Week 11 – Florence and Nice

Florence:

·         We might have been with more Americans on the train to Florence than we’ve seen the whole trip.  And then in Florence itself and in Venice, it’s loaded.  Felt like Boston waterfront on a sunny day in August.  I like Americans just fine, but I hope we see fewer on the last leg of our trip – it takes away from the exotic feeling.

·         We took a night walking tour with Irno, who was in his 60’s and studied architecture.  We don’t think he did the city justice and was mediocre at answering questions (language barrier and lack of interest

·         But the city is loaded with art all around, which a tour could spend all week on and not come close to exhausting. 

·         We met Claudia from Paris at breakfast.  She’s about our age and born to Spanish diplomats so lived all over the world (went to college and law school in Buenos Aries) and speaks 5 languages.  A rainy day (which we’ve learned it’s hard to dodge umbrellas in narrow alleys) so we rode the Hop On Hop Off with her and walked a little, with the highlight being the museum for Il Duomo, the landmark Catholic dome, which had a ton of sculptures.  I have seen enough of the Virgin Mary to last the rest of my life but was stunned by some of the craftmanship, staring at a marble statue from 15 feet away (there was a velvet rope in front) for minutes trying to decide whether the tapestry was textile or marble. It is marble.

·         We roadtripped via train to Venice, which is hard to comprehend from reading about it.  A set of islands who were at their peak of power in the 16^th century.  Luckily we had watched Merchant of Venice with Jeremy Irons and Al Pacino recently, which added to our tour by Francesco, who included a walk through the world’s first Jewish ghetto.  Geto was the area for metalworks where the Jews took refuge from the Spanish inquisition but were walled in with the doors locked at night.  Germans were locked in another section but only the Jews were deported to Auschwitz (268, with only 8 making it home.)  One of the interesting architectural features he pointed out was bricking in corners at an angle so a thief couldn’t stand there. 

·         Venice’s population is about the same as Krakow and others we’ve been to but felt much bigger because the city’s historic area consumes most of the space, instead of a small section in the middle.

·         We also took a day train to Siena, with Claudia, who was our de facto guide.  The churches were mostly brick instead of stone like Venice and Florence have.  The coolest part for me were the black and white striped columns to note the town colors, which were based on the horses they had.  I’m guessing they were shaped like curved Lego bricks on the inside but after 700 years they were in mint condition, which is mind-numbing to me.

·         I’m learning a little more about the competition for souls between Franciscans and Jesuits, etc.  Most of the churches had mausoleums or floor tiles they sold to raise money.  I think the most recent I saw was 1888.  Some were roped off, while others had thousands of tourists a day walking over them, slowly wearing away the names but maybe if they already bought their way into heaven they don’t care. 

·         I would like to learn more about the Medici family history (Irno covered it only briefly.)  Karen, Claudia, and I talked about how nothing built these days comes close to the beauty or durability of the 16^th century buildings but not having slave labor makes it cost prohibitive.

·         Venice and Florence were both crowded enough with tourists in November that we said we have zero interest in visiting in August.

·         The market in Florence felt like Mexico, with the stallkeepers mostly looking like they were Mediterranean immigrants, but they had the prices posted.

·         Our 14-room hotel was across the street from the train station.  Alex, one of the clerks, explained the hotel was trying to replace the warped 10-foot tall door/windows but the building is antique and tied up in red tape.  It came up because of the guy camped below our window who I’m guessing is homeless and loud at 3:00 AM (he speaks something other than Italian or English) and the tram stop.  Luckily we’re both heavy sleepers and it bothered me only one night.

·         But the morning we left we discovered there are two train stations in town.  Luckily, our train was delayed 6 minutes, which left 4 to spare after a quick cab ride.

·         Although you don’t need a passport to enter France from Italy, the border police got on the train at the first stop in France.  They didn’t ask for passports from anyone within my view but they walked about 8 nonwhite passengers (who didn’t seem to be travelling together) to a bench on the platform and it looks like they were holding their cell phones.  I might have read it wrong but my speculation is they asked for ID for those who looked like they might be illegal immigrants and were right.

·         We passed through maybe 20 tunnels enroute. The ride had some real beautiful stretches but so many I found myself becoming blasé about them.

·         Italy isn’t in the World Cup this year, so there wasn’t the excitement about it I was hoping for.  Maybe France will be different.

Nice:

·         Nice was almost as touristy as Venice but with a feeling more about money and less about history.  It’s 5^th in population for France but 2^nd in cost of living.

