I've gotten quite a few responses to my last post, hoping that my trip was at least fun in between the messes. This is so typical of me! On our last night there, Eric asked me if I had had fun. I have since apologized to him at least a half-dozen times, because of course I had a wonderful time! I just focus on the negative way too much.
What I was going to do was write a blog about the trip after blogging reviews for the bead shops and hotels, but first I just had to write down that stupid story about the airport. The bead shop reviews can be found at my jewelry business blog: Miao Miao by Mysie. I have yet to get around to reviewing the hotels. So here is a mini recap of our trip.
San Francisco's Chinatown was amazing, with plenty of great photo opportunities. Ate some amazing dumplings. Quested for a cartoon cow display sign for the Year of the Ox (I am an Ox/Rat "cusp"). The BART was so easy to use, but frighteningly loud - I think nobody reacted to the noise because they have all gone deaf.
Monterey was beautiful and fun. We had giant burgers for lunch, leaving no room for dinner. We poked into shops, took pictures, snacked, and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I took hundreds of photos that day!
The drive to San Simeon via Highway 1 is something I shouldn't mention because I will get too negative. I'll just say that I hate mountain roads that are high up, with cliffs and sheer drops, blind curves and snaking routes. Now imagine me driving 60+ miles of that, half of it in the dark. It's hard to remember, but yes, the views were spectacular when I had the chance to actually look at them.
Hearst Castle was gorgeous, but despite the length of the tour, we didn't seem to see all that much. Moonstone Beach in Cambria provided the opportunity for lots of beachcombing!
The ride to Solvang was kind of boring, having given up on hugging the coast for my sanity and the sake of time. Solvang was a bit boring itself. I went to an antique shop very much unlike the kind I'm used to that buy up anything and everything from estate sales. The cheapest thing there was a $250 vase marked down to $75, and it was hideous.
The next day we stopped in Santa Barbara, which was a trip. A million trendy boutiques, and all of it in identical architecture. In fact, almost every store, business, apartment building, and home looked charming but identical.
All we saw of Anaheim was I-5, Del Taco, our hotel, the bus stop outside our hotel, and Disneyland. It was very hot, and the sun in California is somehow brighter than up here, so I was very uncomfortable that day. We did see lots of fun stuff and rode a bunch of rides and bought too many souvenirs. Oddly, the rides that Eric didn't think I would like were the best: Indiana Jones' Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the Materhorn. I'm not a huge fan of roller coasters, but these were all great!
The next day we spent either at the airport or trying to get there. Stepping out of SeaTac airport and into naturally cool air was the perfect homecoming!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
How to Tour an Extraneous Airport on Your Vacation!
"How to Tour an Extraneous Airport on Your Vacation!"
...or...
"How one foolish decision can mess up your vacation in so many ways"
I can't decide if I over-thought things, or didn't spend enough time with my vacation decisions. I spent weeks mapping out different strategies for our week-long tour of California, having to start over from scratch every few days as Eric's schedule fluctuated or availabilities became issues, etc. So I think when it finally came down to actually booking the whole thing, I had looked at so many hotels that I got confused about which ones I really wanted when I was booking.
Our first hotel in Millbrae, CA (outside of San Francisco) had me very confused, until I realized it wasn't the hotel I thought I had booked! I had read descriptions of so many breakfast options that included make-your-own waffles, that I was baffled we didn't stay at a single one with this feature! But in the end, the plans for the end of our trip in Anaheim caused the most problems.
We had an 11am check-out in Solvang, with a 4pm deadline to return the rental car to John Wayne Airport in LA, just South of Anaheim. No big deal, right? We spent a little time in Solvang, and then we were on the road at around noon. I wanted to spend some time in Santa Barbara to check out two bead shops that Google Maps showed were very close together. We got distracted by the sights and the shops, I wore the wrong shoes for walking, both our backs were bothering us, and we both got overheated. The places we had picked to have lunch both closed within moments of us approaching their door. We were so exhausted by the time we got to the car, we just got on the highway and drove. We had lunch at a Carl's Jr. in Carpinteria just before 2pm. We had 2 hours to return the car, and Eric's google phone was estimating almost exactly that for how long it would take to get there. We called the company to find out about extensions. We had an extra 59 minute grace period, at one hour we would be charged $10, at two hours late it would be $20, and after that we would be charged an extra day. I tried to get them to move the deadline - to have such a hard and fast time seemed silly, because we had picked up the car at 11am and I had randomly picked 4pm to return it. So I was already 5 hours into an extra day, right? They didn't see it like that.
