July 31: The Rialto Markets and St. Marks Basilica

I washed some clothes at last, last night. I wanted to hang them out the bathroom window, on the rope provided, but there were only 3 pegs. So, I had to drape most of it around the house... Rome, at least, had a fold out line!

This morning we set off to the Rialto to seek some fishy Merchants of Venice (not for a loan, though!) The markets were very colourful with wide displays of fruit and vegetables in particular. We bought some lovely fresh sardines for lunch and some bream for dinner. There were fresh snails for sale - really crawling in their tubs! At the outskirts their were stalls with tourist wares - not as nice as the little shops. Wayne succumbed to buying pastries at a confectioner. (We are not getting any thinner over here.)

Wayne's note: The pastries were "dolce tipico Venezia" - dessert pastries typical of Venice - we HAD to try them, and they were YUM! - Ciocallato filled pillows, little pistacchio confection tarts, lemon puffs, sweet coconut yummy-yums.....mmmmm...

At 3p.m. we set off for St Mark's square again. The tide was very high and the gondoliers had a job getting the pointy ends of their gondolas under the bridges. There were large puddles near St Marks, and some of the actual floor was flooded. We wondered if, while we rested, the tide was so high that it had flooded the whole square!

We queued in the hot sun to get in. Luckily it did not take too long. (Here is Eleanor having fun outside the church.)

Inside was amazing. Darker than other Italian churches we have seen, it made up for it by having extensively arched ceilings completely covered in gilded pictures. All medieval, with elongated figures and stylised haloes. The floors were just as impressive. They seemed covered with a variety of patchword quilts, except made of coloured marble rather than cloth.

We posted some cards, then went back to some delicious bream and new potatoes. Then back out for another gelato (I can recommend the kiwifruit one). We wanted to see the famous Bridge of Sighs. We sighed all right: it was almost completely obscured by scaffolding on the buildings on either side of it, and over the top of it - all blue advertising.

Back again. Some of the costume shops look a bit spooky at night.

July 30: Grand Canal and more.

The children love it here. Jack says he’d like to live here for a year… He is very taken by the masks, having made one in Drama. Certainly the city is pretty.
This morning we had to go and check on airport connections and tickets and such. The walk there was lovely. It started off overcast, but brightened into a lovely sunny day.
Italian days start slowly. Delivery boats started unloading near 8 a.m. Early coffee does not seem readily available, and plenty of shops were not opened, even after 9 a.m. The famous bridge over the Rialto had big wooden doors shut all over it at 9:30 a.m. (The views from it up the Grand Canal were spectacular, though.)
I was charmed by a paper shop, and had to stop at an even better one further on. Quills and silver fastenings. Ink pots. Marbled books, little and big… gorgeous!

All the shops are so tiny. We looked in at an interesting shoe-shop window, and a woman was actually making shoes at the back of her shop. There was a nice little sweet shop, smelling of coffee. I suddenly thought of J.K. Rowling and Diagon Alley. (I think she spent some time in Italy).


Onwards. We found the bus station, checked times and tickets, got a better map. We decided to get a ‘Vaporetto’ down the Grand Canal. This was great, although we had to stand if we wanted to be in the open air. Here are a couple of pictures taken from on board. Here is the Rialto bridge from underneath. And here is a gondola (in case you didn't know!)
We did not ride in one of these because they were so expensive, but we enjoyed watching them.

In the evening, at the children's insistence, we went out to find a Venezian gelato. It was very nice, too. I had chocolate and pineapple this time - and have decided in Italy, you should stick to juicy fruit flavours. Orange, lemon, pineapple, peach and so forth work best. (Can one get a job as a professional gelato critic?)

Anyway, slurping away, we wandered off to St Mark's square. It is an amazing Byzntine cathedral. There are angels with gold wings at the top. Big, deep arches keep golden-tinged medieval paintings safe under them. There are marble columns and facings arranged in a great variety of colours and textures. It was fascinating. We decided to go into it when it opened the next day. There was also this marvellous clock nearby.












We had a happy wander along the sea-front towards home. Here are Wayne and the children with some sunset-tinged gondolas.

Everything felt very exotic.

July 29: to Venice

Arrividerci, Roma! Ha - always wanted to say that. We got up very early to pack last things and get to the station. We were going to catch a bus, but got twitchy after a 15 minute wait and decided to walk. (I was in sandals and a silly strapless top, alas.) Anyway, we made the train easily and settled down for the trip.

