My adventure - one year on

One year ago I was sitting in the Sydney Airport, having just left Tasmania. As I waited for my sister I wrote this post. Twelve months later it seems appropriate to reflect on what's happened since then.

[caption id="attachment_2356" align="aligncenter" width="187" caption="My first day in Paris last year...I was actually wearing those shorts today. I'm impressed they still fit!"][/caption]

Travel

Of the last 12 months, I've spent almost four of them travelling. Just as I was last year, I'm on the road. Although then I was at the beginning of a trip last and now I'm a week away from the end. It's time to go to Scotland and rejoin reality.

My pack still weighs about the same. It's about 19kg. Although three boxes are waiting for me in Scotland so my possessions (what isn't stored in the spare room at Mum and Dad's) have grown a little.

The travelling I've done in the past year has only opened my eyes to how much more there is to see. Travel pushes my boundaries of adventure and self-reliance and it's a challenge I can't get enough of.

[caption id="attachment_2365" align="aligncenter" width="584" caption="My one year adventure anniversary, on the river in Prague."][/caption]

Work

I've had a 12-month hiatus from media for a lot of reasons. But that's been filled with a great nine months working in Vancouver at The Secret Garden Tea Company and Avenue Grill. Actually, that reminds me, a new Teacup Tales must be due...

Working in hospitality was good fun. You definitely see another side to people and I saw a different side to myself, but I'm missing media. I'm missing it enough to settle down and commit to the industry for a good while at the expense of some more passport stamps. Time for a come back? I think so...

[caption id="attachment_2359" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="With "Garden Girls" Robyn and Whitney. We may or may not have coordinated our glasses that day."][/caption]

Life, love and friends

I can't log into Facebook without congratulating a friend on their engagement/wedding/pregnacy/new arrival/child's birthday. It seems everyone has reached that stage of their life. I'm so so happy for them, but as for me? Not yet. And not any time soon.

As one of my favourite customers in Vancouver liked to remind me "your life can change in the blink of an eye". That's so very true and I know so much is out of my hands. But for now I'm happy with things as they are.

If the last 12 months has taught me anything, it's how important people are. Friends, family...everybody. In the short time I was in Vancouver (nine months isn't that long compared to my 26 years in Tasmania) I made some friends I'll have for life. I also forged stronger bonds with friends back home. When you see people every day at work or home, it's easy to take that relationship for granted. Move to the otherside of the world and see what lasts and what doesn't.

The year ahead...

In a lot of ways the uncertainity I felt 365 days ago is back. I have no idea what's next for me. In the immediate future it's job hunting and settling somewhere in the UK. The specifics of that are anyone's guess. As is what will happen beyond that. Life's fun isn't it?

Venice's historic craft: Murano glass

Almost every second store in Venice sells glass products, whether it be cheap mass-produced necklaces or bracelets for about five euro or elaborate designs with a price tag to match. While some it seems a bit tacky, glass making has a rich history in Venice.

Murano Island, a quick boat ride from Venice, is the home of the art. The factories were built there so they didn't pose a fire risk to the rest of the city. Murano was also a major port. Back in the day (we're talking 14th-15th century) glassmakers were held in high regard. They carried swords and were immune from prosecution. By the end of the 16th century almost half the island's population was involved in glassmaking. Today it is still the island's major draw.

A 24-hour public transit strike threatened to ruin out plans today but luckily the water bus out to Murano is considered a 'minimum service'. As we walked off the boat a man shouted directions to a glass factory that would close in an hour. “To your left and over the bridge,” he repeated. It’s what most of us were there to see so we headed there. Entry to the factory was free, although tips were encouraged at the end of the demonstration. It was a bit of a dodgy set up, but we saw enough. The items they produce are really something.

We then walked back to the city centre; the water on one side and glass galleries and shops on the other. Some sold the stock-standard items no different to what the street vendors were hawking back in Venice. Others were more upmarket and sold beautiful and quite original pieces. I hadn’t done any shopping all trip, other than a bracelet from the Cinque Terre, but I made up for that in Murano. I made sure what I bought came with a certificate of authenticity. Given the huge number of items available in Venice and on Murano it can’t all be made on the island. That assumption was confirmed when I saw stores promoting that they didn’t sell any Chinese glass. It really is a case of you get what you pay for. Nearly every store had a sign banning photographs, which I respected so I don't have any images of the pieces we saw.



