Hello again everyone… you know all 3 of you that actually read this dribble. Well let’s go ahead and get started anyway. I forgot that it damn near rains in Paris as much as it does in London, but hey at least we bought a tourist umbrella (i.e.… crap) in Rotterdam. We changed our hotels for Paris while we were in Rotterdam because after our disaster with the Clipper, we (meaning me) have finally learned to checkout multiple hotel review sites before deciding on one. We had found out that the lovely Hotel Magenta has only one shower for 5 floors worth of rooms, oh and did I mention it cost 3 euros each time you wanted to use it… yea… so we dropped that hotel and moved to the beautiful Hotel Gerando… beautiful means under construction… yes? But hey it was very near a couple of good restaurants and a metro stop so, one can’t really complain.
We arrived late enough that we just had dinner and went out the next morning. The first place we went was Notre Dame, and from there we took our first wrong turn in Paris… instead of taking the bridge at the southern edge of the island, we accidentally went north… oops. We had intended to go see the Latin Quarter area but instead ended going to Centre Pompidou, which is a art museum that is most notable for its bight blue ductwork that hangs on the exterior of the buildings, and the really cool entry stair which is also on the exterior of the building.
After Centre Pompidou we walked around and ended up at Forum les Halles, which is a really cool subterranean shopping mall and metro shop. There is a main courtyard with lots of shops and vendors stalls, and then there are a series of pathways that run underneath a park at ground level. One of these passages continued all the way to the Louvre. Speaking of the Louvre that was our next stop. We were intending to just look at the Pyramid but it started pouring and the line disappeared so we decided to go ahead and go in while we were there. Man that place was huge. Anyway after that we went back home and grabbed food at a really good Indian restaurant next to our hotel.
The second day we started out at the Arc de Triomph, and walked along the Champs de Elysees. That took us to the Place de la Concorde, where an obelisk that Napoleon stole from Egypt still stands; it was also the historical location of the Guillotine. Next were the Jardins de Tuillieres, they were nice but were not especially our cup of tea. We hopped on a metro at the Louvre and went out to the Eiffel Tower. We walked around the Eiffel Tower area and grabbed some snacks. Jeannie did something quite silly. She decided she was going to help get rid of part of my jeans cuff that was dragging… so she stepped on it and had me walk in the other direction… sounds like a bad idea you say? Well, it was… so instead of ripping it off, my jeans split all the way up to my knee. So I was left with the option of walking around with one drafty leg, or going to buy new jeans… we bought new jeans.
The next morning we went back to the Forum les Halles, got some jeans, and went out to the Musee d’Orsay. The museum is really cool because it was originally a train station, which has now been converted into a modern art museum. We also walked around the Latin Quarter and saw the Ecule des Beaux Arts, which is one of the most important art schools in history.
The next morning, we were picked up by Mr. Chauvet and Gainerrene. The Chauvet’s are family friends of Jeanne-Marie, and are also the parents of our friend Romain. The entire family is awesome and our weekend at their house was incredible… oh and “quiet”. First though Jacque (Mr. Chauvet) gave us a tour of Paris by car. After the tour we grabbed lunch in a really cool part of town, this part of town would be the cause of a giant headache for us later. Afterwards we went out to their home in Bouvais, which is a small, old village that is inside of a larger new town called Guyencourt, and is near to Versailles. Jeannie fell in love with house immediately, and I can’t blame her a bit. It is a nice stone home that has a nice yard and is near a small creek. We slept in Romain’s old room on the third floor.
I can’t stress how much we enjoyed spending time with the family. Jacques is one of the nicest persons I have ever had the pleasure to meet, and his wife Edith is an extraordinary artist and simply wonderful. Their children are just as nice as they are, William is a wonderful pianist after only two years of playing, and let me tell you, he is really good… Then there was Vincent and his beautiful girlfriend Florence, and who could forget Gainerrene, whom Jeanne-Marie fell in love with immediately. Overall our time there was extremely relaxing, or as Jacques says, “Quiet”. That Sunday Jacques took us out to Versailles and we walked around the gardens, which were more crowded than I had expected them to be. I guess since the weekend had turned out to beautiful weather, more people were out than usual. Jeannie almost got run over by a couple bicycles (no surprise there) and otherwise it was a great time. That evening the Chauvet’s took us to a birthday party for one of their neighbors, Pierre-Eric. The entire neighborhood turned out to be just as nice as the Chauvet’s; it was a ton of fun. Afterwards we had an awesome home-cooked meal with the entire Chauvet family and Florence.
Monday morning Edith took us back to our hotel, much to our chagrin. We went up the giant hill from our hotel to the church of Sacre Coeur. From here we went to an awesome square that Edith recommended to us, Place de Tertre. The square was filled with artists and some really good sidewalk cafes. After lunch we went to the Montmatre cemetery and walked around all of the cool mausoleums. From there we caught the metro out to Parc de la Villette, where Jeannie got tired and hungry. That evening we went out to the Hark Rock for dinner as has become our tradition.
Tuesday we went to Place de Bastille, where, duh, the prison stood. Now the Garnier Opera stands in its place. From here we walked to the Viaduc des Artes and Promenade Plantee. The Promenade Plantee is what used to be a elevated railway, now it has been converted into a 2.5-mile long linear park. Underneath the Promenade is the Viaduc des Artes, which is comprised of a series of shops, housing artists, craftsman, and designers that are set between the supports for the railway bridge. The Promenade ends at the Parc de Reuilly, which makes the spot of a former chateaux. The path there merges with a bike trail and continues at ground level until it reaches a former train station and the edge of Paris proper.
We walked from the Promenade to the river and the Modern Arab Institute, where Jean Nouvell has a famous façade that is composed of thousands of shutters… like the ones on cameras, not English cottages. We grabbed a café inside and walked to the Jardins de Plantes, which were a series of public flower gardens in between the history museum and the Zoo. From there we walked on to the Sculpture en Plein Aire, the open-air sculpture park that was situated along the riverside. After which, we went to the Jardins de Luxembourg, which were extremely crowded since it was an really beautiful day. Then we made our great mistake; we went looking for that area where we went with Jacques for lunch. Yeah, that took… a while. Basically we got lost, went in circles, got lost again, gave up, got hope, went in circles the opposite way, rinsed, washed, and repeated.
We eventually found it and then had to figure just what we wanted to eat. The area is awesome because it has nearly every type of ethnic food you can imagine. We eventually decided upon Mexican, with which we were rewarded by Dos Equis nachos, and some darn fine tacos. Now we are on our way through the Chunnel, don’t worry you are really only underground for maybe 20 minutes and it is about an hour and a half trip. Next stop, Jolly London.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Rotterdam
Hostelboats are cool… oh wait no they are not. So… my brilliant plan was well umm… not so bright. Once we had arrived in Rotterdam and told our taxi where we were wanting to go, he looked at us a little odd… I only understood once we got there. So our hostelboat “The Clipper” was tied off at the very of edge of Scheepmaker’s Island… I guess not that surprisingly it looked nothing like the picture on the website. In front of us was a boat that looked like it had been to Hell and had only managed to come back because no one there wanted it.
