August 3, 2011 -- Florence, Italy. This morning we went over to the train station to get our reservations for Rome on Thursday. We've gotten a 11:15 reservation one of the fast-trains, so it'll be a comfortable ride on the last leg of our journey. While we were there we decided to follow through on some research we did last night and take a day trip to Cinque Terre (pronounced: chink-wa terry). We boarded the train for Cinque Terre at 9:30 a.m. and arrived around noon.

Cinque Terre, Italy

Cinque Terre is on the coast of the "Italian Riviera". The closest city, and the city we changed trains in is about 10 minutes away by train but through a long LONG tunnel through the mountains.. The literature about the area says that "over the centuries, people have built terraces on the rugged, steep landscape right up to the cliffs that overlook the sea. Part of its charm are the small family owned businesses. Paths, trains and boats connect the villages, but cars cannot reach the villages from the outside".

The first train stop is the village of Riomaggiore. This is an amazingly beautiful village dating from the 13th Century. It is known for its unusual character and wine. We didn't see the vineyards but they are, we were told, extensive in the hills nearby. It seemed to me  the major industry was tourism. There were hundreds of people walking the narrow streets, looking in the shops and at the marina. I noticed, for example, a group of about 10 folks dressed in Scuba gear getting into a boat for a trip out into the harbor. There was a dive shop nearby.

While there are a total of 5 villages all connected, we decided that one was enough. By the time we walked up and down the hills, and climbed the hundreds of steps from the top of some of the streets to the bottom where the marina was located, we were "done"!  We made our way back to the train station and caught a 4:30 p.m. back to Florence thru La Spezia and Pisa. We finished up the evening having a delightful "kosher vegetarian" meal at Ruth's Restaurant in the Jewish section of town.

Ciao for now

August 2, 2011. Florence Italy. We boarded the "Frecciarossa" -- the 175 mph high-speed train from Bologna to Florence at 9:30 a.m. Our train was actually at 10:30, but a train came into the station and it was headed for Rome, so we boarded. Interestingly, no one asked us for our tickets or any other identification. These are wonderful trains. Comfortable, air conditioned, VERY fast and has internet on-board!  It only took us 35 minutes to get our destination.

One interesting event occurred when we were making our way to the train station in Bologna. We noticed much of the station blocked off and radio and TV crews setting up their equipment. Additionally, there were a fair number of Carabinieri" (police) at and around the station. Once we neared the front door of the station, I asked what was going on and was told that it was the anniversary of the 1980 bombing of the station which killed 85 people and wounded 200 others. The policeman told me it was the worst tragedy of its kind since the end of WWII. It seems there would be a commemoration later in the day. The picture at the right is of me and the policemen who said they were in their "dress uniforms". Very impressive, wouldn't you say???

Gov't Building at Palazzo Vecchio

Once in Florence, it was easy to find our hostel since we had stayed there before. I made a reservation for 2 full days at the Alex House on "Borgo de Grechi.  We were surprised to find, this visit, that our accommodations is an "apartment", with a living-room, dining-room, kitchen, private-bath and bedroom -- and, of course, the balcony overlooking the city! Really neat. The Alex House is centrally located and very near most of the interesting spots in Florence. Not far away is the Ponte Vecchio and Galileo Museum. Florence is still full of life, with tourists everywhere. There are large numbers of groups walking throughout the city with tour-guides speaking all sorts of languages. We were also told that August is the month that most Europeans take their vacation, so people from all around the continent are coming here for their holiday.

Synagogue, Florence, Italy

In the early afternoon, we found the Jewish Museum and Synagogue not too far from the hostel. We enjoyed an hour going through the museum and spoke with one of the docents. Her comments were interesting, noting that Italian Jews don't use the word "Jew" or "Jewish" to describe themselves. Rather they use "ebraica" (and variations of the word) to describe their community. She said it was their way of putting a distance between the connotation of "Jew" (Juden in German) and all that it implies about their experience in Italy. Down the street from the museum is  "Ruth's Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant", and we made reservations for tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. That should prove to be interesting, I think.

We finished the evening by dropping by the "Odeon" to see if any English language films were on the play-bill.  We saw Roberto Benigni's It's a Beautiful Life. It seemed to punctuate our earlier visit to the Jewish Museum. Just outside the theater, the Cafe Odeon was offering its Happy Hour and for the price of a beer, we were able to enjoy a nice dinner in their outside seating.

We have two more days in Florence to go. So far, we haven't decided what to do as yet. Maybe a day trip or some other interesting activity. We'll know more in the morning after asking some questions and doing some research.

Ciao for now.

August 1, 2011. Bolgona, Italy. Well, it's hard to believe that it is August 1st!! We've been in Italy, Austria and Germany for the last 22 days, and we'll be returning to the U.S. on August 8th. But, we're still in Bologna and still enjoying our stay. We arose early this morning and enjoyed the hotel's continental breakfast. As usual, it was delightful. It turns out, also, that the hotel has a neat little "modem" that one can rent for 5 Euros a day. Just plug it into the A.C. and enjoy broadband internet connectivity in the room. Having high-speed broadband is always enjoyable for me -- I get to check into Facebook and read my email regularly.

