AWESOME....AND WET

Shock, horror, we've awoken to blue skies and sun rays coming through the windows. We head straight to the Duomo, and if it appeared awesome in the prior afternoon's drizzle then this morning it is breathtaking. We go inside for a look and it's truly immense, giant marble pillars are everywhere, like trees in a forest. Regardless of one's religious leanings (or lack thereof), it would take a fairly cold hearted person not to acknowledge the sheer majesty of the edifices that have been created in the name of Christianity - and any other religion for that matter.


A sea of pillars

How about that!

The 'mist' is incense

Very charitable!!!

We didn't have a week to spare!

Catholic holy water..

The Duomo was commenced in the 14th century and took 600 years to finish - yep, the early part of the 20th century. It's the 3rd largest church for left footers in the world (Behind the Vatican and Seville) and the 5th largest of any denomination. We decide to go up to the roof and this time we really do take the steps instead of the lift - all 230 of them. The roof is a gothic candoglia marble masterpiece with amazing views over the surrounding plaza. And here's a scoop for you - the Catholic church has initiated a new holy water substitute - check out the photo in the gallery!


......more holy water

Up on the roof.....

Gargoyle or Daffy Duck?

.....that's more like it.

Don't ask me how, but we get separated making our way down to the ground; given there's only one staircase, this is clearly a 'miracle'. Less miraculous, but highly predictable, is that by the time I get to the bottom and walk outside, the rain has returned and this time it doesn't go away. After re-uniting outside it's time for lunch and I have a little treat in store. We enter Italy's most luxurious department store, La Rinascente; trust me folks,there's nothing low end here, certainly no 'red spot' specials, and this is purely for window shopping.On the 7th floor is the food hall and numerous places to eat.


....and a decent coffee

La Rinascente Chocolate Bar

Il Bar

Checkin' out Stella..

Buzz, Paul Smith & suspicious shop asistant

The restaurant I've chosen, Il Bar, has a glass wall and ceiling that allows you to look directly onto the Duomo. Even in the rain it is a rivetting view, and best of all, it's not unreasonably priced. Afterwards we have a look at kids' fashion; the Aimster tries on some Stella McCartney gear (her favourite designer) and looks great, whilst Buzzy looks magnificent in a Paul Smith 3-piece suit with a price tag to break the Italian Treasury!

We have a 4.30 appointment at the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie - fear not, we haven't gone devoutly rabid. This is the home of Leonardo Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" (Travel Tip: It is essential to book online if you wish to view it). We are in a small group and allowed 10 minutes with a very knowledgeable guide. The work was commenced in 1495 and has had an extraordinary life, at various times ignored, partially destroyed by priests to insert a doorway(!), used as a wall by firing squads, and was one of only 2 walls in the refectory that survived a direct bomb blast in WWII - it's enough to make you think there's a greater force at work. It has been returned to its original state, which is very poor. The whole wall is supported by steel beams to keep it up, and the painting is in serious decay; despite that, it is fascinating and well worth seeing. Some authorities claim it's the most visited of all Da Vinci's works; personally, I doubt this as there is a daily tidal wave of people funneled past La Gioconda in The Louvre. Regardless, it is a genuinely moving experience we all recommend, and fortunately Leo Di Caprio was nowhere to be seen!



Santa Maria Convent

Da Vinci's "The Last Supper"

Through the pouring rain, we head back towards the centro plaza and stop off for refreshments and then on to a local bistro for dinner and early night. Tomorrow is a big day.....with its share of difficulties!!

Extra Snaps:

The view from los ninos' bedroom

Duomo from the rear

Never forgetting loved ones...

No, it's not Beijing!!

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

Piazza Duomo from Duomo rooftop

.......and another gargoyle

ARRIVEDERCI VENEZIA.......CIAO MILANO

Sigh.......

Our last morning before catching the 12.20 train back to Milano. We're all packed so we decide to get lost one more time walking back to Piazza San Marco posing as an inland sea. Our target is the 99 metre high red brick St. Mark's Campanile, aka the Bell Tower, that dominates the skyline around the piazza.

St. Mark's Campanile

Please don't ring!

It dates back to 1514 and there are over 180 steps to the bellfry; I'm keen to walk up but bow to family pressure and we catch the lift! It costs 8 euro each (no kids discount) but it's a million dollar view that takes in the whole of Venice, the islands and the mainland in the distance. With the 5 gigantic bells hovering over us and the hour approaching, we make our exit just in time (Travel Tip: It's probably not a great idea to be up in te bellfry when the clock reaches the hour, unless you're the subject of a rock opera by The Who!). We navigate (literally) our way back to the apartment, get our bags, bid Carlo, Vanda and Pluto the wonder dog farewell, and head to catch the vaporetta back up the Grand Canal one last time on it's way to the railway station. It's very chilly, so I'm the only one on deck taking in the majestic vistas one last unforgettable time (other than an unruly and loud family of Australians nearby - they are so damned loud Australian tourists!). Thank goodness for digital cameras; I'd already be up for a fortune in film and developing costs otherwise.



