Here it is - My 11-Day pseudo-journal from the Italy Trip
Italy: Day 1 – LAX – Lufthansa AirlinesInternational travel is kind of a funny thing for me. I stress out so much before getting on the plane that I have a hard time thinking about my destination. It isn’t a fear of flying; it’s a fear of airport procedures. Lines, regulations, people who treat you like you’re the 800th person they’ve seen that day, trying to walk through a crowd with half of your belongings crammed into more bags than one person should carry (traveling light was never my forte). Add into it the fact that I’m missing my better and smarter half on this trip and… well, you’d be surprised at how not thrilled I was to be standing in the airport.
But D-Day at LAX went smoother than it ever has. My wife took a half day off work to drive me to the airport. She drops me off at the curb, gives me a huge kiss that leaves a hole in my heart and drives off. I got there about half an hour before the meet time; people from our group were already starting to filter in. I waited for Susan and James to show up (with little Adam in tow) before heading for the check-in window. (As I watch our group members shuffle by, I realize that I’ve easily taken the prize for biggest and most overstuffed luggage).
The lady behind the ticket counter is sharp little number: witty, funny and friendly. She sees my final destination and says “Venice, eh? We’ll you won’t feel alone. There are more Americans in Venice than Venetians.” She gives me my passport and boarding pass and chirps “Have a good time.”
Twenty minutes later I make it through the security check and find my way to the gate. James approaches me that at the last minute and tells me that the group received one business class upgrade, and that I got it. Soon we boarded the plane – I split off from the group and went to the First Class – Business Class door.
So here I am, with all the leg room in the world… sitting in a chair that can be adjusted in eight different directions, with a NASA designed arm-rest controller that can call up my choice of fifteen different movies and oh, let’s not even mention the food.
I took a peak back in Economy to say “hi” to everyone else. When I saw how cramped they were, I decided not to say anything.
Day 2 – Still on the RoadOkay, here’s the deal. The itinerary calls this “Day 2” simply because we went from one calendar day to the next. But everyone here is in agreement: from the time you leave your home to the time you bed down at the hotel…. You’re on frickin “Day 1”
Not too much to report – We got to Frankfurt and connected to Venice without much incident. Two people lost their luggage… other than that, it was smooth sailing. We got to our hotel in Venice and checked in. Brian and I are room-mates for the trip. We’re both fairly large guys. The room is about half the size of a college dorm room, and the bathroom looks like it was designed for… well, not hobbits. If there was some mythical creature that was thinner than the average human, rather than shorter, that’s what the bathroom is made for.
One thing I like about Italy so far: The cars drive on the same side of the street as the US. That means we don’t have to worry about stepping off the street and getting creamed by a bus because we were looking the wrong way.
Okay, Jet Lag setting in. Gotta sleep.
Day 3 - VeniceVenice is beautiful. It’s also hot and humid. We woke up at 6:30 a.m. for a 7 a.m. breakfast and an 8:45 bus loading time. We took a private water transport to the Piazza San Marco and had a guided tour of the Doge’s Palace and St. Marc’s Basilica. After that we only had about 2 ½ hours before we had to meet to get ready for our first performance. Just enough time for food and maybe some shopping. Some of our group took a water taxi down the grand canal. I hung out with Susan and James and got lunch. I also had my first sampling of gelato (well… second and third as well, but shhhhh.) Aside from that it was pretty much taking pictures and buying water bottles any time I passed a place that sold them.
Hanging with James and Susan is kind of interesting. Apparently, little Adam is a far more inviting tourist attraction than anything Venice had to offer. Everywhere we went, people of all nationalities fawned over the little guy. It was cute to watch. (I have to note, so far Adam has been holding up very well. He’s about as easy to manage as any newborn could possibly be.)
