gazlington

The challenge for this morning was to get back to Florence from Monteriggioni in the Merc. On the way to breakfast we chat with a whirlwind of an Italian lady who has been heavily involved in the Winnebago Conference. Turns out that she is actually coordinating the Conference on behalf of Fiat and that she is 30 percent up on budget for this year. Nice one. Wish we could measure the effectiveness of service based industries as easily as this.

After our supplied breakfast we head up to reception and settle our bill. Then its time to bring the vehicle  around, throw in the luggage and hit the road. Before we actually put the foot on the accelerator, we fire up the sat nav. This really has to work if we are going to get back to Florence. We drive out of our rural setting, cover the car in dust and start tuning into Miss Sat Nav. On to the motorway and then……….zippo. Turn the unit off, fire it up again, off we go, and then zippo. We are connected to the charger, whats the deal as Jerry Seinfeld would say? We finally work out that its the battery, man. The rental dudes either forgot to charge up the battery properly, or the battery itself is faulty and operating at such a low level that Miss Sat Nav can’t speak. As we get to to the outskirts of Florence, we manage to get the unit going again. We only need 5-10 mins out of the thing and it actually hangs in there. As we scoot through the narrow one way streets and head into the Avis garage we both give a huge sign of relief. Time to sort out the money owing. We’ve put a small scratch on the hub cap. No liability. I indicate that I’m not paying for the sat nav. Its written off the bill. We square up a small amount of money and head for a coffee zone. Done.

We walk our luggage up to the Florence station. We’re early, but that’s cool. Train to Roma. As we are putting our luggage on the train (always a bit of a bunfight) another young female passenger seems to be helping, until I realise that this person is not  a passenger. And the hand goes out. I give her a couple of Euros, smile to myself and we take our seats. We get up to 240kph. The countryside is spinning by. I read Duff McKagan’s (Guns ‘n’ Roses) account of life in the early 1990s and develop a new found respect for the guy. From the prospect of death to Mountain Biking to Martial Arts to business courses to a new family. Pretty impressive. At the Rome station we navigate our way to the exit, wave away more help from randoms and hail a taxi. Sue makes sure that we get off the train first before others board, with a hearty “excuse me”! 10 Euros later we are at our hotel. The way to go. We dump our stuff and start walking. We are right in the heart of Rome. Our travel agent has been brilliant in putting us into really nice secure and  very comfortable central locations. We grab a meal at one of the many bistros, buy a few things from the supermarket and head back to HQ. No CNN. No BBC. Whaaaat? We find an English version of  Law and Order, SVU. Another big city. Tuscany to Florence to Rome. In one day.

armani junior

classic view up one lane

piazza
mignanelli

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Before breakfast we take a call from our daughter at our Melbourne office. A few admin things sorted. Done. Last night a conversation with our Melbourne office revealed an apparent need to engage some sort of animal whisperer upon our return. Sounds like a good idea, start a  clean behavioural slate upon our return. We also make another call at our hotel main desk to our ANZ cash card people. Righto, 4 days to transfer some cash into our card? Are you kidding? Is it being done through an old dial up modem?

Breakfast. Still no toast in Monteriggionio. How do these guys survive? They don’t know what they are missing out on. Not much on the agenda today apart from oasis/ pool type activities. The Winnebaygo thing is still going. Sue speaks to a NZ couple who have been coming here for this Winnebaygo Conference for the last 3 years. Classic stuff.

After breakfast we decide to sit by the pool. Really hot. We check back on some domestic events. The first time we have really done this. Jobe Watson. Hip. Out. Richmond Football Club. Gone. Tony Abott. Invented a new nation called Canadia. Very funky. Pretty slothful afternoon. Lunch followed by more poolside sitting. Can’t believe the temperature, it would have to be 33-35 C. Swimming and reading. I jump back into Francis Wheen’s biography of Karl Marx. Apparently he spoke with a lisp and relied heavily on Engels (a smart cotton based entrepreneur based in Manchester) to keep him afloat financially whilst he wrote seminal documents such as the Communist Manifesto. Didn’t realise Engels helped Marx behind his father’s back in the family business. Sounds a bit childish. A bit of a tough read. I check out Jeff Beck’s Official Site and the bios of his current band members. A more active day tomorrow as we head back to Florence and train it to Rome where we will stay until Sat. A bit of a Girl From Ipanema scene around here man.

