Happy Days in Italy - a sort-of trip report
Jun 27th, 2009, 10:34 AM
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Happy Days in Italy - a sort-of trip report
We arrived home from 12 days in Italy on Monday and although I am not writing a funny/charming/thorough trip report I will tell you some of the stuff -
My husband and I flew to Venice via Zurich on SwissAir. Nice airline, great chocolate, pretty young girls for flight attendants, but the smallest seats ever. We are tall people and our knees were positively jammed in coach. PLUS my husband had the misfortune of having his behind-the- eat movie screen broken coming and going! But we were on our way to Venice so who can complain!
We met our son at the Venice airport as he arrived from San Francisco the same time as we arrived from JFK. Our daughter was meeting us two days later from Chicago.
Our hotel, based on recs from this forum, was Al Ponte Mocenigo. It was a lovely hotel with a gorgeous little courtyard where breakfast was served. I can only say nice things with one exception. We stayed in two different rooms because the three person room was booked for our first two nights, so we had an extra bed the first two nights and moved into a larger room the third night. I was somewhat underwhelmed with both rooms because they had virtually no natural light. They overlooked another building and were decorated in a very ornate style, Venetian, and the second room was all in blood red from ceiling to floor. As we left I ducked into some other rooms being cleaned and they overlooked the canal and were gorgeous, some with balconies. So if I stay there ever again I will ask for a room overlooking the canal. You should do the same! In Venice I can recommend La Zucca, which has been recommended on this forum. It was possibly the best meal of our entire trip.. We also can recommend Il Refolo, which is on a lovely piazza. Both require a reservation most of the year, I believe.
Daughter arrived, we rented a car, and then we were off to Verona. She had never been to Italy so Verona was a great intro. I called it "Little Rome". It reminded me of why I like Rome because there were many similarities but on a smaller scale. We LOVED Verona and wish that we had more time there. We stayed at Hotel Trieste, which was great. The room was spartan but clean as a whistle and the breakfast room was completly charming. The breakfast was also a cut above the usual. They even serve the cappucino with a smiling morning sun swirled into the foam! We loved that Verona has ample pedestrian walking areas. it was surprisingly the busiest place we visited, although there seemed to be very few Americans.
After Verona we headed to the Dolomites. We decided to concentrate on the northern part of Italy this trip because we have been to Florence and south five times in the last several years and I thought I could answer the "You're going to Italy AGAIN???" question by explaining that we were going to the north so of course we were going again! Haha It worked to get my husband to agree to yet another trip to Italy, also! Anyway, based strictly on advice from my people here (Steve and Bob) we headed to the Val Gardena and Ortisei. Great choice, just not on a Sunday! The town was closed up tighter than a drum but we managed to entertain ourselves. We booked at Garni Villa Park and loved it. The family that runs it are so nice and the room was adorable. The view from our balcony was stunning! The town is sooo cute and we kept saying that we couldn't believe it was Italy because there was NO Italian spoken or written anywhere. It is all Ladin or German or ......something. Our one mistake here was that because everything was closed we noticed that the cablecars were running so we decided to go up the mountain. Well, we were in sundresses, sandals, flip flops, etc. because it was HOT and when we got to the top of the mountain we were sorely out of place with the hiking crowd! But our two days were delightful in Val Gardena. Not a foodie destination but sooo charming.
Next we were headed to Lake Como. Our GPS went kaflooey so our son navigated as his father drove by using that old fashioned device called a map. He never noticed that the road he had us following included a 9,000 foot mountain! So we climbed the Stelvio Passo with me complaining the whole way that this could not POSSIBLY be the way to Bellagio. It turned out to be one of everyone's favorite parts of the trip (not me!) as we wound up and down this mountain.
We finally arrived at Bellagio and found our apartment at La Limonera. Awesome. Awesome town, awesome place to stay. We loved it. I have to say that this town/lake is absolutely gorgeous. GORGEOUS!!!!! There were very few tourists and we seemed to have the place to ourselves! We wandered, shopped, ate gelato, took the ferry to the towns across the lake, stalked George Clooney and only got as far as his front gate, relaxed on the lovely terrace at La Limonera, met some fine folks from New Zealand, and just enjoyed the loveliness of the Lake. Our son even dived into the lake to fetch his sister's very expensive sunglasses that fell off as she was peering into the lake the first night there.