So we hopped on I-5 to race to the airport. HA! I-5 in Seattle is bad, but this was colossally bad! Friday afternoon rush-hour LA traffic killed what little energy we had left. At 5pm we decided to switch tactics and get to the hotel - we could unload our stuff, clean out the car, skip some of the traffic, have a snack, and then return the car by closing at 11pm. No big deal, right?
We popped off the highway for a half hour to get a snack and stretch our legs, then looked for a better way to get to Anaheim. Somehow, we managed to get to the hotel somewhere after 7pm. Traffic wasn't all the much better, but we only had about 15 miles to go. We got to the airport and couldn't find the sign for our rental company. I started to feel sick to my stomach.
I had picked John Wayne Airport to return the car because (A) it was closer to our hotel than LAX, (B) it was a cheaper multi-city return fee than LAX would have been, (C) smaller airport = less traffic, and (D) the hotel shuttle from the airport would be quicker.
In the end LAX would have been cheaper because we could have definitely made it there between 5-6pm to at least skip another full-day charge (nope, they wouldn't let us change the drop-off to LAX), as well as easier and faster because it was less distance than our starting point. And also the drop-off at LAX is actually at LAX, whereas the drop off for JW Airport was in some industrial suburb we had no directions for that was so NOT part of the airport.
So of course we got lost looking for this place. Using Eric's google phone, we discovered that we make a better team when I'm driving and he's navigating. We found the place in a dark corner of an industrial area near some creepy looking biker bar, with NO signage other than a van with the company logo parked in front. We cleaned out the car, pocketed the few items we hadn't taken into the hotel, and walked into the desk to drop off the keys at about... 10:30pm. Drop off was very easy, and we got a ride to the airport (but not to our hotel), where we got on a $10 per person shuttle to the hotel.
But the Brilliant Anaheim Decisions (BAD for short) didn't stop there. The hotel was great, but didn't have a mini-bar, room-service, or restaurant so we walked to Del Taco around midnight for dinner. Next morning we discovered the continental breakfast available was the worst on the trip, and there were definitely no waffles. We had only that one day to do Disneyland, but I was so exhausted that I went back to the hotel for a nap. Which helped, but ruined our plan to go to California Adventure because they closed hours before Disneyland did - $20 bucks extra per ticket, down the drain. After returning to the hotel on the LAST available shuttle for the night, I went to talk to the front desk about getting to the airport the next day.
Good news: they would hold our bags after checkout so we could visit Downtown Disney for some shopping - our flight wasn't until 4:10pm, so SCORE! However, there was no airport shuttle. None. Zip. Zero. Huh? How did I miss that when I was booking?!?! So we hopped on the shuttle to Downtown Disney and ended up spending exactly 20 minutes there before rushing back because the airport shuttle companies wanted to pick us up before 1pm in order to get us to the airport on-time. So all of that "free time" we thought we had was gobbled up calling shuttled to beg for a space, the shuttle being late, getting transferred to another shuttle a few blocks away because we were last minute, and getting glared at by the people who could have been on the road already if they hadn't been waiting for us to get there and board!
So lessons learned: better research, longer stay, and a breakfast BUFFET will be required for our next trip. And I never want to see John Wayne Airport again in my entire life.
...or...
"How one foolish decision can mess up your vacation in so many ways"
I can't decide if I over-thought things, or didn't spend enough time with my vacation decisions. I spent weeks mapping out different strategies for our week-long tour of California, having to start over from scratch every few days as Eric's schedule fluctuated or availabilities became issues, etc. So I think when it finally came down to actually booking the whole thing, I had looked at so many hotels that I got confused about which ones I really wanted when I was booking.
