Leaning towers to ruins...

On the morning of our departure from Sarzana, my lovely duffel bag decided it no longer wanted to be on vacation.  I've had the thing for a few years and have taken it around the country and beyond.  A few years ago one of the teeth of the zipper became gnarled and the bag required more focused attention on closure.  In London, on the eve of departure, the handle jumped the track at the gnarled point and stood alone on one half of the track.  Miss Princess was forced to rip open the end of the zipper line in order to force the handle back into position.  She sewed it back together and away we went.  On this morning, the handle jumped the track again and panic ensued.  We had to rush to get out of the house to make our train, but lots of time was necessary to sew everything back together again.  We promised to fix it later and Princess did her magic again.  When we arrived at our stop-over in Firenze, we fixed the problem with a simple purchase of a rolling suitcase.  After filling my new bag (case) with the contents of the duffel, I promptly handed over my trusty duffel to the lady at the counter and walked away from the troubles of a wishy-washy suitcase (bag).  And now back to the story...

Ahem...from La Spezia we headed south for an hour's ride to Pisa.  We got off at the San Rossore station instead of the main one, as it is only 500m to the Tower of Pisa.  We followed the masses off on their way to school and quickly found ourselves in front of the garden of the Duomo.  Behind the Duomo is the real attraction, the one every tourist tries to push up or hold up and always fails. 
We tried, and failed.  The architecture of the church and the tower is quite amazing...lots of columns on the exterior (don't ask me what kind...it could be Ionic or one of those other funky names) and the structures are all made of locally-produced marble.  On the ride down we passed the marble-cutting facilities, with row upon row of giant marble blocks...incredible!

After checking out the tower and taking the normal 300 pictures, Princess and I meandered through town to the main strain (sic) station, a mere 1.8km away.  We had to go to this one instead of San Rossore because the connecting line would have arrived into the main station after the departure of our train to Firenze.  In Firenze, we bought the bag and bit the bullet, as the temperatures had dropped considerably.  When we left Sarzana it was about 2º C, but in Pisa it was warm enough to not see our breath.  However, in Firenze, Princess was frozen solid despite her layers, gloves and scarf over the nose. I was fine, at least with my big suede coat; it always keeps me warm.  Our train to Napoli was delayed about 35 minutes, but we passed the time twiddling our thumbs and dreaming of the warm Neapolitan sun.  The train finally pulled into the station and away we went.

The ride to Napoli was relatively short, about three hours, and we arrived at the coast just before 15:45.  Once we got into the Garibaldi station, we proceeded downstairs and caught the Circumvesuviana rail line all the way to Sorrento.  It was an hour's ride, making the total travel time on the day just about six hours.  With all the regional trains and layovers it was hard to notice the time.  We pulled into Sorrento well after dark, even though the time was only 1720.

From the train station Princess and I lugged our suitcases down the main street, past the slow rush of traffic, to our awaiting hotel.  We rang the doorbell...no answer.  I rang again and waited...still no answer.  WTF?  Did I book a bogus room?  Princess noticed a phone number on the outside sign, so I called it.  The woman who picked up said she was on her way and would meet us in five minutes.  We watched the traffic zoom by at 3km/h and soon our attendant arrived.  She then told us that the room we had booked was unavailable.  Oh no!  Apparently, and we're not completely sure about this, the previous guests had become ill and severely tainted the guest room.  Umm, OK?  Then we were told that we were being moved to the downtown location (literally...in the middle of old town!), free of charge, and that a car was coming to get our stuff.  Yippee!!

The old location was a nice room with cool colors and free breakfast.  The new place was called Sorrento Town Suites and was just off the main road, with a kitchenette (yay!).  We were very excited with our new duds, and spent most of the ensuing hour piling all of our clothes on the floor (all of it dirty).  We then ran out to the store to buy food for dinner, but we arrived an hour late and instead settled for a recommended location.  In we walked and I was instantly amazed...Valencia CF was playing Genoa on the big screen!  Right on!  I haven't seen them in action in a long while, so it was nice to see them up close.  They eventually won in the final minutes, and now have moved into the next round of the European playoffs.

