Bolzano

 On Saturday we took the high speed train from Venice north to Bolzano. Bolzano is called the gateway to the Dolomites, the beautiful mountains in the north of Italy. It is in the Tirol region, which seems to have mainly German influence. In fact the cities here each have an Italian name and a German name. Bolzano's German name is Bozen. 

As soon as we stepped off the train, it kind of felt like we weren't in Italy any more, with the different style of buildings.

Our hotel was in the pedestrian area in the centre of Bolzano, and as we walked there we saw a huge festival going on, with bands playing on every street, and eating areas with stalls selling beer, pretzls, sausage, etc. We dropped off our bags at the hotel and went out to check it out and get something to eat. Most people were speaking German, so when I ordered food I got to use what little is left of my German from when I lived there for a couple of years in the 90's.

We heard about a cable car that is just a few minutes walk from the station. The next day we headed there, and on the way I got my first glimpse of the Dolomites.

We took the Rittner cable car up to the mountain town of Oberbozen, and then a small train to Klobenstein. Our hotel provided us each with a Bozen Card, which gave free unlimited access to all busses, cablecars, and trains in the area.

From the train that went between the mountain towns, the view  of the houses and landscape was just like something from the Alps.

From Klobenstein we did a short walk through the woods, with some views of the mountains. We then took a bus higher up to Pemmern Tre Vie, which has another cable car up the Ritterhorn mountain. The place is a ski area in winter, and the cable car goes up to 2100m altitude. At the top there are paths to viewpoints from which the views of the Dolomites are absolutely stunning.

We had a beer at the top and I did a sketch of the view.

We made our way back down to Klobenstein and the train back to Oberbozen. From the cable car back to Bolzano, there were great views of the valley with vineyards and the mountains in the background.

In the evening we found a quiet street with a nice restaurant that served local specialties. 

3rd day in Venice - Murano

Today we decided to go to Murano, an island across the lagoon from Venice that is known for its glasswork. 

We walked across the Cannaregio area to the far side of Venice, and caught a water-bus to Murano. On the way there was an interesting statue in the water, and people were kayaking in the Lagoon.

We got off at the Colonna stop on Murano, and walked along a canal with glass shops and retaurants all displaying very creative glass work.

We then visited the Glass Museum, which has displays of glass work from different times, particularly in Murano. The making of glass is over 3000 years old, but was firmly established by the Romans. Over the centuries there were innovations such as making the glass clear, and different techniques such as using filiments for texture.

After the museum we found a glass factory that offered glass-making demonstrations.

Next we had lunch, and took the water-bus back to Venice.

While walking along the main strip, we found a grocery store that was a converted old theatre!

We had dinner at a restaurant along one of main canals near the station, for our last night in Venice.

 

2nd day in Venice

 We woke up fairly early, and there's a little square with a cafe right beside the hotel, so we had a leisurely coffee before heading out. We walked toward the Rialto bridge, once again enthralled by the details and the views of Venice.

The other side of the Rialto bridge is the San Polo area. We wandered through a market, a large fish market, and basically got lost in the maze of narrow streets. 

Eventually we made our way to the Frari Church built by the Franciscans. 

It is famous for Titian's painting 'Assumption of the Virgin'. There's also an interesting video of the paintings restoration.

Afterward we had lunch in the square beside the church. I even had a Venetian beer.

We went back to the hotel for a rest. Then, in the canal beside the hotel there is a stop for getting a gondola ride. Well, no trip to Venice is complete without a ride in a gondola, so we jumped in. The gondalier was a character, a true Venetian born and raised. 

It was a lot of fun. And, I got the idea that given how important the water is to the people who live here, I felt that seeing Venice from the water was kind of like a more native way to experience the city.

Next we walked over to the Cannaregio area, which has a long strip of restaurants and wine bars along a canal, and really comes alive at night. A very cool place, and we had dinner there.

Italy trip - first day in Venice

This was a travel day from Rome to Venice via the high speed train. 

To get to the train station we took the local city bus to the train station. The bus ride turned out to be one of those embarrassing tourist moments. We had bought bus tickets, and we got on at the front of the bus. It was rush hour and the bus was packed  and we had our luggage. However the little yellow machine for validating the ticket was at the very back of the bus! As we were trying to figure out where to stamp the tickets, a very bad tempered ticket controller got on. Luckily she didn't give us a hard time, maybe because we were nice about it,  and she took our tickets to the back to validate for us. There were other tourists on board who were not so nice, and started arguing with the ticket controller. It got ugly with lots of heated shouting. 

We finally got to the station, found the platform, and boarded the train with no problem. The ride itself went quickly, just 4 hours to Venice. It was cool to see Venice approaching as the train crossed the water.

Once in Venice it was just a 15 minute walk to the hotel. 

The hotel is in what was once a grand old house, right on a small canal, and the inside looked palacial.

We spent the rest of the day walking around. As soon as we stepped out the door of our hotel, a gondola passed underneath. It was was tempting to go photo-crazy in the unique environment of Venice: "Oh look, there's a canal, oh there's another on, wow that one looks so cool,  ....".

We first stopped for dinner and then made our way to the Rialto bridge, with great views of the Grand Canal. 

A fun story unfolded there. Suddenly everyone one the bridge started cheering and there was a young couple on a gondola below, kissing. Apparently he had just got down on one knee and proposed. He raised his arm in the air and shouted "She said yes!"

Afterward we continued on to San Marco square, with St. Mark's basilica, before heading back to the hotel.

2nd day in Rome - Vatican museum

 This was the day that I had booked for the tour of the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel. Nowadays, these things need to be booked weeks or months in advance.

