Ciao di Italia!
What a trip! It was great to spend a week with no work hanging over our heads. Janet had wound everything down and I had a brief lull in some projects. Of course, I was in Puerto Rico the day before our trip to Italy and then 12 hours after I got home we took off for Toronto.
The flight over there went smoothly. We flew out of the new concourse in Toronto. It was really nice. Lots of metal and glass. Big spaces. It's well done. And, things cost less there due to the weakness of the Canadian dollar. We slept a few hours here and there. The only slowdown we had was landing in Florence. There was heavy fog. But, no problems really. And that was after flying Denver->Toronto->Frankurt->Florence.
Sunday
We took a short cab ride to our hotel. We had found the Hotel Carvaggio on the internet and reserved it. It was reasonably priced and was in a great area. The rooms were good sized and we had our own bathroom. And, they had wireless internet and a continental breakfast. So, what more could we ask for? Sunday afternoon we took a nap for a few hours. Then we walked over to a cafe restaurant and had some awesome pizza, salad and pesto. The pizza was so good. We finished everything off with some gelato. Everything was light and fresh tasting. After that it was back to bed. We slept about 13 hours.
Monday
We walked around town most of this day. It was fantastic to be ambling about admiring the buildings, the streets, the art on everycorner and doing a great deal of people watching. Florence is a really touristy town. People were there from everywhere. English was readily spoken in most of the restaurants. The afternoon was nice. Mainly because we took another nap. Walking over by the Piazza della Signoria, we found a wonderful restaurant. It was so good. The pasta was home made, the salads were fresh and the wine was delicious. As we were heading back to the hotel, we came upon a protest at the city government offices. It was great. There was a throng of people jammed up against the building. They had signs. And seemed pretty aggravated. What was cool about it was that the protesters were not the usual ragtag group of anarchists and hippies that you see at WTO protests. They looked like AARP members. However, they meant business. Enough so that there was a row of carabinieri there at the doors to prevent the group from pressing up into the building. I wish I knew what the protest signs had written on them!
Tuesday
We toured the Palacio Pitti. It was the residence for the Medici family. Some call it the grandest residence in Europe other than Versailles. Art covered the walls. It was like a tour through the Rennaissance from all of the artwork that they had commissioned. On the way back from all of that, Janet rolled her ankle. That was not good. But, I got her off her feet, iced up, and then I went to the pharmacy. Fortunately, the pharmacist spoke English very well. And, he was really helpful. That night I went in search of the Best Gelato in the World (according to Frommers). It was darned good.
Wednesday
We went to the Academia to see Michelangelo's David. Wow. It was impressive. I did not know that he based his dimensions on 2X the dimensions of a normal man. So, it was big, but not overtly. It was amazing. Another thing that was cool was that they showed some works in progress that he had. It was almost as if they were forms that had been sunk into marble and were being excavated as opposed to being hewn from the rock. We also went into the Basilica that has the large Duomo. It was remarkably empty. No pews or anything. It was very different than the churches/cathedrals we had seen back in 2003. Those seemed to be all crammed to the brim with things. Areas for the choir, sarcophagi, etc. This one was empty! The inside of the duomo is just as impressive as the outside. It is covered in frescoes depicting all kinds of scenes. And, I think that they had been restored recently. The colors were so vivid! For dinner that night we went to a restaurant recommended in our Frommer's book. Da Delfina. It was fantastic. It was Tuscan cuisine. Meaning that it was not pasta based. Tuscanny is more known for its meats. We had great food. Porcini mushroom soup, chicken breast wrapped in Pancetta, pasta, and for dessert ricotta cheese smothered in chocolate. It was great. Getting there however was a huge hassle. We got the train from Florence to Signa. That went really well. When we got off the train in Signa we went right to the tourist hut by the train station. She gave us the number for the taxi company plus a number for a private cab. We called many times. Each time we would talk with someone who did not speak English. And, my italian was not so good. On each call we would get a message, in English, saying that no taxis were available. We did this for 2 hours. We went back to the tourism hut for help. But, the lady there could/would not offer us any. Finally we gave up. We were waiting for the next train back. The tourism lady came by as she was going home and recommended that we call the private number. That did the trick. We got the cab and got back on track. So, if you are ever going there. Get the mobile phone number for the private cab!
Thusday
We rented a car. We'd heard horror stories about how crazy italian drivers are. However, I have driven in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. How bad could it be? Could they disobey laws worse than people in Puerto Rico? I don't think that is possible.
