Chianti

17/06/09
Had enough of Florence and so decided to join the hostel organised wine tour of the neighboring Chianti region. Chianti is between Siena and Florence and is home to wines of the same namesake. The tour was hosted by Irene (pronounced Irina I think) who is a local from there and so we walked to the train station to hop on a coach to get there. There are 3 grades of wine from this region, table wine being called super Tuscany or IGT, the good stuff is graded DOC (has document of originality and manufacture) and lastly DOCG (same as before but guaranteed to an higher standard).
First stop was an sampler plate of the local cheese and ham with some IGT reds and whites. Then a stop at Greve before heading to another winery for some lunch where we had more DOC and DOCG wines. Lastly we went and had some Grappa (spirits made from the skin of the grape) which you have in small sips of 40 and 60% alcohol before a sweet version to finish the day.

Chianti

Unfortunately my day was not done as I had to catch a train to Pisa for my accommodation that night. When I got off the train in Pisa I bumped into a couple of Ozzies (Connor and Chris?) and their Irish friend Fenton, the two from Oz play in the Irish National Soccer League for Belfast and the trio of them had no idea how to get to see the leaning tower of Pisa. Luckily I showed them where to get the prepaid bus ticket and also where to get off, "kids" thesedays. After having dinner together they went on their way back to the train station to catch a train to Rome, their leaning Pisa photo mission done. I had to trudge to my campsite cabin with no a/c and no window too!

Florence

14/06/09
Good old Italian efficiencies! Had trouble with my non existent train booking and so after much confusion had to buy it onsite. Luckily I got a seat as there was only 1 seat left in my carriage. Got to Florence in the mid afternoon and promptly went to queue 20mins in the blazing heat to see big David (not the Tuaman too). No photo! again and so played hide and seek to sneak 2 shots, had to justify my 10 euros!
Then walked down to the Duoma (a church with a big dome), Batistery, Piazza della Signoria and the Ponte Vecchio.
Some sights are closed today and some tommorrow (Monday), so a bit of back tracking to do in the next few days me thinks.

15/06/09
Decided to have a casual day and visited the stuff that were open which were not many as it was a Monday, Italians love their days off.
Visited the Piazza San Lorenza, climbed 468 steps up the Duomo for some panoramic views of Florence, viewed Piazza Strozzi, Church of Ognissanti (closed), Church of Santa Maria Novelle (did not enter, churched out now), Dante Alighieri's house, Church of Santa Croce (did enter as has tombs of Michaelangelo, Galileo and Dante!) and last but not least hiked up across the Arno river to Piazza Michaelangelo to see a (bronze) copy of David.
As the heat was unbearable had to have a beer from the street stall (no questions about age asked either). Thought I wait for the sunset as really nothing else was open and so escaped into the church of Santa Miniato al Monte where mass was being held in a small partition of the church yet the organ music reverberated nicely throughout the church.
Very serene indeed that you would be hard not to feel a little spiritual of sorts.
Finally with the sun setting across Firenze, walked all the way back to the hostel for a well deserved dinner and to see Italia beat USA in the Confederations Cup, Bravo Italia!

16/06/09
Damn Italian small lanes, got a little lost going to the Uffizi gallery which I have passed many a time in prior days! Got there at 8.30am and the queue was already massive as they only let in so many people in every 20minutes, that meant that I was there for 90mins! Got in and again Non Photo! signs so no pics to show for my effort. Got to see some famous paintings, being the art connoisseur I purchased a guide after the event to get an idea of what I was really looking at. Art can be so complicated...
Second stop of the day was the Medici Chapels, tombs of the leaders of Florence and where Michelangelo scrupled some of his famous creations being Lorenzo with Day and Night, Giuliano with Dusk and Dawn.
Third and last stop was crossing the Arno river to the massive Pitti Palace, long time home of the Medici dynasty. See if you can spot the private passageway that linked the palace to the Uffizi, this allowed them to travel halfway across town without being in public view. Sheer filthy opulence! Ended the day in the Boboli gardens, the (Pitti) palace gardens are massive that I only covered half of it; mind you I sat half the time in the shade escaping the (again) extreme heat and admiring the skyline.

Florence

Venice

13/06/09
Decided on an early start and caught the public bus across to Venice from my campsite in Mestre. Caught the scenic all stops vaproetta (ferry) through the Grand Canal to San Marco Square where I promptly entered the San Marco Batisque.

I avoided any queues simply because I checked in my backpack and got handed a card, which I confidently strolled to the front doors and handed in. I guess they presumed I had queued all this time only to be told I had to check in my bag and thus only happy to let me back in...old trick I read on the web.

Inside would be a taste of the extravagance that was to greet me in Venice. After countless churches in Rome the interior of this one was striking as it was pasted with gold mosaics! Afterwards I then unfortunately had to queue to enter the Doges palace where the showing off of opulent wealth continued, the ticket purchased also entitled me to wander into the St Mark museums on the other side of the square and one other museum of your choice, I chose the Ca'Rezzo art gallery.

