Don't Worry Be Happy

I'm happy to report that Marj and I managed to find the best gelato and the best crepes in all of Florence.  We had some trouble finding a place to stay in Florence but managed to  book a room at a guest house called GH Happy. It is conveniently located and the owner is a wonderful host with the most incredible recommendations for visiting the city.  He spent about 1/2 hour when we checked in yesterday going over various things we should and shouldn't do which included lunch, dinner and ice cream recommendations away from the main centre. We had lunch at the suggested creperie and they were fabulous. It was at a small 'hole in the wall' (literally) but the food was amazing.  Not to mention the glass of wine for 1 €. For that price we could excuse the plastic cup it was served in. This was the ham, brie and porcini mushroom crepe. 4 €. And this is the place for the next time you're in Florence. Florence is full of amazing sculptures, most of them from the Re...

Quite a day - started in Lake Como, took a detour to Switzerland, then ended in Florence. Since the Swiss border was only a few kilometres from Como we thought, what the heck, we'll check out a neutral country. No border security so no foreign stamps in our passport though - just drove right through. Some kind of music festival going on with umbrellas in the main thoroughfare. Plus this yarn bike in a store window: Then we hit the autostrade right into Florence - Marj driving and me navigating. Only the occasional blue language from Marj as cars barrelled down behind with the horn blaring and passing within inches of our front fender.  Miraculously we made it to the Hertz rental in Florence without a scratch on the Fiat although Marj needed a large glass of wine as soon as we turned in the keys (plus I wouldn't let her have any for lunch). After we passed Bologna, I directed Marj toward the Firenze signs so we would get to our destination and about 10k out of Flor...

After renting the car in Verona we only had a few minor mishaps on the way to Lake Como - nothing more serious than exiting the autostrade then getting on it again and taking the very same exit one more time! Also it's fortunate that roundabouts are made in a circle so you can experience them more than once. And we had a small standoff with a bus on a very narrow road - we lost. We're staying at a very small village on Lake Como called Faggeto Lorio which, like all the villages along the lake, consists of houses stacked one on top of another starting at water level and making their way up the hill. Very reminiscent of Cinque Terre but not so well kept. You'd be very hard pressed to find a few feet of level ground. The hills above the lake are lushly forested with deep ravines cut into them. We could see the tops of some Alps peeking (or peaking?) above the hills. The weather this morning was quite lovely when we hopped on the local ferry boat for a trip to Bell...

Turns out we didn't need luck to get here - instead we had Erika, one of the boat's chefs, who was also taking the train to Verona. The crew on our boat was really top notch - they all seemed to share in the duties of keeping the guests happy and the tour working smoothly.  Our guide Hein is actually one of the owners, and he'll do the voyage several times a year, usually not scheduled; the scheduled tour guide has a paid holiday for the week. I really enjoyed his guiding style - never pandering or giving us too much information. He never counted to see if we were all there, he just assumed we had enough sense to get to where we needed to be. He worked as a physicist for the UN and the World Bank, speaks 9 languages and has lived in many different countries. He always had interesting anecdotes to tell us. Saturday morning was time for goodbyes and everyone went their separate ways. For our last night on the boat, our dessert was rose cake (a local specialty) with zabagl...

Last night our boat docked in Mantova - a world UNESCO heritage site - and this morning's biking (our last day) took us around the city and outlying areas. Mantova is surrounded by 3 man-made lakes and is known for its architecture, opera, and artistic importance throughout the centuries. It was ruled by the Gonzaga family for hundreds of years and was an extremely important place.  Currently there are only about 50,000 residents. There is a huge cathedral, reminiscent of the ones in Florence or Rome, with a very large dome and many frescoes. This shows a small section. We rode out to a place called Grazie which is the site of many pilgrimages.  Oddly a stuffed crocodile hung from the ceiling. Many of the buildings in Mantova were damaged in an earthquake in May 2012 and some buildings are still reinforced with temporary columns and scaffolding. Tomorrow we try to figure out how to catch the train to Verona and find our accomodation. Wish us luck!

The last couple of days we've been travelling through the valley of the Po - a very rich cultural and agricultural area. The Po River is the longest river in Italy, although technically our boat has been on canals near  the Po. For political reasons, no dredging is allowed on the Po, so consequently there is no river traffic. After disembarking each day, we bike to the dikes by the Po, then later make our way back to the canal where the boat is moored. Last night's storm (we just made it back in time) fizzled out by morning but there was still some concern about today's weather.  And it turned out to be my favourite day yet. First the cheese lesson.  There are 2 types of cheese exclusive to this region.  One side of the Po produces parmigiano reggiano and on the other is grana padano. We stopped by the grana padano factory and, although we weren't allowed into the production area, had a look at the storage facility. 1000 litres of milk produces 2 cheeses (round...

For the commercial vendors the market opens at 4 am - I likely couldn't have made it even if I'd wanted, which of course, I didn't. By 9:00 there was still a good selection of fish, some still trying to escape apparently! This vendor is quite proud of his scallop display - complete with the pink part of the scallop, not found in Canada. The first part of the morning was along a very pleasant canal; later we headed onto some quite rough pathways - my butt is definitely feeling each bump! Along with cycling we're being schooled in Italian culture.  Tonight we had to make our own pasta - a local variety called Bigoli - much like spaghetti but thicker. Here our chef and assistant, Guiliano and Erika, demonstrate how the machines work. First stuff the cylinder with dough (1 kilo flour, 8 eggs) then wind the 'screw' until the pasta squeezes out the bottom. It's harder than it looks! Then after dinner we had a lesson in coffee - apparently more th...

Although the trip officially started on Saturday we didn’t actually start biking until today (Monday).  Sunday included a short guided tour of Venice (mostly back streets) as a lot of the guests had only arrived in Venice on Saturday and had not had a chance to explore the city.  Our guide Hein also gave us much information about acqua alto (high water), which floods the streets of Venice about 20 times a year. Fifty years ago it would only occur once or twice a year so it has become quite a concern. When the water is high, affected by tides, winds, global warming, etc, the streets can be under 2 or 3 feet of water and you can’t walk anywhere for fear of falling in the canals. The doors have wooden barriers that are installed temporarily to keep out the water. Pisa isn't the only place in Italy that has leaning towers. The unstable ground beneath Venice will produce more photo ops. In the evening Hein gave us a more detailed explanation about how ...

I keep having to remind myself that without tourists paying exorbitant prices, Venice might not exist. It's the only thing the economy here has to keep it going but they (we!) certainly make it challenging. Marj and I became part of the 30 million that visit each year and with a few cruise ships in town every day it is particularly crowded. Our arrival in Venice was without incident, except for the fact that we couldn't contact the owner of the apartment we rented so she could meet us since Venice doesn't really have addresses and even if we had an address the chance of finding it was next to none in the maze of streets. For some reason it didn't occur to her that we might not have texting capability despite us telling her that, so after we figured out how to get the Alilaguna (water bus blue line) from the airport to Venice, then the 5.2 vaporetto (local water bus) to the closest stop we stood on the dock not knowing what to do.  We had a phone number, but no ...