One Year and 15 Weeks - Roman Ruins in the Vallé d'Aoste, Italy

Yvderon

We had a three-day weekend due to Pentecost and Whit Monday.  After all the recent traveling, we decided to limit our exploring to day trips.  Saturday, we drove over to Yverdon, the city on the western tip of Lake Neuchâtel and terminus of the infamous 40-km bike ride.  We wanted to check out some prices in a local sporting goods store but figured we'd take the opportunity to have lunch and stroll through town as well.  The sporting goods shop (Athleticum) was in a strip mall of sorts, and we were happy to come across Boissons Center (read Beverage Center) adjacent to Athleticum.  It had an excellent selection of beers, wines, liquors, and sodas; it was almost worth a trip to Yvderon alone.  After purchasing some beverages for later consumption, we headed to Yverdon proper to find lunch.  The Lonely Planet guide from the library suggested a crepe "diner" in town so that's where we headed.  The crepes were pretty good (M really liked her fig, goat cheese, and honey crepe), but the service was really odd.  The waiter either intentionally didn't understand us, or was arguing with us; it felt like he was trying to trick us or something.  It's a good thing for him that he doesn't work for tips--though perhaps service would improve.  After lunch, we walked about town, through the main square and by the castle, and stepped in and out of shops (including a chocolate shop!).  We even came across a rummage sale along several of the streets and had fun looking around at the "treasures" for sale.  We managed to head back to the car only a few minutes before the parking expired and the rain started.

Swiss Alps on the way to Aosta 

Sunday was the big adventure day.  We drove south to the Vallé d'Aoste (Aosta Valley) in Northern Italy.  This  region is another of the lingual anomalies in Europe.  Along the Rösti Divide in Switzerland, there are people speaking Swiss German and French.  In Alsace, France, you have people speaking French, Alsatian, and German.  And in Vallé d'Aoste, you have Italians speaking French and Italian, and supposedly a provençal patois.  A significant percentage of the signs are French and Italian, and many of the village names look much more French than they do Italian.  The region is bordered to the north by Switzerland and to the west by France.  It was ruled by the House of Savoy until the late 1800s.

To get to Aosta from Neuchâtel, you have to cross the Swiss Alps using the Great St. Bernard Pass or Tunnel.  Unlike the Goddard Tunnel, the St. Bernard Tunnel isn't free (30 SFr one-way or 48 SFr round trip), so we opted to take the scenic route.  As expected, the Pass was a chain of harrowing switchbacks with a rock wall on one side and a cliff edge (with or without a guard-rail) on the other.  One fun thing was that many of the guard-rails were made of wood logs instead of the standard steel.  Along our drive, we had beautiful scenery, with alpine lakes, snow drifts, rocky peaks, wild flowers, and waterfalls.

Roman Theater

Some of the main tourist attractions of the region (besides the beautiful scenery) are the ancient Roman ruins in the city of Aosta, the principal city in the valley.  The city was the site of a Roman colony, the Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, sometime in the first century BC.  The ancient town walls are very well preserved and a good portion are still standing.  The old south gate of the town, known as the Porta Praetoria, is a double arched gate in the center of modern-day Aosta.  After we parked our car near the large Arco d'Augusto, built in 35 BC to commemorate a victory over the ancient local peoples, we walked down one of Aosta's main streets to the Porta Praetoria.

M at the Roman Theater in Aosta

From there, we followed the ancient wall until we reached the roman theater.  It was surprising to see how well-intact one of the walls was, and it seemed strange to see Roman ruins up in the Alps (I generally associate them with more mild or temperate climes).  The site is open free to the public, and we were able to walk around on the footpaths cutting through the site.  Next to the theater is the Tour Fromage (named after a family, not cheese).  It was one of the original Roman towers, but what seemed most interesting was that it houses a self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci; unfortunately, we couldn't seem to figure out how to get inside or if it is even open to the public ever.  So we walked around it and looked at its exterior.

Town of Aosta

We had lunch at an outdoor Bruschetteria in Piazza Chanoux.  It included a mixed salad, a vegetarian bruschetta (the largest piece of toast I have ever seen with pizza-like toppings on it), and a plate with locally produced cheese, including a fontina cheese known as Fontina Val d'Aosta.  In addition to enjoying the view of the surrounding mountains, we had fun watching the biker gangs pull into the piazza while we sipped our fizzy red wine.