While I busied myself with the TV, Princess was making acquaintances with Mamma.  She found the gnocchi and made up her mind long before I arrived at the table.  I sat down and ordered a plate of rigatoni and we awaited the festival.  Our plates arrived and Princess' eyes bulged...there must have been at least a half kilo of pasta on each of our plates.  For me, this is nothing new, but for the li'l lady, she wasn't expecting to have her stomach over-enlarged.  Both of us eventually finished our platters and then moved directly into dessert.  Free with dessert was limoncello!  However, as we learned later, theirs is far superior as it is made with Everclear.  I smell another project looming!

The next day Princess and I arose to a knock at the door and in-room breakfast.  I had a café latte and Princess had tea, and with it came two Nutella-filled croissants.  We had this process repeated every morning for all three breakfasts...can you think of a better way to start the day?  This day was going to fairly lazy...we did laundry (another all-day experience) and went grocery shopping and later went for a walk to the port.
The views there were incredible, both of structures and the looming Mt Vesuvius.  Our stay was limited because the wind had picked up earlier and clouds were moving in.  Rain was on the forecast for the following day, and we didn't want to usher it in early.  Back at home, we shared a bottle of local Pinot Bianco and consumed truffle-scented pasta and veal cordon bleu, along with a pair of episodes of Californication.

On Saturday was got up early to check the still-drying laundry and have our morning beverage.  At just after 10, we headed out and caught the first train back towards Napoli.  Our ride was short, but only because we only went halfway.  We got off at the Villa dei Misteri stop, also known as the home of old Pompeii.  That's right, history buffs, we spent the day under the canopy of the not-so-distant Mt Vesuvius, famous for its eruption 79 AD that buried the town of Pompeii in 30 feet of ash.  This was my second visit to the city, with my first coming two years earlier.  The weather then was only a tad better than now, with these skies filled with moisture.  That moisture made the big mountain not so scary, having its summit encased by a new coat of powder.

In Pompeii we toured a few sites and observed a few more.  We walked through the Roman Forum and Temple of Apollo while gazing into various houses, tombs and various business of the first century.  We saw the small theatre, dedicated to poetry reading and music, and the large theater for greater productions and comedies.  At one end of the city lay the Amphitheatre, the great site where the gladiators gathered to fight each other and the many exotic animals brought in.  At the opposite end of the city lay the Villa dei Misteri, a house owned by the rich where they could relax away from home.  It was popular back then to dedicate entire houses to the recreation of separate societies, in this case the Greeks.  Old Pompeii is huge...I cannot do it enough justice on this blog.  To fully understand that you must see it in person!

After Pompeii, we were quite pooped.  We read our books and consumed appetizers of prosciutto and pecorino, and then went out into the wild Christmas decorated streets of Sorrento.  We headed to a wine shop that we had seen the day before, one where we had been given free Limone (Limoncello + cream) and a shot of Sambuca.  We had just enough Marc de Gigondas left over to share with the owner, and then we topped it off with a purchase of our own.  That evening we relaxed with games, and awoke early the next day to pack and get the heck out.
Only five days to Christmas!!

Beauty and the Beach

We arose early with Fabio and enjoyed a glass of ColaCao before saying goodbye.  I ran down the street to trim a few hairs off my noggin, and upon completion we walked to the train station for our trip to Liguria.  Our first train lasted a solid three hours, which we passed playing games and sleeping.  Upon a late arrival into La Spezia, I rushed inside to find the platform number of the connecting train, and then ran back to meet Princess and make the train before its imminent departure.   The ride to Sarzana was very quick, just two stops.  From that station we walked four blocks and met our new couchsurfing host, Erica, at her house.  Both Princess and I were starving from a miniscule breakfast/lunch, so Erica made us some pasta while we relaxed on her futon.

Erica recently joined the ranks of the unemployed, albeit voluntarily, and is hopefully off to see more of the world.  I found out before our arrival that Erica had gone to Argentina in 1998 with that famous company that I had gone to Spain with, and with whom Gabi had also come to California, AFS.  She is a volunteer for the Intercultura program and regularly meets newly arriving students for their initial orientation.  I would like to contribute in a similar manner, though ideally it would be in Europe rather than back home in the US.  We shall see...

After lunch and a hot cup of tea, Erica, Princess and I headed out for a tour of the city.  Sarzana is quite small, with an unknown population, but is quite popular historically.  Throughout Italian history it has changed provincial hands various times, wavering between ownership of Tuscany and Liguria.  On a slightly broader context, the city is a crossroad of two important international roads.  The first is a holy road, linking Paris to Rome, and is similar to the Camino de Santiago, though definitely not as famous.  The second is a trade route from the coast at Genoa to the center of the Italian peninsula at Firenze.  Way back in the day there must have been a mass market at the intersection, but today there is only the Christmas market, selling artisan sausage, cheese and desserts.

