Last Day in Venice

I have to admit that in this case, pretty much everyone else was right; we spent too long in Venice. I had planned to spend a full day looking at glass works (which we did) and another full day exploring and seeing the sights of Venice - the problem was that we discovered the sights of Venice don't take anywhere near a whole day to see, unless you want to stand in a few very long lines!

We did spend most of our last day exploring, walking through St. Mark's Square, across the Rialto Bridge, and wandering along the canals. We enjoyed the canal aspect of Venice because streets are only for pedestrians, which was very convenient - but on the negative side, the streets make absolutely no sense! We spent a lot of time in Venice lost, even with a map and GPS.

We finished off our night with a chamber orchestra concert of mostly Vivaldi music. The music was beautifully played and it was a nice break and change of pace for us! 

All in all, Venice was a bit of a disappointment, especially considering how long I had wanted to go there. There is very little to do there, the romantic atmosphere only seems to be there after dark, and many of the locals are downright hostile about tourism in their city. Patrick made some great plans that still made our time there special, from the concert to selecting great places for dinners, but I have to say I'll be joining the majority of people in saying I've been there and will probably not be returning.

Exploring Murano and Burano Islands

One of the things I was most excited for in Venice was visiting Murano to see more about Venice glass. While I don't do a lot of glass work anymore, I still enjoy seeing the great things that good artists can do, and Murano has quite the reputation.

We intended to go to the glass museum, which goes through the history of glassmaking in Venice - but in researching tickets, learned that the museum is in the middle of renovations and we would only be able to see 5 rooms. We arrived in Murano after hopping on a water bus and took off down a street to explore. We never did find the museum, but stopped in probably at least 25 glass shops to see different pieces of art. Our walk through the shops really surprised me: I expected the high pressure sales people, but what really surprised me was that there were more original pieces of art right next to the bus stop than further in. I truly expected the "tourist trap" shops to be close to the wharf! After a few hours, we were glassed- and shopped-out, and hopped on the next bus to Burano. 

I had no particular interest in or knowledge of Burano, but when we had asked for directions at our hotel the front desk had recommended that we visit, as he said it was the much nicer island. He was certainly correct: Burano was in general the best kept island that we saw, with buildings that were brightly colored and well maintained.  We didn't spend much time here, but we enjoyed walking around to see the island and take in the cheerier and more energetic atmosphere.

 

 

Finally, we finished up our day trip with dinner at a beautiful restaurant overlooking a canal and some of the beautiful buildings just outside St. Mark's Square. After a long day of walking, we finally managed to relax and enjoy a European style dinner with multiple courses, lasting for hours!

 

 

A Winery and Villa in Verona and Our Introduction to Venice

Since Verona didn't have too many items on our to-do list, we had decided that it would offer the best opportunity for visiting a winery. Patrick found one a short distance away that has been open since the early 1700s, and luckily they had a tour/tasting option on the day we were leaving Verona. Since we hadn't bought train tickets yet, we had the flexibility to sign up, and so arrived at the Villa Mosconi Bertani bright and early at 10am. (Don't judge - we're on vacation in Italy and it was almost noon by the time we actually drank the wine!)

The grounds outside were beautiful and we had another perfect weather day. As we waited for the office to open, we got to watch the workers hauling in tractor load after tractor load of grapes - this villa must produce a LOT of wine. The tour itself took us first through most of the grounds, including the finished parts of the house and both the Italian and English gardens. When we went back to the tasting room, we were able to taste several varieties of wine that are particular to the area around Verona: our favorites were the amarone and valpolicello reds.

After our tour and tasting completed, we hopped on a train to Venice. We luckily found our hotel very easily (perhaps the only thing we DID find easily in our time there - Venice is probably the most confusing city we've been in) and started off to adventure.

Every guidebook or review I've read about Venice has said that one of the most important experiences is to put away your map and get lost, to just experience the city. Based on our experience doing that the first day, I would like to offer some further advice: if you want to get lost, head away from the train station and shipping docks. They will not quite provide the romantic and beautiful atmosphere than people expect from Venice! After stumbling across a restaurant for dinner and eating overlooking sunset on a canal, we headed back for our hotel and found that Venice is a far more beautiful city at night. When you can't see the peeling paint and looking down a canal shows you neat lines of moored boats instead of the smell of gas, it really it quite charming!

 

Wine and Relaxing in Verona

We had only one full day in Verona, which we thought was appropriate since when the opera is not in session (like now), there are very few tourist attractions in Verona. While we may have been correct to a point - there's not a lot to do besides shopping and seeing "Juliet's window" - it was a great place to stop. Verona ended up being a beautiful space to take a breath and relax in the middle of a long, sometimes very hectic trip.

As evidenced by the lack of tourist destinations, Verona was the least tourist-y of our stops in Italy. While I have no problem with tourist-y as long as it's worth seeing - such as Versailles and Neushwanstein - it was nice to spend some time in a beautiful place where we weren't being chased down by vendors with "selfie sticks." The atmosphere of Verona, except for the teenager-crowded block around "Juliet's house," was much more laid back. We spent a good portion of the day climbing the massive hill in the center of Verona to reach a church which we found was closed - but the beautiful grounds and view made the climb worth it.

