Trip Report #1 Venice - Recent Honeymoon in Italy
Sep 27th, 2004, 04:51 PM
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Trip Report #1 Venice - Recent Honeymoon in Italy
Hi All,
I just want to share some of the highlights of our recent honeymoon. I'll try to be brief...
Friday, September 10th
Took the red-eye flight from JFK to Milan. We arrived in Milan 1/2 hour earlier on 9/11. We both felt that the service and quality of airplane (Delta) was not impressive at all. In any case, once at Malpensa airport, we were shocked with the exchange rate, and how the value of the dollar has gone down quite a bit. After we exchange some money, we took the Malpensa Shuttle (4.50 euros each ticket one way). We arrived at Milano Stazione Centrale in approx. 50 min. later, and that's were I made a big mistake.....my big oversight was to validate my eurailpass at the station (I've done this several times), but I totally forgot about it, after I found out that we could catch a train to Venice in 2 minutes. After the train took off, I realized about the mistake, and I had to pay a penalty of 50.00 euros with the train conductor....oh well.
Once in Venice, we immediately went to the window to make a reservation from Venice to Florence on the ES train (FYI, you do not need to make a reservation is you are taking the IC train, or any regional/local trains). We took the vaporetto (5.00 euros each) to Piazza S. Marco, from there we walked to our hotel www.hotelaidomori.com which is literally located 10 steps from Piazza S. Marco. Our room was located on the 6 or 7 floor, and the size of the room was very cozy, but clean and comfortable.....FYI, if you want to have "the room" that overlooks the campanile you should ask for room #9 (I think). I managed to go to that room and take some pics from there. The rate does not include the breakfast but there are many coffee shops outside where you can get coffee and pastries. As soon as we dropped our backpacks, we headed outside, we learned that we just arrived during the ending of the Film Festival. This was my 3rd time in Venice and I knew some of the area already, but obviously....everyone gets loss in Venice no matter what, but we still enjoy it.....
After walking around, we walked to a small enoteca located on Fondamenta Prinli, very inexpesive for Venice, normally attended by locals and other fortunate travelers who are able to run into this place.....sorry forgot the name of the enoteca, but we loved the fragolino and sangue de giudda (these are wines by the way).
We ended up going to dinner just down the street at Ristorate San Trovaro, we had the set menut (4 course meal, wine and water) for 41.00 euros...I thought it wasn't that bad at all, by this time (around 10pm) jetlag was setting in, and we headed back to the hotel to rest up.
Sunday, September 12
Woke up at 7:30am, and got ready for the long day. Had some coffee and some pastries outside.....if you don't want to pay overpriced coffee...try to go a bit far away. We then headed to the campanile, I believe we paid 6.00 euros each to take the elevator to the top, spectacular views and the weather was great. Unfortunately, Piazza S. Marco was still in the clean up process from the film festival, we pretty much walked all day and say a bunch of Piazzas, Ponte Rialto, Academia, Basilica de Salute, Peggy Guggenheim, etc etc etc, we even went to Lido Island, walked all the way to the beach of Lido....and that's where I lost my swiss army knife.....I was really bump about this....but oh well. oh....I forgot to mention, that without knowing, we enter a private beach in Lido, and we sat at the pier and had lunch (earlier we bought panne fresco, prosciutto crudo, pomodore, succo de pesca, water and uva italiana). We headed back to Venice, walked around some more and we saw a big cruise ship pulling in.....after that, the entire Venice was mob by tourist groups, we were just overwhelm by the number of people. We ended up having lunch at a restaurant that we run to ...again set menu for 40 euros total which included wine and water.
Monday, September 13th
Woke up again at 7:30am, and started our day by just exploring a bit more out off the beaten path, but by this time the tour groups were out already and it was just getting crowded and crowded. We both felt that we needed to get out of there ASAP. Venice is a wonderful and beautiful city, and we both love the arquitecture and the romantic scene of the city, but the amount of people all over the place was draining our energy and patience...hehe. After doing some small shopping, we picked up our back packs and headed to the train station. I managed to change my reservation for an earlier train at 2:30pm headed to Florence....what a relief.
