The train, the vaporetto and the gondola...

Breakfast at the hotel in Milan was very good.  We packed up and headed out to the Centrale station. Today was clear blue and bright sunshine.  The station is so huge and beautiful.   The station was active and crowded this AM, and there seemed to be pigeons everywhere, even inside.  The birds were entertaining as they would ride around on revolving advertising displays.

The train ride here was comfortable and beautiful.  The Italian Alps were to the north, often not that far off - frequently snow capped and always very stunning.  The countryside to the south was alternately green and flat or green and rolling, quite beautiful.

The train dropped us right out on Venice island.  Public transportation on Venice island consists of water taxis (which are essentially limos, quite expensive), and vaporettos (Italian for little steamer), which is a water bus.  It took us a bit to figure out the water bus system, but eventually we were on the right boat going the right direction to head to our hotel - near the church Santa Maria delle Salute - which is at the far end of the grand canal, about an hour ride and a grand tour in itself.  Blue sky and sun, it was all that could have been imagined or expected.  This place is surreal.

We checked in and set out through the alleyways to the east looking food.  We happened upon a "Corner Bar" and had some tortellini.  Then continued north across the Academia bridge and then west to St Mark's square and cathedral.

One of the things we have been doing to meet people is when we see them taking selfies we offer to take their picture.  They do the same for us and then we find out where they are from and how long they have been in Italy and Europe and how soon they are going home.  It seems to be a bonding experience with other Americans.

We came back a little ways where we had a pre-arranged gondola ride.  We didn't really know what to expect.  We went out with the fleet. Roughly 35 people in 7 or 8 boats.  We were together with a mother and daughter from Australia.  The fleet kind of gathered around a singer and an accordion player on one of the boats - half the time in the Grand canal and half the time in some of the side canals.  You know, this was totally a hoot.  The gondoliers would clown around with us, with each other - it was like being on a canoe trip.  What fun.

We found some gelato (croissants, gelato and wine are the common theme so far in touring Italy) on the walk back to the hotel.  We picked up some snacks for the room, came back and crashed.  It was a surreal and successful day.

A day in Milano...

First impressions of Milan, if Brooklyn is a rust belt city - then Milan is a rustier rust belt city. The central train station is like KC's union station blended with an active major airport. Huge video advertising, shopping, food, people, pigeons, trains and a metro subway system all come together in one spot. It's huge and impressive and fun.

The subway system, like DC's, is cheap, fast and efficient. You can really get around town. There is a stop next to our hotel and near the sights we planned to see. The only difference is, it's not air conditioned (it's not hot here - maybe 65 today - and it's underground. But all the windows are open so it is really loud.

We got to our hotel about 10 AM which was four hours before check in. The Romana Residence Milan, what a kind and generous place. I don't know if all Italians are this nice, but these people are. They let us in early. We showered and took a nap (jet lag was hitting hard). We felt so much better.

We had arranged a tour and so went out to find the meeting place - a kind of huge sculpture of a needle and thread at a place called Cadorno Piazza. We met our guide for a tour of The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci. This turned out to be a two and a half hour event - including the painting, the Santa Maria delle Grazie church next to it, and the Sforzesco castle. It turns out the Duke of Milan, some Sforzo guy, commissioned Da Vinci to paint the Last Supper. We got a lot of background on the Sforzo family - e.g. who poisoned who. I mean really, there were a lot of poisonings but also the occasional stabbing. Who would want to be an aristocrat 500 years ago?

When you see a photograph or web image of The Last Supper, it doesn't really prepare you for the real thing. The actual is on an end wall of a large, long, narrow room - the dining room of a monastery. The perspective portrayed in the painting is the same as the perspective seen from the center of the room. When you stand in the middle of the room, it is like you are at the Last Supper. The immediacy of your apparently shared presence based on the painting's perspective and emotion is unexpected. That's the genius.

There is a painting on the other end of the room by a lesser master - it does not invite you in. The contrast is obvious. Too bad for that guy.

Sforzesco castle is not a palace, it's a fort. It's huge and imposing. Like military parade ground huge. The Duke had some bucks. There is a ceiling that they are in the process of restoring by which was painted by Da Vinci as well. And an original Michelangelo Pieta (one of 4 unique Pietas that he sculpted).

Before continuing to the Duomo cathedral we stopped for some gelato. Milan seems to be really hooked on dessert. You can't walk 50 yards without running into another gelato place. We in the USA have no clue what the real stuff is. All I can say is, wow.

And so onto the Duomo. Again, nothing prepared me for the scope and grand scale of this place. The only thing I'd experienced that was similar was Tiananmen square. Quite amazing.

So the tour that got jacked up was in the states???

Regarding getting here - it happened mostly as planned.

In NYC, we had a transfer from Laguardia to JFK.  Since we had 4 hours, we decided to get a cab instead of a shuttle and go into Mahattan for a brief tour.  There was a uniformed cab official that asked the cab driver to give us a sightseeing tour and then take us to JFK.  We both heard him ask the guy.

I don't think our cab driver spoke much English, because he drove us straight to JFK in record time.  I was saying to Allie - I don't know much about this area but we are not going towards Manhattan.  She said it was fine, it was unplanned and we would laugh about it later.  The only redeeming quality was that we got there so fast it cost us less than a shuttle would have.

