Greg · Wannier's · Travel · Log

VENEZIA (VENICE), Italy
May 2007
Length of Stay: 2 and a half days
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General Description: Venice lives up to just about every stereotype it has earned over the years - it is full of tourists, canals, and such canned romantic props as gondolas and overpriced cafes at every turn. However, it is also incredibly beautiful, relaxing, and as a destination one of the most unique experiences I have ever had. The whole city is actually a huge island - that is, if you can call buildings and roads built on sinking mud-banks an island - I did not see one bit of natural land above the water the whole time I was there. And everywhere you turn you can see a battle between man and nature; a battle that tilted buildings with water lapping at the doors and partially submerged staircasees seem to indicate nature is winning, though slowly enough, I suppose.
As an experience, Venice managed to have the superficially least authentic and yet most encompassing and electric atmosphere of any city I have ever been to. While toursts don't literally outnumber locals all over, they do in a lot of areas, and the number of street performers and gondola hawkers is off the charts. However, they are offset by the complete (and welcome) absence of cars, motorcycles, etc (everything in Venice is accomplished by boat - the staired bridges ensure that), and don't detract from the general air of romanticism, history, scheming, and exoticism that is, as unorignal people like me say, "in the air." If Cleopatra married Machiavelli (by day) or Edgar Allen Poe (by night), their kids would live in Venice.
What this all means, is that Venice is far greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, there are some pretty awesome sights, good museums, etc. But I usually make a point of seeing every church, museum, and historical site I can, and I spent the entire afternoon and evening of my first day in the city wandering aimlessly through narrow streets that twisted along and between a warren of canals. There are definitely sights in Venice that I missed out on - but I don't regret any part of what I did there, and I only view that as motivation to go back - next time, with someone. One thing about enjoying a place for the atmosphere, is that the lack of travelling companions becomes more frustrating.
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Highlights:
- PIAZZA SAN MARCO: The unquestioned highlight of Venice, not least because it is that square that everyone has heard of with all the pigeons. And there are LOTS of pigeons. I didn't buy the 1 Euro corn bags, but did manage to get some on my arms anyway. It also has two impressive clock towers, beautiful Renaissance buildings that now house a couple museums, and oh - St. Mark's Basilica, which is the strangest but coolest cathedral I have ever seen. The outside looks like it was built in Turkey, and the inside boasts a huge central chamber under stunningly ornate huge golden-domed ceilings, and surrounded by a maze of terraces, chapels, walkways, and bridges. I was also super impressed by Pala d'Oro - a huge altar panel made of gold and incorporating over 1000 rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and garnets - and over 1000 more pearls. Basically a square orgy of disgusting wealth.
- PALAZZO DUCALE: Adjourning St. Mark's is the main palace of the unique and interesting government of Venice. It incorporated guilds, councils, aristocracy and a life-time elected but semi-figurehead Doge - it was basically a complex oligarchy, thriving in a time of monarchies. Anyway, the main palace has the Doge's quarters, as well as unbelievably elaborate room after room used for this council or this debate or this state function - each of which could be a small art gallery on its own. My favorite parts here apart from particular paintings were the armory (which had sword-guns! basically, swords with gun capabilities!) and the prison.
- VENICE BY NIGHT: The most surprising highlight of Venice. So my first day, I stayed in St. Mark's square to watch the sun set, and to see it at night. It was great, of course, but the true highlight was walking back to the train station to get to my hostel. The streets of Venice at night are abandoned, just about - and the air is humid, the streets narrow and shadowed, and the atmosphere added to by lonely lit windows along narrow alleyways and snitches of italian conversation or music that drift through the night. Remember all that Venetian atmosphere I talked about? Well if you have the right imagination, the time to experience it is at night.
- GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION: This is a modern art collection by Peggy Guggenheim, a free-love type of lady who apparently was a major figure in the modern art movement and made the careers of (and sometimes slept witih) such artists as Jackson Pollack. I can't say I'm impressed by Pollack, but I did see some really interesting modern art (including a new artist, Umberto Boccioni, that officially joined Dali on my now two-man list of favorite modern artists). The statues and sculptures in the garden are also really interesting, and the back patio looks out onto the Grande Canal. Not bad real estate, there.
- SCUOLA GRANDE DI SAN ROCCO: Another surprising highlight, and the renaissance highlight of Venice. It is basically the house of one of Venice's grand "scuole" (basically upper class guilds), but interesting because the upper floor is painted, wall-to-wall, ceiling too, by Tintoretto, one of Venice's greats apparently. I mean, it's just overwhelmingly fancy and impressive and artistic. Downstairs, the walls are lined with yet more Tintoretto as well. And, very intelligently, the place hands out huge mirrors with which to examine the paintings on the ceilings - which are both convenient and super fun.
- PONTE DI RIALTO: I have to admit, this is a really cool looking bridge. One of only three bridges crossing the backwards S-shaped Grand Canal, which bisects "mainland" Venice in an almost Yin-Yang manner, it is the only stone one, and the most elaborate. It has stores along the bridge, and great markets to the north, but my personal favorite part of it was that it connects San Marco and San Polo. *amused*
- SEAFOOD MARKETS: I definitely randomly stumbled on these 3 hours before I left, but I'm really glad I didn't miss them (in San Polo, to the northeast). For anyone who hasn't experienced a true seafood market, this is a good one to catch. Items for sale included all sorts of fish, crabs, clams, squid, snails, eels, and much more. I guess that's one benefit of living on the water.
- ARSENAL: This is the historical shipyard of Venice, once the most efficient and productive in the world - it apparently made a galleon for a visiting conquerer in a day in his honor. Even though I didn't even get to see it really (it is now a top-secret military site), I got to peek in from the south, and the southern entrance itself was pretty great, with a cool gate, lions statues and all. To be honest, I'm not really sure it really lives up to the love that I shower in its direction, but I was just captured by its cool history.
- GELATTO (SPECIFICALLY, PAOLIN): Somehow I managed to avoid the temptation through most of Italy, but in Venice I crumbled. And what a crumbling it was. In my two-and-a-half days in the city, I ate 8 or 9 cones of gelatto, half of which I bought at the best Gelatto place ever. Paolin is located in Campo Santo Stefano, a bit to the west of St. Mark's Square. And it is only 1.80 for two scoops of creamy deiliciousness, and specializes in the nutty flavors!
- SAN MARIA DELLA SALUTE: This church occupies a spot at the tip of the land south of St. Mark's. It was raised as a thank you to God for delivering the city from a big plague, and is fairly impressive. But the highlight for me is that the steps of the church are "my" place in Venice. It gives a great view across the canal of southern San Marco, is quieter and far more free of tourists, and is generally a great place to spend a Venetian sunset.
- STREET PERFORMERS: Sure, they're great everywhere - but in Venice there was a wine-glass performer! (as in, played wine glasses filled with varying amounts of water) He was really impressive, too, playing some fast and complicated songs (lots from the Nutcracker). Other highlights were a very decent opera singer and a really good violinist
- BRIDGE CROSSING: This actually stems from a lowlight (see my hostel), but entering Venice by land every morning was actually pretty great. One 4km bridge connects it to the mainland. Now, as I said before, Venice is built on sinking mud, with no discernible natural land, which gives the disorienting impression of entering a city that floats on the water (albeit a modern one, complete with big cranes and hazy skies) - the closest thing I think anyone will find to a city in the clouds.
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Lowlights:
- NON-EU DISCRIMINATION: See Naples lowlights.
- MY HOSTEL: The absolute worst part of my Venice experience. This hostel was pretty bad. First of all, it wasn't even in Venice - it was by Mestre station, on the mainland so I had to commute in (which actually turned out ok, see highlights, except for the time wasted). Second, it was really boring - no atmosphere, dark halls, annoyed clerks running the place, etc. Oh, and it was in an area that reminded me of a European La Canada (the boring, quiet neighborhood that I grew up in). Finally, all three nights I shared a room with an old, rotund Chilean who didn't speak a word of English, snored louder than ANYONE (literally) I have ever met, even forcing me to sleep in the hall my third night, smoked in the room, and also slept naked (while kicking off his covers all the time). I definitely saw, heard, and smelled far more than I wanted to in that room. The upside is, it caused me to bond with my fellow roommates, including two very cool australian girls. We took a hear no evil, see no evil, smell no evil picture :).
- GALLERIA DELL'ACCADEMIA: The fact that this was a lowlight really just highlights how pleasant of an experience the city was. I mean, it was a great gallery, with lots of interesting artwork, etc. However, no one piece was super exciting to me, and the ONE piece that I was really hoping to see (Leonardo's famous sketch of Jesus on the cross) turned out to not be on display (it never is), which sort of disappointed me through the whole museum. Plus, the lady who told me it was never on display was kind of a bitch about it.
