agincourt

Monday, November 1, 2010

Day 15 - Penzance to London

Up early to catch the train to Bristol Temple Meads where we had a lunch date with Denise and John Stirrup. We had had lunch with Denise's parents on the first day in the UK. They met us at the station and we walked to a pleasant restaurant overlooking part of the harbour. We hadn't seen them for long time so there was lots of catching up to do. After lunch we took the Paddington train and arrived in the early evening. We were to stay at a London School of Economics residence near St. Pancras station so we took the Circle Line underground directly. Just as we got on the tube had a signal fault down the line but we stayed put and eventually the train moved ahead one station at a time to Euston Square. To go another route wouldn't have been too much fun with our cases.

The residence was very nice indeed and we met up with Hilary Strudwick, one of the "old girls" who was at the reunion and she took us out to dinner in Cambridge Circus which was very kind of her.

Day 16 - London to Paris

Time to move on to the Continent and we went on the Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel. St. Pancras has been the terminal for a while now and the experience is more like taking the plane. Baggage and body search is included. You can't get onto the platform until your train is called. There are trains every 40 minutes or so to Paris, Brussels and even a special train to Paris Disneyland. The train looked to be full and it sped away through a long tunnel until it broke into the daylight well east of the centre of London. They built a new fast line reducing travel times by some 20 minutes and you reach Paris in 2 hours 23 minutes. The new line joins the original line to Folkestone at Ashford. Very quickly you are at the tunnel mouth and then follows twenty minutes under the channel. It breaks out at Calais and travels through Lille to reach Paris Gare du Nord. We managed to fathom out the ticket machine for the metro and two stops later with a change we were at the station close by our hostel in Montmartre. Le Village is one of the more highly rated hostels in Paris and it deserved the rating. The people running it were efficient and friendly. We had a double room en suite on the fourth floor. Sacre Coeur was behind the hostel and we had a good view from the back staircase.

The Sacre Coeur

We walked up the hill to the church which was crowded with tourists. There is a great view off the front steps.

View over Paris from the steps of the Sacre Coeur

We continued on around the district and visited the Montmartre Cemetery which has quite a few famous people lying at rest. For example: Hector Berlioz, Alexander Dumas, Edgar Degas, Leo Delibes and Vaslav Nijinsky.

Nijinsky's Grave

The area is full of shops, people and restaurants. We passed by some unusual sights

He must have been running quite fast

Day 17 - Paris

We had planned a whole day in Paris before moving on. We had spent a few days there many years ago so we had visited a number of the "things to see". We had with us "Frommer's day by day" which we found very useful and we followed much of one of their suggested routes. We took the Metro to Concorde and entered the Jardin des Tuileries up from the Louvre. It is about the size of two football fields. Lots of ponds, shaded tables and lacy chestnut trees.

We moved on across the River Seine to the Musee d'Orsay which was converted from the old Belle Epoque railway station for a 1900 exposition and later turned into this museum. It is devoted to works created from 1848 to 1914. A large ornate clock dominates one end of the hall. Their is the main central gallery and many rooms off it at various levels. Many famous impressionist paintings reside here plus sculptures and other works of art. We spent quite a long time there until lunch time. We then moved on down by the Seine to reach Notre Dame Cathedral. Last time we were there we remembered it as a very dark building on the inside. It didn't seem quite as forbidding this time. Photography is difficult because of the light levels but we did get a nice photo of the famous Rose window.

Rose window in Notre Dame Cathedral

Another attractive stained glass window

Our walk took us by the Sorbonne as we sought out a street market which was quite entertaining. We took the Metro back to the hostel before looking for a suitable restaurant for dinner. We weren't late to bed because we had a very early start ahead for the long train trip to Venice.

Day 18 - Paris to Zurich, Milan and Venice

Our train was due to Leave Gare de L'Est at 6.24 a.m. which meant we were up by 5.00 a.m. Breakfast in the hostel wasn't technically available until around 7:30 a.m but the young man who had been on night duty was kind enough to provide with coffee and croissants to set us up for the start of the day. We set off on the Metro to the station which wasn't very far away, close by the Gare du Nord where we had arrived earlier from London. We took four trains this day, the first a TGV Lyria to Zurich via Strasbourg and Basle. The first section runs on a new high speed line where the train runs for the two hours at 200 mph. It then runs quite quickly on regular tracks until it reaches Zurich.

