May 8 – Day 5: A Day in Asolo

If I had one complaint, and only one, with regard to our fantastic hotel, it would be that the walls are too thin. We did not get sound sleep due to our noisy neighbors slamming doors, flushing toilets, and even talking to loved ones by cell phone speakerphone at 2 AM – go figure. I guess it’s not the hotel’s fault. I mean the place was built in the 1800s. Anyway, we sort of “slept in” until 9 AM and mosied down to Caffe Centrale in Piazza Garibaldi, the local meeting place for coffee, a smoke, or chat. We had our now standard cappuccini and pastries (almond torte and chocolate croissant, yum!), along with some fresh squeezed spremuta, or blood orange juice. What a nice way to start the lazy morning.

After breakfast, we walked uphill towards La Rocca, an ancient walled fortress atop the town that dates back to the early 1000s and whose earliest origins, construction, and use are still somewhat unknown. It was exactly 276 steps to La Rocca, according to the signs, and a good warmup for hiking the Cinque Terre paths methinks. We were surprised to find the monument open on a Thursday, as it was only supposed to be open on Sundays – plus, thanks to the Cultural Week celebration in Asolo, the entrance was libero - free! Walking the ramparts was a great way to relax and take in the splendid vistas surrounding Asolo.

After an hour or so, we headed back into town to grab some lunch at a local bar – the usual panino, “toasty”, and bellinis with fresh peach juice. We noticed a trend of sorts when it came to lunch: ham, cheese, bread. Be it prosciutto or speck, local Grappa or gorgonzola, flat bread or toasted white – it all went together so well. There was an important gathering at the bar and next door at the museum, with local political and governmental types meeting today to decide how to protect the future for Asolo’s historical center. Naturally, the conference attendees were having a little drink at lunchtime, just like in the U.S., right? Afterwards, we stopped by a restaurant that I had researched to make a dinner reservation on the terrazza, the smell of grilling drawing us inside. We headed home to sit in the garden, write in our journals, and take an afternoon snooze (I love that Italian tradition).

We freshened up after our nap and went to buy some apple foccacia, asiago cheese, and water for breakfast in the morning before Rosario picked us up at 7:45 – the same store we had bought some sweet fruit-filled tortelloni from earlier in the day. Just enjoying more time in the garden watching the sunset before dinner alle otto (20:00 hrs.), and another stroll around Asolo’s centro storico, historical center.

Finally, it was chow (ciao) time. We had been anticipating this dinner since earlier in the day. We can say that this was our favorite meal to date in Italia. After picking out a corner table on the terrazza, we reviewed the menus. Definitely a quarter liter of prosecco and a quarter of the house cabernet. We have definitely been spoiled by good cheap Italian vino della casa (house wine), the complete antithesis of U.S. house wines. Kirstin started with tagliatelle with asparagus while I had agnolotti (big tortellini) with ham from San Daniele. Utterly amazing, molto buono, fresh handmade pasta! Then for secondi, Kirstin had roast pork with mushrooms, I had venison with polenta, and we split a plate of cooked seasonal vegetables. So amazingly good, overlooking the Asolo hills from our corner terrace table. To finish, naturally, due espressi.

As we left the restaurant, I spotted numerous photos of previous patrons, include Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni and family! (Kirstin was not nearly as impressed.). I had my second Italian conversation with the lady proprietor of the ristorante. I told her where we were off to on our trip, and she had glowing reviews of the Cinque Terre and Lucca. She said she was afraid of Florence, Room, and Padova – make sure to use your money belt and keep an eye on your possessions. Thieves can cut your handbag and make off with it! We had to finish the evening with a double cone of gelato (cinnamon and caffe) from Caffe Centrale, where we had sampled gelato the night before – the best to date per Kirstin’s palate. What a great way to end a perfect day in Asolo.

Ciao, Tom

May 7 – Day 4: An extravagant lunch and an interesting cab ride

Today was our last day in Venice. I think we’d seen most of what we wanted to see. More days could probably be spent soaking up the atmosphere, but I think we were ready to leave a lot of the hoards of tourists and tour groups denoted by their pastel baseball caps. I definitely liked the area around Accademia and Dorsoduro the best – more residential and quiet. Our first business of the morning was queuing in PSM to enter Basilica San Marco. The line wasn’t too bad at 9:30 (it opened at 9:45), so Kirstin held our spot while I ran to check the vaporetto (water bus) schedule to Torcello out in the lagoon. Fighting my way back through the crowds, I noticed Kirstin was close to getting in, so just in time.

