Venice: Canal Mania

We just spent the last 4 days in Venice. We had a skinny 4 story town house from the 17th century, in a narrow alleyway almost next to the piazza Santa Maria Formosa. To get there we took the train from Milan, then we took a vaporetto from the train station to the Rialto bridge, then we walked to the house. Vaporetto is the Italian name for water taxi to get across the canals in the city, and that is what you use to get around. In Venice every day we always walked to the Piazza San Marco, which has towers with golden lions with wings, and horses with wings, and horses without wings, then we took the vaporetto to wherever we went. Venice is in a very big lagoon, and we also went to many islands in the lagoon with the vaporettos too.

Venice has a very big castle, called the Palazzo Ducale, which we visited. The Palazzo Ducale is really kind of a city hall, since Venice used to be a republic: it was called la Serenissima. The Doge was elected a bit like the President, and could never leave the Palazzo Ducale. In the Palazzo Ducale there were beautiful paintings in almost every room .We also saw secret passageways, and went over the bridge of sighs which was the bridge from the Palazzo Ducale to the prisons. We also visited the prisons and the dungeons: the prisons were very cool and cold, and the doors to lead the people in were all different sizes. The people who were managing the place had lion mouths on the outside of the walls of their offices, and the citizens could place accusations against others in the lion mouths.

We also went into the Basilica San Marco, which is the main church of Venice on the Piazza San Marco. We went up a set of stairs that led to four very famous statues of horses. The Venetians stole them from Byzantium when they invaded the city in the 4th crusade.

We also tried to get the tour of the Jewish ghetto. The first time we made a mistake and the second time it was full, so in the end we gave up. The word “ghetto” comes from Venice, and it was the name of the places where the Jews were told to stay, and then they called by that name the places where the Jews were told to stay in other cities.

Venice is a very pretty city. One of the things that make it very pretty is the canal streets. Also all the houses look really old on the outside.

Milan: Could Anything Else Go Wrong?

Gosh, it’s been two weeks that we have been in Milan, and it seems that everything that could go wrong has gone wrong: breaking keys, equipment going down, cars out of commission… But here, let me tell you a few of the “best” (I mean, the worst) stories.

A couple of days after we arrived, my Mom accidentally broke the key in the front door, so we could only get out. Then we went out to eat some pizza while it was broken, and when we came back we were locked out, but luckily I was able to pick the lock so we could come back in. Another day, Lindsay went out to get groceries, and I locked a couple of locks on the door that can’t unlock from the outside. With two doors shut, my Dad, who had muffs on his ears, could not hear her, and it was the one day when I actually took a nap, so neither of us could hear her, so she was locked outside for 2 hours screaming – but everyone else in the neighborhood knew about her…

Another time, when we were going somewhere important, we could not start the van, and we were in a hurry to leave, so we had to take another car and have the rental place repair the van. Then, when we were out grocery shopping, my Mom’s wallet got stolen. It took a lot of time to replace all of her cards and everything that was in it. Then, for one whole day, my brother Kaelan kept knocking things over. He knocked over plates, knives forks, spoons, glasses, cups, cereals, fruit, trays, jams, bread, almost everything you can imagine.

Then there was the night of the porky mushrooms. Usually my father translated the menu for us at the restaurant. But that night we went to a restaurant that had a horrible English translation of their menu. We laughed a lot at many of the names of the dishes, but the best one was “Porky Mushrooms” for “Porcini Mushrooms”. That same night, as my brother was drinking from a glass (which is always a danger with him), he bit through the glass with his teeth and there was lots of glass chunks in his mouth that I removed with my fingers. Apparently he has not learnt the concept of not drinking with his teeth.

Next, somehow we broke a Pinguino (it’s a different kind of air conditioner), and we had to use my Mom’s sunglasses to operate it. Then we broke a chair. I hope nothing else goes wrong because I think we have had more than enough things go wrong!

