a better me

florence day 1:

We arrived at S.M. Novella train station in Florence early afternoon on October 2 and made our way by foot to our second airbnb apartment of the trip (“la Gompa”).  It was about a 5-10 minute walk made a little more difficult by our luggage and the very narrow streets and sidewalks (many of which cars were partially pulled up onto to make room for street parking).  Our host, Silvia, met us at the front door and took us up to the apartment (another 4 flights of stairs, as it happened).  The apartment was essentially a large room with a lofted bedroom that looked down over the kitchen and living room area.  From the bedroom, there was a ladder to a roof-top terrace with the most amazing views of Florence (including the Duomo).

After we settled into our new digs, we hit the streets of Florence to get acclimated to the area.  The apartment itself wasn’t in the prettiest section of town, but it was an easy 5 minute walk to Piazza del Duomo (location of Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) and there were grocery stores and restaurants around every corner.  We checked out Piazza del Duomo, a few other piazzas, florence’s leather markets, the Palazzo Vecchio clock tower and then headed to check out the lines for the Gallerie degli Uffizi, which are infamously long.  The line was an approximate two-hour wait, which isn’t bad for the museum, but more time than we wanted to spend in line (then, or ever, really).  We decided to keep walking and deal with the Uffizi later.

We continued our walk all the way to the Ponte Vecchio (“old bridge”) and window shopped at some of the jewelry stores lining the bridge.

Not long after crossing the Ponte Vecchio we reached Palazzo Pitti — a huge palace, some of which dates back to the 1400’s.  By that time, we had walked quite a distance and our feet were not especially pleased.  We turned around and started heading back toward our apartment.  On our way back, we decided to stop by the Uffizi once again just to survey the lines.  Because it was about 5:30 or 6:00 and the gallery was closing in about an hour, there was NO line.  With some cajoling, I was able to convince Rob to pop in with me to see if we could buy tickets for the following day.  Although we could not buy tickets for the following day there, they were able to point us to another desk where we could (#3 if you look at the diagram of the U-shaped Uffizi located outside of the museum).  We walked right in, purchased our tickets, and headed on our merry way.  SO much better than the horrible ticket-purchasing stories I read online!  On that note, we checked out the piazza by the Uffizi (Piazza della Signoria, including a replica of the David statue and the Fountain of Neptune) and headed back to the apartment to figure out dinner.

Fountain of Neptune:

After so much walking and quite a bit of traveling for one day, we decided to take it easy for the evening.  We picked up some “take-away” pizza and drinks to enjoy at our favorite place in Florence thus far — our roof-top terrace!

       

       

florence day 2:

Rejuvenated from a nice, long sleep, we headed back out to the streets of Florence.  This time, with more of a plan.  First, we headed to Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo).  There was only a very short line to get in and explore the church.

Although it was easy, and free, to get into the church, there was a separate line and a fee to climb the 414 steps to the top of the Duomo.  Fortunately, we were there early enough that even after exploring the church, there were only a handful of people waiting in line in front of us.  We were climbing stairs (lots of stairs) before we knew it.  The views from the top of the Duomo, however, were worth every one of the 414 steps (and more)!

After pouring over the gorgeous views from the top of the Duomo, we headed over to the Uffizi just in time for our 12:15 reservations.  We probably waited in line a total of 20 minutes to get into the museum and through security–which is nothing!  Unfortunately, I couldn’t take pictures inside the museum, so I don’t have much to show for it.  Neither Rob nor I are very into art museums, so we did our best to take our time and soak in all of the famous works, but we were in and out of the Uffizi rather quickly (partially due to the fact that we had bypassed lunch to make it to the Uffizi on time–not that they even checked the time of our reservation when we entered!).  As soon as we were finished at the Uffizi, we headed straight to a late lunch to make up for lost time.  We had some delicious drinks, spinach and cheese ravioli and bruschetta . . . and some very lousy pizza.  Who knew Italy was capable of bad pizza?!  It tasted almost identical to Ellio’s pizza, only worse, if that’s possible.  When we got up to leave, the people at the table next to us joked that they were going to eat the rest of our pizza when we left (we ate less than half).  We gave it to them with our blessing.  Little did they know, the joke would be on them.

To make up for the lousy pizza, we settled for an extra large helping of gelato.  Never a disappointment!  After a bit more traversing the streets of Florence, we headed back to the apartment to lounge on the terrace and enjoy the last hour or so of the warm, sunny afternoon.  We headed back out around 7:30 and explored all the way to the Arno river, which runs through Florence (the river the Ponte Vecchio spans).  We stopped for an appetizer and some delish drinks (I had some kind of grapefruit cocktail) at a fancy restaurant, Caffe Giacosa, and sat outside people watching for a bit.