Our first hotel in Millbrae, CA (outside of San Francisco) had me very confused, until I realized it wasn't the hotel I thought I had booked! I had read descriptions of so many breakfast options that included make-your-own waffles, that I was baffled we didn't stay at a single one with this feature! But in the end, the plans for the end of our trip in Anaheim caused the most problems.
We had an 11am check-out in Solvang, with a 4pm deadline to return the rental car to John Wayne Airport in LA, just South of Anaheim. No big deal, right? We spent a little time in Solvang, and then we were on the road at around noon. I wanted to spend some time in Santa Barbara to check out two bead shops that Google Maps showed were very close together. We got distracted by the sights and the shops, I wore the wrong shoes for walking, both our backs were bothering us, and we both got overheated. The places we had picked to have lunch both closed within moments of us approaching their door. We were so exhausted by the time we got to the car, we just got on the highway and drove. We had lunch at a Carl's Jr. in Carpinteria just before 2pm. We had 2 hours to return the car, and Eric's google phone was estimating almost exactly that for how long it would take to get there. We called the company to find out about extensions. We had an extra 59 minute grace period, at one hour we would be charged $10, at two hours late it would be $20, and after that we would be charged an extra day. I tried to get them to move the deadline - to have such a hard and fast time seemed silly, because we had picked up the car at 11am and I had randomly picked 4pm to return it. So I was already 5 hours into an extra day, right? They didn't see it like that.
So we hopped on I-5 to race to the airport. HA! I-5 in Seattle is bad, but this was colossally bad! Friday afternoon rush-hour LA traffic killed what little energy we had left. At 5pm we decided to switch tactics and get to the hotel - we could unload our stuff, clean out the car, skip some of the traffic, have a snack, and then return the car by closing at 11pm. No big deal, right?
We popped off the highway for a half hour to get a snack and stretch our legs, then looked for a better way to get to Anaheim. Somehow, we managed to get to the hotel somewhere after 7pm. Traffic wasn't all the much better, but we only had about 15 miles to go. We got to the airport and couldn't find the sign for our rental company. I started to feel sick to my stomach.
I had picked John Wayne Airport to return the car because (A) it was closer to our hotel than LAX, (B) it was a cheaper multi-city return fee than LAX would have been, (C) smaller airport = less traffic, and (D) the hotel shuttle from the airport would be quicker.
In the end LAX would have been cheaper because we could have definitely made it there between 5-6pm to at least skip another full-day charge (nope, they wouldn't let us change the drop-off to LAX), as well as easier and faster because it was less distance than our starting point. And also the drop-off at LAX is actually at LAX, whereas the drop off for JW Airport was in some industrial suburb we had no directions for that was so NOT part of the airport.
So of course we got lost looking for this place. Using Eric's google phone, we discovered that we make a better team when I'm driving and he's navigating. We found the place in a dark corner of an industrial area near some creepy looking biker bar, with NO signage other than a van with the company logo parked in front. We cleaned out the car, pocketed the few items we hadn't taken into the hotel, and walked into the desk to drop off the keys at about... 10:30pm. Drop off was very easy, and we got a ride to the airport (but not to our hotel), where we got on a $10 per person shuttle to the hotel.
But the Brilliant Anaheim Decisions (BAD for short) didn't stop there. The hotel was great, but didn't have a mini-bar, room-service, or restaurant so we walked to Del Taco around midnight for dinner. Next morning we discovered the continental breakfast available was the worst on the trip, and there were definitely no waffles. We had only that one day to do Disneyland, but I was so exhausted that I went back to the hotel for a nap. Which helped, but ruined our plan to go to California Adventure because they closed hours before Disneyland did - $20 bucks extra per ticket, down the drain. After returning to the hotel on the LAST available shuttle for the night, I went to talk to the front desk about getting to the airport the next day.
Good news: they would hold our bags after checkout so we could visit Downtown Disney for some shopping - our flight wasn't until 4:10pm, so SCORE! However, there was no airport shuttle. None. Zip. Zero. Huh? How did I miss that when I was booking?!?! So we hopped on the shuttle to Downtown Disney and ended up spending exactly 20 minutes there before rushing back because the airport shuttle companies wanted to pick us up before 1pm in order to get us to the airport on-time. So all of that "free time" we thought we had was gobbled up calling shuttled to beg for a space, the shuttle being late, getting transferred to another shuttle a few blocks away because we were last minute, and getting glared at by the people who could have been on the road already if they hadn't been waiting for us to get there and board!
