Au revoir

Rodin's "The Thinker" statue

Hmmm, as I was looking at Rodin's statue "The Thinker" today, I was thinking that today will be my last post and that means that I'm heading home soon. As much as I miss everyone, I am not yet ready to come home. Is there any way I can get another 6 weeks vacation?  Mais non, all good things must come to an end so I'll just have to accept my fate. It's been a great 6 weeks and we're already planning on next trip.

The Rodin Museum

It's so sad to see what's happening at home with the riots. We were walking around today and encountered a large protest of civil servants marching to protest reduced salaries and pensions. It seems to be happening everywhere in Europe. They were using smoke flares and flash bombs and the crowd was growing quite large. The riot police were setting up around us so we figured we'd better take cover so ducked into the peaceful Rodin museum and walked around the gardens for awhile. By the time we came out, the crowd had moved on.

The Eiffel tower

And again ....

Other than the protest, our last day in Paris has been quite lovely. Even the sun has been shining for most of the day. The breeze blew the clouds away. We walked over to the Eiffel tower today to see it up close in daylight. It's quite impressive in the daytime as well. On our way, we encountered two separate scammers who found a "gold" ring on the ground and offered to sell it to us for cheap. I'd read about the scam in the travel books but was quite surprised to have it happen twice to me. I'm sure they find an unsuspecting tourist who is willing to buy the ring for a great price.

We toured the Musee de l'Orangerie that displayed works of great artists like Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Matisse, etc. It was really great to see such wonderful works of art and it was a nice change of pace from the Renaissance paintings that we've seen so much of recently.

Au revoir mes amies. Until next time. Thanks for following our blog. We hope you have enjoyed it.

Sue and Ira

Paris est Tres Bien!

We're loving Paris! I think it might be my favourite city so far. People are very friendly and we've chatted with lots of tourists from all over the world. A young fellow from Tasmania befriended us and we went to the Eiffel Tower together last night. He was happy to find some friendly English speaking people, he said. Yesterday morning I struck out on my own, looking for a postal outlet. On the way back a nice (rich-looking) Parisian tried to pick me up. We had a nice chat. Ira didn't believe it was possible - he said he was probably just trying to pick my pockets!

A gargoyle on top of Notre Dame

Yesterday morning we walked up the tower of Notre Dame. What fabulous views from the top. I loved all of the gargoyles. It took about an hour to get through the line-up but it and the 400 steps were definitely worth it. That is the longest line-up we've had in 6 weeks so that's not bad at all. We notice that the crowds seem to be getting thicker since about Rome and that's probably attributable to the fact that it's getting closer to summer.

Sue in front of Notre Dame Cathedral

The view from the top

After a nice dinner over by Luxemborg Gardens, we finally made it to the Eiffel Tower (with our

The Eiffel Tower

Tasmanian friend Andrew). The top was closed and we were only able to take the lift up the 2nd level but that still afforded a lovely view of the city. When we got down there was a light show on the tower which was quite spectacular to see. It's got a real magical quality to it.

The hall of mirrors in Chateau Versailles

Today we took the train out to the Palace of Versailles and spent the day there. We messed up and took the wrong train so had to backtrack about 8 stops and try again. We really seem to be getting mixed up in Paris with our directions. I figure it might be because we're just tired.  Ira is usually bang-on with his map reading but in Paris he's had us walking around in circles quite a bit. The palace was nice but seemed just more of the same opulence that we have seen so much of already. It was quite beautiful, and packed with people of course. We ended up going through it twice because we snuck in a side door to try and locate the hall of mirrors and then turned around to go out the door we came in and the guard told us we had to go back in. So we trudged through the cattle line of people for a second time but managed to see some things that we missed the first time around. It seemed like today was the day of reruns!

The grounds and gardens of Versailles are magnificent. It was a nice, sunny day (for a change) and it was lovely to stroll through the gardens. There are a couple of small palaces and a little hamlet that Marie Antionette commissioned which added to the magic. All told we spent about 5 hours there. We managed to get the right train back so we're back on track.

The view from our apartment window - Rue de St. Germaine

Ira is going to get up and listen to the game @ 2:00 a.m. so tomorrow will be a sleep-in day. Not many of those left, sadly.

