Dave & Meredith’s Travel Blog

I’ll keep it short.

It turns out that one of the most famous/best orthopedic institutes in the world is in Bologna (Rizzoli Institute).  We learned that the best thing to do would be to go to the emergency room there, take a number, and wait for a doctor to see me - we were told to expect a long wait.  I think we waited about 5 minutes before they called me, and we were in and out of the hospital in about an hour - so much different than the last experience.

The doctor told me that my ankle was dislocated but I probably didn’t tear my ligament (that mystery is solved!).  When he took the cast off and tested my ankle, it hurt a lot less than it had before, so that’s encouraging, but it was all shades of black and purple! They didn’t let Dave in the room with me or else I’d surely have a picture to show you.  Unfortunately, the doctor wants me to stay off of my ankle for at least another 8 days, so after he looked at it, he put the cast back on with new gauze, and told me to see another orthopedic doctor in about a week.  I’ll be in Merano then in the Dolomites - he said there is a great orthopedic center there too.  I still have to keep injecting the anti-coagulant as well.  On the upside, I do have new, clean cotton and gauze on my cast, so, that’s obviously a plus.

I had prepared myself to be told that I needed a cast for the next month, so I wasn’t too disappointed with the news.  But when I told Dave what the doctor said, he looked crestfallen.  I think he had really hoped that I would get a walking cast and be a bit more mobile.  He’s done the lion’s share of lifting, carrying, wheeling, helping, looking to see what’s around the next corner to see if it’s worth me hobbling over there, and generally seeing less than he would have seen if he was on his own, or if I was more mobile, etc. since the incident, so it would have been great for both of us if the cast had come off.  Maybe next week - stay tuned.

- Meredith

I nearly minored in Art History in college (I found out too late that I needed 10 classes for a minor; I had taken 9.  Oops).  Anyway, my favorite classes were medieval and Byzantine art and architecture.

There’s a town in Emilia-Romagna near the Adriatic named Ravenna that was the seat of the Western Roman empire for a short time after Rome fell (5th century), and then was the home of Byzantine emperors from the 6th - 8th centuries.  There are incredibly preserved Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna that I learned about in school, and I’ve wanted to come see them for myself for many years (we visited the big four sights - San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo and Sant’ Apollinare in Classe).  I’m not sure Dave got a lot out of the visit, but he humored me, and probably got a kick out of me crutching myself around town just to look at some 1400-year-old mosaics.  He took some great pictures for me:

Detail of the ceiling of San Vitale. 

The varied ceilings of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.

Detail showing the Three Magi from Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo.

Detail from the ceiling of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe.

- Meredith

After Lago di Como, we went to the Veneto to stay with two sisters we met while traveling in the Caribbean last year.  We kept in touch with them via email, and when we told them we were coming to Italy, they generously offered to have us stay with them.

Silvia and Valeria live in Bassano del Grappa, a beautiful town in the Veneto.  We had a great time with them - they practiced speaking English with us (like many Italians, their English is very good), and we practiced a little Italian with them.  We talked about the differences and similarities between our two countries, and enjoyed the local food - especially white asparagus, which is in season right now.

There is a lot to see in the Veneto (Padua, Verona, Vicenza and small towns like Bassano), but because of my “condition”, we mostly spent time talking, seeing just a few sights in Bassano, Asolo and the surrounding area.  Dave and I enjoyed this part of the trip very much, and we hope Silvia and Valeria will come to Boston soon so we can show them some of our favorite places and everyone back home can meet them. 

Here is a picture of the four of us at a cafe around the corner from their place:

- Meredith

Here is the view from the window of our hotel room in Varenna on Lake Como:

The canopy is a ferry landing. Our hotel was right across the street. This was perfect given my “condition.”

- Meredith

We spent two days in Lake Como.  We weren’t sure when we were planning the trip whether we wanted to go, and after the ankle incident in Cinque Terre, we almost didn’t make this stop.

I’m SO glad we did.  Lake Como is more picturesque and beautiful than any picture I’ve seen, the towns along the lake are charming, the food is wonderful and the people are warm and friendly (honestly, we haven’t been anywhere in Italy where the people were not warm and friendly).  I would love to come back sometime and spend a few more days here - it is a very chill place to have a vacation.

We based ourselves in Varenna, at the middle of the lake along the eastern shore.  What an adorable town.  We really lucked out with our hotel - we booked it the day before we showed up, and it was beautiful, across the street from the ferry landing, and included breakfast and dinner (the food was AMAZING!), which helped a lot with my “condition” because the towns are a bit hilly off the water.  It’s called Hotel Olivedo.  So great.

On our first day, it was a bit rainy, but we took a ferry to Bellagio, where we walked around the town and out to a panoramic point that’s right at the Y of the lake (Lake Como is shaped like an upside-down Y).  Beautiful, but I’m glad we stayed in Varenna, because Bellagio is a little too “scene-y” for us - one of our guidebooks described the feeling you get as “tramp in a palace” although I wouldn’t go that far to describe it.  Perfect place for a little day trip, and there are tons of waterfront cafes to sit and take it all in.

