Arrival in Vienna

It was a beautiful, sunny day in the mid 20s finally and a nice trip to Vienna. This time the train got going as fast as 200 km/hr. We really don't know if they go a lot faster on other tracks or not but this seems pretty good. The coach was once again very comfortable and the countryside was really pastoral and pretty.

We had travel directions from our hotel so it didn't take us long to find the subway from the train station and take 2 different subway lines to get here, plus a walk of a few blocks. Our hotel, the Papageno, is great. It's about a 3 star but when we arrived, even though our reservations were not in order the desk person handed us 3 keys and said "Pick the room you want". Anita picked a room with a more traditional decor so it seems like a real Vienna experience.

We walked about 4 blocks up to the Opera House and then along the Ring Road that goes around the old part of the city. In about 20 minutes we saw many beautiful buildings. The desk person at the hotel told us there was an outdoor international food festival during the day and evening and film festival at night at the "Rathausplatz". Different Viennese restaurants apply for licences from the city to have big booths here all summer with different international themes. We ate lamb and calamari from a Greek restaurant. All the tables are outside with umbrellas and awnings. You just take your food and drink and wander to wherever you want. It's all real plates and wine and beer glasses. When you're done, a waiter shows up and cleans up after you, no matter where you sat.

We walked back and took a few pictures. Again, it's hard to believe that there are so many beautiful buildings and sculptures in one city. Good old Prince Charles was right in campaigning for so many years against the bland architecture of the 20th century. Being here, you see what can be done.

We have 2 days to tour Vienna, so tonight we'll rest up. There's lots to see.

Salzburg Austria from penthouse to outhouse and back

July 30th

The night before last in Fussen, after another Bavarian feast of one plate of ribs with 2 baked potatoes (that’s 2) with sour cream and one plate of Bavarian meat loaf (looks like bologna but tastes good) with potato salad, we hired two mountaineers in lederhosen to load us into wheelbarrows and roll us back to our hotel.

The next morning we had another great buffet breakfast in the hotel and caught the 11:05 train to Munich. There was a 1^st class compartment car available so we had our own nice compartment for the trip - no seat reservation required. We were about 10 minutes late getting into Munich so that left us only 10 minutes to catch our train to Salzburg. Luckily we had scouted out the station a few days before when we passed through so we knew which way to go. We had no problem catching our “Rail Jet” train to Salzburg. Again we had 1^st class seats but this time in a new coach that’s very much like business class in a plane. There are overhead monitors telling where you are, the train speed and time to the next station. There’s a waiter from whom you can buy full meals off a set menu and get your food with real plates and cutlery. Plus the train travelled at speeds up to 155 km/hour with no stops.

We arrived at our hotel near the train station without too much searching. We had booked a double room with bathroom down the hall for 96 euros per night, which seemed a little steep but we thought that was the going rate here. The hotel is about a 3 star but the room, on the 4^th (almost top) floor smelled of smoke and looked like it hadn’t been renovated in about 40 years. We asked for another room and got the one across the hall which looked a little better but at least didn’t smell of smoke. So I went to the front desk and asked if they had a better room with ensuite bathroom. They did for another 10 euros per night. We looked at it (sort of the penthouse room on the 4^th floor plus a bit) and it was really big and nice (although not as good as the Fussen room) so we took it.

We asked at the desk why this room was available but not listed on the Hostelworld web site. It turns out that they only list the 4 worst rooms in the hotel with Hostelworld. We don’t know what’s going on here but we felt like we were being overcharged for the lousy room and got a pretty good deal on the room we’re in now. We’re going to put this in our review to Hostelworld and maybe start searching for rooms with that site but look into booking them directly from the hotel. We’ll see but there’s definitely something fishy going on. We haven’t had this trouble before.

Last night we ate in the hotel restaurant (good Indian food of all things - it seems to be run by Indian immigrants). On our room television they have the usual channels plus they run “The Sound of Music”, which is set in Salzburg, on a continuous loop. Anita duct taped me to a hard chair, propped my eyelids open with toothpicks and made me watch it all night. I’m a little tired today but all I feel like doing is skipping through a mountain meadow yodelling the song in my heart.

