After a lazy Saturday morning, I left my house for Stansted Airport in the afternoon. The trip went smoothly, and with my new student rail card, I saved £6 on the train ticket. At Stansted, I had to do a bit of rearranging to balance out the weights of my checked bag and my carry-on so I didn’t have to pay any fees. Ryanair has strict weight restrictions, and I had a bag packed for my cousin full of household items from her parents. But this went smoothly too, and soon I was in the terminal. I paid £4 extra for priority boarding, which was nice since it allowed me to claim a window in the emergency exit row. Definitely worth it.
We took off at 7:05 PM. In London, I was missing out watching fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day. But as the plane rose and curved toward the continent, I looked down onto an English countryside full of blinking lights. Although they all looked small, there were hundreds of fireworks exploding all over. It was similar to the phenomenon of flashing cameras in a huge stadium – so I felt like I was celebrating too.
Ryanair is pretty annoying – the advertisements were non-stop – but I was able to block most out by listening to music. Treviso airport is very small – we landed, walked down the staircase, went through customs, got my bag right away, and then found my cousin Anna and her friend Gabriella who were there to pick me up!
Exactly 55 minutes after touching down in Treviso, I was sitting in a restaurant sipping prosecco with Anna and Gabriella. Gabriella is an English teacher who works with Anna, and she did the ordering for us. We ended up with a lot of food, especially considering it was already past 11 PM. We started with baccala mantecato con polenta, which was very nice: a mixture of salt cod and milk beaten into a spread. Served with grilled polenta. Then Anna and I shared spaghetti al nero di seppia (squid ink spaghetti) which was really amazing, and baccala alla vicentina, also great, and nice to try the salt cod prepared a different way. We stayed at the restaurant talking for quite a while, and despite the fact that Anna and I were both really full, Gabriella ordered fragolino e dolcini – sweet strawberry wine with a variety of small biscuits. We dipped the biscuits in the sweet wine, and it was delicious. Anna and I didn’t get home until nearly 2 AM, full and tired.
Our alarm was set for 10:00, but somehow we both slept through it, and woke up at 11:00. We ate some breakfast, and then caught a 12:20 train for Venice. Unfortunately, it was quite rainy all day, but Venice was still nice.
The scene as you exit the train station in Venice is quite remarkable, since you are right in front of the Grand Canal. We walked east from the station, toward Plaza San Marco. We tried to find a coffee shop that my friend Marco in London had recommended, but we couldn’t find it, so we chose another one instead. We had cappuccinos and shared a small chocolate cream puff (really good!) Next we kept walking, stopping for a while on the bridge near the Rialto. By the time we got to Plaza San Marco, it had been raining for a while, and the entire square was covered in about 1 foot of water – Acqua Alta! We walked along raised boards, took some pictures, and headed south and west towards Dorsoduro. On the way I bought a slice of artichoke pizza at Pizzeria Sansovino (located at San Marco 2628). Not perfect, but still the best pizza I’d had in months. We went to a little museum with old violins and oboes, then continued in the rain toward gelato!
Next we went to Grom for gelato, which was recommended to me by friends and people on chowhound. There is a branch in Treviso too, which I intend to try. We tasted the lemon (they use Sicilian lemons), a dark chocolate/almond combination, and persimmon gelato. I bought a cup with the later two, and both were really fantastic. The menu of flavors changes every month, and the flavors are seasonal. I’m quite glad it’s persimmon season.
After this, we stopped into a wine shop where I bought a bottle of wine that my friend Filippo recommended, and we also had a sample of a white fragolino. I took several pictures on our walk, using the umbrella to protect my camera from the rain. By the time 3:30 rolled around, Anna and I were soaked and getting quite cold, so we headed back to the train station, and caught a 4 PM train back to Treviso.
Back in Treviso, we made a quick stop at the supermarket, where we bought some thinly sliced ham, a bit of cheese, tea, and crackers. So we have just finished a nice tea-time here at Anna’s house, and tonight we’re heading out to dinner again with some other English teacher friends. So I’m excited for more culinary delights this evening! Foodwise, Italy is pretty awesome.
That’s about all for now. I took lots of photos, but have no way to load them here. But I can add some once I'm back in London. More soon!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
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