I just want to share some of the highlights of our recent honeymoon. I'll try to be brief...
Friday, September 10th
Took the red-eye flight from JFK to Milan. We arrived in Milan 1/2 hour earlier on 9/11. We both felt that the service and quality of airplane (Delta) was not impressive at all. In any case, once at Malpensa airport, we were shocked with the exchange rate, and how the value of the dollar has gone down quite a bit. After we exchange some money, we took the Malpensa Shuttle (4.50 euros each ticket one way). We arrived at Milano Stazione Centrale in approx. 50 min. later, and that's were I made a big mistake.....my big oversight was to validate my eurailpass at the station (I've done this several times), but I totally forgot about it, after I found out that we could catch a train to Venice in 2 minutes. After the train took off, I realized about the mistake, and I had to pay a penalty of 50.00 euros with the train conductor....oh well.
Once in Venice, we immediately went to the window to make a reservation from Venice to Florence on the ES train (FYI, you do not need to make a reservation is you are taking the IC train, or any regional/local trains). We took the vaporetto (5.00 euros each) to Piazza S. Marco, from there we walked to our hotel www.hotelaidomori.com which is literally located 10 steps from Piazza S. Marco. Our room was located on the 6 or 7 floor, and the size of the room was very cozy, but clean and comfortable.....FYI, if you want to have "the room" that overlooks the campanile you should ask for room #9 (I think). I managed to go to that room and take some pics from there. The rate does not include the breakfast but there are many coffee shops outside where you can get coffee and pastries. As soon as we dropped our backpacks, we headed outside, we learned that we just arrived during the ending of the Film Festival. This was my 3rd time in Venice and I knew some of the area already, but obviously....everyone gets loss in Venice no matter what, but we still enjoy it.....
After walking around, we walked to a small enoteca located on Fondamenta Prinli, very inexpesive for Venice, normally attended by locals and other fortunate travelers who are able to run into this place.....sorry forgot the name of the enoteca, but we loved the fragolino and sangue de giudda (these are wines by the way).
We ended up going to dinner just down the street at Ristorate San Trovaro, we had the set menut (4 course meal, wine and water) for 41.00 euros...I thought it wasn't that bad at all, by this time (around 10pm) jetlag was setting in, and we headed back to the hotel to rest up.
Sunday, September 12
Woke up at 7:30am, and got ready for the long day. Had some coffee and some pastries outside.....if you don't want to pay overpriced coffee...try to go a bit far away. We then headed to the campanile, I believe we paid 6.00 euros each to take the elevator to the top, spectacular views and the weather was great. Unfortunately, Piazza S. Marco was still in the clean up process from the film festival, we pretty much walked all day and say a bunch of Piazzas, Ponte Rialto, Academia, Basilica de Salute, Peggy Guggenheim, etc etc etc, we even went to Lido Island, walked all the way to the beach of Lido....and that's where I lost my swiss army knife.....I was really bump about this....but oh well. oh....I forgot to mention, that without knowing, we enter a private beach in Lido, and we sat at the pier and had lunch (earlier we bought panne fresco, prosciutto crudo, pomodore, succo de pesca, water and uva italiana). We headed back to Venice, walked around some more and we saw a big cruise ship pulling in.....after that, the entire Venice was mob by tourist groups, we were just overwhelm by the number of people. We ended up having lunch at a restaurant that we run to ...again set menu for 40 euros total which included wine and water.
Monday, September 13th
Woke up again at 7:30am, and started our day by just exploring a bit more out off the beaten path, but by this time the tour groups were out already and it was just getting crowded and crowded. We both felt that we needed to get out of there ASAP. Venice is a wonderful and beautiful city, and we both love the arquitecture and the romantic scene of the city, but the amount of people all over the place was draining our energy and patience...hehe. After doing some small shopping, we picked up our back packs and headed to the train station. I managed to change my reservation for an earlier train at 2:30pm headed to Florence....what a relief.
Sep 27th, 2004, 05:15 PM
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Before using your Pass for the first time, you have to have it validated at any Italian station ticket window or information office. The staff will stamp the ticket, and inscribe the first and last day of validity and your Passport number. So, this is what I forgot to do, and because I didn't do this, I basically had to pay the fee of 50 euros to the conductor which was approx. the 1 way ticket on 1st class for the both of us to Venice. The conductor on the train then validated my eurail pass and gave me a receipt of the fee to keep together with my eurailpass.
