May 19 - 20, 2015 ITALY - Florence (Tour days 10 - 11) Post 3.2 of 5

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo

MAY 17 - 24, 2015 ITALY 
Venice, Florence, Rome, Cinque Terre (Tour days 8 - 15) 
Post 3 of 5 in 4 parts, each a separate post
Venice - Post 3.1 of 5   Florence - Post 3.2 of 5   Rome - Post 3.3 of 5   Cinque Terre - Post 3.4 of 5

May 19 - 20, 2015  ITALY
Florence
(Tour Days 10 - 11)
Post 3.2 of 5

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Florence

(Tour Day 10)

Moderate Walking Day

Everyone out the door with their bags packed and ready to take a morning walk to the boat and then the boat back to the bus for our 4 hour ride to Florence.

 On the boat heading for the bus to leave for Florence.

 Early morning supplies coming in.  This is why my camera costs so much here in Venice.  Everything has to be shipped, then brought on a boat, then hand carried to the individual shops here on the islands.

Bye Bye Venice.  Arrivederci Venezia !  Ci vediamo più tardi !

Now on the bus and traveling along, I got in contact with my friends in the Florence area, making arrangements to meet up with them when I got there. When I first arrived in Italy a year ago, this is the area where I spent most of my time the first three months here. Mariano is a special young man and was so helpful in 'showing' me how to get around Italy. He speaks excellent English (has a Language Degree in English and does Translation work) and is just a great young man. We have continued to stay in touch even though I live in the south now, but anytime I am in the area, I make sure to try and connect with him. We email and speak on the phone some as well.

Also from Italy, but living in the USA, is a couple, the Zamperla's, that were back for their annual Artist Seminar in Florence. Just happened that they were here at the same time my tour is scheduled in Florence. Last year while they were here, I spent a lot of time with them. Looking forward to seeing all these people again!

Leaving the sea and heading inland into the Tuscany region.

We have arrived, dragging our bags behind us. Very rarely was Peter able to pull up and unload us at our destination Hotel. We usually had to walk a ways.

 A great old hotel it was and it has an Elevator! However, I didn't really need it here, as I was only up two flights of steps in this hotel.

 The hotel is on this street

 My room.   I had quite a nice room here, anyway, it had plenty of space and a full size bed ☺ Also, we had a very nice breakfast spread each morning, and I will have to retract the statement I previously made about the coffee here in Italy. Perhaps, because these are hotels and many foreigners stay here, they actually serve 'large' cups of real brewed coffee. Was great!

 My view from the bathroom window

Landmark building... These spoons made it easy to remember where the hotel was located :) But having been in this city many times last year, in addition to following Mariano around for several days as he gave tours around the city, I knew my way fairly well around here, especially in this area.

One of the spoons was laying on the street... I'm sure they are fairly heavy... hope it was taken down and didn't fall off the side of the building, especially if someone was walking there... could cause a major headache, one of those fall on you.

 Our hotel was right at the end of the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge and at the opposite end, is my favorite Gelato shop in Florence, and perhaps in all of Italy, that I have tried yet.

 Since we had a few minutes of personal time before the group was to meet and go on our first tour of Florence, I headed straight there!  I met Patrick and Cristina wandering down the street as I left the hotel, so I invited them to go with me.  Patrick and I had GIANT cones.  I barely could eat it all, but I would not be defeated... I got it down!

And now we're off... we came to see things and by golly we are going to!! with Martin leading the way. 

Let the picture taking and touring begin!  I did not take very many pictures here this time, as most of you have seen them in my previous posts last year. Also, as I mentioned in my earlier, I will not be writing extensively in this post, since I have posted previously about Florence and the Medici Family.  Great history here and this is also what makes the Ponte Vecchio Bridge an important landmark in this city.

However, I can't help but take pictures of the Duomo.  It always impresses me... all that pink, green and white Tuscan marble... very beautiful! 

 First stop, Brunelleschi's magnificent cathedral dome in the city center.

Santa Maria del Fiore

Officially known as Cattedrale Santa Maria del Fiore but everyone just simply calls it the Duomo

Then we went to the Accademia Gallery (Galleria dell'Accademia).  I have been in Florence several times, however, I never went to see the original sculpture of "David" by Michelangelo.  I have seen several replicas all around the city like this one... 

...and I had always wanted to see the original and thought 'some day'...

Well, it is now 'Some Day' and here I am looking right at it.  Now, I will have to admit, I was not prepared to be impressed.  Actually, I am a bit like "seen one, seen'em all"... however, to my surprise, I was very impressed!

Even to my untrained eye and my scepticism, it was/is an amazing sculpture.

How anyone can take a chunk of stone and know exactly what to 'take away' in order to leave 

exactly what they imagined the end result to be, is beyond my poor simple brain! and certainly

way out of my skill range!!  

Magnificent!!!!  Well worth the time to go see it... and that statement coming from me says it all!!

It seemed to glisten, pictures just do not do it justice... perhaps that is why I never went to see it before, because I had seen pictures and in  pictures you can't see just how stunning it is.  You have to see in 'live' to really 'see' it !

