Settling In

Our last meal in Italy was in the restaurant at our B&B. Earlier in the day we had chatted with the pasta maker, who told us she was making gnocchi that day. So of course we had to try it. It was mixed with fresh tomato sauce and cheese and was delicious. The next morning we rose early to go to the airport and I saw the sunrise out our window. What a lovely way to end our stay!

Gnocchi

Sunrise at Agrisesto

View toward the airport

All our travels went well — transfer in Zurich, watching movies on the plane, arrival just after midnight, getting to the hotel just after 2:00 AM, early morning train on Friday. (Thursday was mainly spent in the hotel, as it was over 100°.) We were met at the Dehra Dun railway station by one of Kulwant’s taxi drivers, as arranged by phone. Once we got to the school, we got the keys to our room and Dan hauled the luggage up two flights of stairs. We were very pleased to see our Woodstock trunks already in the room. One of the men from the technology department came by to get our computer devices on the network. Every time we come they have made changes that require new settings, but they are always very helpful. About 5:30 there was a knock on the door, and our dhobi, Om Prakash was there. He had heard along the road that we were back! So we have already sent out our first set of laundry. Fortunately, the monsoon seems to have ended; there hasn't been rain here for 5-6 days. There is still some cloud mist, but it is mostly sunny and pleasant.

We had a flurry of unpacking and then had supper in the school dining room with Darab and Naz. Nice to see Darab again after his stay with us ended less than a year ago. After supper, Dan went down to check that the motor scooter still works, and went up to Prakash’s to get a few supplies. I was very happy to wake up to Indian tea already made! I’ve missed that on our travels.

Saturday morning there was a lot of commotion in the Quad as the seventh graders prepared for hiking. They were divided into small groups and chaperones took them away. 

Leaving Italy

Monday morning dawned clear and cool, a good day for traveling. We had our usual breakfast at the corner cafe (cornetto and tea/coffee). The cafe is run by east Asians (I’m not sure which country) and they are very friendly. They also have good gelato. We turned in our room key and headed for the train station, about a 10-minute walk. Dan had scouted it out and found a side entrance with a ramp so he didn’t have to carry our large bag up the steps. Of course we were a bit early, as usual, but soon our platform was listed on the display and we were able to get on the train. It was a longer journey than before — Venice is north of Florence, which is north of Rome. We pulled into Rome about 1:30. Dan left me with the luggage and headed over to the luggage storage place where we had left our second large bag. We were happy that we weren’t hauling it around everywhere. We got tickets for the Leonardo Express train to the airport, and it was ready to board in just a few minutes (it runs about every half hour). There is a lot of room for luggage storage on the train, which makes sense. It is only about a half hour to the airport terminal. We got a quick sandwich and drink for lunch and called our B&B. After some discussion, we figured out where to meet the driver they were sending for us and we eventually met up and had a ride to the B&B. It is called Agrisesto and is in the countryside just 15 minutes from the airport (in fact, we can see the planes landing and taking off from our window). They have a popular restaurant that has very good food. It is nice to be in the quiet country and away from the big cities with masses of tourists. I’m glad we had decided to stay here two nights before our flight, giving us a day to just relax and repack. (A nice thing about retirement — time is not a problem.)

Our room is in the attic and is very spacious. We even have a couch to sit on, a step up from reading on the bed. The ceilings are slanted, though, so we must be careful not to walk into them. The people are lovely and friendly. The receptionist when we arrived was extremely helpful and pleasant. The one today doesn’t know as much English. The breakfast was nice. After seeing so many fruit tarts set out for breakfast in our different hotels, I finally had some. Corn flakes, yogurt, and fresh fruit were also available. Later in the morning we walked down the road to a neighborhood bar. We saw that they sell sandwiches and various drinks, so we decided to return there for a small lunch, which we did. Dinner last night in the Agrisesto restaurant was fine — we shared a pasta and a mixed grill (chicken, sausage, beef, and “sheep on a skewer”). We ordered a side of potatoes with cheese and pepper, expecting roasted potatoes. Instead, they were fried thin chips (or crisps), sprinkled with the cheese and pepper. Very tasty! 

