Even More Florence Odds and Ends

Apparently Italian men find curly, dirty red hair very attractive. I've been hit on more today than the entire trip. Not that I was expecting to get hit on, but I was warned about Italian men. I have to say up until now I was not feeling the love. But I didn't blow dry my hair yesterday because it was raining, and I didn't wash it this morning because I was too tired. That combo seemed to do the trick.

Yesterday on my way to the Accademia it was raining. More of a drizzle, actually. And since I'm trying to travel light I decided to skip the umbrella. I didn't have that far to go and I'm not worried about melting if I get wet. But the umbrella vendors were very concerned. I was pretty much chased the entire way to the museum by umbrella waving men yelling "Prego, signora, prego, prego." I would lose one, make it about a block then pick up another.

Florence Day 5

I started the day with the Boboli Gardens. It wasn't quite what I expected - I thought there would be more flowers. Outside of some roses there really weren't any flowers. This place was more about views and perspectives and structure. But I was impressed with the size and scale of the gardens. I can't imagine how much money and time it must have taken to create them.

Next was inside the Palazzo Vecchio to see the frescos and walk through the rooms. After Palazzo Vecchio I had lunch (and a little wine) outside on the square. I was able to get some good people watching time in.

And then finally today was the Uffizi. There wasn't as much to see here as I had hoped. I think it was because most of the downstairs was closed for the installation of a new exhibit. They also had quite a few rooms closed off upstairs. And there were a lot of people waiting to get into the rooms that were open. There was almost a fist fight between a tour guide and a woman in one of the galleries.

If I can get a train ticket I plan on doing a day trip to Venice tomorrow.

Florence Day 4

Today was walking, walking, and more walking again but I started the day with David at the Accademia. He is amazing to see in person. I kept moving from one spot to another to get a better look. I think I've seen two or three copies so far but it doesn't compare to seeing him in the place they built just for him.

After the Accademia I walked down to Santa Croce and went inside this time (Thanks Joe!). I'm glad I did because otherwise I would have missed something special. Lots to see in here, not just the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo. Beautiful paintings and stained glass windows. There were some well preserved fresco's in parts of the church. I also saw the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty. They are working on restoring the fresco's around the altar right now and that was very interesting to watch, too.

After that it was a brief stop at Palazzo Pitti. I was hoping to get into the Boboli Gardens since the weather cleared up (it was drizzling most of the day) but they closed at 5:30. So I headed towards the Duomo where I picked up something for dinner and then finally back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is the Uffizi in the afternoon. I'm hoping to also fit in a visit to the Boboli Gardens, Palazzo Vecchio (inside this time), and the top of the Duomo. We'll see if I can squeeze it all in.

More Florence Odds and Ends

I now know where the kids who are too cool for school hang out in Florence. In the bar right next to the British Consulate. Coming back from dinner last night I walked right into a party that had spilled out into the street. Took me completely by surprise when I rounded the corner.

Everyone is just so damn stylish here. I really felt like a schlumpadinka walking through that party last night. Lots of skinny jeans with flats. Lots of scarfs and form fitting jackets. But I've seen a couple of trends that I just can't get on board with. First is the MC Hammer pants on women. In red, yellow, and black. Second, metallic gym shoes. Bright gold and silver. Those I've seen on both men and women. They just look like they should be part of a kid's Halloween costume.


I couldn't stop staring at the guy at the reception desk this afternoon. He was a dead ringer for the husband on Medium.

Joe - Where did you live when you were here? I've been trying to guess as I've walked around town. Feel free to leave any suggestions or site seeing tips since you are so familiar with Florence.

Florence Day 3

The weather was beautiful today. I rode the bus around again this morning for about an hour and picked up a few things I missed yesterday while I was gawking. Then I just walked for a few hours, weaving my way through the downtown area and checking out the shops.
As I was headed back to the hotel for a break, I noticed the doors were open to a church that were closed yesterday. When I walked back to check it out I found a courtyard, one olive tree in the middle, iris' blooming in the corners, and fresco's all around the perimeter. It was so quiet and peaceful back there. You could hardly hear the street traffic.

They upgraded my room for me at the hotel today free of charge. The new room is much nicer than the first. And large, too. In fact, I think the bathroom is bigger than my room in Rome.

Today's cooking class was much shorter than yesterday's. It only lasted about an hour, but I walked away with a new apron and a certificate. Today they wrapped and labeled what we made with my name on it - spinach ravioli and what I guess you would call a potato souffle. There must have been some mix up yesterday which is why I didn't get exactly what we made for dinner. He also showed me how to make zabaione (de-li-cios).

Here was tonight's menu -

Chicken liver pate on a crouton (I ate it)
Potato souffle with smoked cheese and tomato sauce (it was good!)
Spinach ravioli with brown butter and sage (it was great!)
tiramisu (it was good!)
Petit Four (it was good!)

Tomorrow I have reservations for the Accademia (the one with Michelangelo's David). The day after is the Uffizi. I also want to fit in the Boboli gardens. Hopefully the weather will holdout although I heard it is supposed to rain here tomorrow.