- CAMPANILE: As I think I have made very clear by now, there are few things I usually love as much as a nice panoramic vista over a city I visit. The Campanile provides that to perfection, being super high and in the center of the city. And although it was interesting, the view overall was pretty disappointing, because it isn't really Venice. Why? You can't see a single canal, except for the closer bits of the grand canal. It's almost like looking at a different, random, red-roofed city. To be fair, the views of St. Mark's square below were pretty stellar (the number of black dots for pigeons is kind of disturbing), and the views of the southern islands is nice...but not quite what I was hoping for.
- THE GHETTO: This is the original ghetto, after which all other ghettos are named. Of course, it is the Jewish quarter (we really were despised back then - good thing we got some enlightened leaders by the time the 20th century came around...oh wait...). However, as a destination it was fairly boring - I couldn't even get into the main synagogue, and it just looks like any other part of Venice now. A plaque commemorating the jews killed during WWII was all there was, and holds nothing to the Jewish quarter of Prague.
- LUXURY PRICES: Another stereotype, lived up to. Venice is really expensive if you're looking for food, a cafe, a restaurant, or especially a gondola (those prices are too high for me even to share here). I actually managed to get around pretty cheaply by walking almost everywhere and eating food bought on the mainland. I only went on the water once, to cross the grand canal, and I took a traghetto for only 50 cents! Totally worth it, to say I went on the water, and actually fairly fun - I can see the appeal of the gondolas. But for anything even semi-luxurious, the place is a money trap.
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Doable Daytrips:
- VERONA: It's a lengthy daytrip, maybe even an overnighter, but also doable as a daytrip. See Verona - it's its own entry.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- MUSEO MARCIANO: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. A museum INSIDE Saint Mark's Basilica, I totally missed it, and I definitely regret it - a silly mistake on my part. Not only does it get you onto the church's 2nd floor balcony, but it shows you some apparently really interesting Roman carved horses and charriots.
- NORTHERN/SOUTHERN ISLANDS: Coulda. They are supposed to be nice, and the northern ones have a glass-blowing and cloth-making museums, which are two of Venice's major industries, that would have been interesting to see. But it would have made my time in Venice more stressed and stretched, so it's best saved for next time. Ha, that doesn't even sound like me talking there - I'm normally all about squeezing in the maximum number of sights. :)

VERONA, Italy
May 2007
Length of Stay: 1 day
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General Description: Verona is a relatively small city that reeks of past importance. Situated on a critical crossroads of the north-south and east-west land trade routes, it achieved its greatest prosperity during the Roman empire. It was also pretty powerful as a city state for many years, until it was captured by Venice...and from there, its historical importance basically consists of being a mainland Venetian stronghold. The residents seem happy and fairly well-to-do, but the whole story reeks of tragic might-have-been unimportance to me. Probably that's just me.
All of this adds up to a slew of interesting historical sights and great churches that aren't quite as exciting as they should be, though relatively free of tourists and actually quite cheap to see. Verona REALLY doesn't help itself here, though. Almost every major site in the city (including every Roman site) has been warped or converted for some modern-day function that steals some of the raw presence from each site. It probably makes for some pretty great local living and events, but takes away from the overall tourist experience.
All of this having been said, I saw the city on less than 2 hours of fitful sleep, in dirty clothes with sore feet (see Lowlights), so I may not have been in the right mood to really appreciate it. But I dunno, I'm a pretty committed sightseer, and there was definitely something to Verona's modern life taking away from its historic majesty. I mean, it's a great place, and I'm glad I visited it - it just left me with this lingering sense of how amazing it might have been - both historically and touristically (my new word).
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Highlights:
- CASTELVECCHIO: At least for me, the only unequivocal highlight of Verona. Along with being an imposing fortress on a pretty river, this awesome site houses the best collection of Medieval art and sculpture that I saw in Italy. I mean, the collection wasn't huge, but it was definitely interesting, unapologetically middle-ages in focus (which after Florence was rather nice), and the museum was like a maze through the rooms of this castle! All in all, it was quite the adventure. Highlight of the day, I think.
- SAN FERMO MAGGIORE: I take back what I said under Castelvecchio - this was the second unequivical highlight of Verona. I mean, it's a church, and it's not even particularly huge or dominating. But it has a very unique look (its exterior actually incorporates bits of two churches that were built on top of one another...don't ask), and seems like it came out of a fairy tale. It is just really cool looking. The inside was merely decent, though the downstairs partially buried church was more intact and impressive than most buried churches in Europe. Because buried churches beneath modern churches are basically a dime a dozen - I'm not kidding.
- THE ARENA: This was the third largest amphitheatre in the entire Roman empire, showcasing Verona's importance to the empire. It is also fairly intact, and I just can't resist a good ancient ruin. However, it is a perfect example of Verona's self-destructive tendencies on the tourist end - the entire arena floor is covered in ugly red chairs, and there is scaffolding for stage props and lights scattered amongst the stands. In spite of that, though, enough of the arena's majesty comes through to be worthwhile. Plus, the outside is unspoiled, and great!
- CASA DI GIULIETTA: Like the Tower of Pisa, this balcony of the real-life Juliet is worth seeing so that you can say you've seen it, but is otherwise fairly unimpressive. It's a small balcony jutting out of the historical Capulets' manor - jutting out over a courtyard that has been converted into a place for lovers to write their names in hearts and put chewed gum on the walls to signify the stickiness of their love, or something of that order. The inside of the manor is a little museum with period furniture, which honestly, I thought was pretty cool :). I mean, the whole site is nice, and there's also an interesting Juliette statue that for some reason you're supposed to grope the breast of (like rubbing the nose of the Bruin Bear...for good luck or something, only inappropriate, haha).
- SCALIGERI TOMBS: Without a doubt the coolest tombs I have ever seen. These are elaborate gothic style tombs that are 10 feet or more in the air, raised and partially encased by elaborate spindly rectangular monuments outside of a fairly typical church. They're almost impossible to describe, but trust me - they are definitely worth seeing. Unfortunately, the only thing harder than describing them is getting a good picture, especially since the graveyard they are in stays closed all the time.
- VERONA CARD: Absolutely the best "city card" system in Europe so far. Seven Euros got me free public transportation (which, from the train station, is pretty important), and free entrance into every church and site (who independently charge between 2 and 4 euros a pop). A great way to encourage tourists to really see all of the city - I approve. And enjoyed. I only missed 3 sites that were covered!
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Lowlights:
- MY "SLEEPING QUARTERS": I don't blame Verona at all for this one, except that it did have kind of expensive hostels. I showed up expecting to be able to find a cheap one, but unbeknownst to me, the train station is way out on its own, seperated from all of the city. I ended up spending the night at the train station. I slept on a bench by one of the tracks. It was uncomfortable, hard, and I got woken up every 20 minutes by huge cargo trains passing through - that is when I got to sleep at all. I probably got less than two hours of actual sleep. The worst part, though, was that it was after Cinque Terra...so I had dried sweat from the day's hard hiking, and couldn't take a shower, so didn't want to change into a clean shirt...so the whole next day I was quite the sight.
- MY CUT(S): An additional consequence is that a couple of cuts I got while swimming in Cinque Terra festered in my dirty socks all night, so the whole next day I semi-limped around the town. The low point came half way through the day when I couldn't deal anymore, cleaned the cuts (which were dirty and swollen and discolored) by scrubbing them painfully wiht soap, and wrapped them in toilet paper. This actually worked really well, though - after that, the pain subsided and the cuts healed fine.
- TEATRO ROMANO: The most painful example of Verona's self-destructive utility of ancient monuments. The whole theater was covered with scaffolding basically, and the ancient stage was covered over with sets being set up on it. The seats were augmented with more ugly looking ones, and the whole thing looked so fake and sad. I mean, I can appreciate using an ancient theater for plays, but at least use it in the shape its in, or mimic the architecture of the site you are adding to...oh - and it didn't help that it was attached to a pretty puny archaeology museum. Rome spoiled me, haha.
- TORRE DEI LAMBERTI: Is supposed to be great, and give a great view of Verona, but it was absolutely surrounded by a convention that blocked its entrances, and closed it off to visitors. Also, boxes and stuff for hte convention filled the square that houses the historical government buildings of Verona. I mean, sure conventions are great, but Verona just let this one walk all over its historically significant location...very odd.
- TOMBA DI GIULIETTA: The tomb itself was fine (though obviously depicts some random Juliette that has no real relation to the Juliet of stories). However, two things killed it for me. First, it was my last site, and it took me half an hour to find (the map is SO wrong about its location). Second, the people there literally force you to walk through a whole bunch of rooms full of random art (well, some of it was actually pretty good, with interesting techniques but still relatively annonymous) before they deigned to allow you to enter the tomb. They were very polite about it, but I couldn't believe it. I just wanted ot see the tomb and go, and nice but persistant old ladies kept pointing me off in random directions until I had walked by every freaking painting in the joint. It was a...unique experience, in a vaguely fascist way. And I don't use that word lightly.