So lessons learned: better research, longer stay, and a breakfast BUFFET will be required for our next trip. And I never want to see John Wayne Airport again in my entire life.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Solvang, CA
Hello from sunny California! Actually, it's after 9pm and quite dark here in Solvang. I am a bit sunburned though, proof that there was definitely sun today!
We are in the home stretch of our California road trip, our first real vacation trip since Italy last year. Wow!
We flew into San Francisco on Monday, September 14. We had a lovely evening strolling through Chinatown, poking into stores, gawking at ivory carvings, shopping for Year of the Ox chtazkas, and winding down with a nice meal at... drumroll please... Chinatown Restaurant. :) For all the touristiness of it, our meal was quite good. The best sweet & sour pork since Betty's Chinese Kitchen in Kona (I *hope* I'm remembering that right...), and the best potstickers ever! Potstickers have always come with an amazing sauce, and that's where the flavor comes from. There was no sauce, so I was confused. But then the dumplings themselves were flavorful! Who knew that was possible?!
The next day we drove to Monterey, took in downtown Cannery Row, then put off the aquarium until the next morning. It was just as awesome as I thought it was going to be! Many years ago I saw a commercial for the aquarium, and I've wanted to go ever since. The giant two-story kelp forest pool was amazing, very much like the glass dome at the Seattle Aquarium - I like to think of them as cathedrals.
That evening we drove out to San Simeon, taking Hwy 1 instead of 101. For me, this was an enormous mistake. Eric's back was acting up worse than mine, so I was driving. Most of the way is a 63 mile stretch of constantly curving road that hugs the cliffs precariously. My fear of heights makes the drive up to Mount Rainier or Whistler or Crystal Mountain terrifying for me - lots of vertigo-inducing drop offs with little or no railing and even less margin for error. 63 miles of it with endless curves and hairpin turns that had me nauseated and dizzy and exhausted by the time we reached our destination - nearly an hour after sunset!
This morning we woke in San Simeon and I was much recovered. I went out to the beach for some alone time because Eric's back was even worse. Our plan to go to Hearst Castle was in jeopardy, and check-out time was looming. We drove out to Cambria for some beachcombing at Moonstone Beach, with Eric alternately sitting in the car and then walking the beach to loosen up. By the time we left I had a tiny stash of possible agates with a few possible moonstones (most were roughly the size of cooked risotto, so not really valuable), and Eric felt up to conquering (storming?) the castle.
It was just as amazing as we knew it would be, but hot and exhausting for two people with bad backs. It wasn't the walking or even the parts in the sun that did us in, it was all the standing around. I'm not sure I even heard a 10th of what the tour guide said - I was almost never allowed near enough to hear her very well, and spent most of my time concentrating on taking pictures and trying to fight the urge to sit down on the floor. But definitely no regrets - the place is truly miraculous. We fell in love with the place when we saw a documentary about 10 years ago, and ever since we have been threatening to invade California and take the Castle for ourselves. The state of California is safe tonight, but only time will tell how long that Castle stays in their possession! As we left the Neptune Pool, I was seriously weighing the consequences of jumping into the pool. What would be the consequences? Getting kicked out? Sooooo hard to put down the idea once it popped into my head, but alas, I am still welcome in the State of California. Dammit.
So now we are in Solvang, by way of Morro Bay. The most disappointing thing about San Simeon was that after 63 miles of Highway from Hell, to arrive in a town solely to cater to tourists by lodging and feeding them, we discover there is NO fast food in town. No drive-throughs. Not in the next town of Cambria either. So the most notable thing about Morro Bay was that it had a McDonald's!!! Forget the cute shops I wish I could have explored, even the bead stores. There was a freaking McDonald's! With a drive-through! Air conditioned lobby! Reese's Peanut Butter Cup McFlurries! I can't remember the last time I enjoyed McDonald's quite so much.
