God, Glass and Gondolas – Venice, Italy in a nutshell.

But first a couple of thoughts on our May 16th drive from Switzerland… The Peugeot 5008 that we are driving has an excellent GPS system – Margaret (ie. Thatcher) gives us great directions with a beautiful BBC British accent (“at the roundabout, take the third exit”) and so we have relied on her to get us where we need to go.  But, unfortunately, nobody tells her when mountain passes through the Swiss alps are closed after traveling 75 minutes and through 100 hairpin turns. Although the drive was both exhilarating and beautiful – it was very frustrating to turn around more than an hour into our journey.   So… if you have plans to travel through the Swiss Alps – make your route AROUND the mountains until the middle of June.  Once you get to the flat lands, the drive east is easy albeit very crowded with both cars and HUGE trucks.  So it was a very tiring and yet, beautiful drive.

Our arrival in Venice was somewhat stressful as well.  Cars are not allowed on most of the island. Fortunately, we had arranged to rent an apartment from a terrific guy who thoroughly explained exactly what to do.  We drove to an industrial area used for loading, parking and cruise ships and met Sebastiano there. He even hopped in the car and took us to the huge public parking garage and showed me how to work the automated machines.   Thank goodness he was there – the Italian I learned during the 1990 World Cup wasn’t helping me much.  He then hired a transport company to deliver our bags to his apartment and led us to the city via a quick train ride (called the “People Mover”) and a 15 minute walk.  The three photos below show Sebastiano leading the way and then two views of the street we lived on.

   On Friday morning, May 17th, the sun didn’t shine much (except in Falmouth, MA where Kathleen’s mom was celebrating her birthday).  But since we only had spots of rain we were able to do some sightseeing. We bought tickets for the longest vaporetti (Boat Bus) route and traveled down the Grand Canal – in the rain.  We had the Rick Steves guidebook with us, so we were able to learn a lot.  But perhaps what we’ll remember most was a woman sitting near us in the front of the boat going absolutely berserk after the driver asked her to close her umbrella so he could see to drive and dock the boat.  OMG, she screamed every cuss word known to man in both Chinese and English.  She ranted on and on for about 20 minutes about how awful Italy is, about how stupid all Italians are, and how she’d never come back to Italy again. It was both funny and frightening for the girls, but I think the Italians were glad she wouldn’t returno….

Let’s start with glass. As you wander around the narrow streets of Venice you see more touristy nick-knack stores selling all kinds of bright, glittering glass stuff it’s easy to get a bit numb to it all.  Well okay, it was easy for me to get numb to it all.  The girls never tired of it – Kathleen included – they loved the glsss.

The big deal is all about Murano glass.  Murano is a little island about “a nine iron” away from Venice.  It’s there that the best of the glass is made.  But it’s easy to copy and it’s hard to know if what you’re buying is made nearby or in China.  Although it was closed when we had a moment to see it, the factory store is located right behind St. Mark’s square.

From Glass we move to God.  He’s big in Italy, as you may know. And although we saw some pretty amazing houses of prayer in France, even Erin at 10 years old, had to be impressed with what we saw in Venice. We started with San Marco’s (Saint Mark’s) Square.  Our first impression is simply jaw dropping wow… In the photo below you can see the girls taking pictures from the back of the square facing the Cathedral. The buildings on the right and left, once the government buildings of the Venetian Empire are now office buildings for Europe’s largest insurance company… some things never change….

As usual, they are doing work on the facade of Saint Mark’s Cathedral but if you click on the photo to see a larger version  you can still see how magnificent it is. To the right of the church is the house of the Doge – or Governor of Venice –

Photos are not allowed inside the cathedral, but I took some anyway.

Even the floor is amazing.

Next we traveled across the Grand Canal to Santa Maria della Salute of the church of Saint Mary of Health. It was closed for “siesta” but we had a nice rest on the steps to watch the hustle and bustle at the mouth of the Grand Canal looking across to San Marco.

The Photos below are of the two smaller churches in our neighborhood. Both amazing and beautiful. Like I said, God is Big here.

By far the most peaceful and expensive way to see the city is by gondola.  There’s a good feeling one gets by supporting the skill and expertise of these 400 men and one woman who inherited the right to be a gondolier from their fathers.  Primogeniture is alive and well in Venice.  Our guide was named Andreas and he spoke very good English. He truly seemed to enjoy paddling the canals and giving his fellow gondoliers a hard time. He not only used the paddle, but quite often used his feet to push off the buildings and propel the boat.  He explained the gondoliers’ disdain for the motorized water taxis is due to the torrents they create which are ruining the foundations of the buildings.  Andreas also explained how Venice is very quickly dying as a vibrant city.  It is so expensive to live there, that as property owners get older and find it necessary to move away, their children do not want the property and cannot sell it.  Young families do not want to live in Venice – there is very little open space to play, they have sewage and flooding problems, and the cost of living is prohibitive.  Venice is almost purely a tourist city – “a sinking tourist museum” Andreas called it.

One of the more odd juxtapositions we encountered was being in a gondola as cruise ship entered the grand canal area.  I suggested to Andreas that a cruise ship seemed a bit large for Venice.  He agreed and suggested that they be outlawed… but said it would never happen, as the city needs the tourists and their money!

