Tripping Around

Yesterday afternoon we had some down time and Cathy and Alex had found (on Google) what appeared to be an Outlet Store, much the same as Onehunga Dressmart from the build up.  So we piled in the van and set off for Palma, which is about 40 minutes away on mad, mad Italian roads.  At one stage we had stopped at a pedestrian crossing to let two ladies pass and this car came zooming up, over took us and nearly took out the two ladies!  It happened more than once, so their rules about pedestrian crossings must be different to ours.  People toot all the time if they are not happy and sometimes shout or gesticulate!

Road works are hilarious!  On the motorway in NZ if we had roadworks, there would be 50 guys in trucks of all different sizes to warn and protect and enough cones to fill a Airbus, but here they just do their thing with minimum protection!  At one stage we came across a man,  lying in the middle of the road with a man hole up, doing his thing, fixing something.  He was surrounded by about 6 cones and cars were just zooming around him!

Anyway the long and short of it is, we never found the Outlet Store!  We drove up, down, onto roundabouts, on and off random pieces of motorway, through town, through country and nothing......

We decided to head back and figured the order of the day was to get food somewhere and then go back to Reggio Emilia.  Should have been easy......?

The shop hours here are 8.30-1.00 then 4.0-7.30.  Initially we fell outside those hours, but figured we would come across a cafe, restaurant or bar at some stage and they would be opening soon anyway....????  Everything we saw open, we were unable to park (which is actually turning out to be the biggest hassle) and every time we could park, nothing seemed to be open.  We went into one little place with "BAR" clearly written on the sign above the door, with people getting served and the extremely poe faced man behind the counter told us 'finite, finite" (fin-eeee-tae) and rudely sent us on our way!




Seems people in this part of Italy, may not be that fond of tourists?  Out of pure protest- and a bit of over tired hysteria (as my stomach was sore from laughing by the time we got home) Jan jumped up on the wine barrels in front of the "Bar" and did a pure Kiwi protest......
I can only imagine that not one smile was cracked inside the bar as these are not very friendly, engaging people, but it made us laugh!!

New Zealand Embassy- Rome

An upside?

The New Zealand Embassy in Rome and also the Consulate in Wellington have been totally brilliant!  I guess they must get alot of this, but they have really looked after us and particularly Emily Nieddu in Rome, who sent all the forms through and rang to check I was able to get it sorted. 

I should have seen the sign??????????

So, all you budding travellers out there or perhaps to you budding victims of those- *%^* (insert your own word here)  who have totally reprehensible upbringings-  my
situation is not the end of the world. 








Where ever we go in the World, New Zealand has your back!

........feeling quite patriotic here........

The Shine Disappears.....

Yes, I was fully in love with Venice, I was planning to bring Ian back and wander the city and 'find' things and maybe just move here, learn Italian, live on pasta, become an Artisan or a poet.....

Then I looked down and every zip on the inside and the outside of my bag was open and I was 2 passports and a heap of Euros lighter!

You know that moment when suddenly the beauty and the excitement of something is spoiled irretrievably?  That was my moment.   I felt like I had swallowed a bucket of concrete and kept looking into my bag and into all 5 unzipped pockets, inside and out, to see if I had made a mistake.  Unfortunately I had not and had to go into plan mode for what I was going to do.

I checked out what was actually left in my bag- lucky me! Those of you that know me, will know that my bag is less like a handbag and more like an archeological dig.  I still had all the seriously important stuff like my old lipstick, my receipt from Philip who did up our lounge suite, a couple of Countdown receipts, two padlocks (for the bridge in Paris) and.......... a billfold with credit cards and a drivers licence - whooo whooo!  My phone was also still tucked in the unzipped front pocket, along with emergency eye wrinkle cream and some pain killers in case my back did its thing!

Next step- tell the cops!  We went to the square and I said to a policeman 'do you speak English?' after much gesticulating a lovely young man stepped forward and I told him what had happened.  Next thing, Alex were surrounded by 4 gun toting, burly policemen (bit late) and we were escorted to the police station, up and down the sinister little alleys with all the people pointing and looking at us like we had been caught trying to steal Saint Mark's Basilica!

We were dropped by the young policemen back at the cop shop after a 10 minute walk, where I discussed New Zealand in broken English.

After a wait we were escorted into the station complete with its guns, helmets and riot shields stacked against the wall and had to, again in broken English, fill out the forms.  All good until we got to the question about where....?  I had no idea, so as luck would have it there was a big flat screen TV with CCTV cameras from all angles.  I took my pen and leaned across the back of the hard drive and pointed at the area where I noticed the loss.  In my lean, my not insubstantial chest hit either the keyboard or the back of the hard drive and I fritzed the system.  It crashed and the screen went blank and all the CCTV cameras went off line!!!  There was much exclaiming and gesticulating that I really didn't get but was pretty much certain they weren't saying "lets keep this lovely New Zealand lady for a bit longer......"

Our forms were hurriedly filled out, copied and not a smile was had and finally as we were lead out I lamely pointed at the still blank system and said 'Sorry about that......" to which the policeman said "Sorry"

I am still uncertain if he meant "sorry for your thieft"  or "SORRY DON'T CUT IT"  but we left before more translation could occur.

