Italy - April 2015

Remember this report is mainly for me and Deb so we can remember all the fun things we did on this trip. Sorry about the length and all the pictures. Well maybe not actually sorry. Despite the length this is not done. I need to add some "extras" expanding on things we saw.

Since this is the fourth time going to Italy, this trip was to "kill off" Italy. By the end we will have seen everything.

Day 1 - Arrival, Guest house, Mouth of truth, dinner
Day 2 - Ostia Antiqua, Forum, Capitoline museum, Dinner at Pagaroma
Day 3 - Santa Teresa in Ecstasy, Pantheon, Carrivagio, Piazza Navona, Alternate apartment, Saint Peters, Spanish Steps
Day 4 - Train to Florence, Uffizi tickets, Bargello museum, Orsanmichel, Borgo Antica for dinner
Day 5 - Academia/David, San Marco/Fra Angelica, Rain
Day 6 - Santa Croce, Medici chapel, 4Leoni dinner
Day 7 - Rental car, Siena, Hotel, Lunch, Crowds, Dinner
Day 8 - Perugia, Assisi, Lost
Day 9 - Siena Duomo, Duomo museum/view, Drive to Volterra, Hotel, Volterra, Dinner
Day 10 - Car return in Florence, Hotel, Brancacci Chapel, Dinner
Day 11 - Train to Milan, Giuila, Apartment, Lunch, Duomo, Pinacoteca Ambrosiana museum,  Dinner in
Day 12 - Galleria, Lunch, Top of Duomo, Dinner in
Day 13 - Finding da Vinci's giant horse, Cemetery, Home
Day 14 - Trip to Lake Como/Varenna Lunch
Day 15 - Last Supper, Trek to airport, Trip home

Day 1 - Rome - Unfortunately it was holy week so Rome was jumping with people.

 We landed in Civitavecchia which is the port for Rome. We waited forever for the bus to take us to the exit. We then hiked out with our luggage and Stephen looking for the train station to train to Rome's big central train station - Termini. They moved the drop off point since the last time we did this so it was quite a hike. We had a pleasant ride to Roma. Stephen had a hotel room nearby. We stopped by for the bathroom then sat down for a couple drinks. We took a taxi to our place.

We are staying in the same place we stayed a few years ago - the Aventino Guest House. It has expanded and added a few rooms in another building. We were scheduled to stay here for two nights but when we asked for another night they said "yes". This meant we were going to forfeit the room we had signed up for the third night. It wasn't real expensive so we let it go.
   The thing is that when changing rooms it takes about half a day to pack up, check out, move, move in and unpack so it seemed like a good idea. We originally couldn't get three nights at Aventino.
   The room was in the new section and quite nice. Once again we had four keys and probably could have used another.

After a nap we walked out, past the Circus Maximus and the Palatine hill, to Santa Maria in Cosmedin to see the Bocca dela Verita or "mouth of truth" as in the movie "Roman Holiday". Of course it was closed just ten minutes before we arrived. Interestingly enough it is not inside of the church. Despite it being behind some bars there is a pretty good view.
   Deb was very tired so the walk home was a bit of a struggle. We stopped at a market and picked up a few things.

We went out onto the veranda, had some of our Madeira wine from Madeira and some snacks.

We know the neighborhood pretty well, so for dinner we hiked up the street toward the pyramid to a place we knew. It's a sort of a chain restaurant but the food and drink were very good.

Back to the room and to bed. The TV is complex and no English programs other then BBC news. Top

Day 2 - Rome

This morning Stephen came over by taxi. We hiked down to the Pyramid train station and after some fooling around, including help from a gypsy lady, took a train to Ostia Antica. We got our tickets and entered this amazing place.

It's the port for ancient Rome. It is an amazing collection of ruins. Many warehouses and apartments. There is an amphitheater with a temple behind the stage and behind that a market. The market has many mosaics sort of describing the wares the stall was selling. The mosaics are in as good of condition as the day they were built. There are Roman baths, bars and many apartments. There is an area where there were several temples for various religions, including Judaism,  seeing this was an international center.
   Rick Steves and others think this may be more interesting then Pompeii. It's massive.

