Matterhorn

On my flight home on Wednesday, it was clear over the alps, and then foggy from France to London. But, having a clear view of the alps is so great. I had a special treat... the Matterhorn was marked on the in-flight map close up since there aren't a lot of landmark cities in the middle of the alps. As soon as I saw it on there, I thought, "Gee, I hope we get close... I wonder if it will be on my side of the plane." I lucked out! Matterhorn!

Goodbye, Sister!

A week ago Sunday I sent my sister back off to Boston. I was so sad to see her go I even took her to the airport. (Though, once again, the one-day return train ticket somehow got the best of me... still not sure how to get it to validate a second time...) We grabbed a quick lunch at the airport, just pizza and sodas.



On my way back home I noticed that the holiday decorations were actually on! Auguri! I can't find any home ornaments that say that, though, for some reason all the Christmas decorations I see in stores are in English, French, or Spanish... I want Auguri!

Friday in Milano

Friday we took the train out of Venice, after a crazy hunt for a mask that Vio fancied. The good news was that our plot to obtain it went flawlessly, and we made it out of there with no problems.



We regathered our strength at my apartment for a few hours, then braved the incredible cold and snow to head to the holiday festivities. We went to Basilica Sant'Ambrogio to see the saint himself, and we ended up sticking around for mass. It was one of the pretty ones with a choir, and wasn't too long since they really pack them in on the holidays!



After we headed to Fiera degli Oh Bej Oh Bej and did some shopping. I bought some cool stuff, and Vio bought a few things too. We didn't end up snacking out there since it was so cold out there, we headed over to la Rinascente instead so we could sit inside and have cocktails and cheese. Lots of cheese.



Look at how much snow is falling! I know that it's not a lot by New England standards, but seriously for Milan that it pretty snowy for early December.



We made it home and even to bed at a decent hour. Thank goodness it's toasty in my apartment, my toes were chilly after that evening!

Thursday Evening

After the museum, we went to lunch at Ae Oche, a pretty cheap and decent pizzeria.



We went to Scuola di San Rocco after lunch, one of my favorite weird sights in Venezia. The whole thing is decked out in Tintoretto paintings. The ground level is pretty sober looking, but up on the first floor it's pretty bonkers, with really weird allegorical carvings by Pianta. After we took the boat out to see the inside of Santa Maria della Salute.



We decided to take a boat around the "bottom" of Venice, between the main part of the city and Giudecca, just to see a little new territory. Man, it got dark quite quickly on our boat trip! By the time we were at the west end of Giudecca it was pretty much completely night-time. We were on the 2 vaporetto, and we rode all the way around to Rialto just so we could walk over and see the bridge.



We had dinner at a little place not so far from our hotel. I am not sure I ever saw the sign for the place. We were pretty close to the only customers, it was a cold slow night.



We had pasta dishes and grilled veggies, and some red wine of course. The guy who was running the place gave us a little dessert and aperitif liqueur so we were there for quite a while relaxing and enjoying.



It was a good night!

The Second Part of Wednesday

After the Basilica, we headed back to our hotel on the Vaporetto to warm up for a bit before dinner. A kind gentleman took our photo while we were leaving from St. Mark's.



I have a bunch of photos of Santa Maria della Salute in the sunset from different angles.





We passed the DHL boat making its rounds.



For dinner we just started wandering south of our hotel and went the first place that had an appealing menu. Since the tourists were so thin on the ground, the proprietors were out in force dragging in us strays. Vio had gnocchi, I had eggplant parmesan. For dessert we made it down to the Grom by Frari. I had Zabaione... Vio had... I don't know but she's clearly into it!



I took a bacio hot chocolate for the road home!

The Arrival of the Sister

Yesterday I went to go pick Vio up at Malpensa! She made it! Our vacation is started!



We dallied a bit at my apartment, snacking and the like, and then we headed to Centrale. All the Christmas decorations are up in the station, I love this time of year.