After whetting our appetite at Caffe Giacosa, we headed off to dinner (probably more pizza, pasta and drinks) and then back to our temporary Florence home.

florence day 3:

First things first, we enjoyed a leisurely and delicious breakfast on the terrace:

We wanted to enjoy our last full day in Florence without trying to squeeze in too much, so we chose one main sight for the day — Palazzo Pitti (and the Boboli Gardens).  The gardens were so vast and amazing!  There were beautiful fountains, intricate statues around every corner, immaculate landscaping, endless paths, spectacular views of Florence, quaint rose gardens, lots of ancillary buildings the royalty used for various leisure activities… Definitely one of my favorite sights throughout our tour of Italy (although the many mosquito bites I collected throughout were not my favorite).

 

We spent hours exploring and enjoying the gardens until our stomachs (and bug bites) needed some TLC, so we dedicated the rest of the day to R&R (and eating).

florence day 4 (travel to Positano):

Unfortunately, we only had enough time our 4th morning in Florence to pack up our things and hit the road.  We headed back to the train station to catch our train south to Naples (Napoli).  The train ride wasn’t bad at all–TrenItalia is basically like Amtrak (internet, food car, electrical outlets, etc.).  The next leg of our long trip to Positano, was a second, less comfortable train from Naples to Sorrento.  The ride was about an hour long, mostly due to the many stops along the way, and, unfortunately, we got stuck with standing room only (not especially relaxing).  Although glad to get to Sorrento, our trip wasn’t over yet!  We caught a bus from Sorrento to Positano.  The big bus was whipping around sharp corners on the edge of cliffs, with only a few honks to warn any oncoming traffic.  Fortunately, our driver seemed to know what he was doing and we eventually made it to Positano.  According to our handy offmaps app, our hotel, Albergo Punta Regina was less than a mile away, so, instead of waiting for the local bus, we decided to try walking it.  Of course, Positano was significantly warmer than Florence (at least 10 degrees)… and all of the roads led steeply up or steeply down … so less than a mile or not, it was quite a trek, especially with luggage.  By the time we arrived at our splurge-of-a-hotel, we were literally dripping and more ready than ever for the luxury that awaited us!

To be continued …

 

getting to venice:

First of all, Rob and I are very fortunate to have a friend, Travis, who is brilliant at travel hacking (define: researches the ins-and-outs of travel to find the best ways to do it on the cheap and get more for less).  We ended up spending a total of approximately $300 for tickets to and from Italy.  Best of all, we flew FIRST CLASS all the way home!  If you’re planning a trip, international or not, definitely check out his website on travel hacking and consider consulting him personally.  We saved a ton of money, thanks to his expertise.

Our flight to Venice left out of JFK airport on September 28.  We made it to JFK early and used our passes to the admirals club, which we received as a perk when opening up American Advantage credit cards per Trav’s advice (more props to him).  We passed a few hours in style, enjoying free drinks (non-alcoholic), snacks and wi-fi, before catching our AirBerlin flight #1 to, not surprisingly, Berlin.  **Note:  If you’re planning at trip with a significant layover, let us know.  We have a few passes left and I think they are transferrable.**

The flight was surprisingly nice with a bunch of newer movies, a little bag of travel goodies and more of a meal than I’d previously had on a flight in a long time.  4 movies later, without a wink of sleep, we arrived at Tegel airport in Berlin for a several-hour-long layover.  The airport was nothing special (think cement floors and uncomfortable rows of chairs in a warehouse looking building).  We fought for a bit of sleep before catching AirBerlin flight #2 to Venice.  The flight was significantly shorter and yet, due to lack of sleep, impatience to arrive, feeling a little sick, etc… it couldn’t end soon enough!  We finally arrived at the Marco Polo airport around 12:30 pm.  Hello, ITALY!

venice day 1:

Exhausted, but exhilarated by having finally arrived, we grabbed our bags and headed out of baggage claim.  First priority, get euros.  We took a right out of baggage claim and headed to the very end of the hall, where, thanks to my prior research, we knew we would find a bancomat (ATM).  Second priority, make our way to the Venice apartment we booked through airbnb.  There is an information desk located in the same hall, almost directly outside of the baggage claim area where we purchased a one-way bus (from the airport to Piazzale Roma) and vaporetto (from Piazzale Roma to Arsenale) ticket for €12 each.