outside poolside

beautiful courtyards

da pewle

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Lovin these late starts. Great breakfast, but no toast. What is going on with the European Union with regard to toast. An attempt at toast production was experienced in Florence at the Diplomat Hotel, but at Monteriggioni no attempt at all. Oh well as Fleetwood Mac would say, get on with the day. We choose to stroll around the grounds. Pretty stunning gardens in this former Palace zone. Alot of maintenance required. Done to perfection. Twenty to thirty Winnebago type vehicles loom in front of us. Lets check out these bad boys. Very nice, well appointed with great sleeping quarters, TV, shower. Wouldn’t mind getting one of these units back home. I could use my lunchtimes at work to sleep, watch TV and chill out. How good would that be? I could even sub-let it out for other staff. Could even be profitable.

Anyway, we take the Merc and head out to try and find that castle that we saw coming in to this area. A bit of confusion, we don’t even try the sat nav at this point (the local map looks like something drawn up in the 1200s), and we find ourselves at a little spot called Graccianno (?). What, no castle? We jump out, have a walk around, buy some food (a shop keeper apologises for overcharging us initially) and head back to our resort. We seemed to get back fairly efficiently. Time for lunch. Lucky that we get in early because the Winnebago conference people have flooded in. Alot of deal making going on. As I might have said before, this type of leisure/ retirement industry is probably a significant industry across Europe. A quick check with our youngest daughter back home confirms that things are in hand, except that one of cats is now catching mice. Great! Thats why we have cats. Hmmm. Next we aim for the pool. How good is this.? I order a drink whilst reclining in a banana lounge and feel really guilty about it. Currently reading a biography on Karl Marx. He wouldn’t be happy with my casual indifference to the human condition and this kind of servitude. Back to HQ. Out to dindydoodles. All great practice for Santorini.

oasis shot 1

oasis shot 2

da pewle

ya Winnebaygo

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A late start in Florence after yet another breakfast with the most illogical toaster that I’ve ever seen. We don’t have to be out until 12. Nice one. Out we go into the heat, yes I said heat. It was 32 degrees celsius at 10:30 this morning. I believe it was -1 degrees in Bright in North Eastern Victoria this morning. Apparently there is some sort of heatwave sweeping through is part of Europe at the moment. Most unseasonal.

Off to the rental car office. A little tricky to negotiate the Italian language at times, but we get there. We are focused on the sat nav as the one in our previous car in Nice simply didn’t work and we were left to our own devices. Way too stressful, particularly with the congestion of the city areas. We input the address of our resort in Tuscany and then also make sure that the address of the rental car office is inputed. Right then. We are offered a bit of an upgrade on the car. Ok we’ll take that. We’re also offered an option on some insurance. No thanks, our travel insurance will do the trick.

Sat nav in place its time to hit the road in our brand new black Merc. Why am I driving a car like this? Hate the eco feature in these cars that literally turns the motor off when the footbrake is engaged. Climate be damned, turn it off. These cars are too smart for their own good. Sat nav is working well. We manage to get out through Florence. Gee the streets and roads in these European countries are narrow. Driving on the right hand side of the road is a challenge. Whats this? The sat nav stops talking to us as we blaze away towards Siena on the motorway. May be its taken exception to our language as we have had a few freakout driving moments. Here we go again.