So after we had rung the bell (yes it actually had a doorbell) and waited in the rain for 30 minutes, we said screw it and started looking for our new lodging. Well surprise surprise, Scheepmaker’s Island had no other hotels/motels/hostels/beds for rent/cardboard boxes/etc. so we had to hike it back to the area near the train station. We actually ended up the first hotel we saw, because I had been informed that if I did not find somewhere soon, I would be sleeping with the Scheepmakers if you know what I mean. Just trust me that this establishment was a… significant upgrade from our usual lodgings… enough said.
So on the rest of arrival day we walked around a design and book shop area and stopped at Café Dudok for some awesome café and the best apple pie ever… seriously…ever… Afterwards we walked to one of the most famous squares in Rotterdam, Schouwburgplein (Theatre Square), which was really quite excellent. The parking garage was contained underneath the squares main boardwalk, adjacent to this main area were a series of red cranes that had lights at the ends of their booms. These cranes are a reference to the fact that Rotterdam is the world’s largest port, they are also completely operable for the public, by ways of a control box set near the base of each one. There is also a nice theater in the middle of the square. Later that night we came back to this square and had some awesome Greek food.
Our first full day we went to Café Dudok again for some stellar breakfast, and walked to the big market square, where we rummaged through vendor stalls and booths. In the end we were a little disappointed, but it is still early in the year, and in all honestly, once you have been to Porto Portese… no other open air market really has a chance. On the other end of the Market square was Blaak station, which was a really nice rail stop. Next to Blaak were the (in)famous KubeHouses. These houses are actually in the shape of a cube that has been balanced upon on of it corners and then stuck on a pillar. They were the result of competition from the 70’s, and are actually pretty interesting once one understands that they create a covered walkway over an extremely busy throughfare. They also tend to cluster and create courtyards, which are then ringed with retail; but on the aesthetic level they are well... atrocious.
After the KubeHouses we walked along a big shopping street until we came to what, as we found out later, the natives call, the “Shopping Gutter”. The Shopping Gutter’s real name is, Beurs Traverse, but either way it is really simple, and still really cool. Basically it is just an underpass that has been filled with shops that continue back and connect up into the larger department stores that reside at street level. This allows the busy street that would cut through the middle of it, to continue unimpeded, and protects the area from the noise of the street and the major winds that shoot through Rotterdam. Further along this street transforms into a series of pedestrian streets that have low-lying arcaded shops, with higher residential buildings springing up behind them.
This took us back to the area of the crane square, and so we started to walk to the Museum Park area and went to the NAi, the Netherlands Architecture Institute, where I, much to everyone’s surprise, managed not to by a single book… and seriously you have no idea how hard that was… although I did manage to write down the titles and authors of at least a dozen or so books that I simply will have to purchase eventually. At this point we grabbed some awesome donar kebab and went back to the shopping streets where it was less windy and cold. Eventually we ended up back at our hotel for dinner; there was an incredible hibachi grill downstairs and so we of course had to try it before we left, and hey I can proudly say that I have had a very nice Asian lady tie a very pretty, and very bright, bib on me… don’t worry everyone else in the restaurant had one as well.
The second full day we covered a good chunk of ground. We started by walking to Rotterdam’s version of Chinatown, and then back to Museum Park where we ducked into the Kunsthall, which is a great museum with an awesome café, just in time to miss the hail… yeah it was some odd weather there for a bit. After the hail quit we walked to the Erasmus bridge and the Luxor theater. From there we meandered until we ended up at Blakk station again and went back to the cool shopping areas. We really had a great time in Rotterdam, it is a lot of fun and as odd as it sounds, architects seem to be the only tourists that actually come here, most other people just go to Amsterdam and then make there way onto Germany or France.
Late at night on our second day I remembered that I had talked to another architect, Rutger Spoelstra , who was from the city of Delft, on the internet about woonerfs (a Dutch planning idea about “living streets,” also called shared streets). So I dropped Rutger a line and as luck would have he responded and said he would have some to go walk and chat with us. So we decided to spend our third day traveling to Delft and checking it out.
Boy was that a great plan, we really had fun after the rain and bitter cold had subsided. Rutger was not free until 4pm, but we got there early so we could get lost and wander ourselves. Unfortunately, we did understand the true extent of how much of the town would be shut down on a cold non-tourist season Monday morning. For those of you who do not know, Delft is for its blue chinaware, which is appropriated named, Delftware. The city center of Delft is really very nice. It is largely surrounded by a series of canals, and has several large open spaces. The largest of which is the central square that contains the New Church (circa 14th century???), several nice shops, and a bunch of closed restaurants… damn Mondays… Another nice area nearby, which was considerably newer, was a shopping courtyard with a new library and theater. After walking the city center we wandered around and went to the university. At this point it began to rain and be really quite cold, so we went back to buy an umbrella for Jeannie and a scarf for my dumb self.
That afternoon we met Rutger, who as turns out is a really awesome guy. We had a good time as we all went walking, with Rutger and myself talking shop, and Jeannie taking a bunch of pictures and her usual slandering of me. Thanks to Rutger we saw a ton of stuff we would have missed. It eventually began to hail and so we ducked into a pub for some beers and then Rutger took us to a nice Italian place for pizza and pasta. Afterwards we went back for our 15-minute ride back to Rotterdam, which was made to seem so much longer by our new crazy American “friend” who we acquired at the train station in Delft.
Well now we are leaving the Netherlands for the City of Lights, and I really want to thank Rutger again for his help and for just hanging out with us. Paris is supposed to be rainy the first couple of days that we are going to be there, and we are supposed to visit the Chauvet family over the weekend, so this should be an exciting leg of the trip.
So after we had rung the bell (yes it actually had a doorbell) and waited in the rain for 30 minutes, we said screw it and started looking for our new lodging. Well surprise surprise, Scheepmaker’s Island had no other hotels/motels/hostels/beds for rent/cardboard boxes/etc. so we had to hike it back to the area near the train station. We actually ended up the first hotel we saw, because I had been informed that if I did not find somewhere soon, I would be sleeping with the Scheepmakers if you know what I mean. Just trust me that this establishment was a… significant upgrade from our usual lodgings… enough said.
So on the rest of arrival day we walked around a design and book shop area and stopped at Café Dudok for some awesome café and the best apple pie ever… seriously…ever… Afterwards we walked to one of the most famous squares in Rotterdam, Schouwburgplein (Theatre Square), which was really quite excellent. The parking garage was contained underneath the squares main boardwalk, adjacent to this main area were a series of red cranes that had lights at the ends of their booms. These cranes are a reference to the fact that Rotterdam is the world’s largest port, they are also completely operable for the public, by ways of a control box set near the base of each one. There is also a nice theater in the middle of the square. Later that night we came back to this square and had some awesome Greek food.
