Venice: No Shorts, No Shoulders, No Praying...

Written by guest blogger Tiarra.

Kelli and I decided that we wanted to check out Venice, so Monday morning we boarded the local train for Milan. The local train is very crowded, hot, humid and smelled of pee. Our trip would take nearly four hours to get to Venice- one hour and 20 minutes on the intercity train to Milan, and then 2 1/2 hours on the EuroStar train to Venice. We bought our tickets online, but there are no printers here, so we took Gene's advice and "just got on the train". Long story short, don't "just get on the train" with no tickets. It's a good thing I don't speak Italian, because I don't even want to know what was being said about us. Kelli was getting "car sick" on the pee train and was getting worried about the trip from Milan to Venice, but the EuroStar train was much nicer. We sat in first class, it had air conditioning, and the bonus was that it did not smell of pee.

We got to Venice, and found the public ferry to our hotel without any problems. We had a very nice hotel a couple of blocks from St. Mark's Square. The first thing we did was walk to St. Mark's Basilica to tour the cathedral. We waited in this huge line with people and pigeons. The line moved fairly quickly. We were about to enter and an old woman who was selling shawls to cover any exposed shoulders for 1 euro that looked like scraps of material to me, said we could not go in because our shorts were too short. Excuse me? Now I'm not one for religious rituals anyway, but you can't go pray if your shoulders or knees are exposed? Wow. Kelli decided that we should sneak in anyway because we saw other people whom the woman did not stop that were in with illegally exposed body parts too. We walked through the cathedral without any problems and did not have to spend the night in church prison.

Our hotel offered a "complimentary" boat ride out to Murano Island to "tour" a Venetian glass factory. So the next day our private boat arrived and took us out to Murano. It was quite a nice little boat ride. Kelli and I were the only ones on the boat. We were greeted at the factory with our own personal guide as well. Stefano. Stefano had very bad coffee and cigarette breath. He showed us a little demo they had set up when we entered what we now know was a gallery. They had the glass blowers make a small vase for us and then proceeded to take us to room after room of very expensive pieces of glass sculptures, dishes and vases. When we said we were ready to go without buying anything at the "very special factory direct price", we were told that we could take the public taxi back to Venice. What a nice little scam that was. Where was the factory? For all I know that glass is made in China. The people at the hotel must be in on it too, because when we finally made our way back, there was definitely a different level of service. But even despite that, we had a very nice time in Venice. It is certainly a different way of life. It was extremely crowded and expensive. We found that if we walked to parts where the locals shopped it was much more pleasant and was not as expensive. The people are very friendly and you can usually get what you need by pointing.

Gene's Favorite Photos

Planes, trains and automobiles

It’s been a few days since my last entry so I thought I might bring my friends up to date on a couple of my Italian adventures. Today is Saturday June 30 and it’s another beautiful day. We have been so fortunate with the weather. Everyday has been at least in the low 70’s and partly to fully sunny. Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori have left for Chamonix in France to hike and will not be returning to our rental, flying out of Milano on Monday morning. Joan’s brother’s wife, Pat and their daughter, Kate arrived at the beginning of the week and Tom was scheduled to arrive Thursday night at 8:00pm. I volunteered to drive to Malpensa, the main airport in Milano to pick him up because he had been traveling on business non stop from London, to Brussels, to Paris, to Milan, back to Brussels, Paris and then to Milan again. Around 7pm he called to say his plane was going to be delayed and that he would call back when he was about to get on the plane. He was flying an airline out of Spain called Vueling Airlines. Big mistake!! We finally got the call around 11:15 and I headed out for the 120km drive. Full moon, clear night, no traffic, just flying. About 30 km from the airport there is a toll plaza where they extract 1.20 Euros for the privilege of driving on the Autostrade. After paying I looked up to start driving again and found the traffic at an absolute stand still!! The DOT guys thought it was a good idea to pave all but one lane of the freeway. Long story short: One hour to go 2km.! Yikes!! Still 30km away I blasted down the Autostrade and finally got to the airport after 1am. What a pitiful sight. There is poor Tom standing out on the curb of the completely deserted airport. I mean he is the only person at the second largest International airport in Italy. The place was closed down completely and if the police had cruised by he probably would have been arrested for loitering! Another hour and a half and we finally were home and in bed!!