This morning we had the buffet breakfast (not bad) and then set out in the rain for the old part of the city. The weather has been cool and mostly damp since we left Verona last Saturday but this was the wettest day yet with almost constant rain and some heavy showers. We’re really glad we have our Gore-Tex shells after carrying them around for 3 weeks without taking them out of the pack. Nevertheless we went to see a big church, some catacombs with 2 chapels in them cut into the cliff, the big fortress and the home where Mozart lived for quite a few years. He composed many of his famous works there. There are quite a few of his original musical scores preserved there plus some of the pianos and other instruments that he used. The big fortress had several museums in it. One was devoted to marionette puppets. This seems to be a big thing here. We had a good day of touring and saw lots of interesting stuff despite the weather.

Salzburg is very beautiful and would likely look even better if we could see the tops of the mountains.

Yesterday afternoon I went to the train station and got 1^st class seat reservations on the Rail Jet to Vienna tomorrow, then Vienna to Budapest a few days later, then 2 days in Budapest and a Rail Jet train back to Vienna plus a same day connection to Prague. That will be a long day but now we’re set for seat reservations for about a week. I stood in line for about 2 minutes and paid only 35 euros for all these reservations. I haven’t stood in line for a long time since we left Rome. Plus, the reservation costs are much less in Austria and Germany. So far, Spain and Italy have been the worst for long line-ups and higher reservation costs. I’ve read that Budapest is nuts for train station line-ups too but now I don’t have to deal with that at all.

Instead of going out in the rain, we’ll go to the hotel restaurant for dinner again. Tomorrow it’s off to Vienna for 3 nights.

We know that some people have tried to contact us using the wrong email address. Our address is abboles@gmail.com. We’re always happy to hear from anyone.

July 31st

It's early in the morning and Anita is still sleeping. We have to leave here after breakfast to catch our train to Vienna. Last night I reserved a third night in our upcoming Vienna hotel by going directly to the hotel's web site instead of through Hostelworld. I got exactly the same price that we had got for the first 2 nights so using Hostelworld doesn't seem to be a problem. It must just be this hotel in Salzburg that's doing something odd.

It's not raining this morning so maybe we'll even get some sun later.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Fussen

Monday July 26

We left Innsbruck, Austria this morning. When we went to the train station, we discovered that there was work being done on the tracks so instead of a train they provided a bus for us to get from Innsbruck to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. That was fine. It was an interesting trip since the road climbed steeply out of Innsbruck and we got a good view of the mountains and the rail line. We stopped in several small villages along the way all looking like the picture of alpine villages - just like the Sound of Music cliché. We crossed the border into Germany at Mittenwald but you’d hardly know it - we didn’t even see a sign.

We knew nothing of Garmisch-Partenkirchen before we arrived but it’s obviously a world class ski town. There’s even an Olympic looking ski jump setup at the edge of town, just like in Innsbruck. The mountains are all around and you can see some of the ski runs up above the town. It’s really beautiful scenery. Being in the Alps is great.

Our room (with ensuite bath, private balcony and sitting area) is quite big and is in the “Hostel 2962”. This is a good deal for 70 euros per night. There’s no free WIFI or free breakfast though. This place seems to be a long-established hostel for skiers and hikers. Very quaint. We enjoyed our lunch on our balcony with a view of the river across the street and snow-peaked mountains in the other direction.

It’s so funny to see the change in fashion here compared to the cities of Italy. Instead of spike heels, the predominant footwear is hiking boots. They really do sell lederhosen (those long leather shorts with suspenders) here. We saw one older guy wearing them this afternoon but the department store mannequins show outfits for younger people too (no joke).

Lots of people are wandering around in hiking clothes with backpacks and walking sticks. It’s very outdoorsy. We’re appreciating all the greenery after Rome, Florence and Venice (Verona had a few trees). It’s also very clean in both Innsbruck and here. None of the cities in Italy were very well kept up. Although Verona was a bit better, the others had a lot of litter, the few parks were not maintained and there were lots of beggars. There was also a lot of graffiti. We used to think of it as mostly harmless attempts at juvenile self expression but after seeing so much of it on so many buildings in the major cities it gets annoying. We haven’t seen much that has any artistic merit either. It’s mostly really ugly writing, the bulk of which is profanity. Being in these ski towns for awhile is refreshing.

