Welcome to the birthplace of St Francis, the founder of the Franciscan religious order! I only get to stroll around a bit because I haven’t payed for parking, and the cops are coming up!
One boy, 13 months, 13 new countries, and all that he has learned!!!
Category Archives: Italy
Venezia on land
Well at first you must see Venice on water, but if you have here is some of it on land:
Don’t forget to visit the other islands surounding Venice!
Murano – where they make glass;
Burano – famous for its artisan lace;
Torcello – the calm and peaceful one fitted with a 11th century cathedral;
Click here to discover Venice’s Historical Regattas, as well as its coastal town of Mestre.
Le Cinque Terre
Hello and welcome to le Cinque Terre and their surroundings! The Cique Terre, the five lands in Italian, are a series of perched coastal villages in the province of Liguria in north-western coastal Italy. The cities’ names go as follows: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. They are a Unesco World Heritage site, and are definitely worth the hikes and visits. Unfortunately enough for us, heavy rains impeded our hiking, but we still managed to see a few things:
Pavia
After Scotland I’m on my way to Italy to meet Mom and her student Anika in Pavia. They are attending a conference and I just get to visit Italy a bit more! My flight leaves from Edinburgh, and lets me stay overnight in Frankfurt, but not the cool one with the changing lights in the endless array of hallways… The one where there is nothing!
Well not nothing… There I meet a group of 3 Brazilians who are stuck there because their friend missed her flight and now they have to get her a new one, and there is a whole episode of an annoying ticket sales lady who seems disgruntled about her whole existence and should have just been born a tree instead of polluting the atmosphere with her bad temper! Anyways 500 of her Euros later she gets a ticket and her houseful of luggage onto the plane. We wait in line and sleep very uncomfortably for the hour and a half flight. Ouch me neck!
Luggage retrieved, and onto the bus we go from Bergamo, an hour east of Milan, to the Milan central train station and from there she goes to Venice, and I go to Pavia… Just a quick note for those of you thinking about going to Italy and possibly taking the train:
There will be some people offering to help you get your ticket(s) take their help if you want to but they are often drunk and prone to making mistakes… You’ve been warned!
Finally in Pavia, I meet with Raphaela and her parents at the train station as we wait for Mom and Anika to meet up with us before we go to a restaurant. It is a very pleasant lunchtime!
Raphaela takes us around Pavia before she heads home, and we 3 walk around some more! Pizza dinner? Ummm… YES!
Foligno
Foligno is a small city in the middle of Italy that I got to visit and stay with possibly family members as you can read about here. However, here you can see pictures of this city:
Ortona
During the Second World War, an important battle was fought by Canadians in Italy. The location is on the Adriatic coast, and the city’s name is Ortona. Many different Canadian units were in no advantageous position to take the village back from the Germans or Italians, but they did after a long and hard series of battles. Our great-grandfather was one of the soldiers who died there. He drove a tank, and as I found out through the help of a lovely lady at the Battle of Ortona museum, he didn’t even make it to the actual battle. His tank having been one of 8 to be lost a few days the actual inner city battle began. Even so, I believe that knowing more about these sacrifices is an important part of our day-to-day lives. My family had gone to Ortona before, but I had not. So this is where my first destination on this week long Italian road trip takes me. Here is the city, and things exposed at the museum:
The Historical Regattas in Venezia!
The whole reason, except for visiting, behind our excuse to go to Venice is The Regata Storica (Historical Regatta). It is the main event in the annual “Voga alla Veneta” rowing calendar. For thousands of years people from all over Veneta have participated in this competition on the Venetian lagoon. Now, it is better known for its historical water pageant that precedes the races. A bunch of typical 16th century-style boats with gondoliers in period costume carry the Doge, the Doge’s wife (Doge = Duke) and all the highest ranking Venetian officials up the Grand Canal.
My grandparents not wanting to fuss about finding a spot get us seats on this floating dock. Good idea at first thought, but the reality is very different. There are too many people and not enough of an incline to be able to see anything comfortably. People keep standing to take pictures and ushers hush them to sit to no avail. People get so frustrated they leave. I left for a little bit to go and take some possibly better pictures, but everything is filled out with people. You do still get a feel for what is going on, and these rowers know what they’re doing! Tip for those of you thinking of going to see the regattas: Find a restaurant by the Grand Canal and save yourself a seat, you get lunch, a show, and a great show.