After that, we just made a straight shot here. I had some bead stores marked to explore in San Luis Obispo, but we were so exhausted and in pain that it seemed best to just get to our destination and rest. As it was, we got here just after 8pm. Good thing we didn't make any more stops!
The most frustrating thing about this trip, even in the planning stages, has been the wish for more time. Time to further explore each destination. Time to add other destinations. I was seriously leaning towards going to the Santa Monica Pier first thing tomorrow, before we had to return our rental car at Anaheim. Now that I'm here, I think I'd rather spend tomorrow leisurely explorings Danish bakeries, Spanish Missions, and antique stores. As long as I don't dally too long in the antique shops, I think Eric may agree with me.
Which means tomorrow night we arrive in Anaheim. Saturday we do Disneyland. And Sunday we're on a plane back home. Where did all the time go?!
We are in the home stretch of our California road trip, our first real vacation trip since Italy last year. Wow!
We flew into San Francisco on Monday, September 14. We had a lovely evening strolling through Chinatown, poking into stores, gawking at ivory carvings, shopping for Year of the Ox chtazkas, and winding down with a nice meal at... drumroll please... Chinatown Restaurant. :) For all the touristiness of it, our meal was quite good. The best sweet & sour pork since Betty's Chinese Kitchen in Kona (I *hope* I'm remembering that right...), and the best potstickers ever! Potstickers have always come with an amazing sauce, and that's where the flavor comes from. There was no sauce, so I was confused. But then the dumplings themselves were flavorful! Who knew that was possible?!
The next day we drove to Monterey, took in downtown Cannery Row, then put off the aquarium until the next morning. It was just as awesome as I thought it was going to be! Many years ago I saw a commercial for the aquarium, and I've wanted to go ever since. The giant two-story kelp forest pool was amazing, very much like the glass dome at the Seattle Aquarium - I like to think of them as cathedrals.
That evening we drove out to San Simeon, taking Hwy 1 instead of 101. For me, this was an enormous mistake. Eric's back was acting up worse than mine, so I was driving. Most of the way is a 63 mile stretch of constantly curving road that hugs the cliffs precariously. My fear of heights makes the drive up to Mount Rainier or Whistler or Crystal Mountain terrifying for me - lots of vertigo-inducing drop offs with little or no railing and even less margin for error. 63 miles of it with endless curves and hairpin turns that had me nauseated and dizzy and exhausted by the time we reached our destination - nearly an hour after sunset!
This morning we woke in San Simeon and I was much recovered. I went out to the beach for some alone time because Eric's back was even worse. Our plan to go to Hearst Castle was in jeopardy, and check-out time was looming. We drove out to Cambria for some beachcombing at Moonstone Beach, with Eric alternately sitting in the car and then walking the beach to loosen up. By the time we left I had a tiny stash of possible agates with a few possible moonstones (most were roughly the size of cooked risotto, so not really valuable), and Eric felt up to conquering (storming?) the castle.
It was just as amazing as we knew it would be, but hot and exhausting for two people with bad backs. It wasn't the walking or even the parts in the sun that did us in, it was all the standing around. I'm not sure I even heard a 10th of what the tour guide said - I was almost never allowed near enough to hear her very well, and spent most of my time concentrating on taking pictures and trying to fight the urge to sit down on the floor. But definitely no regrets - the place is truly miraculous. We fell in love with the place when we saw a documentary about 10 years ago, and ever since we have been threatening to invade California and take the Castle for ourselves. The state of California is safe tonight, but only time will tell how long that Castle stays in their possession! As we left the Neptune Pool, I was seriously weighing the consequences of jumping into the pool. What would be the consequences? Getting kicked out? Sooooo hard to put down the idea once it popped into my head, but alas, I am still welcome in the State of California. Dammit.
So now we are in Solvang, by way of Morro Bay. The most disappointing thing about San Simeon was that after 63 miles of Highway from Hell, to arrive in a town solely to cater to tourists by lodging and feeding them, we discover there is NO fast food in town. No drive-throughs. Not in the next town of Cambria either. So the most notable thing about Morro Bay was that it had a McDonald's!!! Forget the cute shops I wish I could have explored, even the bead stores. There was a freaking McDonald's! With a drive-through! Air conditioned lobby! Reese's Peanut Butter Cup McFlurries! I can't remember the last time I enjoyed McDonald's quite so much.
