Venezia: Leg One of Italia

Venice, known to some as the Floating City, the City of Water, Queen of the Adriatic, and the former seat of the Venetian Republic, was an important stop on my Easter tour of Italy for a number of reasons:

1. I've always wanted to go to Venice.

2. There is a night train leaving from Amstetten to Venice often (more than once a week) - one of the few international trains that makes a stop in Amstetten! The others I know about go to Budapest and Hamburg.

3. Not only an important part of Italian history and tourism, the city of Venice is important part of Austrian history as well, having been bought off Napoleon by the Habsburgs circa 1797... 

4. Venetian masks have intrigued me for some time. Also, what Grand Tour of Europe is complete without a stopover in Venice?

Callie in front of canal

Other Italian destinations included: Genoa and the Cinque Terre. In Genoa, we met up with our Lawrence buddy Sarah and made our way down to the Cinque Terre (five villages on the Italian Riviera...also a national park) to enjoy some hiking and sunshine and great food!

Our B&B: founded in 1288!!!

But, I will try my best to keep to Venice for this post. While in Venice, we took it easy - leisurely breakfasts in the morning at our amazing (and Rick Steves recommended) B & B; long walks around the lagoon and through the winding streets of Venice; indulging in aperitivi at overpriced canal-side bars...

The Grand Canal 

On Monday, we visited the Palazzo Ducale (doge's palace), former home to il doge, i.e. the duke of Venice - the last being Ludovico Manin, abdicated in 1797. The palazzo is amazing, a great 14th century structure with facades facing the lagoon and St. Mark's Square. AND, if you go exactly at noon, the line is six times shorter than at any other time of day (presumably because this is when all the tourists decide to take their lunch breaks). Admission is  14 euro, but considering the size of the place and all of the restoration work they have to do, it's worth it, in my opinion.

Callie pointing to a map of Venice

Here are some photos of St. Mark's Square:

And even gondolas in the lagoon!

Very romantic.







Considering one of Venice's most famous sons is Casanova, it's no wonder there's a certain "romance" to the city...this may not bode well for honeymooning couples, however...and we saw quite a few! It seems Venice is the "it" place to honeymoon?


And here are pictures of the Palazzo:

the Bridge of Sighs - unfortunately under repair

columns in the palazzo

facade of palazzo

 

 A funny story about the palazzo/ducal prison: Casanova, imprisoned for licentiousness or some such other offense, purportedly escaped the prison by digging a hole through the ceiling...with a file. He then escaped to Paris.

Perhaps the ducal prison didn't have the security of Alcatraz. But it does have the Bridge of Sighs!

photo in piazza of Doge's palace

Tuesday and Wednesday we took it easy, visiting St. Mark's Basilica (Chiesa d'Oro) and the Frari church (which has painitngs by Titian - most famously the Assumption - placed in their original, appropriate spots in the church/sanctum). We also went shopping, and looked at all the beautiful Murano glass jewlery - and other things - and realized how incredibly expensive Venice really is (having previously been warned). Great for a few days, but living here and not being a millionaire would be impossible!

Another interesting fact: the tap water in Venice is superb, mostly because it is sourced directly from run-off from the Alps. Neat, eh?

ceiling in Doge's palace

view from the Bridge of Sighs

Other fun things we did in Venice:

1. Visit mask and costume shops

2. Drool in the windows of all of the pastry shops getting ready for Easter

3. Get "lost" in the narrow, winding streets of Venice (we were never actually lost)

4. Take the Vaparetto all the way down the Grand Canal instead of paying for a gondola ride

 

5. Have REAL Bellinis at Hotel Metropole (and fooling the bartender into thinking we were guests at the hotel)

Click here or here for more information on our sojourn in Venice :)

Ode* to Cologne

 What you didn't see from my Amsterdam photos:

the famous Cologne catherdral

me in front of Roman ruins

To highlight Cologne as a city in itself, although this is out of chronological order and, thus, most likely irritating to certain die hard sticklers out there on the world wide web, I have decided to create a separate post of the pictures I took in Germany.


Because we were only there overnight, there's not a whole lot to see. We could have easily spent more time in the Cologne/Bonn area. Certainly, there was lots to see, plenty of Kölner Kölsch to drink, and enough "funny German accents" to hear (according to Jake; let it be said that I don't agree) to make a longer Auftenthalt in the Rhineland.


As it was, we had a pretty tight schedule: night train from Vienna,
wandering around to get pictures of the Dom, a trip to the Römisch-Germanisches Museum (Roman-Germanic Museum - yes, founded in 50 BC! According to the Romans, that is...the area had been inhabited earlier as well, but if you're not part of the empire, that doesn't count...)

We also made it to Bonn to see the Beethoven museum, which was nicely productive for Jake, who is an oboist and working on a project on the Viennese oboe (distinctive from other oboes in that it is mainly - only? - used by the Vienna Philharmonic). Jake is quite the burgeoning expert on such things, so questions should be directed toward him. I couldn't tell you the first things about oboes.


However plebeian my attempts to appreciate classical music, I do. The Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, being his birthplace (he lived most of his adult life and died in Vienna), houses lots of family archives, furniture, portraits, musical instruments, etc. If you're in the Bonn area, it's worth a visit. If you're not, they have a FABULOUS website (follow the link) which is worth checking out as well!

First, here are some photos from the Römisch-Germanisches Museum. I sort of over-indulged in taking photos here...being an archaeology nerd. 


<-- this is the mosaic floor uncovered during WWII (via the construction of a bunker...) It's good to know war is good for something.





























I  don't know why, but the shoes always get me -->
I find it amazing to see 2000-year-old shoes on display! Imagine your Nikes lasting that long!

I believe this was labeled "Women's Things" i.e. perfume bottles and a mirror

That's right: "Gladiators"!

belt buckles

wheels

reconstructed carriage based on the lion's head axel

tombstones

And yet more floor/wall mosaic:

Capricorn: the emperor Agustus' symbol 

After the museum, Jake and I took a walk along the Rhine:

 For some reason, there were all of these locks along the bridge. They appeared to be love lockets...photos to follow...

For example, below, are some of the "love lockets" we saw:









































<-- Jake was not impressed with the one made out of an old beer keg!

view of the city from the brigde

To finish, we have photos of Bonn. Namely, the outside of the Beethoven-Haus...









And of downtown Bonn:


and the EU Commission (which we thought we could tour for some reason...we can't...perhaps when Bonn was the capital of West Germany - and the EU Commission had existed - this might have been possible :P)



As it stands, the EU Commission -->

is just a little old office building!

see? 

And, of course there was a place called "Steppenwolf" so I had to take a picture!! (I recently read the Hesse novel...possible review to come...)




One more thing:

Mom: they do have T.J. (K.) Maxx in Europe!

*This is neither and ode nor an advertisement for eau de Cologne I just liked the pun :)