Venice Day 3.5 (01 Jan 09): Snow, San Marco and other Spectacular Sights

It snowed last night, so here are some pretty pictures of Venice on the first day of 2009:

 L and I spent most of the day roaming the Piazza San Marco and its small streets. Piazza San Marco, said Napoleon, is Europe’s Best Drawing Room, and I think it still lives up to the compliment. Here is a picture of the piazza facing the Adriatic Sea, taken from the Basilica San Marco:

The Basilica itself is quite unlike anything else - so opulent, so Byzantine. Pictures weren’t allowed inside, but here’s a picture I was able to take from outside:

L and I had a late lunch by eating cichetti, Italy's version of tapas. We had assorted seafood:

and marinated anchovies (yum!):

L and I also wandered through the tiny streets to towards the Rialto Bridge. Here's a view of the Grand Canal from the bridge:

Dinner was again a seafood special. Here’s a picture of Al Vecchio Fritolin, a place that has been around since the 1700s:

My lobster and spinach salad:

L’s crab and mushroom crepe:

My crab roe and gray mullet spaghetti:

L’s fritto misti (a Venetian specialty):

Our pantone gelato:

The next morning was a rush to the Frari, before leaving for Florence. Here’s a picture of the building:

Again, no pictures inside, but Titian was the star here, and I will never forget Bellini’s Madonna and Child.

Florence, here we come.

Venice Day 2 (31 Dec 08): Buon Anno Venezia!

L and I couldn’t get enough of the Grand Canal, so we went on a vaporetto again, but this time, in the daytime. Here are some more pictures:

We visited the Galleria dell'Accademia, which is a great showcase of Venetian art. My favorites in these Museums were Titian’s Presentation of the Virgin and Tintoretto’s cycle of paintings on Saint Mark. 

It was a really cold day, so instead of our usual pizza slice lunch on the go, we chose to sit inside a little tratorria run by a husband and wife team in order to defrost. The food was actually quite good, like this delicious and picturesque insalata di mare:

After lunch, L and I went to the Scuola Grande di San Roca, which is perhaps my favorite of all the sights we saw in Venice. They call this building the Sistine Chapel of Venice, and for good reason. Tintoretto was given free reign to design and paint most of the building's interior, and it’s beautiful, amazing, fantastic. Don't miss it when you go to Venice. Unfortunately, photo taking is not allowed inside, and I have to content myself with this unspectacular view of the building's entrance:

New Year’s Eve was at a little trattoria which offered a special dinner to tourists looking for something to do. It was a four hour dinner, with about nine dishes. Sadly, this meal was not entirely good, but it did have some good hits, like seafood antipasti:

polenta with mushrooms and stuffed chili peppers:

grilled prawns and cod:

Pantone (traditional Italian Christmas cake):

The dessert came at 11:50, and a bottle of prossecco was handed out for each couple. Everyone’s bottles were popped at midnight, with everyone greeting each other a joyous, “Buon Anno!” "Happy New Year!" "Nouvelle année heureuse!"

 The perfect way to begin the New Year also came five minutes before midnight: snow! Apparently it hardly snows in Venice, and this was the first time in a really long time it snowed on New Year’s Eve. I’d like to think it’s a sign from the heavens of better things ahead.

Venice Day 1 (30 Dec 08): Freezing In A Pretty Place

We reluctantly left Rome this morning and boarded an early train to northern Italy. The route to Venice was mostly mountainous:

The snow on the mountains should have alerted us to the weather to come.

 Our hotel in Venice, which we liked a lot, was Il Sole, situated in the middle of the Santa Croce District and conveniently near the train station:

It was freezing in Venice when we arrived. The city is too pretty not to brave the weather though, and we busted out our extra duty winter wear to insulate us from the winds blowing in from the Adriatic Sea.

It was too cold (and too expensive!) to take a gondola ride, so we took the covered public vaporetto instead down the Grand Canal. Venice was really meant to be seen from the water. It has rustic, charming, picture perfect views, yet shockingly looks very fragile.

Venetian food is all about seafood, and taking a break from meat, L and I had dinner at a wonderful restaurant recommended by foodies called Al Covo:

 L and I had a seafood antipasti platter:

a crayfish platter:

Potato Gnocchi with baby octopus and clams:

And for dessert, a Cheese plate:

The folks of the restaurant were very generous to us as well (they were probably impressed with our appetites!) – they gave us this chocolate cake on the house, which looked very simple, but ta-da!, the chocolate sauce was mixed with red peppercorns, which transformed the chocolate cake into special chocolate cake:

To drink L and I had a Soave for the main meals, and a dessert wine, the Antinori Muffato della Sala, to have with the cheese.