We had a modest lunch at the cafeteria and walked back to the train.

We took the metro to Coleseso - the Colosseum. We walked near the Colosseum and up past the Forum towards the Victor Emanuel Monument. Looks like lots of reconstruction going on here. We hiked up to the Piazza del Campidoglio designed by Michelangelo and entered the Capitoline Museum (link).

Wow! Many famous things here including Marcus Aurelius on a large bronze horse - it's the only surviving example of a large bronze equestrian statue from that time period. Note that stirrups had not been invented yet. According to comments there were at least twenty four similar statues around Rome.

Too many things here to mention.

Stephen took a bus home. We took a long hike back past Santa Maria in Cosmedin to our place and got ready for our big dinner out at Pagaroma. We've been to this restaurant several times in the past and though expensive we always had a wonderful time. It's quite a trip to get there.

We took the metro to Termini, picked up Stephen and rode out to the Flamineo stop, walked through the Pizza del Popolo to get a taxi. He ripped us off by driving all over hell taking us to Pagaroma restaurant.

We were seated off in a rather plain room by ourselves. We were given some prosecco and began dinner. It was nice but there was no wine steward and the manager never came by. Another table was seated near us. Dinner was very good, as was the wine. It ended with some lemoncello and some grappa. Not as nice as we expected.
    Now the adventure begins. I hadn't been able to hit an ATM so I didn't have enough cash and they wouldn't take a credit card. The waiter told me I could hike out to a nearby ATM and get some cash. Out I went. It was quite a hike to the ATM. On the way back I got lost! I walked and walked and walked around the neighborhood for about 20 minutes before I found the street again. What a relief! Thank God I knew the name of the street.
   They told us the metro was not working this late at night. They called us a taxi. Seeing the first trip was around 20€ I assumed this would be totally outrageous. Turned out not too bad. We dropped Stephen off at Termini and went to our place. The total, with tip, was 20€.
   All in all not a great experience. Top

Day 3 - Rome

Today is scheduled to look at some churches.

We picked up Stephen and hiked over to Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri to see St Teresa (link) in ecstasy. There was some construction going on so we couldn't get close. Our pictures appear nicer then in person. There was a coin box where if you put in .50€ lights will turn on. I did this. Everybody else was in the dark. Quite a nice church.

  We hiked over and took a look at the Pantheon - still quite an amazing structure. Over 2000 years old and still one of the largest domes in the world. It was crowded but not too bad. We saw Raphael's grave.

We discovered the church San Luigi dei Francesi (link) with the Carrivagios. It was nearly closing time for lunch. We zipped in and took a few pictures before they shooed us out.

We hit Piazza Navona for an expensive tourist lunch. We sat directly in front of "The Four Rivers" fountain by Bernini. Very nice. And expensive.

We decided to drop by the place we had paid for for tonight. After some fooling around we got in. It's steps from Piazza Navona. OMG! Too bad we didn't stay here! The room was a bit small but brand new and well located. There were steps up to three levels of platforms where you could sit, have a drink and take in the view. And WHAT A VIEW! You could easily see St Peters, Victor Emanuelle and pretty much all of Rome. The highest terrace was very high up. Amazing. Damn! Next time. Stephen was knocked out also. Next time.

We hiked over, across the Ponte Sant' Angelo bridge, with the statues, and towards Saint Peters. The crowds were nuts. We looked it over and decided to give it up.

We took the metro from Ottaviano toward Termini. I noticed the Spagna stop was on the way. We stopped off for Stephen to take a look at the Spanish Steps. It was jammed with people. We took a few pictures and went to Termini. We had some wine with Stephen before saying goodbye until sometime in the future.

We picked up some snacks, went back to our room and relaxed. Then to dinner at the place we went to the first night. We ate less but enjoyed it. To bed... Top

Day 4 - Florence

Today we got up a bit earlier to get ready for Florence.

We packed up, had breakfast and had the manager call a taxi for us. We went to Termini and hopped on a high speed train to Florence.