Here’s some of what I was able to see:
Venezzia on water
For a week our grandparents and I went down to Venice to see what it’s all about!
It is mainly one of two things: water and land, but mainly water. This post is about water…
…whereas this one is about land.
There are five more posts about Venice because there is one about the town of Mestre which is on land and connected to Venice by a long bridge fitted with a road, a cycle path, and train rails, and three more concerning the other islands of this tiny archipelago called:
Murano – where they make glass;
Burano – famous for its artisan lace;
Torcello – the calm and peaceful one fitted with a 11th century cathedral;
And the fifth post all about the Historical regattas that were the main reason for us going to Venice in the first place!
Mestre
After walking all day in Venice, or one (two, or three) of the islands, the grandparents got tired and decided that it was time to go back to the hotel. I decided to go for walks around the little town of Mestre. During these walks I took a few pictures, but I also talked to a few people from there. This stage building/soon to be pub owner named Alex who told me a lot about what to see and do in Venice, so I transmitted that all over to my grandparents when we were visiting.
The second night I sat down at a bar, and got to talking with the people at the table beside me. A young bunch of people comprised of 4 friends that all work or used to work in the cruise ship industry and shared with me a bunch of their funny stories. Such as:
The one about a man in his electric wheel chair who was on the top deck of a ship when it was windy enough to make the ship rock. His brakes stopped working or something of the sorts and he starts yelling “Get out of my way!”. Right before taking a person down and crashing into wall. Needless to say he went to the infirmary.
Or this one:
A woman was on her balcony, holding a glass of brandy and a cigarette who got drunk, slipped, and, worthy of at least an honourable mention in the Darwin Awards (for those of you who don’t know: an award given to people who die in the stupidest ways possible), hit her head and died.
That ones not so funny, but a story nonetheless.
Check out their page all about Venice!
Burano
Just like Murano, you have to take the vaporetto to Burano. Unfortunately we got to the island too late to see any of the artisan lace makers doing their thing, but we did get to see the beautiful houses and a leaning tower:
There are more islands to explore if you haven’t yet!
Murano – where they have master glass blowers;
Torcello – the calm and peaceful one fitted with a 11th century cathedral.
Murano
Welcome to Murano, the biggest of the other islands around Venice. Their specialty is glass blowing, and nope nothing else that’s it. To become a glass blowing master you have to go through a 15 year apprenticeship. After seeing this following demo, I’m not surprised! Have a look:
Check these islands out too!
Burano – famous for its artisan lace;
Torcello – the calm and peaceful one fitted with a 11th century cathedral.
Rome in a quarter day
I leave Warsaw in the morning to be in Rome for the afternoon. I only have a 20 hour layover so I have to make the most of it! Out the airport, into the train station and 36 Euros later… Wait what 36 Euros to get to Rome from the airport? Ludicrous, but oh well. 30 minutes later I am in Roma, and I have examined the tourist map carefully to make the best use of my short adventure in this old Europe megalith of a capital.
After this short tour I spend an hour wandering the streets to find food. I settle down in Campo De Fiori, a nice little square filled with mimes, a saxophoner, and all you can eat pasta!!! The waitresses and waiters are very friendly as I sit down and write in between dishes of pasta of all different kinds. The hostess notices, tells me that she is a writer, and that I should describe Rome as this according to her:
Rome is where people come to live their lives. Whatever your mood may be, it will always change for the better!
Her synopsis concluded with:
“In Roma le persone prendano sempre le 30 minute per il caffè. In questa città che sempre qual cosa di nuovo da scoprire.”
Which in Italian means: “In Rome people always take the 30 minutes for their coffee (implying visiting with friends, over coffee). In this city there is always something new to discover.”
I think the second part is absolutely true because there are so many old buildings, little bars, cool shops, and what not that it would be very unlikely that you get a case of the bores.
13aprojekt 