Hoedown on the way to Venice

This morning we had worn Crystal out and she decided to stay in camp while we hit Rome one more time. While we were gone she got us caught up on laundry – yippee! Thanks Crystal!

 

Bob and I took the bus to the Vatican and found out the museum didn’t open for another 2 hours. So, we wandered Rome and climbed the hill behind the Vatican for an incredible view of the city and a 1 Euro cappuccino.  The coffee is excellent although the prices vary from 1 – 3.5 Euros for the same coffee. Odd…

 

After a nice walk we headed back to the Vatican museum and walked right into the picture gallery first thing. There are fewer people here in the morning as most head towards the Sistine Chapel immediately.  The gallery is incredible and we hit more ninja turtles early on and marveled at the quantity of work.  Most disturbing is the room of martyr deaths… I won’t describe it but my mind has yet to erase the images.  How did they paint this stuff? Graphic…

 

On through the museum we saw Egyptian mummies and sarcophagi – scarabs and other remarkable objects.  The museum winds through history and feels like you have walked through it after a few long rooms.  Incredible stuff – Greek, Roman, tapestries, the map room of incredible map painting (or were they frescoes?)… so much to see.

 

Finally we came upon the Raphael rooms – and they are really something to behold.  The most famous – and certainly my favorite – is School of Athens.  Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Pythagoras mixed with Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael himself and Michelangelo.  Very cool fresco.

 

The Sistine Chapel was next and more than I expected.  In some ways it was not at all what I thought, smaller, the ceiling further away.  But the color, the detail, the time that it took (4 years seems pretty fast when you see it) – what a stunning place to see.  The altar painting is incredible and I was surprised that I had seen very little of it.  The hand of God reaching for Adam is VERY far away in actuality.  I was wishing for binoculars. 

 

We left the museum and took the bus back to the campsite, collected Crystal, went for a quick swim and hit the road for Anzio. Bob’s grandfather landed at Anzio in WWII and it was a special trip for him: “There was a steep set of stairs that led down to the beach, which is now a recreation site.  It was not hard to imagine soldiers landing on the beach and digging in to the steep sandstone cliffs that were a short distance from the water.  The remnants of foundations and other structures were sill very evident in the hillside.  After a quiet walk up the beach we visited two military cemeteries for UK soldiers that were involved in the Anzio invasion.  Nearly every grave had flowers growing on them.  The cemeteries were beautiful and very sad.”

 

We left Anzio and began a long drive.  Thanks to P.J! we cut across the country to the Adriatic coast to see the water.  On the way there the road goes through the mountains literally one tunnel is over 10,000 meters long. That is over 6 miles – impressive, huh? The road continued with many more small tunnels until we hit the Adriatic coast.    

 

We continued on last night driving all the way to the campground outside of Venice.  It was a long drive, but switching off drivers kept it from being to exhausting.  Everything was going swimmingly until we hit the area around Venice.  Venice is a series of islands and the coast can be very sketchy.  We couldn’t find the right turn for the campground and tried to pull off and consult the map.

 

But the space we were pulling into was occupied. As was the next… for a few miles of pull offs and closed gas stations we kept getting the hopes up of “working women” that thought we were looking for them. A good time was had by all. We called the campground, spoke to a man who knows no English and wandered away from hoeville towards our site.  What a relief to get to sleep tonight.

 

Be sure to check some old entries, I am adding pictures.  I will try to update our day today in Venice tomorrow.   

Siena to Roma

Today we packed up and hauled ourselves up the hill to the car to reluctantly leave Siena.  Getting out of town was a little confusing and the road we thought was a decent sized highway turned out to be a wild two lane road through small towns loaded with crosswalks and turns.  

We decided on a side road that was curved around and around through the hills to the "SS" or superstrada.  The countryside was worth the accidental side trip with sweeping panoramas of Tuscany and fields of olive groves, bright sunflowers and perfect rows of grapevines.  The grapevines are a bright green that alternates with the sage color of the olive groves add the bright yellow sunflowers and the red poppies dotting the roadsides and the entire view is a watercolor. 

We pulled into our campsite around lunchtime, set up, made a sandwich and took the bus to St. Peter's Basilica.  Touring St. Peter's begins with a walk through the tombs underneath the sanctuary where the Popes including Peter are interred.  The tomb of John Paul II is where most people linger to pray, sing or leave a letter on the tomb.  

