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May 04, 2004
May 4
Venice (and update)
Miss me? I know it's been a long time since I've posted but, for those of you who know me, you know I had good reason. On April 25th, Adam and I got married! Wish I had the pictures on me but, unfortunately, I don't as we are currently honeymooning in Italy. Some of you may find this to be a surprise, but Italy has been nice if a tad bit disappointing, but maybe that's just how I'm feeling right now. Our first stop was Venice. A former co-worker's daughter had gone to Venice last year and my co-worker had shared pictures and I loved the images I saw in the photos. Not to say that Venice isn't beautiful, certainly the first day you spend in Venice you're struck by it's beauty and the first time you see the Grand Canal you gaze down the canal in something like awe but if you allocate more than two days in Venice, it gets to be a little boring and tiresome. I'd initially read that summer in Italy is the worst when it comes to tourists but after perusing one of my guidebooks some more, I read that spring is surpassing summer in terms of popularity for tourists which has been my experience thus far. Not that I have a summer in Venice to compare my recent experience to but Venice was definitely filled with tourists. Adam read somewhere that there's substantially more tourists in Venice than there are residents and I don't disbelieve it for a second. But besides being filled with tourists, Venice is small, the food is so-so, and the city is basically a labryinth of streets with no signs so that trying to use a map to get to places becomes an exercise in futility. By the second day though, I regretted that we hadn't confined our stay in Venice to two days and extended our stay in Florence.
Florence
Save for the narrow streets and the motorcycles, bicycles, and cars whizzing past you on these narrow streets while you try staying on the narrow sidewalks, Florence is more our kind of town. Small but considerably more cosmopolitan, with considerably more to see than Venice, possessing delicious cuisine, and nestled within the the lovely backdrop of Tuscany. The only bad thing was that one of the two and a quarter days we spent in Florence was Labor Day here in Europe which meant that everything save for the churches and most of the restaurants were closed. Unfortunately, I realized that reservations for the Uffizi were strongly recommended too late and we stood in line twice for the museum. The first time, we gave up after about half an hour with the line having only moved once. The second time we actually extended our stay in Florence in part to go to the Uffizi and after waiting in line for ten minutes, we discovered that a strike by the national workers meant that the Uffizi would be closed. But, save for this setback, we really enjoyed our time in Florence--on Labor Day we hit the churches and then hiked up to Piazzele Michelangelo, an elevated part of the city which affords really nice views of Florence and is a pleasant experience to walk to. I wish we could've stayed in Florence longer.
Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre is a series of five towns on the northern coast of Italy and became extremely popular because of Rick Steves (a travel writer and host of a travel show on Europe). It is quite beautiful, but the towns are quite small and there's not a whole lot to do here but eat and hike the trails from town to town (which takes only a day). I suppose if I had allocated less time to this area, I would have been less disapppointed but, again, we spent a little more time than we should have in this area. When you first pull into this area by train, you ooh and ah at the ocean, and then you explore the town you're staying in (again, grumbling about the throngs of tourists if you arrive during the weekend or the summer) and your eyes sparkle as you take in the sun and the sea and the waterfront. Then you eat your first meal and you're impressed by it and you're giddy from the wine and the scrumptious food. But after you've hiked the trails, learn that there's an impending train strike (as we did on our second day), you begin to wonder how you're going to spend your time the evening of the second day or the entire third day. Fortunately, we managed to keep busy but a good part of the day was spent waiting for trains (which still ran despite the strike but less frequently) and cursing the rain. But, tomorrow we leave for the Amalfi Coast which promises more beauty and activity.
Posted by Jennifer at May 4, 2004 03:44 PM
Comments
Try to use your prepaid Marshall Plan coupons in Italy so you don't get double charged! We've already paid for most of their country.
Posted by: Art at May 4, 2004 04:42 PM
I am impressed that you not only took the time to blog in the week before your wedding, but are also blogging from your honeymoon!
Have a great time. Don't worry about places not living up to your expectations now. You'll have plenty of time to develop misty-eyed romanticism-in-retrospect for all those places once you return!
Posted by: edie at May 5, 2004 03:24 PM