The last few days have been getting to know Vittorio Veneto from underneath our umbrellas and what Italian life is like when it’s raining.

Admittedly our newly discovered indoor life, would have been better if we understood Italian. All Italian TV channels have English movies dubbed in Italian. The only show I found subtitled in Italian was the Dave Letterman Show! I don’t think any self-respecting Italian would waste their time trying to dub that! Suffice to say we have been doing a lot of eating and reading!

Today, however the sun is shining again and with the sun on our backs (or is that backpacks?) we are on our way to Florence. We packed everything we needed into our packs and boarded the FrecciaArgento from Venezia St Lucia station. The train rocketed through the countryside at over 200km/h on the two-and-a-half hour trip to Florence.

We arrived in no time at Firenze station. The trip went by so quickly that we realised within minutes that we needed to depart the train. Virtually as we left we realised we had no map to find our hotel so we spend the first few minutes being real tourists, looking for a newsagent to get a map! 2.50 Euros later and we were on our way to the NH Firenze. Our hotel was located at the edge of town on Piazza Vittorio Veneto. A good choice by Expedia, because it was modern, quiet and affordable with the added benefit of being at an address we could easily remember (Vittorio Veneto is where our house is located in Treviso).

Justin spent the afternoon exploring the town, while I rested.

In the evening we headed  to Piazza della Signori where we stopped for a meal overlooking Michelangelo’s statues, enjoying a good bottle of Chianti and some fine food as the sun set.

After dark the Piazza came alive with live music, and Algerian sellers of strange lit novelty propellers which they’d throw up into the sky, descending to the ground like small fireworks.

On the way back to the hotel I got stripped half naked by a Charlie Chaplain street entertainer and was made to do embarrassing things in front of a large crowd, but that my friends is a story for later… with a big glass of red wine and after several hours with my therapist!

Two weeks in to this trip and we finally make it to Venice.

With a rental car still to return, today was the day we saw our first glimpse of Venice.  We headed out of Vittorio Veneto at about 8.15am to travel the 70km to Mestre (just outside of Venice) to drop the car back to the rental company.

The car had to be back by 9am, so by quarter-past eight we were late plus we had to fill-up the car before returning it.  The highways were relatively quiet which allowed me to make up some time.  At the filling station, I filled and Justin was poised at the counter ready to pay – this strategic positioning generally makes for a fast getaway.

Heading back onto the Autostrada, we were well on schedule until our GPS decided to direct us along a dead-end street just two minutes from our destination!  Mercedes Benz GPS apparently are not that good!  So we risked it and decided to use our common sense.

Picking up an entry-ticket at the boom-gate on the way in to Sixt our arrival time was stamped right on the dot of 9am, so all’s well that ends well.

With Dad in tow, Justin and I crossed the road to Mestre Train Station and bought tickets to Venezia St Lucia; our final destination the Grand Canal… but not before a Caffe Americano and a toilet stop.  Coffee is an essential part of any European toilet stop because it avoids a one-euro toilet charge!

Arriving at Venezia S.L. the first thing I noticed stepping off the train was the smell of the canals.  That dark, lingering odor of rotting seaweed.  The last few days had been warm which I think contributed to the smell.

It soon passed as we headed towards the canal and the ticket stall to buy our tickets for the Vaporetta.  Unimpressed with the line I decided to tackle the automated ticket machines – they seemed vacant and the last experience at the train station wasn’t too bad “…how hard can it be, I thought.”

3 tickets and we were on our way. The signs mentioned we should validate before we started our journey. It seemed strange that the machine showed a red light (I couldn’t read the Italian on the screen). With a shrug and a confused look on our faces we shrugged it off and joined the Vaporetta queue with all the other passengers.

“It must be a strange Italian thing…” I thought.

The Vaporetta took us the long way around, negotiating its way past the many freight boats, water taxis, vaporettas and gondolas, past the cruise ships and the hospital towards San Zacharria.

It’s hard to describe the feeling when we first stepped off the boat, but I distinctly remember feeling overwhelmed by the crowds, the noise and the beautiful scenery. Everyone has seen Venice in postcards and on the television.

Justin and I watched Venice 24 before we left which gave a good insight into life of emergency service workers on the Venetian canals.  That still doesn’t prepare you for being close-up and personal with this amazing city.

We walked for hours through Piazza St Marco, along the Grand Canal, over small bridges, up and down the steps of large bridges packed with tourists snapping passing gondolas and then the magnificence of the marble Rialto Bridge filled with about everything on offer in Venice: tourists, photographers, shoppers and maintenance men!

At Piazza St Marco we stopped at St Mark’s Basilica with its amazing 11th century glimmering gold Byzantine mosaics – apparently known locally as the Chiesa d’Oro (the Church of Gold).

During our visit we were amazed to see a service of a dedicated faithful handful (about 6 or so), all taking mass to the side of the church. “Silenzia, Silenzia, Silenza” was the call before the service. The tour guides taking little or no notice and proceeding on with their tours.  In a strange symbiotic way, both activities somehow seemed to work, regardless of the seeming incompatibility or insensitivity.