Last night, when reading about the various museums in the Bologna area, we discovered many of them are closed on Monday. This being Monday, we figured we had chosen a "bad time" to spend our only day here. But, undaunted, we set off for the Jewish Museum we discovered yesterday. As we approached the museum, after a 10 minute walk from the hotel, it looked closed but some windows were open, so I knocked loudly on the door and asked if "anyone was there". Some one came to the window and motioned us to "pusha the buttona". We did and gained entry in just a few minutes.

The Jewish Museum of Bologna is located on Via Valdonica, in the area of the former ghetto. Information at the museum states that it was formed to conserve the Jewish heritage and culture that has been part of Bologna for centuries. There are few artifacts in the museum, but a rather complete description of the Jewish experience -- both in Europe, Italy and Bologna. The story seems to be the same everywhere one goes in Europe. The Jews were accepted, rejected, expelled and ghettoized in every country. Italy is no exception. Now Jews are accepted once again and in most instances somewhat "protected". We finished our time at the museum with a look in their gift shop and left after saying our "good byes" to the curator.

Once again, we decided on a double-decker bus tour of the city. It turns out that Bologna is a much larger city that we first thought. It is the 7th largest city in Italy with a population of more than 1-million. Bologna is famous for its towers and porticoes, its many churches, a historical downtown and, of course, its food. The city even has a "leaning tower", built in the 12th Century. The bus took us around Bologna, up into the hills overlooking the city and into the fancy residential and shopping neighborhoods. The open-air bus was comfortable and we enjoyed the time we spent seeing parts of the city we didn't know existed.

Tomorrow we're on the way back to Florence. We've made a reservation at the same hostel as before. It's comfortable and centrally located. A couple of days later, we'll be back in Rome for the remainder of our trip. Time -- I can attest -- passes too quickly!!

Ciao for now, i miei amici!!

July 31, 2011 -- Bologna, Italy. We boarded an "EC" (Euro-City) train at 11:15 a.m. and arrived in Bologna at 12:20 p.m., about 20 minutes early. During the trip, I found there was an internet connection on the train, so I logged into their wifi system. It cost me .01 Euro -- one cent Euro, about 1.5 cents U.S. It was a neat experience being able to read email and check out my Facebook account while traveling from Milano to Bologna. My posting on Facebook was "why can't I do this in the U.S.?". It seemed to me that, as the largest, most advanced nation on the planet, something as simple as a high-speed train between cities, with internet, would be the easy.

Our first impressions of Bologna were that it is a small town with nothing to do. We were wrong. As we walked to our hotel, about 300 meters from the "Stazione Centrale", most of the shops were closed, there was very little traffic in the streets and hardly any people were present. We realized it was Sunday, so maybe that was the reason. Once we got situated in our lodgings, we headed out for the Piazza Maggiore (the main square) in the center of the city. It didn't take long for things to change.

Along the main street, Via dell Indipendenza, activity became more evident. Before too long we found shops open, a good number of people walking along the street and the bustle of cars and buses. By now it was around 2:30 p.m., so we decided to try the restaurant recommended by the front desk clerk at the hotel. the Osteria Dell Orsa Sas via Mentana. The desk clerk recommended that we order "pasta".

Trying to locate the restaurant was a bit confusing, so we asked questions from an older gentleman with a hand-truck full of "stuff" and a little dog. It turns out his "stuff" was for his performance as a street musician. He was a saxophone player. Once he gave us easy-to-follow directions he then proceed to give he details instructions about "something". Even though he spoke beautiful Italian, we only understood a word or two. We shook our heads yes and thanked him for his help. I think he was telling about the museums in the city, but I'm not sure.

Once we found the restaurant, we ordered a liter of beer and some food. Linda had eggplant parmigiana while I had pasta Bolognase.Our waiter was an interesting young man with with long hair in dred-locks, a t-shirt and shorts. I noticed he spoke Italian, English and French while were there. Before we received our food, he reminded us that "only HERE can you get Bolognase!! Nowhere else in the world. He gave me a knife, but reminded me that "I must NOT cut the pasta!" We followed his directions exactly. Needless to say, the food was delicious. All through our trip we haven't been able to find decent "Italian food" -- until now.

Finally, later in the evening we located the tourist information center near the main square. We found that a Jewish Museum is in the city so walked over to see where it was located. We'll be going there tomorrow. There are a variety of other sights we'll seek out in the morning, but it's apparent to us that Bologna seems to be a "one day' city!! There is lots of activity to observe and see, but not all that much to do. A number of museums awaits and, maybe, a tour bus is in our future.

I'll keep you up to date in tomorrow's blog post.

July 30, 2011 -- Milano, Italy. After getting up a bit late, around 9:30 a.m., we had a quick breakfast and set out for the Duomo. This time we decided not to walk, and we decided to take the "underground" from the train station. Our first goal was to locate the famous "Odeon", the English language cinema, to see if we could see a film later in the day. After a look at the map and a question or two, we found it only to discover that it was being "remodeled" and was closed for the next few weeks!