I'll post the rest of my reports tomorrow (next...Florence)
I'll post the rest of my reports tomorrow (next...Florence)
Sep 28th, 2004, 05:15 AM
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Sorry....are you talking about when I change the tickets in Venice? I actually changed it at the train station S. Lucia in Venice (at the counter). They ended up getting some money back, because the train that I changed it to was an IC train, and the reservation that I had was for an ES train.
Sep 28th, 2004, 05:25 AM
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Hi carlos,
Thanks for the report.
If you post the rest of your reports as replies to this one, it will keep them all together, and make for easier discussion.
In future, if you can't validate your railpass at the station go find the conductor before he finds you. You will save money.
Thanks for the report.
If you post the rest of your reports as replies to this one, it will keep them all together, and make for easier discussion.
In future, if you can't validate your railpass at the station go find the conductor before he finds you. You will save money.
Sep 28th, 2004, 06:15 PM
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Trip Report #2 ? Florence
Monday, September 13th
We ended up taking the 2:30pm IC train from Venice to Florence. By now, we know for certain that we do not need to make a reservation for any IC train, all we need to present is our Eurail pass. In any case, the train arrived in Florence at 4:25pm. I called the hotel, www.relaiscavalcanti.com, to let them know that I was on the way. We decided to walk which took approximately 15-20 min. walk. Not bad walk at all, our backpacks were not heavy at all?.not yet at least. It was good to print out a map of Florence in the itinerary that I put together, plus I was already familiar with some of the landmarks, so it was really easy to find the hotel. Francesca greeted us and showed us our room, which overlooked Mercato Nuovo and the tower of Palazzo Vecchio, beautiful views, very nicely appointed room, and it was a pretty big size as well. We felt like at home!!!
The hotel is located in the heart of everything, next to Mercato Nuovo. It?s on a 3rd floor of a building (?..no worries, there is an elevator), and it is run by 2 sisters (Francesca and Anna) who inherited the floor from their grandmother 3 years ago and turned into a bed and breakfast. Both of them were very helpful and for the location and quality, the price was moderate (115 E per night), but we paid cash and we got a 5% discount. We were both very surprised and pleased with the views of our room (mercato nuovo, il porcellino, and tower of Palazzo Vecchio), and even more surprised that we didn?t hear any noise at all at night or early in the morning. We must be used to noise anyway, since we live on a lively Main Street.
This day we spent walking around Florence. We were both craving for gelato, but I made a mistake and I order one of the bigger size cones, and I ended up paying 12E for both of the gelatos which we ended up throwing it away because we couldn?t finish it?..what a waste! ??after this we know to order ?..il cono piccolo!!! We kept walking around getting to know the vicinity and plan out the following day itinerary in Florence. At night, we ended up going to Le Mossacce for dinner located on Via del Proconsolo. I remembered coming to dinner this place when I was in Florence 3 years ago, and I loved it, so I wanted my wife to experience the same thing, but it didn?t turn out that way. The restaurant overall is great to go for a quick meal and experience the Tuscan way, eating in a big table with other people and sharing some wine?..definitely not conducive for a romantic dinner, the restaurant is really small and tight. I ended up ordering ribollita, a traditional soup of Tuscany, and rolls of veal, my wife ordered Veal Cutlet and we also had Vino Rosso Sfusso (House red wine?in this case chianti). The dinner overall was ok/good, my veal was a bit salty and her meal was undercook a bit. We paid 31E?..