We have really enjoyed our two weeks in Italy since our kids left (although it would have been fantastic if they could have stayed on with us…). Our hotels all worked out well and had comfortable beds. We saw lots of fantastic Renaissance art and old buildings. We got to know Venice a bit by walking around, not always in the touristy areas. We’ve had lots of delicious food everywhere. Dan has had local wines and I drank a lot of acqua frizzante (sparkling water). We didn’t buy souvenirs; we have more than enough stuff. Train travel was very easy and [mostly] enjoyable. We took two tours out of the cities we stayed in and enjoyed them both, one by bus and one by boat. 

Wednesday morning we will leave early for the airport and our flight to New Delhi. We’ll be there one day and then take the early train to Dehra Dun on Friday and go on to Mussoorie by taxi.

Thank you for following along with our travel adventures. Next up: life back in Mussoorie.

More on Venice

Two posts today, so you may want to read the previous one first. Again, I am taking advantage of the wifi in our dinner restaurant.

On Friday we began to use our 24-hour vaporetto pass. We took the No. 1, a slow boat that stops at every stop. We had both downloaded Rick Steve’s audio guide and listened as we went. It was good to hear more about what we were seeing. So many old buildings — palazzos, business buildings, homes, many now art galleries. The population here is dropping and the sea is rising. 

We got off at St. Mark’s Square and walked around. The audio tour continued here and was helpful. There are many wonderful churches and art museums in Venice, but we decided to give them a pass and just enjoy the city. After taking time to look around well, we went back and got on a vaporetto back to our hotel area.

In the afternoon we had signed up for a tour to the islands of Murano and Burano, north of Venice in the large lagoon. We took the vaporetto the long way around, going south of the city instead of through the Grand Canal. We passed under the bridge that brings vehicles onto the island, although they do not leave the large loading and parking area. There are no vehicles in Venice, not even bicycles. The crowds and the narrow streets make it impossible. It makes walking around much more pleasant, too. We passed the cruise port, where there were four or five large ships docked. From here, most cruises go into the eastern Mediterranean, where we were, and can include Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Murano is the island that is famous for glassmaking. There are dozens of factories, but only four that are state-approved. We visited one of those and had a demonstration of both blown glass and formed glass. Then we went into the very large showroom — about a dozen rooms or more on two floors. There were no prices listed — you had to ask. But most were in the many thousands of euros. The least (note: edited from earlier post -- least not most most!!) expensive was €600. There were small items in the shop, beads for €10 and up. We enjoyed looking, but had no interest in buying. I had a nice chat from a woman from Hawaii who got a cut-glass crystal chandelier. Anything over €600 is packed and shipped home for free. No pictures were allowed inside, so all I have is one of the chandelier that was in the covered waiting area outside. Much of what we saw was not particularly to our taste, but amazing and often beautiful.

Burano is a much smaller island and is traditionally the home of handmade lace. That art will be ending soon, as the youngest woman making it is about 60-ish. The young women don’t want to do such tiny, painstaking work. We saw a demonstration and admired all the beautiful things in the shop. We also picked up a packet of a special cookie (biscuit) made there, S-shaped and lemon-flavored. A distinguishing characteristic of this island is the houses painted different colors. We were told that originally it was so the fishermen could find their way home at night. It was nice to wait for the boat in a park with trees — I find I am missing the green here in Venice, where it is very scarce.

The boat ride was about a half hour, and we passed quite a few other islands. One very large one is where many of the vegetables and fruits are raised that are sold in Venice. It is especially famous for artichokes, and there is an annual festival.

On the way back, we walked into San Marco Square again, this time to see the orchestras that play for the drinkers and diners at the cafes. There were three of them, and two were already playing. After catching a slow boat back, we had dinner just down the street. It finally rained (after threatening all day), but it was very light and we didn’t get wet walking back.

Just a few words about Saturday. In the morning we took a walk through our area of the city — Canareggio. We headed north, crossed a lot of small canals, and got to the north side of the island; from there we could see over to the airport on the mainland as well as the smaller island that blocks Murano from view. It was so nice to walk without the crowds in the main parts of town. In fact, we saw very few people. It was obviously a residential area. We walked through a lovely small park — I find I really miss having greenery along the streets. There was a small rain shower.

