Photos from our trip: Lake Como

This was taken in a little hamlet called Loppia which is on the water not far from Bellagio (walk through Villa Melzi and keep going).  We had lunch at Darsene alla Loppia, out on their covered patio.  I was intrigued by the building nearby!

Another church ceiling photo, and an APOLOGY!

Good morning everyone, two posts in one day - check it out.

I am posting this in response to Genie's admiration of Sainte Chappelle's jewel like ceiling.  I'd also like to use this time to apologize to all my blog readers. 

As I am usually logged in, when I do reply with comments I cannot see that I had that dreaded WORD VERIFICATION turned on!  I found out by accident when I tried to reply to Genie and was logged out. 

That word verification feature is such a pain in the arse (pardon my British-ism).  I don't know how it came to be enabled, it must be a default.  It was easy to turn off, and it makes the blog commenting experience so much easier and pleasant - take this from someone who comments a fair bit on other blogs (and sometimes refrains due to that feature, especially if I've already commented on several others that day). 

If you happen to have a blog, it's not a bad idea to check that feature out and to consider turning it off (not to be pushy or anything). 

TGIF

A toast to Friday!

Above:  from the Eremo Gaudio in Varenna, Lake Como.

Below:  from the Vecchia Varenna in Varenna, Lake Como.

All photos taken in Italy.

Some Italy notes... (from May 2006)

Matthew McConnaughy piloting a gondola...



Recently I've been sorting through old emails that were sent to friends during some of my trips in the past few years, here is another installment, somewhat edited after the fact. I put the ballooning experience as its own separate posting below. This was my 2006 trip to Venice, Florence and Rome. I have to seek out the Rome part of it, and also add photos later. For now, enjoy!

Hi everyone!

I am here in Venice, finally, and unbelievably had no jetlag at all yesterday, at least until dinner when I had a few glasses of prosecco. Then it hit me like a brick. I was only awake for 36 hours straight! I don't know what the problem was. ar ar

I took Air France through Paris to Venice. If anyone remembers my posting from the spring, I wasn't sure if the bewilderingly short connection AF allows in Paris was a bright idea and in the end I opted for the 3+ hour layover. I was quite glad I did because the 50-odd minutes connection time they offer is a joke. Why they allow for that is beyond me – if you are reading this, please heed – CDG needs more than an hour for connections if you are coming from the US. The good news is that they broke their perfect streak of losing my luggage and it actually arrived with me. You can imagine my horror at Dulles when I left – I was so proud that I had managed to pack only one 22 inch case for the whole trip and they simply wouldn't let me carry it on. There was a bit of a tug-of-war at the ticket counter but in the end I lost. Since I hadn't done triage on my luggage as I usually do (one small carryon, one checked) I was biting my nails for a while. But, it made it – wonders never cease.

When I landed in Venice I couldn't believe I had really waited five years since the last visit! What is wrong with me?? Because I had already been in transit for quite some time I decided to splurge with the water taxi straight to the Hotel Wildner. That's a spendy trip but it was so much fun.

The Wildner is a great little hotel and a wonderful value. I will post a photo of “the view from my room” and the view was certainly grand. I only paid 220E per night. It's a few doors down from the Danieli, right on St. Mark's Basin, so you can get the same view for about a quarter of the price! I did walk into the Danieli - it's quite an elegant hotel but I'd prefer to stay at the Wildner unless I was on my honeymoon or something. Elisabetta and the other managers there were very friendly and welcoming. I'm definitely staying there again!

My best meal in Venice was at Osteria San Marco. Don't be put off by the name, proximity to St. Mark's in this case does NOT mean mediocre quality. It was fabulous and in fact my stomach hurt after I left; I ate so much. (Well, it was that and the full BIG bottle of San Pellegrino that I drank.) There I had a 1/4 carafe of prosecco, the above devil-drink (gassy water) and a big caprese salad (big enough for a meal) and also ravioli filled with ricotta and drenched in butter and topped with lightly sauteed asparagus. In order to find it on Frezzeria, you need to head west while in St. Mark's square. When you are about two-thirds of the way down the square, look off to your right and you will see a little sotoportego. Once you go through this, you will see the gondola ranch (I call it this because there must be 10-20 gondolas all lined up there, ar ar ar). Turn left and keep walking. You will shortly intersect with Calle Frezzeria.

I also met up with my friend Monica on this trip. She was ending her Italy trip in Venice; I was beginning it. So we met for dinner each night and my first full morning in Venice (after sleeping off the jetlag) I was up quite early and walked from my hotel to La Calcina where she stayed and had breakfast with her at La Calcina's outdoor terrace. Here is a photo from my morning walk.