A very nice ride at speeds up to 150+ miles per hour. At Florence we took a taxi to Hotel Pitti Palace. It was too early to check in so they stored our bags. We went to the Uffizi to get our pre-paid membership cards. After some fooling around we found the office. The lady told us she had hand delivered them to our hotel. Deb looked and we did have an envelope from the hotel stating "Uffizi". Sure enough they were the tickets. We thanked the lady profusely.

The deal is the yearly membership not only gets us into the Uffizi but several other museums. It's seems expensive but we actually saved money with it. We then looked through the museum. We've been there before but this time they allowed photographs. We spent quite a bit of time going through the permanent exhibits. Then we discovered other parts of the museum on the lower floor. These works were really well presented and of high quality. We enjoyed it immensely. It took at least a couple hours. Nice view of the Ponte Vecchio.

  We went a few doors down from our hotel and had some wine, beer and split a sandwich for lunch. Then to our hotel and check in. We are up one level on floor 1 - room 105. Quite a nice room. This hotel is right at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio.

We went out and walked around through the Piazza della Signoria where the old city hall is, plus a bunch of wonderful statues. It was packed! Mostly Italians on Easter vacation.

 We went to the Bargello museum. They have several interesting things including Donatello's David - the first nude male cast in a thousand years, castings for the baptestry door competition, other Davids and interesting sculptures.

We stopped for a piccolo beer and prosecco before proceeding.

We walked around the Orsanmichel and looked at the sculptures in niches on the outside of the building. They represent the various craft guilds.

We hit the Piazza Della Republica which is the center of old Roman Florence. We took the long way back to look at a nice section of the city.

We crossed the Ponte Vecchio and went to our room. We went up to the patio and looked out over the city. It was a bit cold and windy. The views were not as nice as I remembered.

We went to Piazza Santo Spirito and Trattoria Borgo Antico for dinner. We ate inside and shared some dishes. We've eaten there a few times before but this is the first time we sat inside. Quite an interesting place. A bit tight but very good food and wine.

Back to our place and a couple lemonocello's on the patio looking out on the city. Then to bed. Top

Day 5 - Florence

We got up and had a very nice breakfast at our hotel(/B&B). We walked out and found the famous pig.

We hiked out past the Duomo. It's quite chilly and windy. The baptistry is being refurbished. We were going to the Galleria dell' Accademia. Here we saw Michelangelo's David again. It's a must see. It's huge and truly amazing. They let us take pictures this time.
   We also went into a back room that had a bunch of old plaster casts and practice pieces for students. This was quite interesting.

We hiked on out to Museo de San Marco. It's an old monastery. Cosmo de Medici asked Fra Angelica to come and be bishop of Florence. He said he wanted to be the head of a monastery. Medici built this place for him. Fra Angelica painted New Testament scenes in each cell to inspire and focus the monks minds. The paintings are amazing.
   Rooms used by Girolamo Savonarola (link) and some of his possessions are here here. He was a fiery preacher who denounced the pope and had visions. He was later burned with two of his friends in the main square.

As we started back it started to rain. We nipped into a rather upscale place on San Marco Square to pass some time waiting for the rain to abate. It rained quite hard. We noted that this was a major bus center. Finally we gave up and jumped into a taxi and went back to our hotel. We basically snuggled in and waited for the rain to stop. I nipped across the street for some sandwiches and pastries.

We finally went to bed. Top

Day 6 - Florence

This is Easter Sunday.

Today we had breakfast and started walking to Santa Croce church on the other side of the river. It was cold and windy. We passed the big library and finally found the square. There was a service going on but they let us in. It was Easter Sunday and they were doing a high mass. The singing was beautiful. We left and went out to the square. A group was playing that we'd seen before. It was pretty cold and windy.

We hiked back through the old city hall and took a few pictures. It was very crowded. We once again we admired the sculptures. Then back to the room. It's pretty cold. We are planning on visiting the Santo Spirito church to see the Michelangelo's Crucifixion done when he was 17. We stopped for an upscale lunch in front of the Pitti Palace. It always amazes me that places like this were built before Columbus discovered America.