On Saturday our friends Tiarra Goble and Kelli Wilzoch arrived to visit Italy for a week and have left this morning for a two day trip to Venice. Keeping with the continual screw ups by the airlines Tiarra’s luggage was left back in New Jersey! Fortunately I was going back to the airport on Sunday to pick up our old friend Denis who had arrived after a week of business in London. I had a full car going to the airport as Pat, Tom and Kate were with me as was Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori's luggage that they had left behind in Bellano. They were going to an airport hotel as their flight was the next morning. I dropped off the luggage to await Dan et al's arrival. Thank God Tiarra’s suitcases were waiting for me, kind of. There were two rooms full of lost luggage. The clerk helping me said they could be anywhere in the rooms. Some bags were so dusty they had to be sitting there for years. We looked in the non-dusty area and after about 30 minutes we located them. Calling Tiarra for better descriptions also helped. Do yourself a favor and get a non black suitcase. 90% of suitcases are black!!

Joan, Denis and I may take a drive to Switzerland today. We’re only about 30km from the border and it’s a beautiful drive although there is a thunderstorm hitting us at the moment. Joan and I have now been here two full weeks and still have five to go. As most of you know because of Joan’s travel business we have been to Europe many times. Without question this has been the most delightful experience of all. We look forward to five more weeks of travel, friends, relaxation, food and drink.Ciao for now.

Dinner in the garden

Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori arrived back from Venice and the Dolomites early in the afternoon. Dan let us know quite vehemently that he has had his fill of Italian drivers and Italian roads. Dan and Doug walked down to Bellano to pick up groceries for dinner. They then fixed hamburgers with all the fixings and roasted potatoes for everyone. It was delicious. We ate in the garden for the first time and watched Dan and Doug barbecue. Tom was expected to land in Milan around 8pm but as of this writing has not yet taken off. It is now after 10pm. We have a full house with 9 of us staying here! Sorry about the tilted bottle of beer.

Watch where you are going.

Pat and Kate Crowley, Gene and I walked into Bellano today for the market. The road is very narrow and only one lane wide. It can be exciting when you are driving as large trucks make the road impassable and some one has to back up. The weather has cooled off a bit with an afternoon thunder storm yesterday so the walk down was quite pleasant. We found a few things at the market including Gene's favorite bread. He bought 3 loaves. We trekked back up the hill with our purchases and had a lazy lunch.

Walking to Bellano

Looking for food in all the wrong places

lGood Morning from Bellano!

Another day dawned perfectly here in the Lake Como area. The last few days have been rather warm and humid but today promised to be cooler and less humid. Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori arrived back last night from three days in Switzerland and cleaned out the pantry! After breakfast this morning Joan asked me to go down into Bellano and purchase some bread rolls for lunch. It’s a twisty, winding road 2.1km in length. A quick pretty ride but you must be very cautious as you drive because with tight parking it is just one lane for most of the drive. After getting to the bottom of the hill and arriving in town I quickly found out that Sundays were very different in Bellano. Parking has been a little difficult but Sunday is completely insane. We have discovered the local supermarket but today it was closed. Didn’t make much difference since there wasn’t a parking spot within 5 miles of anything. Found this out the hard way as I cruised around and around and around. I figured I would duck in this tiny store I knew of and pick up the rolls but parking was becoming ugly!! I finally gave up and was about to head back up the hill when I guy pulled out and I quickly pulled in. A quick walk through the back alleys had me to the store of about 100 square feet. The bread and meat department are in the back but I soon spotted the “sold out” sign. Not actually a sign but completely empty shelves!! 45 minutes after I left the Villa I returned empty handed.
After calling an emergency meeting of everyone and going over all our lunch options we finally decided a nice leisurely stroll down to town and a delicious pizza would be a great option. Lunch problem solved!! As you may have surmised by now meals are very important to us Italians and we won’t be denied. We spent the entire Lunch discussing what we’re going to have for dinner.

Oops, gotta go. Dinner is ready!!