Our breakfast had been skimpy ( Wheat Biscuits but no milk, a few bits of leftover fruit) so we spent our saved bus fare on hot drinks and croissants after a while. This trip had many tunnels, so it was hard to see the countryside. We glimpsed old fortress-things on hills, and fields of sunflowers.

Finally, the train seemed to plough into the sea on rails... got into Venice at 12:30. We were impressed, although it was a bit rainy here. We caught a water-bus to our destination, and Annie and I didn't mind standing outside to get a good eyeful of the scenery.

We got met by a rather taciturn apartment host, and led through VERY narrow streets to our new digs. It looked very rough on the outside (see picture), and there were about 40 steps to climb inside, but then it was very impressive! It was bigger than our cottage in Trethawle. It didn't have the high ceiling of Rome, but several rooms and lots of furniture. Also, they provided some goodies in the fridge, which was much appreciated. This picture of Eleanor, taken from our window, is supposed to show a gondolier at rest under the awning, but he is hard to spot!

We went and fetched a late lunch. Then out again in search of fruit and other supplies, as the rain had stopped. It was a bit hard working out the map, but we made some sort of progress. A fruit seller at a stall would rather have talked to his mates than serve us, but we eventually got the goods. Onwards we went to find a supermarket. Lots of little craft shops... many with very elaborate masks, and lacy duds that would win the Scarlet Pimpernel's nod of approval. Even the baker had dough masks on display.

We found a small supermarket and I got a few basics. We then went off in search of a fish shop. However, the fishy display we had seen earlier turned out to be a restaurant. Wayne and Jack went back to the supermarket for some sort of meat, while the girls went 'home'. Then it poured! Annie watched out our window as a shop person pulled in an awning and dumped a ton of water on some passing girls.

Wet Jack and Wayne came home with some chicken fillets. We rested, and ate. It was well after dinner that we went out again, the rain over. We went back to the waterfront, and had a good look.

Wayne then decided to take a 'short cut' home. Mistake! Our map was inadequate, and we got lost in narrow, dark alleys. We met some lost Americans, too...

Eventually, a nice lady directed us back to the waterfront, whence we found our first route home. Whew! I did something to my knee that made the 40 steps difficult. Bed!

July 28, p.m, park, piazzas, pasta

Wayne had to be woken up from his siesta which had gone past 4 o'clock. We had decided to explore to the north, and linger in the parks around the Villa Borghese. We took our time ambling past the shops, and eventually came to the twin churches in the Piazza del Populo. It's always a relief coming to these wide open spaces after the very narrow footpaths and crowded shopping streets in central Rome.

An arch led through a massive wall that marked the old Northern boundary. Through we went, and found the park on high ground -

"There is a green hill far away

Without a city wall..."

...except it wasn't too green in this drought. One poplar was dead. We enjoyed a sit down near a pond. Eleanor and Annie sailed leaves on it happily. We hadn't really finished our sit down when we noted the approach of one of the dreaded rose-sellers. We hurriedly moved on. Eleanor noticed several women who had been 'rosified', as she put it.

We walked through the park to this high spot overlooking the city.We were early for our reserved dinner, so we peered through shop windows of the very poshest sort (Armani, Gucci, Dior and so forth). Immaculate young men stood at the glass doors, twitching fingers aching for cigarettes, as I guessed. We walked through perpetual clouds of cigarette smoke all through Italy - even blokes dressed as gladiators for the tourists risked anachronism for their nicotine hit.

Finally we arrived at our restaurant, Casova Taddini, a very quirky place full of plaster statues. One larger-than-life statue of a mounted horseman is behind the reservation desk, as big as an elephant (literally). Our little room had four small tables and was twice as high as its base. A large bust of the Virgin Mary gazed down at me, a huge statue of a blessing Pope was at my base. An athlete breathed down Jack's neck. Many more friezes, busts and statues all over the floor and walls.

Pasta carbonara was the specialty, and everyone tucked in except me. I had a lovely seafood dish. Yum! All excellent.

Then we went off in search of the definitive gelato. Found it... I had peach and lemon. Some Aussie girls heard our accent and took this photo of us.

Back to pack for Venice the next day.