CINQUE TERRA, Italy
May 2007
Length of Stay: 1 and a half days
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General Description: Cinque Terra is a series of five small coastal fishing villages, that are stretched along a pretty spectacular stretch of north-west Italian coastline. They are connected by a train service, multiple hiking paths, and even ship services, and are the "hidden secret" of Italy that everyone knows about. Somehow the area has been indoctrinated into Italian tourist lore as "the" ideal relaxing retreat. Though I have to say, it probably deserves it.
As a result, the whole area has more than its fair share of tourists. However, they are mostly concentrated in the more touristy of the towns (Vernazza and Monterosso), and don't get in the way of some pretty nice hiking. I took paths ranging from almost literally pedestrian, to fairly challenging, and generally had a great, athletic day of it on the whole day I was there. I wouldn't say that it had quite the pure stunningness of Capri's best vistas, but the whole area was consistently interesting, and the really rather unique towns and hillside farming added a whole extra level of interest to the sights. All in all, crowded but absolutely worth it.
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Highlights:
- RIOMAGGIORE: So maybe I liked it because it was the town I stayed at, but it also had the best mix of beauty (especially from a seperate hike to a scenic lookpoint from the main paths of the region), beachfront (rocky, but pretty), and authenticity. Sure, there were tourists, but it wasn't overridden like other towns. Plus, its train station has hands down the best view from a train station that I have EVER seen. It is literally on the ocean, looking out along great rock formations and cliffs.
- MANAROLA, VERNAZZA: These two towns win the "most picturesque" award. Following the coastal hiking trail gives you some unreal shots of these two towns, both of which are built on interesting rock formations.
- TRAIL OF LOVE: So travelling alone, you would think I would have hated the concept behind naming an entire path (between Riomaggiore and Manarola) for couples. But the whole thing was pretty cute - enitre stretches of the path were covered in "Amy and John, February 2006," etc graffiti. Plus, there were random plaques for all the gods, goddesses, and creatures of love and beauty. Honestly, I was half amused, half endeared by the whole thing - but at least it was something unique to look at - and it didn't get in the way of the coastline's beauty at all.
- THE AFTERNOON: Because the whole coastline faces south and slightly west, the entire afternoon gives pretty ideal lighting of the coastline. It just works.
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Lowlights:
- MONTEROSSO: It has sort of lost its character, being overrun with tourists, and complete with a typical beach and screaming schoolchildren. I mean, it was definitely beautiful, and with friends (and without the kids...they were kind of annoying) it could have been fun, but I was in a hiking mood for the day, and that just took some of the mood away.
- LONERISHNESS: I mean, I absolutely had a good time, but unlike other famous sights, this is really a more sharing the experience type of place. Next time I come here, I will not be alone.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- MORE TIME: Woulda. It's the type of place that you can see in a day, but enjoy for five more. Plus, there are a lot of really interesting looking trails going up into the mountains that looked pretty interesting - I took one of these trails, but otherwise kept to the coast, for time reasons.

FIRENZE (FLORENCE), Italy
May 2007
Length of Stay: 3 and a half days
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General Description: Considering that it was the heart of the elite artistic and intellectual society that comprised the Renaissance, I suppose I should have expected it, but Florence definitely feels highbrow from the moment you enter it. From the moment I stepped out from the relatively clean station into the well-list streets, I felt...relaxed. The historical flagstone walkways are kept surprisingly clean, even the street stands are organized into orderly rows, the streets are fairly open and almost never crowded, and the whole city just feels like it flows from one sight to another. Somehow, the fact that over half of the city's attractions are museums, and churches make up another 40%, just makes sense. It's a city that seems more absorbed by music, art, religion, sculpture, and history than it is by the troubles of today. Without doing any research, I would wager that Florence is the most affluent city I visited in Italy.
The catch here is that it's very easy to get lulled into wandering from pretty street to street and forget to make the time to see the city's major sights. I met not one, not two, but three different sets of travellers who talked independently about how they loved Florence, but spent their last day or two trying to cram the really great sights in, or just missing them altogether. Being anal, I managed to get them all in with (a little) time to spare - but be forwarned - Florence's famous museums, etc. are worth seeing, but won't get seen by themselves!
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Highlights:
- DUOMO: The main cathedral of Florence, this building has one of the coolest "looks" that I have seen. It is white, lined in dark green and pale red, and looks like nothing I would have imagined until I saw it. It is also an entire complex, and way too big for one picture - the site includes an incredible dome over the church, a Campanile (bell tower), and a big baptistry with pretty stunning carved gold doors. I went up the bell tower (and was inspired by a person who climbed to the top on permanent crutches), and the top gave a pretty spectacular view of Florence in all directions.
- THE UFFIZI: Apart from the Vatican Museums, probably Italy's most famous museum. Basically, the Uffizi contains a ridiculously large collection of renaissance artwork. And I mean ridiculous. Everyone said to take about 3 to 4 hours to see it all. Not being a huge art person, I made it out in just over 2, but oh man is that museum huge. It also has lots of super famous paintings. The highlight for me was seeing Boticelli's "Birth of Venus," of which a friend and I have a 10,000 piece puzzle. But I also saw some pretty amazing less-famous paintings that appealed specifically to me (including one with a mythical beast I didn't recognize). The nice thing about the Uffizi is that there is so much great artwork, that everyone has to find something they like. Oh - and my great picture of the Ponte Vecchio (Florence's famous bridge) over the Arno River came from the Uffizi gallery - so look for that. Be warned though - the Uffizi is the #1 thing that fucks with people's schedules...I waited two hours to get in, and wished the whole time that I had reserved a spot (apparently you can do that ahead of time to avoid the wait).
- THE BARGELLO: Ok, so this is absolutely my preference peeking out, but this was my favorite museum in Florence. It isn't as famous (or as crowded - no line!) as the Uffizi, but it specializes in sculpture as opposed to painting, and after my Italy swing, I've decided that I find sculpture more impressive and interesting. Personal taste. They had a Michelangelo from when he was 22 that made me feel like a worthless bum, and an awesome collection of bird statues by Giambologna to go with some more pretty amazing stuff. ALSO, they had a pretty interesting medieval art - a pretty large collection, actually.
- GALLERIA DELL'ACADEMIA: Unlike the above two museums, this is basically a gallery - it has one room of decent paintings, another side room absolutely stuffed with busts and statues, and a side instrument museum - but basically, you go for Michelangelo's David. Well, and his "Slaves," which is the men emerging from uncarved rock. While trying not to exaggerate too much, David is as good and better than everyone says it is. For one, it's freaking huge, and for another it's REALLY good. Again, I'm apparently a softie for sculpture...but man - it's a really good statue. The one thing in Florence I absolutely want to see again. Oh - and the Slaves are also really good...they're just overshadowed by David.
- SANTA CROCE: Imagine for a second that lots of famous Renaissance people came together and decided that they wanted to pick an otherwise random church to bury themselves in. Now open your imagination. The church that you are viewing is Santa Croce, whose long list of famous people includes Gallileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Dante. The super famous people have elaborate tombs along the walls, while plenty of other notables are in graves set into the floorstones. The creepy highlight apart from the famous people was a seperate passage whose walls and floors were solid graves, all bone-white. My other favorite part about this museum was that the sun started shining while it was raining and with dark clouds in the background, so I was treated to some pretty interesting visual effects, including a shining statue in the rain, and a pretty complete reflection of the church in the puddles of the flagstones that lined the plaza.
- PIAZZA DELLA SIGNORIA: I don't think I could have missed this plaze if I tried - but I wouldn't want to. It has the palace of the Medici family (who ruled Florence for a long time), which is pretty characteristic in shape - a square with a single clock tower in front. Its inside was just ok, though it did have Machiavelli's quarters and another cool map room! There is also a free, open air gallery with yet more amazing statues. Such a gluttony of good art in this city.
- CAPELLA BRANCACCI: Basically, this is a chapel completely covered with frescoes by Masolino (mostly) and Masaccio (a bit of the right side). Along with being beautiful, it has an interesting story - it was the only part of its church (Santa Maria del Carmine) to survive a huge fire, miraculously. Also, it was apparently where all of the great masters of the Renaissance learned a lot of their painting skills. It's really a highlight for me, though, because I got lucky and got to see a video that explained every picture, which automatically makes everything more exciting!
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Lowlights:
- NON-EU DISCRIMINATION: See lowlights of Naples
- RAIN: See lowlights of Naples
- LINES: Not nearly as bad as those in Rome, they were still fairly annoying, and ate at least half a day of my time, mostly between the Uffizi and Galleria dell'Academia.
- PRETTY ART SYNDROME: Similar to the pretty building syndrome. Basically, there is a limit to how much art one can actually take in and appreciate without either being an art history major, or just imploding. I definitely felt overloaded when looking through the later galleries in the Uffizi, or random other paintings in some of the other museums around.