Basilica San Marco is grandiose, it’s meant to make you realize how small you are in the presence of God. Furthermore, the tiny details and minutia are simply stunning, with ceilings and walls adorned with small pieces of glass mosaics all hand crafted and placed. We moved through the church fairly rapidly wit hother tourists (the gruff ticket taker at the Pala d’Oro or Golden Chapel saw to that) as we also had to make the 10:15 ferry to Burano, and then the short connection to Torcello. We had a lunch reservation at 12:30 at the famous Locanda Cipriani, the same owners as Harry’s Bar in Venice. We snoozed most of the way to Burano, the island famous for its lace-making, which we unfortunately had to skip. Once across the lagoon to Torcello, one could definitely sense a different ambiance than the one left behind in PSM.

Torcello was once an island of commerce with 50,000 inhabitants during the early millennium. It now houses some ancient ruins, a cathedral, bell tower, and few other homes and eateries. After poking around for an hour, it was time to sit down for what was to become our most extravagant (and expensive) lunch of our young 30-something lives. Given the reservation I had made by fax and email nearly a month ago, they seated us in the lovely garden under a trellis and grape arbor. The setting could not have been more perfect, with sun shining and cool breeze. We both had risotto with shrimp and new asparagus (I don’t think they understood “splitting” the dish – or that’s just not done here) which was very good. I had a steak fillet with artichoke and grilled vegetables while Kirstin had a pasta e fagioli soup and mixed green salad. We both had drinks and espresso to finish. After a leisurely meal, it was time for the bill – let’s just say it was memorable. We had to hurry to catch our scheduled ferries back to PSM. Then we bid arrivederci to the Westin E&R and boarded a packed vaporetto with our bags toward Ferrovia/Venezia Santa Lucia, the train station.

Kirstin chatted with a friendly lady from Manchester, UK who was touring Italy with 39 other “sterling” mates. Upon disembarking at Ferrovia, we dashed to get on the regionale train to take us to Castelfranco Veneto. I actually had to run back from the platform into the station to validate our ticket, or face a fine on board – amazingly, no one ever checked our tickets unlike on Amtrak! The regionale was pretty full with businessmen commuting home and a notable group of machismo young college dudes. I had a hard time hearing and seeing the stops, but luckily Kirstin caught a glimpse of the right sign and we got off at the prescribed station Castelfranco Veneto, about 50 minutes from Venice.

Next up was a very interesting taxi ride with our driver Rosario who would: drive us to Asolo, tell us about the weather, inquire if we needed or wanted to reserve a return to the Castelfranco Veneto station, ask why I booked our train tickets the way I did (“why Castelfranco Veneto – Venezia – Milano, and not Castelfranco Veneto – Vicenza – Milano?”), and curse (“Ma donna!“) when the road to our hotel was closed for construction. All in Italian. Finally, I had gotten the conversation with a non-English speaking native just as I had secretly hoped for and dreaded simultaneously. I think I managed ok (explaining how the other train route would only leave us 15 min. to switch in Milano Centrale to Monterosso, if the train was late we’d be out of luck, etc.). In the end, we secured a return with Rosario (or another driver if he couldn’t come or traffic was bad, etc.) for Friday morning. “E importante e sicuro” he kept telling us – this is important and your reservation is safe, don’t worry. Kirstin and I laughed about our ride and beamed with pride at my Italian skills while wheeling our bags down the closed cobble streets of Asolo to our hotel, the Villa Cipriani.

Starwood came through for us again. We were given a 3rd floor corner room #307 with view of the garden and Veneto hillside, as well as a hand-signed note from the manager, a bottle of chilled prosecco, and fresh fruit. Simply amazing. It was so beautiful and peaceful, sipping our wine from the garden terrace, enjoying the birds and cool breezes, sheep grazing on the hills amidst grapes and olives trees, just…..peaceful. Tranquillo. A great place to unwind from the frenzied tourists and hawkers selling knockoff handbags in Venice (“You like Fendi? Gucci by Gucci?”). Asolo is called the Land of a Thousand Horizons, famous for its resident, the English poet Robert Browning. After an evening stroll and reasonable meal at a local tavern, it was time to retire to our room and savor the wonders of Asolo.

