Italy wasn’t quite so exotic. Not such a novel experience. We’d been there before, and even if we hadn’t we would at least have had a pretty good idea what we were in for. We don’t expect to be writing forever about it, as we might with China. So, what did we bring back from this trip?
General impressions There have indeed been changes in the 40 years since we started our European adventures. We both came away with impressions of a calmer, cleaner place than we recalled from the past. Driving was not a problem at all. We never heard a horn being blown, nor did we encounter any drivers more dangerous than those who put the pedal to the metal on twisty mountain roads before we hit the big roads. There were many places in cities where there were no sidewalks at all, just a uniform surface for vehicle and pedestrian alike, all sharing the same space. And we didn’t see anything scary happening there either. Fine roads between the major locations—Autostrada (pay) and the very similar Superstrada (free)—though to get out of our home area in Chianti required 30 minutes of hairpin turns. We loved it anyway.
Dining was a more casual experience than we had encountered the first time around, as the restaurants didn’t seem to automatically expect you to order a full course meal but were content to let you pick and choose. Everybody was nice. Most menus had translations into English and sometimes 4 languages, but happily the food was traditional and did not include non-Italian dishes. No cheeseburgers in other words. (Actually we did encounter a few McDonalds and used their bathrooms. Did the same in China.) There wasn’t ever much of a language barrier.
The various aspects of finance and currency exchange had certainly changed over the challenge that they used to present to travelers. We discussed a number of aspects of this in the blog of our day in Siena. Click here for link.
Venice Everybody should see Venice before they die. There’s no other place in the world like it. It’s timeless. In this regard, Bruce recently scanned a listing on eBay for 13 postcards of Venice from 1910, and they all looked like ones we could have bought on this trip except for being in black and white. While we penetrated more deeply than we had in the past into some aspects of the city such as Ghetto and the Guggenheim, and we’re sure that there are other places that were similarly ripe for further discovery, we both had already had our WOW! experience with Venice 40 years ago. Everybody should have such an experience. We had fun. We’d go back. But there are other places we’ll probably visit before then. One downer that wasn’t there in 1910 or 1967….. graffiti. Everywhere. Most appeared to be aimed at local causes.
Tuscany This was new and different for us, and we loved it. The countryside was so beautiful. Sweeping vistas, olive groves, vineyards, forests almost as tidy as in Germany. Big sky country! The sky was the deepest blue we have ever seen. Hilltop cities and towns, surrounded by walls that go back to previous civilizations, Roman and Etruscan. Amazing and lovingly preserved artwork and architecture from centuries and millennia past. Great food and drink. Chocolate. Friendly people who don’t seem tired of tourists. The kids (in their thirties) loved the night life in Venice; in our little town in Chianti there was none.
Accommodations It must have been obvious that we were thrilled with the accommodations we had in Venice and in Radda. Karin is responsible for the concept of renting vs. staying in hotels, and for finding the places where we stayed. She started on this quest months ago. Every week or so she’d send us a link to a place that was even nicer than the previous one. Finally we said, “You choose!” and that’s what she did.
Staying in places like these was so much nicer than staying in hotels. We could relax, spread out a bit, stay together with the whole family, do laundry, and prepare light meals while still sampling plenty of the local cuisine during our trips out into the city or the countryside. While this might not make economic sense for a party of two, it was great for five. Our cost in each place was about $40 per head per night, which was much more reasonable than hotels would have been, especially since European places often tend to charge by the head rather than by the room.
Here what they looked like.
Our place was the salmon colored one in the middle of the picture, on the floor with the window boxes.
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