You gotta love the mountains. Here is a shot of the Italian Alps prior to our arrival.
We were greeted at the aiport by our hosts and awaited the arrival of two other couples; a father and son owned and operated food equipment broker distributor and their spouses. Our first three night's accomodations were spent at Il Palazzo; a member of the Bauer Hotels.
After check in we had lunch at Trattoria Antico Calice; a restaurant owned and operated by our sponsoring host's uncle. We were delighted to know that Sunday was the Regatta Storica. The Regata Storica is one of the most distinguishing and typical celebration of Venice. It takes place on the water, the distinguished element that has always characterized this particular city. The Regatta takes place on the water of the longest and largest canal, the Grand Canal.
Here is a shot of the oarsmen.
Its origins are dated back to the second half of the 13th Century when Giovanni Soranzo decided to celebrate the magnificence of the city with a water parade when a foreign prince came to Venice or for the election of a Doge or a new Pope. On the other side, it was also vital, for this city whose prosperity was given by the sea and the foreign trades, to have expert oarsmen. It happens on the first Sunday afternoon in September and we were able to watch it from our hotel room. Also while in Venice the 66th Venice Film Festival is going on during our stay.
After lunch we returned to our hotel to unpack and watch the Regatta. Dave fell asleep twice so after numerous yells and pokes from me (hey you have to acclimate right?) we put on shorts and walked through the city over to St. Marks Square. We missed out on touring the St. Marks Church but went to the very top of the Campanile Di San Marco (the Bell Tower). Bring your ear plugs as the bells still ring.
Here are Dave and I in St. Marks Square with the Bell Tower behind us.
After completely exhausting ourselves we returned to the room to freshen up and meet the rest of our group. That night we had pizza on the Grand Canal. It had to have been damn near midnight or later and we were still at the dinner table and looking at one another with eyes closing. We basically excused ourselves from the group and made our way back to the hotel where we passed out.
On Monday we got on the road to Padova. Padova is the city where the host vendor is and we started our day with factory tours. We first toured Incold in Rovigo. After that tour we went to Intrac. We stopped for a lovely lunch at Villa Regina Margherita. It is a hotel but we ate in the restaurant. Here's a shot of the outside.
After lunch we toured the Arneg factory; the host vendor of the trip to Venice. That evening we had our star sighting! Wesley Snipes. He dined at the table adjacent to us.
We had dinner at Fiaschetteria Toscana Restaurant. The food was great and the people watching was the best! Venetian food is known for fish, fish and more fish. We had a terrific steak that night.
Check out this bad boy!
On Tuesday we were tourists and started out our day at Murano followed by Torcello and Burano. We finished up at the San Francisco Stimmatizzato Monastery and wrapped up our last night in Venice with dinner at the hotel. After dinner we did a group gondola ride.
The next morning we took a train from Venice to Florence. On Wednesday afternoon we had city bus tour followed by entrance to the Uffizi Museum. While in Firenze (Italians call Florence Firenze) we stayed at the Hilton Metropole. The hotel is situated about 20 minutes from the city. On Thursday am we got up early and took a train to Pisa. On Friday we are taking a tour of the Tuscany region. We depart Florence EARLY on Saturday for Rome and are spending four nights there. As time is tight on the computer I will post photos and more details on the remainder of the trip later on.
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1 comment:
oh eat, drink and be merry! i am so jealous. :)
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