Ciao, Tom

May 6 – Day 3: Our Second Day in Venice

Suffering from jet lag, we were up for hours when we should have been sleeping. But the alarm went off and we had plans. So up at 7:00 am, ate some bread and cheese in the room, and headed out to see the Rialto Fish Market. We got there when many vendors were still setting up, and a few customers were already shopping. Not many tourists, though. We wandered around the stalls, translating as many signs as we could, identifying the familiar fishes and just looking and guessing at the rest. We got up the nerve to snap a few photos and then found a corner bar for due cappuccini. Sitting at a little table with our litttle cups, Tom and I both agreed, this is the way to drink coffee. Our barista (do they call them that in Italia?) made our drinks swiftly, but they still had the perfect foam and feathery mark. Molto bene! So we sat and people watched. The chain smoker lady, kids on their way to school, ordinary life on a Tuesday in Venice.

Next, we caught the water bus to Murano to see the famous Murano glass. That trip, in Tom’s words, was “underwhelming” and we didn’t stay long. Didn’t learn much (anything really) about the historic glass-marking tradition, so we caught the boat back and went to a little glass studio we had window-shopped the day before. The artist – Trina – was there marking beads. I picked out a bracelet and we chatted a bit. She came to Venice for school and has been there since (15 years). She’s from Indiana of all places! Her husband has a shop on the corner where he makes amazing glass pendants. So, I got my souvenir and we had a conversation with a local (okay, she’s expat – but also techincally local). Next, an arrotolata (rolled up sandwich and a nap).

Rested up, we went for a walk to see the Chiesa dei Frari (Friar’s Church) and the art work inside by Donatello, Bellini and Titian. We followed Rick Steves’ advice and counted this as our “museum” prerequisite for Venice, and exited back into the campo to window shop and find some snacks to call dinner — cheese pizza, gelato, cicchetti (Venetian-style tapas), and prosecco, then a foccacia caprese on our way back to the hotel. It was fun to sample and snack our way through the streets, people watching and listening.

Our evening capstone was the Interpreti Veneziani, featuring the Four Seasons by Vivaldi. The concert was at Chiesa San Vidal. Tom had read reviews about the performance and performers, but seeing and hearing it first hand turned out to be a highlight of our trip so far. First, the music – magical. Close your eyes and you’re just filled with the sound. Second, the musicians. Of the group of 8, most were rather serious and sedate. Then there was Davide Amadio – renowned on Internet reviews for his flamboyant style. And one woman in the ensemble, whom we assumed – by their last names and the unspoken conversation between them – could only be Davide’s wife, Sonia. I felt like I was watching the man seduce his wife there on stage – the foreplay was nearly obscene, considering the church setting. But the whole experience was such a treat and by the end of the encore, Davide had popped a button from his shirt, and we could smell his sweat as he passed by our seats. Fantastico!

Ciao, Kirstin

May 5 – Day 2: Palazzo Ducale, a looooong walk, and a small downpour.

Our first morning in Venice was spent over some good cappuccino and an apricot torte. This country really makes you value good strong coffee; the Italians have condensed coffee down into it’s best format in a small cup. No venti 20 oz. triple shot extra hot extra dry Starbucks here, no way! Rick says the Italians take breakfast about as seriously as flossing. I could get used to this.

We had reserved an English speaking tour of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) at 9:55 AM so we made our way through the sea of humanity in Piazza San Marco and into the ticket office. This was no ordinary tour — the Secret Itineraries tour takes you through the back rooms and secret passages not accessible to the general public. Our tour guide Nicoletta was a young cutesy Italian woman who had an excellent knowledge of Venetian history. The Doge ruled as a political figurehead over Venice for nearly 600 years (not one Doge, but many). The tour was very fascinating, showing us where decisions were made, torture was conducted, and Casanova was jailed (and subsequently escaped!).

