Valle D'Aosta Under Snow

Valle D'Aosta seems to be another world especially if you visit it in winter. The winter in all other towns, around the valley, seems to be a spring, but you enter in this particular valley then and... you are in the kingdom of Santa Claus.

So, here, in the first photo, we are in an interesting place: you can see the narrow passage leading you to Valle D'Aosta. And you can see a normal Italian winter here. But when you continue for 20-30 km-s, you can see a completely different situation. Give a look at the photos of our journey in the valley.

No, such a snowy weather we found when we reached the destination could not offer "normal" kinds of recreation of this period. It was so dangerous that the roads were closed the day after we left it. But we were really fascinated to see this incredible world of snow and to enjoy every minute of the time we passed there.

  

Many photos I took from the car, so they are not very clear, but I think, the sensations of the "parallel" life are expressed better with these not very professional photos.

A part of the way was a very narrow one-way road between the trees and I expected that a Bad Wolf will go out from the next curve, but it seems we were the only living beings in that place at that moment...  

The temperature changed from minus to plus next day and the magic transformed the snow in the rain. Imagine our shoes that were not ready for these changes. Mountains of the snow around us and rivers of water that fall on you and flow under the feet... and grey grey grey colors of everything.

Next morning donated us splendid views ...and icy roads. It was incredible, but it was difficult to even make some steps from the house. The ice did not allow us to walk. 

But in any case, it was an unforgettable adventure.

You can see how is the winter on the Amalfitan coast, too

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Turin - Real Venaria

Turin is the right place for you if you like to visit real residences. One of them is situated not too far from the center of Turin and there are different ways to arrive there. We came with the car and easily found a place for it. I have to say you that the parking area I've seen was not too big, but I don't know if there were other areas there. It was a cold working day and we did not see too much visitors even if there were some interesting expositions in the palace (I'll tell you about it in the next post).

You can see on the map how big it the territory of this residence and it's really difficult to visit all it if you do not dedicate all the day for it. But we had only two or three hours this time and could visit only the central palace where were all the expositions. So, all photos you can see in this post are from our walk around the central palace of Venaria.

The square of the arms was not all its life so large and spacious. It was divided into two parts before. The tickets you can purchase on the right of it if you look at my photo. If you have one of the prepaid cards, you have to take a ticket the same. So, don't think you can go to the palace with your prepaid card. Go and take the ticket!

If you want to begin your visit from the palace, you have to enter the door on your left (photo). If not, you can go right around the building and enjoy the view of the gardens.

We wanted to give a look at the gardens and, unfortunately, we did not understand that it was not possible to enter the palace from the other side. But... we were fortunate enough: or because the staff did not understand our intentions or because we had a decisive appearance, I don't know. In any case, we did not go back to enter the "normal" entrance door and could visit all the exhibitions of the moment in that limited time we had. 

We began with that enormous terrace where you can see all the mountains. Under it, there was a place where the royal boot (gondola) was situated. And they had fish there. 

There are many modern sculptures around the palace. They are not only in the square and near the building, you can see them in the gardens, too. Some of them are artificial trees, but the metal tree is not too different from the normal tree in winter. 

The gardens were interesting anyway. They were not green, there were even reconstruction works at that moment, but if you will come in late spring or in summer, the meadows will be covered with all kinds of flowers, I think.

I'll tell you more about the insides of the palace in my next posts. 

Now, I want only to tell you about the little "fast food" shops just outside of the Venaria. It was simply great. Honestly, I thought we will eat usual crap there. We had not the time to choose a good place and to wait for service at that moment. But we were fortunate once more: they served us quickly and the food was really good and tasty.

You can read about another touristic attraction in this blog: Ancient Egypt in Turin, too

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A Solitary Woman in the Night in Venice

Venice is one of the places you can perfectly enjoy if you have only one day to visit it. The truth is that we often do not have more than one day and, very often, will not have another possibility to come here or there. So we try to take maximum advantage from that short period destiny gifts us.

I live in Italy, but I hardly can leave home for more than 1-2 days because of animals (I have a Maine Coon Cattery and other sentient beings) so you can imagine what have I do to visit the places of my interest. But I do not renounce on travel. I organize my time so that I visit Venice and other tourist attractions of Italy in One Day Tours of my invention.

The trick is to come early in the morning, visit the best of Venice, Italy, all day long and turn back home with the last train I can take to arrive the next morning.

Normally, I sleep all night in train and am perfectly fresh and relaxed for my next working days.