Aosta Cathedral

After lunch, we stopped in the cathedral, which originally dates from the 4th century but which has a 19th century neoclassical facade.  The cathedral had several vibrant frescoes and houses a treasury museum (which was closed).  We then rambled through the Roman cryptoporticus next door.  The cryptoporticus is all that's left now of the old Roman forum.  The part open to the public consists of three long, practically subterranean hallways with arches cutting each hallway lengthwise.  They had great mood-lighting in the tunnels/hallways, and it was neat to think how old the structure was.   M was a bit disappointed that photos were not allowed

Castello di Fénis

We wandered back through town, grabbed some gelato (green apple for K and biscotto for M), and headed back to the car.  Since it was a rather long drive (3+ hours) to Aosta, we wanted to take the opportunity to see a little more of the region since we had plenty of daylight left.  We decided to see one of the many castelli in the valley.  We decided on the medieval Castello di Fénis, a 15 minute drive east of Aosta.  Once we arrived, we waited about 20-minutes for the tour to start.  Then we followed the Italian-speaking tour guide through the open parts of the castle.  There were plaques/signs in the rooms, some in Italian and French and some with English.  But it was really difficult to figure out what the guide was talking about.  Upon further reflexion, we probably should have asked some questions in French to get a little more out of the tour.  Regardless, we did get to see interesting rooms within the castle.  The highlights of the castle included several frescoes (one featuring St. George slaying a dragon and rescuing a princess) and artisinal pieces of period furniture.

K in the Alps

After the castello, we decided to start the long, winding drive home.  On the drive over the Alps, we stopped to walk around a little bit and play in the snow.  We stopped at a turnout, and then climbed over the rocky terrain.  While K dipped a finger in the snowmelt stream, M felt she needed some refreshment so imbibed some fresh Alpine water; we'll see if she gets any intestinal parasites...  As M was taking her chances with Alpine cholera, K scrambled up a mountain hill and spotted a marmot.  Once M finally figured out where K had run off to, she scrambled herself up the mountain hill.   We both watched the plump furry creature bounding on the snow and rocks until he disappeared into a crevice.  We found the easy way back down to the car and made our way home.

Monday, we chilled at home and did some "spring cleaning."

Lessons learned:

1. You can get gelato on a stick!
2. St. Bernards are no longer used as search and rescue dogs in the Alps.  However, you can buy a stuffed toy dog all over the St. Bernard region, from Martigny, Switzerland to Aosta.

Weeks 33 and 34 - Buon Compleanno In Italia

For M's 30th birthday, she wanted to do something big. So, for half a year, she had been planning a trip to Italy. She had an image of herself riding on a robin's egg blue vespa through the Tuscan countryside in between her pasta-making classes and playing bocce with the locals. That didn't exactly happen, but Italy wound up charming her anyway.

We started our trip early Saturday morning (end of week 33) at the Neuchâtel train station. This was our first long train ride in Europe. We would change trains in Bern and Milan before arriving at our first stop of the trip: Florence (Firenze in Italian).

Florence, a Renaissance town, is full of sculpture and paintings from some of the great names we all learned in school. Our B&B was near the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge), so we had lots of chances to look at the old goldsmith shops lining the bridge. On our first day, we wandered around town and got caught in a rain-shower.We stopped into a wine shop to try a tasting (and to get out of the rain). We learned a lot about Chianti, Sangiovese (which we had met in Northern Cali), and black roosters. The rain put a bit of a damper on K's enthusiasm, so we didn’t do much more exploring in the rain. Which was good, because we would need a break before the art-ganza the next day.

On Sunday, we visited the Uffizi. While the Uffizi was incredible, it was a bit overwhelming. The Uffizi is considered to be THE BEST collection of Renaissance art in the world, and we saw pieces by Leonardo, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Titian, and on and on, so we had a very full day of looking at art. By the end of the day, we felt worn out.

However, we can now recognize St. John the Baptist, St. Sebastien, and the Annunciation of Mary (who is also a saint, but none of the pieces were called the Annunciation of St. Mary. hmmmm....) in under 3 notes. Wearing a fur (debate between bear or camel), shot full of arrows, and being yelled at by an angel and/or vomited on by a dove, respectively.

The Loggia (a public, open-air sculpture “garden”) was one of our favorite places in Florence. The Loggia is right next to the Uffizi gallery, off of the Piazza della Signoria. In addition to the sculpture garden, there is a reproduction of Michelangelo's David, as well as Neptune's fountain. The area seemed to have a jovial atmosphere and was flanked by outdoor cafes. We even observed what seemed to be a gypsy band parading through the square.

New Pirate Joke: What did the pirate say after sacking Florence, but then accidentally dropping his booty overboard into the river? Aaarrrrrrrrrrr Nnnooooooo

After Florence, we took a bus to Siena, a medieval town. The myth/history is that Siena was founded by Remus, brother of Romulus the founder of Rome, so there are statues of human babies suckling from a she-wolf all-over town. The towns streets are narrow and curve around, and the town is incredibly hilly, not like Florence. We found numerous sign-posts pointing two different directions to arrive at our intended destination. K decided that we should always take the right turn when it was an option, because, well, why not (like a “your Delta Tau Chi name is Flounder” kind of why not).

The art/architecture highlight for us was the Duomo, a truly impressive gothic church from floor (and sub-basement) to ceiling to roof. What was possibly even better was that they had planned an expansion that would have turned the entire church into the short-arm of the expanded church. They have a few walls and arches of the expansion; it would have been incredible. Unfortunately, a plague that killed ~2/3rds of the town deprived them of money and manpower, so the expansion was never finished.