There are a lot of homeless people on the streets here. There is a woman with her dog about a half-block from our apartment and she has been kneeling face to the ground in the middle of the sidewalk for almost the entire time we've been here. That can't be good for the body! They allow the homeless to sleep in the subways here. Last night when we came back around midnight there must have been at least 10 people we saw bunked down in the subways for the night. It's very noisy for them but at least it's warm and dry. We haven't seen many policemen here, just the odd military officer walking around with his machine gun, like at the palace today.

I'll try and post tomorrow night. If not, I'll talk to you in person soon. Take care.

Sue

Onward to beautiful Paris!

Our time in Rome is done. It’s definitely a city we want to go back to. What an amazing city.

Part of a ceiling in the Vatican

Yesterday we set a record for walking – 22.5 kilometres. It was a long but interesting day. We walked around in the morning and then joined a tour of the Vatican with our favourite tour guide, Alex. It was jam packed with people and they herd you through like cattle. Alex says it gets four times busier in August and there is no air conditioning so it is brutal. I’m glad we weren’t there in August because it was bad enough in June.  It is unbelievable the amount of beautiful treasures and paintings that are housed within the Vatican. We only saw a small part of it and the magnitude of what we saw was overwhelming. In the Sistine Chapel, there must have been 4,000 people in the room and the guards continually yelled “Silence, Silenzio” at the top of their lungs. How do you silence 4,000 people who are gazing in awe at the ceiling that Michelangelo painted? We didn’t make it to St. Peter’s Basilica because we couldn’t face the crowds and are “churched” out for now. Next visit.

Another ceiling in the Vatican

After the tour of the Vatican, we went with the group for pizza and beer and then Alex took us on a tour of places that most people don’t see. He is working on his Masters in history and his thesis is on Michelangelo so he knew a lot of interesting tidbits about Michelangelo. It sounds like Michelangelo was quite the character. Evidently you need to have a degree and to pass a number of tests in order to be a licensed guide in Rome so that’s what Alex is working on.  He was one of the most gorgeous Italian men I have seen so far, plus he had this beautiful Scottish/Italian accent. That’s not why he was my favourite guide, though – it was the history lessons he imparted, of course J

Inside the Pantheon

Afterwards we had dinner and drinks with a couple of couples we met through the tour. Art and Malcolm were from England and Art worked at Windsor Castle so he had some interesting stories to tell us. All of the staff is guaranteed one audience with the queen per year – usually at Christmas. It’s neat to get a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes life of people who actually work with the royals, etc. The other young couple, Blake and Joe, were from Nottingham!  I asked them if they were related to Robin Hood. When we told them that we were from Canada, they asked us what our houses looked like – were they log cabins?  We told them that we lived in igloos instead J

Our little bicycle rickshaw

Saturday we took the Metro to a large park and rented a 2-person bike buggy and tootled around. It was a beautiful park full of lovely buildings and monuments. There are monuments everywhere throughout this city. Monuments, churches, museums and ruins, oh my!

Walking back to our hotel we were accosted by 2 gypsy women and their 2 children. They started grabbing us so we just batted them away with our hands. They have been the most aggressive of any that we’ve met. They try to distract you so that they can pick your pocket!  I was waiting for the dropping baby trick but luckily that never happened.

Rome has been interesting in many ways. You take your life in your hands when you cross the street at a crosswalk. People also have really creative ways of parking, as you’ll see by the picture below. We were in the gelato store the night before last and there were two police officers in there having some as well. When we left, we saw that they had double-parked in the middle of the street to come in and get their gelato.

A creative park job

The Euro pride festival has been going on for the last 3 days in a park close to our hotel. The parade was thisSaturday afternoon. We just caught a bit of it on our way back to our hotel but from what we saw it looked quite conservative compared to the Gay Pride parade in Vancouver.