Lake Garda: Heaven on Earth

We just came back from four days in Lake Garda. We had a hotel with two rooms, two beds and a pool. Also, as you can imagine, there was a lake right next to us, called Lake Garda. The town we were in was actually called Torre del Benaco, and had lots of little marketplaces. There is also a castle that you can’t get in. While we were there, we went in a motorboat out into the water and swam in the deep water, and I drove the boat. We also went into the pool in our hotel about twice a day. Lindsay, my baby sitter, says that she could have her wedding there: she really liked it.

I really liked the place because it was a little nice town, right on the water, with lots of good food. Also there was a water park that was really fun called Gardaland. We also tried to go to an opera in an open roman theater in Verona, but ended up finding out that it was too far so we had to turn back. Altogether this is one of my favorite places.

Bergamo: Why That Particular Funicular

On the way to Lake Garda this morning we decided to stop in Bergamo. To get to the old part of Bergamo, you have to take something kind of like a train except a lot smaller and that only goes uphill. It’s called a funicular. The old part of Bergamo is at the top of a hill surrounded by wall and it looks like it was 700 years ago.

In Bergamo, we found a candy shop and an ice cream shop that looked very, very nice. We stopped to have an ice cream there. We saw the central fountain. We stopped at a small restaurant to have lunch. We walked around and saw a lot of old houses and very old streets. We also found a little piece of rock that was sticking up that I posed on as a statue. My parents took pictures of me on it.

From the top of the hill, there was a wonderful view of the valley underneath it, from above a very high cliff. On the way back, Lindsay pushed me in the stroller very fast then let me roll down on my own to make me believe I was going to crash. We called it the “stroller party crash.”

Bologna: No, no, not the Meat!

We left Monday morning for Bologna. The van did not start so we had to take another car. In Bologna we saw two big towers that used to belong to rich families. Both of them were leaning a bit to the side. In the Middle Ages all the rich families used to build humongous towers. Those two are the only ones left in Bologna.

On the first night to went out to dinner with some of my mother’s work friends to a restaurant with traditional foods. We also went out walking till about 11 o’clock every night, to the central fountain and back. On the fountain there is a statue of the Greek god Poseidon and on the side there are two of Poseidon’s little fish people. And, by the way, the trident of this Poseidon is what is on the front of Ferrari cars. There was an outdoor movie projected in the central square, everyday in summer. The second day my dad and I walked across the city and back, and I did all the navigation.

Today we drove to Ferrara and walked to the middle of the town and back really quickly. When we were there we saw some really fancy buildings and a cool church with all kinds of statues on them like Poseidon, horses, and lions with wings. On the way back we went to pick up my mom in Parma, where she was on a business trip. Then we went back to Milan.

We arrive in Italy from Berkeley, California

Two days ago we went to the airport. Once we got to the airport, we checked in and went through security. Then we went to get our seats. My dad and I were upstairs in the plane. Lindsay and Kaelan stayed downstairs in the plane too.

When we got upstairs, I thought I was in heaven. The seats were huge, and right next to the seats were big extra storage areas, and on your left were controls to move your seat, and on your right was a TV that you could pull out of your armrest! In front of you was a little sack you could put your shoes in and in your left armrest was your tray! Then after a while they let us choose between a few things for dinner and a drink. Then I watched TV until dinner came. When I finished dinner I watched some more TV. Then my dad told me I had five more minutes of watching TV. When I was finished I cleaned up and went to sleep. My dad woke me up very late the next morning and gave me some breakfast.

We got off the plane in Amsterdam for an hour, then got back on. Once we landed we went downstairs and picked up all of our luggage. We lost a piece of luggage, then we found it hidden behind a pillar. We had arrived in Italy, in Milan! Then we went outside, and my mom, who was not on the trip with us, was waiting for us. She took us to the car and drove to the apartment.

When I got to the apartment, we went inside and my mom showed us around. It was one long corridor with 6 rooms sticking out of it: 1 room for my parents, 2 bathrooms, 1 living room which had a bed for Lindsay to sleep in (now it's a big bedroom), one big kitchen, and 1 more room that my brother and I share with two beds in it.