We made it to Firenze with no hiccups. It was actually pretty easy to get up to the European University Institute, we caught the 1A bus with no problems. We met up with Heather and Konrad at their apartment complex, and then headed out to a little place in their neighborhood, Circolo, for pizza dinner.



I had the best eggplant pizza I've ever had! A good start to our vacation.

Bosphorus Cruise

Thursday night, the gala dinner for the conference was on a Bosphorus Cruise! We took off near the Dolmabahçe Mosque. The traffic getting to the boat was crazy! They actually had us get out and walk the last few blocks.



The boat had lots of nice outdoor seating, so we could enjoy the view as we cruised along. In the background of this shot is the Bosphorus Bridge, which has an LED light system that cycles through several colors and patterns. In this shot it's in the middle of its rain sequence.



We had dinner indoors. The food on the boat was OK, but not as good as the restaurant food! The conference speeches were kept to a minimum. After dinner we got another look at the sights. This is Rumelihisarı, the castle near the second Bosphorus bridge.



I had a really good time just enjoying the view from the boat, and got to chat with a few more people. It was a good evening, but we didn't get back to the hotel until eleven thirty or so, it was a long day so I was pretty wiped out.

Istanbul!

Istanbul! From the airplane, it's a huge city. I got different answers from different people for the number of inhabitants of the city, from 12 to 20 million. You can see waves of expansion in the developments of apartment complexes that stretch out from the city's historic core. I got to experience that on the ground, too. I took the Metro and Tram from Ataturk airport to my hotel, between Sirkeci and the Spice Bazaar, in the thick of the old district. On getting to the hotel, I was lucky enough to be greeted by the conference chair, Dr. Seliger, who introduced me to a bunch of the Berlin contingent. I joined them for dinner in the Sultanahmet neighborhood. We ended up at a sort of touristy restaurant, but it still had good food. I split all this stuff with Markus, another vegetarian. Mushroom casserole, cheese-stuffed bread, hummus, and stuffed eggplants. Yum.



After dinner we stopped by a bakery and had our first taste of real Turkish Delight.



We walked back past the hotel to the Galata Bridge. Instead of heading up and over, we stayed on the lower level to find a place to enjoy views and beers.



It was a slow night, so we were able to sit right on the water. This picture isn't great, but you can see the lines of the fisherman that cast from the upper level of the bridge. The bright streak up the middle of the photo is a line being hauled in, with a small catch. The fishermen swing their lines under the bridge when they cast them, over the heads of the restaurant patrons. It adds a level of excitement to your evening!



We drank Efes, a Turkish pilsner, which I enjoyed. It was a good start to the conference, and I spent more time out on the town with these folks over the course of the trip.

Monday in Venice

Monday was our last day in Venice. We took it easy in the morning. I took this picture of our hotel room. We were staying at Residenza Art Deco, in the San Marco area. We were in a large unit on two levels. Ross and I were staying on the top level. The bedroom was actually pretty big. I always like when you can see the beams of the floors in these places. Dark wood is the norm in Venice.



We took the boat to the bus station, so this is our last group photo in Venice!



I made sure that Ross, Mark, and Mary got on the right bus to the airport. (They told me later that their trip to the airport was no problem.) I walked myself over to the train station, and headed home to Milan...

Sunday in Venice

On Sunday morning we headed to Accademia, then headed over to Santa Maria della Salute just to see it. Then we were off to Saint Mark's to see the museums and the loggia. It's great to be up there.



It finally sunk in that the original horses from the balcony are Roman and not original to the church. No one is quite sure where they came from. After Saint Mark's, we had our gondola ride!



We went through the small back canals in San Polo, so it was calm and quiet!



We saw this guy on his water bike, it counts as a human powered vehicle so he can pretty much go down any canal. And it's a good way to use that bike, since they are prohibited otherwise.



It was a lot of fun, I'm glad we got to do it!