The weather is cloudy with light rain and about 15 with jumps above 20 whenever the sun shines through for awhile. We were due to get out of the mid 30s heat but this is a little cooler than we anticipated. However, it’s still a nice change.

Since the internet fees are exorbitant here (6.49 euros for one hour), we’ll probably post this from somewhere else over the next few days.

Tomorrow we’ll get a regional train to Munich and then another to Buchloe and another to Fuessen. There will be a lot of stops but that’s okay - we’ll get to see the little towns along the way.

Wednesday July 28 Fussen Germany

Well, we had a long day of travel yesterday with little distance covered. Our train was delayed leaving Munich so that meant we missed our connection in Buchloe and had to wait another hour for the next train to Fussen. In hindsight, we went in a big inverted V from Garmisch to Munich and then back down to Fussen so we should really have taken a bus. However, we did see more of Bavaria which is really pastoral and pretty so it wasn't too bad. We also got oriented in the Munich train station since we have to make a 20 minute connection there tomorrow. The train stations individually aren't that hard to figure out after all the massive airports I've been through. The trick is to make sure that your trains connect at the same station since some cities have more than one (Paris has five).

Since yesterday was birthday number 59, we splurged on the Hotel Sonne Fussen which seems to be a 4 star, at least. We have a great room, very big, big ensuite bath, king bed, robes and slippers, chocolate on the pillow, fresh rose and huge buffet breakfast (with champagne and everything else) included for 135 euros per night. This is almost double what we're usually paying but it's worth the money for the birthday boy (Anita agrees). Staying in 4 star hotels all the time would be pretty nice but it would just about double the cost of our trip. Since this isn't the only travel we want to do in our lives we're trying to stay within our means (old habits are hard to break).

We enjoyed the splendour of our room for awhile when we got in with a few drinks and snacks (bought at the supermarket across the street). It's so much cheaper and nicer not to use bars and restaurants all the time. Anita's bottle of Chianti was 2.49, my 6 pack of Becks beer was 3.54, 200 grams of good Brie was .99 and some bread for .35 made a great happy hour (with some left over for tonight).

After that we went to a local hotel restaurant and had a great birthday feast of one plate of some kind of beef rollup with potato salad and coleslaw and one plate of pork knuckle the size of a caveman's club with sauerkraut and dumpling (Anita's plate). With wine and beer the bill was only 32 euros. It's really not that expensive to eat here and you get lots of food. The food here is very tasty but also very heavy. Eating like this all the time is probably a bad idea but we'll suffer through it just for research purposes.

This morning we took the bus a few kilometres up to the 2 famous castles: King Ludwig II's boyhood home of Schloss Hohenschwangau and the castle he built up the mountain a little ways called Schloss Neuschwastein, which is the one that Disney used as a model. You have to take a guided tour at a set time so we paid for that (17 euros each for a package ticket of both castles) and walked up one hill to his boyhood castle and then up the mountain a bit more to the other one. Both were fantastic. The first one was smaller but the rooms were all finished and very ornate. The second was built between 1869 and 1886. It was never completely finished because Ludwig drowned under mysterious circumstances and only lived in it for 172 days on and off before his death (prior to which he was certified by the government as insane - hence the name "Mad King Ludwig").

We learned some interesting facts about the 17 years of construction. Fourteen craftsmen worked for 4 years on his bedchamber alone doing intricate woodcarving. His bed, washstand (with running water) and other furnishings are still there. In another of his private rooms, 10 painters worked for 7 years painting murals on the walls. The "Singers' Hall" is the biggest room in the castle with great acoustics. Ludwig was a big fan of the work of composer Richard Wagner and dedicated the castle to him. It even has a fake cave that looks quite real on an upper floor because one of Wagner's operas has a cave scene in it. The Singers' Hall is still used for chamber music for 10 days every September. Some of the craftsmanship we've seen so far in our travels has to be seen to be believed. The skill and patience of the craftspeople is very foreign to our North American culture. For example, in Florence, two doors on one part of the Il Duomo cathedral took one craftsman 52 years to complete. To think that he dedicated his life to that and was paid by the local business association for that time shows a long term commitment by more than just the talented artist that just isn't part of our "temporary" lifestyle. Ludwig may have been mad but he certainly caused some fantastic architecture and art to happen. Of course he died heavily in debt because he kept building castles (3 in total, with another one planned).