We went out about 5:00 to have a snack before dinner, as we’d had an early brunch. To our surprise, it was raining again (we *could* have looked out our windows…). We dodged the drops and went back to the Brek Cafeteria, where they have a drinks special with a small buffet of snacks. By the time we had finished, it was raining harder, so we hightailed it back to our hotel. Dinner later at a nearby restaurant.

Gondola on Grand Canal

Rialto Bridge

Stands for some event on the canal?

Palace with mosaics; they used to all be colorful

Peggy Guggenheim home, now museum

Bridge of Sighs; Doge's Palace to the prison

St. Mark's Cathedral, highly decorated

Clock tower with digital clock, not sure if you can see the detail

Murano chandelier

Leaning bell tower on Burano

Colorful Burano homes

San Marco orchestra

Time in Venice

Venice is an interesting city. You probably know it is built on an island, or rather, a group of islands. It is criss-crossed by many, many canals, with the Grand Canal being the centerpiece. Walking around the city we go through wide piazzas and through narrow alleyways (some less than 6 feet wide), and frequently over bridges. There are street names, but they are almost useless, as they change frequently and nothing is straight for very long. There are fairly regular signs saying “Per San Marco” or “Per Ferrovia” that assure us we are heading in the right direction. But of course there are quite a few twists and turns that aren’t necessarily marked. 

Thursday morning we left soon after breakfast to visit the Rialto Bridge, a major landmark on the S curve of the Grand Canal. It is about 3/4 of the distance to San Marco. We walked on the north side of the canal, much of which was the same street we followed on our first day. We did eventually get there. We enjoyed strolling through the vegetable and fish markets. We came back on the south side of the canal. As we neared the station area, there were more and more people walking in the opposite direction from us. Evidently there are quite a lot of day-trippers and cruise tours who come into the city from 10 to 5 or so. We know the trains carry a lot of people here and they come frequently. It was a very pleasant walk, mostly shady and cool with some breeze. We are glad that the weather has changed from being in the 90s while we were in Florence to the 80s here. And maybe even the high 70s before we leave.

There are advertisements for concerts featuring Vivaldi’s “Four Season” everywhere. We looked at the brochure, but tickets were quite a bit more than we wanted to pay. We are happy just to walk around and look at things. The buildings are all built directly next to each other and jumbled all over. There are a few straight lines, but only a few! It is a trick to find a location on the map, even a good one.

Please excuse the haphazard photos, as I am trying to get everything uploaded during dinner!

Tre Archi bridge

Looking toward the mainland

First Day in Venice

We checked out of our hotel in Florence and headed for the train station about 10:45. Of course we were too early, as usual. We stood and waited for nearly half an hour until the platform for our 11:30 train came up on the board. This time we had no seat partners; we had two seats facing each other next to a window and empty ones beside us. Very nice! There were a lot of tunnels and then lovely scenery along the way. Interestingly, we saw a fair number of soy bean and corn fields, which is our usual scenery in Indiana. But lots of vineyards and picturesque farmhouses with their characteristic red tile roofs.

We knew our hotel was close to the station and we set off walking. Fortunately, it wasn’t more than 5 minutes away. I could see that there was a stairway going up into the hotel, so Dan stayed with the luggage and I went up. It was three flights up, and one was about double the usual height. There was the reception desk and the woman greeted me nicely. She told me our room was just outside and gave me two keys, one for the outer door and one for our room. Luckily, it was only one flight up. There are four rooms on this floor. Ours isn’t very big, but the A/C works, a good thing! It was hot again today. We have more cupboard space than in Florence, but no mini-fridge. 

Outer doorway to our hotel room

Little park below our room, beside our outer doorway

By the time we were settled it was well past two o’clock and we were ready for some lunch. There is a restaurant attached to this building, but we decided to walk down the canal a little further to see what the options were. We found a place that appealed to us and we went in. We had two of the special dishes of the day, cod with tomatoes and olives and a small salad, and penne pasta with pesto and tomatoes. We shared them and both were especially delicious. I suspect we will go back at some point. 