Tuesday, September 14th
Woke up at 7:30am, we headed out by 8:30am and headed to Il Duomo, we paid 6E each to go up to Il Cuppola (463 steps to the top?.no elevator by the way!)?..what a way to start the morning by doing some cardio!!! Great views, but unfortunately the outside of Il Duomo was under renovations. It was a great move from our part to arrive early to avoid the big tourist groups. We then headed to Piazza San Lorenzo?.for some leather shopping??you gotta do that when you are in Florence?and don?t forget to bargain! After shopping we went to Mercato Centrale, but we first stopped at a coffee shop to have some cappuccino for 1E (best price so far), then we went to Mercato Centrale. On the first floor, you can buy some prosciutto, cheese, bread, meat etc. By know, we liked much better prosciutto cotto than crudo. On the second floor, that?s where you can get vegetables, fruits. Obviously, we didn?t spend much for some grapes, bread, prosciutto and tomatoes, so we can make our lunch and some snack for later on. We headed back to the hotel to dropped our shopping off and fixed ourselves some lunch, we ended up eating in the lounge room, which ended up being much more relaxing. Once we were done, we headed outside and finish sightseeing everything (Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Becchio, Piazza de la Signora, P. de la Republica, etc etc etc). We stopped at a dessert store in one of the Piazzas?.and what a mistake, we ended up sitting down at a table, we ordered 2 coffees, and one 2 desserts and it came to 20E, there is a separate price if you eat at a table versus standing up at the bar, at least we now know not to ever do this again!. Again, we walked all over Florence and saw all of the major sites already. We then headed towards Piazza Croce where there are more leather stores. I found a pair of shoes that I really like, but unfortunately they didn?t have my size?..oh well. We stopped by at a bar and had some beer (piccolo birra for 4E, and later we stopped at a enoteca to try some wine?.gotta do that too!
We headed to the hotel to get read for dinner, but I wasn?t sure where to go, and I was recommended to go to a restaurant off the beaten path, across the river?..and oh boy we walked for a long time and we couldn?t find it, frustrated we both headed back to find something close to the hotel as it seemed that it was going to rain. We ended up going to the restaurant next to the hotel (Osteria Il Porcellino) and as soon as we stepped in, the sky opened up. I thought the food was ok, nothing to brag about. We paid 48E. Once in our room, there was a black out in Florence which lasted for 45 min. or so. For a moment it reminded me off the Big Black Out in the North East last year.
Wednesday, September 15th
We woke up at 7:30 am again, and it seemed that it rain all night in Florence. My wife went to make some coffee for herself, while I was finishing packing my stuff. We headed out for our final walk in Florence, we headed toward Mercato Centrale to buy some food to make for our trip to Siena, but we first stopped at Il Duomo to take some additional pictures. We finally headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags, and we had a chat with Francesca, when we headed outside it started raining but we still walked to the train station. Our train to Siena didn?t leave until 2pm (approx. 2 hour train ride), but we also could?ve taken the faster route, via SITA bus, but we already had our Eurailpass for us to use without spending any extra money, after all, we made some dull mistakes and we wanted to save it some way..hehe ?go figure.
???Ok?I?ll continue with report 3 (Siena and San Gimignano) tomorrow.
Monday, September 13th
We ended up taking the 2:30pm IC train from Venice to Florence. By now, we know for certain that we do not need to make a reservation for any IC train, all we need to present is our Eurail pass. In any case, the train arrived in Florence at 4:25pm. I called the hotel, www.relaiscavalcanti.com, to let them know that I was on the way. We decided to walk which took approximately 15-20 min. walk. Not bad walk at all, our backpacks were not heavy at all?.not yet at least. It was good to print out a map of Florence in the itinerary that I put together, plus I was already familiar with some of the landmarks, so it was really easy to find the hotel. Francesca greeted us and showed us our room, which overlooked Mercato Nuovo and the tower of Palazzo Vecchio, beautiful views, very nicely appointed room, and it was a pretty big size as well. We felt like at home!!!
The hotel is located in the heart of everything, next to Mercato Nuovo. It?s on a 3rd floor of a building (?..no worries, there is an elevator), and it is run by 2 sisters (Francesca and Anna) who inherited the floor from their grandmother 3 years ago and turned into a bed and breakfast. Both of them were very helpful and for the location and quality, the price was moderate (115 E per night), but we paid cash and we got a 5% discount. We were both very surprised and pleased with the views of our room (mercato nuovo, il porcellino, and tower of Palazzo Vecchio), and even more surprised that we didn?t hear any noise at all at night or early in the morning. We must be used to noise anyway, since we live on a lively Main Street.