After the meal L and I got lost in the intricate streets of Venice, and it took us an hour instead of 20 minutes to get back to our hotel. It was a nice walk and it was warmer for some strange reason towards midnight than earlier that day.

Rome Day 4 (29 Dec 08): Tagalog is the Means to Rule the World

We started out the day on my mistake. We were supposed to go to Transtevere in the morning, known for its chill out and artsy atmosphere and great views of the city, but we ended up going to the Vatican City early, on my insistence. We had a tour of the Vatican Museum at 1:30 p.m., but because I just had to see Castel Sant' Angelo (Angels and Demons, anyone?), I bullied L into ditching Transtevere.

If I just double checked our guidebook, I would have noticed that Castel Sant' Angelo was closed on Mondays. So when we got there, we couldn’t go into the castle and had to content ourselves with views of the Castle, Ponte Sant' Angelo and Bernini’s angels (this was great, right, L?):

It was a leisurely walk from there to St. Peter’s Square, which was marvelous: 

We had some time for lunch, so we walked a few blocks to a highly recommended Hosteria called Dino & Tony. We were a little early and walked into the restaurant while the staff was still having their family meal. As we sat down, a Filipino face looked up and smiled at us, and soon, we met “Panny Boy”, an assistant cook at the restaurant. We ordered the items that the Lonely Planet Encounter Guide said were good, but then Panny Boy asked us, “Gusto ba ninyo ng buntot ng baka?” Of which L and I vigorously indicated our assent. He also asked us if we wanted some sort of baked pork, to which we also said, “Mabuhay ka, Panny Boy.” The result? Roman Cuisine fiesta, all extremely delicious (forgive me, I wasn't able to take down the proper Italian names for all of these):

Antipasto platter 1 (blue cheese pizza!!!):

Antipasto platter 2:

Bucatini alla grizia (Pig's jowl in a sort of carbonara sauce):

Roast pork and potatoes with rosemary:

 Ox tail:

After that huge lunch (for which Panny Boy made us pay only less than half price!), L and I ran back to St. Peter’s for our tour. I wasn't able to take a lot of pictures in the Vatican Museum (L was able to take some great shots of the Sistine Chapel), but here's one of the Hall of Maps (and tourists heads):

And here is the Basilica:

Still (a bit) full from lunch, L and I decided to head to a wine bar for dinner. Hanging out at Trimani Wine Bar is actually listed in the book 1000 Things To Do Before You Die, and for good reason. L and I tried four wines, the top two of which are pictured below (I loved the Barbera D' Alba Gattere Molino):

with a meat and cheese platter:

This being our last night in Rome, L and I decided to make the most of what the Eternal City had to offer late at night. We went back to Caffe Sant' Eutachio for the best espresso on the planet (this time we had double espressos each, perfect after the wines we just had): 

We also went back to the famous gelato place we tried the first night, Il Gelato Di San Cripino:

The server today was Filipino too, and he gave us double gelatos for free. I had ginger cinnamon and fig, and L had nocciola and peach.

Ah, Rome. We’ll be back. But for now, onwards to Venice.

Rome Day 3 (28 Dec 08): The Most Walking Yet (10 Hours Straight!)

The day started out with a subway ride to the Colosseum. From there we got lost on the way to the Capitoline Museums, which was actually a good thing, because we got great pictures of the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill:

We finally got to the Capitoline Museums, which has the grand Piazza Del Campidoglio in front of it, designed by Michelangelo:

Our original plan was to stay at the Capitoline Museum for an hour. We ended up staying for four. There were a lot of interesting things to see. Here’s the Hall of Emperors, with the original busts of the Roman Emperors:

Also interesting is the Red Satyr:

And the She Wolf (the wolf is circa 500 B.C., and Romulus and Remus added circa 150 A.D.).

After we were able to extricate ourselves from the Museum, L and I made our way to the Chiesa Di Santa Maria Della Vittoria where we saw Bernini’s The Ecstasy of St. Therese, named such because, well, she does look like she’s in ecstasy:

A short trip back in the Centro Storico, L and I went to Caffe Sant' Eustachio and tried the coffee which the book 1000 Things To Do Before You Die and other guides (and yes, also the New York Times) say is the best espresso in the world.  Check out how frothy it is:

At Piazza Navonna, L and I saw another Bernini masterpiece, the Four Rivers:

Wandered around the Christmas market there

And ate a gigantic fried doughnut with nutella on top (nutella!):

Dinner was at a wonderful restaurant we just wandered into out of sheer hunger, which had the best pizza we’ve ever had! It was artichokes, speck and mushrooms:

We also had orrichete with clams and broccoli:

And a very simple, very good table wine:

Eating that much recharged us, so L and I went back to the Pantheon, the Piazza Del Campidoglio and the Colosseum, which were much nicer (and deserted) at night.