- "FREE" DINNER "DEALS": So this was one adventure that turned out pretty badly for me. A hostel friend of mine dragged me along to this supposedly good deal where you buy a drink and then get unlimited access to snacks, and can make your dinner off of it. It is apparently a really common thing in Italy. Unfortunately, we went to one place, paid the 4 euros for the drink, but the bar sucked (totally dead) and the waiter was a bitch. We decided to go to another place, and I got a coke so I could get a cheap drink...but EVERY drink was 8 euros (it was a much better, more popular place) to cover the cost of dinner. So basically, I got screwed with an 8 euro coke, and ended up paying 12 euros for a bunch of (admittedly decent) snacks, a coke, and some new type of alcoholic drink. I mean, it could be great, I just didn't work it very well, and boycotted them from then on. Theoretically you could take the food and not buy a drink, but I would have felt dishonest doing that.
- PRICES: So part of being a wealthy, touristy city full of art and churches is high cost. The hostel was decently priced, but I had to pay entrance to every single church (sometimes multiple times for different parts of the church), and paid full price almost every time b/c of the only EU citizen thing. It even made me so frustrated that I skipped a museum that I think would have been fun (see Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda).
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Doable Daytrips:
- PISA: Yes, Pisa is its own city, but to be blatantly honest, all there is that is worth seeing is within 200 meters of the Leaning Tower. It's absolutely a daytrip (even half-day-trip) kind of place. There is a nice church, an interesting basilica (with stunningly good acoustics, as this lady demonstrated by singing harmonics), and what has been called "the most beautiful cemetary in the world" - though, ironically for a fresco that is now all but destroyed....go figure. But the tower itself. OK, so I've decided that there are two reasons to see a particular site - for the enjoyment of seeing it, and for the sake of being able to say you've seen it. The best sites encompass both - such as the Colosseum and Pompeii (the former having more "I saw it" value, the latter having more "enjoyment" value). The Leaning Tower of Pisa, however, should be seen almost entirely for the "saw it" value - apart from taking a funny picture, and thinking that it was rather pretty and strange looking, it had very little value for me. Which isn't to say that it shouldn't be seen - I'm definitely glad that I saw it - just that it probably won't live up to any real expectations. Plus, it's 15 euros to climb up, and that's just way too much in my book.
- LUCCA: The former capital of the Tuscany region, Lucca really appeals as a "typical medieval small Tuscan town" - everyone's Tuscan dream, right? It's nice - has a nice laid back feel, a pretty impressive wall and battlements lining the city, some random-ass sights (including a tower topped with an oak tree and an awesome unfinished church with all sorts of different columns along the free-standing facade along the front), and pretty buildings all around. Definitely holds its own in the enjoyment category, but I wouldn't be all that disappointed not to have seen it. It did work well to fill in the other half of the day after Pisa, though.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
- MUSEO DI STORIA DELLA SCIENZA: Coulda, Shoulda. I had plenty of time, and was right there, and wanted to go in. But I didn't. I had spent so much money on the other museums, etc., that I was sick of spending and so I didn't go in. Kind of regret that - it's suppposed to have lots of interesting relics from the "other" part of the Renaissance (science, inventing, etc) that is more exciting to me anyway.
- PALAZZO DI ROSSA: Coulda. Same story as the Science museum, actually - it is supposed to have beautiful gardens, but I was just sick of spending money. Next time, for sure. Oh, and the building itself has yet another fantastic art collection, but that one I said no to just because of the art overload. Also, next time.
- OLTRARNO: Coulda, Shoulda. The hill to the south of the Arno River, I wasn't considering going there but a girl I talked to in Venice said that it was really nice, and gave the best view of Florence she had seen. Ah well.

TIVOLI, Italy
May 2007
Length of Stay: 1 day
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General Description: Tivoli is a small town about an hour or so east of Rome. It is basically a fun daytrip from Rome, but big enough to warrant an overnight. Apart from being a smallish town, it doesn't have its own "feel" per se - it just is a place, with three pretty amazing major attractions. I guess that's the price of being so close to one of the most culturally significant cities in the world.
It's definitely not overrun with tourists - I doubt all that many people get distracted from Rome long enough to go out there - but it should be. It was apparently a major retreat for Rome's richer citizens (sense a patter? Capri, etc), and it certainly lives up to the hype, being situated along a river, near a waterfall, on a hill that gives a nice view of the surrounding countryside. But apart from its natural beauty and the three main sights, I'd say it's just a fairly quiet, relaxed, slowly modernizing town, both physically and culturally in the long shadow of Rome.
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Highlights:
- VILLA D'ESTE: Probably Tivoli's most famous sight, this is the rich retreat of some Rennaisance-era lord. The inside was pretty and all, with some nice ceiling paintings...but the real draw is the backyard. It has over 1,000 fountains of various types, in various formations among a huge, layered garden (it's all on a hill). Now, I'm not a huge fan of man-made attempts at natural beauty, but these fountains are pretty stunning. The organ fountain (massive jets of water in a formation going down a cliff-like drop to the plaza below) and the rometta fountain (basically full of statues symbolizing the great buildings and deities of Rome) were my favorites.
- VILLA ADRIANA: Pompeii part two, this was the main retreat for Emperor Hadrian during his reign, and exploring it has a similar feel as Pompeii, in the sense that you are wandering ancient ruins with no hint of modern culture spoiling the effect. A lot of it has been worn down or mined away, but what is left behind is still pretty damn impressive. I didn't have enough time here because I squeezed all three major sights in on one day - so I definitely want to get back here, with 4 hours to spare next time.
- VILLA GREGORIANA: If D'este is Renaissance, and Adriana is Ancient Rome, Gregoriana completes the trifecta of Italy's cultural treasures - it was named for Pope Gregory XVI, and used as a Monastery for an order of monks, though little of it remains. I liked it not just for its beautiful name but because it was built entirely on cliffs, and has all of Tivoli's waterfalls inside. It is overgrown, and basically felt more like a nature preserve than an old Villa - which was fine by me. Great views, pretty waterfalls, remains of the monastery as well as an ancient temple - what else does one need?
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Lowlights:
- THE TOWN: So apart from the major attractions, Tivoli is a bit normal and boring - I wouldn't go for the culture of a small Italian town, because it's too big for that, while being too small for a strong culture of its own. Also, the town has expanded beyond the hillside onto the plain below (near Villa Adriana, to be fair), and sort of oozes into Rome during the drive back. It's the closest feeling to Los Angeles sprawl I have gotten in Europe so far.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- TIME: Shoulda. Basically, I didn't have enough time to really get the best of all three sights. I defnitely could have used another hour or two at Adriana, and didn't even make it across the canyon at Gregoriana because I wanted to see all three. Next time (if there is one), I'm either starting earlier, ending later, spending the night, or skipping D'este to focus on the other two.

ROMA (ROME), Italy
April/May 2007
Length of Stay: 4 days
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General Description: Ahhh, Rome. I think it's called the eternal city or something like that, but whatever it's called, it is quite the city. Now, coming from a state whose capital is some boring podunk overheated city removed from the real heart of California (the coast), I can really appreciate Rome's value. It is the perfect capital. It splits Italy into north and south, is by far the biggest and most active, doesn't side with either the north or the south, and is a world-class destination, with days' worth of entertainment and the richest history of any city I have ever encountered. What less would one expect from the heart of one of the greatest powers in earth's history? It's basically like what would happen if New York moved to Ohio and became our nation's capital.
As an environment, Rome is...overwhelming. Quite apart from its list of attractions that would make any planner squirm with frustration, it is active, constnatly bustling with all the bustle of any city, and tons of tourists to boot. The one good/bad thing is that almost all of the major sights live up to their names - meaning that they're that much more crowded. I mean, it's all very exciting, it just is so constantly engaging and active that by the time I left, I felt a bit worn out.
Really, I don't have any particularly good insights into the "nature" of Rome. It's a huge, metropolitan, touristy, important European city. And I want to go back. *deep breath*
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Highlights:
- COLOSSEUM: Yes, I know, it's the biggest, most touristy sight in Rome. But unlike some others (*cough* Leaning Tower of Pisa), it absolutely lives up to its name. The Colosseum is a massive structre, and represents both the pure brutality of Rome's dark side, and the stunning majesty of its greatness. Cue Hans Zimmer's brilliant "Gladiator" score - I couldn't stop humming it in my head. Be forewarned, though. The Colosseum is not quite as impressive on the inside - all of the white marble has been stolen away for various churches (see below). However, the pure size and structure of the skeleton that remains is impressive enough on its own - and they even recreated part of the sand covering of the arena! Oh - and walking down to it one night was the best decision ever - it is lit with bright yellow lights, and stands out against the night sky pretty spectacularly.