Our first full day we went to Café Dudok again for some stellar breakfast, and walked to the big market square, where we rummaged through vendor stalls and booths. In the end we were a little disappointed, but it is still early in the year, and in all honestly, once you have been to Porto Portese… no other open air market really has a chance. On the other end of the Market square was Blaak station, which was a really nice rail stop. Next to Blaak were the (in)famous KubeHouses. These houses are actually in the shape of a cube that has been balanced upon on of it corners and then stuck on a pillar. They were the result of competition from the 70’s, and are actually pretty interesting once one understands that they create a covered walkway over an extremely busy throughfare. They also tend to cluster and create courtyards, which are then ringed with retail; but on the aesthetic level they are well... atrocious.
After the KubeHouses we walked along a big shopping street until we came to what, as we found out later, the natives call, the “Shopping Gutter”. The Shopping Gutter’s real name is, Beurs Traverse, but either way it is really simple, and still really cool. Basically it is just an underpass that has been filled with shops that continue back and connect up into the larger department stores that reside at street level. This allows the busy street that would cut through the middle of it, to continue unimpeded, and protects the area from the noise of the street and the major winds that shoot through Rotterdam. Further along this street transforms into a series of pedestrian streets that have low-lying arcaded shops, with higher residential buildings springing up behind them.
This took us back to the area of the crane square, and so we started to walk to the Museum Park area and went to the NAi, the Netherlands Architecture Institute, where I, much to everyone’s surprise, managed not to by a single book… and seriously you have no idea how hard that was… although I did manage to write down the titles and authors of at least a dozen or so books that I simply will have to purchase eventually. At this point we grabbed some awesome donar kebab and went back to the shopping streets where it was less windy and cold. Eventually we ended up back at our hotel for dinner; there was an incredible hibachi grill downstairs and so we of course had to try it before we left, and hey I can proudly say that I have had a very nice Asian lady tie a very pretty, and very bright, bib on me… don’t worry everyone else in the restaurant had one as well.
The second full day we covered a good chunk of ground. We started by walking to Rotterdam’s version of Chinatown, and then back to Museum Park where we ducked into the Kunsthall, which is a great museum with an awesome café, just in time to miss the hail… yeah it was some odd weather there for a bit. After the hail quit we walked to the Erasmus bridge and the Luxor theater. From there we meandered until we ended up at Blakk station again and went back to the cool shopping areas. We really had a great time in Rotterdam, it is a lot of fun and as odd as it sounds, architects seem to be the only tourists that actually come here, most other people just go to Amsterdam and then make there way onto Germany or France.
Late at night on our second day I remembered that I had talked to another architect, Rutger Spoelstra , who was from the city of Delft, on the internet about woonerfs (a Dutch planning idea about “living streets,” also called shared streets). So I dropped Rutger a line and as luck would have he responded and said he would have some to go walk and chat with us. So we decided to spend our third day traveling to Delft and checking it out.
Boy was that a great plan, we really had fun after the rain and bitter cold had subsided. Rutger was not free until 4pm, but we got there early so we could get lost and wander ourselves. Unfortunately, we did understand the true extent of how much of the town would be shut down on a cold non-tourist season Monday morning. For those of you who do not know, Delft is for its blue chinaware, which is appropriated named, Delftware. The city center of Delft is really very nice. It is largely surrounded by a series of canals, and has several large open spaces. The largest of which is the central square that contains the New Church (circa 14th century???), several nice shops, and a bunch of closed restaurants… damn Mondays… Another nice area nearby, which was considerably newer, was a shopping courtyard with a new library and theater. After walking the city center we wandered around and went to the university. At this point it began to rain and be really quite cold, so we went back to buy an umbrella for Jeannie and a scarf for my dumb self.
That afternoon we met Rutger, who as turns out is a really awesome guy. We had a good time as we all went walking, with Rutger and myself talking shop, and Jeannie taking a bunch of pictures and her usual slandering of me. Thanks to Rutger we saw a ton of stuff we would have missed. It eventually began to hail and so we ducked into a pub for some beers and then Rutger took us to a nice Italian place for pizza and pasta. Afterwards we went back for our 15-minute ride back to Rotterdam, which was made to seem so much longer by our new crazy American “friend” who we acquired at the train station in Delft.
Well now we are leaving the Netherlands for the City of Lights, and I really want to thank Rutger again for his help and for just hanging out with us. Paris is supposed to be rainy the first couple of days that we are going to be there, and we are supposed to visit the Chauvet family over the weekend, so this should be an exciting leg of the trip.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Amsterdam
Welcome to the Netherlands… Nederlands… Holland… whichever… anyway we have arrived in Amsterdam and even after a 9 hour train ride it is impressive at first glance. Our hotel was one the edge of the famous Red Light District, very near to the big town square called Dam Platz, and no it is not quite as seedy as all of those rumors you have heard.
I actually enjoyed our hotel quite a bit. It had a bar situated downstairs which had pretty good food, cheap beer, and of course sports and music (you thought I was going to say something else didn’t you…). Our room was… odd… but that was ok. We actually ate in the bar after wandering around for a bit. There are tons of idiotic fellow Americans (as there has been all over Europe) most seemed to be high school seniors here for spring break… wow that’s a scary thought, but is sure as hell beats my last several spring breaks.
Wow, this city is really a blur to me, we walked most of the city on the first day, and really had a bunch of fun. We started in the University district not too far from the Dam Platz, had café at really cool streetside café, and then wandered on up to Rembrandt Platz for lunch (here they had a cool sculpture based on a really famous Rembrandt piece that I can’t remember at this point). From there we walked on down past the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens, to a couple of nice parks.
Perhaps one of the most notable things about this city, and really this whole country, for those you who have not been here, are the bicycles, and all of the ramifications they have on a city. Imagine if you will that for every ten cars you see on the road next to you, seven of them are now riding on bicycles… different isn’t it. I don’t Jeanne-Marie has yet learned to look for them before she starts to cross the street, but I haven’t let her get hit yet. My favorite thing about this city may yet be its modes of transportation. Between the bicycles, the scooters, and the usable canals you have plenty of fun options besides that gas guzzler in your garage. Of particular interest to me were all of the shared streets, I guess Steve Luoni has warped my mind that much at least.
That night we ate in Amsterdam’s Chinatown area, although it had as many Argentine restaurants as Asian ones. The following day we went out to the newer parts of town and tried to go to another park, which, again, was closed for remodeling… grr, what is it with me and these damn closed parks! We also took a canal ride… I fell asleep… it was that boring, I mean I can make it through hours of Tech lectures, and Bam! Twenty minutes into a 1hr boat-ride full of French high-school students… I snoring like a log… at least Jeannie found it amusing. We passed Ann Frank’s house (sad), Renzo Piano’s Nemo (ugly), and the West 8 planned Borneo Island (not done yet, but what’s built looks great). That night after we had grabbed some food, we sat down in the bar/hotel, watched some cricket (woo…), watched some soccer (much better), drank beer, and played on the wireless internet… man I like this hotel. We had done this each night and it was really nice to relax and take it easy.
Can’t believe this one is so short… but it is not a long train ride to Rotterdam and our lovely… boat hotel… yea… sounds fun… well at least it did in December… oh boy this should be fun.