We then walked to the Medici chapel where several Medici are buried. The crypt is one of the masterpieces by Michelangelo. We were lucky to get in just before closing. As we exited things were pretty closed up. One of the strange things here is where the WC is located.

On our way back down one of the fancy shopping streets we nipped into an important looking church - very nice. We crossed the Arno and just for fun walked past Santo Spirito. We stopped into a small rustic bar for a small drink. I had beer, Deb had a prosecco.

Then back to our room. We went up to the patio for a view and a wine.

We went to 4Leoni for dinner. It's sort of an upscale steak place. We had a fine and expensive dinner. We spoke with some Americans.

Back to our hotel and to bed. Top

Day 7 - Florence

We checked out of the Pitti Palace Hotel.

We took a taxi to pick up our rental car. It's pretty scary walking around Florence, driving could be a serious problem. They gave us a nice little car, a white Fiat 500 convertable, and very good directions to get us out of town and on our way to Siena (link). No serious problems getting on the freeway.

The roads are a bit rough and narrow. The speed is generally 90kph (56mph) or 110kph (68mph). I probably scared everybody by using my turn signal when changing lanes - probably identified me as a Californian.

We did the proper exit but got wound up by a particularly confusing double roundabout. After driving a while I pulled into a gas station to get directions. There was no attendant. I asked a customer for directions. He spoke surprisingly good English. He directed us right back to the roundabout and told us to go to Pt San Marco - up the hill toward the old city. We came to the old city wall but decided we might get a ticket driving in, so we looped back down. Hmm. Up the hill again. This time we asked the guard where the hotel was. He said to go through the gate and turn left. Sure enough there it was.

The Hotel Athena (link) was spectacular. Possibly the nicest hotel we have been in in a long time. We parked, took our stuff and went in and registered. They take your car key because parking is so tricky they will probably have to move it.

We walked over to the square in front of the big cathedral. There were many groups and many people standing around. Even the ticket line was too much. We walked to the Campo which is one of the main features of Siena. It has the tallest town hall tower in Italy. They have two one day horse races here in July and August. There are about a dozen restaurants around it. We finally chose one and sat down to a pizza and wine. We enjoyed watching a family and their boys playing with bubbles. Deb tried to talk to the mother with her baby. Much fun.

We ambled back, half lost, to the hotel. On the way we stopped at a very nice fancy bakery and bought some pastry's for breakfast. We looked in shop windows and bought some wine from an Enoteca or wine shop. I had a nice talk with the owner - he spoke no English and I spoke no Italian. We had another peek at the Duomo.

Back to the hotel. We checked out the patio. It was a bit cold and windy. We talked with a Canadian couple and had a couple limoncello's.

Off to dinner. Deb spotted a place that looked not too fancy. We had a nice dinner. We shared some sort of stuffed pasta and a pounded piece of veal with sauce. Dessert was interesting.

We nipped over for a peek at the duomo at night. Then off to bed. Top

Day 8 - Siena

This morning I made coffee in our room and we ate our rather beautiful pastry's.

Today we couldn't find our car. The hotel desk man found it for us in the garage - which we didn't know existed. Using a map from the hotel, we are off to Perugia and Assisi. Before our trip we attended some lectures on various hill towns. These were two of the towns described. We got off to a good start. There is a big beautiful lake as you drive. It's quite a distance. It's quite cold and windy.
   We didn't have any maps for Perugia (link) so we just exited the freeway and drove into town. We figured it must be up hill so we just kept going up up up. The roads got narrower and narrower. Finally I parked in an odd little spot and hiked up an alley which had a sign pointing to a hotel. I couldn't find the hotel but on the way back down a noticed a small bakery shop with an "abrieto" sign on the door. I went in. A young guy, maybe 19 or so, was working with dough cutting out shapes. He was thrilled to help an "American". By using my phrase book and "translation" on his iPad I found we just needed to go a bit further.

BTW - it was blowing and SNOWING at this point. We were freezing.

