Well, here we are in an open-air internet tent in Pompeii, Italy with finally some time to post the next blog! Since we last posted we've done so much that it feels like a month has passed instead of only a week. I have to mention that the weather in Italy has been nothing short of perfect! It's been sunny and warm every day but not so warm that it's uncomfortable. It's been so great! Anyway after our wonderful week in Austria, we headed south to get to Bolzano, Italy. The train ride through the Alps and the Brenner Pass was a beautiful one, and we had no problem finding our hostel when we arrived in Bolzano. This particular portion of Northern Italy used to belong to Austria before it was passed on to Italy after the war so there is still a lot of German-speaking people in this region. This was particularly handy for us because it meant that we were not totally clueless when it came to communicating with people! Most people in the south Tyrol speak Italian, German and English so we had no problem with the language. Anyway, the hostel we stayed in there 
I think has been our favourite so far. It was clean, quiet, new and had cheap internet! We really didn't spend too much time in the hostel though. We only stopped in Bolzano for one reason...to see Otzi, a stone age man that died, was buried and mummified by a glacier, frozen for 5300 years and then accidentally discovered by hikers in the Alps on the Italian/Austrian border in 1991. I was very intrigued by this whole story when I read it in my Europe Guidebook and had to take the time to see this for myself! I'm very glad we did too, it was really very fascinating. Not only did they find the mummy back in '91, but they also found a lot of his clothing, weapons and tools, all of them incredibly well preserved given the amount of time they had spent in the ice and snow. The museum did an excellent job of presenting all of these finds. We even got to see the mummy itself...they have a little window you can look through to see him in the freeze chamber they keep him in. I just can't get over how incredible the circumstances of this find are and how much researchers were able to learn about how people lived in the late Stone Age/Early Copper Age off of this one man who died so long ago. It's amazing. Anyway, it was well worth the stop to Bolzano! After Bolzano we couldn't resist the allure of a town where a very famous story was set. 
Verona was charming, stylish, and full of gelatis! We only stayed for a night but we really liked Verona. Inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet we searched for the 'Casa de Giulietta' on the Via de Capello (Capulet in english) and found the house that the Veronese like to think is where the two lovers could have begun their affair. We didn't acutally go inside it but there is a little courtyard with a balcony in it that looks like it could have hosted a secret nighttime meeting or two for the couple, but it did look a little hard to climb, I don't know how Romeo could have done it...oh well, we'll leave the Veronese their claim to fame! 
Verona is also where we got our first glimpse of how stylish the Italians are. Here we are walking down a marbled street with fashionable boutiques on either side in our schleppy travelling clothes while surrounded by good-looking Italians with their designer sunglasses and clothes. I've never felt so underdressed! I guess we can't all be Italian, we have to stick out as North Americans somehow! My favourite thing about Verona and Italy in general is the gelati. We had our first Italian gelati in Verona and while it's little creamier than
the kind we're used to on Corydon Ave. back home it's still so good. And the presentation of it was so artful I had to take a picture of it! Lucky for us we met a fellow traveller from Germany, Malene, who we spent the afternoon with and who helped us with our italian. Without her I don't know if we wouild have even been able to order any gelati! Our italian has slowly been improving, i now know how to communicate a lot of the inportant things we need to say, but we have found that a lot of people here speak english. That may be because we tend to hang out where all the tourists are but hey, we'll take the english where we can get it! So after our stop in Verona, it was on to the City of Canals and Gondolas: Venice. I will forever remember walking out of the train station in Venice and seeing the glistening water of the Grand Canal instead of another concrete street! 
Although Venice is old and a lot of the buildings look like they need maintenance it was still a really nice place to see. We stayed in a small hotel just the main walking circuit in Venice and really enjoyed being able to have all the sights in close proximity to our accomodation. We saw St. Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace and the Rialto Bridge, the three main tourist attractions in Venice. I especially liked the Rialto Bridge because we found a cute little shop that sells antique leather bound journals, which was only too perfect because I lost my original journal somewhere in Munich, so of course I bought one! (I did find that other journal when we got to Rome but I definately like my leather one better!) Christine and I took a boat ride down the Grand Canal just by taking the waterbus #1. 
Definately a nice way to see Venice and not as expensive as a gondola ride would have been! I think two days was enough to see it all though. Given the way Venice is situated on a bunch of islands in a lagoon, it really has nowhere to grow so it's small enough to see it that amount of time. Really a very unique city, with a lot of history and stories to tell! After Venice we aimed for Rome, but I think I will have to write about Rome another day as I'm running out of time here! Hope all is well back home! Christine said you guys are due for some more snow in Winnipeg tonight after checking the weather network. I love snow and all when I'm in Winnipeg but at this point I can't say I'm envious! Take Care!