Afterwards and maybe due to the frustration of navigating the maze they call Venice I had hit the wall with travel fatigue given the many museums, galleries and churches I had visited the last few days, not to mention the insane Italian heat.

A dash was made to Lido island to escape the mass of tourists for a quiet walk and a gelato. With my feet getting tired I caught the ferry back across San Marco for some snaps and walked back to the awaiting shuttle back to the campsite. There is definitely enough to do in Venice for 2 days but frankly the heat and a little of the same old same old was getting to me, I was starting to feel Italian out...

Venice

Rome

08/06/09
Flight was delayed coming into Rome, one of the pitfalls of flying easyJet, never on time! I spent a frustrated hour trying to find my hostel before heading out that evening for a small orientation walk.

09/06/09
Today first stop was of course the Colosseum, avoided the “free photo” Gladiator touts.
Afterwards next door to the ruins of the Roman Empire civic center the Palentino and then lastly the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument which was just up the road.

10/06/09
Luckily we were here at the right time to see the Pope give his weekly audience in St Peters Square, Vatican. As everyone has to pass through security checks the Pope is free to roam the crowds requiring only an open top jeep instead of his usual popemobile.

Afterwards we wandered through the Vatican museums to end at the Sistine Chapel. No photos allowed! But that didn't stop the tourists who numbered in the hundreds versus only two screaming attendants within it.

Ended the day with a lookie inside St Peters Basicilia and a stroll along the brown green waters of the Tiber River passing by some minor landmarks including the Spanish Steps.
As we had not found anything worthwhile to do at night we went on a hostel pub crawl with 50 odd other like minded people into the wee hours of the morning.

11/06/09
Had to shake off the tiredness to revisit the Vatican as we forgot about going up the Michelangelo Dome. This was well worth the revisit into the Vatican. Knocked off the last few sights on my to do list in particular the Trevi fountain and Pantheon. The Pantheon makes you appreciate how advanced and grandeur the Roman civilization was in its heyday.

12/06/09
Last day in Rome, the pounding of pavements, standing in queues and hot hot humid weather had taken its toll. Therefore decided to have a super slow day before we both left Rome and so dusted off some sights in the south east quarter which are less busy than the main tourist traps. Surprises being the Sacred Steps and the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the mother of all churches.

If Washington DC is the city of museums then Rome is the city of churches and fountains.

Rome

Vatican

Montreal

Day 46 24/05
I had booked the 9pm bus that arrives into Montreal at 3.45am. I thought the bus would be express but there was a 45 minute layover in a small café in Kingston. Arrived on-time into Montreal’s central bus terminal but nothing was open, neither the subway nor the lockers which I had planned to store the bulk of my luggage in order to make the most of my day.
Luckily the security guard allowed me to purchase a locker token through him that allowed me to catch the first subway at 5.45am out to the sights of Old Montreal, otherwise I would have had to wait for the locker cashiers to open at 8am.

Upon arrival at Champ de Mars metro station I hired a Biki bicycle from an automated booth. Now this is what every world class city should have, the bike was in top condition with 3 speeds, bell, kickstand, front basket, extremely comfortable to ride and cheap to hire by use of ones credit card (so I thought at the time, but actually I take it all back as it cost a bomb to hire after I checked my credit card statement later as I misread the Frenglish T & Cs).
Biki would allow me to cycle around the cobblestone streets of Old Montreal before the eventual busloads of tourists. Unfortunately not a single thing was open before 9am except Mcdees which I had for want of choice for breakfast.
By the time the helpful tourist office was open it seemed I had done everything that was open for the public (a lot were closed for restoration work).

With time in hand it was onto the 1976 Olympic tower near the Uaia metro station, this is the tallest leaning tower in the world but really who would build a leaning tower deliberately!
Afterwards only had time to get to the airport to finally leave North America, Bon Voyage to the land of big fast food and even larger high rises.

Montreal

Toronto

23/05
A travel day for Sig but we did squeeze in some central sights as Toronto was holding a special Doors Open weekend where buildings around the city were open for public access. After sending Sig off at the metro I continued wandering around into whatever building held my interest until my coach that night to Montreal.

Toronto

Niagara Falls

22/05
We booked a Niagara Falls tour the night before and before we knew it we were at the better Canadian side of the falls and prompted embarked on the Maid of the Mist ferry ride. You definitely get a drenching from the spray from the falls however the ferry ride is short lived and the boat way too crowded. A better bet which we did is to hike to the falls from the ferry dock and take the Journey Behind the Falls walk, this basically is a small lift ride that takes you down to the base of the falls where you gain access to some tunnels that are behind the falls and also to an adjoining observation deck. The noise of the falls is thunderous and you can stay there is long as you like.
Afterwards there was a small wine tasting in a nearby vineyard part owned by Dan Ackroyd where this region is famous for ice wine before some free time around Niagara-on-the-lake, an old loyalist colonial town.

Niagara Falls