The basilica domes

Piazza San Marco from on high

Basilica della Salute from the Campanile..

...From the water

A slight list?

Cruising the Grand Canal

As we cross the causeway heading for Milano and we look back at the island city receding into the horizon, I am amazed that a city that is sinking, dilapidated and decaying can possess such an irrestistible aura of beauty and romance that not even Paris can match (this is the view of the author and not necessarily the rest of the LegsyBoy touring party!).

Milano Centrale and it's pouring with rain. We've again ignored the omnipresent women begging on the train, but encounter a far more unsavoury first up experience in the fashion capital. Trying to buy our metro tickets from the automatic machine becomes an ordeal as we are accosted by street beggars, brazen enough to tray and stand between me and the keypad whilst I'm trying to complete a transaction, their friends standing close by, laughing. I've been alerted that Milan is a pickpocket's paradise and hereby confess that Don LegsyBoy lost his rag and delivered a 'go away' in the age old Australian vernacular (same number of words)! It didn't work.....I appreciate the dire economic circumstances that so many people are experiencing, but it beggars belief (no pun intended) that the authorities do little to dissuade it happening; it's not just Milan (although it is as bad as I've seen), it's prevalent everywhere.

Milan - The Duomo

Mercanti Caffe

Buzzy enjoyed his frappe!

That's what I call a profiterole!

Vittorio Emanuele II

Anyway, we exit the metro at our stop - Duomo - and there it is in all its majesty, the third largest cathedral in Catholic christendom; even los ninos are awe struck by it's sheer magnificence, Liam's first utterance being "whoa!". More on the Duomo later. Our apartment is 500 metres away, huge, and the top of the catherdral can be seen from the kids' bedroom. We meet Illiana the Romanian concierge who gives us all a hug and gushes over los ninos (it's all right for her, she hasn't spent 4 solid days with them!). It's late afternoon, and so we take a stroll and check out Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the oldest shopping mall in Italy (probably the world), with it's magnificent glass ceiling and dome. It's full of luxury stores and las chicas are agog at the fashions on display; Buzz and I are ambivalent.
Time for refreshments and we head to Piazza Dei Mercanti, a covered courtyard that supposedly has 'whispering walls'. We stand in opposite corners and do what the guide books say, but hear ZIPPO. I can't help notice there's quite a few people sitting around sniggering and I figure it's another set up for gullible tourists (i.e. us). Never mind, we duck into Cafe Mercanti for frappe, caffe, and a serve of profiteroles. The cafe is lovely and the caffe is of a quality for me to state it's easily the best I've had in Italy, in fact make that Europe. Dulcinea goes one better and, not usually one for overstating things, opines that it is the BEST COFFEE SHE'S EVER HAD - ANYWHERE (needless to say, she has yet to taste my special brew from my new Breville dual boiler espresso machine)! And of course, you know where this is heading - if you want quality then you have to pay for it, and so it's yet another 9 euro coffee; the thing is, as a one-off we'd do it again. The cafe owner was overjoyed at our assessment of his coffee and insisted we place a comment on Tripadviser to that effect; he seemed less enthused about the mention of the cost though!


Now THAT is art!

Risotto Milanese

On our way back to our home base for a night of games (can't remember who won), we pop in to a bistro for dinner and try the local specialty - Risotto Milanese (not pasta! Milan is surrounded by rice fields), which is effectively a simple dish of parmesan and saffron rice; nice but not a gastronomic delicacy. Time for an early night. Tomorrow is a big day.

VENEZIA - A HEART OF GLASS



Hooray - sunshine (it didn't last all day unfortunately). It's out the door for the 5 minute walk that takes 15 (lost again!) straight down to San Zaccaria pier to catch the #4.1 vaporetta to Murano Island. Venice is famed for its glassware and Murano is the motherlode. It takes us 50 minutes to circumnavigate the main island (ferries apparently find it difficult to take the shorter inland route!) which is no issue as the vistas from the rear deck are never less than spectacular.

