the Grand Tour blog

iPhone, blogging and Orange

Thought it might be worth blogging about blogging on the move. I had far less Internet connectivity on tour than I expected, and certainly all the recent posts have been direct from the iPhone over the mobile network. There's always the concern about the cost of data roaming – and we've all heard horror stories of people coming home to huge bills – but the iPhone Typepad app that I've been using seems very efficient and a blogpost (like email) is only a few KB of data. The iPhone records the amount of data sent and received, and I've been keeping an eye on the total. Provided I don't open Safari there isn't a problem, and I keep data roaming switched off except when I need it. 

I've been working hard at using the larger horizontal keyboard of the iPhone, which is much faster than the small hunt-and-peck vertical keyboard, but prone to a lot of errors; thumbs are big clumsy things! But I'm getting better. 

The main problem with the otherwise very effective Typepad app is that there is a bug which prevents the text scrolling properly, so on any post longer than ten iPhone lines the last line gets lost off the bottom of the screen. My solution was to draft longer posts in the excellent Notebooks app and then copy and paste it all into Typepad. The other issue is that it posts as plain text with no obvious way to break paragraphs, hence some rather long paragraphs from me until I could get to them for a bit of editing. I think the solution, which I'm trying with this post, is to include the appropriate HTML tag. [UPDATE: No, this is not the solution!]

Finally, for the three weeks I was in Italy I found myself connected to a number of different phone networks. Almost all the time the iPhone showed full signal strength, whether I was in the city or out in the country on a regional train, and never once did I see it indicate 'No Service'. In common with many people on Eurostar, I imagine, the first thing I wanted to do on emerging from the Channel Tunnel and getting back on my home network was to phone or text family and friends. Not possible, unfortunately, as there was zero or intermittent signal almost all the way into London. Pathetic!  Wake up, Orange, install some infrastructure!

Back in Blighty

Exactly 24 hours and 50 minutes after leaving Verona's Porta Nuova station – 21 hours 55 minutes after leaving Italy at the Brenner pass – I am back on English soil, speeding through Kent on Eurostar.

The language problem

By no stretch of the imagination am I a linguist. But something Italian must have sunk in over the last three weeks because I found myself saying 'per favore' and 'grazie' to people in Munich Hauptbahnhof. And here I am now in Brussels, buying something that approximates to lunch...

Thank you, Deutsche Bahn

At the end of Grand Tour 1, thanks to my Deutsche Bahn train arriving one hour late, I missed my Eurostar connection and was bumped onto the next one, with a three hour wait at Brussels Midi. 

Today, thanks to my Deutsche Bahn train arriving one hour late, I missed my Eurostar connection and have been bumped onto the next one, with a three hour wait at Brussels Midi. The trains are great, but they sure don't run on time.

A cold wind in Cologne

After the heat and humidity of the last three weeks there's a distinct and rather welcome chill in the air as I cross the river on the footpath beside the railway bridge, for one of the traditional views of the cathedral (the Dom). Suddenly there's oxygen in the air.

 

Losing sleep on the sleeper

Sleeping on a sleeper is always difficult. I left Munich soon after 22:43 last night, in a compartment for six with three nice Dutch people going on to different stops towards the train's final destination in Amsterdam. 

In fact we had all booked a compartment for four, but were told that it was against the rules for the conductor to modify the setup before the following morning, so as not to disturb the people in the next compartment (yes, really). It was 23:30 by the time we'd done the thing with the tickets and arranged for coffee in the morning, and I was due to leave the train at 05:42 in Cologne. 

After a fitfull night's sleep in the heat and lack of space, I was woken by the alarm on the iPhone and surprised not to get a call from the conductor. It turned out we were running an hour late because of having to take a different route due to a problem with another train. So a chance to stand at the window and enjoy the early morning view of the Rhine on the run up to Bonn (memories of Grand Tour 1), and to get my contact lenses in before arriving in Cologne.

One gentleman in Verona

Awake absurdly early as one tends to be on a big travel day – in 25 hours I should be home, via six trains and a bus. Had breakfast and checked out of the Vicenza hotel by 08:25, walked to the station, bought my ticket to Verona and was in time for the 08:57. Arrived in Verona at 09:45 and checked in the case to the Deposito Bagaglio. 

I'd been concerned for a while that although I had a ticket for the train this afternoon from Verona to Munich – part of a good deal combining this train with the onward sleeper from Munich to Cologne – I didn't have a reserved seat; it's not compulsory but I had visions of standing for the five hour journey. The Internet booking hadn't allowed me to reserve a seat, and when I called Deutsche Bahn they told me to book it in Italy. So I tried to reserve in Venice and again here today, but they just look down their noses and say the train is nothing to do with them. 

