DAY ONE - 16 June
We arrived in Florence on Saturday about 6:00 PM to check in and unpack. And we have no complaint about the Italian trains - at least from our experience they are clean and fast and comfortable. Ticket buying wasn't always so easy, though.
And it was a great apartment - in a circa 17th c building that had been fully renovated. Plenty of room, modern baths, A/C, WiFi - though sometimes just in the foyer, where of an evening (or of a morning) we seemed to all gather to check mail and call home and post on Facebook. :-)).
One story up, four flights of 12 -14 steps each, a front door big enough to let the horse-drawn carriages in and heavy enough to stop half-hearted attempts to storm the building!
The first order of business was to get the apartment stocked with food and drink, and unlike some places I could mention (like Germany...) the stores were open late on Saturday and even on Sunday! Good grief, will wonders never cease!
We found the supermarket after some searching. Really, they were renovating the exterior and it was completely covered over - we had a legitimate excuse for walking right by it. Italian sausages and Italian wines and Italian beers and Italian breads and Italian fruits and Italian tiramisu and Italian profiteroles were there for the taking. What a haul - I wish I had pictures of that but those lovely images are only in my mind.
Food, and then football!! I don't think we missed an evening of the European Championship without seeing at least some of the game being played.
And later, a quick look at the Ponte Vecchio at night. Wonderful.
DAY TWO - 17 June
It was slow going, that Sunday morning. Werner and I set the breakfast table, showered, read, messed around, waited, waited, waited. Lee + Crissy rambled in a while later. Finally at 10:30 I woke up Michelle who promptly said, "DON'T LET ME SLEEP! WE'RE IN ITALY!"
You only have to tell me once. Florence, here we come!
We are about a 10-minute walk from every major monument in Florence. And more restaurants than we can possibly visit in our short time here. How great is that?
Over we go to the Palazzo Vecchio, the old town hall and the wonderful square in front of the hall. If you saw A Room with a View, you saw this wonderful piazza. There we got our tickets to visit the museum on Friday, took a look at the wonderful statues and fountains in the square and then walked again to the Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge, to take the requisite pictures.
And then the rest of the crew were on their own for several hours because I had arranged a visit with Nancy deGrummond, my former professor who directs the FSU archaeological dig in Chianti every summer. We hadn't seen each other in 12 years or more. What a treat.
We met Nancy at Santa Maria Novella,and then had a seafood lunch nearby (spoiler: it was really delicious). After catching up on all the news of the dig and etc, we walked back to Sta. Maria and walked through the interior of the basilica. And for free - we are all old enough to get a pass. No comment.
In the meantime, the others explored the Duomo and climbed the Bell Tower for wonderful views of the city.
Everything in the old city of Florence is a monument, it seems. That includes the people, I guess, because when we left the basilica and said goodbye to Nancy (with promises to meet in Tallahassee) we ran into a parade in the making - men in costume, drums and horses and armored riders. What? What is it??
It's the parade for the Calcio Storico, an ancient Florentine game and spectacle. They march from Santa Maria Novella to Santa Croce (just over the rooftop of our apartment) to play a brutal form of football, set up in the small square in front of the church.
We couldn't see the game in person, but we watched some of the parade - really up close - and later caught a bit of the game on TV. Fascinating - punching, strangling, kicking. There's a ball in there somewhere. And one official who hardly ever calls a foul!
Here's a movie trailer that captures it wonderfully! I Calcianti
DAY THREE - 18 June - Cinque Terre
Well, no sleeping in today. The bus leaves from the station promptly at 8 am, and, troopers that we are, we are off and out and on time.
The Cinque Terre are five villages built on the cliffs of the Ligurian coast, for centuries accessible to each other only by foot paths. Now, of course, that's a different story - there's a train that runs regularly between the villages and roads and buses that bring in the tourists - including us.
First stop, Manarola. They were getting us gradually used to the real walking later in the day, so here we just strolled from the bus to the train station and along the way looked a the lovely houses and charming little bridges that residents need to get from street to house and enjoyed the first of many incredible views of the Mediterranean.
