Italia!! (and Austria, too)
The concert band we travelled to Switzerland with last year has gotten an invitation to perform at a festival in Schladming, Austria this year, and they have asked us to come along again. They are also performing in Modena, Italy, so we are going a week early and travelling up from Rome.
Woot!
Our tentative plans are a few days in Rome, 3 days in Florence (with some possible side trips to Lucca and Sienna) and then on to Venice for a day or two. Then we are off to Austria with the band. If any of you have any recommendations for hotels, restaurants, etc. for those areas, we would love to hear them.
Woot!
Our tentative plans are a few days in Rome, 3 days in Florence (with some possible side trips to Lucca and Sienna) and then on to Venice for a day or two. Then we are off to Austria with the band. If any of you have any recommendations for hotels, restaurants, etc. for those areas, we would love to hear them.
posted by allison | 12:57 PM
10 Comments:
Ooh, not been to Modena or Lucca, but done Rome, Sienna, Florence and Venice.
I stayed in the Hotel Arlecchino (I think that's the spelling - it'd translate as "Harlequin"). It was just over the river from the main train station.
I'll have a hunt online, and see if I can find it listed, as it was pretty decent.
As for other recommendations - if you're in Rome on a Sunday - at noon, the Pope makes his address to the people. As you exit St. Peter's Basilica, head to the right and stand against the long wall back down to the square. Across the square is a building with rows of small windows, and the end one of the top floor is where the Pope makes his address from.
Piazza Spagna and the Spanish Steps. If you stand with your back to the steps and walk away, you head down Via Condotti, which has some of the most expensive designer shops in the city. Goggle and then point and laugh at the £8000 crocodile skin handbags and tatty torn skirts. You think I'm joking, don't you... Oh and see the Colosseum (do the inside tour), the Pantheon (now featured in books like David Hewson's The Sacred Cut and Dan Brown's Angels and Demons)- it is so close to the other walls of the square it is in, it's a tiny square! And Piazza Navona is pretty (and featured in Angels and Demons. And the Trevi Fountain - again, so close to the other sides of the square - in fact, if you were in one of the front windows of the hotel opposite and spat, you'd probably hit one of the tourists sitting on the stone rims around the fountain... Throw a coin in and make a wish - if it comes true then you have to go back to the fountain.
Venice - little factoid here - instead of "via" or "viale" (little street), Venetian streets are designated by a local Venetian dialect word - "Ca' ". Ca' D'oro, for example.
Head over to Piazza San Marco, where you'll see the locations for part of the James Bond film "Moonraker". As you stand and look at San Marco, head towards its left front corner, and there is a small alley leading up the side of it. There's a small church there which has (hopefully still there) an exhibition on Vivaldi (the Prete Rosso, or "Red Priest", who spent a lot of time in Venice).
Florence - the Boboli Gardens. There are loads of pathways through the tall hedges, statues, big ponds etc - and the slightly steep uphill path under the cypress trees, which is the "Cypress Walk". At the top is a big abstract statue of a head - head to your left and down, to the Pozzi Palace I think, and around the other side is a great view over Florence. A good place to bring a picnic, if you buy sandwiches.
If you do go to Sienna, go to the main square (well oval) where the Pallio is held (the famous horse race). The oval is studded with restaurants and pizzerias, and there are street artists there - one was a real practical joker. He liked amongst other things, to walk up behind someone, parp a bicycle horn to make them jump and move out of the way (expecting a cyclist), and then he'd comically walk past them. You didn't want to be his target, but you laughed anyway at other people!
Sorry, I get a little carried away ;-) How are you travelling around Italy- renting a car?
Oh! And I've been to Austria once, on a school skiing trip - and we went to Schladming! Wow, how funny!
OK, found the Venice hotel:
Hotel arlecchino.
Boboli Gardens (and it was the Pitti Palace, not the Pozzi - sorry.
Fantastic! Enjoy your time!
Holy dinah, you've had some kick-ass posts lately!
I hope you are feeling as good as your posts. Yay for travel and earings and purses!
Woohoo! That's very exciting.
The only suggestion I have is that you pack me in your suitcase. No? Well, then take lots of photos, ok? *grin*
*jealous*
That sounds outstanding.
Have a WONDERFUL time!
Oh, god, I'm so jealous....I'm waxing nostalgic about our trip a few years ago.
I think it is a good idea to stay in Florence -- of course you have to see The David. He's larger than life (except in certain areas, hee, hee.) When you go, image 3-year-old Alex, who had been admiring pictures of the statue in our guide books for weeks, turning the corner of the museum and seeing the statue down a long hallway and loudly exclaiming "OH MY GOT!" (remember his speech problems!)Made the other tourists laugh!
Make reservations in advance to see the statue, you get to slip past all those tourists in line who didn't know you could make reservations for a time slot! Hopefully it won't be as hot for you (it was 104 when we were there!. We loved it anyways, which says a lot for that great city!
A side trip to Lucca would be great -- we loved it! But, I really loved Siena and wished that we could have stayed there for a few days. The main square is really cool and we wished we could have puttered around a whole lot more!
Venice: Make sure you make your reservations soon, the good places get booked quickly. The closer to the main square, I think, the better, but pay attention to WHERE the hotel is because there are some out-of-the way areas that still bill themselves as "Venice." (Unless that is what you want!)
How are you travelling? Car, train, bus?
I have so much more to say but I'll stop now.
Lucky girl!
Sally
Ooooh!
*much bouncing up and down of Bears*
That sounds like a wonderfoo trip!
OK Bye,
Stompy
Silly question, I gather you're travelling with an orchestra? What instrument do you play? I never realised you did!
What a wonderful way to travel!
Not a silly question, at all. The concert band does not include strings, so not an orchestra, but they play quite sophisticated stuff. Grant and I are not performers; he is one of the city officials that gets to promote our hometown, present plaques and shake hands with all the European city officials. I just get to tag along. Poor me. ;-)
Perhaps you know of some nice music festivals in Australia that would like to host Canada's number one award-winning concert band???
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