Time Flies When You're Planning a Trip to Northern Italy!

oh mio dio! Ho completamente dimenticato di scrivere per molto tempo!

OK no, I will not be writing in all Italian, but I have been dutifully doing Rosetta Stone in preparation for my upcoming trip to Northern Italy coming up in just over two weeks!  Not to sound like a shill, but that thing really works. If you really want to learn a language, I mean really learn it, I highly recommend Rosetta Stone (just get it on sale!).

So, in just a couple short weeks I will be returning to the scene where it all began, Bella Venezia. I was watching a Smithsonian show this morning about the water problems Venice is having and I have to say it was very bleak and depressing that a place so stunningly amazing is so abused to the point where it is literally sinking and crumbling onto itself. I feel lucky that I am going to return again to a place so special because, frankly, who knows how much longer it will exist in this form. I will never forget the view (seen to the right in a photo that is NOT mine) when you step out of the train station into the insanity and beauty in front of you.  It was that exact moment when I knew I was very much in trouble where Italy was concerned.

So, my itinerary is as follows:

• Venice - 3 nights
• Verona (with a day stop in Padova on the way) - 2 nights
• Mantova - 2 nights
• Milan - 3 nights
• Lake Como/Varenna - 4 nights
• Torino - 4 nights

Although day trips seem to almost never turn out the way I want them to (remember the awesomeness to the right that happened on a day trip on my last trip, to Spain - don't worry, I got a new camera!), I plan a few, most probably to Lugano, Switzerland from Lake Como and one of the Alpine towns from Torino.  If I get "bored" I can always squeak in stops to places like Bergamo and Cremona, too. The nice thing about Northern Italy is that the distances are short, and the trains are extremely frequent.

In my planning on this trip I have broken a few of my cardinal rules.  I am not staying in the same place in Venice as I stayed the first time (which was almost perfect, but right behind all the tourist insanity).  Instead I'm staying across the Rialto Bridge in a less-touristy area because my goal for Venice this time around is to see and experience more of the REAL Venice (and not eat any pizza!).  Another broken rule is that I don't really have an itinerary for my 3 nights/2 full days in Venice, except for a visit to a glassblower that I've booked. Instead, I plan to wander neighborhoods, and do nothing more than eat, shop, and take boatloads of photos.


Next rule I've broken is that in Varenna, I'm staying in a place that has shared bathrooms. But, it's only 50 euros a night, and it has what you see on the left. So I think it will be ok.

I am also trying airbnb for the first time and have rented an apartment in Milan, since the B&Bs were essentially just as expensive. 

I may also make myself take an apparently vertigo-inducing elevator to the top of the cinema museum in Torino. It happens to be open quite late on Saturdays, which happens to be my last night on this trip.  For those who know me, you know what kind of big deal this is.

I will of course be blogging and posting my photos as I go, wifi permitting.

A presto, mia bella Italia!!!

How Venice Stole My Heart

Sometimes, in life, you get so excited about things, you set such high expectations, that there's no other option but impending disappointment. It happens with movies and people and restaurants. And places. You psych yourself up to love something, and then when you see it or experience it, there's no way it can live up.

Well, for me, that was not the case with Venice. I was so excited for Italy. So SO excited to go to Venice. Besides the fact that I heeded everyone's advice and pushed Italy to the end of my trip so as to avoid it in August, I kinda wanted to save the best for last. So I get off that train and step outside.... and BAM. You are instantly thrust into Venice. Tourists and locals whiz by. Boats chug chug chug along. It's a little chaotic, a little frenetic. But oh, it's beautiful. And like nothing I've ever seen or experienced. I was there. ITALY!! VENICE!!!!!!!!

But would Venice disappoint me? You read in magazines and guidebooks and on message boards that Venice is an amusement park and people hate it. That Piazza San Marco is so congested you can't enjoy it. That the alleyways are so busy it's hard to even get through. That the beautiful Murano glass is mostly imported from China, that the canals are dirty and that they smell, that the food is bad and overpriced and that the people are rude.

Is ANY of that true?

Sort of. I think it just depends on how you choose to deal with it. I only went to Piazza San Marco early in the morning before the throngs of daytrippers and cruisers arrived, and at night after they left. At both times of day, this vast and awe-inspiring square is down right quiet and enjoyable. I went off the beaten track for my meals. I took less traveled routes and wandered through less traveled squares and streets (you can't get too lost - it's a bunch of islands after all - and there are handy yellow signs pointing you to the major landmarks anyway). And I ignored the trash in the canals.

Yes Venice is busy. Yes there are people there who want to take advantage of tourists. But this goes back to my Traveler vs Tourist post. I think the distinction is perhaps most important in Venice. People who bother to REALLY experience this city, to talk to the REAL locals, they love it. The lack of cars, the tiny little alleys that suddenly open up to tiny little piazzas where kids kick the soccer ball and remnants of a city's ancient history still stand unaffected by tourists.... this place is magic, pure unadulterated magic.

Something else that these cruisers and daytrippers miss is Venice at night. It becomes a truly magical place. From the dueling mini-orchestras on Piazza San Marco to the dimly lit alleyways and 'streets' Venice hits its stride after dark. You feel like some big mean man could come out and get you at any moment. But no one ever does. And because there are no cars, Venice is peaceful at night. So very very peaceful.

Perhaps I should end with something a Venetian himself said. The tour guide at the Jewish Museum, who happily walked three of us around the Ghetto for an hour, said something like "I hope you take a little bit of Venice home with you and that you are not just a tourist." That touched my heart, my soul. This is a city where the Synagogues have red curtains because Venice's color is red - this is a city where cultures were able to live peacefully with tolerance for centuries. To come for a day and swing through the main couple tourist sites is doing yourself and the city such a huge injustice. This is a city undeniably in decline. The population is shrinking. There ARE people who sell horrible imported glass that all looks the same and the restaurants along the tourist thoroughfares are overpriced and don't look good. But I think tourists are the people who have largely caused all this. If we don't shop and eat at these places, they will go out of business. Over time, tourists have settled for this, and this willingness to settle has lowered the standards and in turn this has driven the locals away. And it's sad, really really sad.

To the wonderful Venetian in the Jewish Ghetto whose name I cannot remember, I did take a piece of Venice home with me; in fact, it's permanently emblazoned on my soul.

Go to Venice, PLEASE go to Venice. But please, stay a few days. See it at 8am and 10pm and every time in between. Walk around. Get lost. Sit in a piazza. Buy a handmade mask from one of the few artisans left. Don't just see Venice, EXPERIENCE it. Maybe your life will change, too :)