Upstairs in the cathedral the place defies description.  The height of the ceilings alone is unreal but to see the detail everywhere, the artistry, the gold - it is incredible.  There are remarkable paintings in all of the side chapels but the most incredible piece there is Michelangelo's Pieta.  The emotion evoked from that sculpture is deep - people stand in awe and you feel like you might be at the scene.  There was so much to see here everywhere - the main altar has an incredible sculpture as well as a beautiful understated stained glass window.  

We mailed a few postcards in Vatican City and enjoyed St. Peter's square for a while.  The museum and Sistine Chapel must wait for tomorrow as it was closed when we arrived.  We settled for a walk through Rome to some incredible places.

Winding through tiny streets and past cool cafes we came upon Piazza Novanna and watched the artists draw portraits and sell paintings on the square.  Further on we sat on the steps outside Pantheon and admired the Roman greatness.  We then walked to the Forum, the Arch of Constantine, Palatine Hill and saw the Colosseum from the outside.  Having toured a Roman Arena in Nimes we are okay with not going inside this trip.  

The Roman ruins are EVERYWHERE - around every corner there is another archeological site found by someone hoping to build a hotel or some poor guy trying to plant a tree.  Can you imagine digging your shovel in and finding an ancient Roman sculpture in the garden?  The sites are also full of feral cats that snooze on the marble and wander in and out of hidden arches.  

We took the metro and bus back to our campground and had a late dinner. Thanks to everyone who prepared me for this city by saying how dirty it is.  My expectations were so low that I am pleasantly surprised! Tomorrow we are off to the Sistine Chapel and on to Anzio. 

Siena

Well, Miss Siena today we visited your town.  After the flurry of activity and the herds of school groups in Florence we were ready to slow things down a little and drove to Siena to rest on Il Campo and admire the home of the color “Burnt Sienna”. 

 

Siena is a much smaller city than Florence that was once it’s rival town.  I believe that the plague hit Siena hard and the population dropped dramatically.  Today it hovers around 60,000. 

 

The town is situated on a series of hills… I think that if you lived here your legs would be in great shape.  The buildings are classic Tuscany – red tile roofs, terra cotta shades of yellows and reds, bright window shutters and windows that open completely to the streets.  Many of the windows have flower boxes hanging from them and others have laundry hanging out like the flags of the neighborhoods here.

 

The town has restricted driving and parking within the old city center and the cut stone streets are taken over by wandering tourists and locals. It is charming here with a gelateria around every corner and one beautiful narrow street after another.  We have splurged on a budget hotel so that we can enjoy the city center as the only camping area is 2 km outside the city.  A night in a real bed is much deserved right about now. 

 

In fact, this afternoon Bob took a little nap while Crystal and I hauled our gear from the car and I ventured into Italian driving and parking.  The parking areas are all outside the city walls (literally) and the roads make no sense.  Add to the mix the signs everywhere reminding me that the area is restricted access and I was in for some excitement! I managed to find a free parking space (yippee!) after being lost, honked at a lot, driving the wrong way on a one way and heaven knows what else that I am unaware of right now.  Thank God Bob is driving most of the time. 

 

Later today we “ate our way across this town” stopping for slices of pizza (1.40 Euro a slice) and scoops of gelato regularly. We popped into little shops to look at pottery and watercolors of the Tuscan countryside.  As the afternoon rolled on a storm gathered over us and we ducked into the Duomo.

 

The cathedral is incredible here with carved marble floors that depict scenes from the history of the city (founded by Remus’ sons), the church and Old Testament events.  There are sculptures and paintings from remarkable artists spanning hundreds of years from the origin of this church in 1215.  We picked up our 4^th ninja turtle today seeing two Donatello sculptures. 

 

The rain cooled the city off enough that we were all chilled to the bone and headed back to the hotel to take a nap.  What a great rest.

 

Dinner tonight was on Il Campo and just fantastic.  People watching over porcini mushroom risotto and minestrone was a great way to end the day.  Bob had spaghetti carbonara and Crystal had ravioli with butter and sage.  After dinner we had gelato and a crepe with nutella. Eating our way across Siena was marvelous… I think we would all like to stay another day.