TGV Lyria at Zurich Station

We had enough connect time for lunch in a pleasant station restaurant. Next train was the Cisalpino to Milan. This train tilts around the curves and is used on this route because in passing through the mountains and valleys it can travel faster than a regular train. These trains have had many problems and are often late or even cancelled but we were sort of lucky. The train we were to catch was indeed late and to make up some time we were put onto another train to Zug, the first stop on the route where the inbound train had been terminated. As a result we left pretty well on time for the twisty route to Milan through the St. Gotthard Tunnel. It wasn't all plain sailing, however, as we had a man near us very much worse from alcohol causing discomfort to the passengers at our end of the coach (backward facing seats again, by the way). It was sufficiently bad that they stopped the train up the line and the police got on board and carted the man away. This was doubly good news because we were able to take his forward facing pair of seats.

The train made its way up the valley to the pass using a series of spiral tunnels to gain height. They are constructing a new, much longer, tunnel and we passed by both entrance and exit as we went by. The old tunnel is 9.0 miles long. The tunnel reached a milestone just recently when they broke through. The new tunnel will be 35.4 miles long, making it the longest rail tunnel in the world. We entered the old tunnel and it took about 8 minutes to reach the exit portal. The train then winds its way down to Milan.

After a brief tea stop we took the train to Venice. Here we made a minor mistake because the train we chose was going on to Trieste, which meant it didn't get to the Santa Maria Station on the island but stopped briefly in Venice Mestre just off the island. So we had to change to a local train. Our train had been running late and we missed the train we wanted to catch and we faced a 30 minute wait on a rainy platform. The weather had been lovely until this point. To add to the misery the next train from Milan we could have waited for sailed through ahead of us and we arrived in Venice more than an hour later than we might have done, in the rain to boot. Until then the trains had been on time.

We bought a water bus (vaporetto) 24 hour pass that we would use the next day extensively. We were staying at another hostel close by the Rialto Bridge and we had seen a video showing us how to navigate from the vaporetto stop at Rialto to the hostel. It was related to a small hotel and you had to check in there before coming back to the hostel. Without the video this would have been quite challenging in the dark. We had a very nice double en suite room and the location was excellent.

Day 19 - Venice Lagoon and Chiaggio

Our vaporetto pass was still active and we used it extensively on our first full day. We took the water bus to Lido, which is a long island forming a barrier to the Mediterranean. Motorized vehicles are allowed here and we took a bus, covered by our pass, down the island. This bus then goes onto a ferry to get to the next island south of Lido. More bus travel until you reach the bottom end of this island where you get off and take another vaporetto to the town of Chioggia.

Chioggia is joined to the mainland at the southern end of Venice Lagoon. Architecturally it is like Venice, equally old, but it very few canals. It wasn't a very promising day but we managed to keep out of the drizzle. Chioggia is a favourite place for tourists who know about it and we enjoyed our time there.

An attractive window, one of many

There are plenty of shops to entice the visitors. We did one important piece of shopping. Just before we left home we had lost our wedding ring and much searching didn't reveal its hiding place. We are still looking but since we hadn't been at all successful we bought a new one.

UPDATE December 16th 2010: It has in fact been found at home. Took a while!

The main street in Chioggia

An attractive church tower

An unusual glass sculpture in Chioggia

We retraced our steps after lunch back to Lido and then took another vaporetto that took us on an extended trip around the Northern end of the lagoon. We called into various islands and got off at Burano. This island is famous for its lace and we had made a visit to the lace museum on our earlier visit. It tipped with rain as we waited for the next vaporetto that would take us to Murano, the island famous for Venetian glass.

Murano

One of the canals in Murano

Another change of vaporetto and we crossed over to Venice and then went around clockwise to get us back too San Marco, as usual full of tourists.

Day 20 - A Walking Tour of Venice

From now on the weather was very favourable and we took advantage of this to spend the day on a walking tour. We had brought with us a book by J.G. Links - Venice for Pleasure. His plan was to create a series of walks, four in all, that take the walker to some of the less well trodden paths which many tourists simply miss as they tend to concentrate on the "famous landmarks." He takes the visitor at a gentle pace, making stops at favourite cafes and restaurants. He also concentrates on giving a historical perspective and often takes you to the exact location used by the painters in the past.

