TUTZT00

MrGreen
Your flight experience to Milan is familiar to me.. we just did this in August. One thing I've learned is to spend the extra $ and book the hotel for the day before my arrival as well... I advise them that I'll be checking in very late. This way, when I arrive at the hotel at 9:30AM or anytime before check-in - the room is mine . I've wandered around too many cities killing time - tired and grumpy after my flight.. for me it's worth the extra $ to get a few hours sleep asap. Of course, we travel economy hotels so the rates are affordable.

KathrynT

Mr Green,

I am thoroughly enjoying your report and can't wait to read more. I was trying to decide if we should include Milan on our next trip and your report convinced me that we should!

I hope you had no further transportation troubles on the rest of your trip. I'm looking forward to the rest of your wonderful report.

kahern

so Mr. Green, how DO you pronounce Poggibonsi?

subcon

mr. green's experience with the italian transport system is exactly why (other than rome) we always rent an auto when travelling there.

the vision of dragging luggage around stations and on and off trains/buses then subsequently having to guard it really reinforces this prejudice.

MrGreen

Regarding the seat reservations on the IC train to Venice. It may well be true that it is possible to reserve your first-class seats. I was not aware of this, and the man at the counter's exact words were, "Seat reservations on this train are not guaranteed." This lead me to believe that we couldn't reserve our seats, so I didn't ask. Also, I had no idea the train would be as crammed as it was. We had not experienced anything at all like this up to this point.

Again, as prepared as we were for this trip, it just goes to show that you don't always think of everything. I wouldn't discount train travel as a viable option, based on this experience, though. Just be prepared for it!

donco - That thought crossed my mind a time or two!

kahern - The right way. What's with the big space?

Only a few more days left! More Venice coming up soon!

MrGreen

Sunday, October 30 – Day Eleven, Venice

We had booked the Secret Itineraries Tour at the Doge’s Palace for 9:55 A.M. on this day. We arrived at St. Mark’s Square a little early to be sure we got in. It was a good thing we did because when we tried to get into the prepaid line, the security guard told us we had to wait in the long line, even though we had reservations. So we got through the line and found out at the ticket counter that we really should have been in the reservations line after all. Fortunately, we still made it to the tour on time. We booked the Secret Itineraries Tour through the Doge’s Palace website for 12,50 Euros each. This tour was fabulous. We got to go through secret passageways, we saw the prison cells where Casanova was kept, office’s of secret officials, and we got to see the beams that hold up the largest unsupported roof in Europe. It looked like a big upside-down ship, with huge wooden beams everywhere. The tour guide was excellent and very knowledgeable. The tour was definitely worth the extra cost.

After the tour was finished, we were free to see the rest of the palace that is open to the public. We saw many beautifully decorated rooms with immense paintings everywhere. We went across the Bridge of Sighs to see more prison cells. The most impressive room is the Grand Ballroom (where we saw the large ceiling from below this time). The ceiling was incredible. The Doge’s Palace also contains one of the largest and diverse collections of ancient arms and armor that I have ever seen. It certainly gives the collection at The Tower of London a run for its money.

We walked around St. Mark’s square for a while and window shopped while we tried to find a place to eat. Eventually, we came to Bar San Marco just off the square. We shared two pasta entrees; one with salmon and the other with shrimp. We spent 31,05 Euros for that meal.

Our next scheduled item was supposed to be the Museo Correr, but due to the cost, and the fact that we were nearly museumed-out, we elected not to go. We caught a vaporetto over to Salute, to see Santa Maria del Salute. This is a massive building right on the Grand Canal, decorated with statues on the outside. Entry was free, but we threw in a couple of Euros in the donation box. The interior was dark and sparsely decorated, but contained a couple of beautiful paintings. It was a peaceful visit. Next, we made our way to the Gallerie dell’Accademia. Entry was 6,50 Euros each. There were some very nice paintings to see here from the 1400’s to the 1600’s.