Why Italy and Greece?

This all began when Allie started talking about graduating and getting a job and taking a senior trip.  She invited me to go along.  I felt really honored.  I said, "Absolutely. You are doing this with your Mom as well, correct?"  She was. 

And so they did.  Allie and Carolyn hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and back out (that's the mandatory part), went to Vegas and rode horses in the Arizona Mojave Desert.  They had a wonderful mother daughter time together. 

As Allie and I considered where we wanted to go, I pulled out my bucket list:  London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Athens, Jerusalem, Honolulu, Rio and Machu Picchu.  She had some places of her own, and many of her favorites overlapped with mine.  We expanded our research.  We started to interview others about their personal favorites.  We surfed the net.  We looked at travel books.  Many, many fun places came to our attention.   

After extended deliberations we eventually decided on Italy and Greece.  I got the time off approved.  We found a cheap flight to Milan and booked it.  We were committed - without really knowing what we would do once we got there.

We have a better idea now.  I am so looking forward to our time together...  

What does it mean to be "ready"...

I think we prepare until the time to depart arrives - and then we go.  Are we ready?  Heck, I don't know.  We will find out when we get there. 

In China, the reason we were prepared was because we had hired a driver and a guide for every transfer.  Plane to hotel, hotel to meeting - they were all covered by somebody else telling us what to do. 

Not so this time.  We are on our own.  A little prep work seemed in order.  We've created 2 books, one for Italy and one for Greece.  These books include printed copies of everything we needed to travel for the next two weeks.

It seemed like we had everything...and yet - I was just wandering around some travel sites over the weekend and discovered some cities in Italy have ZTLs.  I don't know what ZTL stands for in Italian, but it means something like zero traffic without a permit.  So don't drive a rented car into a ZTL area.  We rebuilt the itinerary not to drive into Florence or Pisa or Rome.  We will park in the burbs & take public transport in. 

So, regarding "ready"?  That is, are there other unexpected surprises like the ZTL trap in store?  Who knows?  There is not much time left to find them on this side of going.  I guess we will deal with whatever we find in real time. 

Still looking forward.  A little anxious...

What to do, what to do...

When we went to China we were required by our adoption agency to use their travel agent. The way the trip was configured was pretty much in-the box. We did it their way.  That worked well.  It was an adoption, not a vacation.      

Typically when we travel on vacation in the states, Carolyn does all our booking on 
hotels.com and other sites. We do our own research and can customize a trip 
according to our family's style. The time spent in research helps us familiarize 
ourselves with destination.  Since we’re in the good ol’ USofA - we pretty much know what to expect.  This has worked well also.  We can customize the trip to our 
family’s style.      

Italy and Greece are a more western culture than China, so they might be predictable, 
yet they are certainly more foreign culture than say, D.C. (well, maybe).  The question 
remained:  Should we use a travel agent, or book ourselves?  Oh, what to do, 
what to do...   

In the end we chose a blended approach.  Some areas seemed predictable and allowed us to customize and save some money.  This took some time and research, but along the way we became familiar with the destination.  For other things, 
we didn’t have time to gather all the information necessary to make a good decision. 
Sometimes we didn’t even know where to start.  We did some looking around, 
but we needed help.  

Since we are members of AAA, we went to the AAA office in Lee’s Summit. Their 

Europe expert is Pat Hensiek.  This fine lady is apparently everything you would expect in a professional travel consultant.  She’s kind, helpful, friendly, knowledgeable, 

supportive, sensitive, communicative, interested, interesting and flexible.  Where we 
needed help she brought excellent recommendations.  Where we wanted to do things ourselves she stepped back and let us do it.  When we needed to save time she did things quickly.  When it looked like we might bury ourselves, she gently suggested options, 

but also stood back if we persisted. We felt well treated throughout the entire process. 

I can’t wait to see how the adventure turns out.  

Thankful, celebrating

So many things over so many years came together to make a celebration such as this possible.  Allie has graduated from college, has an excellent job, no debt and some savings.  Wow, congrats to her.  I am so thankful for God's varied and enduring blessings of  our wonderful and stable marriage, beautiful family, continued employment, safety and health, all of which contribute to this outcome.  For years and years, Jesus has blessed countless people around us, as well as us, and uncounted good choices in the midst of His blessing have brought us and Allie to this milestone. 

One of the people who has made numerous excellent choices over the years has been Allie herself.  Throughout her academic career she has been faithful to work and study hard.  This is a celebration of her hard work and great choices. 

Another person whose hard work and great decisions we celebrate is my wife Carolyn, who home-schooled Allie and our other daughters (as well as contributed to the educations of many others).  Since we have home-schooled all the way through high school, and even assisted some in their college studies, the academic achievement of our children has become very personal for us.  Allie's / Carolyn's mother-daughter kerfuffle to the Grand Canyon / Vegas / Mojave Desert was in celebration of their shared success.  While this blog is a daddy / daughter revelry, our frolic is also a recognition of Carolyn's hard work.   

Thanks goes to our extended family and many friends who have supported, directed, encouraged, coached and trained our daughters over the years.  Love to you all. 

Our daddy / daughter adventure begins on June 28, 2014.