OK, no problem, we saw on the map that the "Planetario" wasn't too far away from the theater, so we continued walking down Corso Vittorio Emanuele II toward the Giardini Pubblici where the planetarium is located. The "Corso" is a wide walking street with high-end shops all along the boulevard. It eventually lets into the Corso Venezia and then the public gardens.

We found the planetarium in short order and noticed one of the two metal doors was closed, so undaunted we headed through the open door and into the lobby. So, to make a short story even shorter -- the planetarium was "closed for remodeling" too!! Luck would have it that two workers were by the projector and we gained entrance to the theater. We took a couple of pictures of the projector and around the lobby. The planetarium projector is an older Zeiss, much the kind that was used at the Griffith Planetarium when I was a kid. I've found that, throughout Europe, there are large number of the old Zeiss projectors still in use.

We caught another subway train back to the Duomo and had a bite of lunch at one of the many cafe's along and around the Piazza. As has become our custom over the last couple of cities, we decided to take one of the double-decker buses around the Milano. The tour included 20 stops along two different routes. One stop was the Castle Sforza. Construction on the castle began in 1450 by Francesco Sforza. Over the next few centuries it was used in defense of its inhabitants, but now is the location of a museum which includes the last sculpture, the Rondanini Pieta.

In front of the castle is a large beautiful fountain. It's been a warm day, and quite a few people were sitting on the edge of the fountain, some with their feet in the cool water. Linda and I cooled ourselves with the water and had a minor "water fight". It was great fun.

This is our last day in Milano. We've found Milano to be a large urban city, more so than any of the other Italian cities we've visited so far. Even Munich seemed less "business oriented". Yet, there were thousands of tourists enjoying the Italian summer. The warm days bring them into the numerous squares to enjoy the city. The Piazza Duomo, the largest square in Milano is home to the large Cathedral of the city and brings what seems to be all of the many tourists to see its elegance.

Tomorrow we'll be in transit to Bologna. So, as always -- stay tuned!!

July 29, 2011 -- Milano Italy. We started out early in the day with breakfast at the hotel. It's the custom, in most of Europe, to include a "continental breakfast" during ones stay. A continental breakfast is different than we are used to in the U.S. It usually includes a wide selection of cheese, juices, fruit, lunch meats, toasts and coffee. It's a great way to start the day.

After breakfast we headed out on foot and tried getting reservations for our trip to Bologna on Sunday. The line at the train station ticket office was very long, so we headed into town vowing to wait out the line upon our return later in the day. As we wandered down the main street, Via Pisani, one can only notice that Milan is a mature, modern and vibrant city. Our route took us deeper into town through what appeared to be a mature business district with what appears to be a variety of banking and finance centers.

Our first stop was the Duomo. The Duomo is a Cathedral started in 1386 and completed in 1965!! It is an absolutely stunning building and is the fourth largest Cathedral in the world. While we didn't take the time to enter the building, one can tell it is exquisite in every detail. Taking a look at the picture at the top of this entry will make my point for me.

I noticed on the map there was a "Museo Astronomico Di Brera" a bit farther into the city, so we made our way in that direction. The museum is located in the Brera Academy founded by Maria Theresa in 1776. The astronomy exhibits are on the top floor and I found my way to the director's office. While he wasn't there, I did meet with an assistant director. He and I discussed the two observatory domes on the roof and the exhibits. It seems the telescopes were abandoned in 1917 because of the poor seeing conditions. I wasn't able to find out much more as my Italian nor his English was limited. We continued wandering throughout the exhibits, found our way to the roof to take a couple of pictures and then left.

Our next stop was the Museum of Science and Technology. It included exhibits on robotics, ore mining and use and and the generation of electricity. The museum seemed aimed at a non-science crowd and I got the feeling it would be great for kids from grammar and middle school.

By now it was pretty late, so we headed back to the hotel. We tried to find a laundrymat, but without any luck. We both wanted to take one of the antique street-cars heading back toward the Central Train Station. It was fun, and it reminded me of my experiences on the "Key System", the streetcars that went into Hollywood from the Valley. I used to take them as a kid on my way to the Griffith Planetarium.

Tomorrow we're going to explore the city some more, take in a couple of the museums, locate the Milano Synagogue and planetarium. We'll probably take a double-decker bus tours around the city. I understand there's an English language cinema called the Odeon near the Duomo, so who knows, maybe we'll see a movie!!

News at 11!!!

July 28, 2011 -- Milano Italy. Our train was at 9:30 a.m for our transit from Innsbruck to Milano. It was an "EC" train -- a Euro City, which is a fairly fast train. Still, the trip took us 3 hours. We needed to change trains in Verano, but we only had an hour wait, so we were quickly on our way again. We arrived in Milan at 2:30 p.m. and quickly found our lodgings. It is the Hotel Casanova about a 2 minute walk from the "Stazione Centrale".

