Vijay Basrur

Pisa

The drive from Firenze to Pisa took about an hour & a half. There is nothing to see in Pisa other than the Leaning Tower and the adjoining Duomo & the lovely lawns.

The tickets to enter the leaning tower were available for entry 5 hours from the time we reached there so we passed it.

The tower looks spectacular to say the least. And unilke other tourist attractions the leaning tower leaves a lot to be admired from a distance rather from up close. The inclination is more vivid from a distance and you cannot but marvel at this man made mistake.

After spending a few hours. Moving around the place, bargaining for a few fake watches (I got a decent Omega) & clicking quite a few snaps, we settled down for a nice picnic lunch of besan rotis, cookies, cashewnuts and tangerines.

Everyone slept during the drive back and so it felt like we reached Nice pretty early. We stopped at the border for some good Italian coffee and made it to Nice just in time for dinner.

We plan to visit Monte Carlo tom.

Firenze

We loitered all day in this lazy little town and enjoyed every bit of it.

Firenze or Florence as it is known in English, is a beautiful city. Most of the buildings look similar with terracota tiled roofs & mostly yellow walls.

After moving through the streets, stopping by for gelato, our first destination was the Duomo. Its a wonderful cathedral with a stunning facade. The exterior is in pink, green and white and though some colours are faded, the entire facade looks stunning.

Right opposite the main entrance is another building which has an entire door of 3D carvings made of gold.

We climbed up the Cupola, which is about 500 steps and takes you right on the main dome of the Duomo. From here you get the most spectacular view of the Firenze city. Sine you can actually go around, you get a 360 deg birds eye view. We spent about 30 mins there and it was beautiful.

On our way down we stopped by tp admire the frescoes which adorn the inside walls of the roof. The hemispherical roof has some of the most amazing frescoes. The fact that someone can paint such huge ceilings with such beauty is unfathomable.

From here we strolled to the Arno canal which is a serene spot where we spotted enthusiastic kids practising rowing. There are 2 bridges over this canal which are full of jewellery shops and tiny bistros.

Over a hot bowl of soup and other italian food, we had a chilled out lunch. We spent the rest of the evening walking around the city. We also got a nice caricature done of the both of us.

On our way to dinner, we entered a square where there were some amazing musicians strumming up lovely jazz tunes. It was so nice, we could have spent hours there. But my cousins kids were getting restless and so we hurried for dinner.

The kids were well behaved all through the day and crashed right into bed the minute we hit the hotel. Well so did we

Drive from Nice to Florence

Driving past the Italian countryside at over 100 kmph is a pleasure. More so if you are not driving.

The route is all along the coast and is very scenic.

As usual I am fighting to stay awake in spurts. My cousin also owns a GPS device which is total kick ass. It tracks your progress on the road real time with suggestions to take turns as and when required. Cool!

Another 2.5 hours to go.

Nice

Inspite of waking up in the wee hours of the morning and racing against time to stick to the dangerously punctual schedule, we were quite fresh as soon as we landed in Nice.

The first thing that attracts your attention is the beautiful coast that runs through the city. Its a beautiful view as you land.

We were glad to see my cousin who was there to receive us. And thankfully we were fed some really good Indian food for lunch. Man the sight of yellow daal made me a trifle homesick.

Now that we are stuffed, we will be leaving in some time for Florence and will be visiting Pisa on our way back. Its going to be a 5 hour drive and sounds like fun.

Blogging in Trenitalia

Most of the blogging in Rome has been thanks to a lovely 55 min train ride from Valle Aurelia to Bracciano. The entire journey is through lush green landscapes peppered with cute grazing sheep.

The journey is filled with beautiful scenes from the Italian country side. I am glad we stayed in Bracciano, with home cooked Italian food as the biggest bonus. Not to forget the wine.

Villa Borghese & the Spanish steps

We left this yesterday to make it to the Vatican. So we headed out this morning, lazily, to Spagna. The spanish steps a lazy piazza where people just hang around….ummm…lazily. It has a lovely atmosphere and one can sit around just watching people go by. We had a gelato and a coffee and sat for a while.

From there we headed to Villa Borghese, strongly reccomended by our friend. And we were glad to get there.

It is one… Well actually the best parks/gardens I have ever visited. It looks right out of a dream sequence with lush lawns, tiny pathways, lovely trees of different shapes & colours and wide cobble paths which run across the park. Time seems to pass in slow motion when you are here.

We walked around, sat on benches, and sat to admire a vagabond singer, who was singing “wish you were here” so well that I walked up and told him, gave him an euro and struck a conversation. He also had a CD of some cover versions sung by him and he said I could pick it up for any price. I loved his attitude and bought the CD for 5 euros.

Finding a loo in such a big park is like finding a fat thick needle in a hay stack. Snehal’s timing was right when we were the farthest from the loo. But we made a dash for it, only to be welcomed by a queue. A few mis later relief was felt by wifey. Thank Heavens.

We spent the next hour wandering around the lush green lawns and caught some ten winks on a bench. The walk around these gardens was very much like the movies and to have such a big park right in the middle of the city shows how history has been beautifully preserved in this city, running with mordern times.

So that ends our romance with Rome as we head to Nice early tomorrow morning.

Ciao Ciao Roma

Bryan Adams Live in Rome

To be able to see Bryan Adams live is one thing but to see your loved one go crazy over her dream come true is a different high altogether.

Though I wanted it to be a surprise but my inability to comprehend Italian forced me to involve Snehals friend and ergo Snehal too.

And ironically the cheaper tickets get you right in the front since the expensive ones are seats around the stadium. Never knew people watched concerts seated. Hardly an experience of a concert.

It was a first indoor concert experience for me and a first ever concert experience for Snehal. The fact that we were quite close to the stage was all thanks to the limited people who opted for the cheapo tickets.

Adams played most of the popular numbers and came on stage in his trademark black T shirt & jeans. The stage was simple and the start of the concert was lukewarm. But he instantly connected with the crowd by speaking in Italian and boy did he turn on the steam.

he frenzy was at its peak when he pulled up a young girl from the crowds to sing “Baby when you’re gone”. The concert ended with 4 songs rendered in an “unplugged” fashion. Just Adams & his guitar. It was a 2 hour concert which left us wanting more.

The walk back to the metro station was cold and all the sweat from the concert madness evaporated mins after we hit the road.

Watching Bryan Adams in Rome will be an experience which will stay with us for a long time.