I must say early mornings are the best time – you have the city to yourself (and a few locals walking their dogs, and the odd storekeeper and restaurateur). I'll have to come back later with the restaurants she chose since when we met up for dinners I let her pick from her lists. She's much more organized than I am and especially when it comes to food!

 

 

Three days is simply not enough, not enough by far, for this city. It takes me that long to settle down. I think I had Stendhal Syndrome (not Stockholm syndrome! although I suppose I was held captive by the city so maybe that isn't far off the mark either. heh heh).

I will catch major grief in some quarters but I only went to one museum - Ca Rezzonico. I went on a guided tour that had me inside St. Mark's for all of 5 minutes. I went into a few smaller churches but most of this trip was walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, and of course photo taking. And walking. My last trip 5 yrs ago saw me going in to several museums and churches and since it was SO nice out (and my last trip was in winter so I didn't cover as much city ground) I decided to spend more time outdoors). I did very much enjoy the boat tour we took one evening. They are quite easy to find, but if anyone is interested I will look up the one we took.

Some observations: Pigeons + kids = cute cute cute. Pigeons - kids = damn shitting birds.

Gondoliers on the Grand Canal are either brave, or lost. I watched a few navigate their gondolas as we passed in the vaporetto. Maybe the best word for them is "deft" (at handling the waves).



Peggy Guggenheim's dogs all seemed to die very young! Out of something like 12 dogs only a few made it past age 10 and the rest lived 1 or 2 years it seemed like. She buried them all in her garden and she's buried next to them. Leave it to me to notice something weird like that. (Peggy was a very eccentric rich American who moved to Venice in her middle age and made it her permanent home. Think Guggenheim Museum in NYC - THOSE Guggenheims.)



I am going to take the brave position here (quite controversial) and say I prefer Venice without all the bloody tourists (which I, of course, am not one.. ha) The best time to wander around is very early or late if you don't want to feel like you're at a crowded rock concert.

 

 

You can find any famous Italian designer you can imagine, in Venice. It was far more interesting in that regard than say, Fifth Avenue.

Venice is as beautiful and as decadent as I remember it. I've spent most of my time merely wandering and I think I've taken 200 photos so far (sad but true. not kidding. in 24 hours.) Don't worry I won't send them all to you. I've got to slow that down because despite the 2 gig cards, I am blazing through one pretty quickly.



I gotta run so I'll write more later when the mood strikes. I hope this email finds everyone well and I'll catch ya later. Beth



And now today, in Florence (ps. I was wrong on photos, it was more like 500 the first 24 hours...!!)

 

 

My trip from Venice to Florence was mostly uneventful but for a little bit of a surprise at the train station. I had gone the day previously to buy my ES Italia tickets to Florence and used the ticket machines instead of standing in line for a ticket. I wasn't paying attention and when I bought the ticket hit the button for Venezia/Mestre to Firenze. I imagine you know what happened... I showed up with plenty of time to spare for my 9AM train – but from the wrong station! Yep, you guessed it, I needed to get a ticket from Venice's main station to Mestre and another one to Florence. I had the Mestre-Florence leg... and the only way I made it was to jump on the first train to Mestre (which was the only one I could have taken to make the connection on time) and hope it wasn't a long run to the correct track.

 

 

As it turned out it was no problem at all – once off the one train I merely had to walk across the platform – a distance of a few feet – but I was sweating it until I got on the ES train! The next train into Florence was that afternoon and I didn't want to waste it in a train station. Take heed – if you get your own tickets make sure to get both legs sorted out!

 

 

Once in town it was rather grey and the second surprise of the day was that my hotel, the Antica Torre di via Tornabuoni, had a problem in one room the night before.. and had put the person there in MY room thus leaving me room-less for that night. Why they couldn't put me in a different room I don't know – I asked. They sent me to the Albergotto, just up the street, for one night. It was no problem at all in the end because they took care of the taxi ride up and the Albergotto was also a fabulous hotel. I may not have found it but for that little hiccup and I'd definitely recommend it as a place to stay, too. My room rate was 250E a night for the Antica Torre and 230E a night for the Albergotto and I stayed two nights total.

 

 

It would be a tossup which one I liked better, too. The Antica Torre had by far the best view and of course the rooftop terrace. My own room there had a terrace, which, if you stretched your neck, you could see the Arno!

 

 

I didn't make a lot of use of the room terrace due to the lovely rooftop one. The room was large enough but not massive like the Albergotto... and it had carpeting not hardwood floors. It did have a huge bathroom which is always a plus. The room in the Albergotto I liked better – spacious room... hardwood floors.. big windows which when opened allowed the breeze to waft in through the long white sheer curtains... spacious bathroom with tile flooring.. but no terrace.