Interestingly at the station in Innsbruck I heard my name being called!! I looked around, wondering who the heck would know me in this part of the world. It was our new friend Charley Renaud, the law student who had invited us to hear Justice Sajo speak at the University of Innsbruck Law School. Charley is in a summer program in Innsbruck from St. Mary's University School of Law in Austin Texas. Linda and I spent a most enjoyable couple of hours talking, sharing some fruit and getting to know each other.

Milan is a city with a population of about 1.3 million and is the capital of a region called Lombardy. It's an older city, founded around the 3rd Century B.C.E. Today, though, it's a modern and prosperious city with an extensive infrastructure of street cars, light rail, buses and, of course, the Italian railway system. Commerce is everywhere. We're just getting started visiting the city and we'll be here for 2 days. I'm told it is a major fashion and design center with a major influence in finance, commerce, literature, music and sports. So, over the next couple of days we hope to see a lot of the city.

More to follow.

July 27, Munich Germany. Today we´ll spend the day in Munich. We left by high-speed rail at 10:30 a.m. It´s a 2 hour trip from Innsbruck. Along the trip to Munich, we met and had a nice discussion with a retired doctor. He has been in Innsbruck on a "geneology" trip for his family. I didn´t get his name.

Once in Munich, we made a bee-line for Starbuck´s and had our second "American-style" coffee since this trip began on July 6th!! I wasn´t used to the caffiene and it got my heart-rate going right off the bat. Still, it tasted good! Outside the station, the weather was sunny and warm, so we were pleased to be out of the colder weather of Innsbruck.

After a quick stop by the Tourist and Information Center, we made our way into town. Our first stop was the main square where the "Glockenspiel" is located -- Marienplatz. The Glockenspiel consists of 43 bells and 32 life-size figures. At certain times of the day there is a 15-minute "performance" put on by the "clock". Along the way, one can hard miss the activity and energy. The street, Neuhauser, was loaded with people. Shops were everywhere and people were enjoying the cafe´s and activities along the way.

It´s interesting to mention the street performers -- we found a pianist playing classical music for the crowd. He talent was more than evident and the crowd enjoyed the performance. Not too far away a young women and man were singing "opera" with a piano accompaniment. They were excellent as well, as we listened for a little while. Finally, there was an Asian group -- Chinese maybe -- playing three instruments I really didn´t recognize.

We wander around the "platz" for a bit and made our waz to the Haufbrauhaus. This is a famous "bier haus" founded by Wilhelm V in 1589. Mozart, for instance, lived nearby and made the place famous in the late 18th Century. Other notables made appearances there as well, one of them too "infamous" to mention -- but you should be able to ascertain his name by my reluctance to even "spell it" in this blog!!

The place was packed, but we took the time to find a place to sit and got the waiter´s attention. A "liter" of beer was 7.60 Euros -- about $11.00 -- but it was well worth the investment. Linda and I shared the beer as well as a snack. We sat at a table with another couple and struck up a nice chat -- even though they onlz spoke Italian. A couple of guys at the next table toasted us and we bought them a beer. Great fun.

Once leaving the Hofbrauhas, we found the "Viktoalien-markt", an open market full of vendors of all kinds. Everything was available -- fruit, gelato, flowers, food of all kinds and clothing. Here again, the place was growded and the activity for an enjoyable visit. It was in the market that we saw the "opera singing" trio.

It turns out the market is close to the Jewish Museum and Synagogue, we we found them both and slowly walked through the museum. Its three floors explore the Jewish experience in Munich -- an experience that was troubled and difficult until after the Second World War. Across the plaza, we entered the Jewish Community Center and were able to visit the sancturary of the Synagogue. It´s interesting that one gains entrance to the synagogue through an underground tunnel -- but first it´s necessary to pass through a rigorous security check. We´ve noticed that the Jewish community in Austria and Germany is protected by an extensive security system.

Tomorrow we're going to transit to Milan -- a 7 hour train ride through Verano. A long day awaits!!

Ciao...

July 25, Innsbruck Austria -- The plan today was to go to Mittenwald Germany as a day trip. Mittenwald is about 38 kilometers away from Innsbruck and is located in southern Germany. We boarded a train at 10:30 a.m. and arrived at 11:30. It´s a short walk from the train station to the downtown and shopping area. Mittenwald is a small Bavarian town in the Bavarian Alps with a population of about 25,000 people. It´s clearly a favorite place for people to visit, with lots of shopping and cafe´s for the tourist.

There are mountains and beautiful scenery everywhere. One highlight of the day-trip was a ride up the "Karwendlebahn" (cable car) to the top of a 2200 meter peak overlooking the city. I know I use this word too much, but the view was "breathtaking", with the city and countryside below. At the top is a restaurant and "biergarten". Here the visitor can enjoy a meal, a beer or just the majestic views of the mountains above and the city below. During our visit, there was a wonderful Bavarian "duo" singing songs as they played the guitar and accordion. Couples were enjoying their traditional dancing styles!