After an on-the-go lunch of piadina (rolled up sandwich), we went for a walk. A long walk. We headed north through Rialto into the Cannaregio sestiere (or province). We’d come this far, we figured we might as well get our train tickets at the train station. The Trenitalia ticket machine was pretty finicky, but after a few tries we managed to get our tickets to the Cinque Terre. On our way back to rest at the E&R, it started to rain. No, to pour. Luckily, we had brought along our travel umbrella to huddle under while walking home. After a short nap, we had dinner at a small trattoria Da Fiore that I had researched online (naturally). The decor was a bit “odds and ends”, but the food was true Venetian. Kirstin had a zuppa di pesce that truly embodied the essence of the sea. I had grilled branzino (sea bass) simply prepared and we split a plate of grilled seasonal veggies. Very simple, very delicious. We finished the night with gelato from supposedly the best place in Venice – Gelateria Nico.

Buona notte, Tom

May 3/4 – Day 1: PDX-SFO-FRA-VCE

We started off our northern Italy vacation by bidding “arrivederci” to Casey and my folks and heading to PDX. We took full advantage of flying United International Business by camping out in the PDX Red Carpet Club and acting like total tourists (which we pretty much were). After a short hop to SFO, we ascended the “magic staircase” to the upper deck of our 747 and settled into the last pair of seats starboard side. Now THIS is the only way to fly across the Atlantic! Kirstin and I got sucked into watching too many movies and probably slept only about 2 hours. We arrived to a sunny day in Frankfurt, disembarked, and proceeded to navigate the maze that is FRA. After passport control and security, we finally located our Lufthansa gate for the aircraft to take use to Venice. I was pretty exhausted and tried to nap while Kirstin went for a stroll. The LH flight was short and we both slept hard until touching down at VCE. We had finally made it to Italy!

Since we had carried our bags on, it was a quick exit from Marco Polo Airport and a short walk to catch the Alilaguna ferry boat to Piazza San Marco. The boat ride was lovely, watching Venice grow in the distance, yet we were still fairly tired and most was a blur. We finally landed and rolled our bags off at San Zaccaria near Piazza San Marco. Oh the mass of humanity near PSM on a sunny Sunday afternoon! Our hotel, the Westin Europa & Regina, was tucked away down a long calle (alley or street in Venice), literally – luckily we saw the sign for it, and I had naturally done some pre-planning and mapping on Google Earth. Upon check-in, we were pleasantly surprised to hear we’d been upgraded to “a very nice room” on occasion of our 5th anniversary (and probably my SPG Gold status). Nice is an understatement. The room (619) was fantastic, with a partial view of the Grand Canal, lavish decor, and a bathroom larger than our ones at home combined. The impeccable staff at the E&R had left us a bottle of bubbly, a box of pralines, and a hand-signed note congratulating us and offering their utmost service. Kirstin and I proceeded to crash for an hour before showering and heading out to explore the town.

We had a dinner reservation at 8 PM in Dorsoduro, one of the neighborhoods in Venice, so we walked over the Accademia Bridge and killed time exploring the area around Zattere. It was such a lovely evening, people were out for their passeggiata (evening stroll), kids were running around chasing one another. We were early for our reservation at Taverna San Trovaso but were seated shortly. Our first dinner in Venice was good albeit way too much food. We split a half-liter of house prosecco (dry sparkling white from the Veneto region) that proceeded to go straight to our heads! I had the fixed price menu turistico with spaghetti al vongole (clams) and frittura mista (mixed fried seafood). Kirstin had a caprese (tomatoes and mozzarella) and pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms. It was all so good and we were stuffed…but my dinner also came with dessert. We split a light and yummy tiramisu before leaving completely satisfied. It had started to drizzle while we were in the restaurant, and Kirstin and I managed to get as lost as one could on an island before finding our way back to Piazza San Marco to gawk at the incredible architecture and scenery of Basilica San Marco, the Doge’s Palace, and the Campanile (bell tower). The orchestras were not “dueling” tonight, perhaps another evening then. We retired at the end of our first day, full of food, wine, and love here in “La Serenissima”.

Ciao, Tom

Five and a Half Football Fields

After a nice brunch the morning after the wedding, we said goodbye to our friends and left for Duxbury, MA to visit our friends Aun and Tom who recently bought (and are renovating) a cool house. As I’m driving north out of Newport, wouldn’t you know it–the GPS we had specially driven to PVD to pick up decided to die! Brand new unit out of the box, either the charge cord or battery were defective and didn’t hold a charge. So, back to navigating the old fashioned way…maps and verbal directions. We arrived at our friends’ house with no problems and got a grand tour of the new abode and surrounding historical Duxbury.