After that, we just made a straight shot here. I had some bead stores marked to explore in San Luis Obispo, but we were so exhausted and in pain that it seemed best to just get to our destination and rest. As it was, we got here just after 8pm. Good thing we didn't make any more stops!
The most frustrating thing about this trip, even in the planning stages, has been the wish for more time. Time to further explore each destination. Time to add other destinations. I was seriously leaning towards going to the Santa Monica Pier first thing tomorrow, before we had to return our rental car at Anaheim. Now that I'm here, I think I'd rather spend tomorrow leisurely explorings Danish bakeries, Spanish Missions, and antique stores. As long as I don't dally too long in the antique shops, I think Eric may agree with me.
Which means tomorrow night we arrive in Anaheim. Saturday we do Disneyland. And Sunday we're on a plane back home. Where did all the time go?!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Secrets of Italy Travel Tip #1
Italian bathrooms generally suck - or at least their toilets do. When you see your first Italian hotel toilet, it looks slightly odd in shape - a very rectangular oval, but no big deal. The water level is low, probably for water conservation, so ok. Flushing is always via a push-button either on the top of the toilet or on the wall - and sometimes it takes a few tries to work. No, all of that is quite acceptable when you realize there is no liftable toilet seat. Yes folks, you have to sit on the bowl!
Now have fun taking a shower. Two hotels have had baths with a very low-placed detachable showerhead to shower, but no curtain to contain the water splashing. One bath had a little half-glass partition, but that didn't help much. Another bath had a shower curtain, as well as a detachable head that was carefully placed so I that could just barely raise it on the wall high enough to stand under it and wash my hair two-handed. Our current hotel has a shower stall, no tub, which is about two feet square. The shower head is tall enough for either of us to stand under (good thing Eric is 5'11" instead of 6'), but the water pressure (or lack thereof) doubles the time it takes to wash my hair.
Then of course there is the ubiquitous bidet. The thought of touching the working parts to operate it leaves me nauseous, so I just leave it alone.
Oh, but you're not planning on staying 24/7 in your hotel, are you? You want to explore Italy? Well, good luck with non-hotel toilets! Good luck finding a stall that locks, a toilet with a toilet seat, a toilet paper dispenser that doesn't rip off one square at a time, and/or an automatic flusher that doesn't keep flushing while you're still sitting on the pot. Every city so far has had public WC stations (Water Closet) where you pay 0.6 to 1.0 Euros for cleanliness and a good stock of TP, but every other annoyance is still a possibility. Restaurant toilets are just as bad, including those at the highway reststop restaurants. Autogrill & My Chef are life savers - but beware their bathrooms!!
Bright spot: two churches have had toilet stalls with spray sanitizer and universal symbols explaining how to rip off some TP, spray it with sanitizer, and wipe the toilet seat (yay toilet seat!) before you sit down. Hooray!!!
Now have fun taking a shower. Two hotels have had baths with a very low-placed detachable showerhead to shower, but no curtain to contain the water splashing. One bath had a little half-glass partition, but that didn't help much. Another bath had a shower curtain, as well as a detachable head that was carefully placed so I that could just barely raise it on the wall high enough to stand under it and wash my hair two-handed. Our current hotel has a shower stall, no tub, which is about two feet square. The shower head is tall enough for either of us to stand under (good thing Eric is 5'11" instead of 6'), but the water pressure (or lack thereof) doubles the time it takes to wash my hair.
Then of course there is the ubiquitous bidet. The thought of touching the working parts to operate it leaves me nauseous, so I just leave it alone.
