Our first train adventure was from Naples to Venice with a
changeover in Rome. I thought trains had an impeccable record of running on
time but ours departed Naples 90 minutes behind schedule. When we arrived in Rome we made a mad dash for
any train headed to Venice and literally were the last ones on the last one
out. Kids were great under pressure. Trains were a big hit with the family and we
were all able to get caught up on a bit of work. Arriving in Venice we stepped off the train,
walked about 100 meters and stepped into a water taxi to take us to our hotel.
I had a surprise in store so we diverted to the other side of our hotel (on a
small island called San Clemente) where old friend and seaplane pilot James
Finson is now working. James used to
work for Kenmore Air and taught me how to fly floatplanes. James took us up for
a 30 minute scenic sunset flight on a beautiful, calm evening which was an
incredible introduction to Venice.
Ah Venice. I visited for a few days before studying in Spain
while in college, but I was able to learn much more this time. Either that or I
forgot most of what I once learned (that is a good thing sorry mom) but I
prefer to think that I keep getting wiser and more knowledgeable and that this
will continue for my remaining years. A few things that I found particularly
interesting:
ü
Venice was established on an island in the
lagoon to protect the inhabitants from the Germanic raiders from the north. The
Venetians and all Italians prefer to use the term “barbarians” when describing
those who lived north of the Alps. This is blatantly offensive to me as these
were my ancestors, so I prefer to call them brave Germanic explorers.
Apparently though my brave forbears didn’t like to swim so having the town on an
island kept it safe.
ü
Venice was not only its own city state, but was
one of the greatest powers in the world. From a very simplistic view, the
middle or dark ages were the period between the fall of Rome in the 5th century
to the discovery of the new world in 1492 and the “Renaissance.” Venice was arguably the most powerful nation
during much of this time, with an incredibly powerful navy and mercenary armies
funded by a near monopoly on trade with Asia via their naval control of the
Mediterranean.
ü
Venice is still sinking. The buildings sit on
mostly ancient pilings that are driven into the base of the silt island. The
city is also subject to pretty severe flooding, mostly in the fall and spring
when the tides are greatest. There is a massive project underway to minimize
these incoming tides by putting building dams at the inlets to the Venetian
lagoon.
ü
There are exactly 430 gondoliers in Venice. No
more, no less. At least this is what our gondolier told us but I couldn’t back
it up through on-line research.
ü
There were no visible phallic symbols and so I
think the Venetians were much more civilized than their Pompeian brethren.
Our adventures here were pretty typical.…Exploring the
Basilica of St. Mark and the Doges Palace, and just walking and walking around.
We had a great gondola ride with a
gondolier who had 47 years of experience. It was a great tour and with 3 kids and their
sodas and sugar buzz it was incredibly romantic! The ride was far less cheesy and much cooler
than I thought it would be, although for the price for 45 minutes you could
take a family skiing for a day in Aspen, and have a nice lunch and dinner, and
catch a movie afterwards. After exploring in the mornings we returned to
our hotel in the afternoon and then were back in the evening search of a good
restaurant (i.e. one that has pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, and a decent
atmosphere) and gelato. 3 days was perfect.
The Janssen family pack mules loaded their treasures and set
off from the water taxi to the rental car area bound for Tuscany. I use the word area because I had no specific
idea where it was, it was incredibly crowded, and we were each heavily loaded. We finally found the office and were overjoyed
to receive our station wagon. It is a
Fiat (I love that name) and looks like a US postal delivery jeep. I have no
idea why I have 18” of extra headroom but for some reason it must be en vogue.
I’m still miffed at the Europeans for setting the tops of their bathroom
mirrors at 5’6” but then the Italians build cars for the Harlem Globetrotters. So off we head to our next destination, the
lovely medieval town of Siena in Tuscany. We rented a small house and it has been
perfect with the exception that it is too late in the season and the pool is
closed. The weather has been beautiful
most days with the leaves on the trees and vineyards at their peak colors.