It seems common in Italy to have signs up for everything that are immediately disregarded. In the church again we took note of the “No Photography” signs throughout and kept our lens caps on inside the church, but many succumbed to the beauty and decided to take pictures anyway.

Outside in the Piazza, live music filled the square emanating from the bands that dotted the cafe’s along the square, entertaining the coffee drinkers and the passers-by alike.

Local school children marched by hand-in-hand taking in the sights of the city, while another family held out their arms with seed to feed the pigeons.

Filmmakers professional and amateur filled the square and canals – we noticed many different groups along our path.

Attracted by a delightful aroma, we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant along a narrow path, that smelt wonderful.  The nose always knows!  We were ushered into a dimly lit back room we realised we were in a local. Everyone was speaking Italian, so we did our best.

Moments after being seated and getting settled-in, a small white fluffy dog wandered in and inspected all the tables in our room, before promptly leaving.

We ordered some red wine from the menu and watched the same dog return on a leash with its owner and some friends, clearly local and known by the owners. The dog was scouting the place on a canine reconnoissance mission.

Justin and Dad had Fettucini di Mare with the most tender and sweet calamari you’ve ever tasted, and I had a seafood pizza. All delights from the special menu.

After lunch we continued along the narrow streets towards The Rialto Bridge.

From Rialto we rode the Vaporetta back to the train station.  On the way back, our tickets still didn’t seem to validate, so I enquired at the counter. The lady promptly informed me that the tickets we had purchased were for a spoken guided tour of the canals rather than the Vaporetta we required.  Completely useless for the transport we needed.

Well I wasn’t going to buy more tickets… so we bluffed it.  We swiped our tickets and pretended the machine validated them and we got on the boat. We were herded on to the Vaporetta like japanese-workers on a bullet train and Justin was shut-out behind the gate.   With a look of desperation and frantic finger pointing and hand-signals to the deck-hand Justin negotiated his way onto the boat. He was the last passenger to board.

Within 5 minutes we were back at the station… no ticket check… we were safe.

This town dates back to the middle-ages and is perched high on a mountainside and is affectionately known as the “City of a Hundred Horizons” because of its high location. Unfortunately being one of the first warmer days after a late winter, much of the horizon could not be seen through the misty haze.

The town was at one time a home to the English poet Robert Browning and Italian actress Eleanora Duse who  have streets and hotels named in their honour. While little is mentioned of Robert Browning’s stay in Asolo, Eleanora Duse was returned to Asolo after her death in Pittsburgh USA, and is buried in in the town.

We parked the car and followed mum as she navigated the path down the narrow cobblestone streets between 3 story residences in varying states of repair. We wandered for about a kilometer past ornate gated gardens and through archways until we reached our destination.

We broke for lunch at Asolo’s Hotel Villa Cipriani. A beautifully restored and renovated four-star hotel on the hillside overlooking the green valleys below and the vineyards on adjacent mountainsides.

Behind a large wall that separates the hotel from the world outside, the restaurant spills out onto a large well-kept garden. With the days just having turned warmer in the last few days the gardens were in full bloom.

We took the slow way home, through the wine country. The area around Connegliano and Vittorio Veneto is known for Italian sparkling wine called Prosecco.

We are now putting our feet up, and after all that driving and a good meal  I’m heading off to bed for a well-earned sleep!

Stresa is a beautiful resort town, quieter than Bellagio and with shops were you can actually afford to buy things!

Last night we had a beautiful meal at a little out-of-the-way bistro called Trattoria Due Piccioni.

We spent some more time in the town this morning before heading off to Verona.  Mum and Dad went to an earthenware store where they sell venetian glass and traditional earthenware dining sets.  We were all tempted to buy, although sadly our baggage allowance says no.

We checked-out of the Du Park Hotel, our last evening’s very comfortable three-star bed and breakfast hotel at 11 and headed up a winding hill towards the Autostrada. In the country, Italian drivers are both unrepentant and bullish taking more than their fair share of the narrow roads in small cars – there are barely inches between car mirrors and no verge.

Our wide-bodied  C-Class Mercedes was no match for the skinny zippy Citroen C2’s and Fiat Punto’s that leap out in front of you from side streets and blind corners.  By about the fifth day I’m getting used to driving defensively and decisively although mum (in the back seat) is not doing so well with it.  She often has her head in her Kindle escaping from her reality that is Italian Driving Hell!

Fiat Punto vs. Duck

Verona required venturing back through the outskirts of Milan, through droves of lorries and trucks darting out into the fast lanes. The driving must have been wearing me down, because I ended up stopping about every hour in the familiar Auto Grill and MyChef roadhouses that dot the highways along the route.

We arrived in Verona in the early afternoon and headed into the town.  Verona is another historic town that caters for international and domestic tourists. Juliet’s balcony is the key attraction where people go to leave lockets and notes in the wall looking for love.

Maybe it’s my cynical nature but it looks a bit like a big themed shopping centre.  Beautiful certainly, but the commercialism of the town is not lost on me.   You can by everything: Louis Vuitton, Prada, Ferragamo, MaxMara, Zara and host of other brands.

To me Verona is starting to look like a big themed outdoor shopping mall.