Ciao!
Laura
I think has been our favourite so far. It was clean, quiet, new and had cheap internet! We really didn't spend too much time in the hostel though. We only stopped in Bolzano for one reason...to see Otzi, a stone age man that died, was buried and mummified by a glacier, frozen for 5300 years and then accidentally discovered by hikers in the Alps on the Italian/Austrian border in 1991. I was very intrigued by this whole story when I read it in my Europe Guidebook and had to take the time to see this for myself! I'm very glad we did too, it was really very fascinating. Not only did they find the mummy back in '91, but they also found a lot of his clothing, weapons and tools, all of them incredibly well preserved given the amount of time they had spent in the ice and snow. The museum did an excellent job of presenting all of these finds. We even got to see the mummy itself...they have a little window you can look through to see him in the freeze chamber they keep him in. I just can't get over how incredible the circumstances of this find are and how much researchers were able to learn about how people lived in the late Stone Age/Early Copper Age off of this one man who died so long ago. It's amazing. Anyway, it was well worth the stop to Bolzano! After Bolzano we couldn't resist the allure of a town where a very famous story was set. 
Verona was charming, stylish, and full of gelatis! We only stayed for a night but we really liked Verona. Inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet we searched for the 'Casa de Giulietta' on the Via de Capello (Capulet in english) and found the house that the Veronese like to think is where the two lovers could have begun their affair. We didn't acutally go inside it but there is a little courtyard with a balcony in it that looks like it could have hosted a secret nighttime meeting or two for the couple, but it did look a little hard to climb, I don't know how Romeo could have done it...oh well, we'll leave the Veronese their claim to fame! 
Verona is also where we got our first glimpse of how stylish the Italians are. Here we are walking down a marbled street with fashionable boutiques on either side in our schleppy travelling clothes while surrounded by good-looking Italians with their designer sunglasses and clothes. I've never felt so underdressed! I guess we can't all be Italian, we have to stick out as North Americans somehow! My favourite thing about Verona and Italy in general is the gelati. We had our first Italian gelati in Verona and while it's little creamier than
the kind we're used to on Corydon Ave. back home it's still so good. And the presentation of it was so artful I had to take a picture of it! Lucky for us we met a fellow traveller from Germany, Malene, who we spent the afternoon with and who helped us with our italian. Without her I don't know if we wouild have even been able to order any gelati! Our italian has slowly been improving, i now know how to communicate a lot of the inportant things we need to say, but we have found that a lot of people here speak english. That may be because we tend to hang out where all the tourists are but hey, we'll take the english where we can get it! So after our stop in Verona, it was on to the City of Canals and Gondolas: Venice. I will forever remember walking out of the train station in Venice and seeing the glistening water of the Grand Canal instead of another concrete street! 
Although Venice is old and a lot of the buildings look like they need maintenance it was still a really nice place to see. We stayed in a small hotel just the main walking circuit in Venice and really enjoyed being able to have all the sights in close proximity to our accomodation. We saw St. Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace and the Rialto Bridge, the three main tourist attractions in Venice. I especially liked the Rialto Bridge because we found a cute little shop that sells antique leather bound journals, which was only too perfect because I lost my original journal somewhere in Munich, so of course I bought one! (I did find that other journal when we got to Rome but I definately like my leather one better!) Christine and I took a boat ride down the Grand Canal just by taking the waterbus #1. 
Definately a nice way to see Venice and not as expensive as a gondola ride would have been! I think two days was enough to see it all though. Given the way Venice is situated on a bunch of islands in a lagoon, it really has nowhere to grow so it's small enough to see it that amount of time. Really a very unique city, with a lot of history and stories to tell! After Venice we aimed for Rome, but I think I will have to write about Rome another day as I'm running out of time here! Hope all is well back home! Christine said you guys are due for some more snow in Winnipeg tonight after checking the weather network. I love snow and all when I'm in Winnipeg but at this point I can't say I'm envious! Take Care! 
Ciao!
Laura
Someone in Venice loves me!
1 comment:
Hello Laura, Finally able to catch up on your travels and am really enjoying your pictures and comments. Makes me want to travel some more. what a wonderful opportunity- enjoy! Love Tante Elsie
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