Italy for Christmas Week
Jan 16th, 2017, 12:33 AM
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Italy for Christmas Week
Part 1 - A bad start.
Once again I chose our vacation destination based on what good flights I could find on ‘Google Flights’ for our available time, Christmas vacation week. This time it was a round trip from NY to Bologna, train to Venice for 2 nights then train to Florence 3 nights, coming back to Bologna for 1 night for flight home.
Being as we were leaving on Saturday, Christmas Eve 2016, 11:40 PM we decided to drive first to a party at our friends house. The plan was to leave our car at the friends and have one of them drive us to airport.
We left our luggage in the back of the car, to retrieve later. Being as it was so warm that night, we also left our coats in the front of the car. When it came time to go to the airport we got our luggage and our friend drove us to the airport.
As we approached the airport my wife said, oh no, I forgot my coat in our car. My mind started thinking if I should ask my friend to go back. Then I realized, oh no, I forgot my coat too. Not wanting to make our friend drive back, however, I figured we would have to use the light jackets that we had packed in the luggage, with sweaters it should do. My sunglasses we also left behind in my coat as were the 3 newspapers I bought to read on the plane.
Being as it was TAP, we had to connect in Lisbon to get to Bologna. I had noticed that we only had 1:10 to make the connection, but I figured that TAP knew what they were doing making such a short connection time. I even felt a little relieved that the flight from NY got in a little early to Lisbon. When we got off the plane we walked as fast as we could, looking where to transfer. Not knowing exactly where to go, I stopped at the transfer desk for a minute and asked. They directed us to passport control. When I went there I was very discouraged to see a huge line with only a couple of customs agents working. Surely this must be the wrong line, no it’s the right line.
It must have taken at least an hour to get through that. We asked a couple of times of the airport personnel working near the line, how could we make our flight. They said repeatedly, ‘don’t worry someone from TAP will come and get you.’ We could see there were a number of others on the line in the same situation. One old guy in front of me was really stressing out over it and he even got into an argument with one of the personnel. Never the less no one from TAP came to get us. When we finally got past the customs agent we rushed over to the gate, only to be told that the plane to Bologna had already left. We weren’t going to have dinner in Venice.
We immediately went over to the transfer desk to see what they would do for us. We were first, in a line of about a dozen angry passengers who had also missed their flights.
One lady was screaming that she worked in travel and she knows TAP sold the ticket.
I didn’t get what she meant at the time, but now I realize it is a technique to make extra money for the airline. Don’t get the passengers from the passport control line, sell their seat on the fully booked flight, then reroute poor late passengers on later empty flights. We got rerouted via Frankfurt and instead of getting to Bologna around 4 PM we didn’t get there until 10 PM. Not a huge deal except the last train to Venice is at about 10:20 PM. The next train after that was after 3 AM the next morning.
When we finally got to Bologna our luggage was no where to be found. We went to lost and found and they said our luggage was still in Lisbon. It was very cold in Bologna that night and now we didn’t have our coats nor our light jackets.
The sympathetic clerk took our information and offered us some garments, left behind in the lost and found for warmth. Me an old grey hoodie with the some crazy slogan on the back. My wife a wrinkled over-sized black mans windbreaker. We went out to take the aerobus, which for some stupid reason I had decided to buy the tickets for, in advance online. At the line someone told us the bus was not running on Christmas night.
We had to take a taxi to Bologna and I hoped I could get my money back for the aerobus tickets at some point in the future. When we got to Bologna we got a quite a few stares as we looked like homeless people in our raggy outer garments. We stopped at a small store near the train and had probably the worst pizza ever. Nice Christmas dinner, sorry wife. We had more than a four hour wait till the 3 AM train to Venice so I decided to go across the street to a hotel to ask if we could wait in their lobby. They told me I couldn’t wait there, that is until I told them that it was the hotel I was reserved to stay in the following Friday night, on the way back. So then he agreed.
When we finally got to Venice, fortunately the hotel was right near the station. We checked in about 6 AM Monday morning and went to sleep until 12 noon.
