After all our troubles in Sicily, hubby and I started to worry about going to a city that is said to be sinking. With our luck, it would. But, Venice turned out to be a lovely city. We arrive at the Hotel Bauer by water taxi, which is an adventure itself. Unbelievable, this journey through the waterways to our destination. And yes, we had all of our luggage. We were greeted by Max, a proper young Englishman that reminded me of Fred Savage in his Wonder Years. The whole staff was hospitable and eager to please. The room was gorgeous! With a balcony overlooking the canals. We only had one day in Venice, so we took off to see this wonder floating on the Adriatic Sea.
St. Marks, amazing, huge, breathtaking, wish you were here! What else can I say? We wandered through the streets for hours, amazed at the architecture and incredulous that these marvelous buildings can float. We got lost a couple of times, but Marco Paulo with his innate sense of direction, found our way. We went back to the hotel after several hours of sight seeing to get ready for our dinner reservation at a lovely restaurant near the opera house. The menu was extensive. We made our decision. What did Paul and Holly order in this amazing Italian city, you ask? BEEF! And not just any beef but Chateau Briand’. Yes, these Texans ordered beef. Now, I must tell you we’ve been in Sicily and Italy for 6 days now and I haven’t seen a single cow! NO COWS IN ITALY!!! Lets just say it was a dry roast. With FRENCH FRIES! OMG! What were we thinking? Apparently, not a lot. Afterwards we wandered the streets for a while, slapping our foreheads as we went. Then, we went for a gondola ride at night! It was beautiful! Found out the hard way though that gondoliers don’t sing ‘O solo mio’. In fact, they get down right nasty when you ask. But, we happened to be beside another gondola that had a wonderful singer and we enjoyed him from afar. It actually was a wonderful experience.
The next day we went for a train ride to Florence, or Firenza as the Italians say. We got off the train and were ambushed by an eager driver who said “sure, no problem! I know Villa Mangicane. Been there before”. So, we followed him to his car, like lambs to the slaughter. “100 euros, I get you there” he said. (Later we found out that others had taken taxis from the station for 40 euros!) And off we went. Twisting and turning along the streets of Florence. It took 30 minutes to get to our lovely Villa Mangicane, which by the way, translates to ‘itch of the dog’. Oh great! This is going to be interesting. But as we pulled in to the drive up towards the estate, it was magical. Cypress trees lined the drive up to the villa, which we found out was owned by Machiavelli. His family owned it until 2000 when the current owner bought it. The views were everything I hoped for. Vineyards and olive orchards as far as the eye could see. I should tell you, we were told to stay here by a friend and client of Paul’s. He and his wife stay here when they come to Tuscany. She said we’d be there when the sunflowers are blooming! Lucky Me! What they didn’t tell us, was its out in the middle of nowhere! And the sunflowers were a 2 hour drive away. Three days with no transportation. This wasn’t looking good. But, being the experienced travelers that we’ve become, we made lemonade out of a bushel of lemons. We went back in to Florence and rented a car. A tiny Fiat. We drove in to Florence to see the sights! Let me just say that Italian drivers and the Vespa people are nuts! It was nerve wracking. But again, Marco Paulo came through. I must say he thoroughly enjoyed driving the tiny Fiat on the windy, narrow stretches of road. His inner Mario Andretti came to the surface and he was in his element. On our way back to the villa we found a wonderful restaurant off the beaten path and had dinner. It was delicious! Pasta! Lots and lots of pasta! Now, we are finally felt like we were in Italy! The next day, we plan to go sight seeing around Tuscany. I want to see field of sunflowers, hill cities and all the stuff I’ve read about! Paul, being the sweetie he is, has granted my wish and will drive me around the countryside to my hearts content.
What a guy!