I actually enjoyed our hotel quite a bit. It had a bar situated downstairs which had pretty good food, cheap beer, and of course sports and music (you thought I was going to say something else didn’t you…). Our room was… odd… but that was ok. We actually ate in the bar after wandering around for a bit. There are tons of idiotic fellow Americans (as there has been all over Europe) most seemed to be high school seniors here for spring break… wow that’s a scary thought, but is sure as hell beats my last several spring breaks.
Wow, this city is really a blur to me, we walked most of the city on the first day, and really had a bunch of fun. We started in the University district not too far from the Dam Platz, had café at really cool streetside café, and then wandered on up to Rembrandt Platz for lunch (here they had a cool sculpture based on a really famous Rembrandt piece that I can’t remember at this point). From there we walked on down past the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens, to a couple of nice parks.
Perhaps one of the most notable things about this city, and really this whole country, for those you who have not been here, are the bicycles, and all of the ramifications they have on a city. Imagine if you will that for every ten cars you see on the road next to you, seven of them are now riding on bicycles… different isn’t it. I don’t Jeanne-Marie has yet learned to look for them before she starts to cross the street, but I haven’t let her get hit yet. My favorite thing about this city may yet be its modes of transportation. Between the bicycles, the scooters, and the usable canals you have plenty of fun options besides that gas guzzler in your garage. Of particular interest to me were all of the shared streets, I guess Steve Luoni has warped my mind that much at least.
That night we ate in Amsterdam’s Chinatown area, although it had as many Argentine restaurants as Asian ones. The following day we went out to the newer parts of town and tried to go to another park, which, again, was closed for remodeling… grr, what is it with me and these damn closed parks! We also took a canal ride… I fell asleep… it was that boring, I mean I can make it through hours of Tech lectures, and Bam! Twenty minutes into a 1hr boat-ride full of French high-school students… I snoring like a log… at least Jeannie found it amusing. We passed Ann Frank’s house (sad), Renzo Piano’s Nemo (ugly), and the West 8 planned Borneo Island (not done yet, but what’s built looks great). That night after we had grabbed some food, we sat down in the bar/hotel, watched some cricket (woo…), watched some soccer (much better), drank beer, and played on the wireless internet… man I like this hotel. We had done this each night and it was really nice to relax and take it easy.
Can’t believe this one is so short… but it is not a long train ride to Rotterdam and our lovely… boat hotel… yea… sounds fun… well at least it did in December… oh boy this should be fun.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Copenhagen
Well after avoiding a near disaster we finally made it to Denmark and Copenhagen. My dumb self left the bag with the laptop on the train from Berlin to Hamburg, so I ended up having to catch a train to the next stop in Hamburg, get the bag, and go back to Hamburg central… did I mention that German train officials are awesome!!! So anyway we missed our original train and it was after 10 when we made it to Copenhagen. Oh yea, during the winter Scandinavians eat rather early (no sun), so we of course got there after most of the kitchens had closed, so we had the choice of McDonald’s or Burger King… yum.
The next day didn’t start off too well either. I, in all of my natural idiocy, didn’t bother to check when the Tivoli Gardens opened, or for that matter, even if they closed at all. So much was my surprise when we go up the gates and they are closed… the Gardens are not going to open until the day after we arrive in the States… oops (The Tivoli Gardens are interesting because they are a series of flowers gardens, water features, amusement rides, and cultural venues, stuffed in the city center between the old city square and the train station). The day brightened up a bit though as we wandered around the giant pedestrian street called the Stroget (sorry no cool official lettering but I have no clue as to type so of these characters on an American keyboard).
We grabbed a really good milkshake at a coffee bar above one o the main streets, and began to notice something strange. There seems to be a ridiculous amount of people pushing around baby carriages, so much that we even began to count them (there were well over 40 of them while we drank our drinks, and had missed a ton before that). It was really quite… intimidating. The best is the fact that the Danes had stuffed these buggies so full that half of the time one of the parents was left with having to hold the kid.
The next day we walked along the water looking at a bunch of architecture stuff that bored Jeannie terribly. I was bummed (again) because the one thing I really wanted to see had been moved for repairs (the PLOT Harbor project for those of you who care). We walked around the castle of Christianborg… one thing I have begun to notice is that a lot of these “castles” are much more… well boring that I would have imagines, but oh well that’s what you get for watching Saturday morning cartoons and bad movies about knights.
Afterwards we walked through the Botanical Gardens and the University district; both were excellent. The parks around this city were really quite beautiful, and one can not complain about a weekend spent walking on a busy shopping street and wandering through quiet city parks. That night we had order-in pizza in an attempt to give some relief to our pocketbooks. This city is really quite expensive; hopefully London is not much worse than this. I knew Scandinavia was expensive but… man this could get bad very quickly. We were amusing by the huge group of Swedish girls that came to Copenhagen for only one night to go party. It was pretty funny, when they arranged for 4 huge van taxis to escort them to and from the club… sad… scary sad.
The last day we wandered around to catch a couple sights we had missed and walked the Stroget again to see how busy it was during the week (still pretty damn busy). That evening we decided to go see a movie since Denmark is cool and plays all movies (except for ones targeted at small kids) in their original language with Danish subtitles… man I wish more of America would do this, I just really don’t like dubbing, but that is a rant for another day. Anyway for those of you who are wondering, we saw Ghost Rider… that’s right, a good ole American action film… pure trash with a little Nicholas Cage drizzled on top for extra terribleness… it was awesome… seriously awesome… oh yea, they had popcorn and it was good…
The next day didn’t start off too well either. I, in all of my natural idiocy, didn’t bother to check when the Tivoli Gardens opened, or for that matter, even if they closed at all. So much was my surprise when we go up the gates and they are closed… the Gardens are not going to open until the day after we arrive in the States… oops (The Tivoli Gardens are interesting because they are a series of flowers gardens, water features, amusement rides, and cultural venues, stuffed in the city center between the old city square and the train station). The day brightened up a bit though as we wandered around the giant pedestrian street called the Stroget (sorry no cool official lettering but I have no clue as to type so of these characters on an American keyboard).
We grabbed a really good milkshake at a coffee bar above one o the main streets, and began to notice something strange. There seems to be a ridiculous amount of people pushing around baby carriages, so much that we even began to count them (there were well over 40 of them while we drank our drinks, and had missed a ton before that). It was really quite… intimidating. The best is the fact that the Danes had stuffed these buggies so full that half of the time one of the parents was left with having to hold the kid.
The next day we walked along the water looking at a bunch of architecture stuff that bored Jeannie terribly. I was bummed (again) because the one thing I really wanted to see had been moved for repairs (the PLOT Harbor project for those of you who care). We walked around the castle of Christianborg… one thing I have begun to notice is that a lot of these “castles” are much more… well boring that I would have imagines, but oh well that’s what you get for watching Saturday morning cartoons and bad movies about knights.