The railway station of Venice (Venezia S. Lucia) is situated on the left side of Grand Canal and you can reach S. Marco Square in an hour (or some more) if you go left when you are out of the station, or you can take a bus to Mestre or to the Airport Marco Polo if you go right from it. Otherwise, you can buy a ticket for a ferry in front of the railway station and enjoy Venice from a ferry (as for me, that is the best solution).

My visit to Venice was some "strange" this time: I had to take a return train at 5:40 in the morning and had to pass all the night walking the streets and sitting in front of one restaurant where I found a wooden bank. I do not like stone banks: the stone absorbs the warmth of your body and you can fall ill easily but it's really hard to find wooden banks, in Italy.

My decision to stay at the railway station was not very happy. First, all the WCs were closed there. Second, all the doors or the station were open and there was a terrible weird draft in the waiting room. Third, they close the station from 24:30 to 5:00. The poor persons which waited for 5-hour trains had to sit on the stairs of the station all the night. I decided instead to enjoy the night views.

What can I say about the security in Venice in the night? There were many young persons in the streets all night (it was a holiday night). Nobody was drunken. They went home after the night passed somewhere in the city. "Go go, we have to wake up early tomorrow" (well, it was just "tomorrow" at 2-3-4 AM ...) There were even late tourists with their suitcases. I do not know how could they arrive in the city at that time. In a taxi?

Ferries passed all the night near me. I could not believe my eyes, I did not expect to see it, but they were even frequent enough. Two at an hour, I think.

Initially, I wanted to stay in S.Marco Square all the night because I wanted to do a lot of photos. I googled about the security in the night in Venice but did not find too much about it. There were two photographers who had this experience, but they were men and it's not the same to be a solitary woman in the night in the streets of a city, even if it's such a place like Venice where the criminal situation is calm.

So, I asked "carabinieri" (military police in Italy) what they think about my intention. They were not optimistic. It's a holiday evening, signora, it's better if you go back and pass the night in the railway station, they said. Obviously, they did not imagine the railway station could be closed all night in Venice.

Well, I thought, I need about 1,5 hour to turn back from S.Marco square, so I left it at 23:00.

I can say you, the worse part of my trip was this way back in the night. The medieval streets were not very friendly. Little groups of young men here and there were not very encouraging. Last bars were closed at the 24:30

I passed two little squares where I saw crowds of drank young persons dancing and beating one other. It was a holiday evening, you know, and I'm not an evening walker generally... I do not know what to do in such cases. Well, I slap in the crowd to take some shorts, yes. But I thought it's better if I leave. Fortunately, I do not have any problem.

So I continued my walk.

Arrived at the railway station and discovered the sad reality, I decided to walk in the nearby streets. I would like to take a ferry and to see Venice from it (I like it), but I did not know if I'll turn back in time to take my train, so I preferred to stay there. I did not know if the ferries will continue their work all night.

As said, the ferries were on the work all the night. It was possible to buy a ticket and enjoy the trip...

From time to time I could see the police-boats on their patrols, too.

The new day began at 4:00AM on the Grand Canal. Many boats began to transport goods to the warehouses and shops, to the hotels and restaurants.

I was sitting on the bank near the Canal, surprised and fascinated by the hidden life of this city that continues its battle for survival day and night for centuries, today like 1000 years ago.

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The Church of S.Paul in Biella, Piedmont, Italy

The S.Paolo church is situated not too far from the railway station of Biella, Piedmont, Italy. If you have about an hour before you take the train, you can visit it since it's the nearest tourist attractions there.

From the first view, you can think that it's an antique building with marvelous gothic architecture, but the church was built only in 1915. Probably, because I did not notice it from the first sight, I could not believe when one elderly lady told me some words about the construction of it.

The lady said me, her uncle participated in the fund-raising. Only after this, I turned back and looked with more attention on the walls of the church. It was effectively a new building.

Interesting is that the architects were so brave to copy the style of the antique gothic churches, you can really study all the elements of them there. And, as for me, it's a very nice idea. It's much better than the modern buildings of the churches you can see in Campania, near Pompei, for example.

I do not know if you can find something really antique inside. I was fascinated observing the cure for every detail of the internal decoration of this church and hope my photos can show my delight.

As you can read on the site of this church, there are not only messes here. They organize even campsites for educational and recreational purposes. I write it for those who are interested in pilgrimages and other Christian activities.

When you stay for the church, notice the photos on the walls around it.

So, as I said before, you do not need much time for this visit, it's an interesting discovery in Biella to enjoy if you have time for it.


Booking.com

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