Patrick & Vannie, taking a rest... Couldn't get a picture of them both smiling at the same time, so had to post one of her smiling and one of him smiling .. hee hee

The 'storehouse' 

Now off we go to a group dinner this evening 

Elaine & Ed, across from me and Ginette & Wayne next to me

Patrick & Vannie at the table just across from me

Tim & Kristi, Greg holding video camera and Duncan way at the end taking pictures too

Peter has a big smile about something :)

Jim & Lynn, Val, John & Kathy, Patrick & Christina

The chef... we were impressed not only with the wonderful meal...

but also the 'flaming' of the meat.  It was mouth watering good, and as many of you know, I am not much of a meat eater.

I had a bit of a chuckle this evening.  When we first came in, the chef and several other of the men working in the restaurant all gave Martin the Italian greeting of kissing on both cheeks.  I had previously told everyone that men kiss each other here in Italy, however, the only Italians they had seen greeted up to this point was our guide in Venice and she was a woman.  Well, they got to see it tonight in a big way.  :)  Sometime after dinner, I leaned over to Ginette, and kissed her on the cheek and said pass it on... this Italian greeting, so she kissed her husband.  He then turned to kiss Ben and Ben wasn't having any of it!!!  He didn't say anything, just.... 'it was NOT going to happen' look he gave Wayne!!  He only had to receive it, as his wife was on the other side, for him to pass it on to, however, that is where the Italian kiss fizzled out. "Pluck, pluck, pluck, Ben"...

Then the dessert cart and my choice was of yummy chocolate cake

and then the meal was topped off with Grappa and Limoncello, which was a first for most of the of the people on the tour.

Now it was time to take a nice walk back to our hotel.

Finally a decent 'selfie' ! but it took a mirror to do it :)  

Goodnight! Been a long day, but still smiling.  Having a great tour so far and we are halfway.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Florence

(Tour Day 11)

Strenuous Walking Day

The best way I like to see a city first, is from above it.  After that, I like to go the specific places, so on this morning, Patrick & Vannie and Duncan all joined me for a Hop On / Hop Off bus ride. These buses are a very good way to do and see a lot especially when you have limited time, and they have headphones for everyone to be able to know what we are seeing.  If anything in particular you want to check out, just get off the bus, take as long as you like and when you are ready to go, just catch the next bus that comes and go some more... hence Hop On / Hop Off.  It is very inexpensive as well, on $20 Euro each, for all day, or for only a little more, you can get a two day ticket.

From Piazzale Michelangelo, an overlook over Florence.

Ponte Vecchio Bridge

Il Duomo di Firenze

Synagogue of Florence.  I had too zoom a long way, so a little 'fuzzy'

We got up early and hoofed it over near the train station to catch the first bus at 9am.  Now the best way to really see on these buses is to sit outside on the top, however, it sure was looking like rain today, so we were hoping it would hold off until much later in the day.  As it turned out, it did, only a couple of sprinkles on us from time to time, but no real rain until just as we returned back about 5pm.  More about that later...

As I mentioned before, I will not give long descriptions here, as I have posted previous blogs about Florence.  In addition, I will not post too many Florence pictures, as I have also previously posted a few hundred (s)  :)  

We caught the blue line first heading up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo, an overlook over Florence.

Old gate into the city

Cemetery where Elizabeth Barrett Browning is buried.

Arno River

Arno River

Arno River

Tree lined streets

Replica of The David in Piazzale Michelangelo

I got a phone call from Debra Zamperla (from the USA, also visiting here in Florence at this time), just as this picture was being taken.  We were trying to make arrangements to meet up somewhere and sometime today.

After we finished with all we wanted to see from this hill, we switched and caught the Red Line from here, to go to the opposite hill, a little town called Fiesole.  Now Fiesole is a place I love to hang out. 

On the way, saw this fruit and flower stand beside the road.

Heading up to Fiesole.  Now, Fiesole, is the home of the very wealthy, and these homes on this hillside are worth millions, I am told.

The view of the city from Fiesole.  It has tried to rain all morning, but it is still holding off.  I am surprised that these pictures turned out as good as they did, considering how cloudy and overcast it was this day.

Now to get to the top of this hill it is a very very steep and somewhat long climb.  I remember last year the first time I climbed up here, It was a bit of a struggle for me.  Now after being in Italy for a year, having lost considerable weight and also doing all kinds of walking, I was surprised at how easy it seemed this time.  Makes me very happy, that!!!

Had to zoom a long way from this hill on this side of the Duomo, but could still see it even on this very rainy and overcast day.  Trying out my new camera and it's 8x zoom :)

Patrick & Vannie, and Duncan

Patrick & Vannie and I

Duncan and I

San Francesco Monastery

Ancient tile roof

San Francesco Museum

The garden in the Monastery

After we came back down the hill, we had lunch at a very nice little outdoor restaurant.  We had lasagna and it was delish!!  Caffe' Al N.5  Don't know why we forgot to take a picture of us, perhaps, because when we first arrived, we all had to use the bathroom, and so we were never all at the table at the same time, and by that time, our food had arrived and we got busy eating and forgot.

 Remember their business card Duncan?  It had my picture on it :)

After lunch, we went to see the Roman Ruins here in Fiesole.

