Road Trip Across the Boot

 Thursday, Sept. 11

Barb, Antonio, Don and I headed out for a road trip. First stop - Verona. This city is about 3 hours from Strambino and is in the Veneto region. If you would look at a map of Italy, we drove across the top of the boot. The population is more that 255,000 people and famous for the Arena where the closing 2026 Olympics Closing Ceremony was held. It is also famous for the balcony that Shakespeare’s fictional character Juliet susposedly used.

It was very busy with tourists but we were able to get tickets to tour the Arena. It is mind boggling to realize that I was walking around an amphitheater  that was built in 30 AD! In ancient times it could hold 30,000 spectators but now it seats around 15,000 and is still used for outdoor operas and concerts. In 1117 an earthquake damaged the outer ring of the arena so there is only a portion left. It was an amazing structure to see!

We ended up not seeing Juliet’s tower because last April the powers that be decided to make it more profitable. Now you must buy a ticket to see it and reserve a time. However, there is a neighboring restaurant that will let you look at it through their window if you buy a piece of tirimasu! We decided to forgo the experience since A) Juliet was a fictional person and B) No one is really sure Juliet was indeed in Verona and even had a balcony. We spent our money on gelato instead.

In the evening, we drove out into the surrounding wine country called Valpolicella which is derived from the Latin meaning “the valley of many cellars.” There are vineyards everywhere. We decided to visit the Masi Winery where we could taste their wine and have dinner. 

Monteleone21 is Masi’s new headquarters and is a fairly new and spectacular building that houses their tasting room, wine shop and restaurant. Our meal was excellent and each course paired with a different Masi wine. Masi is known for their Amarone wine which is made from dried grapes and blended with the last grapes of the harvest, usually Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella. We liked all of them and have added them to our wish list!

A Walk About Town

 Thursday, Sept 10

Strambino is a small town - about 6,000 people and my sister and husband live in an old house in the center of town next to the main church, Church of Santi Michele E Solutore (church of saints Michael and Solutore). The first stone was laid in 1764 and it took over 20 years to build. Last weekend a celebrated organist from Norte-Dame Cathedral, performed a concert on their grand organ. We were able to watch it live on YouTube so this morning we walked over to the church to have a look at it in person. It is massive and of course the church is very beautiful. We were also able to see the chapel area where Barb and Antonio were married 48 years ago. 

It was a conducive day for walking so we made our way through town to the market which is held every Thursday throughout the year. You need to keep your wits about you as the streets are very narrow and the cars are driven very fast. The market had an array of things for sale from clothing to fresh produce, stinky fish, cheese and meat. I held back since this is our first day of vacation but we did find our way to a little patio restaurant for a nice Aperol Spritz! Noah and Nathan, Barb’s grandsons came over in the afternoon and we drove together to a neighboring town named Ivrea so that Noah could get some new shoes for school. School starts on Monday (remember when we used to start after Labor Day too?). Noah will start his third year of  high school and Nathan will be starting 8th grade. This is Nathan’s last year at of parochial school which he has attended since Kindergarten. He has to decide what kind of high school to go to next year. There are many choices - technical, literature based, science based (which Noah goes to) just to name a few. 

Later in the day we visited Daniela’s shoe store which is just across the street from Barb’s house. Daniela is my nephew’s partner and she just opened the store this year. It is a beautiful store with wonderful Italian shoes and leather purses. Needless to say I did not leave empty handed! 

The whole family came over for dinner (11 people) and my sister just whipped up a delicious dinner which included fresh pasta from the store down the street. Everywhere you go here there is outstanding food and I think the main reason it is so good is because most food is fresh. I can certainly taste the difference. Oh and there is lots of wine too…I may not leave…

A Viking Adventure Begins!

 Tuesday - Wednesday Sept. 8-9:

After booking the Grand European Viking river cruise over a year ago, it was finally time to venture forth. Our flight wasn’t until 4 in the afternoon which I find much less stressful than early morning flights. The plane was quite full and very large with first /business class upstairs and everyone else downstairs. Reluctantly, we joined the sardines on the lower level of the flying tin can. I was very happy to see that the seat beside me was not occupied which made room for all of the stuff I require to take my mind off of the fact that I am flying. However, after about an hour in, the flight attendants informed me and the older gentleman seated on the other side of the open seat that someone was moving there. After hearing this unpleasant news, the gentleman’s wife asked if this person had just got on the plane. Ha! I had a good laugh at that one especially since she was totally serious! 