 

Tomorrow we are off to Rome and hoping to make it to Anzio to see where Bob’s grandfather landed in WWII. 

 

 

Italy... the Mexico of Europe

The title is what Crystal had to say today after we had another wild adventure finding the highway. Hilly, oceanic, red tile roofs, wild drivers and excellent food: sounds rather Mexican to me. I am also thrilled with how well I am doing with the language here... sounds a lot like Spanish but with even more nearly direct Latin words. I think that I might be able to swing Italian speech with a little study. In fact, I have found that if I just say things in Spanish with an Italian accent they are usually understood. Ha!

Today we left our remarkable location reluctantly to head to Florence. The drive was relatively uneventful until we neared the city. Florence is a metropolis and our maps do not show nearly enough of the city to get around well. Add to that a hefty fine that you receive if you accidentally drive into the city center (dispensed when you return your rental car ala video surveillance systems - smile, you're on candid camera!) and it creates one stressful situation.

Shockingly with a bit of luck and Crystal's sharp eyes spotting our location on one of the maps we drove to Piazzelle de Michelangelo to our campsite. This place is pretty sweet in the sense that it is a 15 minute walk into the city center. We set up camp and left the car behind relieved to be on our feet.

We strolled across the Ponte de Vecchio with gelato in hand and looked at the jewelry that has been sold here for ages. From there we went to the cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore to see the stunning marble floors and the enormous painting inside the dome. We may climb to the top tomorrow morning but it was closed today.

We then went to the Accademia Gallery to see the David and Michelangelo's 'Prisoners', unfinished sculptures housed here. All impressive and awe-inspiring. David is much larger than I expected, a truly enormous sculpture with remarkable detail - how did he do that? We strolled through the rest of the museum before heading back towards the river.

Near the Arno River is the Uffizi Gallery that we also visited today. We saw three of the four ninja turtles... only Donetello to make have seen them all. Some really incredible artwork here from the Renaissance - Venus in many forms, more Madonna and child painting than I imagined I could see in one day, incredible church art from the middle ages and the Renaissance... it was remarkable.

Exhausted we went to dinner... eating and spending too much. But the food is good and the service is friendly. Everything is extremely fresh... I had the best pesto I have ever had tonight. Full and sluggish we walked back up the hill and watched the sunset over the city from Piazelle de Michelangelo.

Florence is packed with tourists... there is more English here than Italians. The American school kids are inescapable and we even stood behind two girls from Kent State at the Accademie. I think that Joe, Bonnie, Pat and Sherry did better to visit here in the off season. We will see what tomorrow brings but if we can we will try to get back to the country.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Thinking of you in Italy. I will add pictures as soon as I can... enjoying the comments. Mike, glad you are having such a great start of retirement - pencil me in for lunch when we get back :)

Nice is nice... on to Italy

Today we woke up early and drove to Nice. The water here, the Ligurian Sea I am told, is like a blue jewel. Stunning in every direction. The beach is lined with a huge walkway - Boulevard Anglaise (literally English Street as it was built by wealthy English aristocrats and lined in marble... now paved). The walkway is wide with a bike lane and frequented by roller bladers, bikers and people watching tourists.

The beach is covered in every kind of person with every degree of tan, and level of clothing. They really let is all hang out here.

We left Crystal on the beach to sunbathe and people watch and hit the town to check out Nice. We saw a stunning hotel (Hotel Negresco) with an enormous chandelier and Eifell-designed dome. This was certainly the most expensive hotel I have ever been in and the door had a posted sign that they were no longer open for tourists to view inside. I however have become pretty good at walking around like I own the place and we perused the lobby, ballroom, bathrooms (v. fancy) and restaurant and left impressed.

We continued our walk through town on a huge park that bisects the city. Remarkably this park is actually covering the river. It flows underneath the city park for miles. How very strange... at one time the river was fortified to defend the city (that was Italian) from France and neighboring Antibes but now it is remanded to subterranean flows.

We continued to the central plaza in Nice that is incredible - fountains everywhere of various ages and styles. We watched a Brazilian dance troupe mix it up on the plaza and marvelled at the terra cotta colors on all the buildings and the sidewalks. The colors of Nice are beautiful and the city is a palatte of reds, yellows and oranges.