Back in Venice we walked to St Mark’s Basilica. On the way we came across Libreria Acqua Alta. I doubt this appears on any must-see lists for Venice, but it should.



We arrived in St Mark’s Square in time for cocktail hour. The outdoor seating was starting to fill up and each restaurant provided its own entertainment. Musicians performed on small stages for their respective crowds. At a cost of eight euro we took the elevator up St Mark's Campanile (the bell tower). Our first thought was how nice the view of the canals would be, but we soon realised the surrounding buildings make it impossible to see the canals from anything other than a true bird’s eye view. Duh! We viewed the city from all directions. A clock across the square had statures up the top that moved to strike the bell. It was approaching 6.30pm so we stayed up the tower to see them in action. What we forgot about was the bells right above us….I mean less than a metre from our heads. At 6.30pm they swung into action. The noise was deafening and the vibrations made me feel a little uneasy. These old buildings can’t stay standing forever.





We came down only to find that the actual Basilica had closed for the day. Can’t say I was all that upset. After Rome I’m a bit Basilica-ed out. The same thing happened in Japan. A temple, is a temple, is a temple.

Getting lost in Venice

In Casino Royale, Daniel Craig, as James Bond, races around Venice. In the film the city looks so gorgeous. (As does Daniel Craig) Lovely old buildings, the weaving canals - a-one-of-a-kind city. What those scenes don't show are all the tourists. So many tourists. I can't be too critical. I was one of them. But just 24-hours changed my views of Venice and its elegance.

It doesn't help matters that the Venetians don't seem to like ramps. Every canal has a bridge, but we only saw one with a ramp of any kind. Even the modern bridges were all stairs. This city attracts an average of 15 million visitors each year. That means 15 million people pulling their luggage up and down these stairs.

It took four bridges to get to our hotel. Our triple room turned out to be an apartment right on a canal. We worked out the air conditioning, cooled down and then ventured outside.



Venice is a city you should, and can very easily, get lost in. Fun right? Definitely. We put our map away and just walked. For hours. Passed the many, many shops selling glasswear, Venetian costume masks, bags, lace and so much more. There was also no shortage of gelato vendors and cafes advertising free wifi.

The main shopping strip looks no different to any other part of the city. The same beautiful buildings, just with better window displays. There is no method to the streets. You can be following a line of shops and hotels and suddenly there's no one about and a string of clothes drying above your head.

 

We sat by the Grand Canal for a while. The whole time I was thinking about images I'd seen of Venice, such as the scenes in Casino Royale, and struggled to reconcile that this was the same city. I can't really explain what was so different. It just seemed a little gimmicky to me. And yes the gondolas look great, but at 80 euro a trip (100 euro if it's after 7pm) ít's a rort.





What I found most interesting was the simple substitution of roads for water. Anything that would happen on the roads in Rome was happening in the canals of Venice. Boats jetted by at a speed not normally seen in such busy waters. They also went where ever they liked. There was a slight left/right divide, but everyone seemed pretty flexible on the subject. It's a lot of fun to watch.



After picking up some groceries we cooked dinner back at the apartment. It's still so hot so we only last so long outside before we're retreating either into some indoor attraction or back to our room to cool down. Highlight of the day? Having my first granita. A deliciously cold flavoured slushy drink. Oh so so needed in this weather.

Florence's pin-up boy

Michelangelo’s David. The world’s second most famous David. I’d be a lot more excited about seeing the first one naked, but I’ll leave that for Victoria Beckham. So why all the fuss over this naked statue? I honestly have no idea. I call it the Mona Lisa effect. Art critics hail something as a masterpiece and suddenly everyone has to see it. Sure David might be ripped, but I’d expect a naked man that’s getting that much attention to be a bit more, well, you know…. Michelangelo could have exercised some artistic license in that department.

For these reasons and a lot more, we decided not to visit the “real David”. Instead, I decided to check out one of the fakes planted around town. Mum and Dad had opted to tour the city by bus, but I was on foot. My first stop was Piazza Della Signoria, the location of the most popular Fake David, the Palace Vecchio Museum and a collection of statues that make up a great open-air museum.

The statues seemed to have less religious connotations than a lot of the others I’ve seen in Italy. Most were depicting historical events, some quite graphically. The only information I had to go on was the title, artist and date, but most of the works spoke for themselves.