Tonight we'll go out for some more Bavarian food and likely come home groaning. Oh well, it's research. Tomorrow we catch a train for Salzburg Austria by way of Munich.

It's really beautiful here with pastoral Bavaria down below and the mountains overlooking the town and castles. Some people here really do wear lederhosen and now we've seen them for sale in pretty well all the clothing stores. This ain't Combermere or Barry's Bay.

Innsbruck

On our last evening in Verona we had a nice dinner in a local café and got back to our room just before another vicious thunderstorm hit. When we got up yesterday morning, it was in the low 20s, sunny and fresher than we’d experienced in the past few weeks.
We got on the regional train to Bennero which is the most northerly town in Italy in this area, right at the border with Austria. We had to stand up in the crowded train for the first hour and a quarter but then got seats as the train emptied out at each little town for the rest of the 3 hour trip. Standing was okay because the AC worked and we weren’t hot. When we got off in Bennero it was raining and only about 12 C. We had checked the weather report so we were prepared for the cold but it was still a bit of a shock. We got on an Austrian train for the 40 minute trip to Innsbruck. The ride through the mountains, even though it was light rain and not great visibility, was really pretty. High mountains, winding train tracks and roads and lots of tunnels. Sometimes the highway was high above us on big bridges or clinging to the opposite side of the valley we were going down. The Austrian engineers couldn’t have been drunk every day in university - they’ve done some fantastic work.

It was still light rain and maybe 15C when we arrived here but we had no problem finding our hotel only 300m from the station. We checked in and then went for a stroll up to the old part of the city. Then we had a great dinner of pork schnitzel with potato salad and goulash with dumplings and a side order of sauerkraut. Great food and quite different from Italy.

This morning we walked around a bit more and it started to clear up a bit and warm up to about 20 or so. We happened on a big church in the old town where there was a great choir singing. Anita went in to the end of Mass and communion while I stayed outside. They had speakers set up outside so everyone could hear the choir. After that we walked around some more until we heard music coming from a stage setup in a parking lot by the river. It turned out to be the last show of the Innsbruck New Orleans Music Festival. We learned that the church choir had been part of this too. The whole thing is free.
There were a few hundred people in the audience, the sun came out and for about 2 hours straight we were right near the front listening to “Vasti Jackson and Band” from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They are a New Orleans jazz/blues band and they were doing a mostly gospel show for Sunday morning to close the festival. According to Vasti Jackson, "There ain't nothin' wrong with gettin' your groove on for Jesus". Everyone was really into it, clapping, dancing and singing. It was fantastic to be part of this crowd with a smoking band and looking around at the beauty of Innsbruck and the mountains all around us. The band played a long time, did several encores and were obviously as into it as everyone else. It was another one of those great experiences that just happen if you’re in the right place at the right time. Anita and I both had a very spiritual day, in our own ways. If the name “Vasti Jackson” ever appears for some blues festival in Ontario, be there.

We strolled around a bit more this afternoon and will soon go out for dinner - probably to the same brew pub we were in last night - good site brewed beer and good food. What’s not to like? (Oliver, if you’re reading this, you would approve.)

Tomorrow morning after our continental breakfast included with our hotel room here at the “Golden Krone”, we’re catching a regional train to Garmisch-Partneshomethingorother just over the border into Germany. The next day we’re off to Fuessen by way of Munich. Innsbruck has been wonderful.

A Night at the Opera

On our last evening in Venice we strolled around, took a few pictures of some of the hundreds of smaller canals and had a pizza for dinner. The next morning we caught the train for the hour ride to Verona.

We're staying in the "Magnolia" b&b near the train station (of course). All the attractions here are within walking distance. It was nice to see a tree-lined boulevard for a main street on our first walk up to the ancient Roman forum. Once there, we bought tickets (25.50 each) for seats at last night's performance of the opera "Aida". The forum seats 22,000 people although possibly less for an opera because they close off and use one end as part of the stage.

