Art and history in Italy

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We are sitting in the airport in Rome, waiting for our RyanAir flight to Athens, Greece. It is a beautiful and sunny 63 F outside and I put away our winter coats for a while when we packed up this time.

One week ago we took a night train from Vienna to Venice. Our finals hours in Vienna on Thursday night were spent wandering downtown, having put our bags in a locker. The Advent/Christmas markets were preparing for the opening weekend, and there was one market open even on the Thursday night evening. I'm so glad we got to see it, Christmas markets appear to be a big deal in Austria. We tried the various seasonal drinks offered by market stalls and decided our holidays could use more punch. Then we boarded the train and settled down for the night. We had our own compartment for our family; it was very Harry Potter.

The next morning we boarded our first water bus leaving the train station of Venice, and I saw the true wonder of the city of Venice in my daughter's eyes. Scott (logistician of the year) had found us an apartment off the main island, much quieter than the tourist-laden area around San Marco, and so we learned the water bus routes to commute back and forth. We visited the Basilica San Marco: regrettably pictures are not allowed inside, but the interior is gorgeous, covered in gold mosaic tiles. We walked through the Doge's Palace and contemplated the water trade routes that allowed Venice to become the seat of power for the region in the Middle Ages., as well as the prisons housing the Venetian derelicts ( or those who had been lacking in political savvy). The main island is a labyrinth of pedestrian streets and canals, with gelaterias and pizzerias aplenty. Fiona and Harley have enjoyed learning the words for Smurf (as in Smurf blue gelato bearing bubble gum or blue

raspberry flavors) in different languages; in German it was die Schlump, and in Italian it is Puffo.
We spent our second day in Venice on the island of Murano, known for its glass art. There must be at least fifty glass art shops on the island, and we spent the day wandering around. Fiona had a mermaid charm made for her as a necklace by a glass artisan and got to watch how it was done. We noted that even in Murano the concept of local versus inexpensive imports was a significant issue and took care to establish the provenance of any item we purchased.

Sunday afternoon we took the train to Florence, which early in the Renaissance was the art capital of the world. We visited the Uffizi art museum after finding awesome ficoccia sandwiches (memo to self, make more ficoccia sandwiches with salami, fresh mozzarella, and fresh pesto once at home. Also learn how to spell focaccia because the autocorrect is brutal). Botticelli was one of my favorite Italian painters 14 years ago and I stand by that choice. The next day was the Day of Many Stairs as we climbed the dome of Il Duomo (Bruneschelli's Dome) and the Campanile (Bell Tower), over 800 stairs between the two. We saw all the treasures of the Medici in the museum accompanying the great church, and Harley has now seen the art of all foour of the Teenage Ninja Turtle namesakes (Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael). We spent sunset at the Piazza Michelangelo above the city, where the outside replica of Michelangelo's David is located, and watched the light play across the Tuscan hillsides.

On Tuesday morning we had a few hours before our train to Rome, and we used the rental car we had obtained to go out for a drive beyond the city of Florence. We had gotten the car on Sunday, but found no need to drive in the city--and both the driving and parking were pretty intimidating so the car remained in a lot outside our hotel with frequent checks to make sure the windows were intact. The Tuscan countryside lived up to its hype for me: we passed autumn-gold vineyards, grey green olive groves, hillside villas, and found the narrow streets that required the question "Do you think traffic goes both ways on this road?"

On to Rome. We spent Tuesday night figuring out the bus system (buses did not always show up on the time schedule advertised by Google maps) and walked the Coliseum by night before finding a taco restaurant (we needed a break from pizza and pasta). The next morning we set out, by subway this time, for a walking day of Rome's iconic landmarks: the Coliseum (the original sports stadium is how we sold it to HPG), the Forum, Palatine Hill, awesome bakery/pizzeria for lunch, the Panthenon (built in 116 AD and in constant use since!), Trevi Fountain, a little shopping, and collapsed on the Spanish Steps. For the first time in a long time, we were warm enough to be in short sleeves. The sun felt terrific.
Our second day in Rome, Thanksgiving Day, we spent in Vatican City. Harley had been so excited by the warm temps the day before that he showed up in shorts, but I reminded him this was the day of all days that pants were required. We visited the Museo Vatican which has an impressive collection of religious art. We opted for the short path to the Sistine Chapel, but Fiona and Harley were dubious it was indeed just the Cliff Notes of the collection as it was an entire hour before we made it to the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel. We climbed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, which was made vastly easier by the elevator option that bypasses the first 300 steps (of 500 ish total). St. Peter's is just so grand, all marble on the ground and mosaic tiles covering the dome's interior, that it can be a bit overwhelming (see picture where kids look worn out; a massive amount of McDonald's French fries were consumed about 20 minutes after that picture). Harley was gratified to see that Pope Francisco is an honorary member of several soccer clubs in Italy.
Our Thanksgiving dinner was at Re Di Roma, a restaurant near our hotel. No turkey involved, but instead fresh bruschetta, fresh pasta, lamb, veal, and chicken with citrus sauce. Divine, but traditions are traditions and we will all be looking forward to our American feast next year.