We found the rather odd parking garage. I parked but had to leave my keys in case they needed to move my car. Parking was tight with no aisles for pulling in and out.

The church and other buildings do not have finished facades. We entered a church-like building and took a few pictures. We walked over to the duomo museum and asked where the "Sala del Cambio" was located. It is painted by Pietro Vannucci (Perugino) Raphael's teacher. After some searching we found it. There were several well preserved paintings in two medium sized rooms. Quite impressive if you are into religious paintings.

We went for lunch in a place down an alley. We had perhaps the best pizza of the whole trip.

We nipped down to the parking garage. The car had been moved. We drove down down down and finally found the freeway to Assisi.

No problem finding Assisi (link). We chose one of the three parking garages. We started our quest to find the church with the fresco's by Giotto (link). We entered church after church looking. In the process the wind was an icy gale. We hiked up and down very steep streets. It was very difficult. We spoke with a novice priest from America and his mother. Finally after much searching we found what we were looking for. No pictures allowed (?!). We spent quite bit of time looking things over. There is some debate whether the fresco's are by Giotto, inspired by Giotto or done by Cimabue.
   We were lost. These medieval towns are totally confusing. We didn't know where the parking garage was. After much hiking around we found the church where we first entered. The parking garage was nearby down, down, down stairs.

After taking a wrong exit out of a roundabout we drove some back roads before we found the freeway. On the way back we took a wrong turn on the freeway. I finally pulled off and asked directions at a little bar. They told me to go back toward Perugia and follow the signs to Siena. Hmm. We didn't get on the freeway so after a several miles it looked like the same road we'd been on earlier. We turned around and went back to the little bar. They said "get on the freeway toward Perugia and follow the signs to Siena". This time it worked. Off we went.
   Then we took the wrong exit for Siena. I ended up asking directions at a gas station. The guy spoke surprisingly good English. Back on the freeway, correct exit and back to the hotel.

We hiked back into Siena to the same restaurant we had eaten at the evening before. We had their special biscotti. Very nice.

To bed... Top

Day 9 - Siena to Volterra

The original plan was to leave for Volterra early, drop our bags at the hotel then continue to Pisa to see the tower and cathedral, perhaps visit the Carrara marble quarry, then enjoy Volterra later in the day. Unfortunately because of crowds and such we had not seen the inside of the Siena Duomo so we had to do that instead. Guess we need to go back again.

We had our coffee and pastry and decided to try to see the Duomo and museum before going to Volterra. Unfortunately the ticket office and cathedral doesn't open until 10:30am, we arrived around 9am. I sat around waiting while Deb hiked back to our hotel and back to the Duomo. The sun was warm if not hot.

We finally got our tickets and entered the Duomo (link). The crowds were much much smaller. This is the day after Easter Sunday and Holy Monday - holy week is over. The Duomo was rather amazing. I think the black and white stripes are ugly but they had some very nice stuff here.

One is a statue by Michelangelo which looks like him and like his Moses plus the hands of David. He was supposed to do the whole alter but left for Florence to do the David sculpture. His students finished the alter.

There is a sculpture by Bernini. A Donatello sculpture of Saint John The Baptist that looks like a practice piece for the Mary Magdalene in the Duomo museum in Florence.

We went to the nearby Duomo museum. It is mostly items removed from the Duomo facade plus access to the top of a tall structure. At one time Siena was going to build the largest church at that time. They began building but ran our of money and had some structural problems. So building stopped. Remaining is this tall wall  which was going to be the end of the new nave. We hiked up the narrow spiral staircase to the top. Quite a view. Well worth the hike to the top.

On the way back we stopped in the bakery and bought a few things including two slices of the famous Siena fruit cake.

We packed up, checked out, found the car and started out for Volterra.

After exiting the freeway we were driving twisty, sometimes narrow and blind country roads. We passed through some towns and only got screwed up a couple times. Finally we found Volterra and finally our hotel. It's a rather large nice place with a large restaurant. The hotel is outside the walls and down, down, down.