After an afternoon cooldown (blazing hot day again) we had a nice dinner in a little cafe on the main street away from the touristy end of town and then walked up to get our unreserved seats in the upper level of the forum. It opened at 7:30 for a performance beginning at 9:15. What a zoo! You walk in the appropriate gate and go up the steps into the forum. Then when you emerge from the stairwell you're herded by attendants straight up the ancient stone seats or steps that are each about 18 inches high. They fill up each section and then move on to fill up the next. Luckily we were fairly early so we were seated with a full frontal view of the huge stage.

We had already heard that the stones were hard and hot from the sun so we had taken our fleeces to sit on. That was a good thing. We had also heard of the exorbitant prices for and refreshments so we took 4 small bottles of water and some snacks in our backpacks. We needed it. It was really a hot night but with almost a full moon it was great.

The floor and partway up the sides of the forum is fitted with modern seats. A front row seat can cost up to 386 euros - a little out of our price range. However, from our seats we saw everything just fine. One of the many amazing things about these performances is that there is no electronic sound amplification. The 50 or 60 person orchestra just plays their instruments and the singers sing. You can hear everything perfectly. These people are extremely talented. Sometimes only one person is on this huge stage and other times we counted over 200 easily.

When the opera started it was fantastic. Although not our cup of tea, it was such a huge spectacle with great sets, costumes and very professional singers and musicians you can really get caught up in the very melodramatic emotions of the performance, even though it's in Italian. Luckily we had read up on the plot on wikipedia before we went so we always had some idea of what was going on through the approximately 3 1/4 hours of the performance (including 2 20 minute intermissions). Oddly enough, going to the opera is one of the highlights of our trip so far. It just doesn't seem possible to stage an opera on this scale indoors anywhere because everything is so huge. Plus we were in a 2,000 year old forum sitting on the same seats that the ancient Romans would have sat on to watch one of their spectacles, with the same moon shining down on us. It really was a unique, unforgettable experience.

After getting home at about 1 am we were a little slow getting out this morning but eventually walked up to see the old house advertised as the "home of Juliet" which of course is pure tourist stuff since Juliet is fictional. However, it was a nice courtyard except for the other thousand tourists there. Then we walked across an old bridge and up the hill past a Roman forum to an old citadel. The builder in me can't help but notice how the Romans built things and used some of the proven simple techniques that we still use (or should use) today.

On the way back we bought 1/2 a rotisseried chicken in a butcher shop and had it along with some tomatoes in the AC comfort of our room for a late lunch. After that, it actually thunder stormed. This is a major event for us. We have seen nothing but hot (like upper 30s) sun since we left San Sebastian 2 1/2 weeks ago. It's sunny out again now but hopefully when we go back out it will be a little cooler. We plan to go out for a nice dinner this evening and get the 7:58 train to Brennaro in northern Italy and then switch to an Austrian train to Innsbruck. We should be there in the early afternoon for a couple of days. A little further north and higher elevation may bring a welcome relief from the heat. Plus, we feel like we've had a good taste of Italy and are now ready to move on.

Venice

In our last night in Florence we had a great dinner at Ginono's, a little restaurant on a side alley between Il Duomo and the Uffezi museum. We had a plate of ussoco alla fientori (?) and a plate of the house pasta with mushrooms and truffles along with Chianti and beer, all for 31 euros.

We caught the 8:30 train and were here by 10:30. Our hotel, Albergo Marin, is just across the Grand Canal and up a couple of side streets from the train station. Very handy.

Venice is on a few small islands out in the Adriatic Sea. Apparently in the 5th century some of the people in the area were fleeing from Attila the Hun who was on his way to Rome and decided to come out here and live in stilt houses in the swamps, out of the way. Eventually this became a city. There is one bridge out here from the mainland which the trains and buses cross. As soon as they get to the island, that's it for wheeled motorized transportation. All of the "roads" are pedestrian walkways from about 3' to 20' wide. All other transportation is by the Grand Canal and hundreds of smaller canals. Everything goes by boat - people, food, garbage, funeral hearses (we saw a funeral go by), ambulances, construction materials - absolutely everything. The canals are filled with boat and gondola traffic. The gondolas sound romantic but are very expensive and are fighting for space with taxi boats, water buses, garbage barges and everything else. It's also really expensive to rent a gondola for an hour. We decided to walk.