To be continued..
Once again I chose our vacation destination based on what good flights I could find on ‘Google Flights’ for our available time, Christmas vacation week. This time it was a round trip from NY to Bologna, train to Venice for 2 nights then train to Florence 3 nights, coming back to Bologna for 1 night for flight home.
Being as we were leaving on Saturday, Christmas Eve 2016, 11:40 PM we decided to drive first to a party at our friends house. The plan was to leave our car at the friends and have one of them drive us to airport.
We left our luggage in the back of the car, to retrieve later. Being as it was so warm that night, we also left our coats in the front of the car. When it came time to go to the airport we got our luggage and our friend drove us to the airport.
As we approached the airport my wife said, oh no, I forgot my coat in our car. My mind started thinking if I should ask my friend to go back. Then I realized, oh no, I forgot my coat too. Not wanting to make our friend drive back, however, I figured we would have to use the light jackets that we had packed in the luggage, with sweaters it should do. My sunglasses we also left behind in my coat as were the 3 newspapers I bought to read on the plane.
Being as it was TAP, we had to connect in Lisbon to get to Bologna. I had noticed that we only had 1:10 to make the connection, but I figured that TAP knew what they were doing making such a short connection time. I even felt a little relieved that the flight from NY got in a little early to Lisbon. When we got off the plane we walked as fast as we could, looking where to transfer. Not knowing exactly where to go, I stopped at the transfer desk for a minute and asked. They directed us to passport control. When I went there I was very discouraged to see a huge line with only a couple of customs agents working. Surely this must be the wrong line, no it’s the right line.
It must have taken at least an hour to get through that. We asked a couple of times of the airport personnel working near the line, how could we make our flight. They said repeatedly, ‘don’t worry someone from TAP will come and get you.’ We could see there were a number of others on the line in the same situation. One old guy in front of me was really stressing out over it and he even got into an argument with one of the personnel. Never the less no one from TAP came to get us. When we finally got past the customs agent we rushed over to the gate, only to be told that the plane to Bologna had already left. We weren’t going to have dinner in Venice.
We immediately went over to the transfer desk to see what they would do for us. We were first, in a line of about a dozen angry passengers who had also missed their flights.
One lady was screaming that she worked in travel and she knows TAP sold the ticket.
I didn’t get what she meant at the time, but now I realize it is a technique to make extra money for the airline. Don’t get the passengers from the passport control line, sell their seat on the fully booked flight, then reroute poor late passengers on later empty flights. We got rerouted via Frankfurt and instead of getting to Bologna around 4 PM we didn’t get there until 10 PM. Not a huge deal except the last train to Venice is at about 10:20 PM. The next train after that was after 3 AM the next morning.
When we finally got to Bologna our luggage was no where to be found. We went to lost and found and they said our luggage was still in Lisbon. It was very cold in Bologna that night and now we didn’t have our coats nor our light jackets.
The sympathetic clerk took our information and offered us some garments, left behind in the lost and found for warmth. Me an old grey hoodie with the some crazy slogan on the back. My wife a wrinkled over-sized black mans windbreaker. We went out to take the aerobus, which for some stupid reason I had decided to buy the tickets for, in advance online. At the line someone told us the bus was not running on Christmas night.
We had to take a taxi to Bologna and I hoped I could get my money back for the aerobus tickets at some point in the future. When we got to Bologna we got a quite a few stares as we looked like homeless people in our raggy outer garments. We stopped at a small store near the train and had probably the worst pizza ever. Nice Christmas dinner, sorry wife. We had more than a four hour wait till the 3 AM train to Venice so I decided to go across the street to a hotel to ask if we could wait in their lobby. They told me I couldn’t wait there, that is until I told them that it was the hotel I was reserved to stay in the following Friday night, on the way back. So then he agreed.
When we finally got to Venice, fortunately the hotel was right near the station. We checked in about 6 AM Monday morning and went to sleep until 12 noon.
To be continued..