Afterwards we walked through the Botanical Gardens and the University district; both were excellent. The parks around this city were really quite beautiful, and one can not complain about a weekend spent walking on a busy shopping street and wandering through quiet city parks. That night we had order-in pizza in an attempt to give some relief to our pocketbooks. This city is really quite expensive; hopefully London is not much worse than this. I knew Scandinavia was expensive but… man this could get bad very quickly. We were amusing by the huge group of Swedish girls that came to Copenhagen for only one night to go party. It was pretty funny, when they arranged for 4 huge van taxis to escort them to and from the club… sad… scary sad.
The last day we wandered around to catch a couple sights we had missed and walked the Stroget again to see how busy it was during the week (still pretty damn busy). That evening we decided to go see a movie since Denmark is cool and plays all movies (except for ones targeted at small kids) in their original language with Danish subtitles… man I wish more of America would do this, I just really don’t like dubbing, but that is a rant for another day. Anyway for those of you who are wondering, we saw Ghost Rider… that’s right, a good ole American action film… pure trash with a little Nicholas Cage drizzled on top for extra terribleness… it was awesome… seriously awesome… oh yea, they had popcorn and it was good…
Friday, March 9, 2007
Berlin
Well… what can I say but, wow! Berlin has turned into so much more than I was expecting. I am not sure what in particular about this city impressed me more, but I do know that this city is one of the cleanest, most friendly, and all around enjoyable that we have been to yet. As is our tradition we of course took a nap once arriving… those train rides can really wear you out... now whether from boredom or whatever else I couldn’t tell you. So right before that nap we grabbed a bit from a restaurant down the street from our hostel, and after the nap we tried another near by restaurant, which by the way was horrible.
So on our first full day, we set off from the hostel and went to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous (or infamous depending on your views) main crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin, it also serves as the Berlin Wall Museum. There we grabbed some Mexican food… yes you did read that right… and yes it was awesome. From there we walked up Frederikstrasse (and please be kind enough not to check my spelling of these names because many of them will be wrong and I won’t care… if something is 20 letters long I’m just not going to get it right no matter how much I try) which has become a major shopping area for former East Berlin.
Afterwards we went to the Brandenburg Gates and walked on to the Reichstag, the seat of the government, which has an amazing glass dome on top where tourists can spiral down and view the city from up high. Around the Reichstag are some other government and educational buildings that were quite nice. The Brandenburg Gates I mentioned earlier lead into a huge park called the Tiergarten, which hosts concerts and events during the nice months. From the Reichstag area we wandered to the Monument for the Jewish Dead, something that I was familiar with because of the recognition it has gotten in the architecture world, but I was not fully prepared for it. I won’t go into too much about it, but one can say that when first walking through it, you have a feeling about it that changes completely after having gone through the museum attached.
After this we went to Potsdamer Platz, a newly reinvigorated square that has become a media and recreation center, for a beer… I had a “flavored” beer for the first time, and it was awesome… I am going to have try it at home (and probably fail miserably), basically drop a shot of apple juice in your next glass of hefeweissen. Afterwards we went to the first restaurant we went it and it was awesome again… although the lights did go out on me in the bathroom and I had to fumble around in complete darkness in a foreign bathroom… fun is not the first word that comes to mind.
The second full day we walked around the Museum Island, and yes no tricks here it was an island in the river covered in museums. From there we went on to the Alexander Platz, and walked up Weinerstrasse and Oresinstrasse, both of these streets are well known shopping and recreation neighborhoods, and are full of the “texture” that has made Berlin famous. We wandered back to Frederikstrasse and then made our way to Potsdamer again for a beer. That evening we went out to the Zoological Gardens area, and wandered through all of the shopping areas there. We also attempted to go to the Hard Rock, only to find that it was closed for a private party. We then wandered forever looking for a restaurant to eat at… sadly missing that they were all on the second level… and eventually after getting a little backwards went to an awesome Greek restaurant.
On our final day we explored the rest of the area around Potsdamer, seeing several nearby famous architectural sights, but spending most of our time in the Arkade, which is a wonderful shopping mall, that acts as the joint between a series of corporate and mixed use buildings. After this we went to the Jewish Museum, which was designed by Daniel Liberskind. It is famous for its use of life and how it simulates the feeling of loneliness and isolationism that the Jews were to have felt while in the terrible camps. After this we went on to happier things and returned to the shopping areas around the Zoo.
We also went to, yes, another Mexican restaurant… and yes it was awesome too… especially my nachos! Afterwards we went to the famous KaDeWe (Kauhaus de Westins) for yes more shopping fun… this place is a huge department store and was celebrating its 100th anniversary as we arrived. Near was an interesting old church where most of the church has been blown up in the war, so that only the center spire remained. Now the spire is flanked by a large blue stained glass tower, and on the other side is another blue stained glass structure, this one being the new sacristy… although they were kinda ugly… anyway afterwards we went back the house and Potsdamer for drinks and dinner at an Australian restaurant there called Corroboree. By the way if any of you have a chance to grab an ice cold Victoria Bitter I would strongly suggest you take that opportunity, as anyone self-respecting person who has been to Australia will tell you.
We had a great time here, that was probably made even better when we didn’t exactly expect it to be so much fun. Maybe it is because Berlin now sees itself as a city for all cultures, as opposed to its so well known recent past. Maybe it is just the product of the recent collapse of the Berlin Wall and the two halves of the city being rejoined… but whatever it is, it was great.
So on our first full day, we set off from the hostel and went to Checkpoint Charlie, the famous (or infamous depending on your views) main crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin, it also serves as the Berlin Wall Museum. There we grabbed some Mexican food… yes you did read that right… and yes it was awesome. From there we walked up Frederikstrasse (and please be kind enough not to check my spelling of these names because many of them will be wrong and I won’t care… if something is 20 letters long I’m just not going to get it right no matter how much I try) which has become a major shopping area for former East Berlin.
Afterwards we went to the Brandenburg Gates and walked on to the Reichstag, the seat of the government, which has an amazing glass dome on top where tourists can spiral down and view the city from up high. Around the Reichstag are some other government and educational buildings that were quite nice. The Brandenburg Gates I mentioned earlier lead into a huge park called the Tiergarten, which hosts concerts and events during the nice months. From the Reichstag area we wandered to the Monument for the Jewish Dead, something that I was familiar with because of the recognition it has gotten in the architecture world, but I was not fully prepared for it. I won’t go into too much about it, but one can say that when first walking through it, you have a feeling about it that changes completely after having gone through the museum attached.
After this we went to Potsdamer Platz, a newly reinvigorated square that has become a media and recreation center, for a beer… I had a “flavored” beer for the first time, and it was awesome… I am going to have try it at home (and probably fail miserably), basically drop a shot of apple juice in your next glass of hefeweissen. Afterwards we went to the first restaurant we went it and it was awesome again… although the lights did go out on me in the bathroom and I had to fumble around in complete darkness in a foreign bathroom… fun is not the first word that comes to mind.