We walked down the holy road, towards Rome, and then climbed up onto the wall that used to surround the entire village.  Erica told us the history and importance of the castle, which is still used sparingly today for festivals and concerts.  I initiated an impromptu game of "kick the huge pinecone," which slowly turned into a boy vs. girls game of soccer.  The game ended in a 1-1 tie, though I'm sure one could argue that the girls won, since the final goal was scored as time ran out, with an impressive shot by Princess going through my legs, narrowly missing those parts of great importance.  One must remember to never doubt the power of a woman, scorned or not.  Erica dropped us off in the center of town and went off to help a friend, and Princess and I went back home for book reading, research and pinball.  Our host arrived home a few hours later and then promptly made a scrumptious dinner of Risotto and tortilla italiana (that's new!).  We finished the night chit-chatting and culture sharing.

I arose early the next morning at 6:30 to turn off alarm clock and go back to bed.  Our original plan was to get up at the crack of dawn and head off to Monterosso to walk the entire length of the Cinque Terre hike, with the hope that we would accomplish in the recommended 5 to 6 hours.  When I awoke at 6:30 and noticed the lack of sunshine, I cancelled the early departure and promised to take a train between two of the towns to make up the time difference.  Princess and I headed out at 8:45, rushing down to the station to buy tickets.  The expected departure time was 9:01, but as we have repeatedly found out, Italian trains often run late and the train pulled into the station ten minutes late.  We had to change trains in La Spezia, and we managed the layover by buying lunch at a market across the street. A few minutes later we left and headed two stops up the line to Monterosso.

Monterosso is the fifth of the five towns, heading north from the south.  The other four are Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore.  We snapped a few pictures of the town and then headed off on the trail.  There was a 5euro charge per person to walk the trail, which covered maintenance and cleanup.  Immediately after passing the train station, the trail jumps straight up with nearly 700 stone steps climbing up the hill.  It was here that Princess and I wisely agreed to share the weight of the backpack, with me taking it on the long uphills and Princess taking it downhill.  My little Princess is not in as good shape as she usually is, so all of the uphill really challenged her physically. (he-hem- Princess was not the only one sweating tho... ;])

The Cinque Terre trail is 9km long and extremely narrow at most points.  It runs along the coast, sometimes through fields and in between properties, and other times above the crashing waves of the Ligurian Sea.  The first three towns are separated by 3 and 4 km, with the last two just 1km from the preceding town.

As soon as we crested the hill and began a long descent, we could see Vernazza on the edge of the coast.  It sits on the tip of a small point, with a self-created jetty protecting the harbor from potentially large waves during storms.  There is not much to the city itself, except its absolute cuteness.  There is limited vehicle access, with the best methods of arrival feet or train.  The same is true for all of the five towns, which is part of the effect of greatness.  Not just anyone can go without a little planning, and to get the full effect you have to be interested in hiking.  During the summer months the trail is quite full, with travelers stopping off at every town, some staying the night in the widely available rooms for rent and others just passing through on a day hike.  This day, the trail was almost empty; throughout the entire day we passed 12 people.

From Vernazza we continued along, first up a steep hill and then settling out high up the cliff.  Corniglia was just around a few bends, but the most spectacular part was the sea views out and back to cities we'd previously left.  We had shared a banana on the train ride to Monterosso, but since then had not eaten much.  Along the trail Princess taught me how to savor Sour Grass.  Sour Grass is the flower of a variety of clover, and the little yellow flower is shaped like a bell.  You pull out the entire length of the stalk, tear of the final inch or so and then chew on the rest, enjoying the tangy liquid inside. (and making bitter beer faces!)  The flavor itself is more tart and bitter than sweet or filling, but the acid temporarily satiates the body until you can find food.  The juice isn't that great in large quantities, as it would eat away at your teeth, but if you could extract a sizeable amount, you could have quite the salad dressing!

