Score as of Monday night:
Eric: After Eight (mint chocolate chip), Caramel
Kevin: After Eight, Stracciatella (chocolate chip)
Sarah: Lemon Ice
Carl: Lemon Ice, Mint Chip
Jun 122007
carl
Jun 122007
Kevin was reading our “Fast Talk Italian” phrase book looking for useful language for conversations. Here’s what he’s learned:
“Sono vampate.” “I’m hot.”
“Ho bisogno una dottoressa.” “I need a female doctor.”
Jun 122007
We self-toured today. Our first stop was the island of Murano, where all the glass companies are. We bought a day pass for the bus system, which like the taxis is obviously all water based. Murano is a 20 minute ride, with great sightseeing along the way. Taxies zip by in both directions in the main channel, which is also shared with barges carrying working cement trucks, cranes, supplies and other essentials.
Heating the Glass
Removing from the Oven
Shaping the Glass
The Schiavon showroom with glass blowers was recommended to us, so that was our first stop. The blowing demonstration was amazing – Kevin and I stood right next to the furnace while Sarah and Eric were in a cooler spot with a better view into the flames. The blowers were creating a huge vase with swirling red and black stripes. After the vase was completed, they put it in an oven where they would cool it down over three days to keep it from cracking.
Schiavon Glass Showroom
Canal in Murano
Upstairs in the showroom, we were tagged as big spenders and given a “no obligation!” tour of the more exclusive showrooms. Sarah got the full hard sell on a 7,500 euro vase. By continuing to say “no” she was doing an excellent job negotiating the price. “We’ll give you this smaller one, too. Free!” “We’ll split it up as two credit card charges so you don’t have to pay import tax! Save $400!” Our favorite line was, “It’s not how much you spend, it’s how much you save.” We ended up saving a lot, because we didn’t buy it.
After lunch (and gelato!) we went in search of more furnaces to watch more glass get blown. Despite all the signs pointing all around town, we couldn’t find any that were actually open and blowing glass. The highlight was a sales person who told us, “They are going to lunch. They will be back tomorrow.”
Atop the Cathedral Belltower on St. Giorgio Maggiore
We took the bus back to San Marco, and then jumped onto another bus going across to the island of St. Giorgio Maggiore, where the belltower of the cathedral offers an incredible view of Venice. (Part of my ‘vacation algorithm’ is to go to the top of things, so the belltower was a required stop.)
We then bussed our way over to Ca’ Rezzonico, a museum with evidently a great display of life in Venice in the 17th and 18th centuries. I say evidently, because it’s closed on Tuesday. A perfect excuse for nap time back in the hotel.
Heading out to dinner, we were amazed at how fast we could get to St. Marks Square now that we knew where we were going. We then wound our way back over to the Grand Canal for dinner and then…
(wait for it…)
gelato.
Tomorrow we will bid farewell to Venice, rent a car and head on down to Modena.
Jun 132007
We rented a car in Venice for the leg to Modena. After not seeing a car for two days in Venice it was quite frustrating to get stuck in a major traffic jam getting on to the autostrada just across the bridge. Otherwise uneventful except for decoding the toll system.
The directions we had to the Maserati factory from the highway seemed simple – a quick exit and a couple of turns. But without a detailed map of the area, and a series of roundabouts and missing traffic lights, we were hopelessly lost. We stumbled our way into a bar, far from where we were supposed to be, and asked directions. None of the three people there spoke any english, and our meager understanding of italian didn’t work at all. Luckily we had a piece of paper with the Maserati logo on it and the address, but the barkeep gave up trying to explain to us how to get there and volunteered one of the other people to drive there so we could follow. This worked out great, and given the route we had to take I’m not sure we would have understood the directions in clear english.
Sarah pointed out to Eric and Kevin that italian sounds nothing like spanish (we had just been fooling ourselves).
Jun 142007
One of the main stops planned for our trip is a visit to the town of Maranella, home to Ferrari. (Map) So last night we had dinner at Ristorante Montana, next to the Ferrari test track, a favorite of drivers, racing celebs and fans alike. Nevermind that it took the hotel twenty minutes to figure out directions for us, or that the directions were wrong but we managed to spot it anyway. The walls are covered with signed cloth napkins, racing suits, parts of F1 cars, helmets, and the likes.
We headed back over this morning to see the rest. Not having a VIN number of our own, we couldn’t arrange a tour of the factory, but we did get to see it from the outside and visit the company’s own museum, Galleria Ferrari. Eric was in his own Mecca, and acted as our tour guide. He took about 270 pictures, here are a few:
