Venice: A Second Chance...

Despite the issue with the train station we were able to salvage the day and have a fantastic experience exploring this labrynth of a city. A twist here, a turn there and you've discovered yourself the best trattoria that you've ever experienced and will never be able to find again! Enormous calzones for 4 euros and sweet shops that would awaken even Willy Wonka's sweet tooth. Of course you must earn this fabulous cuisine, which we did by navigating the lagoon and the city's many nameless streets. But the true splendor of this city is not found at San Marco or even in a gondola-the charm of Venice is found when accidentally stumbling upon a stone piazza where Italian children play soccer and mothers congregate to catch up on the daily happenings of this floating community.



Venice is 90% tourists and 10% locals-the economy is driven by the many cruise ships that pass through it and the tons of Murano glass that's sold each year. However, city planners dwell on what's to happen to Venetian society since it's projected that more than 1,000 residents will leave this year alone. While tourists seek glass and beaded treasures the business owners invest well in dollys and carts that make accessing the canal bridges more manageable. We watched in amazement as one guy hauled 3 flat screen t.v.s and a DVD player up and over a bridge while tourists and locals passed by without a second glance!



Since the crowds of San Marco were overwhelming the first time we visited we decided to give it a second try on our last day in Venice. What we naively forgot to factor into our plan was what would happen to a square set in a lagoon after a night of heavy rainfall. Why, yes! The whole square DOES flood! And the elevated planks sure do get packed with tourists fast! Since getting to the end of the row of planks was adventure enough for us we decided to head back to higher ground.



We said a final farewell to our beautiful hotel overlooking the grand canal and prepared for our overnight train to Paris...but not without first stopping for a final taste of amaretto and chocolate gelato.

Venice....

Venice, in a word, has been disappointing. We've been able to enjoy ourselves today only because it's a "found" day. We had originally planned to go to Florence today, but the lady at the train station screwed up and gave us tickets for tomorrow. Which we didn't notice until we were walking up to board the train. And apparently, in Europe when a mistake that an employee makes that escapes your notice, you have to pay 20% of the total to get your money back...

Yay Venice.

Oh and cruise ships docked here these last few days spilling a ton of people into Saint Mark's square. There is barely room to breathe down there.

Ok enough complaining, I'm going to read my book.

Overdue: Colossium and the Roman Forum

On Monday Steph and I went down into the center of ancient Rome. This is the area that contains the Forum, the Colosseum and Palatine hill. I learned more history just by walking around that small 2 square mile patch than I ever did in high school. We started our day, as all good vacations should, by getting up eating breakfast and then lying down again! Steph took a “power nap” and I browsed the internet.

After we got our act together we packed the backpack and headed down into ancient Rome. We decided against metroing down as our brief walk to dinner the night before had emboldend us to try it again. Rome on foot really does get you to appreciate the city. Granted the walk from our hotel to the Colosseum wasn’t more complicated than my drive to work, we still got to walk through the “trendy” district of Rome. Steph wanted to go to H&M – thankfully, for my wallet, she didn’t.

We when arrived down at the Colosseum we were besieged by tour guides offering tours of the place for thirteen euro. Luckily, our good buddy Rick Steves told us about these boorish con-artists. Boring to the point of sleep inducing, we smartly said no thank you (to five different guides) and went in ourselves. While Steph napped I had downloaded a podcast from Mr. Steves which served as our tour guide. I would detail the awe inspiring structure that the Colosseum is, but I’ll just let some of Steph’s best photographs do that for me.

After the Colosseum we took a lunch break at a pizza cart. Italians eat pizza like we eat hot dogs: they buy it from street carts or little hole-in-the-wall shops. The food we’ve had at these little holes in the wall, have been soooo much better than anything we could have had at the nicer restaurants that charge twice as much. We literally ate in the shadow of the Arch of Titus (hey, it was hot)

From there, we rubbed our feet, strapped on packs and “Soldiered on” into the Forum (oh yes, pun intended). Again we had an audio guide from Ricky, and again I won’t bore you with a history lesson, but I will show you some awesome pictures.

