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.

Weeks 21 and 22 - Da Vinci (Part 1) and Biking to Yverdon

After our whirlwind Austria (and Liechtenstein) trip, we took it easy the next two weekends. (Ok... to be honest, M wrote this sentence before this past Saturday's activities... more on that in a bit.)

Last weekend, we went to the Neuchâtel Museum of Natural History (Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Neuchâtel) to see the temporary Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit that closes August 1. The exhibit included posters of his drawings/sketches, as well as wooden replicas of some of his machines, many of which visitors were allowed to operate. Exhibited machines (remember fabricated from wood) included, but were not limited to, a bicycle, a piston, a water pump, a helicopter, a car, and a tank.

The overall impression from the exhibit was that Da Vinci was an amazingly intelligent, creative, and crazy guy. We'll hopefully get a chance to see more about Da Vinci during our Italy trip in the Fall.

In addition to the Da Vinci exhibit, there were also the taxidermical displays one would expect to find in a natural history museum. Being that Neuchâtel is on a lake, there was a very large bird exhibit, complete with push-button bird calls. Another highlight of the museum's permanent collection was the bug exhibit where you could examine specimens under a microscope.

During the week, we got an invitation from some co-workers to go biking along the lake. So, this Saturday morning, we met them in town by the lake with our bikes and started on a "leisurely" tour along the lake to the southwest. A month or so ago, we biked along the lake for a few kilometers, had lunch, and biked back. This weekend's outing, however, turned into a 40 km bike-ride to the city of Yverdon-Les-Bains at the other end of the lake as Neuchâtel. Portions of the ride are were pleasantly flat or downhill, but a good percentage of the ride involved biking up grimace-inducing, thigh-quivering hills. By the time we arrived in Yverdon, there was no way that K or M would bike the 40 km back; there was, in fact, only person in our group of six that was considering biking back by the time we arrived at our destination. After a picnic lunch by the lake in Yverdon, we caught the train back to Neuchâtel, with our bikes and all. Needless to say, we were filling a bit broken after the ride. Besides the obvious sore legs, M had a bruised butt despite her cushy bike seat with shocks, and K had a sore neck due to handle bar position on his road bike. On our tour, we were rewarded with beautiful views of the lake (although anyone attempting this ride should be forewarned that the ride does not hug the lake, but goes up the hillside for pretty vistas), and we may consider the ride again, but not until we've healed. Also, it may be a good idea to go on some more modest rides in between. Perhaps biking 4 times further than you've ever biked previously is a bit ambitious. Perhaps before we quit Switzerland, we will try to ride all the way around the lake.

Saturday night, we walked (or rather, limped) around Neuchâtel to wander through some of the festivities tied to Swiss National Day. Since Swiss National Day is actually on Sunday, some local towns were having fireworks shows Saturday night. We drove up to the Vue des Alpes and got to view two of the shows from above. Since we missed 4th of July fireworks this year, this felt like a real treat. Tonight (Sunday night) we have to decide if we will watch the fireworks over the lake from our apartment balcony or down at the lake edge.

Lessons learned:

1) Swiss National Day is August 1st to celebrate the initial alliance between the cantons of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden in 1291, which signified the birth of Switzerland. The alliance was formed to fight against the Habsburgs, the leaders of the great Austrian empire.

2) K's maths (yeah...with an "s") skills have become a little distorted by his new-found language skills. Example, K says that he was in a work meeting where he spoke mostly in French. Now, normally, mostly means greater than 50% of the time. However, in this case mostly meant more than 25%. (But after K set off the alarm at work early Saturday morning, he spoke entirely [100%] in French to the nice security guard who came to investigate the alarm.)