In Corniglia Princess and I enjoyed our Panini on a terrace overlooking nothing but the sea.  We had purchased a pair of juice boxes to go with our lunch, though instead of juice they held cheap red wine.  We poured one of the containers into our remaining orange juice and enjoyed sangria with lunch.  Yummy!  Just after we finished lunch, a cat joined us on the terrace.  I'm not sure if it was in search of food or love, but it got love and ended up snoozing on Princess' warm jacket.  The morning hikes were quite warm, with the sun shining as we climbed and descended the hills.  After lunch the sun went away,
leaving just rays of sunlight pouring through the clouds and the occasional shiver running up our spines.
When we arrived in Corniglia, just two hours had passed from the beginning of the trail.  All of the online recommendations I had read said that the first two (the longest) would take approximately three hours.  Our mighty speed made sure that we didn't have to take a train, as the next two distances wouldn't take us more than 2 hours total.  The walk out of Corniglia ran about 200 steps down the hillside, along the beach and then climbed above the train station.  The trail to Manarola followed the coastline, hiding the town until you continue around the final bend.  We walked down to the water and skirted the cliffside and found ourselves looking directly at waves.  Fortunately, no waves crashed into us, and we enjoyed the area looking at crabs.

From Manarola to Riomaggiore, the end of the line, there is a 20-minute paved walkway that skirts the coast.  Its name is Via Dell'Amore and it climaxes with a pair of star-crossed lovers surround by locks.  Apparently, the custom is to lock your used key or combination lock on the fence, with your name on it, as your mark of attendance in Cinque Terre.  We didn't have a lock, so I guess we never made it there...

We took the train from Riomaggiore to La Spezia, walked around the town a bit and grabbed some coffees and a chocolate croissant.  We then trained back to Sarzana, got lost around town in search of the supermarket, and finally found ourselves buying groceries.  We picked some dinner stuffs and lunch stuffs, and then Princess (Yes, Princess!) made Tortellini and sautéed Curry Chicken.  The meal was wonderful and no one died, so now Princess can do more cooking, when there is an available kitchen and appropriate spices.  In the morning we packed up and headed out...first stop, Pisa!

Tourin' Turin

We slowed down a little when we arrived to Turin.  Our couch surfing hosts were a wonderful couple, and the proud parents of a feisty teenage cat named "Soot" (except it was translated into Italian - Fuliggine).
Our first nite with Fabio and Tullia introduced us to the neighborhood, including a tower with the Fibonacci number sequence displayed down the side of it, a quick bite to eat at a Kebab place, and our very first Chupito (free!) at a local pub where the bicycle club was meeting.  While Fabio and Tullia stayed out late, Hollywood and I headed back to the apartment to get a good nite's sleep. 

The next morning was a lazy one as Saturday mornings go.  Fabio and Tullia were both a bit groggy, and we were simply unmotivated.  We relaxed with a book and computer stuff, trying to plan out the next (and unknown) step in our adventure.  We finally got going in the early afternoon, and had a big day taking in the sights.  We hopped the bus to the train station, as that was our starting place, and headed into the old town via the main drag.  Winter was definatley in the air, even Hollywood felt it!  We found the beautiful Palazzo Madama and the Palazzo Reale.  Then we investigated the ruins uncovered by the renovation of Palazzo Reale, it really is amazing how old stuff is in Europe!  Then we went for a stroll through the nearby market and purchased 2 ear warmers!  I told you it was cold!
Strangely enough our noses led us to the fish market.  I was amazed by the seafood available:  long black eels, still squirming in shallow bins, little crayfish crawling all over each other, squid, octopus, clams, shrimp, mussels...and the list goes on and includes more fish than I could ever identify.

Our next stop was a little out of the way square, where we hoped to find the Shroud of Turin and a little coffee shop featuring a found-only-in-Turin specality.  We found a Church that held plenty of promise for the shroud, but in the end, our thorough investigation came up empty.  Besides that, the evening service was starting and we felt the need to sneak out.  We were much more successful at locating the coffee as it was just across the square.
There we found the delicious "Bicerin", a mixture of espresso and thick liquid chocolate topped with a layer of warm cream foam.  WOW!  For once, I had the 'coffee' and Hollywood had the cocoa, boy was he jealous!

After our warming beverages, we braved the cold once again to explore the festive Christmas market while waiting for Fabio and Tullia to meet up with us.  While wandering we sampled cheese and salami, and didn't spend all the money we could have...only a bit on a few coke bottle candies!  Once our hosts found us, we headed to a local bar to meet friends and to enjoy Aperitivo.  For the nominal price of an 8euro beverage, you could eat as much of the 'appetizer bar' as you could! Penne arrabbiata, anchovies, deviled eggs, shrimp, mushroom gnocchi, tomato and bufala cheese, warm bread, and apple struedel for dessert.  I know I'm forgetting some things, but those were our highlights. 

