2011 · Florence · Rome · Venice · Barnes
Florence,
(Written during the Great Shutdown of 2020. Memory isn't this good — internet searches filled in a lot of holes.)
First family vacation overseas in seven years. Sports car selected over room — luggage a problem throughout. Rick Steves on the Duomo at the same time. Camera ticket for driving through a pedestrian square. The Electrocution. Burano in cabana wear. Olympic Studios plaque on the way home.
First family vacation overseas in seven years, I'd been to Italy a couple of times for work but generally we had been very US centric in our travels. We flew into Milan and immediately drove to Florence. When renting a car I got distracted in getting a sports car versus room — so we had a lot of luggage and it was a very tight squeeze — the luggage was a problem throughout the trip.
I had been to Milan a couple of months earlier for business and really not much historical to see beyond the Duomo and the adjacent Galleria Vittorio. We arrived in Florence and headed to an overlook of the city right at sunset.
We stayed on the outskirts of town and we were out early the next morning to be able to go to the top of the Duomo…we had a hint from the Rick Steves book to get there early. When we got to the top, Rick Steves was there filming. Weather was perfect. When I wrote this in 2020, I checked the Rick Steves episode on Florence from ~2011 and it was from that same day, but we weren't in it.
From Florence we drove to Rome — and after a while we were able to get to our hotel which was at the top of the Spanish Steps. It was quite an upgrade to an InterContinental from the Holiday Inn Express (same brand using points) and it was so nice it was uncomfortable as it was very proper. But the location was hard to get to with all the one way streets and alleys, so I did end up getting a camera ticket when I got home for illegally driving through a pedestrian square where I dropped off the girls and all the luggage and then drove to drop the rental car off and taxi back.
We spent the morning in the Vatican and the afternoon hitting other sites in the city. Just like the last time in Italy, it was very expensive with a historically high Euro versus the USD (1.5 to 1), so we did not eat at the hotel as it was too expensive. So to save money, we stopped at a bakery right outside of the Vatican — got croissants, some Coke/Diet Cokes, and one of the girls added a healthy fruit dessert. Cost was 70 Euros or about $100. From then on — we would go to the grocery store in the morning to stock up on bread and water for the day with dinner at McDonalds with water. Coke/Diet Coke was one of the culprits at about $7/each — so no more of those for the trip. Did the full Vatican tour with the Sistine Chapel and the other works of art and then to Trevi Fountain.
The Trevi Fountain, depicted here in both 1994 and 2011 photos, is the largest Baroque fountain in Rome at 26 metres high and 49 metres wide. The tradition of throwing a coin over the left shoulder with the right hand to ensure a return to Rome was popularised by the 1954 film Three Coins in the Fountain. The Colosseum, visited on the last day with advance tickets that were essential — the line without them would have been too long — was completed in 80 CE and held up to 80,000 spectators. It is the largest amphitheatre ever built. The InterContinental at the top of the Spanish Steps is the Hotel de la Ville, one of Rome's most prestigious addresses — the upgrade from a Holiday Inn Express using points to this property is one of the great loyalty programme arbitrages in the blog.
When I started this blog entry, I asked everyone for their most memorable part of the trip — everyone said “The Electrocution”.
We were up early to take the high-speed train from Rome to Venice. As we were just getting moving and after getting the luggage situated, I opened my computer to catch up on work and it needed charging. My adapter was made for Italy on one side with an interchangeable face plate for US or UK on the other side. I had the adapter plugged into the train on the Italian side and the US “female” face plate on the other side. My computer cord was UK so took off the US face plate to replace with the UK — this was a bad idea as I exposed the internals of the adapter and must have touched the metal directly on the Italian side. I was flopping around in the seat and screaming (apparently — I don't remember) but I lived. 220V or 221V — I think I was pretty wired for the rest of the day.
“I was flopping around in the seat and screaming (apparently — I don't remember) but I lived.”
Venice was a bit of an issue — the train station drops you off and then you get on a water taxi or vaporetto with a lot of luggage and unclear exactly where our place was. No fancy US hotel chain for this stop. We did finally find it and our luggage pretty much took up the entire floor — but we were in Venice and that is all that mattered. Had a couple of great days there — had another great tip to download an audio tour that was timed to the vaporetto at night as by the time we got to Venice, I was pretty salty on money.
On our last trip to Venice in 1992, Sharon had an adventure going to the islands near Venice. This time, we went to Burano instead of Murano — a lot of brightly painted houses so I had to wear my cabana wear. We also ran into some pro-communist protesters.
When I started this blog entry, I asked everyone for their most memorable part of the trip — everyone said “The Electrocution”. Not the Duomo with Rick Steves at the top. Not the hotel at the top of the Spanish Steps. Not the Sistine Chapel. Not Venice. The Electrocution. 220 volts on the Rome-Venice high speed train because the face plate was removed from the adapter while it was still plugged in. I was flopping around in the seat and screaming (apparently — I don't remember) but I lived. The adapter is pictured for reference. Do not do this.
Coming back through London, we had a long layover and took the girls back to our townhouse and their school. Not sure Annelise remembered much but Alexandra seemed to remember everything. Of course, we ran into one of our friends at the coffee shop — 9 years after we left.
Across the street from our townhouse was Olympic Studios — by the time we moved there it was past its prime and the only famous people we knew of that recorded while we were there was The Cure and Victoria Beckham. Back in the day it rivalled Abbey Road Studios. Below the quote is a picture of the plaque stating U2 was the last to record there in 2008. And somehow I missed it all.
Olympic Studios in Barnes, southwest London, was one of the most important recording studios in rock history. The Rolling Stones recorded six consecutive albums there between 1966 and 1972. The Beatles recorded “All You Need Is Love” and “Baby, You're a Rich Man” there in 1967. Jimi Hendrix recorded significant portions of all three of his studio albums at Olympic. Led Zeppelin used the studio for tracks on all their albums up to Physical Graffiti (1975). The Who recorded Who's Next there. Queen, David Bowie, Traffic, Blind Faith, Deep Purple, the Moody Blues, and Procol Harum all recorded landmark work at Olympic. U2 were the last major act to record there, in 2008. The studio closed in 2009 and was converted into a cinema and restaurant, though a small recording facility was preserved. The plaque photographed here marks the building's extraordinary history.