We had our QR code tickets which got us through the gate and to the group tour desk, where we got a receipt and meeting point for the guide. About 25,000 people pass through the Vatican Museum every day, and the organization to handle this is very impressive. Our group was about 20 people and we were given earpieces to hear the guide.

Going through the halls of the museum felt like getting caught in a current of people. The guide was very good at keeping us together.

We went through the various wings of the museum, including the original courtyard with the statue of Laocoon

the Egyptian room

a room full of ancient statues

the tapestry room

the room of maps

and the Raphael rooms

The tour ended with a visit to the Sistine Chapel, although no pictures were allowed.

It as so cool that, between the churches in Rome and the Vatican museum, I saw all these famous works of art that I'd only seen pictures of in books.

After the tour we had a coffee in the cafeteria  and hung out in the Vatican gardens for a bit. We then left and walked around the streets just outside the Vatican walls. There were streets  filled with different shops that specialized in items for priests  - gowns, crosses, beads etc.  

We had lunch nearby and went back to the hotel to relax. In the evening we walked along the river in the direction away from the center. On a pedestrian bridge there was a jazz trio playing, with St. Peters dome in the background.

We had dinner in the funky Trastevere neighbourhood and then walked back to the hotel.

Italy trip - first day in Rome

This year Celene and I are off to Italy for four weeks.  I have been there before, a long time ago, but Celene has never been and so she's been very excited about it.

We left Vancouver on Saturday evening, and flew to Rome via a layover in Munich. The flight was long but I did manage to sleep a bit. We arrived in Rome on Sunday evening, and we had arranged for a car to pick us up and take us to the hotel. The hotel had the smallest elevator I've ever seen. 

After checking in, we went to a restaurant around the corner for our first pasta and wine meal in Rome. 

Monday was the first full day in Rome, which  we spent exploring the central part of the city on foot. The hotel was close to the Vatican, and we started walking along the river Tevere, past the Castel San Angelo. There a cool little cafe right by the river called Biblio Bar which was like a patio with a library, where you could have an espresso surrounded by books with a view of the river and the San Angelo bridge. 

We crossed the bridge and headed into Piazza Navona, which is a nice, long open space with fountains at either end and a large statue and fountain in the center. Apparently in ancient Roman times it was a stadium. 

We then turned toward the Pantheon, the ancient domed structure with powerful columns in front. 

The line-up to go inside the Pantheon was too long so we didn't bother. We continued to the Trevi Fountain but the area was so packed with people you could 't even move let alone get close, so we decide to try again later. These were the first signs we had of the huge numbers of tourists this year. 

We kept walking and reached the Spanish Steps, taking in the views of the city, and going down the steps. We took a break in the church at the top. 

I wanted to go to the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, but it was closed midday so we went to the huge park  Villa Borghese to wait and rest a bit. We rented this two-person bicycle to ride around the park. 

Back at the church I was able to see the amazing statue 'Ecstacy of Saint Teresa' by Bernini. 

I learned about the importance of Bernini, and his role in designing much of what you see in Central Rome in the Baroque style in the 1600's. This is in contrast to the ruins of ancient Rome, which is what I used to mainly associate with the city. 

From the church we walked back to the Trevi Fountain, which was less crowded by this time, and we could get right up to it. 

We started back in the direction of the hotel, following beautiful little alleyways. We had a pizza dinner. 

We passed the church San Luigi dei Francesi, in which there are famous paintings by Carvaggio. 

We crossed the river, heading back toward the hotel, stopping at St. Peter's Square on the way. 

After a stop at wine bar we made it back to the hotel. A very full first day in Rome.

Morocco - delay in Toronto

 I knew the flight back from Morocco would be difficult, with a planned 26 hour travel time with layovers in Paris and Toronto. I had heard about the storm in Vancouver, and at first I hoped there would be a window in which our flight from Toronto to Vancouver could go. However, after several delays, the flight was cancelled - not because of weather, but because of lack of crew. Apparently nobody at Westjet had the foresight to get crew out of Vancouver before the first storm. By this time we had already been up for over 24 hours, and we had to stand in a long line to find out what to do and get a hotel voucher for the night.

They told us to wait for an email with a re-booking, and we had to come back to the airport every day to get another hotel voucher. We showed up the next day, and there was one 3 to 4 hour line, for everybody - whether they were checking in normally, trying to get a re-booking, or getting another hotel voucher. Just one long, long, line. Every day.

Fortunately, people in the line talk to each other, and we got some reliable information from them. The Westjet staff were incredibly nice and patient. But they were just telling us what they were told to, and a lot of that information was not correct.

According to other people, the email never comes. They advised us to insist on a booking when we got to the counter, and we did, for 6 days later. We got one more hotel voucher and decided to pay for the rest of the hotel nights ourselves. We were told we'd be reimbursed but I don't really trust it.

Main take-away:  the air travel infrastructure in Canada - airports and airlines - is a complete mess. From now on when I travel internationally, it will be with a non-Canadian airline, and I will make sure there are no layovers in Canada.

So, we had an unplanned week in Toronto. On the bright side, Celene has family in Toronto so we spent Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day at her cousins or her uncles place. She got to see some relatives she hadn't seen in a long time. Also visited with some friends there.

The hotel was downtown, so there was the chance to walk around and explore downtown Toronto. We went to the Winter Village in the Distillery District.

Finally, after a nail-biting wait at the airport with more delays, our flight finally to Vancouver finally took off.

Got to Vancouver to find 2 of the 3 bags of checked luggage were lost.