The second full day we walked around the Museum Island, and yes no tricks here it was an island in the river covered in museums. From there we went on to the Alexander Platz, and walked up Weinerstrasse and Oresinstrasse, both of these streets are well known shopping and recreation neighborhoods, and are full of the “texture” that has made Berlin famous. We wandered back to Frederikstrasse and then made our way to Potsdamer again for a beer. That evening we went out to the Zoological Gardens area, and wandered through all of the shopping areas there. We also attempted to go to the Hard Rock, only to find that it was closed for a private party. We then wandered forever looking for a restaurant to eat at… sadly missing that they were all on the second level… and eventually after getting a little backwards went to an awesome Greek restaurant.
On our final day we explored the rest of the area around Potsdamer, seeing several nearby famous architectural sights, but spending most of our time in the Arkade, which is a wonderful shopping mall, that acts as the joint between a series of corporate and mixed use buildings. After this we went to the Jewish Museum, which was designed by Daniel Liberskind. It is famous for its use of life and how it simulates the feeling of loneliness and isolationism that the Jews were to have felt while in the terrible camps. After this we went on to happier things and returned to the shopping areas around the Zoo.
We also went to, yes, another Mexican restaurant… and yes it was awesome too… especially my nachos! Afterwards we went to the famous KaDeWe (Kauhaus de Westins) for yes more shopping fun… this place is a huge department store and was celebrating its 100th anniversary as we arrived. Near was an interesting old church where most of the church has been blown up in the war, so that only the center spire remained. Now the spire is flanked by a large blue stained glass tower, and on the other side is another blue stained glass structure, this one being the new sacristy… although they were kinda ugly… anyway afterwards we went back the house and Potsdamer for drinks and dinner at an Australian restaurant there called Corroboree. By the way if any of you have a chance to grab an ice cold Victoria Bitter I would strongly suggest you take that opportunity, as anyone self-respecting person who has been to Australia will tell you.
We had a great time here, that was probably made even better when we didn’t exactly expect it to be so much fun. Maybe it is because Berlin now sees itself as a city for all cultures, as opposed to its so well known recent past. Maybe it is just the product of the recent collapse of the Berlin Wall and the two halves of the city being rejoined… but whatever it is, it was great.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Prague
After a lovely all night train ride, with a Japanese girl who snored loud enough to wake up our drunken neighbors, we arrived in Prague. For anyone considering going to Prague, and you should, do not take the taxis they will rip you off terribly (sorry Peter we did not receive your warning until after this first one).
Once we arrived to our first hotel, which happened to be owned by a friend of a Venetian that we met on the train, we informed that they were having a water problem and sending us to another hotel… right after this of course they showed an older Scandinavian couple to their rooms… hmm… oh well it didn’t matter cause our new hotel was great! While our old hotel was in the Nove Mesto (New City) our new one was in Stare Mesto (Old City) and was right next to the main Muzeum and the awesome street in front of it.
That first night we wandered that street a little bit and went to a restaurant that we recognized from Spain, Pizza Marzano… yes pathetic but most of the places to eat on this street were Italian and really the Czech ones that were there were filled with tourists, while the Italian ones were full of Czechs… weird… I guess one gets tired of goulash eventually. And for all of those out there who are in doubt, as Peter informed us, Czech beer is the best in the world, and the cheapest! You simply can not beat a half liter of sumptuous Czech brew for a paltry average of 40 czk (about 2 bucks… Yes it really is that awesome). It was also amusing to note that in nearly every tourist area there were clearly marked “look out for pickpockets” signs, also as Peter had noted for us.
Our first full day was marred by rain, but we caught most of the main stuff in the central area. We walked the street in front of Muzeum that I mentioned earlier, I believe its name is Wenceslas Square, but my map and my memory are apparently poorly annotated… either way the street is a beautiful place. In a way it is very similar to La Ramblas in Barcelona, in that has a wide pedestrian area in the center with a couple lanes of traffic flanking both sides, and then commercial interests in the buildings on the outside edges of the street. There are several differences but I won’t bore you too much with those now. This street basically had larger buildings around it that acted as shopping courtyards and malls, instead of being in Barcelona’s old quarter with its tiny streets and shops. Also this street does not allow cars to drive its full length, as it eventually acts as a gateway to the old city’s pedestrian zone when it terminates onto a wide shopping promenade.
After the street we went to the Old Town Square which is best known for its Astronomical Clock which draws tourists every hour on the hour, as it puts on a little show of characters parading past a set of windows in the clock. After this we grabbed lunch and headed to the Charles Bridge, which is one of the oldest stone bridges in the world. About this point it started raining pretty good and we decided that it might be better to head back to the hostel and blow off the Prague Castle until the next day. So the rain let up as we went back home, and so we decided to just wander around in the old town area. Eventually though it started pouring and we had to take cover over by the Powder Tower… not fun… anyway eventually we snaked our way through the shopping courts and malls and walked back up Wenceslas Square to our hotel. That night we hung out and ate (and drank of course) around Wenceslas Square again.
The next day we made our way to Charles Bridge again and started up the sizeable hill to Prague Castle. On the way up to the Castle we stopped at a cool restaurant called, Cowboys, while the food was nothing special, the space was really quite nice. The restaurant was in the cellar of a medieval building, and the brick arches and foundations were left exposed, creating a really nice to sit and eat and of course drink more beer… as a fun fact Czechs consume more beer per capita than anyone else in the entire world. You get a really nice vista of Prague from up at the Castle and the castle itself is fairly interesting. It basically is like a small fortified town, with a nice Gothic church and street called the Golden Lane because it housed the city’s goldsmiths at one time (as a sidenote Kafka also lived here for a time).
On our way down we caught a couple sights, like Prague’s Effiel Tower, and the Metronome. Also you can see the Tv Tower from miles away as it towers over the rest of the city. No we did not go see Frank Gehry’s building here, because I am not going to waste my time to go look at some building named after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and is honestly extremely ugly. The rest of our time we just wandered about enjoying ourselves, I do wish we had spent more time in the Jewish Getto, but the rain did really cramp our time… oh well.
We had a great time in Prague, and I’d love to come back here again sometime. Peter does not seem to be the only one of his countrymen who has good taste in music, as Jeanne-Marie and I were reliving our childhoods with all of the 80’s music we kept hearing everywhere. Before I came here I did not know much about Czech history, pride, or hell Czech anything… well ok I knew about the beer but very little. Now I have really come to respect it and want to learn more about Eastern Europe in general, hopefully we eventually can make another trip just to see more of Eastern Europe nad the things it has to offer. Well now we are on our way up to Berlin, the train ride through the Czech Republic and Germany so far has been very enjoyable, with the hillsides being adorned with stone monestaries and keeps, and the towns nestled into mountain valleys and tucked up along rivers and streams. Very beautiful and very different from anywhere else I have ever been. Well as we are pulling into Dresdan I will let you go and stare out the window some more.
P.S. Thanks to Peter for his help and for writing out his “guide to Prague” for us! High Five!!!!