We stopped in the shops to look at the pottery and fabrics that are typical here. I wish that I could pack up so many things from this lovely town. We also visited an olive shop where locals buy their oil from ENORMOUS vats and olives from barrels. Further along we stuck our heads in a shop that has been making candy in the same family 'father to son' since 1820 and looks like it hasn't changed since it opened.

The market was open and we perused fresh flowers of every kind it seems. Apparently the climate here makes it a flower region and I have never seen so many. We also saw bakeries, cheese shops, incredible fruits and vegetables and paintings for sale here. We bought a loaf of bread covered in artichoke hearts and fresh herbs and hit the beach to eat our finds.

Reunited with Crystal we took a swim in the very salty and rather warm sea before we hit the road. We passed through Monaco and Monte Carlo and marveled at the opulence - the yachts, the businesses, the buildings. Everything here seemed to be just a little higher dollar than anywhere else.

We moved on down the road and into Italy where we quickly learned that traveling the local highways is VERY VERY slow. We abandoned the wild drive along the coast with scooters popping out around every corner for the turnpike and made some headway towards Florence.

After consulting the map we choose to stop as close to Cinque Terre as possible - five little Italian villages that you can only walk to as they are surrounded by park land. Cruising along the coast looking for a campsite was an experience as the only road is one lane and follows an old railway bed. I must explain that the highways here are basically: bridge, tunnel, bridge, tunnel, bridge, tunnel... ad nauseum. Well, one lane roads are one lane tunnels that you must wait for the light to change on before you drive. In the middle of a particularly long set of tunnels there was a camping sign out of nowhere. We took it.

This turned out to be the greatest campsite that we will likely stay in on this trip. I sincerely doubt that we will do any better. We were perched over the Ligurian on a ledge aside an old railway tunnel. The people were so friendly and warm, they showed us every campsite in the place before we were asked to decide!

Our tents were set up on the edge of the water facing a tiny town, Moneglia towards the coast and the sea as far as you could see in the opposite direction. I should add here that our tents are TINY compared to what the Europeans camp with here. Their tents are absolutely ENORMOUS and the one next to us has a tent inside a tent. They also travel with fold up picnic tables and chairs and stoves. We must look like hobos.

After setting up camp we walked along the water to Moneglia to explore the town. It is a quaint little town with gelaterias, pizzarias and other shops around in addition to a tiny traveling kids' carnival. The church was also incredible inside and it appears that every tiny town has one that is likely very similar in age if not quality.

Our night ended sitting on the water and watching a lightening storm move in that brought rain on our tents most of the night.

The stunning Mediterranean

Sorry guys - these are pictures of Nimes - not Arles. I will fix this problem later. They go with the previous entry. 

Today we drove to Arles and walked in the footsteps of Van Gogh seeing the places where he painted many famous works. Awesome! I have so much more for this day but I can't seem to add it right now. When we have wifi again I will update this day for all of you and add back pictures. Here is the entry:

Another beautiful day in France!  We started the day with a little breakfast tentside and then hit the road to Arles.  Arles is the town where Vincent Van Gogh lived for 15 months and produced over 300 paintings.  It is also where he cut his ear off and entered a series of mental hospitals.  The town literature talks more about how enchanting Van Gogh found the light than the deterioration of his health. 

 

There is a walk through town that visits the locations that he painted 9 of his more famous pieces.  We walked through town and enjoyed the incredible Roman ruins, the locations of the paintings (marked with pictures of the painting) and the ambiance of a small Provence city.  The ruins there are remarkable as well bath houses, aqueducts, an amphitheater and an arena.  Both the amphitheater and arena are still used for musical performances today.  Actually, the arena was also used as a fortress during the middle ages and the entire town was located inside it!

 

Bob was thrilled to pick up a fresh baguette in Arles and it was so fabulous that before we finished our tour the bread was half finished.  We also stopped for a fresh crepe with nutella.  Delicious!

 

Further down the road we made a few wrong turns and ended up on a country road.  Crystal said, “This probably ends in someone’s front yard”.  We laughed and said that was silly, apparently this is something that happens in Texas. And  France. It ended at a beautiful farm – in someone’s front yard!