- ROMAN FORUM: Together with the Palatine and Colosseum, one of the three main ancient Roman sites. It's also the only free one to get into (the other two are a joint ticket) - and arguably better inside than both. It is basically the government center of ancient Rome, and is basically littered with awesome columns, buildings, stones that turn out to be elaborately carved, toppled column-tops, etc. But the best part was standing in one place with a view, and just staring down and imagining the ruling of Rome (much easier in the morning before the heavy tourist flow) - the whole thing reeks of history.
- VATICAN MUSEUMS: Of course Rome would have another country inside of it. The Vatican museums are basically the largest and most impressive collection of art in the world. Power of the pope, figures. There are a bunch of different museums, highlighted by the Sistine Chapel of course (though, the ceiling was less impressive than the last judgement above the altar on the wall), Rafael's School of Athens, and a ridiculous number of pretty amazing ancient statues (sadly, many of them have had their pubic regions covered by fig leaves, for Christians' modesty.
- ST. PETER'S BASILICA: A fourth famous Roman sight that is as good as everyone says. Honestly, I feel so unoriginal. The inside is HUGE (it is the biggest church in the world, after all). But it's more like 10 different churches under one roof than anything else. The highlight for me, though, was climbing up to the dome - it gave great visuals of the mosaic ceiling (lots of mosaic in Europe), but it also gave pretty great views of Rome from the top. Oh, and they charge 4 euros, but 7 if you want to use the elevator. Seperating the weak from the cheap. Or, I guess, the rich from the strong. Either way, everyone should know which one I was ;).
- CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS: Along with having the best collection of ancient statues (including some pretty impressive pieces of two absolutely monumental ones of Constantine), they had a partial wall from what must have been a huge temple to Jupiter, and the original Capitoline She-wolf, who is a wolf with lots of udders feeding two infants (Romulus and Remus) that are the legendary founders of Rome. It also gave a really great view of the Roman Forum - one of the two buildings (connected underground) looks over it.
- BATHS OF CARACALLA: So people should know my weakness for ancient ruins by now - but for being a fairly annonymous Roman sight, these baths were pretty stunning - I actually found them more exciting than the Palatine, just because of their sheer size, though admittedly also b/c I expected so little.
- CAPUCHIN CRYPT: This was my insider's tip sight (thanks, Meghan!). Basically, it's a normal church, but downstairs is a three-room crypt whose walls are decorated with 4000 bones. As in, the walls are patterned with different bone formations. It's actually quite artistic once you get past the original shock - like bones are matched up, and the whole thing is symmetrical and original. The truly creepy part is the intact skeletons wearing monk robes that are interspersed throughout.
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Lowlights:
- NON-EU DISCRIMINATION: See lowlights of Naples
- RAIN: See lowlights of Naples
- CROWDS: The Vatican Museums' line stretches for blocks and blocks along the Vatican walls, and is really thick too - I showed up at 7:30 am, and made it inside by 10 am on the day I went. St. Peter's Basilica was opened about 15 minutes after I showed up, so I was subjected to a solid mass of people filling half of the oval square squeezing into a line in the most intense crowd shoving, cursing, etc experience of my life. I didn't even buy my Colosseum ticket at the site, so that I could avoid the half-hour line that would have taken (I got it at the Palatine). And I didn't even go at quite the height of tourist season - it's a little early for the summer trip swing. Rome certainly deserves its popularity, but man is it overcrowded.
- PANTHEON: The biggest let-down of Rome. I was expecting this stunning temple to the seven main gods of Ancient Rome. And the outside is still quite impressive. However, the inside has been stripped (including what was apparently a really cool bronze ceiling), and now serves as yet another church - to Santa Maria ad Martyres. As a result, all of the decoration is standard Christian imagery, apart from a couple of tombs to famous people (notably, Rafael). The only really cool part remaining is that the center of the roof is completely open - when it rains, it rains inside, originally for the "opening up to the heavens" deal I assume. I mean, it's worth a visit, it was just a pretty big letdown for me.
- ANCIENT SITE MINING: The Pantheon wasn't the only victim of later scourging. It's such a shame, but basically every impressive ancient site was coopted over the next millenium or so for the needs of the day. It wasn't all quite as complete as the Pantheon's coopting, but these ancient, historic, beautiful sites were basically mined for their marble, bronze, and other basic materials that the people of the day were too cheap to actually pay for. The main beneficiaries? Christian churches... now, I have a lot of respect for and interest in Christian architecture, but I can't stand the religious Darwinism that I kept seeing here, and the pretty tragic effect it has had on what could have been even more spectacular monuments of our common heritage. sigh.
- MY TIMING: So unbeknownst to me (before), May 1 is Italy's national unification holiday. As a result, I got a more intense crowd representation than I otherwise might have, as I'm sure lots of Italians used the weekend off to visit the national capital (think DC on July 4th). The upside of it all meant that finding a good place to stay was pretty hard - and I failed with burning colors.
- MY HOSTEL: The worst hostel I have ever stayed at. This is mostly because I was totally taken advantage of, and I knew it the whole time. Coming around the first, I found not one room open on www.hostelworld.com, which is usually pretty reliable, so I started emailing the hostels themselves. My place (PopInn) emailed me saying I could have their last bed, in a 5 person room...for 36 euros a night - but that included free internet and breakfast. I knew this was a rip-off, but figured it wasn't worth the extra train fair to head to Florence first, so asked for the first two nights. However, they refused to give me the room unless I reserved for four nights, citing some May 1st rule or something. Which, as it turns out, was bullshit, b/c friends I made there checked out on May 1st. ALSO, my last night they added another bed, so I didn't even have the "last bed" they kept whining about. Basically, they lied to me and overcharged me b/c I was desperate. To top it all off, the place had no real atmosphere, the breakfast was a small pastry and a cup of coffee, and the internet was 15 minutes at a sketchy laundromat whose computers took 3 minutes to load the first site. I ended up paying for my own internet b/c I couldn't do anything there. Getting out of there for my last night was the best feeling in the world.
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Doable Daytrips:
- TIVOLI: Is enough of a destination to warrant its own summary. See Tivoli.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- CATACOMBS: Woulda, Shoulda. My second hostel listed this as one of the must-see cool attractions of Rome, and the concept of them seems really cool - an underground maze of passageways and graves...awesome. The PopInn, my first hostel, didn't even mention it. They suck.
- AQUEDUCTS: Woulda, Shoulda. This one only occurred to me after I left Rome, sadly - but I never saw one of the great aqueducts, or any ruins thereof. Apparently, the best remnants are to the south of the city, and next time, I WILL see them.

NAPOLI (NAPLES), Italy
April 2007
Length of Stay: 4 days
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General Description: Naples is the heart of Southern Italy. When I first arrived, I didn't really know what that meant, and to be honest I'm still not enitrely sure, but it's definitely a unique Italian experience, different from everything to the North. Unfortunately, most of the differences are to Naple's detriment. The city was pretty dirty, busy, crowded (especially by the main stations), and non-english-friendly. It is also known as the pickpocketing capital of Italy - which makes it an automatic candidate for the pickpocketing capital of Europe. From what I have heard, and what I experienced, the point of visiting Naples is not to see Naples itself - I spent two days in the city, and that was almost an entire day too much. The two biggest reasons to visit are outside the city limits, and make for some of the best daytripping I have ever done.
That having been said, Naples itself certainly has a lively character, is cheap, fast-paced and exciting, and provided the most authentic Italian environment that I got on my whole Italy trip. And there was something about wandering the cramped, crowded, ancient Roman streets in Spaccanapoli (the historical center) from sight to site that really enveloped me in the feel of the place.
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Highlights:
- MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE: This is the third major reason to visit Naples. Easily the equivalent of its more-well-known cousins in Rome, it had a pretty stunning collection of ancient Roman (and Greek and Egyptian!) sculptures, household items, etc. A substantial part of the collection was relocated here from the uncovered Roman ruins nearby, which probably is why the museum is so awesome and huge. Highlights here were the ancient sex images section (includes a phallus complete with wings, legs, bells, and a tail!), some pretty stunning, well-preserved mosaics, HUGE statues of the ancient gods, and a similarly amazing collection of ancient jewelry, very copper and amber-heavy.
- MY HOSTEL: Called Hostel of the Sun, this is by far the best Hostel I have ever stayed at. Hands down. And all sorts of Hostel awards groups have recognized that with plaques that cover an entire wall. It was 18 euros a night, for unlimited, fast internet in the main room, breakfast included (with the largest Nutella jars I have ever seen), a super friendly staff, wide-screen plasma TV with DVD player and a collection of movies, all in english, dubbed italian, bright, colorful decorations, and, oh, they made us all free dinner one night, organized a night-life tour, and do this type of stuff every other day or so. Plus, it's right by the ocean, close to transportation to the port and regional transport, and walking distance to everything interesting.