Our final stop was two days in Milan. We stayed at the Marriott, which was lovelier than most and walked and walked. It was again Africa Hot but we were chowing down so much that we needed to keep the pounds away by walking till we dropped. We ate at Obiki, a 'mozzarella bar' at the top of the Riniscente department store. It was cool and the food was good but the attitude was a bit much. When asked whether we preferred to sit inside or out, in an effort to be accomodating our daughter replied, "Either". The hostess rolled her eyes at us. ROLLED HER EYES! Then she proceeded to seat us at the bar. Sheesh. Milan was also the place where I took a header onto a the street becase my sandal got stuck in a cobblestone. Still nursing those scrapes and bruises!
Anyway, the high point of the trip was being able to spend the time with our grown children. They have lived all over the country since high school and we haven't taken a vacation all together since the kids were in high school. The trip home was a marathon that included an unscheduled overnight in a gross Days Inn at the Detroit airport because of a flight delay out of JFK, but we finally made it home from our Italian Adventure. My husband kept asking how I knew about different places and I said, "Fodors!" With each place we stayed/went/ate my family congratulated me on my choices and I have to thank you all. Grazie!
My husband and I flew to Venice via Zurich on SwissAir. Nice airline, great chocolate, pretty young girls for flight attendants, but the smallest seats ever. We are tall people and our knees were positively jammed in coach. PLUS my husband had the misfortune of having his behind-the- eat movie screen broken coming and going! But we were on our way to Venice so who can complain!
We met our son at the Venice airport as he arrived from San Francisco the same time as we arrived from JFK. Our daughter was meeting us two days later from Chicago.
Our hotel, based on recs from this forum, was Al Ponte Mocenigo. It was a lovely hotel with a gorgeous little courtyard where breakfast was served. I can only say nice things with one exception. We stayed in two different rooms because the three person room was booked for our first two nights, so we had an extra bed the first two nights and moved into a larger room the third night. I was somewhat underwhelmed with both rooms because they had virtually no natural light. They overlooked another building and were decorated in a very ornate style, Venetian, and the second room was all in blood red from ceiling to floor. As we left I ducked into some other rooms being cleaned and they overlooked the canal and were gorgeous, some with balconies. So if I stay there ever again I will ask for a room overlooking the canal. You should do the same! In Venice I can recommend La Zucca, which has been recommended on this forum. It was possibly the best meal of our entire trip.. We also can recommend Il Refolo, which is on a lovely piazza. Both require a reservation most of the year, I believe.
Daughter arrived, we rented a car, and then we were off to Verona. She had never been to Italy so Verona was a great intro. I called it "Little Rome". It reminded me of why I like Rome because there were many similarities but on a smaller scale. We LOVED Verona and wish that we had more time there. We stayed at Hotel Trieste, which was great. The room was spartan but clean as a whistle and the breakfast room was completly charming. The breakfast was also a cut above the usual. They even serve the cappucino with a smiling morning sun swirled into the foam! We loved that Verona has ample pedestrian walking areas. it was surprisingly the busiest place we visited, although there seemed to be very few Americans.
After Verona we headed to the Dolomites. We decided to concentrate on the northern part of Italy this trip because we have been to Florence and south five times in the last several years and I thought I could answer the "You're going to Italy AGAIN???" question by explaining that we were going to the north so of course we were going again! Haha It worked to get my husband to agree to yet another trip to Italy, also! Anyway, based strictly on advice from my people here (Steve and Bob) we headed to the Val Gardena and Ortisei. Great choice, just not on a Sunday! The town was closed up tighter than a drum but we managed to entertain ourselves. We booked at Garni Villa Park and loved it. The family that runs it are so nice and the room was adorable. The view from our balcony was stunning! The town is sooo cute and we kept saying that we couldn't believe it was Italy because there was NO Italian spoken or written anywhere. It is all Ladin or German or ......something. Our one mistake here was that because everything was closed we noticed that the cablecars were running so we decided to go up the mountain. Well, we were in sundresses, sandals, flip flops, etc. because it was HOT and when we got to the top of the mountain we were sorely out of place with the hiking crowd! But our two days were delightful in Val Gardena. Not a foodie destination but sooo charming.