We headed south through the Tuscan countryside to San Gimignano. It was beautiful. The roads were curvy and fun. We made it to San Gimignano for lunch. It was a good one. Janet had eggplant parmesan and I had a prosciutto, cheese, and tomato sandwich. And wine, of course! We got a lot of gifts in this town. It was hilly and fun to walk around in. The towers that they have in the town were used for protection. We walked about for a while and then headed back to Town. It was a nice ride. And, we were headed the opposite direction as traffic. So, that was good. For dinner we walked around town until we stumbled upon a great place. Again, delicious because it was so fresh! Friday
We decided to go out of Tuscanny to the coast and check out Cinque Terra. I had heard of it when my cousins Shawn & Jessie were there back in 1998. Recently, other friends were there. Everyone had raved about it.
Getting out of town was a hassle due to traffic. But, we actually made it with no problems. Total time to the area was about 2.5 hours. It helps that there are no speed limits on the AutoStrade. Or, if there are, noone cares to observe them. :-) One of the things that really surprised us was the pollution on the way out to the coast. We went through some industrial areas. And, they belched brown smoke. It was weird! On one hand you had the amazing Tuscan countryside. And then you'd drive through a cloud so thick it was almost as if there was fog on the road! The road that connects Cinque Terra is scary. It is narrow and curvy. However, the area gets so much tourism that it is at least well maintained. I think that when we go back there it would be better to park the car in La Spezia and take the train. The train cuts right through mountains. No up and over and around. We decided on Vernazza. It was described as the most picturesque of the places. It was a tourist trap. But, it was a gorgeous one. We had lunch at a beautiful place up a big flight of stairs. Our table overlooked the sea. The food was amazing, of course. We then hung out a bit (with Gelato, of course!) more before leaving. While there I stuck my feet in the sea so that I could say that in the past six weeks I had been surfing in the Pacific when I was in San Diego, body surfing in the Caribbean when I was in Puerto Rico. And now the Mediterranean. Kind of like when I skiied 3 continents (Front Range, Chamonix, Argentina) back in 2001. Good times.
We thought that we should get back before it got dark. We did not want to try navigating the streets of Florence without being able to see the Hertz map or the street names! It was relatively uneventful. I made a wrong turn just as we got into Florence. However, we were able to stick close to the Arno river and Janet mgot us back. I only had to drive the wrong way down a one way street once. And that was in an area where we knew where we were!
We packed up, had dinner and went to bed. We were going to have about 22 hours of travelling ahead of us.
Saturday
Fortunately, because I fly so much I have status such that I can use the different airline clubs when flying internationally. The Lufthansa club in the Munich airport was really nice. And, they had huge bavarian pretzels! For the taking! They were sooooooo good! And, the Air Canada club had free wifi and beer. So, that was palatable.
Our friend Dave picked us up from the airport. He was a godsend that week as he took care of Cloud for us and gave us a ride.
The flight over there went smoothly. We flew out of the new concourse in Toronto. It was really nice. Lots of metal and glass. Big spaces. It's well done. And, things cost less there due to the weakness of the Canadian dollar. We slept a few hours here and there. The only slowdown we had was landing in Florence. There was heavy fog. But, no problems really. And that was after flying Denver->Toronto->Frankurt->Florence.
Sunday
We took a short cab ride to our hotel. We had found the Hotel Carvaggio on the internet and reserved it. It was reasonably priced and was in a great area. The rooms were good sized and we had our own bathroom. And, they had wireless internet and a continental breakfast. So, what more could we ask for? Sunday afternoon we took a nap for a few hours. Then we walked over to a cafe restaurant and had some awesome pizza, salad and pesto. The pizza was so good. We finished everything off with some gelato. Everything was light and fresh tasting. After that it was back to bed. We slept about 13 hours.
Monday
We walked around town most of this day. It was fantastic to be ambling about admiring the buildings, the streets, the art on everycorner and doing a great deal of people watching. Florence is a really touristy town. People were there from everywhere. English was readily spoken in most of the restaurants. The afternoon was nice. Mainly because we took another nap. Walking over by the Piazza della Signoria, we found a wonderful restaurant. It was so good. The pasta was home made, the salads were fresh and the wine was delicious. As we were heading back to the hotel, we came upon a protest at the city government offices. It was great. There was a throng of people jammed up against the building. They had signs. And seemed pretty aggravated. What was cool about it was that the protesters were not the usual ragtag group of anarchists and hippies that you see at WTO protests. They looked like AARP members. However, they meant business. Enough so that there was a row of carabinieri there at the doors to prevent the group from pressing up into the building. I wish I knew what the protest signs had written on them!
Tuesday
We toured the Palacio Pitti. It was the residence for the Medici family. Some call it the grandest residence in Europe other than Versailles. Art covered the walls. It was like a tour through the Rennaissance from all of the artwork that they had commissioned. On the way back from all of that, Janet rolled her ankle. That was not good. But, I got her off her feet, iced up, and then I went to the pharmacy. Fortunately, the pharmacist spoke English very well. And, he was really helpful. That night I went in search of the Best Gelato in the World (according to Frommers). It was darned good.