After the gallery, we found our way, without much trouble, to Scala del Bovolo, which is a very unique outdoor spiral staircase and took a few pictures. It is down a very narrow street, that is not much more than an alley. We shopped our way back towards the hotel, via the Rialto Bridge, stopping at Antico Forno for some cheap delicious pizza (6,60 Euros) on the way.

The weather in Venice during our 4 day visit was cool (low 60’s) jacket weather, and cloudy for pretty much the whole time. We only had one day where it rained for about an hour or two. We didn’t expect it to be sunshiny and hot, and we thought that the cool cloudy weather only added to the Venetian atmosphere. The weather seemed to fit the location perfectly. Venice was definitely charming us, now.

Our hotel in Venice was wonderful. We stayed at Ca’ Bonvicini for 96 Euros per night. I found the hotel on venicehotels.org, where I was quoted the price. Then I mentioned that website and price when I book the standard double room at the hotel’s website. The room was not huge, but it was decorated with great taste. (and it had a separate shower in the bathroom!) We got to stay in the hotel’s only first floor room. We also had a view of a small canal with a bridge right outside our window. The hotel staff spoke excellent English and, as mentioned above, were very friendly. Breakfast was served every morning in our room. We received a tray with croissants, biscotti, bagels, with our choice of drinks, and an array of toppings. Mrs. Green discovered a love for nutella spread over the cookie-like biscuits.

Woody

Mr. Green,

Ahhh . . . Nutella! See if your local grocery stores carry Nutella. (Our local Ralph's and Trader Joe' do.) It would be a nice reminder for Mrs. Green of your travels.

Woody

MrGreen

We have a Trader Joe's somewhat close by. I'll have to check that out.

Thanks!

aliska

Mr. Green, I know you also live in Columbus. Giant Eagle in Gahanna carries nutella, I assume their other stores do as well. It is in the section where they sell jams/jellies. My kids love it on toast.

MrGreen

Oooh, aliska, thanks! I will check that out, too! Mrs. Green will be very happy to hear that.

MrGreen

Monday, October 31 – Day Twelve, Halloween in Venice

Once again we headed over to St. Mark’s Square, this time to see St. Marks Basilica. After about twenty or thirty minutes of creeping slowly through the pigeon gauntlet, we made it to the entry. This was one of the most highly decorated places we’ve ever seen, inside and out. There were mosaics in the arches over the doors, but that didn’t prepare us for the inside of the basilica. It seemed like every square inch of the inside was covered with gold mosaics. We were able to go out on the balcony, where the four horse statue replicas are standing, to look out over the square. The real horse statues were inside the basilica. There was just way too much to see in St. Marks Basilica to describe it here. We spent 6 Euros to get in the Museo (where they keep the horses), 4 Euros to see the treasury (with more human bones in fancy gold containers), and 3 Euros to see the Pala D’Oro (which was very elaborately decorated with precious/semi precious stones). This made a total of 13 Euros total for both of us to see everything in the Basilica.

We decided not to go up into the Campanile because the line was pretty long and it was really cloudy anyway. Plus, we weren’t sure if it had an elevator and by this time our feet couldn’t have handled the climb. So we had some free time to try to do some of the things that we scratched from the itinerary on our first day in Venice. The first of these being the Casa Goldoni (2,50 Euros each). I wanted to see the puppet theater that they had on display there. We took the vaporetto to the San Toma stop for this visit. We stopped at a little café before we got to the Casa Goldoni and enjoyed some great brushetta with tomato and eggplant and a delicious type of sandwich with mozzarella and spices.

We enjoyed the Casa Goldoni, although it was very small. It was neat to see the little marionette theater. We wanted to find a puppet/mask shop that was recommended on the map (we hadn’t been paying much attention to the mask shops as of yet). We made a wrong turn and instead came to The Frari, which was another item we had skipped our first day here. So we went in. We saw Canova’s tomb, which reminded me of something on a Pink Floyd album, so that was cool. Canova was apparently the man responsible from bringing the horses back to Venice after they had been taken to France by Napoleon. (I think that is how it goes, anyway.) There were some other great statues and paintings in this wonderful church. I believe that there was a small entry fee, but I do not remember and I don’t have a receipt for it.