Dinner Tonight

My belly is so full. I went back to the hotel where the class was tonight for dinner. I didn't get exactly what we made this afternoon, but I didn't mind. Gave me a chance to taste more stuff. So here was the menu -

Prawn in pink sauce (it was good!)
Spagetthi in tomato sauce with basil (it was good!)
Lamb chops with grilled zuccinni, eggplant, and tomato (it was good!)
Some kind of dessert I can't pronounce and didn't recognize (it was good!)
Petit Fours (it was good!)

Since dinner was included with the class I wasn't sure what to do about the tip. Any suggestions for tomorrow night?

I figured out how to post pictures!

Florence Day 2

Started the day with the open top tour bus. If I had done that yesterday I would have known that just beyond the Piazza Michelangelo is a church that was around before Charlemagne conquered Italy. Now I'm going to have to climb that damn hill again. What else did I see? Galileo's house and the hill where he made his observations from. The hill where Leonardo da Vinci tested one of his 'flying machines'. The Santa Maria del Fiore (or as I like to think of it - the more is more church). Tons of other stuff. Now I have a much better idea of where everything is at.

This afternoon was also the first day of my cooking class. I thought I was signing up for a group thing where you make a little pasta, maybe some sauce, and then you eat it. You know, nothing too formal. What I got was a one on one class with one of Italy's top chefs complete with the little hat. We made three different dished today: homemade spaghetti with zucchini, lamb chops with potatoes and rosemary, and homemade ravioli with tomatoes and something that looked like an olive but tasted like a grape. The class lasted about 2 1/2 hours. I go back tonight for dinner and the same dishes (well, two of them) that we prepared this afternoon. Tomorrow is antipasto, another pasta dish, and dessert.

Florence Odds and Ends

Food update - Had penne with beef in a chianti sauce for lunch today. When the waiter came to take my plate away I thought he said "done". Apparently he said "dessert". So I had a piece of cheesecake, too.

Found the German version of American Idol on TV tonight. I'm watching some guy sing "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Asley. In English. The guy singing it is wearing a lavender shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and he's throwing his hips around like a male stripper. Not that I would know what that looks like ;)

Florence Day 1

Goodbye, Rome. Hello Florence!

Took the train this morning to Florence. Met a couple from Austin who were waiting for the same train. They spent yesterday afternoon and evening in the Trastevere area where my walking tour was suppossed to be. Said it was a lot of fun and the food was the best they have had so far in Italy. I'm thinking about doing Venice as a day trip from Florence so I can go back to Rome. I really liked it there.

Not to dis Florence, though. It has a completely different vibe from Rome. It seems more cozy, less metropolitan. Lots and lots of people here. I walked from the hotel down by the river up to the Piazza Michelangelo. Great views from up there. Then I walked back through the Ponte Vecchio and the Piazza Signoria.

Scored a cheap (and tasty) sandwich across the street from the hotel for dinner. Only 2.50E. I'm going to have to find more deals like that if I want my money to last.

Even More Rome Odds and Ends

Apparently a grilled sausage sandwich means a split, grilled hot dog on a hamburger bun.

The weather today had to be 70+ degrees and the Italians are walking around in jackets and scarfs. Don't get me wrong, they look great, but I just don't get it. They have to be hot.

There are palm trees here. Lots of them tucked here and there. I was not expecting that.

Rome Day 4

Today didn't go quite as I had hoped. I decided to skip the 13 hour trip to Pompeii and instead made reservations yesterday for a walking tour of Trastevere and the Jewish Ghetto. I was also waiting to hear back about a tour of the Borghese Museum (tickets are limited and I should have reserved them days ago). But the tour company called this morning and cancelled the walking tour because today is a holiday in Italy.

So I thought I would start the day with the get-on get-off bus tour I skipped on Tuesday and give my legs a break. Bought the ticket, got on the bus, Went a couple of miles, and then we stopped. We stopped about a 1/2 block from where my hotel is. Part of the tour route was blocked off for events associated with the holiday today. And they couldn't figure out how to reroute the bus.

While they were working out the new route I got off and had lunch at the place around the corner where I had some awesome lasagna the other night. Went back to my hotel room to check on the Borghese tickets and found out that was going to be a no go. By then (about 1 1/2 hours later) they had figured out the new route so I got back on the bus and rode it all afternoon. I really should have done that on the first day. There are areas that I have walked by several times not realizing what was just around the corner. I am definitely going to make that the first thing I do in the major cities.

I am completely overwhelmed by how much there is to see and do here. And I haven't even walked into a museum yet.

More Rome Odds and Ends

Another feral cat at the Colosseum. Some tourists from Asia were petting it and taking pictures.

Apparently I made a foreign hotel faux paux by taking my room key with me when I left for the day. I wondered why the key chain attached to it was so big.

And apparently I needed to go to Rome to get a date. I had dinner tonight with the guy I sat next to on the plane. He is an engineer from Venezuela, working for a Texas company that builds devices to measure seismic waves. He has been to Rome several times, working on some project for the government. Got a lot of good site seeing tips from him on the plane ride over.