As we turn off the motorway and head for our little provincial area of  Monteriggioni near Siena (population 9165) we are again forced to rely on our own navigational skills. So sick of this. Crazy. Will possibly never do the rental thing in Europe again. Countryside looks great but we are unable to take advantage of the views. Alot of communes in the countryside in Tuscany. It would appear that Monterriggioni is a mediaeval walled town/ commune built in 1214 by the people of Sienna as a front line in their war against Florence. We stop several times to talk to some helpful locals (once at an old castle/ commune) and then there it is, our resort (Borgo San Luigi, a renovated 17th century palace) for the next 2 days. Pretty warm at this stage. Our new digs are pretty salubrious. Its a palace, dude. Sort of an oasis. Pool, restaurant, green lawns, MTV playing in the background and, a Winnebago conference with more Winnebagos than you could poke a stick at. Winnebago conference? Apparently various countries have been represented here over the last few days. France, Netherlands.  They must be Winnebago dealers. Hmmm. Ok. We manage to get some late lunch and a few cokes, then repair back to our accommodation to freshen up. Dinner is a sophisticated affair around the pool. Back to our room. We check out the only English speaking channel on the TV, CNN, and reflect on another crazy rental car day.

the rental car

borgo san luigi pool

borgo san luigi
buildings

Music to go with our renovated Palace?  Windham Hill’s Alex De Grassi playing Causeway (early 1980s)

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Goodbye Florence. Will miss our little mini room, with its canal view and funky courtyard coffee location. Before we go I take a picture of the Bridge of Sighs at the back of the Doges Palace at St Mark’s Square. As per yesterdays’s blog, this particular bridge was the last visual opportunity prisoners had of freedom, before sighing and and going to prison. One of my fave guitar players, Robin Trower, named his most successful 1974 album after this very bridge. And to think that I thought the title of the album was an original stroke of genius. Apparently there is some sort of boating regatta underway today. End result? We have to walk up up to St Mark’s Square to meet our water taxi. Eventually we find a bearded version of Giorgio Armani. On to the water and off to the station. How weird does that sound. Water, railway station? We’re early, but thats good. On to the bullet train. First class on the Euro trains is the way to go. Doesn’t cost that much more. Really a pretty chilled out experience. A cup of tea. Yes. Peanuts. Yes. In actual fact our little 15 minute voyage to the station via Giorgio cost 75 Euros whilst 2 people to Florence on the bullet costs 58 Euros. Sometimes you have to cop the extra expense when you are captive to a particular situation. On the train I read books by Graham Nash and Keith Richards. They appeared to be treating their bodies like amusement parks. Upon getting to Florence we navigate our way out of the station to our hotel, which is virtually next to the station. We dump our stuff and have a bit of a walk around. Its really late in the arvo. We do see Ponte Vecchio bridge in the distance. But we have to eat. We meet a nice couple from San Diego about to return home after a 2 week European sojourn. Back to the hotel. Really bad wifi. Sleep. Off to the Tuscany region tomorrow. A bit of hire car action again

we leave our digs in Venice

bridge of sighs

inner Florence

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We finish our breakfast in a beautiful courtyard connected to hotel. Brilliant. Time to get to the Royal Gardens for the start of our walking tour. A little tour group starts to gather. We are issued with in- ear headphones and a receiver. A few of us struggle with the audio quality, but off we go with a knowledgeable tour guide (3 years training and accreditation). Alot of time is initially spent around St Mark’s  Square, taking in the historical backstories relating to the Doges Palace, the Basillica Church (we actually got to go into the Church briefly) and the admin buildings connected with the Square. Off to the back of the Doges Palace is the Bridge of Sighs, a pathway to one of the Palace prisons that contains windows for a final view of freedom, hence the resultant sighs by the prisoners before they are incarcerated. Inspiration for Robin Trower’s successful album of the same name. We are actually standing in the spot where Venice was established in the third to seventh centuries. Pretty amazing. The history of Venice is one of commercial success, in turn attracting all of the art and investment and architecture. In addition there are massive elements of religion, politics, money and corruption. Sound familiar? We then zip out of the Square and go into the labyrinth of little alleys and canals. Alot of sights. In actual fact all of the backstories seem pretty logical explanations of how certain buildings and events came to be established. Its all about getting the context. We actually saw the house and immediate area where Marco Polo lived in the 12th century. Marco Polo! How good was this? The great merchant traveller/ trader of all traders of his era. Tour finished we make our way back to the Square and grab some lunch. In the afternoon we head for the Peggy Guggenheim art museum. Her own private art collection housed in her former home. For starters, Pollock , Dali, Picasso, Warhol.  Amazing the sort of interests that you can cultivate in life when you don’t have to work and you have unlimited income tumbling in from family mining and smelting interests in the USA.