Next we were headed to Lake Como. Our GPS went kaflooey so our son navigated as his father drove by using that old fashioned device called a map. He never noticed that the road he had us following included a 9,000 foot mountain! So we climbed the Stelvio Passo with me complaining the whole way that this could not POSSIBLY be the way to Bellagio. It turned out to be one of everyone's favorite parts of the trip (not me!) as we wound up and down this mountain.
We finally arrived at Bellagio and found our apartment at La Limonera. Awesome. Awesome town, awesome place to stay. We loved it. I have to say that this town/lake is absolutely gorgeous. GORGEOUS!!!!! There were very few tourists and we seemed to have the place to ourselves! We wandered, shopped, ate gelato, took the ferry to the towns across the lake, stalked George Clooney and only got as far as his front gate, relaxed on the lovely terrace at La Limonera, met some fine folks from New Zealand, and just enjoyed the loveliness of the Lake. Our son even dived into the lake to fetch his sister's very expensive sunglasses that fell off as she was peering into the lake the first night there.
Our final stop was two days in Milan. We stayed at the Marriott, which was lovelier than most and walked and walked. It was again Africa Hot but we were chowing down so much that we needed to keep the pounds away by walking till we dropped. We ate at Obiki, a 'mozzarella bar' at the top of the Riniscente department store. It was cool and the food was good but the attitude was a bit much. When asked whether we preferred to sit inside or out, in an effort to be accomodating our daughter replied, "Either". The hostess rolled her eyes at us. ROLLED HER EYES! Then she proceeded to seat us at the bar. Sheesh. Milan was also the place where I took a header onto a the street becase my sandal got stuck in a cobblestone. Still nursing those scrapes and bruises!
Anyway, the high point of the trip was being able to spend the time with our grown children. They have lived all over the country since high school and we haven't taken a vacation all together since the kids were in high school. The trip home was a marathon that included an unscheduled overnight in a gross Days Inn at the Detroit airport because of a flight delay out of JFK, but we finally made it home from our Italian Adventure. My husband kept asking how I knew about different places and I said, "Fodors!" With each place we stayed/went/ate my family congratulated me on my choices and I have to thank you all. Grazie!
Jun 27th, 2009, 11:36 AM
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rbnwdln - thanks for the report. Except for the Swiss Air part. Six of us are flying to Rome on Swiss Air in late July. I am 6'3 and hate being jammed in. On the other hand, I can just sit behind my wife and knee her for 8 hours.
Jun 27th, 2009, 12:42 PM
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OMG, bob, I am so sorry. It just came pouring out when Ita posted that I was a bad girl for not doing a trip report. I thought I was doing paragraphs and didn't preview because I needed to get going somehwere.
Jun 27th, 2009, 12:49 PM
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I think you mean ...
OMG, Bob, I am so sorry. It just came pouring out when Ita posted that I was a bad girl for not doing a trip report.
I thought I was doing paragraphs and didn't preview because I needed to get going somehwere.
OMG, Bob, I am so sorry. It just came pouring out when Ita posted that I was a bad girl for not doing a trip report.
I thought I was doing paragraphs and didn't preview because I needed to get going somehwere.
Jun 27th, 2009, 03:46 PM
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Thanks for the lol rbnwdln. Sometimes humour doesn't show up clearly on these posts.
By the way, we read your comments on Bellagio. We only have time for one "beauty" stop on this trip to Italy (aside from the Amalfi coast). I am pushing for the Dolomites but family members are now quoting you re Bellagio. It may be a last minute decision.
By the way, we read your comments on Bellagio. We only have time for one "beauty" stop on this trip to Italy (aside from the Amalfi coast). I am pushing for the Dolomites but family members are now quoting you re Bellagio. It may be a last minute decision.
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