An Anniversary to Remember in Verona, Italy

Well, the weather kept us hopping the whole time we were in Verona, bring the umbrella? bring a jacket? how to protect the camera, maybe just a plastic bag to tie over the whole thing?

Every time we left the room, we asked ourselves the same questions and always got it wrong, I guess a career in weather forecasting is not in the cards for Rose or I.

For all of our weather woes, it was still lots of fun. When we got to Verona on Monday afternoon we were a bit worn out from our last morning in Venice, hauling our bags to the train on the crowded vaporetto and getting to the hotel, unpacking and walking over to Piazza Bra (no, it's not short for brassier)

By the time we made it there, the rain started to drizzle a bit, so we opted for the touristy, hop on, hop off bus and we decided to just ride it around for the rest of the afternoon. They have 2 buses, the A bus and the B bus and they go to different parts of Verona so we did both and enjoyed getting the lay of the land without walking too much.

Verona from S. Leonardo

Riding the hop on hop off bus in Verona

We jumped off when the bus entered Piazza Erbe, it was so pretty and hopping with little sidewalk cafes and stalls selling fresh fruit cocktail, souvenirs and yummy gelatto and it was irresistible after our bus ride.

We spent a little time exploring and decided to check out Juliet's house which was nearby, but somehow we walked by it twice before finally finding it. Have you ever seen that movie, letters to Juliet? Well, now we have a little bit of an idea about how Hollywood does things, basically they create something that does not exist!

When we get home, we're going to watch it again, but I'm sure they filmed most of it somewhere else.

It's not that Verona isn't pretty because it is, but many of the alleys and streets are pretty straight and not quite as curvy and romantic as the director was thinking, and guess what, all those love notes tucked in little niches and crevices in the stone wall that you remember from the movie, uh-uh! Stuck to the wall with gross chunks of chewed up bubble-gum!

So much for romance.

But part of the disappointment with Juliet's house is probably related to the fact that every teen aged school kid in Italy happened to be on a field trip to Verona while we were there and about half of them were packed into the little courtyard as if there really was a Romeo and Juliet and the balcony, (added about a hundred years ago) was actually the one from the stories.

 The next day was great though, starting with a much better breakfast. We finally got some home-style cereal to go along with our super crunchy dry toast, yogurt and cappuccino at the help yourself breakfast bar.

We walked down to Piazza Bra, hopped the bus to the Roman theatre, and not knowing what to expect, we were really happy with what we found.

A bubble blowing mime entertains passersby

We had already heard from our host Luigi that you can hardly dig a hole in Verona without hitting some kind of Roman ruins or ancient artifact. He told us a story of digging at a property of his to change the sewer pipes and breaking into an underground chamber beneath his house. He did what most home or business owners would probably do in a similar situation in Verona, he covered it up and told on-one.....except us.....and now you, shhhhhh!

We weren't sure we believed him until we visited the Roman theatre that is built into the hillside with other later buildings built over top of it. "Discovered" in 1876 when someone began digging foundations for a new building is a beautiful ruin dating from 100 A.D. completely covered over with 1800 years of dirt and rubble.



Part of the Roman Theatre


Later we went for lunch in the Piazza Erbe and when we went to the washroom we found it was located downstairs in an ancient underground ruin with little arches and niches and stone steps leading off to who knows where. Now we believe, Luigi, sorry to have doubted you!

Ancient Roman bridge in Verona, (original stone is lighter coloured)

Since it was our 30th wedding anniversary and women are funny about that sort of thing and Rose wasn't in the mood for compromise with a quick pizza near the hotel, we took a taxi to a very nice local specialty restaurant that does traditional local cuisine.

The menu leaned heavily towards various different horse meat dishes that are apparently a local favourite. Neither of us were quite that adventurous though so we both ordered the fixed price menu that consisted of a first, and a second course, (basically 2 full meals each, I don't know how these people eat like this and stay so slim)

I wasn't sure what to order and the helpful waitress suggested.......pasta with DONKEY sauce! What? Who in the world eats donkeys?

All of my memories of donkeys are sentimental, when I was a kid, my sister and I would play a game about a fictional friendly donkey named Balello, somehow I always ended up playing that part, I wonder why?

Later when our kids came along we read them a little story book called Donkey, Donkey about a silly donkey who was ashamed of his big ears and tried all these different ways to hide them until he got some very good advice to just forget about looking like the other animals and just be himself.

Now, with all that baggage, this nice young lady was suggesting I EAT A DONKEY!
She assured me, "It's very good." So I of course said, "Oh, OK then."

I swallowed my guilt, (and the donkey) and we both thought it was quite good. We always do a little sharing of tastes and the pasta with duck sauce that Rose ordered was also quite good.