The Roman Theatre

Built into the natural rocks of one of the town’s hills, the Roman theatre is being restored and is one of the best preserved sites in Fiesole.  It was built in the first century BC .

The museum

The Roman Baths

They have found little decorative things here from the baths, such as the marble base of a statue of Hercules.  The baths were divided into an inside and outside area. The inside bathhouse had three small pools, seen here, heated by this furnace.

The outside pools

The temple area

Now it is time to head back to Florence.  We are to meet our tour group at 4 or 5 pm, can't remember now for sure on the time.  The bus only runs on the hour up to Fiesole, and just as Vannie and I exited from the Ruins, we got to the street and saw the bus was there.  The guys had stopped to use the restroom, so Vannie hurried back to let them know and I raced to the bus to ask the driver if he could wait for a couple minutes.  Anyway, we all made it!  What a great day we all had in Fiesole!

More shots coming off the hill

Now we are back in Florence and it is just starting to rain.  Wow we are lucky... we made it all day, riding outside on the top of the bus and it held off raining until now!  

As we got off the bus and were racing back it just kept raining more and more, until finally, just as we got the the area of our hotel and the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, where the Gelato shop is, it started really dumping.

When Patrick, Vannie, Duncan and I returned  from our bus ride, we had been looking forward to our Gelato treat!  It started raining on us as we got closer, so we just walked a little faster.  By the time we arrived at the Gelato shop, it was a regular deluge!  What a great place to wait it out.  We enjoyed it immensely.  Now, however, I needed to get back to the hotel as soon as I could, as our group was meeting to go to the Uffizi Gallery, and I really needed to shower and dry my hair and put on some dry clothes :)  Patrick and Vannie are not planning to go to the Uffizi as they have been there before, and also, both have had a few days of sickness recently, so felt they had had a long enough day.

Well I made it to the Uffizi just in time!  Everyone in our group was already in line just as I walked up, but had not entered yet, so my timing was 'sort of' perfect.  I don't like cutting it that close however.  Also, it had almost stopped raining by this time and it is a good thing, as I did not have an umbrella and I had just gotten dried out :)

The Uffizi Gallery

Credit to PP for this photo

Photos taken of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge from the windows of the Uffizi Gallery

I said I wouldn't write much about Florence this time, however, here is just a little about this bridge:

In order to connect the Palazzo Vecchio (Florence's town hall) with the Palazzo Pitti, the Medici's had the corridor above it built. Butchers initially occupied the shops along the bridge, however, the Medici family thought butcher shops didn't lend prestige to the bridge, so now there are jewelers, art dealers and souvenir shops. 

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Also, as with many bridges we saw, Ponte Vecchio has padlocks on its railing. This is a recent tradition seen at many bridges, (probably introduced by the padlock shop owner at the end of the bridge!) The idea being that lovers, by locking the padlock and throwing the key into the river, become eternally bonded. This is an example of the negative impact of mass tourism: thousands of padlocks need to be removed frequently, as it is damaging to the structure of this old bridge. Now, however, they have put a sign on the bridge that there is a $160 Euro penalty for those caught locking something to the fence.

Palazzo Vecchio (town hall)

Layout of the city

After the tour, I went back to the Hotel for a few minutes, and decided if I was going to get any photos of the city from the rooftop, I better do it now, or it would be dark by the time I returned from supper/dinner.  So I quickly headed up to the rooftop to view the city.

  This is the lounge at the top floor of the hotel

From the lounge, these are the stairs that take you to the rooftop... 

 for these views !

Rooftop gardening

Flashback one year...

 Wow, did today ever bring back memories! Being in Florence today, May 20, 2015, makes it almost exactly one year ago, (almost to the day, May 21, 2014) that I met Mariano for the first time and took a tour with him of Florence. I had been in Italy, totally on my own, exactly 6 days when I took the train over from where I was staying in Livorno and met up with Mariano here in Florence.  

While I was still in the USA, before I came to Italy, we had emailed back and forth for a year while I was making plans to come and hopefully live here. Now, it was on this date a year ago, that I was meeting him for the first time. 

What a wonderful year it has been for me.  Mariano and his parents and I continue to stay in touch, and have had many good times together. I stayed with his parents in this area for almost three months and then Mariano and I did some traveling together to the south of Italy as well as we see each other from time to time at church functions, or when I am in the Florence area, like I was last Aug. and Oct. and again this Jan.  He is an exceptional young man.  I feel like he is my grandson!

Mariano looking cool in his shades...

Dinner on our own tonight, so made plans to meet up with my local friends at this really cool restaurant.  I think I just liked all the colorful table coverings!  I used to set a 'fancy' table back in the day when I had my own home and did lots of entertaining, so was nice to see this.

Now it is time to get back to bed and some rest. Taking a review of my bruise as I prepared for bed.

 
Been 4 days now, and it's still quite ugly.

We are not letting any grass grow under our feet... tomorrow we head to Rome!  Many say Rome is their favorite city in Italy, but for me it is Florence.  I like Rome, however, I really, really like Florence.  There is just something about it that captures my attention.  So for now arrivederci !