The forum was more spectacular than expected with the highlight being our tour of the sight at which Cesaer was burned and memorialized. Yet even amongst all that history we still managed to get our chuckle of the day from the crazy Italian woman who went from tour group to tour group announcing how “wrong and stupid” the tour guide was. Even in Italy Steph can’t escape the crazies!

At this point it was 6pm and we were just done. We didn’t even have the strength to walk the mile back to our hotel. Luckily we packed a change of clothes for dinner and we stumbled over to The Hotel Forum where Steph had made roof top reservations for my 30th birthday. A beatuiful meal with a fantastic view restored a little bit of our strength and we headed home in time to go to bed and at least get a little bit of sleep for the next day’s early morning Vatican tour.

Breaking News: American tourists conquer Rome!

So it is now 11:30pm here in the Eternal City and all we have to say is...hey, we got this.

We began the day in a bit of a hurry as we had booked a tour of the Vatican city and the Sistine Chapel. Just like home, 6:00am does not cone easily. Our guide Guido (a.k.a. 'John Smith' of Italy) did a fantastic job of herding us past the line that was wrapped around the Vatican wall at 8am to the entrance. After fixing a minor issue of us leaving our camera memory card in the hotel room (imagine us holding back many curse words as we entered the Vatican halls) we indulged in the many wonders of the Tapestry Gallery, the fresco statues and the Sistine Chapel. Although we weren't able to take pictures in the Sistine chapel (the stink eye from the Swiss Guard is the worst of its kind) we marveled in Michelangelo's masterpiece that took him 5 years to create. We wandered past the various tombs of Vatican popes (no pictures there either) and headed towards the Basilica.

Pictures cannot describe the breath you are forced to inhale upon entering the chapel. Between admiring Michelangelo's Pieta (his most famous work out of marble at age 24) and appreciating the complexity of the bronzed altar that only the pope himself may speak from, we couldn't help but be humbled by the sights before us. We wandered out to St. Peter's Square to find the Vatican staff setting up for tomorrow's Papal audience. Here we found many a nun who had come for worship.

After the Vatican we attempted to make the trip into Castel Sant' Angelo...but we were too tired! We made it to the grounds, realized how many stairs we'd have to climb after having just walked for 5 hours, and decided that we'd get the souvenir hat and call it an afternoon. We spent the next hour wandering the streets of Piazza Navona while enjoying a little gelatto as we walked in the direction of the hotel.

We ventured out in the evening after enjoying our own siesta to the neighborhood of Campo di' Fiori. There we took in the splendor of the courtyard that included a view of the statue of Bruno (the intellectual heretic who was burned alive) and a faraway glance of the makeshift Senate building where Julius Cesar was stabbed to death. All warm and fuzzy reminders of Rome's vast history. We continued to follow our friend Rick (That's Rick Steves to be exact) on his night walk through Rome. We ventured through Campo di' Fiori back to Piazza Navona to find a restaurant for dinner. Finding the restaurant did not go as planned and after a minor meltdown from Steph (okay, more of a major meltdown-just don't make me walk any further when I'm hungry!!) we wandered into a small pizzaria which turned out to be some of the best pizza we'd had during our time in Rome. In fact, our best meals thus far have come from places we'd simply wandered into off the street that made up for the lack of ambiance in their simply marvelous food.

Rick took us past the Pantheon through the narrow alleyways leading to the Trevi Fountain, where we followed with the tradition of throwing a coin in the fountain to ensure our return to Rome. We then made our way to the top of the Spanish Steps and down towards the overlook of the Piazza de Popolo. After a day that consisted of nearly 10 hours of walking this magnificent city we've come to realize that Rome is best seen on foot to ensure that the essence of the city has fully set in. Upon our walk back to the hotel our confidence in our ability to not only navigate this city but to experience all it has to offer was strengthened. Despite our backpacks and white sneakers we came away with a wealth of knowledge and a true understanding of the menagerie that is Rome.

-- Steph

Twelve hours on foot really knocks you out

We visited the Colosseo and the Roman Forum today. Between walking down there, walkign to dinner and walking back, we're wiped out. And we have a 6am local wake up call for our Vatican tour tomorrow. Fun! I'll write a narrative for today and the Vatican tomorrow when we get back to the hotel for the siesta.