On the second day (really a half day), we drove along the lake and up above into the mountains - gorgeous gorgeous.  Here are a couple of pics Dave took:

A view of Varenna from the mid-lake ferry.

A view of our hotel at the ferry dock taken from above at Varenna’s center.

A view across the lake from the ferry dock in front of the hotel.

A view of us.

- Meredith

If you are one of our faithful readers, you already know that after leaving Tuscany we went to the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre are a group of 5 towns (hence Cinque Terre, the Five Earths) along the northwestern coast of Italy. We stayed in the southernmost one: Riomaggiore, named for the river that used to run through the center of the town. The towns are very small, very colorful, very quaint, and almost all are built on a slope, clinging to cliffs that drop down to the sea. It all adds up to something very picturesque:

Above: Riomaggiore’s marina

The towns are beautiful and should be on everyone’s Italy itinerary but be warned that this was the first place we’ve been on our trip where we felt the presence of a lot of the young American crowd on a budget. That in itself isn’t so bad - good for them for traveling outside the USA - but to be honest, sometimes the attitudes that come with that bug me. There’s an interest in seeing the sights but not an (apparent) interest in having a local experience. In shops, they don’t start a purchase by bothering to try to speak Italian. While my own clothes are clearly “travel clothes,” their clothes are shorts, tank tops, flip-flops etc. which you just don’t see Italians wearing. I shouldn’t lump that entire category of people into one but there does seem to be a common profile.

One of the most common things people do when visiting the Cinque Terre is the coastal walk: a hiking trail that runs from Riomaggiore to Monterosso, the northernmost town. With Mer back at the room, I set off to hike this on my own. I got a late start so my plan was to hike only to the 4th town and then take a train back. It was a bleak day, starting out gray, drizzling after the second town, and raining a lot by the fourth town.

The section of trail between the first town, Riomaggiore, and the second town, Manarola, is especially well known and is called the Via d’Amore. I was by myself and it’s true, with a trail and scenery like this, I couldn’t help but fall in love with myself all over again:

Above: The Via d’Amore

These two towns are very close together. The walk was about 15 minutes and then I entered Manarola which is the smallest of the 5 towns. It was quaint and I took a quick 30-minute tour of the town including a path above town through the terraced vineyards:

Above: The vineyard trail above Manarola

As the trail loops back towards town, it has some very nice views of the part of town near the marina:

Above: a view of Manarola center from the vineyard trail.

After leaving Manarola, it started drizzling so it took about 30 minutes to get to the next town, Corniglia. Corniglia is the only Cinque Terre town without a marina/harbor. It’s built on top of its cliff and doesn’t run downward. This is the second smallest town in the Cinque Terre and I thought the least scenic. It was pleasant though and a walk up the main street ended in nice views. Along the way, I had great gelato at a place that has a flavor based on local honey. Not a common flavor here. Yum!

Above: A picture of Corniglia’s main square

After leaving Corniglia, I hiked the longest portion of my hike to the next town: Vernazza. This part of the trail is the most lush, and offers great views back to Corniglia;

Above: A picture looking south to Corniglia with Manarola in the background on the left (look closely).

This was slow going since it was rainy. Since this part of the trail has the most ups and downs and was somewhat muddy, it was a bit treacherous and took almost an hour to get to Vernazza. Even with the rain though, there were some nice scenes:

Above: A scene from the trail to Vernazza.

It was a relief to get to Vernazza, knowing I could dry off. The town is probably the nicest of the Cinque Terre and I think I would stay there next time I come. It’s the biggest of the four towns I saw: small enough to be nice but big enough to have some variety of stores and places to eat.

Above: The view of Vernazza seen from the trail above town.

My original plan was to walk all the way back to Riomaggiore but with the rain and muddy trails, it was nice to take the train back to Riomaggiore after spending some time in Vernazza. With the hours spent on the trail coming north, it took only ten minutes south to Riomaggiore. We left the Cinque Terre the next morning for Lake Como. And of course, that was the best weather we saw in the Cinque Terre. A clear day with vibrant blue seas. Oh well.

Above: a view of Riomaggiore from the road above as we drove away and on to Lake Como.

- Dave

Well, it’s probably about time to tell you about what we did a couple weeks ago, right? We’ve been off of our normal blogging pace for the last week or two so we’ll try to catch up in the next few days.

After the week in Umbria, we spent a week in Tuscany near San Gimignano and it was wonderful.  Our villa was really nice and the people who ran it were fabulous.  They served a great dinner three nights during the week we were there and it was some of the best food we’ve had on the trip.

During the week, we visited Volterra, Lucca, San Gimignano, Siena, Pisa, and some wineries in Chianti.  Of these towns, our favorites were San Gimignano, Siena, and Volterra.  Here are some snapshots from that week; Dave will also post a gallery of the nicer shots from our time in both Tuscany and Umbria [Sometime real soon now! - Dave] :

Above: A view of San Gimignano from the road our villa was on. The approach to most of the hill towns looked similar with a walled city up on a hill. San Gimignano though is known for its towers since, in many hill towns, the towers have been toppled or torn down over time.