andy warhol

walking tour

marco polo’s house

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A nice breakfast and out we go. Great to have these breakfasts built into our accommodation. Time to hit St Marks Square and buzz around here for a while. What a sensory overload. People, pigeons, couples getting married, music, coffee, massive queues to get into the Basilica, you name it. Admittedly we are getting here late morning, but the volume of people here is staggering. Its interesting that the borders of the Square itself are full of retail opportunities, with the big names again taking positions in an iconic location. They don’t want to miss anything those brand guys. Clearly they must be getting their quota of  business out of this push to be where the action is. After spending some time here we move around to the back of St Marks to find the Royal Gardens, the starting point for our walking tour at 11: 10 tomorrow. We decide to have lunch and watch the action on the water. Incredible. We weave our way back to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, but we can’t find an ATM. We’ll do the Guggenheim thing tomorrow after our walking tour. We decide to do a gondola ride. How could anyone not do a gondola ride in Venice? We opt for the standard 80 Euro for half an hour ride. After late arvo, the rates go up a little, and you can add in an opera singer, a guitarist or an accordion player. Whatever. Quite a gondola industry exists here. It doesn’t take much to do the math and suss out what these guys might be making per day and per week. But hey this is the birthplace of capitalism. Double entry bookkeeping was invented around here, and Marco Polo based himself here as a merchant trader. Having said that, we did notice a number of gondoliers resting in their respective vessels as we sashayed past them. Tired capitalists? For the rest of the afternoon, we check out the Grand Canal, rustle through a few outdoor markets, grab some coffee and snack on strawberries. Back to the hotel. Out to dinner.

gondola ride

Church on the Grand Canal

St Marks/ wedding

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An early start, no breakfast. A quick goodbye to Marseille. We literally fly along the ground to the airport with our taxi driver, who is a cross between comedian Lenny Henry and Goodluck Jonathan. The term driving doesn’t really fit with what this guy does. I would probably describe it as hollywood stunt work. At the airport with plenty of time to spare. We fly Air France to Venice. After some nice savoury nibbles and a cup of tea, we’re there. We connect with our transfer who was looking for Fary Hodges. Hey thats me, the birthday boy. Must be a bit of transfer humour. Yeah, very funny. After a short wait we are on the water. Strange experience with all of the boats buzzing around. Great feeling. Soon enough we are moving through to the Grand Canal and on our way to our Hotel. We opt for getting out of the transfer speedboat to our hotel, over the top of three gondolas, or is that gondolae? Rock n Roll. Up into our hotel, and into our room. Clearly the smallest room ever built. But, this is Venice man. First world problem. After setting up our phones and ipads we set about calling our girls in Oz. Don’t think the dogs recognised us over the phone. Strange. We take a bit of a stroll around the precinct near our hotel and find a nice spot for some lunch. Our appetites satiated, we start walking. I’m keen to see the Peggy Guggenheim Art Collection at her publicly bequeathed gallery on a canal. We find some great stuff on the way. Alot of very original art work, including glassware, jewellery, clothing and so on. Its getting late in the afternoon so we resolve to check out the Guggenheim thing tomorrow and perhaps do a walking tour as well. I’m asked for a donation to a drug rehabilitation centre. I sheepishly engage with a woman who is, supposedly, an ex heroin addict. Good person? I give a small amount of money and we move on. So much history crammed on to this island. Apparently the printing press was invented here. In regard to the island itself, there are something like 400 bridges and the place was started in the seventh century. Weatherwise they struggle with humidity when the temps ramp up. Back in the hotel I speak with a young guy who has jetted in from NYC for the architecture component of the Venice Biennale, starting today. A pretty cool dude. Very sophisticated. Very Creative. Very stylish. They are probably my first impressions of Venice, along with Very Mind Blowing. Now some dinner for the birthday boy.