The office lady pointed out the hike up to the town. OMG! It was possibly more then 45 degrees in places. Quite the struggle. We finally passed through the old Etruscan gate and entered the town. We stopped in a cute place for our usual pizza lunch. After looking some things over we started our hike to the Etruscan museum by having a gelato.

Deb bought some cute things at a store specializing in alabaster - a local translucent marble. We had fun looking at the sights and shops. It is still quite cool weather.

We finally found the Etruscan museum. It was a bit funky. No pictures allowed. They have an extensive collection of boxes where bodies or ashes are stored. We saw the famous piece with the older couple looking very loving. Deb didn't use the bathroom.

We hiked back to the hotel. We rested up from a big day and tasted the Siena fruit cake - very good.

We decided we didn't want to make the hike up the hill again seeing Deb was having a foot problem and it was cool and windy. We had dinner at the hotel. There was only us and another table in this rather large dining room. Deb was admiring the sculptures when the owner came over and said his father and grandfather were sculptors and had done the items. We had quite a discussion. He sent a couple lmoncello's over. A very nice dinner with a nice ending.

To bed... Top

Day 10 - Florence

We ate our pastries left from Siena for breakfast and hit the road for Florence. No problem getting back to the freeway. As we approached Florence the fun began. We had a couple pretty good maps to find the car rental return place. Unfortunately we got lost. I illegally parked and asked for directions at a small hotel. Off we went again. Lost again. I parked and went to a small bar for directions. We were about three blocks from the place. As we drove in the car kept warning me about low fuel - yikes. We made it. It took some time to check it in. They called us a taxi.

The taxi took us to the Hotel Cimabue in this area away from the main tourist area. There were a couple dozen kids in front of the hotel. We took our luggage in where the hotel girl stowed it in a closet for us. We had some trepidation about the place. Especially since there was some noisy construction going on just outside our window.

We hiked over to San Marco Square where an agent helped us get on a bus that would take us to the main tourist area. We got off the bus and had a nice pizza and wine. Yum. We walked over to the Uffizi, through the town hall,  for one last look at some well loved paintings  and sculptures.

We then hiked quite a distance to Santa Maria del Carmine where the Brancacci Chapel (link) is. We had reservations to get in. Looked like we didn't need the reservations - after all our gyrations getting them. Quite an interesting place. We spent considerable time looking it over in detail. Quite an amazing place. At least partially done by Filippino Lippi.

We wanted to take a bus back to San Marco Square but couldn't find a place to buy a ticket. So we did the extremely long hike back to our hotel. It was mainly up a big time shopping street, past the Medici Chapel, past San Marco Square and finally to the hotel.

We checked in and went to our room. It is rather basic but the bathroom is one of the best of the whole trip. The room is clean and just fine. The noise stopped about 6pm.

After a rest we went out to Trattoria Tiberio for a nice but simple dinner. We split a risotto and it was huge.

To bed... Top

Day 11 - Florence/Milan

We took a taxi to the train station for our trip to Milan.

The high speed train hit 200mph a couple times.

We arrived in the large and a bit confusing station. We took the metro to P. ta Genova. We asked the taxi guys for a ride but they said it was just up the street. We hiked up but had some trouble finding our little side street. I asked at a butcher shop and the gal there directed us. We had some trouble trying to get in. Finally the lady in the lobby called our land lady. We were in but the place was being cleaned.

We had a long conversation with Giuila Gandolfi and met her 11 month old son Guido. What a cutie.

We hiked out to the Cape Town Cafe recommended by Giuila. We had drinks and sandwiches - perfect.

I believe we returned and checked into our apartment. It is absolutely beautiful. It's on floor 5 (level 6). It has a long balcony. (extras)

At some point we hiked out and around trying to find a market. It was quite confusing - it's in sort of a space/time warp area. We stocked up on a few things. Grocery prices are relatively cheap.

Apparently we took tram #2 to the Duomo (link). The facade is amazing, the most detailed I've ever seen. We walked through the large crowded piazza and entered the church. Quite amazing inside too. It's huge. One of the largest Gothic cathedrals in the world. It was like a forest of gigantic columns - sort of like a redwood forest.

