The experiences
So when you're rushing to get a train that will take 13 hours to reach its destination, and the workers hand you a flyer explaining they are on strike...you know things aren't going well for you. The flyer explained perfectly what we saw on board, old trains, subpar safety and since they'd started striking the night before, very little had been cleaned. We were fending for ourselves...on a pretty outdated train. I ventured to the bar car where we saw that they didn't know how to turn on the air, they had to mentally or sometimes write out the tabs because they didn't know how to work a register, and I waited in line for nearly an hour to get a beer to relax it all away. Honestly this train was no different from one in India, less organized for sure and significantly less staff, but overall not too terrible a journey. Mom and I watched Finding Nemo on my tablet and crashed.
Arriving in Venice I heard a kid (before I got off the train) say, "if it's like this at 9am what do you think it's going to be like in the afternoon?" Then the solid wall of humidity and heat hit me, I get it. This is just like south Florida in July. I remember walking off the plane at 2am on my first work trip down there and looking at my coworkers saying, "you've got to be kidding me." Immediately sweat was pouring off of us. We had to alter the plan, which had us going all over the island and traveling to Florence in the evening. We stored our luggage, got a map, and said we'd just explore the St. Mark's square area. Usually I'm hopeful when getting on the water since that pretty much guarantees a breeze, but there were so many people on the waterbus that the natural ventilation I expected was nowhere to be found.
Hopping off I realized I had nothing to cover myself to enter St. Mark's Bascillica. I had stored everything in my backpack since I clearly didn't need a cardigan or scarf in this weather. Luckily I saw a very pretty scarf in the window of a small alley that I seriously would have bought otherwise. We rounded back to pick it up before we waited to get in the church and then waited for the church to reopen after services.
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| St. Mark's Square |
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| Florian is the oldest cafe, if I thought we'd get up again, we would have sat for a while here. |
I can't even say if the small towel I keep with me was helping mop up the sweat anymore since it was pretty soaked and couldn't get dry. In the delirium and heat I misplaced the towel and we were left for the rest of the time in Italy without one. We looked in every city but no one had anything like it. Italy doesn't seem to be big on travel gear. I did later find a bandanna which worked well (and made me smile thinking of Ashton who wore them to work all the time), but then I misplaced that shortly after buying it.
We made it back to the station and boarded a train at 2:30 instead of 7:30. Thank goodness for Florence...a few degrees cooler. After we collapsed on the hotel bed for a bit and showered we ventured out for some dinner. After we'd finished eating and the father/daughter pair next to us did as well, we started talking. You don't often find two American parent child pairs out to dinner in a small restaurant in Italy. They were from Maryland and the daughter was gearing up to go to school in New York and thinking about studying abroad in Paris. The father grew up in Delhi but has lived in the states for some time. We exchanged stories about Holi, India, France, Italy, etc, etc, and wished each other well. I'm glad they were next to us so my mom could see how I meet all the random people whom I mention to her or on the blog.
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| Pasta and Gnocci night |
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| Fruit and Tirimisu for dessert |
The next day I took mom on a whirlwind morning tour of Florence. I say whirlwind because we just walked from one end of town to the other and did a lap around the central market. She got a taste for the art and food of this fine city (the closest thing we could do to Tuscany in our short time together). Then we boarded a train for Rome. Rome's another city I had not been to (it was my first time in Venice too) and I was afraid I wouldn't like it based on what everyone said. It's a big city, there are a lot of scammers, it was HOT. All that aside, it's a pretty great place. We had one absolutely horrendous meal (risotto should not be crunchy) on arrival so we were more cautious than usual when choosing where to eat. I might have expected this in Rome, but we weren't in a tourist area--everyone was a local and there was no cause for that terrible food.
We started our first full day with a Vatican tour. The city bus didn't come on time so we were a bit later than our assigned time and luckily we caught the next time slot. Unfortunately I wasn't super impressed by the Vatican. It just felt like another display of wealth that the church should be putting into helping others, we are however solid fans of this Pope's work and can appreciate pretty things as much as the next person.
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| St. Peter's dome |
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| Ceiling painting...looks 3D but it just paint |
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| More great ceiling in the map room |
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| Italy in the map room |
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| St. Peter's, I think |
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| Too big even for a panorama to do it justice. |
Mom and I got in a bit of a tiff when we couldn't figure out where to eat lunch, a byproduct of our first terrible meal in Rome. After some pasta and a nap, I discovered I was getting sick (yes, cold #2 in a month). I chalk it up to the stress of everything leading to my mom's visit. It's a lot more work to plan for two than it is for one. Then you have to account for the other person's feelings as you're traveling. All in all it's ideal if you can travel together but with individual plans. I've met a few groups doing this and they just picked a some meeting points and each go their own way. This is in no way a statement that I didn't LOVE having my mom with me, I totally did, wouldn't trade it for anything but it is another travel observation...learning experience for the future.