This day we spent walking around Florence. We were both craving for gelato, but I made a mistake and I order one of the bigger size cones, and I ended up paying 12E for both of the gelatos which we ended up throwing it away because we couldn?t finish it?..what a waste! ??after this we know to order ?..il cono piccolo!!! We kept walking around getting to know the vicinity and plan out the following day itinerary in Florence. At night, we ended up going to Le Mossacce for dinner located on Via del Proconsolo. I remembered coming to dinner this place when I was in Florence 3 years ago, and I loved it, so I wanted my wife to experience the same thing, but it didn?t turn out that way. The restaurant overall is great to go for a quick meal and experience the Tuscan way, eating in a big table with other people and sharing some wine?..definitely not conducive for a romantic dinner, the restaurant is really small and tight. I ended up ordering ribollita, a traditional soup of Tuscany, and rolls of veal, my wife ordered Veal Cutlet and we also had Vino Rosso Sfusso (House red wine?in this case chianti). The dinner overall was ok/good, my veal was a bit salty and her meal was undercook a bit. We paid 31E?..
Tuesday, September 14th
Woke up at 7:30am, we headed out by 8:30am and headed to Il Duomo, we paid 6E each to go up to Il Cuppola (463 steps to the top?.no elevator by the way!)?..what a way to start the morning by doing some cardio!!! Great views, but unfortunately the outside of Il Duomo was under renovations. It was a great move from our part to arrive early to avoid the big tourist groups. We then headed to Piazza San Lorenzo?.for some leather shopping??you gotta do that when you are in Florence?and don?t forget to bargain! After shopping we went to Mercato Centrale, but we first stopped at a coffee shop to have some cappuccino for 1E (best price so far), then we went to Mercato Centrale. On the first floor, you can buy some prosciutto, cheese, bread, meat etc. By know, we liked much better prosciutto cotto than crudo. On the second floor, that?s where you can get vegetables, fruits. Obviously, we didn?t spend much for some grapes, bread, prosciutto and tomatoes, so we can make our lunch and some snack for later on. We headed back to the hotel to dropped our shopping off and fixed ourselves some lunch, we ended up eating in the lounge room, which ended up being much more relaxing. Once we were done, we headed outside and finish sightseeing everything (Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Becchio, Piazza de la Signora, P. de la Republica, etc etc etc). We stopped at a dessert store in one of the Piazzas?.and what a mistake, we ended up sitting down at a table, we ordered 2 coffees, and one 2 desserts and it came to 20E, there is a separate price if you eat at a table versus standing up at the bar, at least we now know not to ever do this again!. Again, we walked all over Florence and saw all of the major sites already. We then headed towards Piazza Croce where there are more leather stores. I found a pair of shoes that I really like, but unfortunately they didn?t have my size?..oh well. We stopped by at a bar and had some beer (piccolo birra for 4E, and later we stopped at a enoteca to try some wine?.gotta do that too!
We headed to the hotel to get read for dinner, but I wasn?t sure where to go, and I was recommended to go to a restaurant off the beaten path, across the river?..and oh boy we walked for a long time and we couldn?t find it, frustrated we both headed back to find something close to the hotel as it seemed that it was going to rain. We ended up going to the restaurant next to the hotel (Osteria Il Porcellino) and as soon as we stepped in, the sky opened up. I thought the food was ok, nothing to brag about. We paid 48E. Once in our room, there was a black out in Florence which lasted for 45 min. or so. For a moment it reminded me off the Big Black Out in the North East last year.
Wednesday, September 15th
We woke up at 7:30 am again, and it seemed that it rain all night in Florence. My wife went to make some coffee for herself, while I was finishing packing my stuff. We headed out for our final walk in Florence, we headed toward Mercato Centrale to buy some food to make for our trip to Siena, but we first stopped at Il Duomo to take some additional pictures. We finally headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags, and we had a chat with Francesca, when we headed outside it started raining but we still walked to the train station. Our train to Siena didn?t leave until 2pm (approx. 2 hour train ride), but we also could?ve taken the faster route, via SITA bus, but we already had our Eurailpass for us to use without spending any extra money, after all, we made some dull mistakes and we wanted to save it some way..hehe ?go figure.