Oh, but you're not planning on staying 24/7 in your hotel, are you? You want to explore Italy? Well, good luck with non-hotel toilets! Good luck finding a stall that locks, a toilet with a toilet seat, a toilet paper dispenser that doesn't rip off one square at a time, and/or an automatic flusher that doesn't keep flushing while you're still sitting on the pot. Every city so far has had public WC stations (Water Closet) where you pay 0.6 to 1.0 Euros for cleanliness and a good stock of TP, but every other annoyance is still a possibility. Restaurant toilets are just as bad, including those at the highway reststop restaurants. Autogrill & My Chef are life savers - but beware their bathrooms!!
Bright spot: two churches have had toilet stalls with spray sanitizer and universal symbols explaining how to rip off some TP, spray it with sanitizer, and wipe the toilet seat (yay toilet seat!) before you sit down. Hooray!!!
No Swiss Prison, just Ravenna
It's a little hard to read, but hanging from the Palazzo Vecchio (near a copy of the David) someones hung a red sign saying "human rights in tibet". The building is official City of Florence property and the sign stayed up for the last two days we were in town, so we're pretty sure it was approved by the city.
And then below is us having dinner on our last night in Florence.
Lake Como was a bit of a bust - it took longer to get there than we had imagined, but we still took the time to rush out on a boat to see Bellagio. Still, we had a great view of the Alps!
So why was Como a bust? Because despite being a bigger city than we thought, there didn't seem anything to do but ferry out to take pictures of other towns! So instead we packed up first thing the next morning, drove over to Switzerland (10 minutes away) where stayed long enough to buy a postcard, then drove back into Italy and took the scenic route over to Ravenna.
Ravenna is a blessing. Up until now, Italians have been all about rush-rush-rush. They pay you no mind unless they are looking at you with disdain or curiosity. In Ravenna there are fewer tourists, and yet we are treated nicer. Things are a bit slower paced. It feels like it's some community in the far-reaches of Seattle - a small modern town surrounding a smaller center of ancient buildings. Yes, people are still curious and/or disdainful. But they have also been interested, friendly, helpful, and flirty.
But in the end, Ravenna comes down to her mosaics. They are phenomenal. Each time we walk into a sacred place and see these mosaics, I am left breathless and astounded at the amount of time, labor, will, and devotion required to complete them. San Vitale especially lived up to all my expectations and then some - they were piping in a very quiet recording of a woman singing hymns, something no other place we've visited before or since has done. I stared and stared at the Empress Theodora, hearing that music, and I wept.
I only wish I had been able to capture a better picture.
Tomorrow we head over to Siena for one night, and then it's Rome for four nights (I think - maybe five?). Wish us luck on the Chianti Road! Eventually, I'm hoping to list all sorts of tips for travelling in Italy that they never tell you in the travel books - like how to put a Fiat Punto into reverse!!!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Ciao Florence, Buongiorno Lake Como!
This is our last morning in Florence. :( I have to admit that seven nights here was just about the perfect amount of days, but I'm still sad to go. We finally saw the (original) David on Thursday, as well as the wonderful crypts at the Medici Chapel. Still, I have to count our visit to Santa Croce as my favorite stop so far. A close second was our trip to San Miniato and Michelangelo Piazza on a hilltop with a glorious view of most of Florence. We caught some of the Vespers being performed by the monks, which was just sublime.
But it's time to move on to Lake Como. Probably the most beautiful lake in the world, if all the pictures I've seen mean anything. Then another important highlight of that leg of the trip: San Vitale at Ravenna. I can't wait!
Oh, now would probably be a good time to mention that we will probably try to pop into Switzerland for an hour or so this afternoon. The map shows the border is just a short drive from Como, so why not? But still - if you haven't heard from us in a few days, check the news to make sure Switzerland hasn't given up their neutrality and decided to burn Americans at the stake or anything...
Finally, there are a million pictures I could display here, but someone has cast doubt on our actual presence in Italy. So to prove them wrong, here are boring old pictures of us.
But it's time to move on to Lake Como. Probably the most beautiful lake in the world, if all the pictures I've seen mean anything. Then another important highlight of that leg of the trip: San Vitale at Ravenna. I can't wait!
Oh, now would probably be a good time to mention that we will probably try to pop into Switzerland for an hour or so this afternoon. The map shows the border is just a short drive from Como, so why not? But still - if you haven't heard from us in a few days, check the news to make sure Switzerland hasn't given up their neutrality and decided to burn Americans at the stake or anything...