When we exited the airport directly from the information desk, our bus, bus 5, was already waiting outside, slight to the left.  Because we already had our ticket, we hopped right on, scanned our tickets and were off!  It was about a 20 minute ride to Piazzale Roma.  From Piazzale Roma, after asking a few clueless people, we headed left (facing the water) to find vaporetto line 4.1 (for San Marco, Arsenale, etc.).  While still in the states, Rob downloaded an awesome app, off maps, including an offline map for Venice so we could use his iPhone’s GPS capability to track where we were without using any data.  Anxious to get to the apartment, we accidentally got off of the vaporetto a little early (San Marco) and had to walk about 15 minutes over a number of a bridges, to get to the Arsenale stop which was only a 3 minute walk to our apartment.  Of course, the alley ways of Venice are anything but straight forward, we it took us an extra 15 minutes just to find the right address.

The apartment (“low cost romantic” per airbnb) was perfectly situated close enough to Piazza San Marco (10 minute walk) to be convenient, and yet far enough removed that there weren’t tourists milling about in the alleys and piazzas closest to apartment.  It was absolutely the perfect location (once we found it)!  Since we arrived a little earlier than expected, we gave our host, Luca, a call.  His cleaning [young] lady, Tanya, arrived within 10 minutes and guided us up the four flights of stairs to the apartment.

Our living room/dining room:

Our kitchen:

 

We were exhausted, so we pretty much headed straight to bed for a nap–as evidenced by the following picture of our bedroom (and Rob getting ready to climb into bed):

After a nice, long nap, we woke up feeling pretty rested, considering, and found a bottle of prosecco chilling (pun intended) in the fridge from our host Luca.  Cheers to being in Venezia!

Ready to taste some legit Italian cuisine (or, honestly, anything at that point because we were starving), we headed two bridges east to via Garibaldi, a street recommended by Tanya for non-touristy shopping and restaurants.  We basically sat down at the first restaurant we saw, Sottaprova, which turned out to be our favorite during our stay in Venice!  Two delicious pizzas, grilled vegetables, a bottle of wine and a white lady (Italian version of the Rubadue “lemon shark”) later, we were perfectly full, and maybe just a little buzzed, we took a nice long walk around our neighborhood and headed “home” for the night.

AC fiasco:  Although it was pretty nice outside, we love a frigid bedroom, so we turned on the bedroom AC unit at our apartment.  To this day, I still do not know exactly what we did wrong, but I woke up around 4am drenched in sweat.  Somehow, the air conditioner, which utilizes water to cool the room, turned our sealed up bedroom into a SAUNA!  The windows were dripping with condensation and the air was thick with moisture.  After turning off the so-called AC and opening the windows, the place cooled down in no time.  A totally awesome side-effect of sleeping in a sauna-like room for 5 hours was that the sore throat I got right before leaving the states magically disappeared.  Winning!

venice day 2:

Our first full day in Venice, we were ready to explore the town.  We strolled over to Piazza San Marco (location of the famous St. Mark’s Basilica, Doge Palace and St. Mark’s Campanile [or bell tower]).  After a quick look, we headed deeper into the island for some lunch.  We hadn’t really had much for breakfast except a few remaining traveling snacks, so we were quite ravenous.  We sat down outside at a restaurant somewhere not too far from Piazza San Marco and had some pizza, caprese salad and tasty beer (saint hubert blonde d’abbaye).

After lunch, we went to Museo Correr in San Marco Piazza and checked out some extravagant neoclassical living quarters and art.  Next, embracing our decision to eat gelato every day while in Italy, we headed to Gelateria “Il Pinguino” (which I believe translates to “the penguin”).  Predictably, Rob got vanilla *insert snore here* and I opted for something a little more exciting — chocolate and pistachio.

We wandered around Venice for the rest of the afternoon, oohing and aahing around at every new bridge, every line of laundry hung up to dry out of windows and every gondolier crowing to his passengers.

After a few hours of spontaneous exploring, we decided to make up for our gelato deficiency in day 1 by getting a second helping before dinner.  According to some online research, the “best” gelato in Venice was to be found at Boutique del Gelato, so we used our handy offmaps to navigate our way there (we never would have found it otherwise). Despite online reports of chronic long lines!   My blackberry and coffee flavored gelato were fantastic, as was Rob’s cherry and some sort of lighter, whipped gelato.  In retrospect, I would have to say this was probably the best gelato we had in all of Italy (which is not to be taken lightly)!

