English, so most of the staff spoke English very well. However, one major problem with Rome in general, is the cleanliness of the city. I have never seen so much graffiti. It is a terrible shame, because it really takes away from an area which would otherwise be very charming and romantic. Graffiti is literally on very surface of every wall. Not drawings, like you would sometimes see in New York, but tags of names and words. We saw this graffiti throughout the whole city with the exception of the Coliseum area and Saint Peters. One of our tour guides said that Romans are notoriously lazy people, and in this instance, it is clearly true. It seems as though people have no desire to clean the walls on the front of their homes. My wife overheard one American woman who had just checked in that morning, she was saying that she wanted to check out immediately because she thought that area may be unsafe because of the narrow graffiti filled alleys. During the daytime heat when the streets are empty, the neighborhood may give that type of impression. It is unfortunate that she didn't remain to see the area come alive in the evening, when the area's restaurants and squares are filled with patrons, people watchers, music and street entertainers.




Our taxi driver was fast and efficient and brought us to our first stop on the north end of the city, the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps are named for the nearby Spanish Embassy and the area is populated with many high end shops. Since it was morning, the area was filled with tourists. Besides walking up and down on the steps and sitting there for a little while, there really wasn't much to see here, so we were a little disappointed with the Steps. I assume the Spanish Steps are one of those areas where you must see and be seen. I think it may have been better in the evening when everyone would be hanging out. So we walked on to our next stop.

The next stop was the Trevi fountain or in Italian, the Fontana di Trevi. This fountain was made famous by the film, Three Coins in the Fountain It is a beautiful Baroque style fountain completed in 1762. It was very hot when we arrived and the area in front of the fountain was packed with people. Surprisingly, there is another building maybe 100 feet in front of the fountain, so the area was very tight. Again, I believe this is another area where it would look very pretty at night, but I would doubt if it would be any less crowded. There is a tradition of throwing 3 coins into the fountain, which supposedly ensures the visitor the chance to return one day to Rome. My eldest daughter said she never wanted to come back, so she skipped this tradition. Here is a shot of me, playing my part. I read somewhere that the authorities collect about 2000 euros a day (about $3500), although I think they only received about 3 cents from me that day.






We continued our walk and headed toward the Pantheon. Along the way we passed by lots of street merchants selling their wares. A couple of things that made us laugh were, first, a calendar of young, good-looking priests. Something was very bizarre about that, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't church sanctioned.

The second was various clothing items such as t-shirts, boxer shorts, aprons, etc. that had a prominently displayed a large picture of a certain body part from Michelangelo's famous David statue that is in Florence. I will be refraining from including a photo of the certain appendage, but if you are unfamiliar with Michelangelo's work, please refer to the following Wikipedia link. We all had a chuckle from that. We also thought it would be amusing if we purchased such an item for my mother.

We then arrived at the Pantheon. The Pantheon, which means "Temple of all the gods" was originally built as a temple to all the gods of Ancient Rome, and rebuilt around 125 AD during Emperor Hadrian's reign. Since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Catholic church. The Pantheon is currently the oldest standing domed structure in Rome. The height to the oculus (Latin for big hole in the ceiling) and the diameter of the interior circle are both 142 feet. The oculus has a diameter of 29 feet and is open to the outside. So during rainy weather, water will enter the structure. Here are a few of my photos.





After our visit to the Pantheon, we walked over to the Tiber to see the Castel Sant'Angelo and the Ponte Sant'Angelo (the very beautiful Bridge of Angels). The castle was used as a fort for the early popes, but the original structure dates from the time of the Roman emperor Hadrian. This fort features prominently in Dan Brown's novel Angels and Demons. Today the castle is a museum.

The bridge has ten strikingly beautiful angel sculptures. Each angel holds a symbol of Christ's suffering and death. The great Baroque sculptor Bernini helped design the Ponte Sant'Angelo, sculpting two of the angels, while the others were made by his pupils based on his designs. Here are some photos of the castle and the bridge.






At this point we headed for a long walk back to the hotel. After resting for a few hours, we headed out for a nice meal at our usual haunt and enjoyed yet another fine warm evening in Roma.