We went to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (link) museum suggested by Rick Steves. Quite impressive. No pictures allowed. Lots of religious art and famous artists.
   I was particularly impressed by the display of twenty two pages from Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. Well presented and annotated in English as well as Italian.

We trammed back. I cooked some tortellini's and sauce for dinner. We played cards and snuggled in for the evening. Top
 
Day 12 - Milan

In the morning I made  coffee with the magic coffee machine. It takes those little containers and water to make a small cup of coffee. Even though a "long" coffee was called for I had to hit the button twice to get the right amount of water and less strength. We had a couple pastries.

We rode the #4 tram to the Duomo piazza and went into the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (link). Quite an amazing place.

We then began searching for a special place for lunch we had been told about by friends from class - Irv & Karen. We couldn't find it. Finally we asked some police but they didn't understand us. Thank goodness for Rick Steves phrase book - they sent us in the right direction. We went up in this department store to the food court where we got a table outside with a view of the cathedral. An elegant and expensive lunch. We split a risotto, had drinks and dessert. Very nice.

We went down to the department store and looked around. Deb bought some makeup.

Back down to the Duomo Piazza where we bought tickets to go up on the roof of the cathedral. I got us into an enormous line. Deb scouted around and got us into the short elevator line which we had paid to do. Not enough signs here. Wow! This was amazing. I've never seen such a view of flying buttresses in my life and I've seen a lot. We couldn't get enough.

There was an anti-abortion protest going on so the trolley's were not running. We hiked over to get a taxi. That didn't work so we hiked to another taxi place. Finally back to the trolley seeing they were running again. What a mob on the trolley. We accidentally got off a stop early. But we learned a few things walking back.

We went to the grocery again. Tonight I cooked up some gnocci's with sauce for dinner. We played some cards and went to bed. Top

Day 13 - Milan

Coffee and pastry's again for breakfast. We have a pastry shop just around the corner and down a bit from us. The guy running it is friendly and working on his English.

Today we are off to see Lonardo da Vinci's giant horse. At least he designed it. It was cast in the 20th century.

We took the metro and noticed a lot of runners with numbers on the train. I struck up a conversation with a runner. On the train Deb talked to a female runner. There was a marathon, half marathon, 10K and 5K going on today. We got there and walked around looking at the people and hoopla. We are quite familiar with the drill that was going on.
   I had previously looked at the situation with Google maps and noticed that the horse is inside of a large park with a possible wall around it. It wasn't clear. There is a race track, parking and training areas enclosed.
   I asked a lady in a booth which way to go to find the horse. She sent us off to the right. We kept thinking we'd find an opening in the fence and then maybe some signs. But no. We kept walking. Every now and then we'd ask people where it was. I even asked an official looking policeman. They kept pointing around to the right. Well we walked and walked and walked. I figure we walked around four miles. Deb's foot was giving her problems.
   Finally somebody told us it was 1K ahead. Sure enough we found it. It is spectacular! We'd seen a copy in San Jose some years ago. We took pictures and then kept walking. Damn we came back to the marathon start. It was about a half mile away.
   I saw the lady in the booth who had sent us off on the wild-goose chase and told her our story. She said she didn't live around there indicating we shouldn't have trusted her. I was rather peeved.

Back on the metro... We hiked down our street to a place for pizza, white wine and limoncello's before they closed for the day. It's Sunday so many things are closed. We had a couple gelatto's.

We went out to the Il Cimitero Monumentale - Monumental Cemetery. It is for "famous and well-deserving men" and recommended by Rick Steves. It certainly was the most amazing cemetery I've ever seen. Lots of wealth. Many Madonnas, people crying, sculptures of men women and children who were deceased. As well as angels and even a larger then life last supper scene. We couldn't stop taking pictures. We were there a little late, they shooed us out.

We metroed back. We stopped into a little bar in our neighborhood and watched the world go by for a while.

Finally it was warm enough and not windy so we could sit out on our balcony. We had bought a piece of pizza and some pastry's at the shop. I'm not sure what we did for dinner - if anything. We didn't eat the pizza. We may have had some warmed up gnocci's.

