Down The Rabbit Hole

Whew!  Well, since last I posted we’ve been in Beaune, Bern, Venice, and now we are in Trento with Hawk’s aunt, uncle and their three kids.

Beaune was lovely.  We went wine tasting in a twelfth century wine cellar, tried 18 different wines, and had a great time.  Met a fifty-something British couple at dinner and went drinking with them at a British ex-pat pub.  I think they were excited to be hanging out with us kids and proceeded to drink us under the table.  At about 1:30am we told them we couldn’t handle another pint and stumbled back to our hotel.  I was in BAD shape the next day.

From Beaune we took a train through Dijon to Bern, Switzerland.  Switzerland is the one country that we didn’t bring a guidebook for, so we were totally flying blind.  Randomly called some hotel (the Goldener Schlussel), which turned out to be in the perfect part of old town, with a very cozy room.  We were so exhausted from the first two weeks of our trip that we didn’t have the energy to do much that night except eat dinner - at a thai restaurant.  After about forty minutes of walking around peering at menus in german, we finally found this hole in the wall thai place.  Yum yum!  I was so excited to have panang with tofu!! The next day, we were still pretty tired, but went to see the bear pits.  Bern is named after the first animal that its founder killed on that spot (a bear), so in honor of that, the town has five pyrennes(?) bears in two pits.  Then we took a walk by the river, had lunch of a mixed salad and baked potato (the only thing on the menu we could decipher), then slept until dinner time.  We had thai food again, had a couple drinks, then went back to bed.  When we fell asleep, there was a fantastic thunder storm, and when we woke up, it was snowing!  There was about a half inch of snow on the ground.  SO unbelieveably beautiful.

On Sunday, we took a train from Bern to MIlan, then on to Venice.  Since it had snowed that night, the trip from Bern to Milan was gorgeous - through the alps with snow on all the trees, rushing rivers.  Surreally beautiful.

On the train to Venice, we met Erin and Greg, a Canadian couple who are traveling for three weeks.  Turns out they were headed to Venice for the same amount of time we were, so we called ahead, booked rooms in the same hotel, and hung out with them for the three days we were there. 

Sunday night we had dinner, then went for a walk to San Marco square. There are the "dueling orchestras" in front of several of the restaraunts on the square, and they all play wonderful classical music.  To stand in that grand space, listening to the music on a chilly night was one of the most romantic experiences ever.  There are of course the annoying flower vendors who stick bunches of roses in your face every thirty seconds and won’t take no for an answer, but even they can’t ruin the ambiance. 

Then we went back to the room and proceeded to drink three bottles of red wine (between the four of us), and then Greg busted out half a bottle of JD that he’d been carrying, and he and Hawk polished it off.  The next day, I didn’t think Greg was going to make it.  He couldn’t raise his head at breakfast, so we put him back to bed and Hawk, Erin and I went for a walk.  We rousted Greg in time for lunch, then went to San Marco’s Basilica, which was incredible.  The whole ceiling is gold mosaic. Had a crappy cheap dinner that night, then crashed early.

Tuesday we went to Murano, the island just off of Venice where all the famous Murano glass is made.  Did some good shopping, had a pizza lunch where we met a couple from Houston who we talked to for a while.  Hawk and I came back to the city, and were planning on taking a nap after checking trains schedules at a small travel agency.  The bitchy girl at the counter, who barely looked up, informed us that there was to be a rail strike Wednesday and Thursday, so we wouldn’t be able to leave the city.  She offered no other information and told us to go to the train station.  So, in a panic, we hustled to the station, found out that she had her head up her ass and that there was no stinking rail strike, and were able to book a train to Trento for Wednesday.

That night we were determined to have a good dinner, but were wiped out from our train-related panic, so we walked a short way to a restaurant on the waterfront that sounded good.  It was so unbelievably bad.  Hawk had wild mushroom polenta that had gloppy, gluey mushrooms and pasty polenta for 17 euros. I had hockey-puck-like gnocchi.  We grudgingly paid and left in a huff.

We adored Venice, but that last dinner was really indicative of the whole scene there.  It has become a total tourist trap.  During the day, there are hourdes of tour groups and school field trips cramming the streets.  At night, it’s quieter, but the restaurants know that they are catering to tourists who will never come back to their shop, so they don’t care if they serve you overpriced garbage.  It’s just really a shame.  Venice doesn’t deserve that - it’s too beautiful a city.

So now we are in Trento, which we are already in love with.  It’s in Northern Italy, nestled amongst the mountains in a green green valley.  Take note, Mom and Dad.  In a few years we may pull an Annette and Jon and come live here for a year.  Had the best gelato of my life here - a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of lemon.  Yum yum!  Tonight we’re having dinner with the fam and then tomorrow I think we’re going to a castle or something.  Fun!

Ciao!