The church also had a cafe where we decided to have a glass of wine overlooking the city. We expected somewhere with such a view to be crowded - but instead we found only one other couple and the proprietors, sitting outside to enjoy the breeze and throw a ball for their dog. (Dogs in Europe are everywhere - allowed in most stores and restaurants - but all the ones we have seen are remarkably calm and well trained.) Since we weren't in a big hurry, we spent a long part of the afternoon relaxing there - it was a wonderful respite from running place to place, especially enjoying the beautiful sunny weather.

We also spent some time wandering the streets of Verona, checking out churches we stumbled by and window shopping down the streets of the shopping district. (In my opinion, much more picturesque than the Champs de Elysees in Paris, although if you actually want to purchase rather than enjoy architecture and atmosphere, I can't fairly compare.) We even braved a few thousand teenagers to see la casa di Juliet, although it was quite an underwhelming window and courtyard for a fictional character.

All in all, if I was to return to Italy to relax comfortably rather than cram in whirlwind sightseeing, Verona would be high up on the list. There isn't a lot to see, but it's a beautiful and easy to navigate city, which looks quintessentially Italian and has great wine, and is easy to slow down and enjoy. Plus - they have some amazing gelato!

Munich to Verona

Our train ride from Munich to Verona is one of our longest, at almost 6 hours. We intended to take a night train for this one, allowing us to spend the whole day in Munich, until we heard that this would also be the most beautiful train ride we'd be taking.

We still spent about half our day in Munich, hitting a few last stops. We intended to go to the BMW Museum, but missed seeing that the museum was closed on Monday. We saw their showfloor with all the fancy cars, but then ended up with a little bit of extra time and decided to go back to Oktoberfest to see a little more.

Oktoberfest is MUCH more reasonable on Mondays than on the opening Saturday (surprise, surprise) and we walked right into a tent and even found a place to sit down pretty quickly. I'm glad we went back; there was no way we would have made it into a tent when we went on Saturday, and the tents were pretty cool. The decorations were bright and festive, the music was fun and it was much easier to get our beer and food! We only got to sit for an hour or so, but it was good to see.

The train ride to Verona was, as promised, beautiful. We were surprised at how different the Alps look between Germany/Austria and Italy; once we crossed into Italy, they got much softer and greener. We arrived in Verona late and walked to our hotel through the late night dinner crowd. (We also stopped for "dinner": our first gelato of the evening. Gelato for dinner is amazing.) I love arriving in most cities in the evening. Train rides are one of the few times I have felt homesick, as 6 hours of slight motion sickness makes you miss normal life. But when we arrive in a new city at night and walk to our hotel, that all evaporates as we pass by new landmarks and through beautiful streets that we can get excited to find again and identify in the daylight the next day. Verona in the evening is absolutely beautiful. It's a clean city that looks like everything you would imagine Italy to be, and is far less hectic than Venice or Rome has turned out to be.

Castle day: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau

We tried to make this trip a mixture of more and less tourist-y destinations. Places like our Friday visit to Konigsee (still a bit tourist-y but seemingly mostly local tourists) are a nice breath of fresh air, but sometimes we just wanted to see the traditional tourist spots.

Neuschwanstein was one of those spots for me. It's a huge, stereotypical tourist destination, but I have wanted to see it for years. When we arrived, we decided to see both castles: Neuschwanstein, which was never finished or lived in, and Hohenschwangau, which was the castle that was finished and lived in nearby. We weren't able to take photos inside either castle, so all you'll see are the stereotypical outside images.

Hohenschwangau was interesting, with a fair amount of history and all the original furniture and decorations. It was worth seeing since we were already there, but not something that I'd say is worth going out of your way to see.

Neuschwanstein, although so unfinished that we saw less than a third of the rooms, was absolutely worth it. It's strange driving up here: there are photos everywhere of this castle, all of which make it look like its high up in the Alps and almost unreachable. In fact, while it is in the mountains it is less than a quarter of the way up the mountain it sits on. Seeing it as we drove up, we actually thought we might have accidentally ended up in the wrong place!

Inside Neuschwanstein there is not much for furniture or artifacts, but the paintings, woodwork, murals, etc. throughout the finished part of the castle are amazing and rival the outside of the castle for their beauty. I'm sad that we weren't able to take photos of this-but for my vote, this tour is worth it if you're in the area. The views are also breathtaking in the Alps, and its once again a beautiful drive from Munich.

Our Scenic Tour: Konigsee and the Eagle's Nest

Today was possibly the most scenic and beautiful day we've had yet on our trip.  It started right away with a beautiful drive through the Alps; 75 degrees, sunny and enjoying the convertible was a beautiful way to wake up. (We also ran into much less construction, so Patrick was finally able to really enjoy driving on the autobahn and windy mountain roads.

At Konigsee, we took a boat ride across the lake to the little abbey and national park that was there. Take a look at the photos-this is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. We took a little hike in the national forest, but unfortunately we didn't have the time for the long hikes up to the ice caves or other sights.

After spending a few hours exploring, we took the boat back across the lake, hopped back in the car and drove straight up the mountain (minus a quick stop for a herd of cows being led down the mountain by a police officer) to the Eagle's Nest. I hadn't realized that you aren't really able to see inside the building at all, so this was a quick trip, but another one with a beautiful view-this time down at the lake and everything we'd just been driving through.