- CAPELLA SANSERVO: It isn't a major tourist sight, but it should be. Basically, it's this tomb/chapel of a historic Napolian (wait...is that where Napolean's name comes from? *intrigued*) noble family. But you go for two reasons. Number one, some of the coolest, most impressive, and definitely the most intricate statues I saw in all of Italy - Christ under a wrinkled full-body veil, and "Disillusionment" - a guy struggling to get out of fishnet – are the best. Reason number two was downstairs - apparently some prince did medical experiments here (and was excommunicated for it), so there are two fully intact circulatory systems, dyed black (man and woman), with the rest of the body dissected out. It was kind of creepy but SO cool.
- PIZZA: So Naples is the birthplace of pizza. As a result, it has really good pizza. It is also super cheap - I got a delicious, very natural pizza, huge wood oven and all (about medium size at Domino's) for 3 euros. And it was made, from scratch, as I watched. They also had smaller pizzas with no mozzarella and ready-to-eat, for 1 Euro each. My only regret is not having more - I only had one of the pizzas b/c I didn't realize until my second day, and I was daytripping the last two.
- CHURCHES' NETHER REGIONS: So it seemed like every other church was built on top of ancient Roman Ruins of some sort. Which says something about Christianity's perpetual elimination of their religious rivals once chosen as Rome's official religion......BUT, also makes for some pretty fun sightseeing. The best underground areas were beneath the Duomo (which was pretty impressive in its own right, actually), and Saint Lorenzo Maggiore Church.
- CASTEL SANT'ELMO: It is located on the one major hill of Naples, you take a funicular (basically, diagonal train) up the really steep hill, to a part of the city that is a little more fashionable, and a little less congested and dirty than the rest of the city. The best part of the hill, though, is the view, and the castle's ramparts give the best views of Naples (or indeed, of any city). Naples is surprisingly big, but the truly impressive part is of a huge city absolutely dominated by the two-peaked "Lonely Mountain" of the non-Tolkein world, Mt. Vesuvius. When mixed with the harbor and coastline extending into the distance, it makes for a pretty stunning panorama. Plus, you're on ancient ramparts to boot. Word.
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Lowlights:
- NON-EU DISCRIMINATION: Ok, So I'll try to keep this short (who are we kidding?), but honestly this was the kicker that came the closest to spoiling my entire Italy trip. In ALL of Italy, discounts are offered to all people between 18 and 25 years of age. The catch? They apply ONLY if you are an EU Citizen, and have the passport to prove it. Now, I thought the whole point of these discounts was to help the lives of people who have not established income sources, or are trying to travel on a budget, or whatnot. But apparently, in Italy (btw, nowhere else in Europe - just Italy), students from the USA, Canada, Australia, Africa, Asia, Latin America, etc. don't deserve a discount, while plenty of rich 24-year-old English/German lawyers/engineers do. *sigh* and those discounts are often half price or cheaper, too. It just reeks of European arrogance and hypocrisy of intent. So I pretended to be a German, showing my residence pass wherever I went, and got discounts about one-quarter of the time. Dishonest? Possibly. But I don't feel guilty getting what I feel by all rights should either be offered to me, or not offered at all.
- ARTE CARD SYSTEM: So it's actually a pretty good deal, but only if you are an EU citizen 18-25 or 65+. Then you get one free admission to all of the museums in the city once, and free transportation. If you're not that, you get two free admissions and free transport, for only 2 Euros less than what the stupid card would cost to begin with. Also, I was misinformed - I bought it expecting it to work for Pompeii (which was listed on the information brochure) but was told when I arrived that I should have bought the regional card to have that covered. Mostly though, I hated the system because apart from being misinformed and discriminated against (though I snuck around that one), I used up about 3 hours (no exaggeration) to find one. These cards are supposed to be sold at every museum and lots of news stands, etc, but the first FIVE places I went were out of the card I wanted. Buy one at the airport or train station when you first show up - they are not well stocked.
- MUSEUM CLOSINGS: You know, looking back, Naples screwed up a lot of its touristy obligations. In Naples, each museum closes a different day of the week, and I hit not one, not two, but three different museums at the wrong time, only to be forced to come back. It was annoying, especially when I found a schedule in the hostel as I was about to go.
- RAIN: Like the anti-non-EU discrimination, this was a common factor for a lot of italy - it rained 9 of my first 12 days, and I no longer buy into this whole "sunny Italy" thing people keep talking about. Though, it wasn't so bad - it never rained all day, and I always was able to get significant amounts of sightseeing in between the bouts of rain. You see, rain comes in spurts in Italy - one second it was raining hard enough to completely (and literally) drench me in under 25 feet from the bus to a grocery store (not wet-spots on the shirt - the whole shirt was wet), the next the sky was clear.
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Doable Daytrips:
- POMPEII: So like I said, the daytrips make Naples. Pompeii was an ancient, and fairly prosperous Roman city that was buried by a volcanic eruption from Mt. Vesuvius (also covered other smaller cities, notably Herculaneum), and accidentally discovered in the 19th century. As such, most of its movable treasures are now in Naples (see above), but the husk of the city is intact, and plenty of statuettes, mosaics, and paintings remain. Apart from the main touristy track of pretty spectacular sights, the best parts were the House of Mysteries (WAY to the northwest of the site), a beautiful path that took us along the northern border of the city and gave some nice views, and the theatres (ok, so those are on the tourist track). However, the true gem of Pompeii is its size. If you go to any of the streets where there are no attractions, they are often empty, full of intact buildings - and it's a pretty wondrous, eerily amazing feeling to walk down deserted roads of a lost, undefiled city.
- CAPRI: In a sentence, the most stunningly beautiful bit of nature I have seen in all of Europe, giving Costa Rica and Yosemite a run for their money. The island itself was a retreat for rich Roman citizens, and hasn't changed much - it's still a touristy, semi-tropical paradise that attracts rich people and big parties. However, I showed up early (7:30 ferry) and did the south-east loop of the island, ran into very few other people at all, let alone tourists until near the end, and had a pretty stunning, casual hike. Honestly, the southeast loop gets the majority of the island's beauty, notably the Arco Naturale and the two most famous rocky outcroppings in the world (in many Capri posters), but the northern beach was a blast, with fun swimming and rock diving, and the town itself was also really pretty, though a bit resort-y.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- HERCULANEUM: Woulda. It's supposed to be nice, less touristy and more intact than Pompeii (though also less impressive) but I just didn't have the time.
- AZURE GROTTO: Shoulda. It's one of the big highlights of Capri, but I didn't know about it until I saw the postcards by the main entrance to the island. It's a cave that you can go in by boat, and is supposed to be stunning...but it's also an expensive boat ride to get out there and I had limited time - next time.
- CAMPANIA TOWNS: Coulda, Shoulda. This nice couple that I met (and did Pompeii with) spent more of their time in the small towns along the coast than in Naples itself. They said they were really nice, relaxing, and there was one where the buildings were all against a hill, and it looked really cool.

BRUXELLES/BRUSSEL (Brussels), Belgium
March 2007
Length of Stay: 1 and a half days
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General Description:
Brussels' character can almost be seen from the very name - more to the point, the fact that it has two. It is an interesting city in that it stands at the meeting point of the north-west Flemish speaking part of the country, and the south-east french speaking part of the country. As a result, it is officially bilingual (though the two regions are not). As a result of THIS, it is possibly the most confusing city I have ever visited. I go on about how horrible navigation is under lowlights - and as funny as it was, it was also really annoying. I think that this intense confusion plays with Brusselsians' minds, making them perpetually dizzy. Luckily for them, they don't add to that confusion in their brains by learning English - I haven't been to Paris yet, but Brussels had the fewest number of English speakers of any Western European city I have been to. Which is all the more surprising given the international pedigree of the city.
Brussels is a city of bureaucrats. Home to the entirety of the European Union government, it feels very much like a government city, with all the hurried commuters, subdued excitement/tension, and modernity that that implies. The center of the older part of the city (far away from the European Institutions, which are sidlined away to the eastern regions of the city) is actually quite nice, with good character and beautiful buildings - but although it was plenty touristy around there, I didn't get the sense that it was the "heart" of the city - it felt more like a large, life-sized display about 5 blocks by 5 blocks inside of a larger, strictly professional hub of activity. Maybe that's just me, and I admittedly didn't have as much time as I would have liked there, but I just did not get the immersed feeling that I get in cities where the tourist attractions are in many ways the city itself (Prague, Amsterdam), or at least where the tourist attractions are meshed with and seem to grow out of the city (London, Vienna). Basically, Brussels feels confused - about its language, its character, its place in the world and Europe, everything. It's an interesting experience to visit it, but not one I'm particularly desperate to repeat.
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Highlights:
- MANNEKEN PIS: As the name kind of implies, this is a small statue of a young boy pissing a stream of water into a fountain. Billed as the "national symbol" of Belgium (though how a pissing boy encaptulates this small, professional country, or why any country would WANT to be encapsulated by that is beyond me), it is Brussels' most heavily merchandized attraction (pissing boy mug? statue? keychain? poster? puzzle? t-shirt? take your pick), and is worth visiting entirely for the novelty value. I took a picture in front of it pretending to pee. It didn't feel particularly original, but damn it was funny.