[caption id="attachment_2258" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Normal size buses just wouldn't fit so these smaller ones run in the city centre."][/caption]

I then tucked my map away and walked. Florence is a funny little city. It's the first time I've seen public toilets signposted, there aren't many fountains (especially compared to Rome) and I loved the smaller buses that run in the centre where big buses just couldn't navigate the narrow streets. Because there are no cars in the centre, the streets were they are allowed are basically parking lots. I saw a few people leave a house and walk for blocks to their scooter or car.

With no destination in mind I found myself at Piazzale Michelangelo, in front of another David and overlooking the city. It was refreshing to view a city not littered with high-rises.





Back down the hill I wandered through the streets. Only a few blocks from the centre and I was quite often the only person on the street. There would be an occasional siren or a motorbike speeding by, but Florence was surprisingly peaceful. By 6pm the heat had started to ease for the first time in days.

After dinner, we walked back to Piazza Della Signoria. The Piazza felt different at night. There was a busker playing classical guitar and only half as many people as were here earlier. We walked into the entrance of the Palace Vecchio Museum. As we admired I guess what would be the lobby of the museum, I overheard some people talk about free tickets. They walked to the ticket box, asked a man standing at its entrance for six tickets and he handed them over. So I tried it! Obviously there was some special event or perhaps it opens for free regularly, however we had our tickets.

Our first stop was the Grand Hall, an incredible room filled with huge paintings. Both Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci were asked to complete paintings for it. Michelangelo barely started his before he was summoned to Rome to paint the Sistine Chapel. Da Vinci experimented with new techniques, including the use of wax. When he tried to speed up the drying process by heating it, the wax melted and destroyed most of the painting. But at some point between then (1505) and now, The Battle of Anghiari  was lost thanks to numerous renovations. But this year art experts announced they believe the painting is hidden behind the mural Battle of Marciano in Val di Chiana by Giorgio Vasari. They’ve (controversially) drilled holes into Vasari’s painting to explore what’s behind it and the results point to the painting being preserved there. At the moment Vasari’s painting is covered, I assume while they decide what to do next.

The Palace, Florence’s old town hall, is, like most other such buildings in Italy, completely over the top. The work that goes into these buildings and their design and decoration is incredible.

A pleasant surprise in Florence

I’m a fan of exploring outside the major cities. I find big cities to be more or less the same.  There are exceptions and Italy is one of them. But I always viewed our visit to Florence as eating into the time we could have spent in the smaller, rural areas.

Then we came here.

The first surprise came when we checked into our hotel. Our “triple” room had five beds, three large chairs, two chests of drawers, one wardrobe, and a small round dining table. It also had enough room to fit all of that in again. Our first-floor room at the Hotel Garden was huge. I don’t know what the building was in a past life, but given the size of this room and the enormously high ceilings it must have been something special.

After running laps of our hotel room to work off some gelato (ok we didn’t really, but we could have) we walked into town. We’re on the edge of the city map, but it only took about 10 minutes to reach the centre. Florence is a major city but it’s very relaxed. Even at the major attractions there aren’t mobs of people and most of the centre is pedestrian only so there’s no crazy traffic to battle. No one was rushing. And it was quiet. Not at all what I expected.

While waiting at the train station in the Cinque Terre, we got talking to some ladies who recommended we visit St. Lorenzo market while we were in Florence. With very little shopping under our belt, we figured we may as well.



The market stretches down the streets near St. Lorenzo church. The plethora of stalls can be broken down into four main categories: leather jackets, leather bags, jewellery and souvenirs. We walked away with a couple of bags, but it really would be easy to go overboard. We got the impression most of the stalls are owned by the same people. The sellers would run between them to get stock or a credit card machine. I felt for them today. It was still so hot.



Shopped out and with our clothes clinging to us and sweat pouring off us, we visited the Duomo. The exterior of the church is amazing - so colourful and detailed. Inside was such a contrast - a big open space with no elaborate statures or decorations. Just a couple of stained-glass windows. It was actually nice to see after the elaborate works we saw so much of in Rome. The cupola here was the exception. The artwork on that is more impressive than the Sistine Chapel. We took shelter inside for a while before walking to Piazza della Repubblica.