 

 

In the end the terrace really counted for a lot so if you are going during a time of nice weather – I would recommend the Antica Torre. If it is too cold to be outdoors you could go with either one but I'd likely stay at the Albergotto. You won't be displeased with either.

 

 

I had the best meal in Italy (this time) in Florence. I stumbled across this excellent enoteca by perusing Time Out shortly after getting settled in. My meal was simple: a glass of Brunello (10E), Crostone with melted gorgonzola, honey, and celery as an appetizer, and, ravioli in a light cream sauce, filled with pecorino cheese and pear. The ravioli was delicate and had the appearance of a tiny package, tied up at the little neck, rather than a square blob as you see here. The whole meal came to 25E and I ended up going back AGAIN before I left since I knew I'd never find that in the US. The food just melted in my mouth. It's very close to the Duomo, if anyone wants to find it let me know and I'll look it up – but it is in Time Out Florence.

 

 

I also have to give rave reviews for my walking tour the next morning. It was on basic Florence history and amazingly well done. It was the Original and Best Walking Tours which you can find it on the web at www.artviva.com. I saw that Michael Palin proclaimed it his favorite walking tour in Florence and since hey, he's my fave Python, not to mention a truly inspiring traveler - so why not check it out. (What is it with Brits and world traveling? They put all the rest of us to shame, no matter how much we may travel; they do so much more; I imagine a lot of it is from having so much of "their" sun shine on so much of the globe).

 

 

The woman who guided us was getting her doctorate in the Italian Renaissance and she was very thorough as a result. I learned some interesting little factoids on the walk – here are a few (which may be apocryphal but nonetheless entertaining):

“Stinking rich”: the rich used to be buried under the floorboards of churches – the richer you were, the better your “real estate” in a church – with the richest being up near the front. Naturally, dead bodies underneath tended to stink. “Hole in the wall” signifies the little tiny holes built into palace walls with a tiny door on either side. The rich folks inside would leave food and other goodies in their “hole in the wall” for the poor to come by and take for themselves and their families.

We didn't just learn little factoids, she also dissected artwork both on churches and buildings as well as inside them. After the walk I bought three books - two on the Medici (April Blood by Lauro Martinesi, about the Pazzi conspiracy to murder the Medici brothers.. Medici Money by Tim Parks), and the third one was Brunellschi's Dome by Ross King. Did you know because of the Pazzi conspiracy to kill the Medici (and thereafter the Pazzi family was extinguished....) the word pazzi in Italian means crazy?

I also got a number of my gifts for friends and family - Florence is great for leather items so it's going to be a leather birthday for everyone this year (and wedding, etc etc). I bought some beautiful watercolors from a street artist along the Arno. I am a sucker for flowers and especially poppies. I also walked my buns off in Florence – including a walk to Piazzale Michelangelo. That was a stunning view and I wish I had gone up a little closer to sunset. But it was wonderful nonetheless. I definitely got my exercise on this trip. Next up – into Tuscany! (including Pienza and the ballooning ride).

I picked up the car in Florence and drove the S22 down to Pienza. It is a beautiful drive - if you are a ceramics junkie like I am, stop in Castellina and check out Pep Bizzarrie. Stunning ceramic pieces (plates, platters, pitchers, etc.) and all of them hand painted. I bought a 4 piece place setting and a pitcher and shipped them home. I also stopped in Castellina di Chianti and San Gimignano.

My hotel here in Pienza is amazing. It is Il Chiostro di Pienza and I have views over the Val d'Orcia from my room. It is a beautiful hotel and well situated. (see the other blog post for the ballooning story...)

After the ballooning, I dined at Poggio Antico in Montalcino. The setting was beautiful and the food and wine - well let's just say after a two hour meal I was ready to take a nap. There are plenty of good shade trees around for that! I didn't however, I went into the winery itself and bought 3 bottles of 99 Brunello Riserva to bring home. Remember the days when you could carry on liquids? Well, it went into my carryon. Try that now!

After two nights in Pienza I drove to Rome and dropped the car at Ciampino. I'd recommend that over the train station I think.

While in Rome I stayed at the Hotel Parlamento, which was recommended to me a few years ago by Kismetchimera on fodors. I've stayed there twice now and number three will be in May 2007. It's a small family run hotel, nothing fancy but very clean and the terrace rooms are spacious (the double I had in May 2006 was a very small double, but I had a terrace room on a previous trip and it's quite nice - it even had an American electrical outlet next to the Italian one).