Shopping in Bellano

It's Gene's turn to post something on the blog, but since he hasn't done it I will. Yesterday Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori emailed us saying they would be returning from Switzerland that evening and could we have some food available for them to prepare or eat. In other words have something ready for us to eat, Mom. I decided to prepare Lasagna. I had my regular recipe on my computer and since I was in Italy, it should be a snap. Gene and I went to the Pellicano supermarket in Bellano to get the ingredients. We took along the Italian dictionary just in case. The produce department is ruled by a woman who yells at you if you touch the produce. You have to tell her what you want and she selects it and weighs it and puts the tag on it. In another market you do this yourself so we did not know that we were breaking the rules. We needed parsley, so we looked up the word in the dictionary, asked for it and were met with a blank look. Luckily I saw the parsley and could just point. It was labeled with the word I said so I know she understood me. Oh well. I needed tomato paste which I found in a tube hoping it was what I wanted. Everything else we found without too much trouble although we did make 3 trips to the supermarket. We got home and found that we didn't have a pan so Gene went back again. We then went to the marcellina (meat store) and found some sausage. There are no measuring cups or spoons, spatulas or other kitchen necessities in this kitchen so I plan to buy a few items to make life easier. There are no sharp knives. So chopping was a pain. The lasagna turned out very well and dinner was waiting for the Swiss travelers.
We traveled to Como on the Rapido ferry on Friday. It took about an hour from Varenna. We passed George Clooney's house and Versace's mausoleum on the journey. A group of Americans on the return ferry were with their tour guide and he pointed out these places to our delight.
We have been enjoying the great weather and just walking around the small towns. We haven't done any hiking since last Monday when we all walked to Dervio via the trail near our house. This was about 5 miles round trip and not really difficult but with a lot of up and down. We are located about 400 feet above the lake, so there is always up and down on every hike.
Dan is going to post a link shortly so you can access some photos.
Ciao from Joan

Villa Wally

Market Day

Thursday is market day in Bellano. Gene and I went down to check it out. It's not very big, some clothes, vegetables, fruit, cheese, pasta, etc. It was tough to find a parking space and finally ended up in a questionable spot. But the car was there when we got back. Yesterday we drove to Varenna to catch the ferry to Bellagio. We asked for the next ferry to Bellagio and were told to board the car ferry. That ferry then went to Menaggio, back to Varenna, then to Bellagio. But it was the next ferry. Bellagio is a pretty place with lots of American and British tourists.

It has been quite warm and humid. We had a thunderstorm last night and we hoped we would wake up to cooler, less humid weather. No such luck. It is somewhat cooler today but still very humid. The power in the house went out during the storm and we did not get it back on until this morning. We were looking at the wrong circuit breaker. Our landlord showed us which one tripped this AM. We have found that when we run the dishwasher the other circuit breaker trips if we have too many lights on. So we are learning our way around the circuit breakers. Dan, Annie, Doug and Lori left for Switzerland yesterday so it is quieter around here. It is a lot livelier with them around. Dan and Annie fixed dinner on Tuesday, which was Annie's birthday. We had a great meal of pasta and sausages. Gene and I picked up a gelato cake at a gelato store in Lecco to celebrate her b-day. Doug picked out some nice wines and Gene found lots of different beers in the grocery store so he is in beer heaven. We are quite pleased with Villa Wally. Our landlords are very accommodating and the place is very comfortable.

Ciao from Joan

Arrival in Bellano, Italy

Good morning!

It is Fathers Day, June 17, 2007 6:00am!!

Joan and I arrived in Bellano, Italy yesterday at noon after a torturous journey from Phoenix on Thursday and Friday. After being graciously picked up on time by Francesca at our home and dropped off at Sky Harbor we had an on time flight to Cincinnati and caught our connecting flight to Amsterdam without any problems. We flew (upgraded to Business class) to Amsterdam without the usual tail wind (so said the pilot) and arrived about 45 minutes late. Business Class on Delta is like flying tied to the wing compared to flying Business Class on Air New Zealand!!