Following advice from Adventurous Kate, I wanted to find a department store she had mentioned in one of her blogs. Apparently at the top was a café with a great view over the Duomo. After a little walking around the square we found it and went to the top. We had intended to have a drink up here, but we managed to take a few photos and gawk at the drink prices well before a server approached us so we headed back down.



Another tip from Adventurous Kate took us to Il Lantini for dinner – we thought. We arrived at the restaurant about 6.30pm to be told they would open in an hour. We ducked up the street for a drink and came back at 7.30pm to a huge line of people waiting for the restaurant to open. Rather than wait, and with another night left in Florence, we found another restaurant. It turned out to be a great choice – amazing osso buco!

On the road: Tuscany

Ah Tuscany. Beautiful, hot, scenic, hot, lovely, hot Tuscany. Yes, Italy is experiencing its first heat wave of summer. A sticky, sweaty, police-patrolling-the-fountains-in-case-people-jump-in kind of heat wave. Yay.

I’m not a summer person. Give me a rainy, cold day and I’ll make the most of it. Give me heat, especially this kind of heat, and I’m going to get my grumpy on.



Luckily most of the day was spent in the car - our last road trip, this time through Tuscany. We’d picked out three drives either because we liked the look of them or they’d been recommended to us:

Montepulciano to Montalcino 37km.

San Giovanni to Asciano 13km

Via Chiantigiana from Castelmuovo Berargenga to Impruneta 79km

We kept to the major roads on the way to Montepulciano. Much of the scenery was similar to what we saw when we headed into Le Marche. Lots of colourful paddocks, little villages scattered through the landscape and a few mountains thrown in. The villages are labyrinths of narrow streets often climbing up and up to the centre. Our car always attracted curious looks from the locals sitting outside the few stores we saw.



The Via Chiantigiana is a popular route through the Chianti region from Siena to Florence.  The trip took us through Gaiole in Chianti, Radda in Chianti, Castellina in Chianti, Panzano in Chianti, Greve in Chianti and Strada in Chianti. The region is famous for its wine and much of the trip involved driving through valleys filled with grape vines, climbing the hill into a village overlooking the area, then driving back down into the next valley.

Just before arriving in Gaiole in Chianti we visited Brolio castle. There are quite a few castles and abbeys on this drive. Brolio is open for viewing and there is apparently a great view from the outer walls, but we just stood in front of it to admire the landscape. We’re passing a lot of huge wineries here. Many advertise wine tasting and door sales. We didn’t stop very often, mainly because that meant getting out of the car and into the heat.



After checking into our room at Impruneta we drove a couple of kilometres into Grassina for dinner. Even at 7.30pm the air was so hot. We couldn’t find any open restaurants so got some pizza to go and ate it back in the hotel room. With air conditioning.

How to get funny looks in Rome

How to guarantee strange looks from every person standing near you:

Take a flowery, china teacup, set it down on a 2000-year old ruin, and proceed to take a picture.

Then be prepared to explain yourself.

The choices for a Teacup Tale shot in Rome were endless. There were so many great sites.

I settled on two.

First, my SGTC teacup came to the Colosseum. Finished in 80AD, the Colosseum is still standing. Not completely, and not in the state it was enjoyed in all those years ago, but it's there.

We joined a walking tour to explore it early in the morning. As you can imagine, it gets quite busy, and at this time of year, pretty damn hot. We spent a while walking through the interior, before stepping outside into the seating areas. This was my photo op.



I've become used to setting up the teacup for pictures in random places (on top of mountains, in front of waterfalls, in small Italian villages), so I forget how odd it must look. This time I was reminded. My entire tour group, plus any others near by, just stared. I heard one couple behind me: "Where did she get that? She must have bought it with her. What for?" Then I had to tell the story of my teacup.

Then I had show people photos of the teacup, and I have more than 2000 pictures on my camera at the moment so that took some searching. Everyone loved the idea, which was nice.



The next day I took the teacup to Vatican City. Neither the Vatican Museums or the Sistine Chapel were good places, so I was thinking of St. Peter's Basilica. Then our guide read the rules: "No strange photographs". I didn't know whether photographing my teacup inside the Basilica was "strange" but I didn't want to find out. The Swiss Guard may be dressed like jesters, but I doubt they enjoy jokes.

