Thoughts on Venice

Venice is complicated.

It's beautiful.
It's crowded with tourists.
It has amazing churches and markets.
It is expensive.

Venice charges for public toilets.  Need the loo?  You better have €1.5. Venice charges €7 for one vaporetto ride.  (Vaporetti are the water buses - the pubic transportation).  Although a week-long pass quickly pays for itself, even at €60/person.

I read an estimate that 16Million tourists will visit Venice this year.  I would guess that there are more tourists than locals here right now.  Tenfold.  We hear English, German, French, Mandarin, Japanese, and languages I can't identify.  Even some of the Italian speakers are carrying around guide books.  This is all well and good unless you get claustrophobic in crowds.   We're discovering that an early start is the only way to see the city.   By 1 or 2 in the afternoon you can hardly move around Rialto bridge or St. Marks Square....  So early up in the morning, visit the open air market near Rialto... drop off the groceries then out to be at the first church or museum before it opens.

We purchased the city pass - which includes the choral churches.  The choral churches are 16 large and small churches that charge admission, then pool that money for restoration of these churches.  Today we visited 5.  And one museum/Palazzo - where we took advantage of the restrooms available for visitors.   We've decided we will time our water consumption and museum visits appropriately.  LOL

We're staying in a non-touristy area - next to the Giardini park - east of St. Marks by a few vaporetto stops.   This has an advantage - the prices for food are  more reasonable... there's a Coop (Italian grocery store) at the end of our "street", and there are fewer throngs of tourists.   Our apartment is on the 3rd floor (4th by American numbering) and we're getting a workout.  But it has enough beds, a kitchen, wifi, washing machine, and AC.  The last is important since it is hot and muggy here.

Some food pics from last night (Jill - this is for you).  Piero and I started with a lobster tagliatelle followed by fried squid.   Lou started with a pesto gnocchi and Rigo with spaghetti con pomodori.  They split a roast chicken dish for their second piatti.

Here are some obligatory canal pictures.   Note the crowds thronging St. Marks.   We were in those crowds yesterday afternoon.... won't make the mistake of going to St. Marks in the hot/sweaty late afternoon again.

Random Pictures from Bologna - Including Food

Here are some random pictures from Bologna.  The first few are from Jill.  We had dinner at Osteria dell'Orso.   Handmade pasta.  Rigo had some kind of meat I'd never heard of.  After dinner we had a passeggiata followed by gelato at Gellateriagianni.

Some pictures Lou took:

Bologna - Foodie central!!!

This is a beautiful city.   Our apartment is small - but does the job.  It's right in the center - about 2 blocks from the 2 towers, and 5 blocks from the Duomo... near the University.  The kitchen is smaller - but is large enough for us to cut up the gorgeous fruit we've been buying and eating.  (Fruit is the perfect snack when travelling - a little sugar, lots of water, and a burst of instant energy.)

Bologna is very international - lots of tourists - but also lots of locals from all over the world... I base this on the the languages being spoken by folks on bicycles that are beaters... clearly not rented.

I'd done some research before we arrived on great food places - there was a great article in the Telegraph about inexpensive, but amazing restaurants in Bologna.  I noted three places to try.  Last night we had dinner at one that is literally fare due passe (two steps) from our apartment.  Ristorante Brace.   Apparently the Pizza places in Bologna also specialize in fish.  Yum.   We split a caprese salad.  Piero had a GIANT calzone with cheese and mortadella, Rigo had a mixed grill meat platter.  Lou had gnocchi with spinach followed by a pork chop, and I had swordfish with tomatoes.  I had a local sparkling wine.

This morning Lou woke up pre-dawn... as usual... and went out.  He said it was clear there had been quite a bit of Saturday night festivities - trash, ciggy buts, bottles.... but the city workers were cleaning it all up.  When we out together - around 9am - it was all clean.

We started with a cappuccino at Bar Max - great cappuccino.  Then we walked to S. Stefano church.   Bologna has 2 main churches - built around the same time.  S. Petronio was built by the city of Bologna, without approval from the Bishops.  S. Stefano was built with church blessing.  

Pictures from San Stefano

The chapel of the neon Madonna.  Actually a room that honored the soldiers of WWII of the Resistance.

Even a cat likes the quiet of the cloister.

Next we went to Santuario  di Santa Maria della Vita, and the adjacent Museo della Sanita and dell'Assistenza.   The S.Maria church was small but GORGIOUS.  Unfortunately, they had a no photo policy.  The museum was a combo historic museum of the old hospital - and a modern art museum.  Very interesting combination.

Finally we went to the main central church, Basilica di San Petronio.   This is the church built by the city in 1260.  Here are some photos:

This church is BIG.  Like really big.  Rigo read that it is the 15th largest church in the world.    The scale is hard to show in pictures.

There's also a meridian calendar designed by Cassini in this church.  We were close enough to mid day to check it out.  Keep in mind we're also close to solstice.  The following few pictures show the son "dot" moving till the solar "noon" was reached.

The hole in the ceiling... The oculus. 

Solar "noon" was at 13:19.

Finally some random street shots.

In front of S. Stefano

Random portico sidewalk

A wedding couple with a Mariachi band outside S. Petronio

My favorite street - lots of food shops, meat shops, restaurants, and Lou.