I think we need one of these boats to cruise the Charles River in Boston!!

Finally… some lasting memories from this beautiful city…

Two major purchases we made.  One was a painting of the city that we loved from this very gentle and kind artist and the other was a leather bag that we all agreed, Kathleen NEEDED….

Two cool things we saw. One was a very talented street performer who played crystal glasses that echoed off the walls of the nearby buildings… the sound was mesmerizing.

The second was a very cool boat, docked across the “street” from a vegetable store… We thought the floating annex was pretty clever.

And finally, just some nice views on a beautiful day with the family in Venice, Italy!!

ON TO ROME……

May 15 began as a beautiful morning and since our time in Switzerland was limited, we tried to make the most of it.  We woke early and went on a little run-walk through Wilderswil to a small castle nearby.  The structure dates back to 1000 AD and is a very nice piece of history.  Although nothing like the ruins we would soon see in Rome and Pompeii – this was pretty cool… and a beautiful morning walk!

It seems that Switzerland is a pretty awesome place…. along with all these beautiful fields, moutains and lakes, they also have chocolate factories!  Knowing this, we made plans to meet my old pal from Denison, Amy Krajewsky Meyer, and her two daughters for a tour and a tasting at the Maison Cailler in a small town near Greyer.  Amy and her family live in Geneva so our meeting place was almost exactly halfway between our two homes.  How convenient…. and tasty!

The Factory gift shop held our attention perhaps better than the factory tour.  There are bins and bins of the small, wrapped chocolate bars that you can select and pack in your own box – to keep or send to friends…. I think we did both!

After Maison Cailler, and since the girls were having so much fun together, we decided to extend our stay and travel the 10 minutes to Greyer.  Yup… where the cheese comes from.  I always though Greyer was in France – Nope.  It’s a beautiful little touristy town that you can walk through in 10 minutes.  But they have a couple of very cute restaurants and the Meyer twins had some teaching to do.  The Littles were introduced to Raclette and Fondue and the Bob and Kathleen also had some terrific Swiss food.  A marvelous, cultural learning experience – even if you don’t like cheese much…

Charlotte and Erin did a little bonding over styling hair…

and Kathleen and Amy bonded over their common Kappa Kappa Gamma routes.  Although we think Amy’s experience with the KKG was considerably more positive that Kathleen’s.  See the fleur-de-lis above their heads?

Our stay in Switzerland finished with a beautiful sunset and many thanks to our hosts, Cindy and Pascal Zeller.  Cindy is an American from Pennsylvania and Pascal is Swiss.  They were so gracious and generous with their time.  They are adventure guides, wedding planners and wedding photographers.  So if you ever find yourself in Switzerland and need these services – hire them at swissholidayhouse.com

May 14, 2013 – A nice sunny day.  Why don’t we go up to 9,745 feet?  We were hoping for the weather to clear so we could go to the top of Schilthorn and see the famous Piz Gloria where Telly Savalas held court in the Bond film  “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”  It wasn’t perfect, but good enough! So up we went.  The trip starts in the town at Lauterbrunnen – about 10 minutes from our home in Wilderswil – with a tram to Grütschalp.  Just doing this tram ride would probably be enough – but this is only the beginning.  I was amused by the two 18 year old boys, and their mountain bikes, on the tram with us.  At first I thought, “oh that’s cool – they can ride down”… not long into the trip, my thinking changed to “these guys are absolutely nuts!”

Once we arrived in Grütschalp, we then got on a nice little train to the town of Mürren.  There are no cars allowed in Mürren, and at this time of year it seemed that there were no people allowed either!  May is the between seasons time.  Skiing is over, but there is still snow around, so summer can’t start yet.  There are few guys fixing the plumbing and beginning the setup for summer, but many of the stores were closed and there were very few people about.  We did see a good drink available in the vending machine which gives you a bombastic good feeling,  and we had a chance to take a few photos before the second tram to Schilthorn.

The tram to up to Schilthorn is awesome.  That’s the only word…. Awesome.  And when we arrived, we were glad that we bought the hats.

The trip down was just as wonderful as the trip up – more good sights!

That evening as the sun was setting our hosts, Cindy and Pascal Zeller, along with their daughter Sarah, took us on a little walk around town.  We stopped at a local farm and got some fresh, raw milk from a dispenser – one Swiss frank for a litre.  The farms are very interesting.  The cows spend the winter in the barns attached to the houses – right in town.  In early June, when the threat of snow is past, the cows are then led up into the hills where they spend the summer.  We learned that the small fields around town are kept long for the cows to graze, and the farmers get very angry if you walk in their fields…

Pascal showed the girls an old grain mill.  Wilderswil is a very old town and some of their neighbors’ houses go back to the 1500’s. Across the street was a funny little antique store that had an item in the window that is special to the Wilderswil area – specifically Grindelwald.  It’s a snow bike called a Velogemel. They are still made in basically the same way, and although there are other more modern versions, these Velogemel’s are the real deal.  This one in the window is possibly from the 1800’s. Each year in Grindelwald, they have a race. See it here.

It was a beautiful and awesome day!