We explored some more dark alley ways before deciding to get some more substantial food.  Although delectable, gelato was not enough to fill us after a day of walking. We dined outside near the San Marco vaporetto stop on, predictably, more pizza, along with some wine and bellinis.  Fortunately, our outside seating was covered because it started pouring shortly after we sat down and did not slow until shortly before we left.

venice day 3:

On our third day in Venice, feeling fully recovered from jet-lag, I was ready for some serious sight-seeing.  We started with St. Mark’s Basilica, which was huge and intricately ornate.  It was such a contrast from our church, which meets in a vocational school and puts up curtains every week to create a room which, with some stretch of the imagination, could resemble a church sanctuary.  My favorite part of the church was the views from the top of the basilica.

 

After grabbing a quick lunch (probably more pizza, with some pasta, caprese salad and/or bruschetta on the side), in full-throttle tourist mode, we headed to Palazzo Ducale (Doge Palace).  The palace seriously humongous with marble… well, everything.  It is hard to believe anyone ever lived in such extravagance.  Regardless, it was absolutely beautiful!

After hours of walking/sight-seeing, our feet wearily carried us back to our apartment for a mid-afternoon nap, upon which Rob vigorously insisted and to which I reluctantly agreed (there is so much to see!).

After our [admittedly] needed nap, we headed to Gondole Danieli (or, as Rob decided to call it, “Danny’s Gondolas”), for the epitome of tourism in Venice — the most delightfully romantic and terribly over-priced form of travel in the city — a gondola ride!!  It was worth every euro!  Our gondolier expertly guided us through the beautiful “back streets” of Venice where motorized boats cannot fit (and gondolas barely fit!).  Down one “street,” we enjoyed some lovely piano music emanating from a nearby house.  Doesn’t get much more romantic than that!

The only disappointment during the ride was that Rob and I brought beverages with us to enjoy during the ride.  Rob brought some Italian beer and I brought “aperitifs” in adorable little glass bottles.  They had to be good, they were ADDY-SIZED; plus I had seen tons of Italian women drinking the same thing.  Unfortunately, I was wrong; not only were they not good… they tasted like earwax.  shnast!

After our gondola ride, we decided to squeeze in a trip to the Rialto bridge before dinner (instead of the next morning).  It was pretty, but, pretty much I expected from online research/pictures.

For our last dinner in Venice, we returned to Sottaprova to get some more of their ridiculously tasty pizza.  We were not disappointed!

Sad to be leaving Venice the next morning, but excited to explore Florence, we headed back to the apartment to prepare for the next leg of our Italy adventure!

leaving venice:

The next morning was a flurry of packing, some last-minute travel planning, trying to expedite the drying of our clothes (without a dryer), cleaning up the apartment and dashing off to the Arsenale vaporetto stop just in time to catch the vaporetto to ferrovia (the train station) in order to catch an 11:3o train from Venice to Florence… or so we thought.  After waiting 5-10 minutes with no vaporetto in sight, we started chatting with a couple from Washington DC who heard that the vaporetto workers were on strike all day.  A minute later, a private boat pulled up and confirmed that the vaporetto workers were on strike, but provided no guidance as to any alternative modes of transportation.  Not especially helpful.  In no time at all, a second couple, from Asia had arrived and, clearly the most on-edge of the six of us, quickly asked us to “align” with them to get to the train station.  Feeling somewhat like we were guest starring on Survivor (forming alliances and what not), the six of us hurried to keep up with the Asian couple who darted around asking anyone and everyone for the best way to get to the train station.  We soon made it to a water taxi station and, after several taxis dropped off people (and refused to take us, for whatever reason), we finally found a taxi that agreed to take all six of us and our bags to the train station for €80.  DEAL!  We all climbed aboard, proud of our resourcefulness and thrilled at the fact that we were going to make it to our trains in time, have a more scenic ride, and all for less than €14/person (much more reasonable than we anticipated).  The Asian guy was so relieved to have found a ride to the train station, he sat in the water taxi grinning and, according to Rob, said something along of the lines of “now all we need are some boat hos!”

Picture from the water taxi:

We made it to the train station, with time to spare, hopped on our train and settled in for a comfortable trenitalia ride to Florence!

To be continued….

P.S. Venice pictures galore to be posted to facebook soon!

 

Rob and I just returned from a two-week tour of Italy.  The cities, sights and food were all so great, I don’t want to forget a thing!  Unfortunately, I have a semi-challenged memory, so in order to ensure that I do not forget the details of our trip, I’ve decided to blog about them.  Also, for the first time ever… *insert drum roll here* … I’ve decided to share my blog so that friends and family can read all about our trip.  Previously, I’ve used this blog as an outlet for myself rather than to share with others (only my husband and my bff knew about it).

WARNING to any new readers:  I am a terribly inconsistent blogger, so if you really want to keep up with my life, you’ll have to resort to facebook-stalking me.  Regardless, welcome and feel free to comment the heck out of my posts!