We flew over nine hours directly to Munich, Germany where we had a very long - 5 hour- layover. This was a good thing because there was a long line to go through step 1 of passport pre-screening and then ultimately a long line for  step 2 of passport screening by an agent. However, customs after we landed in Torino, Italy involved walking down a hallway and the customs officials decide whether to question you or not. I guess we looked acceptable because we weren’t stopped. Barb and Antonio were there to greet us and drive us to their home in Strambino.  

We were happy that Antonio decided to make us his delicious mushroom risotto for dinner and we had a nice time visiting with our nephew, Francesco, wife Daniela and their almost two year old daughter, Lara. I must have emitted some kind of librarian vibe because she decided that I needed to read her several books. Most of them in English thank goodness!

Vibrant Vienna!

Our ship arrived in Vienna, Austria at 4am..or so they said..we have been so busy that we have no problem sleeping when we can! There was a lecture after breakfast entitled, “Timeless Vienna” by a local tour guide. Vienna is the capital and largest city in Austria with a population of about 1.8 million people and I think we saw just about every one of the them today! This city is regarded as the “City of Music” because of its musical legacy and also as the “City of Dreams” because it was the home of Sigmund Freud. 

Much of the lecture gave us information about the Habsburg Monarchy who ruled from 1282-1918. The Habsburg empire ruled over a vast area including Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and larges parts of Poland and Romania as a well as some of Italy. Much of the focus today was on Maria Theresa who was the only woman ruler in the Habsburg dynasty. She began her rule in 1740 and in the meantime had 15 children! One of her sons, Franz Joseph ruled for 68 years and his wife Sisi was very poplular. We saw reverence to her in Hungary and Slovakia as well.The Monarchy collapased at the end of World War I.The Hasburgs are still in Vienna. Currently, Karl von Habsburg oversees the Austrian branch of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Imperial and Royal Order of Saint George. 

During the Habsburg Monarchy, Vienna was called the “Imperial City” and it is quite something to see to this day. There are spectacularly ornate buildings everywhere and I lost track of what was what. We finally resorted to the viewpoint of if there is a cross on it, it’s a church and if not, well who knows!

We split up today. Don and Antonio went to visit the Klosterneuburg Monastery and wine tasting. Barb, Debby, Lori and I took the tour to the Schonbrunn Palace. This was the summer palace of the Habsburgs in the country which is now just barely on the outskirts of Vienna. Maria Theresa had some renovations done during her time and it is humongous. It has over 1,000 rooms and we only got to see 41 of them. I think the ultimate VRBO vacation would  be  to stay in one of these palaces for the weekend and see all of the rooms! Of course you would want to do this during the Spring or Fall because these monstrous places would probably be very cold and drafty and of course they don’t have any air conditioning! 

The decorating was all over the top baroque with real gold in the paint, beautiful chandeliers and very ornate. Almost all of the rooms had large enclosed ceramic wood stoves which I have never seen before. I think they had around 2,000 servants here to handle everything! 

Don and Antonio enjoyed the Monastery and basically had a private tour as there were only two other people with them. It is still an active Monastery where the monks make the wine. The tour guide had to open and lock every door to the rooms that they toured, I guess to make sure that tourists don’t get lost and end up where they shouldn’t be.  They enjoyed the wine, mostly white in this area but one red. Don purchased a bottle (or two!) which we later enjoyed on the ship later.  I usually don’t like white wine but this was very good. Too bad you can’t find their wine in the US. 

We all met up again in Vienna and set out to find the restaurant for lunch. Our friend, Craig lives in Vienna and teaches music at an American school here and was able to meet us. It was great to see him! We walked around the city for a bit but unfortunately we didn’t have time to tour any of the many museums.There were several people out and about today because tomorrow is  Nationalfeiertag (National Day) celebrating the signing of the Federal Constitutional Law on the Neutrality of Austria. The ironic thing is that they were setting up all of their military equipment in the Heldenplatz for display and recruitment of youth seeking employment. I guess you still need the military to stay neutral..