I got out the door and said to the others waiting "quick, lets get out of here" before the hysteria that was creeping up on me could take over and I would giggle my way out!



Jan, in the meantime was getting friendly with the soldiers that guard the Polizia, so there was an upside!

Venice

Today we decided to travel down to Venice, so we headed off rather early and travelled to Podova and then caught the train out to Venice.  It was about 2 hours on the road and another 30 or so by train.  The trip had its up and downs we did not realise we had to ‘validate’ the train ticket that had come out of a ticket machine and we got fined Thirty Euro for each ticket!!  Seriously!!???  The very unsmiling train conductor (who took our fine!!) was even more miserable than the three men that guarded the toilets and took your money so you could scuttle in and pee.

Once we got to Venice, all was forgotten and we became overwhelmed with the mystery and beauty of the place!  I think if you have not seen Venice, you could not imagine by looking at photos, what it is like.  The place is absolutely packed with tourists and there is also quite a lot of locals as well, so it really is shoulder to shoulder.  We jumped on the packed ferry and headed up the waterway passing heaps of little water ferries, boats and of course Gondalas, gondolas and more............. (thanks Monty Python)

 The water is a real brine and there is quite a bit of random rubbish around, that is sad.  On the bases of buildings and posts, there is seaweed and shellfish growing which adds to the dark, slime looking effect. 


Some of the houses along the waterway have subsided and you can see where water has been able to get inside on hightides or perhaps storms.  It seems Venice has been here for a couple of thousand years, with reports of foundations back in 421AD  and you can see it has been an opulent place in the 9th to 12th Centuries when it was in full flight as a trading centre and I can only imagine what it was like in those early times.  The colours are vibrant and shutters have previously been painted all sorts of bright colours.  You can tell by the architecture that it spans a heap of history.

There are little waterways off the main route and they narrow down in places where it is hard to imagine boats being able to traverse them.



Cute little bridges take you up and over the waterways and it is a maze of paths on both sides, that although packed with people and shops is a bit overwhelming and lonely.

Some of the private houses that you can see into from the waterways look amazing and very well done but some others look like shanty towns with people living on top of each other in small apartments.



 I found the sculptures fascinating and as you can see on the right some of the buildings have amazing paintings that have been restored.

Hotel Posta

If you have followed this blog for a while, you will have read about the Motel room in Buenos Aires and the troubles we had with the room.  It must be an international thing and perhaps we are really spoilt in New Zealand with our rooms.  The hotel we are staying in is probably very old and really is beautifully done, but could have stepped out of the 1930’s.  You enter through a wooden, carved door, then through another locked glass door and into the foyer.  We are on the 2^nd floor and entering the room it is gloomy and heavily curtained.

Crossing the room, you can throw open the wooden window screens and the windows behind and look down on a square, paved area of the road below.  The single beds were a blessing after the 23 hours of sitting in planes, however, under normal circumstances I would be writing something along the lines of ‘the solidness of the mattress can only compare to sleeping on a prone refridgerator’.

Alex went to have a shower first and came out reporting the water was only semi-warm.  I had hoped she had just muffed up the mixer, but sadly cold it was!  So riddle me this, why would you spend money having underfloor heating, but not make sure the water was hot.  Had I not been so tired when I had finished the shower, I would have lay down on the heated tiles to warm up.  Also, shades of Sheraton, Argentina- drain in shower could not accept the volume of water, so built up around my ankles.

I searched for spare pillows, glasses and an iron, but to no avail.  Its okay- I was too tired to need another pillow, it was Sunday, so no wine to fill glasses and this far from home, who cares if my clothes are wrinkly!

South Auckland to Reggio Emilia

We have arrived in Reggio after a long, long trip.  We landed in Milan and collected a hire van to take us up to Reggio.  Driving on the right hand side of the road was a bit of an adventure, especially the roundabouts.  The Van is quite new but dented to hell and it looks like at some stage the back doors were broken into with a crowbar (and never fixed) perhaps in Italy dents and scratches are status symbols!

We are staying in the older part of town and it is beautiful and what I would imagine typical Italy looks like.  Photos to be added because, you can guarantee I have been clickity Suz, the Japanese tourist!

Last night we went to a Pizza/Pasta place and the grumpy woman spoke zero English and we spoke zero Italian (which only enraged her more!!!) but eventually we all got something to eat and drink and the only time she smiled was when we paid the bill!

Alex has been brilliant because she didn't really sleep on the plane and was falling asleep at dinner and I can only imagine she perhaps was not stimulated by the oldies conversation enough to spark up!

Anyway..... funny stories to come, guaranteed.  I just have to get back to the conference now......

Auckland Airport

We are at the airport and waiting.  We have come through to the gate as Alex needs to charge her phone as too much texting and Facebooking is taking its toll on her battery.  I suggested we sit in the massage chairs and she didn't think that was a good idea.  I sat and did not put money in (the rebel that I am!!) 

She moved away to the proper seats and text me a short, to the point message "Whako!"

We have been travelling less than a day and she has already abandoned me!!  I wanted to reply "goodie, goodie!" but not long after the 'whako' text arrived, I was asked to move on by the owner of the chairs for not paying to sit in them.  I slunk off back to Alex secure in my knowledge I now knew what that incessant beeping had been :(