After 3 days cooped up in the house, we headed on our first
major adventure which was Pisa. OK the town was pretty run down and we were
accosted by a wide variety of street vendors but the leaning tower was very
cool. Started in 1173, halted several times, then finally finished in 1373,
there is a reason it is the world’s most famous tower and a wondrous
engineering debacle. We purchased tickets for a climb to the top and after a
quick lunch it was our turn. In the summer you need a few weeks advance booking
but on a miserable, rainy day in late October we practically had the place to
ourselves, along with maybe 10,000 tourist friends and merchants. The tower is
solid marble and we ventured up the 300 or so steps to the top and the bell
tower. Each of the steps has been worn down about 1”over the centuries from the
foot traffic. Also the tower really, really leans. You climb in a circle inside
the walls and you are seriously tilted. At the top the marble was wet and it
was so off kilter that you needed to be careful not to slip. Worst case you
would have slid into a railing but it was definitely a strange sensation. The
kids thought it was cool, as did their parents.
Every decent parent in the modern era has watched the Shrek
series with their children. In fact if you’re like us you’ve probably purchased
the entire series and watched them dozens of times, perhaps repurchasing when
one of the kids scratched a disk, lost one, and maybe even repurchased so it
would work on your blu-ray or 3D tv? What good parents wouldn’t? With that in
mind you know the scene in Shrek 2 where Donkey is making popping noises with
his mouth and Shrek , incredibly annoyed keeps yelling “Are we there yet?” For
some unknown reason I learned duck talk when I was a little kid. I don’t know
how long it took or when I started but it’s a serious, yet largely hidden
talent that I possess. The Donald has
nothing on me and I digress but for some idiotic reason I took the kids to the
grocery store (that shows a serious lack of judgment by itself with these mini
pull carts and flat escalators that the kids liked to run on the wrong way) and
on the way I tried to teach them how to duck talk. You pressurize air between the side of your
tongue and between your molars and kind of hum. It was super cute for about 3 minutes. I’m not sure that the other people in the
grocery store enjoyed it but on our 2 hour drive to Pisa the next day the duck
talk lessons continued. I didn’t plan on
that as part of their worldly education. Suffice it to say that Traci thought I
have been more cool and suave for just about every one of the billion or so
minutes we’ve been married. I mentioned
to Traci that since we were in the area that this talent was really just
another fine example of my being a true Renaissance Man. She didn’t agree. She put on a good face as
the incoherent mumbling monsters mumbled, laughed and spit away. Are we there
yet? You tried talking like a duck
didn’t you?
Florence. As
mentioned earlier, since the fall of the Roman Empire you had a bunch of
city/states struggling through the middle or dark ages. After the fall of Rome, it was pretty much
survival without celebration, writing, art, music, etc. that had made so much
progress under the Greeks and Romans. Florence was a shining light out of the dark
ages and in many ways led the way out and into the Renaissance. One example is the Duomo. At 30 stories tall, there hadn’t been anything
built like that since the Pantheon in Rome in 200 BC! So 1500 years later they said “I think I can”
and went to Rome to study and they got it done! The bankers of Florence, frowned upon for
charging interest on loans, purged their guilty consciences (God forbid they
make a profit and stay in business!) by devoting much of their wealth to the
architecture, arts and sciences. So
Florence was pretty much the epicenter of the Renaissance, permanent home to
many of the most famous artists and temporary home to others as the commissions
received were so important. Leonardo Da
Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, Botticelli, etc. We spent 2 days in Florence which is about an
hour north of Siena. Day one was spent
touring as a family and climbing whichever tall buildings we could find
including the Duomo and the Tower of the Opera Museum. Our kids are climbing machines. Halle and
Hayden are fearless around heights, while Sydney and her father tend to stay
far from the edges. I just can’t help
but think about earthquakes or what I would do if I somehow “had” to be hanging
from the edge of the tower. Our second
day in we had a fabulous guide who led us through the Uffizi and the Academic
Gallery. We did a decent job preparing
the kids for what they would see through books and a great Ipad app and we had
a great 4 hours in museums. A museum
experience that was “super fun” seems to be a trip highlight for us as it
defies all odds from what we’ve heard. So
we saw masterpieces from Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rafael, Botticelli
and as important gained a bit of insight into the Florentines who where their
teachers and inspiration (I’d list them but I’ve forgotten but suffice it to
say they were amazing). We saw the
world’s first piano and just amazing works of art. Our last stop was to see Michelangelo’s
“David”and despite numerous replicas, the real thing is well, unreal. The smallest details, the enormous size, the
sheer beauty, the story. Super cool. And the most amazing thing is that David has a
Morgan’s toe. The Morgan toe is the
evolutionary blessing whereby the second toe is longer than the big toe. This
is a very well-known sign of extraordinary intelligence (and thus bravery) and
to see that Michelangelo had this (why else would he give it to David) made me
really happy. I think I might be on to
some type of super-secret of the Renaissance geniuses ala the da vinci code but
need to do more research. Stay tuned.