There was a tapestry shop outside of the Frari and I couldn’t resist buying Mrs. Green a tapestry copy of the Venice painting she has loved so much at the Uffizi Gallery. She was very happy. Finally we found the mask/puppet shop we had been looking for. We bought a small mask to hang on the wall at home. Next, since it was fairly close, we stopped by the hotel to drop off our purchases of the day. We went over to San Cassiano, but it was closed. One thing I had been wanting to try was to just get lost in the non-tourist heavy streets and see the real Venice. We actually tried to get lost in the Santa Croce area, but kept finding our way back to something familiar. So, we got on the vaporetto to see an area we hadn’t been to, yet. We got off at the Ca d’Oro stop.

We spent the rest of the evening shopping or just walking when there were no shops around. As the evening wore on, we did see some little trick-or-treaters roaming the streets in their costumes. They would stop in the shops and restaurants to ask for treats. But they didn’t say “Trick or Treat” they said something else. (I can’t remember what it was.) Somewhere we stopped for gelato and had three scoops, strawberry, vanilla and chocolate with nuts. Before it got too dark, we found ourselves at the Gesuiti. This turned out to be another moment of serendipity. The Gesuiti was on our very limited list of things to see tomorrow, but this would free up even more time. It turned out to be my absolute favorite church in Venice. It was stunningly beautiful inside. The colors were soft green and white floral designs. Their was splendid stonework that looked like real fabric. The elegance of the interior of this place truly calmed the soul with peacefulness.

We continued on our walk until we found ourselves near the train station. We decided to get something to eat, so we took the vaporetto back to San Stae and walked back to that café in Campo Cassiano. It was the Bar San Cassiano’s outdoor cafe. This was one of the best meals we had in Venice and the best spaghetti I’ve ever had. It was so good, I don’t even remember what Mrs. Green had. I wouldn’t share. The funny thing that happened while we were there is that some trick or treaters would come by the café, the owner, an older gentleman, would get angry and yell at them (in Italian, of course) and chase them away. Undaunted, one of the children emptied a popgun full of confetti at the entrance to the café. This of course didn’t help the owner’s mood any. The thing was that he was still very much concerned that we were enjoying our meal and that everything was just so. We came to the conclusion that for the best food, we’d always try to find an old grumpy Italian guy. We spent 25,50 Euros for two meals, drinks and a delicious apple dessert. This was also the square where I bought my papier-mâché marionette.

Our favorite part of walking around Venice at night was the maze-like feel to it. We’d come to the end of a street thinking we were at a dead end, then all of a sudden, there would be a corner and we could continue on. We found it almost difficult to really get lost unless we actually tried to because anywhere you were, you didn’t mind being there, after all, it was Venice.

MrGreen

Up next, Our last full day in Venice before we head for home.

yk

Mr Green-

We were in Venice about 1 week before you, and the weather was pretty bad.

I just want to say, we had the same difficulty as you did at thd Doge's Palace. I found the entrance very confusing - no one seemed to know which line is for what. We also queued in the long line, and only to find out it should have been the other one instead.

Anyway, in case you're interested, here's the link to my trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34700605

MrGreen

Tuesday, November 1 – Day Thirteen, Our last full day in Venice

We had left much of this day free, with the exception of the Museo Storico Navale, Arsenale, and the Gesuiti, which we had stumbled upon the day before. So we boarded the vaporetto and headed over to the Arsenale stop. Arriving at the Naval Museum, we found it closed, even though the sign on the door said it was open, there was a huge padlock on the door. This was ok with us; we just walked over to the Arsenale and took some pictures of the gateway. The rest of the day was free for just walking, lots of walking. From Aresenale, we went to San Giovanni e Paolo, passing by Venice’s “Leaning Tower” along the way. We thoroughly enjoyed this church. We had to wait for a service to end before we went in, but it was worth the wait. Next we made our way to Santa Maria Formosa. It appeared that there was some sort of private function about to start or just ending, but we poked our heads in for a few moments. There were other tourists in there, too so we felt ok about it.