We had a nice walk back through the rainy streets and that was it for Verona, although we did pop in for a visit at their own version of a Roman arena, (third largest in Italy) and it's definitely worth a look. Verona was fun, but now it's on to Lake Como and the little town of Bellagio.

Roman Arena in Piazza Bra, Verona.

All Contents Copyrighted by the author, Doug Petry

Lost in San Marco On a Foggy Venice Morning

Well here we are in Venice, finally, after months of planning, waiting, anticipating and stressing about being ready and prepared for the trip, we're finally here!

The trip was pretty uneventful as far as international travel goes, except for experiencing one of the longest nights of my life. Has anyone ever slept on a plane? I imagined that since it was an overnight flight from Montreal to Munich that we would naturally sleep on the plane, wrong!

Canal action near Piazza San Marco

Did I say very long? Because it seemed to go on forever! First my seat kept getting kicked and pushed so every time I would almost get to sleep, bam once again. And just to make it more fun, the woman behind us left her reading light on all night, it was about the only light in the whole plane left on, right over our heads, thank you very much.

The continuously crying, wailing kid a few rows away didn't help matters either, (not sure what the problem was but he was just fine the next morning) and after that oh so pleasant night, I was pretty much living in dread anticipation of how the jet lag combined with no sleep for 2 days would affect my lovely wife, because she is a lady who needs her sleep!

Sunrise at Riva Degli Schiavoni 

But now........it was all worth it, hands down, bar none, living with a semi-comatose cave bear wife, whatever the pain, worth it big time.
This morning, we narrowly averted disaster, yes you who know me have already figured it out, haven't you? I almost slept in and missed magic hour!!!!!!!

After the seat kicking old lady and the crying boy and all the rest of the factors that contributed to no sleep, I was almost led astray, almost.

Rose said, "yes I definitely want to come with you in the morning, I know it's early but I want to come." So I set the alarm, got everything ready, (just in case) and went to bed. 

But 5:45 came very soon, too soon for the cave bear anyway and about all I got out of her when the alarm went off was a dangerous sounding growl.
So I chickened out and closed my eyes for 20 minutes that somehow turned into an hour and before I knew it, it was 6:45 am, rats, no sunrise for me today!

But, as luck would have it, because of the rain yesterday and a bunch of other factors that I don't know a thing about, instead of a typical, boring sunrise we got fog.

It was perfect, I was like a kid in a candy shop, oohing and awing and running around in a very random unfocused way, making incomprehensible noises of pleasure as each new vista magically appeared through the mist.

First the famous Rialto bridge, just amazing to be there at that time with NO TOURISTS (except 2, Rose and I) and all of the locals going about their work, getting ready for the hordes to come.

The Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge

As we savoured the scene together, I began to sense in Rose, some of the same excitement that I was experiencing. It was wonderful to see it together, and she soon got into it and began excitedly pointing out good shooting angles and details that she wanted me to capture.

We decided to head towards Piazza San Marco because you just never know what you're going to find and something like mist comes and goes and has a mind of it's own.

So if you're like me and you get a chance to photograph a misty morning in Venice on a 4 day visit, you keep shooting till the mist is gone, or your card is full or you or your battery are dead!

We found the square and it was amazing, a few more people were around and the mist was a little thinner, but it was just beautiful and a great way to experience our first morning in Venice.

Looking up at St. Mark's Basilica in the fog

During the course of the morning I had seen my lovely wife Rose go from "Clan of the Cave Bear' to "Lover of the Dawn" and hopefully the transformation is permanent!

I did get a little bit of a scare on the way back to the hotel though as her new persona cracked slightly. You see, I am a man with a good sense of direction, you know the type, "I don't need no stinkin map" and for sure "I don't need no stinkin directions."
And that's usually true, except in the maze that is Venice, but that's another story....

Moored Gondolas near Piazza San Marco

All Contents Copyrighted by the author, Doug Petry

Irregular activities in Venice

Well we're only a few weeks away now and I've booked our toilet pass in Venice, yup we're all set if nature calls in the island city of canals and water and buses that are boats. The older you get, it seems the more conscious you are of the possible need to visit "the water closet" at any time of the day or night.

So we're all set, just don't tell Rose (my wife) that we're sharing our 7 day, 10 visit, public toilet pass for Venice. I'm not sure what that will look like just yet, maybe they're like those stainless steel capsule biffies that we experienced in Paris many years ago. Those were pretty weird, like a shower stall, all modular and ultra modern and after you leave them they close themselves up and shake and shimmy and moan as they go through their self clean routine, then it's green light and ready for the next needy customer with a couple of euro (or something else) to deposit.