We assumed we would have no problem making our next connecting flight to our final destination of Milan, Italy as we departed the plane. For those who have never been in the Amsterdam airport it is humongous!! We started walking towards out departing gate and walked and walked and walked!!! The airport is like a city! Beautiful shops everywhere and arrival and departure gates sprinkled in between. And, oh yes, security and passport controls. As we got close to our gate we needed to stop and get our boarding passes since we were not able to secure them in Phoenix. (Different airline from Amsterdam to Milan) We felt like we were at the Department of Motor Vehicles as we pulled a number at the KLM counter. Why KLM? Well, of course, because our ticket indicated we were flying KLM. As the clock ticked away and our departure time got closer we finally had our number called. Joan went up to the counter and was promptly told that we should have been over at the Alitalia counter because even though the ticket said KLM they were not the primary carrier for the flight, Alitalia was. There was no line at the Alitalia counter so it seemed to be no big deal. We gave our tickets to the clerk and she said everything was in order except for one thing: our seats had been given away to others because the flight was about to leave. Actually there was still about 15 minutes to departure. Naturally I was in a good mood at this juncture and screamed, “ What ?????!!!!!!!!. To make a long story short there was no changing them. We were off the flight! For those who know me well, yes, my bad side showed up very vividly. I knew Joan was very pissed too since she didn’t try to shut me up.

After much glaring and a few mean words off we trudged to the Alitalia ticket desk to try for another flight. Uh oh, what a nightmare! Apparently the next flight to Milan had been canceled and there were a crowd of angry Italians (and others) spoiling for a fight. There were only two agents working the desk and a hundred people at least demanding action!! All of a sudden some Italian shouted something and almost everyone shouted, in unison, some response. This was repeated four or five times. Very loud and very convincing! We interpreted it something like, “Alitalia, you suck, Alitalia, you suck, Alitalia, you suck!! Wow, it was awesome!

I told Joan this was going to be a battle and that we had to be a little pushy, so naturally we found ourselves near the front of the line in short order. Hey, you snooze you lose! At this point I get the bright idea to call Francesca in Phoenix to ask her to get on line and find us a flight (forgetting it’s 3am in Arizona)even though I woke up the Browner household Francesca was very helpful, letting us know we were basically screwed for the rest of the day. We finally decided we would be willing to spend the night in Amsterdam and get a flight in the morning. We were second in line at this time when the woman clerk got up in frustration and walked out! Unbelievable. Anyway after about 10 minutes she came back and we were soon booked on a flight at 7:15 the next morning. Talk about irony! They comped our room and our meals. We got to the hotel at 2PM, had lunch and went to bed at 3pm. Taking no chances we were first in line for breakfast at 4am and at the airport at 5:30. You would think on a Saturday morning there would be no one there. Wrong!! It was like the middle of the day! After the usual security hassles we finally got to our gate and left for Milan.

We landed in Milan and held our breath as the luggage came out wondering if it made it. We had not seen it since we checked it in Phoenix two days previous. Of course we were still wearing our traveling clothes. Out it came! Whew!! As soon as we came out of customs a women was there to lead us to our car. We “purchased” a Peugeot for a predetermined buyback price. To me it’s the same as a rental except that it’s a brand new car. Off we went to our rental home and were greeted enthusiastically by the owners. Since we had seen the home last November there were no surprises except it was prettier because it is now summer and everything is quite green. We are about 400ft above Lake Como with an overwhelmingly spectacular view.

It’s party cloudy this morning but promises to be nice today. Dan and Annie, along with Doug and Lori Philippone arrive this afternoon for about a week. We intend to do some hiking and sightseeing with them but first today I need to figure out the fancy coffee brewer.

Enough for now.

(Dan added some pictures: the first is a view from the balcony at our place and the second is a shot of Veranna from the Bellagio ferry.)

CERVELLI MEANS "BRAINS" IN ITALIAN

We begin our journey May 21 as we travel to New Zealand for Dan and Annie's wedding. We return to the U.S. on May 28, have a reception for Dan and Annie on June 9 and head to Italy on June 14 to spend 7 weeks at Villa Wally in the town of Bellano on Lake Como. Gene and I will be sharing our thoughts and photos as the summer progresses. Many visitors are expected and they can also contribute to this blog. Here's to a great summer.