It was around noon, so we found a pizzeria where we spent about 19,50 on one last good pizza in Italy. We continued walking until we found ourselves back on Santa Croce. It had started to rain lightly, so we went to the hotel since it was nearby. We figured we’d spend some time packing while it was raining in the hopes that it would clear up. An hour later, the rain had stopped, so we headed out again. This time, we headed back over to the Ca d’Oro stop to try to find a shop that we liked the night before. We found it, but still couldn’t decide on the purchase, so we went down the street for some gelato to help us make up our minds. This was our last gelato so we made it a good one. We sat down for a bowl of four scoops: peanut butter, strawberry, mint, and pana cotta. It was so good. By the way, the gelato helped, we went back and made our purchase.

We decided it was time to really get lost in Venice. We walked for the next two hours without looking at our map once. And when we finally made it back to the hotel, we were amazed to see the amount of ground we covered in our last two hours of the day. (Get out your Venice maps and follow along, if you like!) From the Ca d’Oro area, we made our way north until we found ourselves at the train station. We crossed the Ponte di Scalzi and wandered around Santa Croce, passing by the Frari again. Soon we found ourselves at Piazza Roma. Then (starting to get really tired and hungry) we headed in the direction we thought would take us to the station again. We ended up, however, going south from there. We stopped at a large open area with some outdoor cafes and a few shops still open. (It was quite dark, by now.) And had no idea where we were. We were finally lost. I looked at the map to get our location. We were in Campo S. Margherita. We had walked the entire length of Venice!

I decided that I had had enough of being lost for this trip and I was ready for some food. For some reason, we couldn’t find anything. It was too chilly to eat outside, so the outdoor cafes wouldn’t do tonight. We went to the Ca Rezzonio stop and headed on the next vaporetto to St Marks so that Mrs. Green could take a few night time shots of the square before we found a place to eat. Once that was done, we set off in search of food. Our search took us to Al Theatro Ristorante, next to La Fenice. This was one of the more expensive places we went to eat. We spent 45,90 Euros for salads, (that I, quite honestly had to choke down. I really disliked it.) a 2,50 cover charge each, water, and entrees. I had lasagna, which was just ok, while Mrs. Green had the spaghetti with meat sauce, which she enjoyed. We had definitely eaten better for less, but it was ok. We then made our way back to the Realto, where we crossed and easily made our way back to the hotel, tired and worn out.

Some of our thoughts on Venice were, that it was nice to not have to dodge traffic, we were not disappointed that we skipped taking a gondola ride, which seemed more like an expensive cliché more than anything else, and walking around Venice was most fun at night when we were not site seeing. Venice was definitely in my top two favorite places in the whole Italy vacation (the other being the all-too-brief visit to Siena). Venice was the perfect way to end a long and sometimes hectic vacation. The crowds we saw mainly only gathered in the obvious places. I think the timing of our trip was very good. The busy season was just tapering off, so we were not overwhelmed by it. The weather was pretty good, but that was never a given. We always wondered if the day would bring rain and cold.

The Blue Venice Card…was it worth it? That was difficult to determine because we never checked to see what a single ride on the vaporetto would have cost. We didn’t use any of the public pay toilets or try to find any of the discounted stores and restaurants that the card offered. We knew that we were glad we didn’t have to waste time buying a ticket every time we wanted to get on one, or each morning for a day pass, or whatever they have. So, in terms of saving time (except the time we spent trying to collect the darn things) we were glad to have just one pass to deal with. I highly doubt that they saved us much money, if any. We were also a little disappointed that the Venice Cards did not cover the boat to the Venice Airport. That was another 10 Euros each, purchased at the dock next to St Marks, where that boat stops.