Wednesday
We went to the Academia to see Michelangelo's David. Wow. It was impressive. I did not know that he based his dimensions on 2X the dimensions of a normal man. So, it was big, but not overtly. It was amazing. Another thing that was cool was that they showed some works in progress that he had. It was almost as if they were forms that had been sunk into marble and were being excavated as opposed to being hewn from the rock. We also went into the Basilica that has the large Duomo. It was remarkably empty. No pews or anything. It was very different than the churches/cathedrals we had seen back in 2003. Those seemed to be all crammed to the brim with things. Areas for the choir, sarcophagi, etc. This one was empty! The inside of the duomo is just as impressive as the outside. It is covered in frescoes depicting all kinds of scenes. And, I think that they had been restored recently. The colors were so vivid! For dinner that night we went to a restaurant recommended in our Frommer's book. Da Delfina. It was fantastic. It was Tuscan cuisine. Meaning that it was not pasta based. Tuscanny is more known for its meats. We had great food. Porcini mushroom soup, chicken breast wrapped in Pancetta, pasta, and for dessert ricotta cheese smothered in chocolate. It was great. Getting there however was a huge hassle. We got the train from Florence to Signa. That went really well. When we got off the train in Signa we went right to the tourist hut by the train station. She gave us the number for the taxi company plus a number for a private cab. We called many times. Each time we would talk with someone who did not speak English. And, my italian was not so good. On each call we would get a message, in English, saying that no taxis were available. We did this for 2 hours. We went back to the tourism hut for help. But, the lady there could/would not offer us any. Finally we gave up. We were waiting for the next train back. The tourism lady came by as she was going home and recommended that we call the private number. That did the trick. We got the cab and got back on track. So, if you are ever going there. Get the mobile phone number for the private cab!
Thusday
We rented a car. We'd heard horror stories about how crazy italian drivers are. However, I have driven in Ecuador, Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. How bad could it be? Could they disobey laws worse than people in Puerto Rico? I don't think that is possible.
We headed south through the Tuscan countryside to San Gimignano. It was beautiful. The roads were curvy and fun. We made it to San Gimignano for lunch. It was a good one. Janet had eggplant parmesan and I had a prosciutto, cheese, and tomato sandwich. And wine, of course! We got a lot of gifts in this town. It was hilly and fun to walk around in. The towers that they have in the town were used for protection. We walked about for a while and then headed back to Town. It was a nice ride. And, we were headed the opposite direction as traffic. So, that was good. For dinner we walked around town until we stumbled upon a great place. Again, delicious because it was so fresh! Friday
We decided to go out of Tuscanny to the coast and check out Cinque Terra. I had heard of it when my cousins Shawn & Jessie were there back in 1998. Recently, other friends were there. Everyone had raved about it.
Getting out of town was a hassle due to traffic. But, we actually made it with no problems. Total time to the area was about 2.5 hours. It helps that there are no speed limits on the AutoStrade. Or, if there are, noone cares to observe them. :-) One of the things that really surprised us was the pollution on the way out to the coast. We went through some industrial areas. And, they belched brown smoke. It was weird! On one hand you had the amazing Tuscan countryside. And then you'd drive through a cloud so thick it was almost as if there was fog on the road! The road that connects Cinque Terra is scary. It is narrow and curvy. However, the area gets so much tourism that it is at least well maintained. I think that when we go back there it would be better to park the car in La Spezia and take the train. The train cuts right through mountains. No up and over and around. We decided on Vernazza. It was described as the most picturesque of the places. It was a tourist trap. But, it was a gorgeous one. We had lunch at a beautiful place up a big flight of stairs. Our table overlooked the sea. The food was amazing, of course. We then hung out a bit (with Gelato, of course!) more before leaving. While there I stuck my feet in the sea so that I could say that in the past six weeks I had been surfing in the Pacific when I was in San Diego, body surfing in the Caribbean when I was in Puerto Rico. And now the Mediterranean. Kind of like when I skiied 3 continents (Front Range, Chamonix, Argentina) back in 2001. Good times.
We thought that we should get back before it got dark. We did not want to try navigating the streets of Florence without being able to see the Hertz map or the street names! It was relatively uneventful. I made a wrong turn just as we got into Florence. However, we were able to stick close to the Arno river and Janet mgot us back. I only had to drive the wrong way down a one way street once. And that was in an area where we knew where we were!
We packed up, had dinner and went to bed. We were going to have about 22 hours of travelling ahead of us.
Saturday
Fortunately, because I fly so much I have status such that I can use the different airline clubs when flying internationally. The Lufthansa club in the Munich airport was really nice. And, they had huge bavarian pretzels! For the taking! They were sooooooo good! And, the Air Canada club had free wifi and beer. So, that was palatable.
Our friend Dave picked us up from the airport. He was a godsend that week as he took care of Cloud for us and gave us a ride.
posted by Brendan at 11:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home