Then back DOWN ALL THOSE STEPS to the train again.....
....to Vernazza. The city is stlll recovering from horrific rains and floods and mudslides in spring, but has made incredible progress.
The trek from Vernazza to Monterossa is only about 3K, but ..... it felt like more. Lots more. Lots of UP. Lots of steps. Lots of heat. But there were rewards - mostly the views, high above the blue, clear Mediterranean.
Hunter and Hannah of course got to Monterossa first, Michelle and Joey about 30 minutes behind, and Lee+Crissy, Werner+Sharon bringing up the rear another 30 minutes later. Whew!!
After appropriate refreshement (read: cold beer!), we looked around the town and found some little souvenirs and then boarded the ferry back to Riomaggiore.
There we took the last and easiest walk, a flat paved way called "Lover's Lane" where there were lots of scribbled notes and hanging locks from couples who'd passed that way before.
Then it was over! The train took us to La Spezia and then the bus back to Florence. What a day!
Quote Michelle: I'd do it all again right now!
Quote Crissy: This is not a hike! This is mountain climbing!
Quote me: They're both right!
DAY FOUR - 19 June - PISA
It continues hot, and I get hotter at the train station trying to get tickets. It isn't really all that hard, but, well, like, you know, I can make it like complicated. But FINALLY we get the tickets out of the machine and find our train and off we go.
We arrive in Pisa without a map. So, where is the tower? This a pretty small town, we just follow the crowd.
Along the way, eat a pastry. That was right after the pizza. Or was it before the Pisa pizza?
Hannah opts for gelato - always a good choice.
And suddenly, there it is, the tower, almost popping up from nowhere!
We took all kinds of pictures trying to hold up this leaning tower.
And of course the documentary group shot. (My next camera will be one that adjusts for the bright light in the background and eliminates strangers walking in view!!)
And then we visited the basilica and the baptistry. By happenstance, we were in the baptistry when the guard demonstrated the wonderful acoustics of the space - with a few well-sung "Hallelujah's!" she made some heavenly sounds. Sweet.
We followed the same route back to the train station which took us by the same pastry shop. Good grief - Lee cannot pass up a chance to sample all the chocolate!
But he was not alone.
That was about it for Pisa. Werner and I had to get back to pick up our van for the next two days.
DAY FIVE - 20 June - VENICE
It's not exactly next door, but Venice beckoned. After all, when will be be back? Maybe never, so we need to see Venice. The van, well, it bounces, and if Werner doesn't watch out for the bumps, it wakes up the passengers in the back!
We make it there after three hours and the driver and I notice that Italian drivers seem a lot more restrained than we remembered -- they pretty much keep to their own lanes and on the local streets they don't honk and race nearly as much. That's better, I guess, but less interesting in a way.
A ferry delivers us from the mainland to the island. I have to say, it is impressive.
Bridges and canals uncountable.
Churches indescribable (except by Mark Twain in A Tramp Abroad)
One lingers about the Cathedral a good deal, in Venice. There is a strong fascination about it—partly because it is so old, and partly because it is so ugly. Too many of the world's famous buildings fail of one chief virtue—harmony; they are made up of a methodless mixture of the ugly and the beautiful; this is bad; it is confusing, it is unrestful. One has a sense of uneasiness, of distress, without knowing why. But one is calm before St. Mark's, one is calm within it, one would be calm on top of it, calm in the cellar; for its details are masterfully ugly, no misplaced and impertinent beauties are intruded anywhere; and the consequent result is a grand harmonious whole, of soothing, entrancing, tranquilizing, soul-satisfying ugliness.
Well, there were no serious disagreements among our group. San Marco had little appeal and it was too hot and too crowded and no one was willing to wait in line to see the interior. It was enough for us to walk around, look at the canals and the bridges and the shops and the people.
Wandering back to the ferry, we were temporarily lost in a residential neighborhood with wash hanging on the line across the canal -- a bit strange after all the crowds and the noise. People do live here!