Cards and to bed. Top

Day 14 - Milan

Our usual pastries and coffee for breakfast.

Today we are going to Varenna on Lake Como. But first we decided to walk around the neighborhood to see the church where the Last Supper by da Vinci is. Hmm. Looks like a church with the same name but no last supper. I've got to re-figure this one. We walked along the canal and up the famous neighborhood to Pt Genova metro station and on to ??? train station.

We were running a bit late. While trying to figure it out a young guy came up and asked where we were going and that he could help. Deb was furious with me for dealing with a shill. Well he helped us buy two second class round trip tickets then buzzed us over to the train. I gave him what was left over from a 20€ - about 3.5€. In about two minutes the train took off.

We had a nice uneventful ride to Varenna. Seeing Deb's foot is a problem we don't plan on doing much. We hiked down to the water front of this quaint little town. We found a nice restaurant with a view of the lake and the ferry's and sat down for a leisurely lunch. We must have spent two hours. We had been told the train was leaving a 4.
   We could have taken a ferry boat to Bellagio and perhaps seen George Clooney. But we didn't think we had the time or ambition.
   We went back to the station at 4 and found the train wasn't coming until like 4:40. We had a small beer and waited. Finally back on the train. Back on the metro and walk to home.

We were sitting out on the balcony watching the scene when Giuila showed up with her kids.

For dinner we had snacks of cheese, ham and bread. Cards and to bed. Top

Day 15 - Milan

  Today we have an appointment at 11:15 to see the Last Supper (link). We discussed getting there with Giuila. So off we went to Ambrogio metro station. We hiked around a bit lost trying to find the church. We found it just in time. We went to the antechamber where you wait to enter. After a while they let us in. There were only Deb, I and about three other people. As we stood looking another person showed up then a group of about twenty teenagers in a class. No crowd, no hassle. Also no pictures. In our allotted fifteen minutes we pretty much saw as much as we needed.

We went to Cadorna metro/train station and buzzed home. Giuila gave us some questions because we didn't go to the Basilica di Sant' Ambrogio the patron saint of Milan and a big collection of art. Guess you can't do it all. It is highly recommended by Rick Steves.

Our stuff had been moved out of the apartment because it was being cleaned for the next guests. In fact their stuff was being stored.

We now began our trek home -

We had a taxi take us to Cadorna Station to catch the train to the airport. She dropped us off at a special gate which allowed us to get directly on the train. At the airport we took a shuttle to terminal 2 and found Emirates airlines. We had a couple hours to kill so we had lunch then went to our gate and sat around waiting. Finally we got on board and took off.
   Turns out I was sitting next to a professional runway model. Unfortunately she was sort of ill and needed to get out several times. We had a couple drinks, ate and watched our individual entertainment screens.

We got to NY JFK where we transferred to Jet Blue. We had to do a thing with picking our bags up from customs and taking them to a check-in place. That was a hassle and time consuming.

Finally got on Jet Blue. It looked like an old bus. It was about 70% full. The seats were roomier then Emerates. Very few amenities.

We finally got to Las Vegas. We got our bags and taxied to the Luxor hotel. Oh no. Deb had made a mistake. We were booked for the next day. All of Las Vegas was booked because of a convention plus spring vacation. So we taxied back to the airport to the car rental shuttle, seeing the driver didn't know where the car rental place was.
   We picked up the car rental at about 3:30am and started driving. We thought we'd just hit a place outside of Vegas. But noooo. They were closed. We kept driving until we got to Barstow at about 5am. We checked in to the "Days Inn" and hit the sack. After about 3-4 hours of sleep Deb was ready to go. We showered, grabbed a Carl's Jr. breakfast sandwich and took off for home about 11am.
   We finally arrived home about 5:30pm. We ate, stayed up a bit and finally went to bed about 9pm. 

Quite a trip. Now a few days later on Saturday night I'm still vibrating and trying to shake off the jet lag. Top

Night 15 - Home