Our berth

We took an overnight train to Paris Saturday night and arrived (3 hours late) around 2:00 p.m. today, Sunday.  Ira read that there are 500,000 hours of delay in a year due to wire theft so maybe that’s why we were delayed. Interesting how the problems seem to be similar no matter where you live in the world. It’s pretty cool the way the sleepers are set up on the train. It wasn’t the best sleep we had but it was just another experience to add to our list. Our little apartment in Paris is cute and in a great location. We had to haul our suitcases up 3 flights of narrow winding stairs. I’ve really built my arm muscles up over the past weeks for sure. Stairs, stairs, everywhere …… Did I mention that there is some fantastic shopping just outside our door? Ira's going to have a hard time keeping me away from the shops, I can tell you. I still have some euros in my pocket and only 4 days to spend them. I'm already planning a trip to Paris for Mel, Marna, Lisa, Cathy and I next year. What fun that would be!

It’s time to haul out the French book again. Just when I was getting good at Italian. It's confusing to have to switch from saying Grazia to Merci. 

I’m sad to say that we’re on our last week. The time has flown by and it’s been a fantastic trip so far. Ira’s planning on watching the game Tuesday morning (3:00 a.m.). Ugh! Here’s hoping we win!!!

Au revoir!

Amalfi on to Rome

Snack bar @ Herculaneum

It rained on Sunday, which took everyone by surprise. Our plans to be at the pool by 3:00 p.m. had to be postponed for a few hours so we decided to go check out Sorrento on our way back from Herculaneum, which we really enjoyed as it’s much better preserved than Pompeii but is only about 1/16^th of the size. It’s amazing how advanced the citizens were way back then – they even had snack bars!

Herculaneum

Sorrento seems like a really pretty city, perched on a cliff with lots of parks and flowers everywhere, but it’s really busy with tourists. Walking back to Sant’Agnello, we walked by the football field where a match was going on between Sorrento and Verona. There were about 50 riot police, even some from as far away as Firenze, waiting for the match to end. I guess they’ve had enough experience to know that they need to be prepared for the worse. After the game, looking down from our pool, we saw one of the buses taking out one of the teams and it was escorted by 3 police vans in the front and 2 in the back. It was hilarious listening to the traffic controllers screaming at the motorists who wanted to turn right and were prohibited. It calmed down after they parked a police car there. And our flag people think they have it rough!  We’ve noticed that the Italian people are very passionate in everything they do.

 Ira got up at 3:00 a.m. Monday morning and went downstairs to listen to the hockey game, since the WiFi isn’t working. He says it was worth it, although he was nodding off during the tour up the Amalfi Coast.

The trains are always interesting to take in this region. They have buskers that get on and play music and then send the kid through the train with a ball cap asking for donations. Throughout Italy there have been gypsy ladies walking through the train asking for money. They hand you a piece of paper, asking for money for them and their bambinos, and then walk back and collect it. We haven’t seen them receive any money yet but they must, otherwise they wouldn’t do it. Only in this region have we seen people playing music for money. The people are much more boisterous and animated down here so the train rides tend to be quite noisy.

Most of the tourists here are from England. This hotel would be like an all-inclusive for us Canadians at Mexico. They call it “half-board” here, which includes breakfast and supper. The restaurant is very fancy, with gourmet food. The problem is that most of these restaurants have 5 courses, which I find to be just way too much food for me. We’ve done it twice now on our trip and both times I’ve vowed never again. I just don’t understand how people can eat so much food and stay slim. Bread, bread everywhere - with every meal you get a basket of bread. Even the breakfast choices are enormous.

Amalfi

On Monday we took a tour up the Amalfi Coast. We had a fantastic young tour guide who had a great sense of humour and a lovely singing voice. He really knew how to play up the ladies. His pride in his country was evident and he told us a lot of valuable information. The coast was beautiful. We were in a Mercedes-Benz mini bus with 15 people so it was much more comfortable driving the windy road than it would have been on the local bus - although I think we missed out on a memorable experience. We stopped in Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, and had lunch in Scala. Lunch was billed as a “light lunch” and it consisted of a Capreze salad, piece of pizza, two types of pasta and a lemon cream puff dessert, plus wine! Sheesh!  It’s interesting to see how the people make use of every square inch of the hillsides to grow their crops (lemons, oranges, olives, figs and grapes).  Next trip we might try and spend a few days in Positano or Amalfi just to relax and lay by the sea.

Positano

view from Ravello

Tuesday we decided to make a rest and relaxation day and lay by the pool drinking freshly squeezed orange lemonade. Yum!