It seemed like such a crime to spend so little time in Venice, but the schedule is what it is. We boarded the buses and headed to a little town nearby called Padova. We were part of a music festival organized by the village, which turned out to be a much smaller home-grown operation than we expected. I mean, they were nice, so I don’t mean to be critical. The venue turned out to be a makeshift outdoor stage near what looked like a community center. It was also way too humid for tuxedoes – I think I lost about 20 pounds in water weight (and when I got up to conduct I look like I just climbed out of a pool.) The concert went well as well as could be expected (except for the part where I accidentally knocked a girl’s violin off of a table backstage and nearly smashed it. Fortunately, the chin rest broke the fall and was the only thing that broke – I owe her a new one.)
A lot of hand shaking with the local officials (I think I’ve perfected my pronunciation of “grazie”) and we were soon back on the bus, and back at the hotel. I think everyone had to hang their concert attire up to let it dry out overnight.
Day 4 - Cremona / MontecatiniAfter an early breakfast, we packed up all our stuff and boarded the bus for the second leg of the trip: Cremona and Montecatini. Cremona is a sort of musician’s pilgrimage stop since it’s basically the violin making capitol of the world. The bus ride gave me the opportunity to organize all of my photos thus far (Can I just say how much I love this Acer?).
Cremona is okay. What we liked best about it is that it was far less crowded than Venice, far less commercial, a little cooler and a lot less humid. We visited a Violin maker’s shop and crammed something like 75 people into this tiny room with no air conditioning and listened to this woman talk about how she makes a violin from scratch. It was interesting and excruciating at the same time. (She makes something like 10-12 violins a year, and sells each for $17,000… not a bad living, eh?) From there we visited the local town hall where they had a display of instruments from their more famous historical violin makers: Amati, Guarneri and of course, Stradivari. We saw one of the first violins ever made – an instrument that is valued at about $10 Million (just sitting behind a modest glass case.) After the museum we had a short break for lunch (and more gelato). I had real Italian Pizza for the first time. Then it was back on the bus and on to our hotel in Montecatini.
It was when we got to the second hotel that I started to see the ugly side of some of our traveling companions. Some of the families got rooms smaller than what they required, and proceeded to verbally assault the tour guides. One mother called the tour company back in the US to complain. Brian jumped in and tried to sort out the mess, while at the same time, informing the parents of our expectation for them to handle their problems in a mature, diplomatic and respectful manner. But then, this is a “privileged” Southern California culture that we’re dealing with here. Some of these people believe that the fact that they shelled out a lot of money means that they don’t have to treat other people like human beings. Money can do that to a person.
Personally, I found the rooms charming, and the view spectacular. But then I would have been happy with something half the size. I’m just jazzed to be in Italy.
Day 5 – FlorenceAfter a pretty good breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant with a to-die-for view, we got on the bus and took a short drive to neighboring Florence, the city that safeguards the largest collections of art in all of Europe. Florence is the town of Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo… and… um… all those other guys the tour lady talked about (I was awake the whole time, I swear.) I usually do pretty well in art museums, but the Galleria degli Uffizi is kind of Renaissance saturated, and after a while got sort of burned out on Madonna-and-child paintings. Fortunately there were a few portrayals of Venus here and there to spice things up. The group broke for lunch, and a few of us made a bee line for Santa Croce, where some of Florence’s more famous residents are buried.
I took almost 300 pictures. The D50 is holding up pretty well, but I think it’s the 18-200 VR lense that makes the difference. It’s allowing me to take al sorts of shots that would have been impossible before. And while I miss some of the D90 features, I appreciate that the D50 is a little smaller and considerably lighter – a definite plus when it comes to travel.
More drama back at the hotel. Two sisters were allowed to get a room separate from their parents, and they apparently trashed the place. The hotel staff was pissed. I think James or Brian handled it… I’m not sure how it turned out. If this gets any worse, I’m going to pretend to be a German tourist as I walk through the lobby (Was is das? I know nothing of der Americans!)