After stuffing ourselves, we headed up the street for a digestive.  I made the mistake of ordering a hot chocolate (my favorite) which was as thick and rich as mud - literally!  I didn't have room!  The bar was a small Moroccan place and in the lounge area all of the seats were 12 inches off the floor!  We were all squished together, which made for a wonderfully tight knit circle of conversation.

The night was still young so we squished into Fabio's car and headed to a club for a little 80's/90's music and dancing.  It was still quiet when we arrived so we sipped on beers and waited for the action to begin.  We spent an hour or so sweating on the dance floor, having flashbacks while "I'm Blue", Backstreet Boys, ABBA, Britney Spears, Fatboy Slim and many more motivated our tushes to wiggle!  When we ran out of space to move, we called it a night and headed home. 

Lazy day #2 was REALLY lazy.  Hollywood and I spent a couple (ahem...bunch) of hours reading and computing, then headed out to brave the elements for a short tour around the local area.  We walked toward the hills and discovered an indoor holiday fair.
The sounds of cotton candy intoxicated children filled the air, while blinking lights and stuffed animals tried to entice us to play games.   Grumbling stomachs led us past the Valentino Palace to a nearby kebab place, and though we had to wait a bit, it was worth it. Upon returning home, we met more friends and the lovely Cloe, only 9 months old.  After a bit of chit and chat, we all sat down to a light dinner of pizza and beer and Chianti. 

The highlight of Monday was meeting Flavia, Tullia's older sister.  We enjoyed lunch and a nice chat, then Hollywood and I headed into town to secure seats for the next day's train trip.  We also picked up a Cyclamen and grisini to enjoy with F&T.  That night Hollywood made two Spanish Tortillas for dinner, which Fabio very much enjoyed after a soccer match, but Tullia missed due to work.  We turned in knowing the morning would lead us on to the next adventure.

City of water...

Princess and I arrived into Venice at half past one in the afternoon, after a smooth and quick ride up from Florence.  The sky was clear, the temperature comfortable and adventure lurked in the mist. 

Venice, save for a single highway to the mainland, is completely surrounded by water.  I don't mean just on the outside; it is filled with small and large canals, making for about a hundred small islands, linked either by footbridges or vaporettos (water buses).  There is bus and car traffic on only a few of the islands, making feet the primary method of transportation.  You can get a taxi or gondola if you need it, but both only go by water.

 From the train station, we picked up a pair of 48-hour water bus passes and headed out towards our hotel on Lido, a long slender island with beaches, cars and bicycles.  I can't say the passes were inexpensive (28euros each) but compared to the 6.50euro price for a one-way ticket, it makes for quite the savings.

Our hotel was a scant 40 minute ride on the water bus, and along the way Princess busied herself with the camera, snapping pictures of all the beautiful churches, steeples and waterscapes.  We landed on our island weary and lost, but eventually found our hotel after a bit of walking.  Instead of rushing back out to sightsee, we opted to stay inside, taking hot baths and catching up on our books and the blog.  Since our hotel faced the beach, we decided to get up before sunrise and take it all in from the shoreline.

The alarm went off at 7:15, and after turning off the buzzer I dozed on accident.  We have been using my phone as an alarm clock, so I have to slide open and close the phone to turn off the noise.  When I fell back asleep, the phone was still open, and as my body relaxed, so did my grip on the phone.  It fell out of my hand and crashed to the floor, snapping off the front of the screen in the process.  The phone still worked, but the faceplate was no longer connected to the internal computer, meaning I couldn't make or receive calls or access anything out of the menu.

Instead of moping around after the phone, Princess and I headed out to the beach and watched the sun rise out of the ocean, beginning another day in Venice.  We took off running down the beach, heading nowhere but enjoying every moment.  Within 200 meters, I began to feel a sharp pain in my lower back that crept higher and higher with every step.  Five steps later I was bent over, both my back and chest muscles seizing against each other, inhibiting my breath and comfort.  Princess walked me home, drew me a bath and massaged away the pain.  I'm very grateful to have her around, both as a friend as well as a lover.  She is very kind and warm to all, and I've slowly discovered how much she means to me, as well as how much I enjoy having her always near.