Ah, that brings back many fond memories, Paris September 1988, Rose and I on our grand European holiday, what a wonderful time. It was September and we were pre-kids but trying to get pregnant, that'll put a spring in a young man's step, let me tell you! Jumping over picket fences, that's for old guys. Tall buildings in a single bound, that's how I remember it anyway.

That was a great holiday, how we managed before the Internet though is a bit of a mystery. I remember booking a hotel room in Paris at Hotel St. Merry on the Left Bank. We saw a picture of a particular room in a food and travel magazine and just fell in love with it. There was a phone number so we called them up and booked "chamber #4" for 2 nights, we were in Paris for 4 but couldn't afford to spend all 4 days there.

What a beautiful room, it was housed in the former presbytery of the St. Merry church and had the most amazing flying buttresses right over the bed, just beautiful.

Hotel St. Merry, Paris.

This is the room we stayed in, so gorgeous!

It was in Paris that I met the most charming lady bathroom attendant in the public washrooms under the plaza in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. Nice lady, I still remember what she said to me, "pissiere Monsieur", "huh?" was my clever response. I suppose she had met more than her share of naive tourists, unused to this unusual situation.

She quickly made herself clear with some further questions, "for the toilet, Monsieur, you stanna hup, or you seet doon?" "Oh!" You could almost hear the gears clicking into place in my far from home, Canadian brain. "I stanna hup....I mean, yes I stand up."

"Okay, 10 franks" Business gratefully concluded!

Fun times, but whatever the case may be with these public bathrooms in Venice, when you need one, you need one!

We got a few other things figured out also. I am now a registered user of the Trenitalia website that allows travelers to purchase and reserve seats on most of the intercity and high speed trains within Italy. We've already booked our seats from Venice to Verona, from Verona to Milan and then from Milan to Cinque Terra and after a week there, on to Naples and the south.

I was surprised at how easy it was to book on-line, actually. The only problem I experienced was that one of the tickets didn't come through to my email so I'll have to find a way to chase that down and re-print it.

I even booked the exact seats on the trains and got  an amazing deal on some of the fares. It seems that there is a spring sale on in Italy and pre-booked seats for Saturday travel are 2 for 1, wahoo! It ended up saving us something like $200 Euro, excellent because we're going to need to save as much as we can if we have to pay for toilet time wherever we go.

We looked into train passes and with this sale going on, it is way cheaper to book seats individually, and it's pretty easy, so if you happen to be going any time soon, do some research first, you might be surprised.

It's interesting to read about all of the scams that enterprising local scoundrels come up with to rip off unsuspecting tourists. Rick Steves is a guide book writer who specializes in Italy and he warns people to clip their belongings to the overhead racks on trains because when trains go through tunnels as they often do, pffftt, like magic, your bag is gone!

It might be fun to bring a flashlight also and if we hear rustling around when the train goes dark, click, turn it on, flash it around and see what mischief is going on. I can see it now, some perp frozen in place, like a hapless "plucky comic relief" in a Jurassic park movie who heard somewhere that, "they can't see you if you don't move." Priceless!

There are lots of warnings about pick pockets of course and scooter riding villains who try to grab purses and other bags, and creeps who snatch the change or tickets from the dispensers in train stations and any number of other scams to victimize tourists, oh well, we'll sleep when we get home.

I also booked our transit passes for Venice and it is so important to check that out also because from what I understand the vaporetto (water bus) tickets are $7 each and a week long pass with unlimited transport including a special tourist boat that stops at special art and culture locations is only $60, so that gives a lot of freedom from counting pennies if you plan to really explore the city as we do.

I also bucked out for the wi-fi pass for $15 because I have become totally dependent on this tablet and I think it will be incredibly useful if the coverage is good. The one thing that I can't decide yet is the Venice card but I will probably end up picking them up when we arrive. So many amazing churches and buildings bursting with incredible art!

Of course since it's our 30th anniversary we'll most likely spring for a gondola ride and something makes me think Rose won't settle for the $2, stand up, 5 minute ride across the canal. I imagine she has in mind the $60, side by side, cuddling up, sunset version complete with serenade. Come to think of it, that's what she deserves for putting up with me for 30 years!

All Contents Copyrighted by the author, Doug Petry

The Countdown Has Begun!

It might seem like a strange analogy but it seems to fit for me in this situation and that is, that these days I'm acting very much like the middle aged guy's equivalent of an excited bride-to-be, totally caught up in planning a wedding, except in my case it's a trip to Italy I'm planning.