The drive back was uneventful in itself, but getting back to the parking garage was a mini-adventure. We found our streets without as much trouble as the night before, but our passengers were as astounded as I was by Werner's driving!!!! Skinnnnnny streets and tight corners in the ancient city of Florence - we exhaled when the van stopped!
Good driving, Werner!
DAY SIX - 21 June - CHIANTI
Oh, the planning. Oh forget it!
Plan: San Gimignano, a wine tasting at a winery/olive press, a drive through the Chianti, a visit to a ceramic shop. It sorta worked. Eventually. Sorta.
Here's the route:
Get on the Autostrada. Get off the Autostrada. Figure out where we're going. AAARRGGGGHHH. That was the beginning.
Part 1: We get to San Gimignano and it is as interesting as ever. There are charming cobbled paths and stone walls, churches and restaurants and shops and the now chopped-off towers of the once proud local nobility. These are the remains of when the more powerful wanted to prove how powerful they were and made the locals shorten their towers. Vanity, vanity....
We went to a local wine museum, the highest point in town with breathtaking views.
Then, it was time to go someplace else and taste some wine. So, where is that place, Mom?
Part 2: Wine tasting. You'll notice a lot of circles, where we circled the little village of Tavarnelle trying to find the place I thought I knew where, but it wasn't and I didn't! "Mom, have you heard of navigators? You know, you can download them to your smartphone. Oh, no smartphone? Oh ...." (chuckle, chuckle!)
AAARRGGGGHHH.
But we did find a place to stop after those circles around Tavaranola - Poggio al Chiuso. (HOWEVER, if you look at these pictures, it isn't the view we had!)
It was so local, so simple, 4th generation grape and olive farmers with their own wines and oil. In their unassuming tasting room, we tried the wines and the oil and bought some! Werner and I have since had the rosé, which was good, but we are curious how these "holiday" wines taste once our other travellers get them back home. Somehow, holiday things don't always travel well....
Part 3: Radda in Chianti, to visit a ceramic workshop. We've
been here before, but somehow only to the workshop and not the charming
town itself! Wow, it is really nice! Hunter helps himself to a
mid-afternoon lasagne snack (15-year-old guys are often hungry),
And then off to Rampini.
Werner and I have been to Rampini's workshop several times since 1994, and I have to say our first purchases were the best. (Guissepi Ramipini, the founder, died two years ago.) They were all hand thrown and even today are hand painted and fired on site. But they seem to have given over the basic work to outside sources, so the forms are - to me - not quite as expressive or delicate as before. Nevertheless, the painting is wonderful and the forms traditional. Michelle found a couple of things to take home and we ordered some plates to go with pasta bowls we'd purchased the last time. We'll have a surprise reminder of our trip in another month or so.
And then it was time to drive back to Florence with more twists and backwards-seeming turns along the road before we got back on the fast highway to Florence. But the landscape was still wonderful and so unlike Florida or Germany.
DAY SEVEN - 22 June - A LAST DAY IN FLORENCE
Well, no rest - up and out early again, this time for an 8:30 entry to the Uffizi, Italy's premiere museum.
I had braced everyone for crowds, but it never happened. There were a few tours we ran into, but it was frankly the most relaxing and enjoyable major museum visit I have had since I don't know when. What a treat!
No pics here. Sorry.
And then, the "organized" tour was over. GO! DO! FINISH UP! Lee and Crissy searched for the elusive doggie purse, the rest of us for the last minute treats that Florence has to offer: gelato, key rings, sights, smells, tastes. And then it is toooooo soon over! Pack the suitcases, watch the EM match, have our last Italian meal in Italy.
DAY LAST
Our "guests" had a 7:30 train to catch to Rome and then a rush to the airport for the flight home. The taxi didn't want to come when I called "too early" and then came early anyway! Such a chaotic goodbye, but aren't they often that way. Hurried hugs and kisses and a wave of the hand and then they are suddenly gone.
Thanks for sharing your time with us, all you wonderful folks. Hugs and love.
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