- GRAND PLACE: The central square of touristy Brussels, it really has to be one of the most impressive squares I have ever seen. It is dominated by Hotel de Ville, a monumental building in an imperial sort of design (not palace-y, but not modern - hard to describe, probably b/c I don't know anything about architecture). But even cooler are the rows of guild halls along both ends of the square, which really brought me back to oldern days of yore - I could totally imagine the society of guilds, merchants, and lords and ladies ruling Belgium from this square. I know that's a tad over dramatic, but it really makes quite the impression, and makes Brussels worth visiting by itself. The only downside is that we didn't go into any of those historic buildings - I think they're modern and boring inside, reworked. But hey - at least the shell gives off the right impression.
- RESTAURANTS: So Belgium is famous for being the country that eats out the most - and Brussels residents do this more than anyone. As a result, there is a huge casual but high quality food industry, which is concentrated in a 3 or four block square area. Half the experience is actually just walking through - imagine pushy street vendors, make them restaurant promoters, and then make them twice as pushy and even a bit rude. That is the people who yell various cheap deal prices for their specialty restuarant or another - and there is restaurant after restaurant to choose from. We ended up at an Italian place, with good food, though the waiter was rude enough to make us tip fairly lightly. It's not paradise, but it's definitely an experience worth having.
- EU INSTITUTIONS: Ok, so if I'm being honest it probably won't be a highlight for most people. It is essentially a bunch of boring looking buildings surrounding a pretty ugly area outside of the inner circle of Belgium. But I thought it was worth seeing just for the value of being what it is. And hey - the tour that includes a glimpse into the main EU parliament chamber and a good overview of its history and function is free, so its definitely worth it. Just don't expect a stunning display of European solidarity and power - it's bureaucratic - inside, and out. The farthest they go towards spicing up the area is a couple of puny trees, some cement benches, and a large ship, titled "The Ship of Europe." I found the ship pretty funny.
- THE SAINT MICHAEL AND SAINT GUDULA CATHEDRAL: Grand name, for a really grand church. I know that I have a weakness for huge churches, but this one really was majestic. It didn't have any particularly interesting history that I could tell (although the foundations of a smaller church that predated it are underground), but it was just impressive, grand, and large. It is quite obviously the most important church in its area, and showed this by being rebuilt in huge Gothic style in the 13th century. That's pretty much all I have, but for visual enormity alone, worth visiting. It rivals Stefansdom in Vienna.
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Lowlights:
- CITY ORGANIZATION: Now, Europe is already generally confusing because its street signs, unlike American ones, are on side buildings, and often obscured or really tiny, when they are there at all. Brussels adds to this by having two names for each street - apparently they couldn't just pick one for everyone's sake. As a result, each street sign is different - some show the Flemish name, some show the French name, some show both but with one or the other really tiny, etc. In addition, you can either get a Flemish Map or a French Map - but the street name will not always be on your map, depending on which one you chose. Now, sometimes it isn't so bad (Boulevard Industriel versus Industrielaan), or at least possible to guesstimate (Chausse de Louvain versus Leuvensesteenweg). On the other hand, sometimes it is totally impossible to predict (Avenue du la Royale versus Koningsstraat). Brusselsians apparently respond to this predicament by just not putting signs up on over half the intersections, so at least the names don't confuse you, and you can focus on god knows what else to navigate. We spent the better part of our navigation time going by street lengths and asking random people for directions.
- BRUSSELS HISTORICAL MUSEUM: Prime reason not to trust always optimistic travel guides like Lonely Planet. It was recommended (as everythign else is), but turned out to be really boring. REALLY boring. Most of the short interesting bits were bilingual, but (of course) French and Flemish - and the english summaries for each object were often two pages, single spaced, and way too in depth to be interesting for casual persusers. It was so bad, in fact, that after about 15 minutes, we left, before even seeing the whole museum. Definitely not up to the level of its Amsterdamian counterpart.
- EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS: It was a highlight too for being what it is, but I have to restate how disappointing and boring the Institutions headquarters were for the most part. The United States really has superior Capitol Buildings and offices.
- PALAIS ROYALE: Not because it wasn't nice, because it really was rather nice looking, with a nice park near by. But we couldn't go in, and it came dangerously close to falling into the "pretty building" trap.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- BRUGES/BRUGGE: Woulda. This is a daytrip, or even overnighter, probably, but it is supposed to be this incredibly beautiful mid-size town, and the gem of Belgium. I looked up some pictures online, and it certainly looks pretty fantastic.
- MUSEE DES INSTRUMENTS DE MUSIQUE: Coulda. I love cool instruments (I loved the collection in Vienna, anyway) - and this is supposed to have one of the world's biggest collections! Hold me back. :)
- ATOMIUM: Woulda. A remnant from a 1950's world fair, this is an iron molecule enlarged 165 billion times, and made to work as a cool building!
- MINI-EUROPE: Coulda, Shoulda. Ok, I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for this type of thing, and I would have gone but we had just come from The Hague's mini Holland, and were done with the mini building things for a while.

DEN HAAG (The Hague), Holland
March 2007
Length of Stay: 1 Day
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General Description: So the Hague is the political capital of Holland (slash the Netherlands). As might be expected, it has its fair share of government buildings and fairly interesting sights, but contrary to what one might expect, it's neither particularly exciting nor particularly well set-up for tourism.
The really defining fact about The Hague in my mind came when we first arrived, looking for a place to stay. At one of the first places we tried, we were informed that "you came at a really busy time" (Tuesday) - basically, hotels' busiest nights are during the week, because their largest traffic comes from businessmen and other people whose main work occurs during the week. The only real hostels were on the beach-front to the north, seperated from the government sector by a couple of miles and a swath of pretty normal homes and businesses. In other words, it's almost two cities in one metropolitan area - the fairly young, hip area along the coast, and the museums and historical sights in the middle of the business sector to the south.
That having been said, The Hague houses a fair number of interesting sights, highlighted below - it just doesn't provide the atmosphere to go with the attractions - it's very much a "site-to-site" city, with few frills in between.
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Highlights:
- MADURODAM: So this was actually almost a lowlight, given that it's a bit overpriced and fairly kitchy. However, it was saved by an ice-sculpture tent that is on the same premises and comes with the same ticket. Sure, the main area itself was fun, with all the miniature buildings, but somehow they are not as exciting as the mini buildings that you see in Legolands (those are cool because they're Lego!), and since it only includes Dutch buildings, 70% of it will be pretty basic and represent buildings that you honestly don't care about. However, the ice-scuplure tent makes up for it. It was "animals of the world" themed, and geared for kids, but it had an ice slide that is more fun than you'd think, and the carvings themselves were just really interesting to look at. Nice childish break from famous buildings and intellectual museums.
- M. C. ESCHER MUSEUM: Ok, probably this is just a highlihgt for me because I love (LOVE) M.C. Escher's work (he does those mind-wrenching impossible drawings - think the neverending staircase and the monks) - and this is basicaly the place to see if you want to see all of his original works. Apart from looking at all the incredible artwork yourself, the awesome chandeliers (in such shapes as umbrellas and dolphins) and two really cool workshops on the top floor (take an MC Escher picture, make yourself look huge and your friend look tiny, and then a virtual reality MC Escher world and game that you wear cool goggle things for) made this museum so much fun. Oh man. I love M.C. Escher.
- BINNENHOF: This is the name for the capital building. We got a nice tour of the inner castle-looking thing (it looked very Dutch, and I don't even know that that means, except that it seemed to fit with my quaint perception of "Dutchness") where the Queen of Holland reads Parliament's agenda for the year. We didn't make it to the actual floor where a lot of the debate, policy making occurs, but didn't hear great things about it - anyway, it was pretty inside. But the real highlight was walking around the back of the capital complex - there is a really nice square lake with an island right up against the back of the building, and there were lots of birds (including a family of some species that I sadly couldn't identify) flying around.
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Lowlights:
- DIKE SYSTEM: I think it was just a lowlight because I had built it up so much in my head. Somehow, I imagined dikes as being these huge, powerful dam-type of structures defending the land from the encroaching sea only with huge 89 meter thick cement walls. What they actually are, are artificial earthen or stone walls, not even up against the ocean. The only reason you could even tell they served a purpose was that it was up a fairly big hill just to get to the dikes, and there was little downslope on the other side, where the beach was. They weren't even marked, or particularly pretty - just stone embankments.
- CITY LAYOUT: I mentioned this a little, but basically the city has a really bad set-up for touring around. The Madurodam, M.C. Escher Museum, and government area were each separated by just enough distance to make walking annoying, but not enough to warrant a (surprisingly expensive) tram ride. It didn't help that our Hotel was smack dab in between the two "parts of town" but not particularly near either part - it was the only one we could get, because, you know, it was that busy Tuesday again.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES COURT: Coulda, Shoulda. We drove past it, but I got only a passing glimpse, and we definitely didn't go in. It was basically a huge oversight, and by the time we realized, we had to move on. Biggest disappointment ever.