Pasta pesto

Fish and salad

After lunch we walked along the main drag that parallels the Grand Canal, crossing over many small side canals. We didn’t get quite to the Rialto Bridge, but we were both tired and hot, so we came back to the hotel and showered. We had such a late and large lunch that we just had a snack for supper — slushy coffee (for Dan) and chocolate (for me).

Gondolas on side canal

Pepperoncini at fruit vendor

Piazza near train station

The internet in our hotel is slow, in fact nearly nonexistent. So I am going to post less often for the next few days.

Wednesday morning we went to the small cafe on the corner for breakfast. We had a small coupon from our hotel. We could have our choice of drinks (coffees, tea) and a cornetto (croissant). I had one filled with peach, which was delicious. Not quite the buffet we have been having! 

After breakfast we headed back in the direction of the station to find a post office. [We had to mail keys back to the Florence hotel.] They didn’t have mailing materials, so we crossed the canal and walked a bit further to the main post office. It took a while, but eventually Dan came out, successfully completing his mission. From there, we began walking toward St. Mark’s Square, checking our map and following the posted arrows for San Marco. There are only a few bridges across the Grand Canal, so we headed for the Accademia one — Rialto was a lot out of our way. Eventually we did make it to the square. We looked around a bit and headed past it to the vaporetto (water bus) stop. We deliberately took the slow boat that stopped at every possible location on the Grand Canal. There is another one that stops only at the major places. We got off one stop before the train station and came back the same way we had walked the previous evening. 

There are so many wonderful buildings along the canal that it is impossible to photograph them all, but I took lots anyway. We got back to the hotel about noon, tired and ready for a rest before lunch.

San Marco Square

PS -- I posted this at the restaurant where we had lunch, as they have good and fast wifi. 

Monday, Our Last Day in Florence

Monday morning we visited the Duomo, the cathedral which sits at the center of Florence. The museums are all closed on Monday, so we decided to save it for our last day. Saturday Dan bought the tickets for the Duomo and its associated things (Baptistry, Giotto Tower). 

We found conflicting times of opening, 8:30 or 10:00. So we went at 8:30 and went to the reserved door. There was only one couple ahead of us. When we got in through the turnstile, we realized this was the entrance to the stairs to the top of the dome and there was no way to go into the cathedral at all. I hesitated, then said what the heck and started up. It was a long way — 436 steps. The first part was squared around a circle, so pretty easy. Then it turned into a circular one, which was much harder for me. I finally got to the balustrade around the bottom of the dome but didn’t realize that the climb went on to the very top at the cupola. At one point we came to an exit and I almost left — the woman there told me there were 180 more steps. I caught my breath (not easy!) and decided I’d try it. The staircase got narrower but there were railings now. One wall was curved inward, as we were nearing the top of the dome. Dan carried my sticks so I could use both hands on the railings. The last bit was almost a ladder. But the views were incredible. It was such an amazing sensation to be up there. I couldn’t believe I made it (Dan didn’t either!). Coming down was a little hairy/scary. I did the first part backward because the steps were so steep, but the rest went pretty well. On the circular part I could touch both the wall and the center pillar to keep my balance. I’m so glad I did it! 

Looking up inside the dome

Down into the cathedral from the balustrade

Giotto tower from cupola

Proof that we did it!

San Lorenzo church, train station on the left, our hotel between them

One view of the stairs

Once we were down, we went into the Baptistery, which is under reconstruction. The museum is closed for renovation, so we didn’t get to see the Ghiberti doors. I had no interest in the cathedral by that point (and it wasn’t open yet—that’s what was happening at 10:00), just wanted to get back to the room and lie down for a while. And Dan wasn’t too interested in climbing Giotto’s Tower, which we had already seen from above. After a shower and a bit of a rest, we headed out a couple of blocks to a laundromat so we can travel to Venice with clean clothes. We take the train at 11:30 on Tuesday. 

Stained glass window from the church on display in the Baptistry. It's been completely taken apart and restored bit by bit.

Ceiling in the Baptistry

An example of how restoration work is done -- make a covering that mimics the actual building.

For our last dinner in Florence, we went a bit further from the hotel and found a good place.

Vegetarian spaghetti carbonara with zucchini

Cannelloni stuffed with ricotta (what I call manicotti)

Salad