After dinner on the ship we were treated to a wonderful concert by a violin, cello and piano trio. They played several pieces composed by Viennese composers as well as waltzes composed by Mozart. Professional dancers were there also to show us how to waltz. They made it look very easy! Later they asked for couples to move to the dance floor and receive a waltz lesson. Of course I made Don go out there so that Barb and Antonio would follow. Those too really know how to do it and didn’t need the lesson. Don and I…well..we’re not ready for the professional circuit just yet!

A very busy day in a large and bustling city!

Klosterneuburg Monastery

The tomb of St. Leopold in the Klosterneuburg Monastery

Good wine!

Schonbrunn Palace

The big star is for the Christmas Market that they are setting up.

Bronco fans are everywhere. This guy is part of the set up crew and smiled when I yelled, “go Broncos!”

Outstanding chandeliers and frescos

One example of the ceramic wood stoves in most rooms in the palace

The palace garden

3 of the 4 princesses!

Sites of downtown Vienna…

You can pay to play this piano in one of the squares.

Lunch with Craig

Setting up the military display for National Day

Waltzing concert

Aww..Bratislava!

We cruised all night and through breakfast until we got to the Gabcikovo Lock which is the second largest on the Danube. It was very interesting watching the whole process again. 

We didn’t arrive in Bratislava, Slovakia until the afternoon.  After we arrived, a local historian, Dr. Nora Grancay came abourd and presented, “Velvet Revolution and the Making of Slavakia.” She was an excellent speaker and gave us a short history of Slavakia and how they came to have a democratic government now. 

Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia from 1918 until 1993. From 1952 the country was under Soviet Union control and the “Iron Curtain” was created between Slovakia and the West. Austria is only a few kilometers away so a fence was put up between Austria and Slovakia since Austria was considered ‘the west.” 500,000 people were able to escape before the “curtain” went up.

Many people were happy with communism at first because everyone was guaranteed a place to live and had food to eat. It was illegal to not have a job so if you didn’t have one, you were assigned a job even if the job didn’t really exist. However, nothing is free and the Slovakian people realized that they had lost their personal freedoms, especially the freedom of speech. For example, one time Dr. Grancay’s (our speaker’s) father made an offhand comment “the only good communist was the one six feet under.” The wrong person overheard this and so he lost his job at the university and certain privledges were taken from the entire family such as the ability to go to college. She is the first person in her family since then that was able to attend university. Her young daugher’s generation will be the first to have not known life  living under communism. After hearing this I thought about why some of the older people we have come across, especially in Bulgaria, seem grumpy. Maybe it just takes time for people who lived through it to learn to express their emotions freely.

On January 1, 1989, Slovakia and Czechoslavkia separated peacefully. Some call this the “Velvet Divorce.”  Czechoslavakia is now called the Czech Republic. Our tour guide said both countries get along except for once a year when the hockey championships are played!

Later we enjoyed a walking tour of Bratislava which is the capital of Slovakia.  Barb and Antonio had visited here in the early nineties with our parents. This was shortly after the country had become independent and Barb remembers that it was a sleepy little town. Now it is bustling with many shops and a mass transit train. We enjoyed walking around the historic area of Bratislava and even got to taste Sachartorte which is a deliciously dense cake that originated in Vienna.

On the top deck while we’re in the lock with another ship

Our first look at Bratislava

American Embassy

Brother and Sister -Sculpture inspired by European fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm

Hans Christian Anderson sculpture

Emperors New clothes sculpture on the back

Plague sculpture

During communism they were not allowed to import coco-cola so they made their own version called Kofola.

Mozart performed his first concert at this cafe when he was 6 years old. 

The Little Mole is a beloved cartoon character by Slovakian children. Their version of Mickey Mouse

They unofficially call this the “pee pee” fountain!

Sachartorte

Don tried the Kofola

Cumil the Sewer Worker sculpture

With thought this was a jewelry store - turns out they sell gelato!

This is a restaurant above a bridge. Locals call it the “UFO”

Our home away from home