Italy’s rich history is thousands of years old. I think about the US and fashion myself fairly
well versed in our youthful history. I
then honestly assess that I know more than most but almost nothing compared to
many. Now multiply our documented
history by 13 or 14, throw in countless invasions, different languages,
competing religions, different cultures, many written records but countless
tales, etc. Each European country and each area has a web of complex history
that takes years to understand and perhaps even that is not possible. I thought that I’d come away from Italy (and
this trip) with a deep understanding of European history. For sure I’ve learned a lot, but I kind of
think my level of understanding is about the depth of the impact my soles had
on the marble steps up the leaning tower of Pisa. Tiny indeed. Thank goodness our children will never forget
the gelato, the pizza, climbing everything climbable, duck talk, learning to
run the wrong way on an escalator and lessons in (particularly male) anatomy of
a 16’ statue.
|
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| Train school Naples to Venice |
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| I love this picture |
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| Cap'n James Finson and our welcoming surprise tour |
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| Venice from 1,500 feet |
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| Narrow alleyway of Venice |
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| "Dad, what does 'Acqua Non Potable Mean?'" "It means drink up as bottled water costs $5" |
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| Thankfully we weren't the worst parents at the hotel. We tried finding the parents of these wrestling hooligans, to no avail, and had to alert hotel security. |
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| Note the cold weather gear which hides the clothing that we've been wearing all summer and fall |
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| They wanted to jump into a gondola |
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| This Venetian artist wasn't fond of the influence of American culture |
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| Hayden really fancied P-dog's clothing |
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| Venice from the deck of St. Mark's Basilica |
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| Imprisoned in the dungeons. Unfortunately we couldn't lock the door behind them |
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| That's Amore! One big happy family |
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| View of the Tuscan countryside from Brolio Castle |
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| Looking down on the Piazza del Campo in Siena (from the belltower) |
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| Looking up at said belltower |
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| Siena from the top of the museum, looking back towards previously mentioned belltower. You've probably guessed by now that it is an oft-photographed landmark |
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| "I said to line up and look like you're soaking up the magnificent view from Montepulciano!" |
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| That's better. Good dutiful kids! |
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| Halle the mighty |
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| At the top of the leaning tower, on the leaning side. Notice Sydney is close to the wall. |
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| Not happy about this! |
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| Young lad attempting to scale the castle wall. Fortunately he was brought down by a fusillade of chestnuts from the castle's defenders |
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| Castle at Brolio. Incredibly cool place. |
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| Representative of 99% of photos that don't make it to the blog. "You want me to sit there next to HER!" Brolio Castle in the distance. |
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| Ponte Vecchio in Florence. 500 year old bridge that the Nazis left in place after their withdrawal in 1944 |
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| Florence's Cathedral and Duomo (Dome) |
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| Sydney climbing the 469 steps stairs inside the Duomo. 500 years old engineering marvel. double walled dome with stairs in the middle |
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| Top of the cathedral dome. Where is Sydney? |
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