Once we arrived to our first hotel, which happened to be owned by a friend of a Venetian that we met on the train, we informed that they were having a water problem and sending us to another hotel… right after this of course they showed an older Scandinavian couple to their rooms… hmm… oh well it didn’t matter cause our new hotel was great! While our old hotel was in the Nove Mesto (New City) our new one was in Stare Mesto (Old City) and was right next to the main Muzeum and the awesome street in front of it.
That first night we wandered that street a little bit and went to a restaurant that we recognized from Spain, Pizza Marzano… yes pathetic but most of the places to eat on this street were Italian and really the Czech ones that were there were filled with tourists, while the Italian ones were full of Czechs… weird… I guess one gets tired of goulash eventually. And for all of those out there who are in doubt, as Peter informed us, Czech beer is the best in the world, and the cheapest! You simply can not beat a half liter of sumptuous Czech brew for a paltry average of 40 czk (about 2 bucks… Yes it really is that awesome). It was also amusing to note that in nearly every tourist area there were clearly marked “look out for pickpockets” signs, also as Peter had noted for us.
Our first full day was marred by rain, but we caught most of the main stuff in the central area. We walked the street in front of Muzeum that I mentioned earlier, I believe its name is Wenceslas Square, but my map and my memory are apparently poorly annotated… either way the street is a beautiful place. In a way it is very similar to La Ramblas in Barcelona, in that has a wide pedestrian area in the center with a couple lanes of traffic flanking both sides, and then commercial interests in the buildings on the outside edges of the street. There are several differences but I won’t bore you too much with those now. This street basically had larger buildings around it that acted as shopping courtyards and malls, instead of being in Barcelona’s old quarter with its tiny streets and shops. Also this street does not allow cars to drive its full length, as it eventually acts as a gateway to the old city’s pedestrian zone when it terminates onto a wide shopping promenade.
After the street we went to the Old Town Square which is best known for its Astronomical Clock which draws tourists every hour on the hour, as it puts on a little show of characters parading past a set of windows in the clock. After this we grabbed lunch and headed to the Charles Bridge, which is one of the oldest stone bridges in the world. About this point it started raining pretty good and we decided that it might be better to head back to the hostel and blow off the Prague Castle until the next day. So the rain let up as we went back home, and so we decided to just wander around in the old town area. Eventually though it started pouring and we had to take cover over by the Powder Tower… not fun… anyway eventually we snaked our way through the shopping courts and malls and walked back up Wenceslas Square to our hotel. That night we hung out and ate (and drank of course) around Wenceslas Square again.
The next day we made our way to Charles Bridge again and started up the sizeable hill to Prague Castle. On the way up to the Castle we stopped at a cool restaurant called, Cowboys, while the food was nothing special, the space was really quite nice. The restaurant was in the cellar of a medieval building, and the brick arches and foundations were left exposed, creating a really nice to sit and eat and of course drink more beer… as a fun fact Czechs consume more beer per capita than anyone else in the entire world. You get a really nice vista of Prague from up at the Castle and the castle itself is fairly interesting. It basically is like a small fortified town, with a nice Gothic church and street called the Golden Lane because it housed the city’s goldsmiths at one time (as a sidenote Kafka also lived here for a time).
On our way down we caught a couple sights, like Prague’s Effiel Tower, and the Metronome. Also you can see the Tv Tower from miles away as it towers over the rest of the city. No we did not go see Frank Gehry’s building here, because I am not going to waste my time to go look at some building named after Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and is honestly extremely ugly. The rest of our time we just wandered about enjoying ourselves, I do wish we had spent more time in the Jewish Getto, but the rain did really cramp our time… oh well.
We had a great time in Prague, and I’d love to come back here again sometime. Peter does not seem to be the only one of his countrymen who has good taste in music, as Jeanne-Marie and I were reliving our childhoods with all of the 80’s music we kept hearing everywhere. Before I came here I did not know much about Czech history, pride, or hell Czech anything… well ok I knew about the beer but very little. Now I have really come to respect it and want to learn more about Eastern Europe in general, hopefully we eventually can make another trip just to see more of Eastern Europe nad the things it has to offer. Well now we are on our way up to Berlin, the train ride through the Czech Republic and Germany so far has been very enjoyable, with the hillsides being adorned with stone monestaries and keeps, and the towns nestled into mountain valleys and tucked up along rivers and streams. Very beautiful and very different from anywhere else I have ever been. Well as we are pulling into Dresdan I will let you go and stare out the window some more.
P.S. Thanks to Peter for his help and for writing out his “guide to Prague” for us! High Five!!!!
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Venice
I must be the first person in history to go to Venice… and not get lost… at all… I promise… no really I walked into that canal on purpose… well… not really but wouldn’t that have be a fun story to tell… and no I did not fall in the canal… but we did do some meandering around. Venice is really much nicer than I assumed it would be… I mean you hear other Italians call it “Disneyland” and you start to worry… but all in all it is rather pleasant. Now don’t get me wrong I can see why they call it that, and yes it is way too damn touristy for me and the prices that go along with it.
I am not sure if it is just the fact that this was the first canal city I have ever been to, but I really enjoyed the uniqueness of Venezia. I cannot help but imagine its beauty hundreds of years ago when its canals were filled with gondolas and galleys, instead of the vaporetti (water taxi/bus) and tourist boats of today.
Our hostel was run by an extremely nice lady named Amanda, and her lovely baby Giacomo, to whom we owe many thanks and without whom we would definitely not had such a great time. The afternoon we arrived, we really just wandered around, catching all of the main tourista stuff like Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge (which our hostel was very near to). We spent the evening around the Piazza Santa Margherita, which had a younger more vibrant crowd and was a lot of fun. On our way to Santa Margherita, we just turned around a little and ended up at Piazzale Roma, which is where all of the cars and buses access the island… really a rather depressing place, but hey what car garage is not.
Now that I come to think of it, Venice is the only Italian city I have been to where it seems everyone is in a rush. I mean all Italians walk fast and are a little pushy, but at least they commonly congregate around cafes and chat up a storm while they have their infamous 3 hour long dinners where you have to ask for the check 3 or 4 times before the waiter figures out you actually mean it. These people were almost running to their cars and buses, it was really quite odd… so un-Italian… at least the Italian that I am used to. Thankfully when we actually got to Santa Margherita, that all changed; All of the students and young people there behaved as I had previously hoped all Italians did, so perhaps it is just that most of the Italians who work on the main island just want to get away from the tourists and return to normal once they reach the Lido.
This brings up my other pseudo-qualm about Venice… its so damn empty at night… its almost scary. I couldn’t help but dream up a Jack the Ripper story for this place, with al of its fabulous tiny streets and near total lack of lighting… it just seemed to fit… but then again once one thinks about it… Venice may be one of the safest cities in the world, especially in the off-peak season… I mean there are no vagrants, the gypsies are required to have housing… it just seems safe, I wouldn’t personally leave my doors unlocked but I bet you probably could and get away with it.