AMSTERDAM, Holland
March 2007
Length of Stay: 2 days
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Amsterdam doesn't really need a huge introduction, but I'll give it one anyway. Commercial (NOT political - see The Hague) capital of Holland (or the Netherlands), it is famous for its ports and for being the most laissez faire major city (especially socially) in Europe. And it lives up to that name. Oh. And everyone speaks English.
If I had to describe Amsterdam with three nouns (three adjectives would inevitably lead to "amazing, beautiful, and fun" which is pretty non-descriptive), I would say bicycles, canals, and commercialized counterculture. (ok, so I snuck an adjective in there). Amsterdam has the highest number and concentration of bikes of any city in the world. And I would believe it. I'm pretty sure that I saw more bikes in those two days than I have seen, added together, in the rest of my life. By a fair margin, too. In terms of the physical layout of the city, the first thing that pops out is the canal system. I'll make this short because I'm about to wax heavy on the canal system in my highlights, but Amsterdam has the most unique, enjoyable streets to walk around in - like Prague, it is one of those cities where just walking around, wandering, going into random cafes, goes a long way toward really experiencing the city.
Socially, Amsterdam lives up to its name in every way. Now, a lot of this is purely in the Red Light district, which also serves as the mecca to a surprising (or not so surprising) number of young British chaps, who crowd the entire area wandering around in groups of 3 to 20. But the social freedom of Amsterdam extends to the rest of the city, too - in the gay couples walking around and taking their children to the park, in the full-nudity seen on posters in cafes and around the city, etc. If only this welcoming nature extended to immigration, eh? But anyway, despite what many would believe based on its "seedy" nature, Amsterdam keeps its streets clean and safe, and makes for a (what were those adjectives again? oh yeah...) fun, beautiful, and amazing time. My second favorite European city so far (ahead of Berlin, behind London).
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Highlights:
- GENERAL CITY: Not having been to Venice, it is the most integrated canal system I have ever seen...while land transport remains the most commonly used form of transportation (read: bikes), getting around by canal is not particularly challenging. In fact, the city's expansion has been marked by an expanding network of canals - every expansion, even into the 20th century, was accomplished by extending the system of canals, and building within and around that system (until the suburbs - the surrounding suburbs are canal-free...Anyway, the upshot for tourists is that there are double the number of photogenic regular city sights, due to the natural tendency for water to be pretty.
- RED LIGHT DISTRICT: Our hotel happened to be in the red-light district, so we were treated to the legalized debauchery before we even saw much of the city. Living up to its name, streets in the district are marked by a series of red-lit windows, where scantily-dressed prostitutes advertize, well, their wares. Although these women can get aggressive if you make eye contact or let your eyes wander too far, and even knock on the window at you if you don't look around enough, the district is safe, and heavily policed. It all seems very strange, in the sense that it is completely normal - I was startled a few times by men going into certain windows (at which point they draw the curtains) and knowing that such-and-such guy had just paid that prostitute to be sexual with him - just because it seemed so normal, but my mind was screaming otherwise. All in all, it's a great argument for legalizing prostitution - it's going to happen anyway, so at least help the women who go down that line. In Amsterdam, there are rules, safety precautions, and a union to ensure that prostitutes have a pretty decent quality of life. The area spans two canals and a bunch of side streets, and of course in between the red lights are plenty of sex shops, porn shops, theaters, eateries, and other sex-related businesses. In addition, the term "coffee shop" in Amsterdam does not mean what you think it does. Although you can certainly get coffee there, such shops' main function is a legal place to smoke marijuana. Not being a pot smoker myself, I didn't take advantage, though I did go inside.
- ANNE FRANK MUSUM: As might be expected, there was a really long line,and it was pretty pricey - but it was worth it. The entire thing is well set-up, covering her life, family, the impact of her book, the horror of the Holocaust, etc all very well. You actually get to walk through the rooms of the famous apartment, and see original artifacts (like the stockmarket board game that the other guy got for his birthday), and gain a huge amount of respect for Mr. Frank - he really handled himself well and did a damned good job keeping his familiy as safe as he could in the circumstances. Also, after the main part of the tour, there's an interesting civil liberties debate where you can vote your position on such controversial issues as Neo-Nazi's right to demonstrate, hate speech, and find out what others think. Europeans (or at least visitors to that museum) are more restrictive of expression than I thought. Oh - and the stairs in the house? Incredibly steep.
- OUDE KERK (Old Church): As the name implies, it is the oldest Catholic church in Amsterdam, though it was actually converted to a Protestant church around the Reformation, after most of the original furnishings were burned. As a result, it has a strange bare look - there are the workings of the church in the center of the floor, but it is surrounded by a ring of bare stone tiles. The most interesting part of the church for me was that the "stone tiles" were in fact grave markings - the entire floor is just made up of graves, with inscriptions in the stone to mark the person. Kyle was freaked out by this, and stepped on the cracks between the markers the entire time - I was fascinated. Also, the differnt alcoves have interesting artistic works and displays, and the entire church is increidbly tall, which makes for impressive arched gothic ceilings. All in all, worth the surprisingly low entrance fee.
- VAN GOGH MUSEUM: Ok, so it's a little over priced, and I got a bit arted-out by the end. But Van Gogh is Van Gogh, and although the museum does not have Starry Starry Night, it does have Crows in the Hayfield (his last painting), his really cool self-portrait, and a lot of his early works, showing the artist's development over time. One point of interest near the museum is a huge statue of letters spelling out "I am sterdam" (get it?) in Red and White.
- AMSTERDAM HISTORICAL MUSEUM: The source of all of my Amsterdam historical knowledge. It's worth at least two hours of wandering around, and we had to leave a little early because they shut down too soon for us, but it really is interesting, portrays the city's history really well, and is chock-full of great and relevant paintings, items, and displays. Half price if you come after 3, I think, so there is that.
- SEX MUSEUM: Only come here if you're ready to be shocked - there is a lot of really raunchy stuff there. However, that having been said there was a lot of historical stuff, and a lot of curiosities that interested me beyond the pornography itself. Highlights included ancient depictions of sex and prostitutes, from Pompeii, Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, etc.
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Lowlights:
- PRICES: So Amsterdam has to be one of the most expensive places to visit - obviously they know they are a tourist trap, because all of the top museums are realy over priced (averaging about 9 euros), with no student discount. I think it really was the lack of a student discount that turned me off. High prices actually kept us out of a couple of museums that might have been interesting.
- BICYCLES: They were also kind of a highlight, but one thing that comes with ruling the streets is the perception that you rule the streets, and bikers in Amsterdam took that elitism to the extreme. I got almost run over numerous times by bikers who couldn't be bothered to slow down for pedestrians, even if the pedestrians started crossing the intersection first. What started out as amazement and excitement soon turned to annoyance as bikers ran every which way with very little regard for others. Probably a highlight if you're a biker, but come on, people.
- DAM (Dam square): Named for being the first dam made on the River Amstel that gave the city its name (Amstel Dam = Amsterdam), this is the main square, housing the Niewe Kerk, WWII monument, and the Royal Palace. Well, the Niewe Kerk fell into the really expensive trap (EIGHT euros, just to walk around the church - not even a tour! We passed on that one), the WWII monument was a little strange and not really reflective of WWII, really (it was a bunch of marle greek figures around a huge white column), and the Palace was covered in scaffolding. So...yeah, not so exciting.
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Doable Daytrips:
- THE WINDMILLS: Ok, so it's not so doable without a car - but it's totally worth it if you can. Instructions: Get two or more people, one rental company, a willingness to spend a bit more money, and a sense of adventure. Drive an hour or so southeast of Amsterdam. Look on either side of main freeway for any windmill. Once found, get off at nearest exit, follow smaller side roads in general direction of last sighting. Pull car over upon arrival, run around random field, crossing rivers of unknown depth on metal bars set up as "bridges," take silly pictures. Go back to car before family comes out to yell at/chase you. Drive away satisfied. Worked wonders for us! The windmills are really funny looking - they have a well-deserved place in the Hollandish (what a great word - who needs "Dutch?") image.
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Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda:
- MORE TIME: Woulda. Sadly, Kyle had a limited time so we had to rush through cities - but two days in Amsterdam is great, but just not enough. There were lots of museums and stuff that I could have enjoyed, including:
- REMBRANDT MUSEUM: Coulda. It was expensive, and we had just seen the Van Gogh, so we passed on it, but I definitely am interested the next time I make it there.
- FREE WALKING TOUR: By a company called New Europe or something, they have a great free tour in Belrin, and apparently do the same in Amsterdam. There is nothing like getting free historical perspective of it all :)