Anyway, I was sick. We went out for pizza by the Colosseum and made a run to the supermarket the next day but otherwise didn't leave the room for a solid day and a half. At which point I did what I've done all trip and pushed myself to go see the two things on the list...Colosseum/Roman Forum and a Heart of Rome walk. A few times I think we were both ready to pass out but we made it and got to see and experience the delights of Rome. I know mom didn't really want to see the Colosseum but it was one of those things you just
have to do--a violation of my rule that you don't
have to do anything. The Colosseum is big...that's about it. The Roman Forum is where you see so much more of daily roman life and its far less crowded. We walked the city into the night, ending on an upbeat note.
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| Mom is fascinated eggs do not need refrigeration in other countries |
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| Frozen vegetables? |
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| Or Fish? |
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| The Colosseum is missing its floor so you can see the holding areas underneath |
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| Caesar's tomb |
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| La Dolce Vita fans rejoice...I tried to climb in the Triton fountain. |
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| While the Trevi fountain is a bit of a mess...still. |
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| The Spanish Steps were crowded...surprise.... |
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| Piazza Navona was fabulous at night |
What's terrible? The full day we were doing nothing but sitting in our air conditioned room was mom's birthday. While I know she was glad to have a break too, it still stank. Luckily she had a great idea to stop at the pastry shop across the street on our way back from the supermarket. She picked out an amazingly delicious seven veils torte which neither looked like pictures from the internet nor had seven layers (we counted nine). We clearly had no idea what we were eating as the shop owner didn't speak English so we tried to google our way into understanding this amazing, creamy pistacio and chocolate concoction.
The next morning I stored my bag at the train station and got mom to the airport. When I returned to the train station I had a few hours to explore before my train left. I ventured out to see the Pantheon and St. Maria Sopra Minerva.
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| The Pantheon dome that inspired so many structures |
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| Subtle drains for the water from the dome |
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| Two kings are buried here, along with a queen who is famous for giving us a delicious pizza, Margherita |
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| Many many many amazing works of art at the St. Maria Sopra Minerva church around the corner |
I planned to stay on Lake Como and then Milan as means of relaxing the cold away. I think it worked pretty well. I did nothing in Menaggio (the city on Lake Como I stayed in) except update photos and this blog, sleep and eat and enjoy the cooler climate. I will go there anytime for relaxation. It is perfect. Photographic evidence:
The lessons
- Watch the signs of your body/brain. I should have known I was getting sick when I left all cover up items in the suitcase--it's not like me to forget those things. Then there was the incident in Florence where I didn't check our train tickets and misquoted our departure time by 30 minutes. Thanks to the timing of mom trying to decipher train tickets and discovering this. We made it.
- We did go looking for a Starbucks so that we could get the typical tourist mug that says Rome on it however through extensive internet searches we found that there are no Starbucks in Italy. Everyone seems happy with that and I can't say I missed it. Once you spend time in places like Italy and Vienna, you taste just how terrible Starbucks' coffee is. I'll probably still drink it, but it's like pizza in the US--I know there's better out there.
- Do not forget to do nothing.
- When mom and I were on our way to the market in Florence I had to give her the scoop: you don't touch the food at the market. The only people that touch it are the growers. The person selling it to you will pick the ones you point to with a gloved hand and then after you buy it you can enjoy. This preserves the quality and connection to the source. Respect your food.
Interesting
- Though we didn't stay long or enjoy the time much due to the heat, Venice is a marvel simply as a city IN the water. You can stare at all the tourist attractions you want but if you focus on the foundations of the buildings, it's just mind boggling and cool.
- Seven Veils Torte...just yum.
- Europeans but Italians in particular love children. Anywhere you go with a little bambino expect lots of attention. They are always welcome at a restaurant and cherished. My favorite memory of Italy will be the times during evening walks (5-7pm usually) where grandparents were all out in force walking with their grandkids (reminds me of walking with Grandma Pearl and it's great to see a culture continue to embrace this kind of family life).
- Italians are voracious readers, or so it seams by the number and size of their book stores. E-readers are not part of the scene at all from what I can tell.
- I may have mentioned this about Naples but Rome is also in the process of building another subway line (they have A and B now but are hoping to finish C). This process is very difficult in such old cities because they quite quickly run into historical artifacts as they dig. This slows the process to a halt and this process repeats frequently as they dig deeper. So the best way to get around Rome? Bus.
- Our waiter for our last dinner in Rome asked me if I was coming back later for the disco. I said no, he continued to ask, I said I will be sleeping. He asked if I was a lawyer. Mother loved this.