On our first full day we went back to really explore the areas around San Marco, watching idiot tourists feed the friggin pigeons… I mean seriously I think half of them go to San Marco’s just play with those damn rats… anyway I digress… The piazza is really something to see, I can see why it has become such a famous place to visit… I really think Venice is opulence at its greatest… especially the inside of San Marco, I mean its just gold and mosaics, the sheer amount of work and material is staggering, both visually and financially. After that we wandered around on Murano (island famous for its glass) and saw the Bridge of “Sigh”, it is called this because it was the bridge that ran between the courthouse and the jail, so as prisoners were lead across it, the view would be the last they would every see of the outside world… hence the “sigh” it invokes.
After that we wandered around to the area around the Accademia and its cool wooden bridge that was originally only supposed to be temporary but due to its popularity it has stayed in use for almost a hundred years. After that we did some shopping and went to a restaurant which ended up being more touristy than I care for, even to the point that the waiter was almost trying to push the bill on us… we of course in return delayed it as long as possible and had a fabulous 4 hour dinner complete with dessert and coffee… much to his chagrin.
Our second day started out with running to the post office for the second straight day (too much shopping…grrr … oh well it is friggin Venice), and then we hung out around the Rialto again. The Rialto Bridge is another shopping bridge not terribly dissimilar from Florence’s Ponte Vecchio. The Rialto is divided into 3 stairways with 2 rows of shops in between. Whereas Ponte Vecchio is a large sloped bridge, the Rialto is just a series of stairs and feels stubbier. It seems the 2 side stairs are more for the Venetians to rush by the shopping tourists, than they are for viewing the Grand Canal. Anyway afterwards we went to the nearby Rialto Mercato district which is filled with great food vendor stalls, and a great open air market right off of the Grand Canal. Next to the open air market is the Pesceria, which is a building full of fish vendors… smells great… or something… yay…
After that we were off to the train station again to get our overnight train tickets to Prague (joy!), and then back to Santa Margherita for lunch and more wandering. We ate at the same restaurant as the first night, but this time we ate outside in the piazza. The waiter here is just a nice guy, and his comments about the people who spurned eating at his restaurant were the highlight of my day, just hysterical. After that we just had a great time wandering around and popping in a church here and there, with Jeannie even discovering an artist she hadn’t heard of, Giandomenico Tiepolo, who did an awesome stations of the cross in Chiusa di San Polo. Then we found a rare and used books store, had some pizza cake (Italian term for thicker crusted pizza), and hopped on our train for Prague.
We both look forward to the next time we can come back to Venice so we can see more of the many things that we had to miss this time around… so now onto Prague and more languages I have no hope to understand… yay! high-five!
I am not sure if it is just the fact that this was the first canal city I have ever been to, but I really enjoyed the uniqueness of Venezia. I cannot help but imagine its beauty hundreds of years ago when its canals were filled with gondolas and galleys, instead of the vaporetti (water taxi/bus) and tourist boats of today.
Our hostel was run by an extremely nice lady named Amanda, and her lovely baby Giacomo, to whom we owe many thanks and without whom we would definitely not had such a great time. The afternoon we arrived, we really just wandered around, catching all of the main tourista stuff like Piazza San Marco and the Rialto Bridge (which our hostel was very near to). We spent the evening around the Piazza Santa Margherita, which had a younger more vibrant crowd and was a lot of fun. On our way to Santa Margherita, we just turned around a little and ended up at Piazzale Roma, which is where all of the cars and buses access the island… really a rather depressing place, but hey what car garage is not.
Now that I come to think of it, Venice is the only Italian city I have been to where it seems everyone is in a rush. I mean all Italians walk fast and are a little pushy, but at least they commonly congregate around cafes and chat up a storm while they have their infamous 3 hour long dinners where you have to ask for the check 3 or 4 times before the waiter figures out you actually mean it. These people were almost running to their cars and buses, it was really quite odd… so un-Italian… at least the Italian that I am used to. Thankfully when we actually got to Santa Margherita, that all changed; All of the students and young people there behaved as I had previously hoped all Italians did, so perhaps it is just that most of the Italians who work on the main island just want to get away from the tourists and return to normal once they reach the Lido.
This brings up my other pseudo-qualm about Venice… its so damn empty at night… its almost scary. I couldn’t help but dream up a Jack the Ripper story for this place, with al of its fabulous tiny streets and near total lack of lighting… it just seemed to fit… but then again once one thinks about it… Venice may be one of the safest cities in the world, especially in the off-peak season… I mean there are no vagrants, the gypsies are required to have housing… it just seems safe, I wouldn’t personally leave my doors unlocked but I bet you probably could and get away with it.
On our first full day we went back to really explore the areas around San Marco, watching idiot tourists feed the friggin pigeons… I mean seriously I think half of them go to San Marco’s just play with those damn rats… anyway I digress… The piazza is really something to see, I can see why it has become such a famous place to visit… I really think Venice is opulence at its greatest… especially the inside of San Marco, I mean its just gold and mosaics, the sheer amount of work and material is staggering, both visually and financially. After that we wandered around on Murano (island famous for its glass) and saw the Bridge of “Sigh”, it is called this because it was the bridge that ran between the courthouse and the jail, so as prisoners were lead across it, the view would be the last they would every see of the outside world… hence the “sigh” it invokes.
After that we wandered around to the area around the Accademia and its cool wooden bridge that was originally only supposed to be temporary but due to its popularity it has stayed in use for almost a hundred years. After that we did some shopping and went to a restaurant which ended up being more touristy than I care for, even to the point that the waiter was almost trying to push the bill on us… we of course in return delayed it as long as possible and had a fabulous 4 hour dinner complete with dessert and coffee… much to his chagrin.
Our second day started out with running to the post office for the second straight day (too much shopping…grrr … oh well it is friggin Venice), and then we hung out around the Rialto again. The Rialto Bridge is another shopping bridge not terribly dissimilar from Florence’s Ponte Vecchio. The Rialto is divided into 3 stairways with 2 rows of shops in between. Whereas Ponte Vecchio is a large sloped bridge, the Rialto is just a series of stairs and feels stubbier. It seems the 2 side stairs are more for the Venetians to rush by the shopping tourists, than they are for viewing the Grand Canal. Anyway afterwards we went to the nearby Rialto Mercato district which is filled with great food vendor stalls, and a great open air market right off of the Grand Canal. Next to the open air market is the Pesceria, which is a building full of fish vendors… smells great… or something… yay…
After that we were off to the train station again to get our overnight train tickets to Prague (joy!), and then back to Santa Margherita for lunch and more wandering. We ate at the same restaurant as the first night, but this time we ate outside in the piazza. The waiter here is just a nice guy, and his comments about the people who spurned eating at his restaurant were the highlight of my day, just hysterical. After that we just had a great time wandering around and popping in a church here and there, with Jeannie even discovering an artist she hadn’t heard of, Giandomenico Tiepolo, who did an awesome stations of the cross in Chiusa di San Polo. Then we found a rare and used books store, had some pizza cake (Italian term for thicker crusted pizza), and hopped on our train for Prague.
We both look forward to the next time we can come back to Venice so we can see more of the many things that we had to miss this time around… so now onto Prague and more languages I have no hope to understand… yay! high-five!
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