We headed back down the mountain after about 45 minutes. Since we had an hour before our train back to Innsbruck would arrive, we stopped off for a beer, some talk and people watching. Our return train was at 16:30 (4:30 p.m.) and, I admit I slept a bit on the return. It's been a long day with lots of walking -- and worth every bit of it.

We've extended our stay in Innsbruck by a day, so tomorrow we'll be off to Munich to see that city and all it has to offer.

Stay tuned.....

July 25, 2011. Innsbruck Austria -- We spent the day wandering around Innsbruck so as to get a real feel for the city. Unlike the weekend, today is Monday and the city is bustling with activity. The stores, cafe's and offices are open and the familiar sounds of city traffic is everywhere. Innsbruck is the capital city of the "federal state of Tyrol" and has a population of about 120,000 people. There is an additional 30,000 students who study as one of the various campuses at the University of Innsbruck.

As mentioned in yesterday's post, we've been invited to the University of Innsbruck to a discussion and lecture on Human Rights at the university's law school. The speaker was Dr. Andras Sajo (http://web.ceu.hu/legal/sajo.htm) a justice on the European Court of Human Rights. Dr. Sajo conducted a lively discussion on the subject of "liberty and equality", and started with philosophical beginnings of the subject during the early Greek and then Roman periods. He brought the discussion forward to the 18th Century and the French and American Revolutions. After a robust question and answer period, the afternoon was completed with a reception in his honor. There were a variety of refreshments -- including BEER!!! How European??

Later in the afternoon, around 5 p.m, we decided to take a "bus tour". It isn't the double-decker bus we've seen in most cities, but Innsbruck has city buses for touring. Innsbruck is a magnificent city with lush greens, clean streets and beautiful buildings. At one point we went to a high-point overlooking the city. The view was breath-taking -- too bad we didn't have a chance to take any photos.

We sat in front so we could take some photos. It happens that the driver, Harry, likes to practice his English, so he gave us a running commentary about the sights of the city. This was in addition to the commentary we were hearing through the earphones. A most enjoyable hour and a half of sightseeing.

We finished our day by going to an English language theater nearby. We saw the film The Good Heart with Paul Dano and Brian Cox. It seemed that the majority of the theater goers were Austrian, so I'm not sure they were there for the English language or the subtitles in German!! Regardless, it's a great film and one you may wish to watch on DVD.

More to follow, so stay tuned.....

July 24, 2011. Dachau Germany. We started out the day at 7:30 a.m. and wanted to make the 8:30 a.m. train to Munich. Our plan was to visit the Concentration Camp museum at Dachau. It turns out our train was a "milk train", and what would have been a 2 hour rip to Munich took us just over 3 hours. We saw "every stop" along the way. All was not lost, of course, as we met an interesting couple from Hamburg who had just finished a 2-week vacation in one of the small Bavarian villages along the way. "Hans" is a simi-conductor engineer for Philips in Hamburg, and we had an interesting discussion about technology in general and semi-conductors in particular.

We arrived in Munich around 11:30 a.m. and made our way to the "underground". There is an extensive subway system in Munich and Dachau is one of the many stops along the S2 line. Once in the city of Dachau, we boarded a bus for the museum and arrived about 20 minutes later. As we walked toward the front gate of the "camp" we joined a tour group that was just beginning to take shape along the way. The tour guide spoke excellent English, so we felt we were pretty lucky.

The tour lasted around 3 hours and we covered the entire camp -- from the administration of the prisoners to the crematoria. I had been to Dachau in 2008, but again, I learned quite a bit more about the extensive concentration camp system the Nazi's created in the 12 years of their rule in Germany. Over its existance as a Concentration Camp, more than 200,000 people were held there with 46,000 killed through a systematic program of "slave labor". Our guide explained how the Nazi´s assigned prisoners tasks they could not possibly perform then punished them for the "infraction". Most of the deaths were a result of starvation, however. Additionally, in support of the war effort, prisoners were "sold" as slave labor to such companies as BMW, Krupp and Messerschmidt. It was a stark reminder of the kind of inhumanity people are capable of perpetrating on their fellow human beings.

We caught the subway back to the Munich station and boarded a high-speed train bound for Innsbruck. This time, the trip only took 2 hours. As always, we were luck to meet a couple of law students going to a summer school at the University of Innsbruck. We discussed a wide variety of interesting topics and in the end, we were invited to a discussion group and lecture on "International Human Rights" at the university tomorrow. It seemed a fitting invite after our day of learning about the human rights violations practiced at Dachau in the 1930´s and 40´s.

On a more positive note, as we wandered toward the train for Innsbruck, we spotted a "Starbucks Coffee" -- The FIRST Starbucks we've spotted since we've been in Europe. And the FIRST real cupa coffee we've had since we got here!!! Ah the American Experience!

After a late dinner, it's time to close, so as always my friends, more to follow.....

July 23, 2011. Innsbruck, Austria. Our train was at 11:50 a.m., so we started the day with a morning coffee and a trip to the Cyber Cafe. In Italy these are called "Internet Points". Throughout the country, so far, we've been able to find Internet Points just anywhere we've gone Verona is the exception, but as we walked the city, we saw an Apple Store and got our email and Facebook fix!