View of the forum from Palatine Hill

Colosseum

Wednesday we headed to Rome for 3 days. We walked around and around every corner you come across another awe-inspiring sight. What an amazing city – and we’ve only seen a very small portion of it. Today, Thursday, we went to the Colosseo and Palatino Hill, as well as a museum. It was a long day with lots of walking but we saw lots of heart-stopping sights. The history here is unbelievable. Tomorrow we’re taking a tour of the Vatican and then a night mystery tour of sights that tourists don’t usually see. Loving Rome so far except for the traffic. You almost get killed every time you walk across the street at a crosswalk. It is unbelievable the way Italians drive!

Palatine Hill

Ciao!

Mama Mia!

Last night there was a party in our dining-room with the general manager playing music and singing and the Italians dancing. It was great fun to watch. Ira and I actually danced a couple of dances as well. They gave us a glass of this booze that tastes like grapefruit. Not sure what it is but it really grows on you as you drink it.

Our relaxation day on Thursday turned out to be heavenly. We rode the bikes over to the market in the morning, which was fun. I thought it would be a fruit and veggie market but it was a huge market with clothes, shoes, sewing material, knock-off purses and sunglasses, etc. There were feeding frenzies at the 3 euro tables. I guess this is how the Italian women can afford to look so fashionable.  I’ve been noticing how colourful the Italian men have been dressing and have been trying to talk Ira into buying a pair of the orange jeans and purple shoes like these ones I found at the market but he just won’t go for it. Party pooper!

These are the ones!

We soaked in the thermal waters for an hour then Ira went for his hour-long thermal oasis (hot steam bath/sauna) and then our Indian-style massages. Ahhhhhhhh.  Afterwards we just strolled around and watched the National holiday festivities. They had boxing matches in the streets and lots of things for kids to do.

You know how I’ve been blogging about the pigeons following us ….. well, Ira decided to eat it for supper. He rates it 3 out of 10. Lots of dark meat but it’s dry and tough and gamey. The matre’de says that he doesn’t eat it but it is a Tuscany traditional meal that locals eat in the restaurant. Ira will try anything once.

Ira eating pigeon

The Sorrento coast

Friday morning we headed down to the Amalfi coast. The local railway leaves a lot to be desired for comfort (no air conditioning) but it gets you from point A to point B quite easily. Our hotel is lovely and the pool is even lovelier. It’s about a 10 minute walk to the beach. We had supper at a small restaurant overlooking Sorrento. It was quite wonderful with a spectacular view. And the pizza here is much, much better than what we’ve had so far in the rest of Italy. Ira also quite liked the Limoncello. It packs quite a punch. Our hotel is overlooking a lemon and orange orchard so there’s no doubt that the Limoncello is very, very fresh.

Pompei

Today we went to Pompeii. Ira has been waiting anxiously for this for years. It didn’t disappoint. It was quite a sight. We had no idea it was so massive. It took us 5 hours to walk through and we still didn’t see everything. Thankfully, they had a cafeteria on the site, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it. They also had drinking taps all over the place and we were able to re-fill our 1.5 litre jug about 4 times. We’re drinking lots of water in the 29 C heat. We hit the pool when we got back but it was getting late so didn’t get as much sun time as we’d hoped. Tomorrow we’ve vowed to be at the pool by 3:00 p.m. Monday we’ve booked an exclusive mini-van tour to take us up the Amalfi coast, stopping in Posteano, Rufallo, and Amalfi. It will be much more comfortable than the local bus, I’m sure. I’m looking forward to it as I have heard so much about the road, as well as how lovely the 3 towns are. We are going to Herculeum tomorrow, expecting it won’t take as long as today. After all, the pool is waiting.

Pompei

The WiFi in our room is not working so I won’t be able to blog as regularly as I have been. I’ll do my best to make it happen.
Take care.
Sue

So much to see, so little time .....

This way to the cathedral, Duomo, castle, museo, cemetary …….

 I knew coming over here that Europe was all about history but, my goodness, it is just amazing some of the buildings and artifacts that we have seen.

Montecatini Terme has turned out to be a good base point for exploring Tuscany. We found this great café where you stand at the bar and order vino or a beer and they bring you free happy hour appetizers, which are delicious and more than enough to feed you for supper. The food at that place is fantastic- and the vino and birra are not bad at all! The hotel has bicycles we can use (one gear), which are great for exploring the town with. 