Finally, there are a million pictures I could display here, but someone has cast doubt on our actual presence in Italy. So to prove them wrong, here are boring old pictures of us.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Firenze, Day 4
We arrived in Florence (Firenze) late Saturday afternoon, which was a bit of a nightmare. "The Big Book" we've been carrying around from Frommers told us that our hotel is in the "Medieval" city center where most cars are restricted, unless you have permission or a hotel confirmation. Having the latter, we drove around looking for our hotel. HUGE MISTAKE. Our hotel is on the Via Calzailione, a major shopping road - a cobblestone road chock-full of pedestrians. If we had arrived a few hours earlier or later, it wouldn't have been so bad. But 5 pm is the high point of afternoon strolling here, and driving through these pedestrians was quite the ordeal.
Our hotel is quite nice though, we've been doing fine with feeding ourselves, and the city is just... it pretty much leaves you speechless every time you turn a corner. Our first day here, I had to question how on earth anyone ever manages to get to work - they should be dumbstruck in the streets just like us!
Yesterday we visited... the Basilica of Santa Croce I believe it's called. It was a Franciscan church, so much of the artwork was about St. Frances. There were Byzantine altars galore, the best picture of which is below. The most important of Florence's (dead!) citizens are buried here, so we saw the decorated tombs of Michelangelo, Donatello, Galileo, Machiavelli, Dante (empty, because he was exiled from Florence and thus buried elsewhere), and many more. Yet after all of that, it was the courtyard that I found the most stunning - for its serenity.
Today we spent over four hours at the Ufizzi, communing with Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Parmigiano, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, and Rembrandt (his room was closed, but we were able to have a peak in at this self-portrait). The main Rubens collection was closed as well. :(
Now we are a bit tired and waiting for the restaurants to reopen for dinner at 7 pm. We understand restaurants closing between lunch and dinner hours, but ALL of them remaining cosed until exactly 7 pm? So strange.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the day of our pre-paid excursion to Assisi, which was cancelled due to lack of interest from anyone other than us. :( We think we will instead spend it in a leisurely exploration of the Oltrano, the other side of the Arno River, which is a bit more residential, but with the gorgeous Boboli gardens.
Thursday is the Accademia gallery, Friday the Duomo and Medici Chapels, Saturday we drive to Lake Como. If Lake Como wasn't so freaking beautiful, it would be so tempting to just stay here in Florence for another day!
Our hotel is quite nice though, we've been doing fine with feeding ourselves, and the city is just... it pretty much leaves you speechless every time you turn a corner. Our first day here, I had to question how on earth anyone ever manages to get to work - they should be dumbstruck in the streets just like us!
Yesterday we visited... the Basilica of Santa Croce I believe it's called. It was a Franciscan church, so much of the artwork was about St. Frances. There were Byzantine altars galore, the best picture of which is below. The most important of Florence's (dead!) citizens are buried here, so we saw the decorated tombs of Michelangelo, Donatello, Galileo, Machiavelli, Dante (empty, because he was exiled from Florence and thus buried elsewhere), and many more. Yet after all of that, it was the courtyard that I found the most stunning - for its serenity.
Today we spent over four hours at the Ufizzi, communing with Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, Parmigiano, Raphael, Titian, Rubens, and Rembrandt (his room was closed, but we were able to have a peak in at this self-portrait). The main Rubens collection was closed as well. :(
Now we are a bit tired and waiting for the restaurants to reopen for dinner at 7 pm. We understand restaurants closing between lunch and dinner hours, but ALL of them remaining cosed until exactly 7 pm? So strange.
Tomorrow was supposed to be the day of our pre-paid excursion to Assisi, which was cancelled due to lack of interest from anyone other than us. :( We think we will instead spend it in a leisurely exploration of the Oltrano, the other side of the Arno River, which is a bit more residential, but with the gorgeous Boboli gardens.
Thursday is the Accademia gallery, Friday the Duomo and Medici Chapels, Saturday we drive to Lake Como. If Lake Como wasn't so freaking beautiful, it would be so tempting to just stay here in Florence for another day!
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