Gondola Republic

Big on our agenda this AM was a ride in the gondola. Talinn was super excited plus BD had told me that I had to take BB on it. Knowing me, I may have thought twice about paying 80 euros for 30 mins. The guy at the stop near our house was suddenly over-the-top busy today. The day before he'd been begging us for a ride but today all the gondolas were packed. We decided to return In the evening.

Our gondola ride is what memories are made of! We went on a lovely loop around the smaller canals, before getting onto the grand canal with Rialto as the backdrop. BB and I wished that we could charter a gondola for the entire day and just drift around the canals. It's just so relaxing, languid, and perfectly Venice. 

What a great way to wind up our stay here and bottle up all the canal memories! 

Roma! Roma! Roma!

Can't wait to get to one of my favorite cities in the world! Took us barely half an hour to walk to the vaporetto stop and get to the Santa Lucia station. We were over an hour early. The shops at the station are wonderful and we stumbled into a Tiger store which is filled with inexpensive tchachkies. BB snagged a few items in a hurry before we got onto train to Rome.

More than half of our nearly 4 hour journey was spent chatting with a lovely mother-son duo from Argentina. We chatted about everything from culture to politics to food in Argentina, India, US and Italy. Their trip is the mom's graduation gift - from engineering school - to her son. I was impressed to see that the young chap had no electronic gadgets, chatted and sang with his mom the entire journey, and even gave her a full share of hugs and kisses. They said all his siblings live nearby and meet for meals often. Life is Buenos Aires is so good in general that no one really wants to leave. I don't blame them. I could live in BA! I asked BB - who was fully immersed in a Harry Potter movie - if he would ever do this trip with me again after he graduated from college. He said of course! I doubt it! I'll just enjoy what I have while I have it - shared attention with Harry Potter and all :) We did enjoy a few rounds of Uno after the movie got done.

Our train stopped in Padova, Bologna, and Firenze along the way. We alighted at Termini, took the metro to Barberini station where, upon emerging, we were greeted by Bernini's first free-standing fountain - King Triton on four Dolphins.

We checked into our weird apartment without a glitch but the heat was getting to us. The apartment had no sitting room, just two bedrooms connected by a galley kitchen. And no air conditioning! Just a couple of rinky-dink table fans!

Since BB is train sick (go figure!) he'd skipped lunch. We were starving and ready to see the Trevi fountain which is where we headed after a quick grocery pit stop. Woe is the word!!!! Trevi is closed for refurbishment! The best ride closed in Disneyland!!! Oh dear! If I can't drop coins into Trevi, does it mean I don't get to return? I was sad!

Dinner cheered us up a bit. Then we strolled to the Spanish steps and hung out there for over an hour, soaking in the crowds. Either all the Italians have left town in this heat or stilletoes are no longer the in thing. I can't get used to so many flat shoes in Rome!

Can you spot Waldo aka BB?

We returned to this lovely view of St Peters Badilica from one of our bedrooms.

Venezia - Masks and Prisons and Pasta

Bon Giorno! Our first morning in Venice started with a trip to the local supermarket. BB made a beeline for the produce section to pick some favorite fruits but was immediately chided by a local for touching the nectarines. No produce must be touched with bare hands; plastic gloves must be worn to handle and pick any fruits and vegetables. Who knew? We looked around and learned the correct protocol. The produce must also be weighed ahead of time and the resulting price sticker attached to the bag before heading to the checkout counter. Gotta love traveling and learning new ways of doing the same thing.

After a breakfast that included baguette with olive oil con pimiento, we were ready to start our day. We made a beeline for Saint Mark's Basilica. Lines were long as predicted but really not that terrible and moved along pretty briskly. The intricate gold mosaics on the roof are too stunning to comprehend. Just when you think you can't wrap your head around the ceiling artistry, you look at the intricate patterns on the floor in wonder. Each tiny section is like a complicated jigsaw puzzle of multicolored marble tiles. If it takes me a month to put together a puzzle that is barely a quarter of the size of one slab, what must it have taken those that built this church? And how long to assemble those elaborate mosaics on the ceiling where each piece is barely the size of half a penny. 

At the neighboring Doge's palace, we gawked at each of the heavily gilded ceilings and the ostentatious paintings. Il Paradiso by Tintoretto is the largest painting in the world. We sat in admiration in that grand hall imagining what it would've been like in the 13th century filled with ministers and council members making important state decisions surrounded by such beauty, It's amazing how the rulers around the world patronized art and artists in those days. How much money and time was invested in creating masterpieces that have withstood centuries.

The highlight of the Doge's palace for BB was crossing the bridge of sighs to visit the prisons and dungeons. It was fun pretending that we were bidding the lovely world outside goodbye and entering the prison cells where no lights penetrate. BB was excited to romp the maze of cells. Gold medal to ammamma for climbing all the stairs here and all over elsewhere without a peep.

We lunched outdoors on the main Canal sipping our prosecco, iced tea, and sprite to beat the humidity. Our pastas and pizzas were delicious as they tend to be everywhere in Italy. And then it was time to retire for a siesta. 

Late in the evening, we strolled towards Rialto bridge. BB consumed a few gelatos on his way back and forth. Limone is his favorite flavor, although he did like the frigonada (strawberry). We also got some souvenir shopping out of the way. This is mask country and BB says he's already sick of seeing them everywhere. But only after he spent more than an hour in a store trying on every one of them. Not every store allows you to try the masks and some charge you extra for taking pictures with them. Ours wasn't fancy enough for all that. I suspect our masks are made in China and not really hand painted  in Italy.