grand canal?

open air dinning

backyard garden

pensive Gazlington

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Gee I’m going to miss these euro breakfasts. Late start. Lets get to the station and lets get to Marseille, our one night stop off before flying to Venice. On to the bullet train. All good. Not travelling so bullet like today, but thats ok. Prefer this train thing to trying to navigate a rental car down into Marseille, into a car park over night and then on through peak hour traffic tomorrow morning to the airport. Another old woman on the train with her pooch. Really nice vibe. Sue does her crosswords. I read books by Graham Nash and Keith Richards. Extraordinary stories from these guys with regard to their respective womanising, drug taking and music making. Three hour trip and we’re into Marseille. I decide that I’ve made the right decision on giving the rental car the flick when during our taxi trip from the station to our hotel, a fairly aggressive road rage incident occurs in front of us. One protagonist gets out of his car, then (in a fit of rage) drives into the other car. I’ll repeat that, drives into another car. Bizarre. On to the hotel, and yes, a big hotel room for once. We have a late arvo walk around Marseille. Back to the hotel and out to dinner. Early start tomorrow. Venice man!!!!!!!

rooftop Niece

la Magoa Church Marseille

rooftop Niece

rooftop Niece

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“And so it goes….” (Kurt Vonnegut). Down to the breakfast scene again. A nice vibe. Pretty significant occupancy at the hotel by the looks of things. We discuss the Top Gear type motoring quest before us tomorrow, in terms of driving the rental car from here to our Marseille hotel, organising parking for the vehicle in Marseille and then dropping off the funky eco centric fun wagon to the hire car bay at the airport the following day during peak hour traffic. Nup, we’re not taking this on, particularly after yesterday (we’re not even mentioning the eccentricities of driving in places like Nice and Marseille). We decide we are going to  hand the hire car back and train it, bullet style, to Marseille. After breakfast we head to the station. We purchase 2 tics, first class (don’t want to be interfered with by itinerant gypsies) to Marseille at 12 tomorrow. Done. Now the hire car. We head to the hire car office and explain what we are going to do. No probs. During the course of our little chat with a young female car hire officer, a guy comes in wielding a pram saying that his hire car had to be towed to a garage. He looked pretty reserved until another young female hire car officer  asked a few questions. He then slammed the counter, and started yelling like a stuck pig. The icicles in the office started to form and its 26 degrees outside. Upon witnessing this customer outburst, our car hire officer runs out to look for a gendame. She comes back, they are out to lunch. With all the confusion still going on, she gestures us to move to the office door to try and concentrate. Upon doing this she bursts into tears and we attempt to console her outside the office on the pavement. The dude causing the scene promptly grabs his pram and strolls out and away. After a few minutes we regroup in the office and sort out how we are going to the get rental from the carpark (that we are now paying for on a daily basis) down through the narrow streets of Nice to the hire car garage. Up to the carpark. We negotiate the path to the hire car garage. Done. Back at 2:30pm we notice. Nice siesta? On to the promenade for some lunch. Back to the car rental scene. A few Euros paid and its all done. After ingesting quite a bit of water I head for a urination station. We discover some sort of excretion paradise in a public park area. Down a few stairs and I notice a woman supervising this little bathroom type oasis taking .50 euros per_and watering some plants. A bizarre but tranquil scene. Time for some more walking. I pick up a Nice T and we walk around exploring the outer reaches of the Nice Centre. Suns out. Heaps of jets coming into Nice airport every 3 mins. This place is set to really explode in a few weeks. Back to the hotel. Out to dinner at one of the hundreds of eateries in Nice. A cruisey couple of days after some fairly structured exploration at Dubai, London and Paris. Really looking forward to Venice day after tomorrow. I believe they started building it in the seventh century. In the meantime, Marseille beckons tomorrow.

photo booth?

main roundabout in Nice

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After all of that, something to soothe one’s nerves.

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