We had a great lunch soaking up sunshine in the big town plaza of Il Campo (I wanted to write town square, but it’s definitely NOT square; it’s more semi-circular). They hold two horse-races, called Il Palio, there every year which has to be a crazy experience.

Then we caught a train to Rome through Chiusi (for those keeping count, we’re now at train, train, train, bus, train, train). In one sense, our trip just kept going back in time: Renaissance Florence, Medieval Siena, Ancient Rome; but the Renaissance was very visible in Rome, so maybe we were just bouncing around thru history. By the way, anyone wondering what's in Chiusi: niente.

Once in Rome, we met up with M’s parents and then assaulted the city like Sherman and Atlanta.

Thursday was Ancient Rome: Imperial Forum, Palatine Hill, and Colosseum. We were definitely glad we weren't visiting in the summer because, with bigger crowds and heat, ancient Rome would not be so pleasant. It was fascinating learning some of the stories of the area from random tour guides walking around (the audio guide was crap), but it took a lot of imagination to picture how things would have looked originally. One of the things we learned was that the stuff that was best preserved had been reused over the ages, for example, ancient temples converted into medieval churches. Otherwise, new rulers tended to plunder for building materials for their new magnificent monuments. The 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) mentality is why the Colosseum is in as bad a shape as it is.

Friday was a visit to the smallest nation on Earth, Vatican City. We hit the Vatican museum(s) and St. Peter’s Basilica. More big names: Rafael, Boticceli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and on and on. The Sistine Chapel truly is inspiring, but the conventional wisdom that Michelangelo painted it lying on his back is bunk. He apparently craned his neck to look up just like we did. With all of the Renaissance art, there were also plenty of ancient artworks from Greece, Rome and ancient Egypt, along with more modern pieces (we saw a Van Gogh Pièta).

Saturday was a jumble: ongoing excavations of the Roman Fori (though K thinks it should be Fora, since the singular is Forum), Trajan’s column, the Pantheon (both ancient and merely old), Trevi Fountain (which included tossing coins into the fountain to ensure our return to Rome one day), the amazingly crowded Spanish Steps, and St. Giovanni in Laterano.

Sunday was M’s birthday, and we took it easy. In the morning, we walked around the ancient Roman baths at Caracalla, which had some preserved mosaics and tile work. Then we took a brief tour of the ancient Roman ramparts and did some general wandering aboot town.

The weather in Rome was fabulous compared to what we’ve had in CH. It was nearly short-sleeve shirt weather. Rome in the Fall was great with the mild weather and color-changing foliage.

The discourse thus far has been weak on culinary details, but be assured the trip was dotted with excellent food experiences. We learned a Tuscan custom of dipping your biscotti in a glass of Vin Santo (dessert wine) as an aperitif. Plenty of gelato was consumed (the lime and coconut mix was one of M's favorite flavors). We ate loads of pasta: from spinach cannelloni to fettucine with mushrooms. Had melanzane alla parmigiana (eggplant parmesan) and insalata caprese and arancini (fried rice balls stuffed with melted mozzarella). K had his share of exotic foods as well: polpo (octopus), veal, wild boar, and certainly some Parma ham. And of course, we had pizza. One of the best was pizza bianca (flavored with olive oil and rosemary).

Lessons learned:

1. The last bus from Siena to the suburb of San Dalmazio where our B&B was not at 8:00 pm. Turns out there is a bus that runs almost until midnight. Ah well, we got to bed early.

2. Although you are encouraged to order multiple courses in the guidebooks, we oftentimes found a plate of pasta to be sufficient. Sometimes they were Olive Garden sized portions. It was nice to try some of the veggie sides on the menu.

3. Italians tend to eschew toilet seats. Got a leg workout in the bathroom. Some bathrooms we came across did actually look spotless, they were just missing the seat.

4. The table bread in Tuscany was unfortunately subpar. It seemed better in Rome. However, the pizza was really good in Siena. Pizza at the Vatican...not so good...I think they just put toppings on giant communion wafers.

5. Your average Italian has no clue what a pasta drying rack is. In fact, I think they primarily use dry pasta. Sacrilege.

6. Despite the somewhat laidback attitude of Italians, don't think that your Italian vacation will be loosey goosey if you are planning on seeing the big attractions. Most of the museums require prebooking with a specified entrance time, and if you haven't prebooked, prepare for really long lines. However, if you can, do prebook (despite the 25% upcharge required for prebooking) because it is totally worth it. Both at the Uffizi and the Vatican we skipped insanely long lines and got in within about 10 minutes; lines into the Vatican can be up to 4 hours long! Also, if you plan to go to the Colosseum, go over to the Forum and Palatine Hill to buy your ticket there. The line is much shorter.

7. Yes. Italians really are crazy drivers.