Jan 16th, 2017, 05:28 AM
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After that long winded introduction I'll switch up to brief mode.
Hotels:
Venice: Hotel Principe - Took the best room in a moderate priced hotel. Got a top floor room with a terrace overlooking the grand canal. Awesome view. Great price. Close to train station. Wish I could have had more days there.
Florence: Hotel Otto Medici - Same tactic. Had Nice view over the rooftops of Florence including top of Duomo.
Bologna: Mercure Hotel - Right across from train station. Perfect for last night before departure. Used their lobby to wait for train in the wee hours upon arrival in Italy (as per first part of report).
Restaurants:
Venice: Saraceno- nice canal side restaurant by Rialto Bridge.
Brek - Cafeteria style restaurant food was good.
Florence: I' Cche' c'e' c'e - First class dining experience at a very reasonable price. Ate there twice. My wife wanted to try cingale, wild boar tagatelle. She liked it.
1950's American Diner - a regrettable choice. Give it a pass.
Panini restaurant- I don't remember the name of this place near th Duomo. They sliced off your choices of salamis and cheeses using some kind of old fashioned mechanical slicer. Served up with glass of wine. Very tasty!
Sites and activities:
Venice: Vaporetto on Grand Canal. Guggenheim Museum. San Marco piazza (amazing). Went into Cafe Florian, seemed kinda cramped, not impressed didn't stay. Took gondola ride. Shopped for clothes. Found prices for clothing to be pretty reasonable. Picked up a nice winter coat for about a 100 Euros.
Florence: Uffizi. Accademia. Enjoyed walking along river approaching Ponte Vecchio at sunset. Ate lots of gelato(Venchi). Went into dome of Duomo with great views at top, a highlight of trip. Admired the Duomo, wow is that big, and the Baptistry. Took day trip to Tuscany (Pisa, Sienna, Gimignano) with lunch at winery. Was happy to see some famous Tuscany landscape.
Snacking:
Hotels:
Venice: Hotel Principe - Took the best room in a moderate priced hotel. Got a top floor room with a terrace overlooking the grand canal. Awesome view. Great price. Close to train station. Wish I could have had more days there.
Florence: Hotel Otto Medici - Same tactic. Had Nice view over the rooftops of Florence including top of Duomo.
Bologna: Mercure Hotel - Right across from train station. Perfect for last night before departure. Used their lobby to wait for train in the wee hours upon arrival in Italy (as per first part of report).
Restaurants:
Venice: Saraceno- nice canal side restaurant by Rialto Bridge.
Brek - Cafeteria style restaurant food was good.
Florence: I' Cche' c'e' c'e - First class dining experience at a very reasonable price. Ate there twice. My wife wanted to try cingale, wild boar tagatelle. She liked it.
1950's American Diner - a regrettable choice. Give it a pass.
Panini restaurant- I don't remember the name of this place near th Duomo. They sliced off your choices of salamis and cheeses using some kind of old fashioned mechanical slicer. Served up with glass of wine. Very tasty!
Sites and activities:
Venice: Vaporetto on Grand Canal. Guggenheim Museum. San Marco piazza (amazing). Went into Cafe Florian, seemed kinda cramped, not impressed didn't stay. Took gondola ride. Shopped for clothes. Found prices for clothing to be pretty reasonable. Picked up a nice winter coat for about a 100 Euros.
Florence: Uffizi. Accademia. Enjoyed walking along river approaching Ponte Vecchio at sunset. Ate lots of gelato(Venchi). Went into dome of Duomo with great views at top, a highlight of trip. Admired the Duomo, wow is that big, and the Baptistry. Took day trip to Tuscany (Pisa, Sienna, Gimignano) with lunch at winery. Was happy to see some famous Tuscany landscape.
Snacking:
Jan 16th, 2017, 09:35 AM
#7
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We arrived Bologna on Sunday the 25th and didn't get our luggage until Wednesday morning the 28th in Florence. We had to buy some new clothes and I didn't get to take video on the second day in Venice. Very annoying.