Santa Maria della Salute

Palazzo Ducale

Blue comet - bizarre

Still standing - just

 We pass by the cemetery (which takes up the whole of one particular island - ingenious really) and arrive at Murano, unaware that there are at least 7 stops around the island. We get off at Da Mula and do what you're meant to - gaze incredulously at the 'blue comet', stroll the streets, occasionally taking in a showroom or two. It's mind blowing (as well as glass) what these artisans can do, and to my surprise even los ninos are taken by the intracacy and delicacy of it all. We decide to have a bite at a little cafe which has us in stitches; the wall calendar of family photos had to be seen to be believed (refer pic) - Liam and Aimee get ticked off if I take a snap of them sleeping!! We've discovered that the large factories aren't open every day and, just our luck, this is one of those days. I'm more disappointed than the kids, simply because they don't know what they're missing. As we stroll towards Colonia pier for the return to the mainland we spot a tiny workshop that's open, AND BLOWING GLASS. 5 euro later we're sitting watching a father assist his son, Pino Signoretto (!!), a master blower (!!), making tumblers. The kids are rivetted to such an extent that it is the highlight of Aimee's holiday - "it's like watching magic", and it was. Given that glassware is literally everywhere around Venice, we talk to several Murano establishments about the abundance of breakable merchandise. It's a touchy subject; it would seem that almost 50% of 'Murano' glass sold in Venice itself comes from the Murano of the east - China! (Travel Tip: If you want genuine Murano, either buy it from the island or make sure it has the distinguishable Murano crest embedded in it, which by statute can only be used by the original manufacturers from Murano). We also had cause to ponder the origins of venetian blinds. Why? See below, and we'll leave you to wrestle with the conundrum and your computer for a resolution.

THAT calendar!

Shouldn't they be on the inside?

Everybody's coming to Murano



Sangers and his dad

Master at work

 Carlo has given us a tip and we alight at the first main island stop, Fondamente Nove, and spend the next couple of hours wandering through the alleys and byways littered with everything from superb Venetian masks and costumes to fashion boutiques to pasta specialists to stone masons. Eventually we exit a laneway to gaze upon one of the city's icons, the Rialto Bridge. Choked with visitors, it's a fabulous site and we take our time walking over it, enjoying spectacular views either side. Los ninos are very happy too, as they have been pre-occupied with quills since we first arrived; they now have their quills from the Rialto! A quiet cafe near the Rialto markets, Sora Al Ponte, is the choice for afternoon tea and then it's a leisurely stroll through the maze once more in search of a familiar sight to guide us home. It really is the essence of Venice - walking around and getting lost.

Pasta anyone?

Costumes and masks

R.I.P. Senora Scarpa

  It's our final night and so we head out to another restaurante just metres from our apartment that looks realy nice, Trattoria Agli Artisti (now renamed BULL**** ARTISTI). The open greeting of the maitre'd doesn't rub off on his staff and it takes an age to be served; even worse - no campari aperitivo, and I've got a bad vibe. We share some bruschetta which is not a patch on Al Pozzo, just 4 doors down. The kids go pizza (which looks and tastes good) and I try calamari griglia - and it's delicious. Dulcinea also wishes to try some of Venice's specialty and asks for pasta with seafood. Our waiter kindly recommends the Spaghetti Aragosta from the list of specials inside the front cover of the menu , and it's agreed (at this point we didn't take particular note that there was no price beside these dishes, and our waiter was clearly intent on not providing one). My princess has inadvertently ordered LOBSTER pasta, which was lovely (and enormous); it needed to be as it cost a lazy 44 euro!! The main fare was very good (although the tiramisu was not particularly appetising) but left a bitter taste in our mouths, particularly as the staff could sense that we were less than impressed with their sleight of hand. The cream on the cake, needless to say, was the 'cover charge' of 10 euro applied to the bill. It was a disappointing way to finish our last Venetian evening, but it wasn't going to cloud our overall experience. There are bad restaurant operators everywhere, even in Australia (we also had a similar unsatisfactory experience in Granada - that story is yet to come), so you live and learn for (hopefully) next time (Travel Tip: Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, in both Venice and Milan applied a cover charge which could range from 2-4 euro. Factor this in to your bill. The other side of the coin, I guess, is that tipping is not expected. Just as well I say!).

Trattoria Agli Artisti - looks and tstes great, BUT.....

Tomorrow it's back to the fashion capital of the world - and las chicas are very excited indeed.

The day in pictures:

 

The finished product

Cemetery island

 

The front gate to heaven

Strangers on a vaporetta

On the Rialto Bridge - dunno who 'she' is!

Same spot!

The magnificent Rialto

Now THAT's what I call a 'ride'!

The basilica at dusk - pity about the scaffolding

....and the piazza.

Extraordinary really

Dulcinea in THAT restaurante - calm before the storm