We finally left the hotel just before noon, catching the regular bus just as we walked through the lobby.  We headed straight to St Mark's Square, which I found to be much blander than I expected.  Perhaps it was the cool weather or even the time of year, but I didn't get the awesomeness that I've heard so much about.  From there we headed out through a corner, beginning our canal adventure.  We soon discovered a vendor with hot spiced wine...delicious!  We walked along the canals, through the piazzali, over the bridges, pausing at the famous Rialto Bridge, and finally stopped for lunch next to a bridge.
We ate a sandwich of Tuscan cheese and aged meat and watched some locals decorate their house for the holidays.  The water smelled there, reeking of sulfur.  One can only wonder what gets put into the waterways, as I saw no sign of fish whenever I peered into the water.

After lunch we continued through the catacombs, coming out at a vaporetto stop.  We hopped on for an excruciating 60 seconds and got off on new island.  One thing you have to understand about Venice: not every island is linked to the next by a bridge, and not every street leads to another.  Therefore, it is quite easy to get lost as well as tired if you don't know exactly where to turn at the fork.  Our main goal for this afternoon was to just see stuff from the outside, versus checking out all the intricacies of churches, buildings and plazas.  My stiff back and Princess' sympathy pains were too much for all that.  Besides, Mom said we needed to go slower.

After wandering across another isle and getting lost in the crisscross of streets and bridges, we arrived at the outskirts of the center area of Venice.  Across the way lay Murano, the famed island for Venetian glass blowing.  We hopped out there for a look, but the factories were already closed for the day.  We peeked into one of the stores and were instantly amazed.  For one, the art and level of craftsmanship is amazing: 24k gold, platinum, red, blue, green, animals, cups, plates, vases...it is all there.  You want it, they can make it.  However, such availability and craftsmanship is not cheap; we found a not-so-expensive plate that we liked, but it would have cost over 200euros, including shipping to California.  True, we don't necessarily have to ship it, but do you really want to carry around something expensive AND fragile if you're not going to use it for at least 3 months?  We'll stick to the Tuscan truffle oil...

From Murano we headed back to one of the main islands, getting off near the old fort and trying to walk into it.  We found one of the walls, but it was surrounded by a moat (go figure).  Then we got lost over and over, but finally figured out to follow the masses.  We arrived back at St Mark's Square and hurried back to Lido, passing the gondolas on the way.  On our way into St Mark earlier in the day, Princess had inquired what the price of a ride was.

I had heard they were not inexpensive, usually ranging from 80-100euro for a 40 minute trip.  The price she received was very similar and so we continued on our way.  Not 3 steps later, we were asked where we were from. (California!)  They then gave us the California discount, offering 70euro.  Wow...not bad!  It was still too high and we left.  Ten steps later we were stopped by another operator, this time offering us 60euros for a ride.  Incredible!  Still too high, though.  Just before the bridge we were stopped again, with the price bottoming out at 50 euro for a guy that just wanted to go home.  I then realized that I could almost name my price, and had they accepted credit cards, I would have taken a ride.  They didn't, so I couldn't and we missed a trip.  So...if you ever don't need something but someone wants to sell it to you, remember to not be afraid to walk away; it's always in your benefit!

Since my lovely phone had kicked the bucket that morning, we stopped off at a Vodafone shop on the walk home.  I purchased a new quad band phone for myself, for use in Europe and the USA, and Princess picked up a dual band phone for communication while in Greece.  We ate dinner that night in the hotel, and the next morning packed up to head out.  After checking out of the room, we left the bags in storage and borrowed a pair of bicycles for a leisurely ride around the island.
The temperatures were quite brisk at 7 Celsius, but the hour-long ride made it bearable.  We finished Venice with a vaporetto ride around the city and boarded our train for Turin.

I would like to come back to Venice when it's warmer, though that probably means it'll be packed, too.  Oh well...

Chaos

Many of you know that we have been using (or attempting to use) Couchsurfing as a means to keep our costs low while traveling.  I have been mingling with internationals since 2007, and this year is Janet's first trip staying with friends before they are friends.  We have been planning to couchsurf as much as possible, but it isn't always possible because you are dealing directly with people, their schedules and lifestyles, compared to hostels and hotels with many rooms available.  Sometimes you can't find a person that fits your ideal, or perhaps there are not many hosts in the area where you are going, and perhaps there are no hosts available.  However, the great benefit of Couchsurfing is also its downfall: you don't have anything until you have something.  For us, this has been very positive; and very negative at the same time.