It's getting harder and harder to concentrate on anything else other than ITALY.......we're counting down the days now and there isn't a lot of time left to get all of our ducks in a row. We're slowly getting there though, and some of the things that I've been thinking about over the last few weeks are coming together nicely.

Thinking about the trip, I thought the best (and lightest) way to stay in touch and write blog posts and edit pictures on the fly would of course be a tablet computer with a little keyboard attached and that's what I'm writing this post on.

Google Nexus 7 with Keyboard

But, of course the great tablet that I bought and believe me I did lot's of research, has one small hitch, it does not recognize any external flash drives, memory cards etc. so it's practically useless because you can't upload pictures to it from a camera in the field. I can't believe these silly tablets can have such a silly flaw! What's with that, goofy Google people?

The good news is that the Internet is full of hackers and clever people who can find a work-around for the mistakes and flaws built into technology and with their help I downloaded a Nexus 7 toolbox and a disc mount software program and unlocked the bootloader and "rooted" my Nexus 7.

Now with a cheap little adapter from china and a memory card reader attached I can upload pictures directly from memory cards to my tablet and from there I can edit them and upload them to Facebook or my blog or website, or whatever. Thanks to the manufacturers screw-up I am now a seriously clandestine hacker type and I have voided my warranty, bought a skateboard and am moving into a downtown loft with a bunch of other geeks. But seriously....thank you anonymous developer, programmer types, for helping me get this done, I love you!

Another of my tasks was to figure out what to do about telephones while we're over  there. Do you just wing it and try to pick up a couple of throwaway Italian phones when you get there? Or set it up from this end with the local cell phone companies? Or is there another way to go? That's what I was struggling with over the last few weeks because Rose and I will most likely be doing very different things some of the time and we definitely need a way to keep in touch.

With kids back home, (adult kids) and some rental properties and the possibility of work needing to get a hold of me, this is a really important question that I researched quite a bit. I found the best solution for us seems to be a company called cellular abroad that has all kinds of different options to choose from and we did a little mix and match deal with them.

I went to the bell web-site and got an unlock code for my cell phone and from these other guys I rented a sim card for 28 days that comes with some minutes built in and a local Italian number. For my lovely, technology averse wife I ordered a new (very simple) cell phone, also with some extra time and a local number. That way we can give out our numbers to people who might need them and any calls we make in Italy will be local ones, problem solved, I hope!

Since I will likely be up and out very early, catching sunrises and walking all over the place while Rose is still sawing logs, It's important that we can contact each other. I expect she will spend a fair amount of time sitting at little cafes people watching and reading a book while I am running around trying to capture some of the beauty, culture and architecture of Italy.

Another big question that I have been wrestling with is camera gear of course.
I think I've got it all figured out now. I bought a new backpack camera bag  for traveling that holds all of my gear and fits 2 smaller portable bags inside that I can take out for the days when I don't need all of my gear.

My new jacket and camera bag-backpack

                                                 
Of  course a photographer wants to have a tripod (but a very light one) and a backup camera and the right lens selection and what about filters? Maybe a graduated neutral density and a circular polarizer are enough? And memory cards! How much is enough storage for a month of serious photography in one of the most photogenic, beautiful countries in the world? Who knows? Ask me when I get back, then I'll have a better idea, but for now, I have around 170 gigabytes spread among all of my various storage devices.

Here is a list of what I'm taking as far as photographic equipment goes.
Sony A77 body with 16-50mm F2.8 lens
Sony 70-300mm G Zoom lens
Sony NEX5n body with 18-55 mm lens
Rokinon 8mm fisheye for NEX
Holga pinhole lens for NEX
Spare battery for A77
Portable-wireless battery charger
Light weight tripod
Carryspeed Pro strap
Cokin graduated neutral density filters
And - ????????

And what about power adapters, they use 220 volt power in Italy with a weird little 2 prong round plug so you need adapters that allow you to plug dual voltage devices in.
Most modern electronic devices have dual voltage capability, but of course Rose wants to bring a hair appliance of some sort so I had to buy a voltage step-down transformer to convert it to 120 volts, no problem.

And have you seen those cool little spinner carry-on suitcases that have 4 little wheels on the bottom? Well I had to have one of those and maybe a small backpack for day trips and in case we buy some souvenirs and outgrow our suitcases (we're just taking  carry-on bags). And of course there are a lot of pick-pockets over there so we need a money belt and the flights are long so we need a good little travel pillow filled with those little bead things and on and on and on it goes!

But our plan is to not eat for the month that we're there so we'll save lot's of money on food. And as long as I've got memory cards and enough money to get into all of the sights, I figure we'll be okay, we'll just survive on the atmosphere and culture of Italy.
And love of course!
(We'll be spending our 30th anniversary in Verona)