Rome Day 3

Today was a guided tour of the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, the Roman forum, and surrounding buildings. I walked down to the area where the group was meeting this morning on the backside of the Colosseum. It was a nice walk for the most part but now I know why it isn't recommended to stay near there. There isn't as much down there compared to where I am now. I am comfortable walking around my hotel at night. I wouldn't have been comfortable walking around the Colosseum at night.

We started the tour with Palatine Hill, the area where Romulus and Remus are said to be from and where the first king and first emperor of Rome lived. From Palatine Hill you have a great view of the Roman Forum. I could see the Senate building, where Julius Caesar's house was, where the Vestal Virgins lived, and a few other temples. We were able to walk down to the forum and get a closer look at some of the buildings. The area gets so much traffic that they closed it off and started charging an entrance fee a few months ago.

What did I learn today that I didn't know before? All of the important legal documents were stored in the basement of one of the temples except for wills. Those were recorded and stored by the Vestal Virgins. I also learned that Caesar wasn't killed at the Senate building in the forum. The Senate was undergoing renovations at the time and they had been using a building closer to the Area Sacra. You can't see where he was killed because the area has been built over. There was at one time a family living inside the ruins of the Colosseum. With houses and stables and other buildings all inside built on the ruins.

I have to say I found the Colosseum the least interesting part of the tour. Don't get me wrong, it was really cool to see. But the most interesting stuff to me about the Colosseum was the engineering below the main floor, and that is the one place they don't let you go anymore.

Rome Odds and Ends

I didn’t double check the specs on my laptop power cord against the converter I bought. The converter works great for the battery charger, but not my laptop. Fortunately the hotel has an extra adapter they are letting me use. Unfortunately it only plugs into the outlet in the bathroom. So I am sitting on the floor outside bathroom as I write this.

I'm having trouble with doors. On the train ride from the airport I couldn't figure out how to open the doors between cars. I was trying to pull them open without much success when someone behind me suggested pressing the green button. They slid right open.

Then I couldn't figure out how to open the door to my hotel room. Apparently you turn keys here to the left, not the right, to open a door.

And then there was the outside door to the hotel. It was already open when I first arrived. As I left for dinner they told me to just hit the button outside when I came back and they would let me in. So that's what I did. I hit the button, waited for the buzz, then pushed on the door. When the door wouldn't open, I hit the button again, waited for the buzz, and then tried pulling on the door. It still didn't open. So I hit the button for the third time and stood back. Sure enough the door opened on its own.

For those of you who wanted food updates, I’ve had a chance to try a pizza Margareta, a salami Panini, and lasagna Bolognese. No gelato yet. I’m saving that for after lunch tomorrow.

Rome Day 2

Walking, walking, and more walking again today. The weather was gorgeous, sunny with just a few clouds and not too hot. Today was mostly about the Vatican, but my first stop was the Pantheon. I wasn’t sure if there was anything to see inside when I went last night. You couldn’t tell because it was closed up and I wasn’t very hopefull given the condition of the outside. But the inside was beautiful - it is still an active church.

At the Vatican I started with St. Peters Square. There were people everywhere and the line to get inside was pretty long so I decided to head to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Thanks to those of you who gave me a heads up about the location (around the back) and the best way to get in (with a tour group so you skip the line). The guide I had was great. She was an art history major so she could answer all sorts of questions.

What can I say about the Sistine Chapel other than you have to see it for yourself. We only had 15-20 minutes in the Chapel before the group had to move on. I could have laid down on the floor and stayed a whole lot longer. I feel sorry for the artists who did the side panels before Michaelangelo did the ceiling. His work makes them look like amateurs.

After walking through the church I went up to the top of the duomo. I wish I had taken a picture of the stairs you had to take to get to the top. Very narrow, very steep, and at one point you have to lean around the actual dome to get by. But the view at the top is definitely worth it.

Rome Day 1

I can't believe I am finally here. Rome has been both expected and unexpected. The farmland all around the airport was a surprise. The NY style graffiti in English was a surprise. There are more hills than I was expecting. And it's very humid. But it is absolutely beautiful. There isn't an ugly building in the city. Even the ones that look a little worn around the edges are gorgeous. Lots of balconeys, lots of flowers on the balconeys. Lot's of little streets with shops and restaurants.

The hotel I am staying in is in a great location - near Termini station, major bus lines, and the metro. But everything is within walking distance. And I did a lot of walking today. Saw the Piazza della Repubblica, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Area Sacra di Argentina, and lots of other fountains and statues. It's a little weird to see building, building, ancient ruins, building, ancient ruins.

I just couldn't stop staring at everything. But I must be doing an OK job fitting in because I was mistaken for an Italian on my way back to the hotel tonight. The guy seemed embarrassed to have made the mistake which I’m taking as a compliment.

Internet access is good at the hotel so I'll try to post more tomorrow (maybe some pictures, too, if I can figure that out. Right now I am off to bed.