MrGreen

Wednesday, November 2 – Day Fourteen, The Long Journey Home

We made our last journey down the Grand Canal to St Marks to purchase tickets for the boat ride to the airport. The boat took about an hour to reach the airport, stopping at several islands, the last being Murano, along the way. When we got to the airport, we made the unexpectedly long walk to the terminals. We had no problem finding the check-in desk, although it took quite a while to get through. It was also a pretty long wait through security, until they finally opened up a second line. We made it to the gate with about an hour to wait before our 11:25 A.M. flight to JKF. We spent some of our leftover Euros at the duty free shop while we waited.

The flight went by slowly, as they all do. Fortunately, we got to sit in the emergency exit row, which gave us about three times the normal legroom. Arriving in JFK was much easier than the trip over had been. We had to collect our luggage and recheck it once we passed customs, but this was very easy. We didn’t have to wander around trying to find our gate. There were signs for connecting Delta flights so we just followed them to the correct gate. The flight back to CMH went by relatively quickly and soon we were there, tired and happy to finally sleep in our own bed, but not quite ready to be home, yet.

yk

MrGreen

Each vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal is 5 euros. Really expensive, IMO. We ended up just walking everywhere instead.

Our experience at the airport was similar to yours, except that I left little time for error. We barely made our flight because it took forever to get through the security.

Sue_xx_yy

Oh MrGreen, how I laughed at your experience in Poggibonsi. We went in the reverse direction, taking the train from Florence, via Empoli, to Poggibonsi - on a Sunday. Sunday train service is frequently less frequent, if that makes any sense. Anyway, we arrived in Poggibonsi to find the next bus from the train station would leave for San G in two hours. And who should be there right at the bus stop, like a spider waiting for the flies, but a taxi.

We didn't have enough for what he asked. He took what we had. Nonetheless, we were happy. I suspect you can empathize.

On the outbound from San G to Siena, we got on a bus thinking we had to change buses in Poggibonsi - we didn't, our particular bus stopped in P but was otherwise direct. Either way, I recall our bus from San G to Poggibonsi was faster than yours. If memory serves, there are TWO variations to this route - an express and a slow, slow, slooooow bus. I'm guessing you accidentally went on the latter.

As for your train agent's comment "seat reservations on this train are not guaranteed" - my guess is that it was either the day before, or the day after a 24-hour strike, when enforcing reservations is more difficult than usual (to put it far less entertainingly than you did) because the trains are picking up the passengers who would normally have travelled during the strike. Anyone reading who needs to have advance warning about strikes - check www.seekitaly.com two or three weeks in advance of your expected train departure.

I loved the report, especially the part where you wanted to burn someone with your eyeballs. That image is gonna stay with me for a long, long time!

MrGreen

yk - Thanks for that info. I feel better about our purchase, now. We may have used the vaporetto's almost enough to justify the csot.

Sue - I think we would have paid the extra cash for the taxi by that point, if we'd have seen one. It was pretty frustrating.

I think we did get a very sloooow train. Usually when buying these tickets, we'd just ask for the next train to where we happened to be going. I'm thinking that was a bad idea. Its all vacation history and funny memories, now!

We checked into the strikes on the website you posted right before the trip. I didn't see anything that I thought would affect our train travel, but what do I know? But that makes sense about the seat reservations.

I'm glad you liked the report! I had a blast writing it.

MichelleY

Dear Mr Green:

I really enjoyed your report. Very nice presentation. Nov. 1 is All Saints' Day. This may be the reason the Naval Museum was closed.

Again, great report.

MY

donco

Thanks once again for your very enjoyable report, Mr. Green! Our first Italy trip was Rome, Florence, Venice and in the latter 2 cities, we experienced many of the same wonders and frustrations as you! It <u>do</u> get better though! We also loved the Gesuiti-it took us two trips to find it open and what a wonder, eh? You are going to love Rome! Follow the Bernini and you'll be &quot;blown away&quot;! Bravo!