From Nice we wanted to go to Milan and from there to Verona to see Romeo & Juliet and then off to Venice and Florence.  After much research and many couch requests, we received zero positive responses from Milan; there were only a handful of quality couchsurfers in Verona and no one in Venice that matched our needs.  From there we began to look at hostels and hotels, and they were very expensive in all cities, especially in Venice on a weekend.  All three days in Nice I was worried sick about what to do in the future; I am the kind of traveler that enjoys having set plans as far as transportation and housing, so leaving things to the last minute made me very nervous.  Initially, we changed cities, canceling Verona, moving Venice back to midweek and instead of Milan we were hoping for Turin, and for three days instead of two.  What happened?  Absolutely nothing.  We received zero responses, negative or positive, and couldn't find a hostel with availability all three days in Turin.  Merd!   So how did we fix the problem?

We went to Florence!

Firenze...fast and hot

Florence is a wonderful town, usually busy and very compact.  We trained in over eight hours, first taking the bus from Nice to Monaco.  From there we caught a train to Ventimiglia, just over the border in Italy and bought our reservations all the way to Firenze.  We are using a Eurail Italy Saver pass while in the boot, so we only have to pay for seat reservations instead of tickets; some trains don't require reservations, and so we don't have to pay anything.  It really is quite a saver...we figured it would cost us about $1000 for the both of us, over six travel days without passes.  However, we were able to purchase two passes for $406, which included a 20% off special for just Italy.  Pretty cool, huh?

From Ventimiglia we went to Genoa, and then on to La Spezia and Florence.  Because we planned for Florence the night before (at 23:30) we were not able to couchsurf but had reserved a residence just outside the city.  The advent of a residence versus a hotel is that the residence has a fully-stocked kitchen with pots, pans, cups, silverware, etc, so you can cook your own meals to save money, instead of venturing out to the busy and potentially expensive restaurants.  With that, we spent 26 euros at the supermarket for two dinners, lunches and breakfasts for two people.  I can't even begin to guess what that would have been out in the wild...

We happened upon a 'local's favorite' pizza place our first night (we were looking for the grocery), and then climbed into our big bed for a nice long nap.  We awoke the next morning at 10:30 (we're on vacation, right?) and began our day.  I went shopping, Princess made some ColaCao and before we knew it, we were off into Firenze.  We got off the bus at the end of the line and headed to the Piazza Repubblica.  The piazza is huge...most in Italy are very large...and it was busy with people.  We had accidentally happened upon a long weekend holiday, so even on Monday during the day the square was packed.  From there we went directly to the Duomo, the dome of the Santa Maria Nuova church.  The facade is amazingly ornate and the church bigger than my eyes could take in.  We didn't go in though...aren't most old churches all the same?

We did a half loop around the Duomo then took off down the street towards San Lorenzo.  San Lorenzo is the mausoleum and old living quarters of the Medici family, so we thought it would be interesting.  Upon arriving at the Piazza SS Annunziata, we encountered a very inviting scene.  A huge wine tasting!  There were over eighty wineries from all over Europe, showing off their Slow Food skills.  How could we not join in?  We paid ten euros for one glass to share, and then began our day with whites.  We went straight to the Mosel area, sipping some very nice Rieslings.  One of the Riesling tastings included eating chocolate first and then sipping the wine.  Amazing!  The first one started with Venezuelan dark chocolate, and the second with a Saffron and Curry White Chocolate...OMG (yes, Hollywood said OMG)...our mouths exploded with that one, first with the chocolate and then with the amazing flavors of the wine pairing.  We bought a bar for future testing...  We moved onto reds and olive oils from there, tasting through nearly 30 wineries over the whole day.  We bought a bottle of five-year old Vin Santo, and later had to purchase some soft aging cheese (because it was delicious and it was "born" on Hollywood’s birthday!) and rich smoked meats.  Unfortunately, my palate was shot after all the reds, so in the evening we tasted through a dozen other Vini Santi for comparison.

It’s safe to say (and to assume) that we missed the San Lorenzo.  We took off from the plaza, and bee-lined it for the Galleria degli Uffizi, a giant museum at the edge of the Arno river, for a 16:15 reservation we'd made earlier in the day.  The reservation was not free, though it was quite inexpensive compared to the other option: waiting between 1-2 HOURS to get into a museum that took 2 hours to see and closed in 2 hours...any questions?  Before going into the museum, we stood proud in front of the statue of Michelangelo's David, gazed up at Perseus clutching Medusa's severed head and witnessed Hercules conquering a Centaur.  The many statues in the area are quite impressive, especially given their individual history or the history they refer to...a must see!