???Ok?I?ll continue with report 3 (Siena and San Gimignano) tomorrow.
Sep 29th, 2004, 04:36 PM
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Trip Report #3 - Siena and San Gimignano.
Wednesday, September 15th
We arrived at Siena Train Station a little after 4pm. We bought the bus tickets (at the machine in the train station) to the center of town (0.90E each). The bus stop is accross the street from the train station, and we took bus #2 which took approx. 10-15 min to the entrance of the old town. Once, we arrived in Siena we both felt that we were finally relaxing, I believe it was the amount of people we were pretty much dodging in Venice and in Florence, and Siena was just so calm, and it has the charm and beauty that just melts you. In any case, while we were walking towards our hotel (www.palazzobruchi.it), I noticed that ROBYN WILLIAMS was walking with some friends heading my way. My wife was not looking straight ahead, and she didn't believe when I told her, until the moment that Robyn walked by me. Hey but good thing I had my elph camera in my pocket ready to take some pics like a paparazzi!!! ....that was some surprise in Siena.
It took approx. 20 min to walk to our hotel. The outside facade doesn't give much to desire, but once we walked to our floor (3rd floor...yes, there is an elevator), but we are always walking. It's an old palazzo full of character and charm. Our room was very unique, full of antique furniture and frescos, and ....the views of the wall of Siena and the tuscan hills was just amazing!....FYI Palazzu Bruchi is located on Via del Protoconsolo, just steps aways from Il Campo. We dropped off our bags in the room, and we immediately headed outside, we are both pretty energetic, so we immediately started walking around with our map...no time wasted! Siena is so easy to walk around that you can pretty much do it in 1 day or less. It was already getting a little dark and walking by some streets of Siena, we ended up in a small piazza. To our surprise, there were getting ready for large cook out, and they were setting up some benches and huge picnic tables, as well as a booth of cheese and wine, and local desserts. It was the week of gastronomia, and this particular night was being hosted by a restaurant. We found out that it was opened to the public. So we stayed until they were ready to sell the tickets. We ended up getting a couple of steaks, sausages, ribs, and some other meat that I don't remember, and of course some more vino rosso sfuso, price.....cheap! the desserts were just melting in our mouths. It was definitely a great night to have dinner outdoors with the locals.
Thursday, September 16th
We woke up around 8am, the made your own breakfast is in the room (coffee, toast, jams, etc). We then headed outside in Il Campo, we then headed to Il Duomo, and inside was just spectacular, the amount of detail, and workmanship is amazing. We then headed towards Palazzo Publico, as our goal was to climb to the top of the tower, but just as we were waiting, the sky openned up and it just started pouring. Unfortunately, they closed the entrance, because of rain. So we decided to go to San Gimignano, so we took the SITA bus to San Gimignano (1 hour 20 min. away). We enjoy the bus ride,...at least we didn't walk to San Gimignano....we are pretty much walking all over the place, so it was nice to sit down and enjoy the views of tuscany. San Gimignano is so beautiful, very medieval looking. I believe we counted 14 towers, and we learned that at one point there were 70 standing. We were able to climb the tallest of them (yes, there is a fee to get in the tower). After all, we were able to climb this tower, so I guess things happen for a reason. The views were spectacular. After enjoying the views and taking some pics, we went to grab a slice of pizza and open our bottle of chianti we bought earlier. We also exchange some $$ here at a good price, ....best price so far, unfortunately, they didn't have enough euros to exchange the rest of my money. When we got back to Sienna it was still raining. We were glad that we didnt' spend the whole day in Siena. We changed clothes, did a little grocery shopping for the following day and went to dinner just down the street to a local pizzeria. We then headed back to the hotel, and it started raining even more. We were hoping that it would stop so we can go to the top of Palazzo Publico the following day.
Friday, September 17th
Unfortunately, it kept on raining. We decided to hang around a bit longer (until 10am), but it didnt' stop. We headed to the train station, to take the train to Pisa.
Tomorrow...I'll post the next report...Pisa and our hightlight of our honeymoon....CINQUETERRE!!