Above: A typical view of the surrounding countryside from the inside of a hill town. Sweeping views look beautiful to us but in the past were practical for city defenses.

Above: A typical steep, winding street through a hill town. Many are too narrow for vehicles. This was in Volterra on the day we traveled from Umbria to Tuscany. Notice how there is no one on this road. It was a Saturday (see next picture).

Above: The main street leading up to the city center of San Gimignano. This was taken on a Monday. Notice the difference in the crowds in the street compared to Volterra above. San Gimignano is beautiful and definitely worth a visit but it’s also one of the most well known hill towns in Italy so be prepared for crowds.

 Above: A view of Siena’s Campo de Fiori surrounded by a typical spread of buildings with red tile roofs.

Above. The ceiling of the Piccolomini Library, a room off the side of the nave of Siena’s Duomo. This is over 500 years old and the colors are still incredibly vibrant. Definitely worth a few minutes’ side trip if you visit the Duomo.

Above: The countryside around Tuscany is an endless view of vineyards. This was on a foggy morning in the vineyards below our villa looking back towards our room.

Above: When we left Tuscany to head to the Cinque Terre, we went via Pisa and spent a few hours there in the middle of the day. The guidebooks are correct: there isn’t much to see in Pisa besides the Leaning Tower. The other two things to see are right next to it: the Duomo and the Baptistry. All three are related: the Leaning Tower’s official name is the Campanile which is a bell tower for a church. It costs 15 Euros to climb the tower so we didn’t bother. It wasn’t worth $50 for two people.

Above: In my opinion, the Baptistry was more interesting than the Leaning Tower. It’s enormous and the inside was deliberately designed for great acoustics. Every 30 minutes, one of the park officials would close the doors, walk to the center of the first floor, and sing for a few minutes. The echoes last so long that it is possible to for someone to sing a 3-note chord with themselves. We saw (heard) the park official do this several times. Very cool! Most tourists left before they closed the doors, seemingly unaware that they’d see this if they stuck around for just another minute or two.

By the way, if you go to Siena, go to a little shop called “Pizzicheria De Miccoli” right in the center between the Campo and the Duomo.  A man named Antonio will make you amazing sandwiches to eat there or take away.  We ate while standing in a corner of this small shop and watched people come in and buy salami, cheeses, wine, cookies and cakes (Antonio gives samples freely so you know what you’re getting before you get it).  My sandwich (roast pork and pesto) was the best sandwich in the world.  And it was huge.  I dropped a little on the floor (klutzy), and Antonio made me a platter with cheese, salami, a cheese brioche and an artichoke to replace what I had dropped (it was like a second meal).  One of the most fun lunches I’ve ever had.

- Meredith

Here is the view from the window of our apartment in Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre):

- Meredith

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at a sign, a menu or something in a store window here and spent the brain cycles to decipher the Italian only to realize once I’m done that the English was already there right below. But that said, it’s been amusing reading the English because it usually isn’t 100% right. Sometimes it’s technically correct but very flowery or awkward. Sometimes it uses wrong grammar or is misspelled. Sometimes it’s amusing such as the pizzeria in Florence with a handmade sign on the wall. The English part read, “Please retain your paper plate for the inevitable second slice.” Then there’s this one in a public toilet in Manarola where I felt compelled to take a picture:

Now, unless I’ve been doing it wrong all these years, I think you need to flash the toilet before and during the act, not after. Maybe things are different here. I hope I’m not unfairly judging another culture.

- Dave

Here are some pictures of the Incident. I made them all black-and-white to give them that gritty, breaking-news, as-it-happened feel. Trust me, it’s like you’re at the scene.

Above, I’m standing right where the Incident occurred: at the Riomaggiore police station, on the landing of the stairs that are to my right, leading to our parking garage above. Meredith is aided by valiant paramedics to the waiting ambulance. She sets her jaw, a glint appears in her eye, and she boldly hops forward.

Above, Meredith, with ankle wrapped and moving with determination, bravely approaches the ambulance door.

Above, through the ambulance back door, another paramedic straps Meredith in for the twisty, treacherous 20-minute drive down to the emergency room. You can’t see her face but, take it from me, it shows true grit.

Above, the orthopedic technician is overcome with emotion and can’t go on. Meredith must take charge, pointing and directing him on what to do next. Her strength is unwavering.

Above, the next evening, we go to a cafe with rules. Emboldened by the latent reserves of power revealed during the Incident, Meredith laughingly calls them: “rules.”

Above, emboldened by her victorious dance with death, she places her plastered foot on a chair, scoffing at signs clearly meant only for the lesser.

Above, Meredith confidently uses her crutches to vault away from the cafe and up the near-vertical streets of Riomaggiore, smiling with the thought that she can put her feet on chairs now with impunity.

And that’s how it happened. Trust me. I was there.

- Dave