There is no shoreline as we think of it. It's either a pedestrian walkway or building right to the water everywhere. At St Mark's Square especially, there's less than a metre between the sea and the walkway. This can't last. Between the city slowly subsiding (I think I've read) and climate change, this place is doomed.

We've walked all around it yesterday and today. It's impossible to follow a map. We've even seen people with GPS systems wandering around wondering where they are and how they'll get where they want to go.There are hundreds of canals, bridges and little pedestrian walkways. Many of them are dead ends or the names change every few blocks. Plus there are only 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal which snakes through the whole city. You just have to keep walking until you see one of the few signs that point toward a significant landmark or one of the main bridges. We actually found our way around without a whole lot of trouble but it is a maze. We even found the Madigans' Pub - we didn't see Gerard and Lisa though. You see lots of people standing staring at maps (as we have) totally perplexed. You also see many people arriving with their luggage at hotels and saying "Thank God". It's really hot and every bridge has steps up and steps down and most people have wheeled luggage (and too much of that).

Anyway, yesterday we wandered into some square and found a step to sit and have our picnic lunch. The other thing you see is lots of people looking hot, tired, hungry and frustrated trying to pick restaurants (of which there are thousands). It's much nicer and easier to have your picnic lunch with you plus a lot cheaper. While we ate yesterday a classical trio played Vivaldi for change in the square and an artist from Britain was painting a picture of a church tower right in front of us. Very cool.

Last night dinner wasn't great but we had a nice stroll along the Grand Canal and a few streets. This morning we went down to the grocery store and bought lunch items and then walked up to St Mark's Square, the most famous place in Venice. It was nice but very crowded. The lineup for the basilica and museum was long so we didn't even bother. We did go into a really pretty church on the way. We had a great walk all through the city, pretty much, but were glad to get back to our hotel after about 4 1/2 hours. After a quick shower to cool down we went to a nearby small park for lunch. There are very few parks and really very few places to even sit down in all of Venice. It seemed that we craved seeing some greenery which we have seen very little of in the last 2 weeks.

We have a nice but modest hotel with ensuite bathroom and perfect location. Tomorrow we're looking forward to moving on to Verona.

Betty Boop and Ultimate Tourist Poses

Last night we had a great dinner at Trattoria Za-Za, (www.trattoriazaza.it) in the little square just around the corner from our hotel. Wonderful food, maybe the best yet and interesting decor. We noticed a band setting up in the square so after dinner we went out and sat on a planter with benches - front row seats- to watch "Apple Juice and Le Sylbarrene". There were 3 women singing, all dressed up like the Andrews Sisters from the 40s and they did this whole act complete with synchronized moves. They harmonized great on tunes from the 40s, 50s and 60s in English and Italian. Lots of fun.

This morning I got up early and went to the train station to get more reservations for later in the week. This was a good idea since there was only a 5 minute line-up. Now we have reservations from Venice to Verona as well as Florence to Venice - all 1st class coaches and intercity trains with fewer stops.

At breakfast we decided to get some ambition and hop on the train to Pisa for the day. It's only an hour on the regional train and we can just get on and off those trains with no reservations or tickets.

Pisa is interesting but we must be getting a little jaded about fantastic sights. The tower really does have quite a lean - this is what happens when engineers are drunk all through university (Note to Zack and Joe). We got there, it was impressive, we took the ultimate tourist pictures, went for a pizza (in Pisa - Anita thinks this is hysterical for some reason), got on the train and came back - about a 5 hour trip altogether.

Now we're cooling off before dinner although today wasn't quite as hot (maybe only low 30s) and there were even a few clouds - which we haven't seen in about 2 weeks. Tomorrow it's off to Venice on the 8:30 train.

Bill gets churched twice

Last night we had a good dinner at a little outdoor restaurant recommended in one of the guides. We chatted with a couple from Denmark at the next table and they invited us to stay at their house overnight just outside Copenhagen when we get there. We'll see.