Our friends have a cute dog named Izzy who was pretty excited to see Casey. Too bad Casey was a bit scared of Izzy, this being based on previous experiences with canines licking and jumping on him. We enjoyed a tasty lobstah lunch in Plymouth, MA and picked up some oysters and other goodies for dinner back at the homestead. It was fun seeing our friends who had gotten married in Duxbury almost 2 years ago when Casey was still a toddler.

The next morning, we said our goodbyes and headed for PVD to fly home. I’m convinced the Universe was conspiring to throw everything it had at us in the way of travel headaches. Our flight through Washington Dulles was cancelled (AFTER we had already gotten our boarding passes and checked in, that’s a first for me) because of weather delays and pilots not making it to their next flights. So, UA ground staff in PVD were very accommodating and rebooked us through Chicago O’Hare (again), albeit about 3 hours later than our original flight. We spent the next hours at Dunkin Donuts, quality time in the game room, and running up and down the terminal hallways.

Finally, it was time to board our flight to Chicago. Guess what??? You got it. More severe weather in Chicago. Basically, we had pushed back from the gate and were promptly slapped with a ground stop in PVD. About an hour delay, the pilot said; just enough time for us to miss our connection. Yay. How’s about an overnight in O’Hare?

Dad is freaking out the entire flight to PVD. Casey, on the other hand, is an incredible angel of a seasoned traveler at nearly 3 years of age. It was truly amazing. When we land in ORD, we decide to deplane as fast as humanly possible and check the departure screens since, hey, we were delayed inbound, maybe our connection was too? Lo and behold, our connecting flight was about 15 minutes delayed. We landed at one end of B concourse and had to get to the middle of C in about 10 minutes. Let’s go for it.

I had to stop at the men’s room, thanks to the full can of ginger ale I sucked down on the last plane, while Kirstin strapped Casey in the Ergo backpack and started off towards our gate. I promptly sprinted out of the bathroom at top speed, down the stairs and through the trippy O’Hare connector tunnel (passing Kirstin and Casey, mind you!), up the other stairs and into C concourse. As I ran up to the departure gate out of breath, I was relieved and amazed to see the flight still open for boarding. We had made our connection with literally minutes to spare. What a way to end a whirlwind weekend of transcontinental traveling!

Oh, and thanks to Google Earth, I calculated roughly 550 yards covered in under 10 minutes. Not too shabby for having run so little in the last 6 months!

Our next blog installments will recap our upcoming northern Italy trip, stay tuned!

Safe travels,
Tom

Wild Weekend

Next morning we get up and I’m off to Thrifty to pick up our late-model Dodge Charger, not too shabby. Unfortunately, they had “run out” of GPS navigation systems that I have come to depend on while renting! The nearest location that had them was in Providence, RI which was somewhat on our way to Newport, so ok fine. After picking up our GPS at PVD, it was off to check in to our room at the Newport Harbor Hotel where most of the wedding guests were staying.  Kirstin and Casey stayed behind to check-in and wander the harbor before our babysitter showed up for reception time.

The wedding was beautiful. The ceremony was held at Channing Memorial Church (Unitarian, thank you very much), a gorgeous old structure within walking distance on a hill overlooking the harbor. I think Mike and Sumi win the award for shortest wedding ceremony ever! It was a very moving ceremony with lots of symbolism, unity candle, wonderful readings.

Afterwards, we all strolled back to the hotel to catch the charter bus to the Astor Beechwood Mansion for the reception and part-ay.  Casey and our sitter from Newport Babysitting Service had a fantastic time together, eating pizza, doing arts and crafts, reading, playing….We were a bit apprehensive about leaving our child with a complete stranger for the evening, but it was truly a great decision since all three of us were able to enjoy ourselves, given Casey’s rambunctiousness at our last wedding reception in Maui (he actually ripped his shirt off and ran around topless at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago…sorry about that Kevin and Aramie!).

The mansion is spectacular, right along the water walkfacing the harbor. The reception was a lot of fun, with great food and groove-shakin’ on the dance floor.