Club Hotel Vicenza

Day 7, Florence

If Rome and Venice were “aerobic sightseeing,” Florence was a triathlon! Three world-class museums (plus lunch,, Rick Steeves’ “Renaissance Walk” and two harrowing bus rides in and out of town) all in about nine hours!

We started the day with a bus ride into the city center of Venice. (Even though we have a rental car, the city center is what is called locally a “no go zone’” This is a ...

Day Six, Venice to Florence:
Today was a travel day for us: getting out of Venice, picking up a rental care, making our way to Florence by way of Padua.
How we hated to leave Venice! We agree that a month here would just scratch the surface. Around every corner is a new piazza and a new adventure. We will be back!
Michele was intent on seeing the Calatrava bridge before we left Venice. For ...

... they no longer swarm the tourists. But it you still have to watch out for the Pigeon Poop! The Basillica was another feast for the eyes - and ears! As we approached the central altar, imagine our surprise as the “theme” from Phantom of the Opera suddenly blasted from the organ!
Next, we toured the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. This wealthy American woman, who lived in an palatial home on the Grand Canal, had two great loves: her dogs and modern art. After her death, her ...

... places where you can observe art in the setting it was created for. Titian considered this his home church and, besides having many of his creations there, he is buried in the main church.
We had to hurry back to our hotel, or to our neighborhood. We had stopped in a little shop nearby, planning to bring some snacks and drinks back to the hotel later. We asked the shopkeeper how late he would be open. He stated firmly, “I close at 8 o ...

... All of us girls crashed on the bed and Steve decided to go explore since he didn’t have as long in Venice as we did. We all eventually woke up and took showers, then met Steve to go exploring. Venice is a very beautiful city, though it does smell somewhat like fish but that didn’t bother me. We walked for hours. Winding around the back streets and bridges, trying to see what treasures we ...

... to tell me that. I asked so many questions of so many different people until I was sure I was in the right place. Just to double, triple, quadruple check I asked a guy at the stop if I was really at the right place because his ticket looked like mine. He was a big guy with a beer and he was just tickled that I was American and had talked to him. On the bus ride he called everyone he knew and couldn't stop laughing hysterically at the "ragazza di ...

... look at and little eating places to taste at. We headed towards the San Marco square which is perhaps the most famous part of Venice. The St Marks basillica stands there alongside the palace of one of the Kings once. We had a look at the basillica and were going to line up when we realised that the (no kidding) half a km of people lining up were lining up for the Basillica! We decided to miss this one out (I know, very uncultured of us but my cultural experience is ...

... to go so glad we didnt hire a car!! Our hotel (2 star!! we live in luxury a) was only about 15min away and on the main road that ran into Venice. It had a restaurant attached and our room was very basic but comfortable. Being ponsy kiwis we paid an extra hundred or so dollars for the week to have our own toilet and shower. We then made our way down to the restaurant for a quick meal of italian pizza and a beer! Tring to deciper what kids of things were on the pizza was a bit ...

... come in, and meeting the folks arriving. It is hopefully a really cool group,as I know everyone except 1 American. The rest are brill and travelled with me before. Better still, it is a non teaching week so we will all be painting like mad, and not having to teach is bliss! Will update as the week starts, but sorry - no photos - as I don't have a photo camera phone!!! All this technology I carry around is more than complicated enough without adding to it!!!!

... slower than you are usually accustomed to cause you can miss soo much if you walk too fast. We eventually got to a Toyo Ito exhibit. I never heard of the guy at the time but he's a very successful Japanese architect. The exhibit was amazing and the style of his architecture wasn't more about pushing the envelope of unveiling the interiors within. As architects we were amused by the exhibit ...