This morning we went to the "Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore" or "Il Duomo" for Mass. We were early, naturally, so we were invited to sit in the 2nd pew back from the altar, right below the high dome. The Mass was mostly done in a Gregorian chant with about 6 priests, a small choir and a great sounding pipe organ. The way the sound echoed up through the dome was fantastic. Anita was able to follow the whole mass even though it was in Italian. The handout had the readings of the day in Italian, French, German, English and Spanish, which also helped.

After Mass we were walking back to our hotel when we heard Caribbean music from a side street. We went to the door where we heard it and were invited in. It was a small room with white plastic chairs and about 30 or 40 people, all black and apparently of Caribbean descent (but nobody speaking any English) finishing their church service by dancing around the perimeter of the room with a full band (including full drum set) playing full blast. They invited us to join them so we danced around the room too. Nice people, different experience from the Mass we'd just been to. Anita says Theresa Olsheskie who has experience with such things, would approve.

After a picnic lunch in our room, we headed down to Galleria degli Uffizi, which is a famous art gallery with many works by Michelangelo and other old masters. However, the line was so long we didn't even bother trying to get in. We did take another look at the Loggia dei Lanzi which is an open air gallery with some amazing statues, all about 8 feet tall, including Hercules slaying a centaur, the "Rape of the Sabine Women" and the "Rape of Polyxena". In this context, rape doesn't mean what we think but refers to the abduction of Sabine women who lived in the area around Rome by Romulus and his followers who had no wives. Apparently, after the abductions at a festival organized by Romulus, he spoke to each woman and promised them full rights and freedom as Romans for their children. The Sabine women stopped a war between their new husbands and their fathers and brothers by stepping between the two warring sides. In the end it all worked out and is commemorated by these statues which are somewhat unfortunately titled from our usual perspective.

There are beautiful statues just out there and you never know what you might see when you turn a corner.

We crossed the Ponte Vecchio which is the only old bridge left in Florence that wasn't destroyed by the Nazis during their retreat in 1944. It's actually a long building across the water with many high end jewellry shops. We wandered up to the Pitti Palace which is another museum but weren't really interested in going in. After some gelatto, we headed back to our hotel to cool down before dinner. Tomorrow we were thinking about taking the train to Pisa for the day but we've decided to stay here and climb up to "Piazza Michelangelo" across the Arno River for apparently the best view of the city and surrounding hills.

Arrival in Florence

We had reservations for the 10:15 train, 1st class coach, from Rome this morning which arrived here in Florence at 11:50. This is the first time we've had free refreshments served by attendants on the train, just like on a plane. The countryside from Rome to Florence is really pretty with lots of rolling hills, farmland and vineyards. The hills of Tuscany around Florence are especially nice.

We've learned to pick our hotels based on price, security and cleanliness in the reviews on Hostelworld but also on proximity to the train station, air conditioning and free WIFI. The last place we didn't have airconditioning was Barcelona which was okay but lately it's been in the mid to upper 30s so you really need somewhere to cool off in the afternoon. Once again we're in a modest but quite nice hotel with all of the above plus ensuite bathroom and continental breakfast for 58 euros a night.

Florence is quite compact with all of the interesting sites within easy walking distance. We wandered a bit this afternoon and toured the "Cattedrale di Sante Maria del Fiore" better known as Il Duomo. It's a fantastic building with the exterior in patterned bands of white, pink and green marble. We may go to Mass there tomorrow done in Gregorian chanting (don't read too much into this - I did go to Russian Orthodox Mass in a cathedral on the edge of Red Square in Moscow too).

Even with a few hours wandering, we've seen all kinds of buildings and sculptures from the Renaissance that are hard to believe. A lot of sculptures from 500 years ago, like the Fountain of Neptune, would cause major outrage in Barry's Bay today for showing nude figures. However, we do have a plane on a stick.

We've found a restaurant listed in one of the guides that we intend to try tonight. It always seems like the most difficult part of travel is the arrival in a new city in the heat, carrying your pack and trying to figure out where the hotel is, but we've narrowed that down to about 15 minutes. After that, everything falls into place.