The walk we did this day took us from the Rialto Bridge area where we were staying, to the Piazza di San Marco, east to the Public Gardens, and then back along the waterfront to the Piazza di San Marco and then to the SS Giovanni e Paolo, to the Fondamente Nuovo (canal walkway) and back to the Rialto Bridge.

An unusual arch between buildings

Gondoliers plying their trade early in the morning

Early morning crowds in Piazza di San Marco

The bell on the clock tower in Piazza di San Marco

Decorative doorway at the Basilica Di San Marco

The location where Bellini painted his "Miracle of the Holy Cross"

A black and white version of the actual painting

View along the Riva degli Schiavoni towards San Marco. We had reached the long waterfront running east from the Piazza di San Marco. It was here that Canaletto painted the picture below

Our journey took us to the Arsenale, where the Venetians built their ships. There we saw the first Renaissance building in Venice (1460) with its triumphal arch. Outside the arch were statues of gods and goddesses and two lions. The left hand lion came from Athens. On it is an inscription in old Scandinavian put there in the eleventh century.

Entrance to the Arsenale

By now we had worked our way back to the Riva degli Schiavoni, the waterfront running from Piazza di San Marco. Across the water is the La Salute Church. This is a typical Venetian scene with cranes and sheet wrappings visible on so many buildings as restoration continues (for ever?).

La Salute Church

A waterfront panorama. San Giorgio Maggiore to the left, La Salute Church towards the centre and the Bell Tower at the Piazza di San Marco to the right.

By now we had reached the Campo S. Maria Formosa

The Campo S. Maria Formosa

On old painting of the Campo

A grotesque mask on the wall of the church

A strange door knocker on the Palazzo Van Axel

The Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo

A painting of the same Campo

Verrochio's statue of Bartolemo Colleoni

This statue was paid for by Colleoni himself who left enough money for the statue as long as it was placed in the Piazza San Marco. The sculptor Verrochio was commissioned to make the statue and had it practically finished when he died in 1488. Casting the statue had been a big problem and even five years after his death the casting wasn't complete. Only one other sculptor was thought to be able to solve the dilemma but he had been convicted of fraud and exiled from Venice. He was allowed to return and completed the project. However a new problem arose as to location. The idea of putting it such a prominent position as San Marco, Verrochio's condition, was considered preposterous. As a result it ended up in its current location, the Campo SS Giovanni e Paolo.

It had been a windy day the day before we arrived and the result was obvious!

We had by now reached the Fondamente Nuovo on the north side of the island. Stretched out before us was the lagoon and a view of the cemetery.

The Cemetery in the Lagoon with a vaporettto passing by

An old Palace with wooden eaves

Continuing on we reached the Grand Canal near the Palazzo Ca d'Oro. The fish market is on the right side of the next photo. We were standing at a traghetto stop. The traghettos provide a cheap way to cross the Grand Canal. They are gondola-like boats that you stand up in during the crossing. Not as precarious as it sounds.

By now we were nearly back where we had started from, the Rialto Bridge. It had been a lovely walk, full of interest.

The Rialto Bridge

Day 21 - Bassano del Grappa

One of our neighbours, Danny, is Italian and we asked him where it might be nice to visit if we wanted to leave Venice for the day and see a typical interesting town nearby. He suggested Bassano del Grappa. As a result we took the train to this small town in the foothills north-west of Venice.

The journey took us about an hour and a half and with no maps we walked to the local tourist office and equipped ourselves with some literature. Danny had mentioned a wooden bridge over the river as a main feature so we walked in the direction of the river passing through the town centre.

To prove we got there

In the Piazza Garibaldi

The Civic Tower

They really like their statues

The old wooden bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, over the River Brenta

The River Brenta from the bridge

On the bridge

Grappa is made from fermented grape skins and stalks, the unwanted rubbish? into a potent alcoholic brew with various flavour possibilities. There are two principal distilleries, Poli and Nardini. Many shops sell the product and Poli has museum showing the process. We bought a bottle for Danny from the other maker, Nardini.