In order to get to Innsbruck, we needed to go back through Verona and then board the train for Munich. As mentioned, there was a railway workers' strike yesterday, but we learned that the train for Munich would be in Verona at :59 past the house. We arrived in Verona at 11:57 a.m., so we thought we probably missed the train for the hour. A look at the track assignments told us that the train would be on track #3, so just for the heck of it we made our way up there. The 12:59 p.m. train was still in the station so we jumped on board! It was a lucky moment as the next train would have been 2 hours later. As it is, we'll get into Innsbruck at 4:30 p.m., so it's a 3.5 hour train ride.

We found a couple of seats and settled in for the trip. The rail-car was very hot and stuffy, but we figured it'd get better once the train got underway. No such luck! The conductor told us the air-conditioning was out of order and the lights did not work. The entire car was asked to leave for other parts of the train. Linda and I waited for the crowd to "scramble" and then made our way toward the front of the train. It didn't take long to find seating and we made ourselves comfortable again. I saw a man walk past with a cup of coffee and learned the "food car" was 2 coaches ahead, so I went looking for a snack.

It was then I found the "first class coach". Our Eurail Pass qualifies us for first-class accommodations, so we moved again -- this time to the relative comfort of a much less crowded rail-car, reclining seats and electrical power for my netbook. Linda and I enjoyed a tasty lunch in the food-coach and met Horst, our waiter/cook. We had a nice chat. It turns out Horst is a Rod Stewart fan and follows Stewart around the world for his concerts. Horst will be in Las Vegas in couple of months for a concert or two. I gave Horst my card and offered him a sight-seeing tour of the Palm Springs area if he comes to town.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of our travel, so far, has been the interesting people we've met.

We arrived in Innsbruck Austria at 4:30 p.m. and found our lodgings. It's located perfectly, near the Arch de Triumph, right downtown in Innsbruck and near the train station. After a bit, we went for a walk. This part of the city, I think it's the downtown section, is absolutely deserted!! Unlike Italy where people were in the streets, shops were open, entertainment was everywhere -- Innsbruck is a very VERY quiet place right now.

Our plan is to be off to Munich in the morning with a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp. The camp is about 35 minutes away from the city of Dachau by bus. We'll also take some time to see Munich.

More to follow.....

July 22, 2011. Venice and Verona Italy. This was an interesting day. Our train for Verona was at 12:57 p.m., so we had some time in the morning to explore. We saw that the Gam Gam Restaurant, in the Jewish section of town, serves potato latkes so we headed out there for a breakfast. Once there, we found they wouldn't open for another 30 minutes, so we headed into the heart of the Ghetto. There we found an artist by the name of Rado Leon. His work is in pencil is quite beautiful. We discussed his drawing and the conversation got around to the use of the word "ghetto", particularly as it is used in the European Jewish community. He explained how it was an important "reminder" about the Jewish experience and to remember where the Jews "were" and where they are now. The discussion impressed me, such, that I walked over to the Chabad House and donned Tfillin with Eliezer acting as my tutor. I found it an emotional and uplifting experience!

We then made our way to the train station and boarded the Eurostar for Verano. It was about an hour ride in a modern, air-conditioned and comfortable train. Once there, our plan was to get our ticket for Innsbruck. B-U-T, it turns out that the railway ticket-agents had called a one-day strike, and getting a ticket was impossible. It also seems that the train for Austria is run by a different company, so we just need to show up, find the train, get on and see what happens! Wish us luck for our transit to Innsbruck tomorrow!!

We walked into the heart of Verona. It is a beautiful city, the main street of which would rival Rodeo Drive, Wealth Avenue or El Paseo. All of the high-end and expensive shops were there. We walked through the city a bit,
and located the Piazzette de 14 Novembre (my birthday). It was neat seeing the plaza with my birthday on it (see the picture on the left).

A bit deeper into the city we found the Juliette House and took pictures near the statue and her balcony. You probably know that this is the "Juliette" of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliette.

Verona also has a coliseum similar to the one in Rome built in 30 C.E. and can host 30,000 spectators. Today, four productions are performed each year, including opera, ballet as well as popular musicians and performers. Lyle Lovette, for example, will be there soon. I'm told that the Verona Arena is one of the best preserved venues of ancient Rome. It was beautiful and is right in the middle of town.

Back at the Verona train station, we located our track and decided to head up there to wait for our train. There were a bunch of young guys drinking beer, singing loudly and have a great time. I said, "hey where's my beer" -- and before I knew it I had my beer and Linda and I were in middle of it all. It was really lots of fun. While only one guy spoke very broken English, we all understood that we all enjoyed each other's company. The fun continued until it was time to board the train, and we said our farewells.