 

Back on the right road we drove to the coast in St. Raphael for our first views of the Mediterranean.  The water was so clear and blue I understand why this region is called Cote d’Azur (Blue Coast).  The cliffs are steep and long sets of winding stairs lead down to tiny secluded beaches.  At the top of each cliff is a small restaurant to buy sandwiches, beer and ice cream. 

 

North of the coast stretch some of the most beautiful red rock out-croppings covered in scrubby trees and sage.  It is as if New Mexico dreamed of water and one day the ocean just showed up.  The photos I have seen of this area are always the coast – not inland – and I continue to find this countryside stunning.

 

We drove through bustling Cannes and saw the enormous theater (right on the water) and the crowds of people wandering the narrow streets.  This might be a good time to mention that this entire drive was along the beach and yes, women are often topless here.  However, I must tell you that many of them would be doing us a service by leaving their tops on. And the men might consider a little more fabric as well.  But, this is the culture here so what can I say?

 

We drove on through Antibes to our campsite, which is very nice and very quiet.  The last place was plagued with middle school camp groups but here we are one of a few early vacationers in this area.  We walked the 500m to the beach and set up on the beach of smooth round stones. 

 

The beach rocks are what I think is technically “gravel” sized and not uncomfortable to sit on.  We enjoyed swimming in the Mediterranean where I found the water VERY warm.  Of course that is coming from someone who is now very accustomed to swimming in Lake Erie at this time of the year. NOT very warm.

 

It was a lovely swim, refreshed and salty we walked on the beach and looked down the coast at Antibes to the west and Nice, Monaco and Italy to the east.  We cleaned up and hit the town for dinner.

 

Antibes was the city that opposed Nice at one time – it was the edge of France and Nice was in Italy. Accordingly there is a large defensive fort here.  It is also a city once inhabited by Picasso and Chegal.  There are museums here dedicated to them, in particular there is an enormous number of Picassos.

 

We wandered through town and found a meal in Place du Nacionale, a little like a town square.  The restaurants set up tables in the square and we enjoyed a wonderful meal there complete with accordions playing in the background.  Bob had seafood lasagna, Crystal had curry mussels and I had a lovely pizza with fresh tomato, eggplant and herbs. 

 

We are back at camp now and enjoying the evening on the grass outside our tents.  Tomorrow we may head to Genoa to get a jump on our trip to Florence. 

 

 

 

 

Hot, hot, hot

This morning we embarked down the Gard River in top side kayaks. In France they call these "American Kayaks" although the man acknowledged that they were not indeed American.

Almost immediately we stopped for Bob and I to jump into the cool water. It was before 10 am but already very, very warm. The paddle down river was lovely and peaceful with views of limestone cliffs and unbelievable quantities of fish in many varieties visible at almost any moment below us. We saw several herons (one that looked a lot like a Snowy Egret), ducks and frogs - the frogs make a fantastic call that sounds like an exaggerated swallowing sound from the Looney Tunes.

We had a great time kayaking today - only one misadventure. Crystal took what turned out to be the wrong around an island and had to abandon ship. She collected her boat, paddle, water bottle, sunscreen and flip-flop floating downstream. We had a good laugh... or I did. Crystal insists she nearly died.

Towards the end of our kayak we cruised under the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct that operated for hundreds of years. It is in remarkably good condition and there is no way I would have believed that it was built in 19 BC. Very cool.

After our kayak we cleaned up and hit Nimes, another site for Roman ruins. Today in Nimes we saw an ancient Forum that is better preserved than the Parthenon and explored the best preserved Roman coliseum in the world. In fact it is still used regularly for concerts and bull fights (most do not kill the bull). Fantastic. But also fantastically warm here today.

We intended to hit Arles as well but that will wait until tomorrow. Tonight we are back for a cooling swim in the river and off to Uzes to eat in the shadow of the Duke's castle. More about that tomorrow.

Crystal would like to request comments from her "peeps" as well if you are reading. And relative to comments - Jeremy we are indeed eating an occasional PB&J in the car on the way to our next stop.

We did indeed enjoy a swim in the river and then drove to Uzes for dinner. Dinner was on the square under lovely lights. Bob was particulrly proud of his seafood pizza complete with octopus. Very unusual. We strolled through town and went back to camp to get some much needed rest.