Wednesday, September 15th
We arrived at Siena Train Station a little after 4pm. We bought the bus tickets (at the machine in the train station) to the center of town (0.90E each). The bus stop is accross the street from the train station, and we took bus #2 which took approx. 10-15 min to the entrance of the old town. Once, we arrived in Siena we both felt that we were finally relaxing, I believe it was the amount of people we were pretty much dodging in Venice and in Florence, and Siena was just so calm, and it has the charm and beauty that just melts you. In any case, while we were walking towards our hotel (www.palazzobruchi.it), I noticed that ROBYN WILLIAMS was walking with some friends heading my way. My wife was not looking straight ahead, and she didn't believe when I told her, until the moment that Robyn walked by me. Hey but good thing I had my elph camera in my pocket ready to take some pics like a paparazzi!!! ....that was some surprise in Siena.
It took approx. 20 min to walk to our hotel. The outside facade doesn't give much to desire, but once we walked to our floor (3rd floor...yes, there is an elevator), but we are always walking. It's an old palazzo full of character and charm. Our room was very unique, full of antique furniture and frescos, and ....the views of the wall of Siena and the tuscan hills was just amazing!....FYI Palazzu Bruchi is located on Via del Protoconsolo, just steps aways from Il Campo. We dropped off our bags in the room, and we immediately headed outside, we are both pretty energetic, so we immediately started walking around with our map...no time wasted! Siena is so easy to walk around that you can pretty much do it in 1 day or less. It was already getting a little dark and walking by some streets of Siena, we ended up in a small piazza. To our surprise, there were getting ready for large cook out, and they were setting up some benches and huge picnic tables, as well as a booth of cheese and wine, and local desserts. It was the week of gastronomia, and this particular night was being hosted by a restaurant. We found out that it was opened to the public. So we stayed until they were ready to sell the tickets. We ended up getting a couple of steaks, sausages, ribs, and some other meat that I don't remember, and of course some more vino rosso sfuso, price.....cheap! the desserts were just melting in our mouths. It was definitely a great night to have dinner outdoors with the locals.
Thursday, September 16th
We woke up around 8am, the made your own breakfast is in the room (coffee, toast, jams, etc). We then headed outside in Il Campo, we then headed to Il Duomo, and inside was just spectacular, the amount of detail, and workmanship is amazing. We then headed towards Palazzo Publico, as our goal was to climb to the top of the tower, but just as we were waiting, the sky openned up and it just started pouring. Unfortunately, they closed the entrance, because of rain. So we decided to go to San Gimignano, so we took the SITA bus to San Gimignano (1 hour 20 min. away). We enjoy the bus ride,...at least we didn't walk to San Gimignano....we are pretty much walking all over the place, so it was nice to sit down and enjoy the views of tuscany. San Gimignano is so beautiful, very medieval looking. I believe we counted 14 towers, and we learned that at one point there were 70 standing. We were able to climb the tallest of them (yes, there is a fee to get in the tower). After all, we were able to climb this tower, so I guess things happen for a reason. The views were spectacular. After enjoying the views and taking some pics, we went to grab a slice of pizza and open our bottle of chianti we bought earlier. We also exchange some $$ here at a good price, ....best price so far, unfortunately, they didn't have enough euros to exchange the rest of my money. When we got back to Sienna it was still raining. We were glad that we didnt' spend the whole day in Siena. We changed clothes, did a little grocery shopping for the following day and went to dinner just down the street to a local pizzeria. We then headed back to the hotel, and it started raining even more. We were hoping that it would stop so we can go to the top of Palazzo Publico the following day.
Friday, September 17th
Unfortunately, it kept on raining. We decided to hang around a bit longer (until 10am), but it didnt' stop. We headed to the train station, to take the train to Pisa.
Tomorrow...I'll post the next report...Pisa and our hightlight of our honeymoon....CINQUETERRE!!
Sep 29th, 2004, 04:40 PM
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Thank you. Speaking of Stamina....my wife kept telling me that she is just amazed of the stamina I have for walking around all day, sometimes 10 hours or more. You see...when I'm abroad, I'm like a spunge, I like to soak in as much as I can from the wonderful cultures, art, etc from the different countries.