Day 6 – Lucca and PisaThe morning was pretty ordinary, although we did enjoy the luxury of waking up almost two hours later that we usually do. Lucca is a beautiful town, by far my favorite of the trip (so far). In fact, if I had to choose a town in Italy to live, it would be Lucca: Not so crowded, not so touristy, but very nice. It seems to have the most foliage of any place we’ve yet visited. I finally bought something for my wife: a few kitchen items made out of olive wood.
Pisa wasn’t as nice as Lucca, but the Leaning Tower was cooler than I thought it would be. I spent the afternoon hanging out with James and Susan (and Adam). We all had dinner in Pisa and also brought our stuff for a concert. This time we performed in a church and shared the concert with the local church choir. They were okay for a little local group… they had a pretty decent tenor soloist. Our performance was… well… kind of shaky. I kind of mentally shut down after the concert… partly from fatigue, but mostly from no wanting to worry about our musical product anymore. I just want to enjoy the trip.
Tomorrow is another late-wake up, and another excursion from Montecatini.
Day 7 – SienaToday seemed like an intentionally light day. Rather than shuffling us to two or three locations, we pretty much just bussed over to Siena for the afternoon. Siena almost knocked Lucca off of the #1 favorite city spot: Its dark narrow winding streets that wound like caves up and down the hillside gave it a kind of mystique. And just when you thought the entire city was nothing but a claustrophobic labyrinth, the center opens up into a huge bowl shaped square, where the famous horse race is held every year. Amazing, just amazing. Siena also had the best gelato I’ve yet tasted. I had two helpings just to be sure.
Back at the hotel, I downloaded all of my photos for the day and went hunting for a wifi hotspot. The hotel staff has been giving people in our group mixed signals where a hotel wifi service is concerned: Some people were told they didn’t have any, some were told it was broken, some were given a 10-minute password, and a very chosen few got a 2-hr password. I don’t think they like us very much.
I unsuccessfully went looking for an internet cafe, after which I trudged back to the hotel. Interesting though…. I discovered that Italians seem to like to get out of their houses and just walk around their city. Even the elderly… at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night. You gotta love a country where stuff like that happens.
Day 8 Assisi – RomeToday we loaded the buses for Rome. At the halfway mark we stopped at Assisi (famous for being the birth and burial place of St. Francis). Once again, we found ourselves completely flabbergasted with the beauty of the city (putting Lucca and Siena to shame just about) Assisi sits on top of a hill, and the view approaching it from below was spectacular, and the view from the top even more so. The streets of Assisi wound in every direction like Siena, only it’s much brighter and more cheerful. About an hour into our stop we found ourselves besieged by another brief rainstorm. This time I wasn’t lucky enough to find shelter and I got pretty soaked. (Fortunately the camera survived.)
When we finally got to Rome, we circled around it and came in from the south (closer route to our hotel, apparently). My first impression of Rome wasn’t that spectacular: It’s a big dirty city with graffiti. But then, we weren’t exactly staying in 5 a star hotel: ours was close to the perimeter, far from the touristy (and cleaner) center.
Even more drama at the hotel – a couple of families have really taken to disliking our tour guides, and have done little but complain. They decided to secede from the group, find better hotels and agreed to meet up with us for the tours and performances. (It’s for the better: They were pissing everyone in our group off, and we were all happy to be rid of them on the bus.)
Day 9 – Ancient RomeToday was the day we finally saw the stuff that Rome is famous for: The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the remains of the Roman Senate Building, the Egyptian obelisks, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain. All very impressive. We got a walking tour of the Colosseum, where I tried to take a series of photos that I could later make a single panorama picture out of (we’ll see how that works out.) I was particularly struck by the Pantheon, with its large intimidating marble columns holding up the portico. (It is particularly well-kept, owing to the fact that it was used as a church early on, rather than left for decay like the other structures.) Today was another heavy-walking day, with some of the hottest weather we’ve yet seen. Still, it didn’t ruin the sightseeing.
At one point, Susan and I ducked into a book store where we found some really cute children’s books, including a beautifully illustrated version of Pincocchio.