The Torre E Palazzio Guinigi in Lucca that we climbed

The view from the top

Riding around the wall in Lucca

Monday we went to Lucca, which is a town full of churches and towers, and about 25 minutes away by train. We climbed to the top of one of the towers (256 steps) and were afforded a wonderful panoramic view of the city. The cool thing was that there are trees growing on the top of the tower. The old town of Lucca is surrounded by a wall that was built to fortify the town so we rented bicycles and biked around it. Very nice. I’d say it’s one of my favourite cities so far.

A satisfied shopper standing on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence

The next day we headed out to Florence. We went there early because we didn’t have reservations for the Accademia to see David and we didn’t want to wait in line for 2 hours. As it turned out, because we were there before 9:00 a.m., we only had to wait about 10 minutes. The statue of David was fantastic! I tried to convince Ira to surreptitiously take a picture but he was too chicken. One of the ladies who worked there was constantly bellowing "No pictures" but I saw quite a few people standing behind the pillar snapping a picture and quietly walking away without capturing her attention.  I had a wonderful time at the San Lorenzo leather market and managed to buy a leather jacket, purse and shoes. I was in heaven! That was my birthday present so I didn’t feel quite so guilty about it. The sales guys have their patter down pretty good, “Canada, eh”,  and you never know if they’re pulling your leg about the quality or not. They always make you feel like you got such a great deal after the haggling is over but I often feel like I have a big “S” on my forehead for “sucker”. The important part is that I love what I bought and they’re fantastic souvenirs – much better than the plastic bobble heads J.  There was a lady in the store from Edmonton and the coat she was trying on was 1,000 euros. (mine was much cheaper) She loved it but ended up leaving without it. Her husband was just shaking his head as she tried on coat after coat. According to him, she has lots at home, but none made in Florence! I wonder if she ever went back and bought it.

I saw a great sign yesterday –“ you can’t go a day in Italy without having gelato.”  We’ve been living by that motto and have still managed to keep the weight off – all those stairs we’ve been climbing!

Today we went to Pisa, which is about 40 minutes by train from where we’re staying. We only expected to be there for a few hours but were fascinated by the “magic square”, which houses the leaning tower of Pisa (the 5^th greatest wonder in the world) and a wonderful Duomo. We walked to the top of the tower (300 steps), which was fabulous. We ended up spending about 5 hours in the square as there were 3 buildings to go through and 2 museums. What a great sight. The cathedral was magnificent. Lots of the pictures and artifacts in Europe are very macabre (bones in religious vessels, crypts, pictures of people chopping heads off, etc., etc.). They were violent times in them thar days. We should count our lucky stars that we live in the peaceful society that we do.

Sue risking life and limb holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Pisa Piazza del Duomo

You can see the platform at the top

The view from the top

We discovered tonight that tomorrow is a big holiday for Italy – Republic Day. We’re going to the mercati in the morning (the market) and have spa appointments booked for the afternoon, including massages. I’m hoping to partake in the healing waters as well. My legs and feet are so looking forward to it.  Lots of people come here to drink the water but we were warned that there are repercussions and you need to check with your doctor first. It should be a good day all around and will be nice to relax for a bit rather than sightseeing.

On Friday we’re on our way to the Amalfi Coast.  We’ve booked a hotel in Sant’Agnello, which is a suburb of Sorrento (about a 10 minute walk but evidently it’s quite dangerous to walk on the road so we’ll take the train). We’re there for 5 nights so should have plenty of time to see the Isle of Capri, Sorrento, Posteano, Amalfi Coast, and Pompeii and Herculeum.  Ira has been waiting anxiously to see Pompeii and Herculeum. Everyone we’ve met who has been there has all raved about them. I understand the Limoncello is quite tasty from this region so we'll have to sample it for sure. The road along the Amalfi Coast is supposed to be quite hair-raising so it should be interesting to take the bus along there. Thieves abound in Naples and on the trains and buses down there so we’ll have to be extra vigilant.

Hope all is going well at home with everyone.  There’s a party going on downstairs with a live band so I’ve got to run!

Arriverderci!

Sue