We found our way back to Venice on the 7 p.m. train and had an interesting exchange with a street vendor. As I walked away from the train station, the street vendor "grabbed" my arm and roughly guided me to a model ship he wanted to sell me. I declined and went my way. The interesting part happened with we heard a siren and a police boat roared to a stop nearby. Two policemen walked up the very same guy who had grabbed me! They didn't seem pleased with him and some heated discussion took place. We left the area after about 5 minutes, but the policemen were continued talking with the guy. Hummmm, it seems I missed being in the thick of that by about 60 seconds or so!!

Excitement in Venice!!

Tomorrow we'll be making our way to Innsbruck, so stay tuned....

July 21, 2011. Venice and Murano Italy. Today we decided to boat out to Murano, an island about 35 minutes from Venice. Murano glass is world renown, and glassmakers have been making glass in Murano since 1291 C.E. We took the "water bus" from the train station area to Murano and sat in the very rear of the boat. The view was spectacular as we left the inside of the city onto the more open water. On the way, we passed a variety of smaller islands, including "Isola de San Michele" or in English, San Michelle. It was originally a prison island, but since 1807 it became a cemetery for the people of Venice and surrounding areas.

Once in Murano I was interested in finding Vetri Artistici, the "furnaco" and show room I had visited during my trip in 2008. I remembered it was near the lighthouse, so we made our way in that direction. Again I was lucky and found the furnace and the show room in just a few minutes. Once there, I met Raffaele -- the same gentleman who had helped me on my previous visit. I reminded him of our meeting and mentioned that he had, at that time, taken me to the special showroom upstairs as well as a private viewing room for the furnace. Raffaele didn't remember me specifically, but my description of the venue let him know I was a repeat visitor. We were able to visit the upstairs showroom and the furnace. It was quite thrill.

After leaving the factory, we caught a bit of lunch and continued our exploration of Murano. One item I wanted to buy was a figure of a rabbi in Murano glass. I had seen these in the Ghetto, so I hoped I could find them in Murano and meet the artist if possible. I always enjoy pieces of art from the artist him/herself. As we passed a shop, Linda jumped and pointed out the rabbi figures! We went into the store, found the artist whose name is Simon. We had a chance to talk about his art for awhile, take a picture or two and buy one of his pieces. It is a rabbi holding a Torah with a Star of David inscribed in the front. It's quite beautiful and I think a unique piece.

After returning to Venice we waited in another long line at the train station and bought our tickets for a day-trip to Verano tomorrow as well as our transit to Innsbruck Austria on Saturday. Linda bought some jewelry in The Ghetto, we did a bit of shopping at the Coop and caught another wonderful Chinese dinner at our favorite restaurant.

By now it was 11:30 p.m., so it was time to get some sleep. One interesting note is that the dinner hour in Italy is fairly late, and many people are just starting their evening meal at 10 p.m. and later.

More to come!!

July 20, 2011. Venice Italy. We started out the day with a stop by the local internet point. There are variety of these kinds of stores throughout Italy. In this case, the internet point was in a small bookstore near a local university about 5 minutes from the Hostel. We then set off for a walk toward the "Stazzione" and found a laundrymat on the way. We'll do some laundry this evening.

Nearby, I re-located an artists' studio that I had visited during my trip to Venice in 2008. The artist, Massimo Busetto, occupies a small corner store/studio not far from the Grand Canal. His studio is full of his works, many of which I'd love to own. We talked about my previous visit and while he didn't remember me, he did enjoy the fact that I found him again and took the time to stop by. We invited him to Palm Desert and the very active "art scene" there. It was an enjoyable visit.

We took the "Ponte Degli Scalzi" (this is the main foot-bridge by the train station) to the other side of the Grand Canal and turned right, looking for the Jewish "Ghetto" (the term "ghetto" in Europe refers to the neighborhood, and doesn't carry the negative connotation we associate with

the word). It didn't take long before we found ourselves in the Campo Degli Ghetto. Besides the Chabad House, there are variety of art shops, artists, music and restaurants. It's a small area, but seems vibrant and with interesting points to see for the visitor. I had a rather long and interesting discussion with Elisha from the Chabad House about the meaning of donning of "tiffilin" -- and while he invited me to do so, I have so far declined. Maybe tomorrow!! We finished up the visit by stopping by the Restaurant Gam Gam for a wonderful meal. The restaurant supports the Chabad House so we felt we were supporting their effort in Venice.

We continued our walk around the neighborhoods and continued farther into the city -- or at least we thought. It's interesting, but the Grand Canal circles around the city, so as we walked farther and farther away from the train station, we finally realized were were walking closer and closer to our lodgings at the Camp Del Toma! We found and crossed the Ponte Realto. This bridge was built in 1181 C.E. It went through a couple of changes, and in 1255 C.E. it was changed from a pontoon to a wooden bridge. It was surrounded by a market and eventually became part of the market itself. Today, it is a modern steel/concrete structure covered with shops of all kinds (see the last photo of this entry). It was crowded and fun, with hundreds of people buying and selling items of all kinds.