Tonight we had a concert in the church of Sant’Agnese in Agony: probably the most historic place I’ve ever performed in (Well, the Sydney Opera House is pretty historic… but nowhere near as old.) There’s a legend about a rivalry between two artists who participated in the church’s construction – Borromini who built the façade, and Bernini who made the Fountain of Four Rivers in front. The story goes that Bernini sculpted one of the statues of the fountain to look like it was reacting in horror to Borromini’s façade. I actually saw a TV documentary on it a while back. (I was surprised that I recognized it before the tour guide even said anything).
Anyway, as thrilling as it was…it was another hot and sweaty performance. In fact, we all started joking about how the audience should be moved a little further from the orchestra areas, given that we’ve been wearing the same un-washed performance attire, and keep adding another layer of sweat to them. I turned to Brian at one point and said “At the end of this tour, I think I’m going to need an exorcist more than a dry cleaner for this tuxedo.”
Day 10 – Rome / Vatican CityOur last full day in Italy (which is kind of a relief… as much as I like it here, I’m getting kind of exhausted). We boarded the busses and headed for the entrance of the Vatican Museum.
Now, I have to interject here and say something about our bus driver, Luigi. First of all he looked like a bad-ass (with a passing resemblance to Daniel Craig) which means that even if any of our group wanted to complain, they certainly weren’t going to do it to him. Secondly, he’s a fearless and highly skilled driver. We saw him do things with that bus… squeeze through spaces and takes windows of opportunity on the road that I wouldn’t have attempted with a Fiat…. Well, let’s just say he’s the Han Solo of tour bus drivers. Lastly, according to our guide, he’s a former police officer… which means that he had an uncanny sense of when it was safe to pull something illegal-but-not-dangerous and when not to. Yeah – we gave Luigi a big tip at the end.
The Vatican probably had the densest collection of art and stuff that we’d yet seen. Well, maybe the museum in Florence had more, but they didn’t lay it all out in the same hallway they way the Vatican Museum did. And one thing I learned about the Sistine Chapel – apparently when the guards stand there and shout “No photos” at the tourists… it really comes down to a matter of personal integrity as to whether or not you actually follow those instructions. There were so many flashes going off that I don’t see how they would have had the manpower to deal with it all. (Of course, one of our “difficult” parents was standing right in the center, snapping away at everything he could aim his lens at… I was embarrassed for him.)
Aside from that, The chapel itself was smaller than I thought it would be. (Which is kind of like listening to a Beethoven symphony and then looking at your watch and saying “Umm… kind of short, isn’t it?) But I was impressed with the artwork and again, I found myself suddenly struck with the idea that I was standing in the presence of something I never thought I’d see in real life.
St. Peter’s Basilica, however, was a different story.
The largest church in Christendom. Yeah.
Day 11 – Goin’ Home
Not much to report. We packed up, got on the bus and headed for the airport. Of course, there was last minute grumbling because most of us did not get a wake up call, which threw a wrench in a few people’s works. I understand their frustration, but they should have directed that at the hotel, not the tour guides.
A funny thing about the last ride… once we got out of tourist’s Rome and into the Italian’s Rome, I started to see a city pretty much like any other city – with schools and chain restaurants and laundromats and what not. Underneath the surface it’s all the same.
No business class for me on the trip home, which was fine. I got to sit right across from Jeff, Susan and baby Adam (he was pretty good for the trip home… a little fussy at take-off but he slept most of the way).
I sat next to an elderly Asian lady who kept giving me the stuff from her meals that she didn’t want. She also had a Nintendo DS that she used to play Sudoku (It’s funny to see a 75 year-old woman with a DS… but then I’m a 40 year old with a PSP that I use to play Star Wars games, so I shouldn’t really say anything.)
We made LAX in good time. My wife was half way to the terminal by the time I got my bags, so the wait wasn’t long. It was good to see her again.
Overall we had a great trip (other than the embarrassment of having to travel with a few “ugly American” tourists, and the fact that I seem to have lost my batons somewhere along the way… Venice I think.)
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