Torino

Every Italian city is beautiful in its own way and Torino is special.  We've never been before and after wandering around for a day can't understand why more people don't visit.  It is a beautiful place with a real sense of style.  The shopping is fantastic and the gelati and chocolate.......
We have treated ourselves to a nice hotel for a few days and are enjoying hot showers and a comfortable bed.  The apartment in Venezia was great but it is nice to have heaps of hot water and room service ;)

 There is so much to see including the Egyptian Museum and the Torino Marathon on Saturday.........

Mud dumped  by the Po when it was in flood

People hard at work clearing mud from their restaurants on the river's edge

Not an easy job

The river is still flowing pretty quickly but all is ok

Italian flags everywhere celebrating the 150 year unification of Italy

The is a French feel about some of the architecture

So much to do and see -forgot to take our cameras this morning -maybe just as well. It is likely to rain a bit tomorrow so we will start to visit the museums and galleries on our list.  Torino is beautiful

Last day in Venezia

Sadly our stay in Venezia has come to an end  -the three weeks flew by.  We had a great time despite mixed weather and lots happened -including Rob doing the Venice Marathon.  We were sad to say goodbye to Rosaria, Livio and Guido and hope that one day we will be able to get back to Venezia to see them again.  If we can get the timing right we will see Michele and Francesca again before we head for Rome.
We wandered around Venezia in the morning ,checked out of our apartment and did the usual up & down bridges with ridiculously heavy suitcases to get to the railway station.  Despite sending three boxes of stuff home, including books etc our bags are still heavy -it is hard to travel light when it is cold and you're away for a while.

It's hard doing anything in Venezia -these guys were doing renovations in Fondamenta de lo squero and had to unload their cement  bag by bag before they could start

A good day for the gondoliere -fine weather and a whole group of Chinese tourists on a tour

Not quite stilll enough for no ripples in the water, but still a good day for reflections

You can only imagine what damage these boats are doing to Venezia and the laguna

Francesco Da Mosta in Campo S Pantalon- saw him a couple of times while we were here.

Rosaria and Livio came to the station to say goodbye, it was very sad. Hope we see them again soon.

Berlusconi finally going - announces it on one of his TV channels

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-italy-berlusconi-idUSTRE7A76PQ20111108

http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2011/11/08/berlusconi-avesse-fregato-tutti/169347/

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2011/nov/08/berlusconi-resigns-on-own-tv-channel-video

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-italy-idUSTRE7A72NG20111108

Poste Italiane (2)

After being given a hard time by a dragon lady at the San Marco post office we were served by a very efficient, friendly woman at the San Polo PT and got our three boxes posted with no problems.  She happily gave us forms for other boxes that we had, whereas the San Marco woman wouldn't even give us bolletini for the boxes that we had bought.  It is so much easier to complete the forms when you are packing so that you remember what is in each box -also the post offices are very small and there is never much room to filling forms etc.

Got our tickets for Torino so we're all organised.  It's raining quite heavily at the moment so I'm staying in for a while, I've had a bit of a cold and am having a slack day today.

Palazzo Ducale

It has been raining a fair bit for a few days but it hasn't really affected what we've been doing. Got woken up at 5.30am yesterday with the acqua alta siren which was not quite the way that you want to wake up on a Sunday morning but better than falling in a canal.

We went on the Secret Itineraries tour at Palazzo Ducale on Saturday -we went on the Italian tour and really enjoyed it :http://www.turismo.provincia.venezia.it/default.aspx?PAGINA=74&ID=7640

http://www.vivaticket.it/evento.php?id_evento=409912&idt=566&op=museiCivici

You are not allowed to take photographs  in most of the Palazzo Ducale so these are from the places where it was ok.

A pozzo or well in the middle of the forecourt

The Giants Staircase

This Bocca della Verita was to do with dobbing in people who had not paid their taxes.  There were many bocce

A cell door in the prisons

For those of you who think that Italian lions are naff, you'll think again if you see them in Venice

View out towards Riva Degli Schiavoni from the roof space in Palazzo Ducale

Posteitaliane

We need to send quite a few things home and after a few hours tracked down a post office that is where it was supposed to be -  according to the tourist maps and google - and was open :)  We're dreading the whole process as we spent hours last trip chasing up the 'bolletini" or forms that must accompany each parcel - most post offices don't have them -they run out.  They have the boxes that you need but not the forms.  For example during our last time we couldn't find a post office in Milano with the forms -not the central post office which is enormous nor any of the others that we went to by taxi in the rain with our "regulation boxes" boxes -we ended up using DHL in Milano.

Another time in that trip we got stuffed around in Venezia when a postal official at one post office said that we had to post a whole pile of glass pieces for mosaics in small parcels.  Jules and I made up about 20 small parcels- each item wrapped in bubble wrap and cardboard and each parcel individually addressed.  We went to the central PO which was then at the Rialto and the helpful PO person asked us why we just didn't put everything in one box instead of having so many little ones! :) :)
(It's not a language thing & we have quite a reasonable understanding of the vagaries of sending stuff to Australia.)