So I settled for outside:



 

 

 

 

 

Teacup visits the Leaning Tower

A few of the places I've taken my teacup may have not been recognisable to some of you.

But this one will be. After all, how can you not recognise the greatest architectural stuff-ups of all time?



The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of Italy's most iconic landmarks, for all the wrong reasons. It's also the only reason we visited Pisa, which is true for most of visitors to the city. My Secret Garden teacup had to come here too!

I thought I'd get some weird looks while taking this picture, but the crowd was distracted by the whistle-blowing guard that kicked the people off the grass section in front.



 

On the road: Le Marche

While Tuscany and Umbria are the go-to regions when touring Italy, Le Marche is touted as an equally beautiful but less populated alternative. With rich farmland and twisting mountain roads inland and the Adriatic Sea on the coast, it’s the best of both worlds as far as a Sunday drive goes.

We left the guesthouse just before noon and it wasn’t long before we were off the major roads. The landscape was beautiful – so colourful. The different crops made the farming landscape look like patchwork with different greens, yellows and browns. Some paddocks needed some attention but in the meantime gorgeous wildflowers were blooming. There were lots of bright red poppies.





Arriving at the Coast we pulled into a small town called Porto Sant'Elpidio. We didn’t see much of the town – just parked, grabbed some lunch and went to the beach. Large sections of the beach were filled with chairs and umbrellas, which you can enjoy if you’re willing to pay for it. We weren’t. So instead went for a swim in one of the open areas.  The Adriatic Sea may just be the warmest ocean I’ve stuck my toe into. With the temperature nearing the mid-30s, a dip in the ocean was the perfect half-way mark. There were so few people in the water though…thousands on the beach tanning, a few people up to their ankles in the water, but hardly anyone actually swimming.





We took a different route home – sticking to the Coast for a bit before entering some windy roads. We must have hit a tourist trail here. We met about 20 tour buses coming the other way. Given how narrow the roads are, it was always interesting if the meeting came on a corner. Huge tunnels, the longest just more than 4km, cut through the rugged mountains, but as we returned to Umbria so did more level ground.

On the road: Umbria

Italy isn't a big country. You can drive from one side to the other in about two and a half hours. So it didn't take us long to trade Rome's crazy, narrow, city streets for countryside.

Aside from our brief taxi trips, our experience on the Roman roads has been limited to trying to cross the street and admiring the circus from the top of a bus. Then we picked up our hire car. We’ve come across a few demonstrations in Rome and they must have been the warm-up for today. It stalled our taxi on the way to the station and the traffic as we were driving out of the city. It meant no one could race about in the normal crazy fashion. Instead it took us about 25 minutes to get 3km.

Our actual destination, a guesthouse on an olive farm outside Spoleta in Umbria, was only a couple of hours, but we were in no rush so first headed to Subiaco – purely because it’s the name of one of the football grounds in Australia. It seemed as good a reason as any.

We spent most of the trip on pretty major roads until winding into the mountains before heading into some smaller villages. The villages were built into the side of mountains - no paddocks, no anything. There was little traffic and few signs of life - other than the blooming flowers in the boxes hanging from the windows. People must live here, but I have no idea what  they do all day.

It was bloody hot though - we'd chosen a good day to leave Rome, which is said to be the worst part of Italy to be when it's hot. All that stone and heavy buildings...urgh! Instead we were cruising around with air conditioning, enjoying the scenery.



As we neared Spoleta, the most major town near our guesthouse, the landscape started to change. It flattened out and we passed paddocks with sunflowers (not quite ready), oat, wheat and barley. The olive trees also appeared, but they weren't limited to the flat ground. The trees lined the mountains around it, and the houses were built up there too. They don't take up good cropping ground with buildings.

Our guesthouse was in a place called Bazzano Inferiore. Just over the hill was Bazzano Superiore. The apartment was huge and reminded me of the typical country Italian buildings I've seen in movies such as Under the Tuscan Sun. In fact the town featured that movie isn't too far from here.

The apartment was huge and open. A long timber table, huge open fireplace, large, antique bed frames. A jasmine plant covered the staircase and has an amazing scent. There was a pool up the hill, the path winding around olice trees. This was the view for our afternoon swim:





Before dinner (eated on the balcony with the sun setting) we explored Bazzano Inferiore. Unsurpringsly, there was little action in this tiny village. Even for a Saturday night.