The Uffizi held quite a bit of art, much of it relating to artistical interpretation of the time of Christ.  We have nothing against art of that kind, but it tends to fill most of the European museums, so day after day, museum after museum, of seeing the same thing can make it get very old very quickly.  Besides the Christian art, there was much art referring to the gods of our history, both Roman and Latin - Princess' favorite was the Birth of Venus painting, as well as busts of emperors and leaders of ancient Rome.

From inside the Uffizi we had a picture perfect view of the Ponte Vecchio - the old bridge that used to be the gold storage of the ruling families and is now completely filled with jewelry stores...coincidence?  After the museum we walked by all the stores and then slowly made our way back home for pasta, sautéed pork with peppers and a nice salad made by Princess herself.

Before starting dinner, Princess ran off to do a load of wash at a nearby laundromat.  Instead of paying an extra 4 euros to have our laundry dried immediately, we opted to let it all hang out.  For this we borrowed an iron and ironed every piece of clothing that wasn't a shirt or sweater and then hung it up.  Socks, underwear, jeans...you name it, we ironed it.  Whatever wasn't dry in the morning was ironed again in the evening.  Now this is what I call living!

The next morning we arose early for a tour of San Gimignano, Siena and Montalcino.  We were picked up at our hotel and then boarded a very full tour bus at the main square.  The tour was comprised of four Americans and two Timor(ians?)...yep, all of them squished into an 8 passenger Mercedes van...horrible!  During our tour, our guide Alejandro, originally from Chile but a resident of Italy for the past 14 years, educated us about the local area, landscape as well as Italian life.  Our favorite topic of his regarded Italian marriages...if you're not fighting at least once per day, it's because one of you is sleeping around.  Hilarious...but is it true?

We stopped first in San Gimignano, a wonderful old village referred to as the "Manhattan" of the Middle Ages.  It's where every rich family in Italy went to pronounce their wealth and power, principally by killing off any potential local challengers, and then building a taller tower than any standing (or by destroying any taller tower in the city). At one time some 72 towers stood tall in this "Manhattan" of Italy, but only perhaps a dozen remain. We walked through the village, taking lots of pictures (petting the puppies and kitties) and then basked in the immense views of the countryside.  The village was decked out in Christmas ware, including the pigs...

From there we went to Tenuta Torciano, where we tasted Chianti - regular, classico and riserva as well as olive oil and truffle oil.  Princess immediately fell in love with the truffle oil, much to my dismay, and demanded that a bottle be taken along to Crete.  I vehemently said no, and so we left the winery with a new bottle of truffle oil.  (Yea! Yummy! ;])

Our next few hours included lots of picturesque landscapes and an absolutely gorgeous sunset, as well as a tour of an abbey where monks still chant daily.  The Abbita di Sant'Antimo is very beautiful, and almost devoid of traditional religious art.  It was very nice to see something so simple, with just nice architecture and stonework, versus seemingly overzealous shrines and statues made of gold, with storytelling stained glass windows and the traditional run-of-the-mill church decoration.  Outside a brother walked with his parents around the grounds, and we took in the green grass and olive trees.

The last stop of the day was at another winery near Montalcino, where we toured the facilities and tasted more wines.  The Manager of the winery, Nonno Mario, who only spoke Italian, and loved the ladies, made a point of having Hollywood model in front of the casks and cased wines.  And yes, Hollywood lived up to his name, entertaining all present.  This time around we tasted through i rossi Montalcini, starting from a very simple IDG red, which means there are no ultra-specific laws regarding production, to a rosso Montalcino and finally to a pair of Brunello di Montalcino.  Brunellos are very sumptuous and tasty, mainly because they are required to be barrel-aged for at least four years and then aged a further six months in the bottle.  They are usually quite expensive in the US, but the cost of shipping from Italy doesn't make up for the difference in price.

We ended our tour back at the train station, a whole nine hours after leaving.  We very much enjoyed that tour, and recommend a similar one to anyone visiting the area.  We purchased our train reservations to Venice on the way through, and then ran home for a quick dinner and a restful sleep.  Ciao!