I very highly recommend the walking tours offered by Context Rome. I took the Roma Antica tour and it was fascinating. I tend to read a lot before trips (and during, and after) so it was interesting to have some of my readings come alive through the tour guide. As usual a 3 day visit to Rome barely scratches the surface but, since Rome wasn't built in a day I won't see it all in a day either. Must... Go... Back...

Ballooning in Tuscany, May 2006

Today was one of my most memorable travel days yet - as in ever.

It will be hard to decide which overall travel experience is going to go down as my favorite of all time, chronologically they are so far:

Galloping horseback, surfside, along the Pacific Ocean in Peru. uncontrollable giggling as the horse thumped along the beach.

Flying over Whistler in British Columbia...

Volcano run in New Zealand. (giggling the whole way down - if you ever get a chance to run through scree, by all means, do it!)

Zorbing in New Zealand. (non-stop giggling. and I mean helplessly nonstop)...

and this morning... ballooning in Tuscany. (google that phrase if you want to know more).

It was such a pretty day and what magnificent countryside. Perfect weather and 50 miles viz. I got up at 445 AM and made my way to Montisi. I actually decided to do a dry run last night just to make sure I wasn't wandering around aimlessly at 530 AM today. It worked out well - I found the place last night just before sunset (a beautiful time to be out) and then went back to Pienza.

That drive between Castelmuzio and Montisi is now one of my favorites - it really reminded me of the Corniche drives above Monte Carlo and Nice. zoom zoom zoom. very twisty windy curvy.

Last night I also visited Sant'Anna in Camprena - the English Patient abbey (we also saw it from above today).

Robert and Liz (the balloonists) are a lovely couple and needless to say I now have new friends in Tuscany with an open invitation to come back any time I want (even if I don't go ballooning).

What a production to get it all prepared! He used big fans to get it partially blown up and he then used the flames to get the balloon itself to rise. The basket then righted itself and we all clambered in. Then the takeoff. I remarked that it reminded me of the Wizard of Oz - haha! We lifted slowly slowly up and up. It was such a gentle graceful glide and it appeared we were headed right for the trees but he didn't even graze them as we passed (but it sure looked close!). We saw the Abbey from way up above. Robert pointed out all the various spots off in the distance and let me tell you, Tuscany is now one of my favorite spots on earth. (it's in stiff company but it's up there to be sure).

We were up at 2000 feet at one point and a few other times down so low we were almost grazing the ground. As we passed some agriturismos the folks came outside to wave and take photos. That was when he descended to just above the rooftops - boy did they get a good view. We had dogs barking at us at various times, and saw many deer. Near the end as we landed in a field some horses came out to investigate. They were separated from us by a fence but as we were descending to land they were all lined up watching. What a hoot!

The other couple was from Phoenix, and, Robert's brother Mark (Robert is the pilot) went along as well. A very nice person, we talked quite a bit after we landed and come to find out he was Kristin Scott Thomas's babysitter way back in the day. Can you guess how that conversation started? Also come to find out his wife is the niece of the Duke of... (it sounded like he said Fief but I doubt that was right, I have asked one of my British friends who is very knowledgable about everyone in royalty to figure it out although we did exchange emails so I suppose I could ask him, he was very forthcoming about it all.) At any rate he knows the Queen as well as the Princes and so forth. I thought that was pretty interesting.

After landing we loaded it up in the jeep and trailer and headed back. On the way back Mark and I stood in the basket which was bungee'd to the trailer. We were warned that if Robert tooted twice it was the carabinieri and we were to duck down into the basket. (which didn't happen but of course I'd have real trouble not peeping anyway) It was so much fun - like a very bumpy convertible ride after a balloon ride.

All of a sudden Italian fighter jets ROARED overhead, doing very low passes, and then I really squealed and jumped up and down. There were four of them and I was enthralled watching them. I suppose we were lucky they didn't try that while we were airborne as they were definitely that low!

I will write more later...

Beth

ps. Scott - haven't seen the Giro, I don't think they are near where I am?

Dean, what is your number, I meant to call you y'day after the ballooning. You and Steph must try this when you come over!

Sandy - I will tell you more about Poggio Antico later, it was a real treat and I saved the menu for you. It was so much food I just wanted to take a nap afterwards and in fact didn't eat dinner last night as I was still too full. I will say this much though - the ballooning included a champagne breakfast afterwards, they spread out the food on the trailer (attached to the jeep - actually an UMM for anyone who digs old foreign cars...) It was a simple meal with local wines and also champagne, we sat in the grass in the 9 AM sunshine out in the middle of nowhere with the balloon stretched out next to us... and I must say I enjoyed that ten times more than Poggio Antico!