The man in Verona suggested there was a DB office "up on platform 1", but that's not true. Someone else helpfully told me they have an office in the road on the way into the centre, but that's not true either. So I wasted a lot of time and just have to hope the train is not crowded. 

 

On then to the Arena, the third largest of all Roman amphitheatres. Paid my €4.50 and climbed up to the top with a wide angle lens. The Arena is still in regular use (Rod Stewart due soon) and today they were busy building the set for the forthcoming opera season which starts on Friday: Turandot, Aida, Madama Butterfly, Carmen and Il Trovatore, directed by Zeffirelli. The upper seats are the original Roman stone ones, lower down and in the stalls there are modern but not very comfortable seats. 

From the Arena I walked along Via Mazzini, a posh pedestrian-only shopping street, to Piazza delle Erbe, full of quite civilised stalls selling fruit and souvenirs (on different stalls!). Through to Piazza dei Signori for a look at the outside of the Palazzo degli Scalieri and the splendid early-Renaissance Loggia del Consiglio. A coffee and panini for lunch, then a slow stroll back to the station. 

When I did get to the train I found it almost empty, and I had a choice of almost any seat I wanted. It departed on time without any announcement that I could hear; it’s as if DB are sneaking their trains into Italy and don’t want anyone to know. I'm now travelling through some outstanding Alpine scenery on the way to the Brenner Pass, the high border between Italy and Austria.

Vicenza: a walk in the country

To Tourist Information first thing to pick up a city map and to ask about the route to the Basilica di Monte Bérico, a church near the top of a hill south-east of the city. A ten minute walk along the road, then about 200 very steep steps, a gentler hill, and finally a series of porticos like those of Bologna, leading up to the church. It's Sunday, and the Rough Guide correctly warns of "pilgrims by the busload". Many people were leaving the church so I thought I would soon be able to go in to see two works by Montagna and Veronese, but it was still full and there seemed to be a continuous mass in progress. 

So I carried on to the top of the hill and to the Museo di Risorgimento e della Resistenza, a display of Vicenza's resistance to Austria in the mid-19th century and of the anti-facist fighters in WWII. There were displays of maps, documents, uniforms and weapons (including a useful bicycle with a very long sword-carrier running from the handlebars down the side of the front fork). The museum is set in a very nice wooded area, with specimen trees, and I spent some time sitting on a bench and just relaxing in the sun. Generally the weather was cloudy and heavy, though, and later there was rain and a thunderstorm. I had a view though the trees back to Monte Bérico:

Then took a path which the map on display said led to Palladio's La Rotonda, or Villa Capra. The earthy path and steps became steeper and steeper, and descended a very long way. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to end up in the wrong valley when I emerged from the woods into a field of vines, near a small road which seemed to match my tourist map. Another 15 minute walk and I found La Rotonda ten minutes before the grounds closed (the villa itself is only open on Wednesdays). Although relatively small it's often considered Palladio's most perfect building. A chance for a few quick photos before joining the main road for a 20 minute slog back into town.

Vicenza: Teatro Olimpico

The big name in Vicenza, of course, is that of the great 16th century architect Palladio. Arriving a couple of hours earlier than planned I had extra time to find my way around. First stop was the Basilica, in the central Piazza dei Signori, Palladio's first public project and the one that made his name; just 50 or so yards from my hotel. Some building work going on but a chance to take some photos across the deserted piazza in the afternoon sun. Opposite is the Loggia del Capitano, much smaller and one of his later projects, never quite finished. 

Then to the Teatro Olimpico, a big personal project at the end of Palladio's life and the first permanent indoor theatre. It brings together his experience of designing temporary theatres and his study of traditional Roman architecture. An amazing proscenium – with statues and bas-relief scenes of the exploits of Hercules – is fronted with a semi-eliptical auditorium, also with surrounding statues of the theatre's sponsors. 

One of the features of the Teatro is the permanent stage set with strongly exagerated perspective, designed by Scamozzi, who also finished the construction of the theatre after Palladio's death. The set is only 12m deep, yet appears to disappear to infinity. I hired the audio guide, and took some photos.

Padua to Vicenza

After the visit to the Capella degli Scrovegni I decided to miss the not-very-exciting Duomo across the city, so headed direct to the station. Bought a ticket to Vicenza from the machine for just €2.35, reclaimed my case from Left Luggage, and just made it onto the 13:29; a double-decker regional train with air conditioning, thank goodness. Thus arrived in Vicenza two hours earlier than planned.