Later in the afternoon, we found the laundry and did a week's worth of laundry. Now, they tell you that Venice is an expensive city. I can now attest this is true, a "single load" of laundry cost us 24-Euros -- the equivalent of $36!! Wow, we coulda bought new clothes for that, right??!! Of course, any experience leads to another. We were having a bit of trouble understanding how the machines in the laundry worked, so a young man came to our rescue. His name is Sharif. Sharif is from Afghanistan and has been living in Venice for 2 years. While the rest of his family is still is his country, Sharif told us he was very glad to be in Italy and loved it here. He said he hoped to visit the United States some day, and we invited him to contact us. We'll exchange Facebook friendships.

Our final outing of the evening was for dinner. We walked toward the Ponte Rialto looking for a suitable restaurant and saw a Chinese Restaurant that looked interesting. We walked inside and looked around, not sure we wanted to stay. There were 2 couples sitting at a table who signaled us saying the food "was great". We had a enjoyable 10 talk to these folks from Manchester in the U.K. Lots of laughter and joking let to a delightful exchange between us. They said they were leaving for home in the morning -- my comment was "oh darn, we were going to buy you dinner tomorrow night"! With that, one of the guys said he'd "send me the bill". Great fun.

Oh yes, the food was great!!

So far, we've met interesting people from India, China, Afghanistan, Canada, Australia, the U.K. and of course, the U.S. So our trip has been more than just an Italian experience, but an international experience as well.

Tomorrow we plan to go to Murano, so stay tuned....

July 19, 2011 -- Tuesday, Venice Italy. We started out the day with a re-visit to the Academia Gallery and a chance to see Michaelangelo's David. After an hour wait in the "non reservation line", we were able to get a ticket and wandered through the Gallery. In addition to the Michaelangelo collection, there is a magnificent collection of works by Botticelli. We stayed for about an hour or more and went back to the hostel for our baggage.

One interesting experience of note is when we met Manuel and his family. He is a retired Filipino soldier now living in Austria. He and his family emigrated to Austria 14 years ago. In additional to Tagalog and English, he and his family speaks fluent German. More interesting is when, during our discussion, he said how much he really liked a film called The Sound of Music. With that, he began singing the song in its entirety!! So, picture this , a Filipino now living in Austria who speaks German singing the Sound of Music in English. It was great fun...

We found our way to the "Stazione" and boarded the train at 2:30 p.m. As luck would have it, it was a modern Euroliner -- a beautiful high-speed train with luxurious seats, free coffee and air conditioningIt took the train 2 hours to travel from Florence to Venice. Here again, Linda and I had the good fortune of meeting a delightful couple from India. His name is Shashank (we didn't quite get his wife's name), and for the next two hours or so, we all discussed a variety of interesting topics -- but especially a philosophical discussion on the subject of "truth". The most interesting part of this is that, coming from India, Shashank had an entirely different point of view -- one based in "eastern beliefs". Both Linda and I found it very stimulating and the time passed quickly.

Once we arrived in Venice, we found our lodgings and settled in. After a bit of dinner and exploration, we'll called it a night and will get an early start in the morning.

So, as usual, stayed tuned.....

July 18, 2001, Florence Italy. It's Monday and we decided to take in the "David " at the Academia Gallery. It's a relatively short walk from our lodgings, so we started out around 10:30 a.m. or so. About half way there I mentioned that "you know, I'll bet the museum is closed on Monday -- many of them are!!" And, sure enough it was. No big deal, we decided we'd see David in the morning before we left for Venice.

We then made our way to the train "Stazione Santa Maria Novella" to settle on a time and train for our transit to Venice.We booked a 14:30 (2:30 p.m.) train so as to give us enough time to visit the Academia. We both figured we had walked enough over the past couple of days, so we opted for one of the double-decker buses for an overview of Florence. We then spent the next 3 hours touring the city and listening to the on-going description of the city.

One of the stops was near our hostel, so we took 1/2 hour break and had a bit of lunch. It turns out that Italy is full of "falafal joints", a food that Linda and I both enjoy. After lunch we re-boarded the bus for the second half of the guided tour. We finally left the bus at the Ponte Vecchio and took a slow walk back into our side of town.

After dinner, we thought we'd see if there was another concert near the Piazza de Republica and found a trio featuring trumpet player Fabrio Morgera. He was accompanied by a keyboard and drummer. The drummer, Piero Borri, was one of the most extraordinary musicians I've seen. All in all, the music scene in Florence seems to be very full -- and, apparently, free to those who seek out these performances.

Each of the cities we've visited has its own charm and personality. Rome and its antiquities is a wonderful place to see. Tuscany, with its villages and towns is beautiful, serene and charming all at the same time. But Florence is a step up. This is a vibrant city, teaming with activities, sights and people. Where Rome has a fair amount of litter in streets, Florence is clean and well maintained. The warm nights bring people into the streets for a variety of activities -- even at 1 and 2 in the morning. Yet, one feels safe and welcome. So, if you've got a week or two and want to visit Italy -- Florence is my recommendation.

Of course, we'll be in Venice tomorrow, so my opinion might change. Stay tuned!!!!