·         The beachfront promenade is the highlight of the city’s scenery, with a hillside park being second.  A lot of Gucci-type shops that weren’t tempting.

·         We took a tour with Janine (sp?) who moved here from Kherson 5 years ago.  Karen and I gave her a B but she was sweet and tried hard.  The most interesting story was about the bank robbery in 1974 via the sewer tunnels.  They convicted the mastermind, Albert Spaggiari, in absentia after he escaped to Argentina.

·         France played Denmark Saturday at 5:00 pm local time.  It was the first big event we saw, with the bars mostly full and a celebration in a square with chanting and fireworks, including one that caught the canvas awning of a restaurant on fire.

Misc:

·         After this trip, I have decided to make use of cement in my next house.  Not yet sure how – sink, bench, statue?

·         Throughout Europe we’ve seen a lot of food delivery on bike and scooter, usually with what seem to be immigrants.

·         Next big trip I won’t cheap out and instead just pay Verizon the $100/month for overseas use but be careful with my use.  The eSIM I bought doesn’t give me text coverage, which cause headaches with verifying some credit card and some account logins.

·         Throughout Europe it seems people dry more clothes on the line than in dryers.

·         If I lived in France or Italy I bet I could win worst dressed for 5 years in a row.

·         France has millions of people  I also bet nobody in the country could believe I studied French for 3 years.  I now know I’m no match for a language with such subtle pronunciations.

·         Karen and I have decided the restaurants that are 100% gluten free have generally been our best meals on this trip.

 

Week 10 – Ljubljana and Novo Gorica

 

Ljubljana:

·         Pronounced Loo-bloo-anya (or close to that.)

·         The capital and largest city in a country with 2 million residents and a little smaller than Massachusetts.

·         There used to be a Christmas tree in town called “Melania” (it’s her hometown) that was pretty but just stood there.

·         We walked up to the castle overlooking the city, the one Bobbie did at sunset in January 2010 and slid back down to town on the ice, snow, and mush in the dark. 

·         We rode a mellow river cruise and took a walking tour with Marianna.

Nova Gorica:

·         A city of about 20,000 on the border with Italy.  The town next door, Gorizia, was part of Austria-Hungary, then Yugoslavia but then after WWII the boundaries were redrawn and the town became Italian so Yugoslavia built a new town next door.  The new one isn’t as pretty but has more energy than their neighbor.

·         Gorazd (from Sitecore) and Ines (his wife, from Argentina) were the highlight of the trip. 

·         Great dinners and rides with them - they were excellent hosts and a lot of fun.  The night we arrived they took us to dinner and we stayed out until almost 1:00, having no idea it was that late.  Two nights later was a repeat of sorts, only it was 2:00 AM.

·         They bought a 200-year old house and are working with architects and local zoning regulators to overhaul it.  In the meantime, it’s pretty rough living but they do have a vision and a flat in town.

·         Gorzad qualifies as a WWI scholar and explained the background of fighting in the area between the Austro-Hungarians and the Italians.  Summary is Italians had initial success before both sides dug in for over 2 years, then after big Italian losses with help from Rommel the AH forces drove the Italians back about 40 miles.  Misery all around.  Memorials and hand-dug tunnels from both sides throughout the mountains.  Gorazd has been exploring the area since he was a teen and has found many items, including bones.  There is still live ammo in the area after 100 years, which a forest fire showed recently as hundreds of munitions rounds exploded.

·         There is a 137-mile hiking trail, the Walk of Peace, in Italy and Slovenia from the Alps to the Adriatic, which tours WWI battle sites and memorials along the way.

·         Kaja gave us a tour of the caves.  Way, way bigger than Dinant.  There’s a 10-minute train ride from the entrance to the walk, which then took over an hour.

·         We toured a castle built into a cave, where a local version of Robin Hood held out for 366 days (with help from a secret tunnel for food supplies) until a servant sold him out.

·         The Rover Soca is a color so beautiful it probably looks photoshopped online.  The area is big for rafting, climbing, and other outdoor sports.  Less so in November.

·         We’ll see Ines and Gorazd again, just not sure if it will be in the US, Slovenia, Argentina, or somewhere else.

Misc:

·         Slovenia has the highest rates of authors and beekeepers in the world.

·         The Russia-Ukraine war wasn’t as visible to us in the Balkans.

·         In reading the above, I’m not sure why, but my writing doesn’t convey how much I loved our time in Slovenia.