Escaping from the commercial areas, we ventured further into the town down the backstreets and towards the university. If you keep your eyes open you’ll find alleyways and lanes with buildings that are not renovated and in a more natural state.  Justin loved these because it gave him some terrific photos.

On the way back we visited the ancient Arena. It was worth doing, even though many parts of it were closed as they prepared for the Verona’s Summer open-air opera season.

We had an early dinner and headed back to our hotel Ibis.

The Verona Ibis would have to have been the cheapest and the worst rooms on this trip so far. Nestled in the not-so-peaceful surroundings of an industrial area right between a container terminal and the freeway.

But it wasn’t the view or the noise that presented the largest issue, it was the fact that temperatures soared to 24 degrees today and our room was on the western side of the building.  The rooms, well insulated for the cooler climes absorbed all the heat and were like little ovens.

Opening the windows didn’t help. They opened just three inches and the air conditioning was still switched-off for winter. The temperature did drop after sunset, but it took ages for the room to cool-down.

See more of Verona in this short Youtube video:

We stopped at Verkehrshaus before leaving Lucerne. Verkehrshaus is the Swiss Transport Museum, which has been on my to-do list since August and I’m glad we could fit it into this trip. With trains, planes, trucks, boats and cars it has something for everyone. It’s no surprise really that it’s the most popular museum in Switzerland. At first glance you might think that it’s just for kids, but there really is something for everyone as our trip proved.

Mum loved watching people stumble out of the flight simulators; green-gilled.  Dad loved the electrics of the old trains.  I loved the concept of the car show, and Justin was delighted by the trains and trams.

The car show was particularly interesting, with an arena full of spectators voting on which vehicle they’d like to hear about.  When selected, the vehicle was brought down by robotics and displayed on the floor.  Once finished the robot returns the vehicle to its spot on the wall.

Afterwards we drove over the Swiss/Italian border back into Italy, our destination a small resort town called Stresa on the shores of Lake Maggiori.

In 1948 Earnest Hemmingway visited Stresa and he set part of Farewell to Arms in the town’s Grand Hotel.

Today we made our way around Lucerne.  It’s a beautiful city, full of life and yet so much history.

Bordered by mountains we are here at the best time of year, cool enough to have snow on the hills yet warm enough to really enjoy getting out and seeing the place.   This video does not do the town justice, but it is a start.

Enjoy.

The journey took about an hour to reach the top which is an elevation of something like 2.1KM above sea level.

Queen Victoria visited the summit of Mt Pilatus in 1867.

The mountain is heavily fortified with gun turrets just below the tourist area and viewing gallery.

It snowed overnight last night, so there was a dusting of new snow. It was cold but mostly clear for the majority of the journey. The gondola provides amazing views to Lucerne and surrounding towns below.

Comment away!

We left foggy Lake Como in the morning and arrived in Lucerne just after lunch.

The madness of Italian drivers seemed to leave us within minutes of crossing the border.  I think it’s because of the Schengen Convention but the trip across the border was seamless, not even a passport check… just a quick question “Do you have anything to declare?” and we were on our way.

The road to Lucerne is characterised by tunnels (some very long) followed by sunlight and another picture postcard view of “Heidi Houses” and steep mountain slopes.

[time lapse video to come]

After checking-in to our hotel we went for a walk around the old town before catching up with some friends of Mum and Dad from Ohio, who were in town at the same time as us.

Pretty much as soon as you cross the border, the road-stops are rows-upon-rows of chocolate enough to make you diabetic seven-times over… that and watches and swiss army knives… oh and anything you can colour red and put a white cross on.

The old town similarly had a lot of shopping (if only we had more room in our luggage), and the watches are so cheap. That is unless you want a Rolex and that might set you back a cool $29K!

Today we travelled down to Mestre by train to pick up our car for our trip to Lucerne.  Today we are travelling about 250km from Mestre, through the outskirts of Milan to Valmadrera on Lake Como.

It was with a little trepidation that we all ventured out onto the Autostrada.  Three lanes of traffic, with one super fast lane and trucks in the two other lanes.  Italian drivers including the drivers of lorries, dart out in front of you at the last minute and they love to tail gate.  One needs nerves of steel to negotiate the traffic. I’m sure my mum (in the back seat) had her eyes closed most of the way!

That said, in it’s own chaotic way, the traffic continues to move and everyone gets to their destination quickly.  This included us.  We arrived at our accommodation in the Bellavista Hotel at Valmadrera just after lunch. The lake and mountains were shrouded in mist making our arrival seem just a little mystical.

In the evening we took our car along the 20km of treacherous winding roads that lead to Bellagio with it’s 12th century church of St. James, cobblestone streets and picture-postcard views over the lake.  Bellagio sites in the area written about by Allesandro Manzoni in The Betrothed. In these parts Allesandro Manzoni is like Italy’s William Shakespeare as our eager hosts explained, on our return from Bellagio.

We also discovered that the Bellavista Hotel has been owned and managed by their family for over 100 years – which is quite an impressive legacy.  Our hotel room is very comfortable and has french doors overlooking the lake.  It’s very peaceful here – the only commotion from the noticeably territorial water foul on the lake in front of our hotel.