This time we have our boxes  and once again no bolletini :(  and for those of you ever looking for the Post Office at Rialto, don't bother, the beautiful bulding has been sold to Benneton :(


Today is the day to tackle the post office again and Rob & I are procrastinating :)

Genova

There have been horrible floods in Genova today and seven people in the city have died.  Much of the city is a metre deep in water and people are being advised to stay inside, not to sleep in ground floor apartments or drive cars.
Hope that anyone that you know in Genova is safe and sound.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15602121

http://www.ilgiornale.it/cronache/nubifragio_genova_allagamenti_e_disagiocchi_puntanti_levante_piogge_serata/allagamenti-nubifragio-maltempo-genova-liguria/04-11-2011/articolo-id=555247-page=0-comments=1

We probably won't go to Genova as more rain is predicted but we'll wait until we get to Torino to decide what to do next. Liguria has really had a terrible time with floods.

Un giro fra i monumenti di Venezia

We're spending our days wandering around in and out of buildings, churches and shops -taking it all in.
Yesterday there was a small antique market in Campo S Barnaba and we bought a few things and went for a wander around with  Rosaria and Livio -Rosaria helped get us good prices on the things that we bought.

Today there was a big graduation ceremony for uni students in Piazza San Marco and tonight there is a lot of partying going on around the many campos close by us.  There is a lot of singing & laughing and people having a good time, which is great.  We probably won't get much sleep early on as there'll be lots of singing.  Especially a song "dottore, dottore..." which is sung to the new grad -who are often dressed up in a mixture of odd clothes by their friends and go on a wander around the city and end up at a bar where they proceed to drink a fair bit. Typical student stuff :)

We had a really nice meal in an osteria near Campo S Stefano - it was quite expensive but worth going back.
The wet weather has set in and we probably won't have any more fine weather before we leave for Torino on November 9.


The photos are from the past few days in Venezia

The Rialto always looks beautiful

The guy above was just being way too cool

Taken in the Giardini

Tuesday is washing day

Spritz, prosecco and chiccetti at Al Pesador, Campo San Giacometo, Rialto  ( the Italian waiter had been to Ballarat and Bourke!)

A selection of chiccetti

From the Rialto, early evening

Padova

Padova is fantastic, we haven't been back since the first time that we came to Italy many years ago.  It is much more vibrant than I remember.  Of all of the places that we've been to Padova is the city that we could both live in -but it's not going to happen unless we win lotto :)
http://www.padovanet.it/index.jsp

It is vibrant - lots of young people and things going on -even Gogol Bordello are playing there soon :), beautiful buildings, on the main train line etc
The shopping is great, food really good - lots of great markets and food shops.  Had some gelati today which even outdoes Giolitti in Rome and the gelati shops in Bologna.  Pretto Gelato Arte Italia, Via Umberto 1, Padova has the best gelati that either of us have had.
www.gelatopretto.it

Padova is another wealthy city in the Veneto region and has restored many of its beautiful buildings and many more are currently being restored. SO many beautiful places to look at and photograph. We had a good time wandering around and also window shopped -too much choice and I couldn't make up my mind what to get.

Have included a few photos of cheese shops near the markets at Piazza delle Erbe for those of you who have bought  a great chunk of parmigiano in the past and carried it through Italy in a back pack :)

Little kids having fun playing soccer out the front of a church -lots of noise -they made good use of the church doors and walls!

 

Venezia: giro per la città, per negozi

We've spent the last few days wandering around Venezia -went to the Grande Scuola di S Rocco -an amazing place with beautiful Tintorettos everywhere.  It's referred to as Tintoretto's Sistine Chapel and rightly so.  Don't know how we have ever missed it, but guess it is because we have always stayed in Cannaregio and it was probably closed when we've been nearby.  We also went to Ca'Rezzonico which has an excellent gallery but the heating was up so high that by the time we reached the top floor we had to make a rapid escape -even the gallery attendants were fanning themselves.
In the evening had an aperitif in a campo near the Rialto with a band playing, lots of families with little kids running around in their halloween clothes.  A very typical Italian family scene -whole families enjoying themselves together. Wish we Australians had a different attitude to alcohol as it was nice having a spritz standing in the campo -no drunks or arguments just a good night.

It was a public holiday here yesterday for All Saints day so we went around a bit by vaporetto and walked heaps again.  Went to the Giardini and checked out many of the exhibitions -underwhelmed by the Australian exhibition of resin objects which was a bit sad (especially having seen some of the work produced by WAAPA students).
Had drinks and chicceti by the Grand Canal near the markets - a perfect place.

Going to Padua today, will buy a new card reader as ours has died and we can't download photos.