As we pulled out along the grand canal, the sun was setting. It was a perfect moment. After our ride, we relaxed a bit before heading to Da Fiore for dinner. Another lovely meal. Ross and Mark shared a monkfish!

Last Saturday in Venice

On Saturday, we went to Saint Mark's in the morning. We went for the Golden Screen. It's pretty impressive, of course. Mary had the Rick Steves guide, and he mentioned this scene on the altar by the screen. The pillars tell the story of the four evangelists, and they have some odd images. This does look like a genie coming out of a lamp, yeah?



We decided to pass on the balcony for another day, it was just so misty out that we weren't going to really enjoy the view. You couldn't even see Giudecca and San Giorgio, totally fogged out. We headed over to Frari and San Rocco instead! There was a little flea market going on by Frari.



We had lunch then went in for visits in the churches, finishing at the Scuola di San Rocco. I bought the book that Linda had when we were there, the one on the carvings of Pianta on the upper level. Those carvings are just so cool!

On our way back to the hotel, I noticed these cute signs about acqua alta. I just like the cartoon lion they use in all these civic signs.



This building by our hotel has cool windows...



Anyway, that evening we ate quick groceries and sandwiches on the early side, as we were heading out for Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Musica a Palazzo. I don't have any pictures, as it's a "no photo" event, but we did pose for a few pictures after the show. Mary, I am looking at you! I will definitely want to see those later!

More Old Trams

As I mentioned in this post, I do love taking the old trams. Last week I hopped on the 33 to head to Porta Venezia from the Lambrate area. They individual trams are a little different from each other. This one had different light fixtures than the 23, more bowl-like.



And I noticed that the front step folds up below the accordioning doors!



Wait for it...



Cool, right? I love all the fussy details on these trams!

Last Day in Venice

Saturday morning I noticed this garbage boat. It has a compactor, just like a garbage truck would!



I helped Linda get her luggage to the car area where she was meeting with her friend Andrea. I noticed this sign, the tide level sign! High tide was coming, bringing more acqua alta!



I took a little spin around the city before heading to my train. I stopped at the Rialto market, where the acqua alta was already coming up into the market.



There's a few different areas of the market, including knickknacks and fruits and vegetables, but the most famous is probably the fish market. I've never been when the market was in full swing before, so it was cool to see all that out.



The canals were pretty busy. I assume that more of these rowing crews were out because it was Saturday. It seems to be a popular sporting activity for Venetians. I could see myself doing this!



I noticed that the garbage and recycling boats often had mascots on their front tie posts. Probably pulled out of the garbage... Besides this cows I saw a few teddy bears!



And of course, there were gondolas everywhere. It was an especially busy day for them. Gondola tip: we got offered a low priced gondola ride around 6pm. They gondolier offered us a good price since it was going to be his last ride of the day and he just wanted to find someone... He offered us a ride for 30 Euros, and that is actually a really good price. So take that tip on your next trip to Venice!

San Marco

Thursday morning we made it to breakfast at a decent hour, and headed out to San Marco. The square had mild acqua alta! It was the worst around the basilica, but the bell tower and many of the cafes were also watered in.



We went to the basilica first. It's always a good visit. We headed back to see the jeweled screen, as spectacular as expected. The jewels are just so large, and the enamel work of the saints is really captivating. But it's hard to get a good picture of with all the glass and lighting.



The whole basilica is a riot of patterns. The tile work is awesome all over. The mosaics on the walls, and the marble floors.



We headed up to the horse terrace to take in a little more of the view.



There are substitute horses on the balcony, but the original horses of the basilica are inside to look at still.



The terrace also gives a good view of the mosaics.



The back rooms include a few exhibits of church artifacts. I liked these hymnals with the illuminated letters. The page numbers in Roman numerals made me laugh!



On our way out we saw this giant Carnival cruise boat being pulled into the harbor. It's kind of shocking to see such a giant thing in a small setting. The cruise ships all are bunched up at a weird dock that hangs off the city.