July 28 a.m : Vatican Museum

We decided that we could not leave Rome without seeing the Sistine Chapel. So, Back to the Vatican! The original plan was to walk, but (considering all the queueing and inside walking) we decided to risk the #62 again. The wait was considerable, but reasonable, this morning. Off we hopped at about 9:15. It turned out the Sistine Chapel was several blocks away from the Basilica. (This picture of the harlequin guard was near the Basilica). There was a queue for about half a kilometre, but it was moving along okay, and it was out of the sun for the most part. Inside the Vatican Museum building there were plenty of twists and turns. We had to pay 54 euros for the family, so not bad. We crossed a courtyard, passed statues, another courtyard and the museums began. There were rooms and corridors of art before we came to the Chapel. It was very good art, too... many statues at first which seemed to outnumber those that we'd seen at the Louvre. There was a couple of rooms devoted to animals alone... an enormous camel's head, a boar just like the ones up the lane, a dog ripping into a deer and more. There were long corridors golden and bright with ceiling paintings as well as those on the wall. Among the various scenes, I came to delight in small squares with birds in them... Then there were huge tapestries... small corner rooms, more halls... Suddenly, two or three large rooms painted by Raphael were in sight. Scholars, twisting horses - several familiar to me. (Wayne kindly took this photo so the horse looks like it's pooing on my head.)







One central ceiling panel had a bunch of cherubs that seemed tangible - great undershots, too, of little bottoms.

Then there were rooms of modern art. Tiring now, the Fosters walked through these quite quickly. Down some steps, around some corners, then - glory and trumpets- the Sistine Chapel.

It really was an eye-opener. The huge wall behind the alter, covered in clusters of Michaelangelo's twisting male bodies... so earthy for all their divine theme. The other walls did not get so much of my attention, although they were done by fine artists too, including Botticelli. Most of us were risking cricked necks to look at the ceiling.

I had seen many of these paintings in books and prints. Seeing them all together was marvellous, although my neck will probably never be the same again. The Creation of Adam is such a definitive interpretation. The hands... such a simple but profound gesture. I had some questions that one of the guides probably could have answered, but we were glad not to be part of the crowded groups that were forced to move from place to place (at a considerable price).

So finally back to the bus stop, quite done in. The #62 wasn't too late - although it had that strange halt again. We had a bought 'panini' for lunch today. The fridge was a bit bare since we were leaving the next day. We all needed a long siesta today, but we were glad to have seen the Vatican Museum after all.

July 27, p.m, the Vatican

At 2:30 p.m. we interrupted our siesta to catch a #62 bus to take us to the Vatican. Wayne bought tickets at a 'Tabacci', and before long we were on our way. The Tiber was sluggish and low - there is a drought here all right.

St Peter's square was the biggest open space we had yet seen. Because it was mid-afternoon the queues had dwindled, so we made our way past the security checks quite quickly and went into St Peter's Basilica.

It was enormous and effortlessly magnificent. It had natural light, and was not cluttered with columns. It made Wells cathedral look like a village chapel...

Vast arches and marble. Cameo-like white statues against the dark walls. Michaelangelo's 'Pieta'!! I had no idea it was here... Several others I recognised from year 12 art history. And St Peter's tomb. It really does seem he was buried here, under a twisted canopy large enough for two elephants on top of each other to stand under. Wow.

We made our way into an exhibit of the Vatican treasury. Like the Tower of London, the size of the jewels and all the gold ended up just looking too much to be true.

We came out and looked for the Sistine Chapel. We found out it had been closed since 4 p.m. We were tired anyway, so we took a few photos of the square, and headed to the bus stop...

And therein lies a tale! We waited and waited for the #62. Slowly, the group sat one by one on the gutter. One old lady sat on the seat of one of the many motor-scooters parked in the street. Our legs ached and we (adults, anyway) longed for a beer.

Well, we waited an hour. Finally, I said, "We might as well walk." It was 6:20. We had just started, when I saw the rotten #62 coming, down a side street. Back we ran, on unwilling feet, and grimaced with shared relief and pain with our fellow passengers. Would you believe, we travelled about 20 metres before the bus stopped and the driver scuttled out for a conference with another bus driver. Wayne thought there must be some bus-union-trouble brewing...

Back to a welcome beer. Wayne heroically cooked up some chicken in leftover sauce, and fettucini. Wine eases all!

(Here is tired Eleanor, under a picture from the Sistine Chapel which we did not see!)