Florence 4 and Venice 1-2 (5/12-13/2007)

Ciao, Firenze! Venice – Day 1 Saturday, May 12 (Mostly Candice, with inserts by Reed)

We checked out of Olga’s House in Florence on Saturday morning. The train to Venice was not leaving for a few hours, so we checked our bags at the Santa Maria Novella train station. With our loads lightened, we headed for a quick tour of the Bargello - originally built as a police station, made into a prison, and now a quiet museum containing works by Donatello, Verrocchio, and Michelangelo. The entrance opens up to a nice open-air courtyard:


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No photos allowed inside, and although small by comparison, the museum contains two rooms of important works. One room contains one of the first Davids of the Renaissance - by Donatello. This version originally stood in the Medici palace when Michelangelo came to live there. This room also contains a David by Verrocchio. Both versions are smaller in stature and depict David as a young boy. The other room contains a David by Michelangelo that seems unfinished. Hard to describe in words, it's amazing how these earlier versions pale in comparison to the one in the Accademia.

Leaving the Bargello, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio for a walk on the other side of the Arno River (Oltrarno part of Florence). As we approached the Ponte Vecchio, we spotted a couple taking their wedding pictures along the bank of the river:





The Ponte Vecchio is lined with shops, so we peeked in a few.



Near the Pitti Palace, we found a plaque that indicated Dostoevsky lived in an apartment nearby while writing The Idiot. I was extremely excited, as I read this book a couple years ago during my Russian author phase.



After a morning of walking and shopping, we stopped at a restaurant called 4 Leoni (or 4 Lions) on Via Vellutini in the small Piazza della Passera. It filled up quickly with locals. The best experiences are those that have a more genuine, less touristy feel. A cute young waitress who spoke some English served us. On a side note, it seems everyone in Italy under the age of 50 is thin and beautiful.





For antipasti, we ordered prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella. The fresh buffalo mozzarella in Italy is delicious, and we indulged in it several times on the trip. Reed ordered rigatoni pomodoro basilica, which is a tomato/basil pasta dish. I had tagliato, which was a delicious marinated sirloin steak served medium rare.

Once sufficiently stuffed, we walked around Oltrano a bit more. The time for our Venice train was quickly approaching. Reed wanted to go up a large hill to take pictures. I agreed to spend 10 minutes on this endeavor, insisting we go to the train station immediately after. The 10 minutes turned into 20, because we discovered the part of Florence that includes the Boboli Gardens. Unfortunately, we had no time to walk in the gardens, but they looked beautiful from the outside. We will definitely go to this part of Florence when we make it back to Italy someday.

The race was on to get back to the Santa Maria Novella train station. We still had to claim our checked bags before we could catch our train to Venice. Racing to the counter, we were pleased to find no line. Bags in hand, racing to find our platform we see our train is running late. All that running and nagging Reed to rush was for naught.

We arrived in Santa Lucia train station in Venice without incident. After stopping at the Bancomat for some Euro, we bought 3-day passes to the vaporretti. A vaporetto is a boat that takes you on the canals of Venice, like a bus or small metro train would in any other city. We rode the #82 vaporetto to the Valleresso stop to go to Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square). Without our guidebook we would never have known which stop to get off at, as none of the signs indicated that Valleresso was the San Marco stop.







Venice is not quite the place I envisioned; I expected the very beautiful images I saw in movies like “Dangerous Beauty.” Most of the buildings have dirty or peeling facades and many are uninhabitable due to flooding. The canals are busy with several types of boats (vaporetti, traghetti, and water taxis.) Upon arriving in Piazza San Marco, it was obvious that Venice is a tourist town. The square was extremely crowded.



We made our way to our room, which was only a block off the square at the Hotel ai do Mori.



We were buzzed into the building and ascended a narrow marble stairway followed by a narrow carpeted stairway. We reached a small office and waited behind a mother/daughter duo of backpackers. Then we were helped by an Italian man with a large, fresh bandage over his left ear…impossible not to wonder what the story was. He checked us in slowly, as he clearly needed reading glasses which his pride would not permit. Instructed to do so, we climbed two more flights of carpeted stairs to our room. In case you are unaware, Italy is essentially a long series of stairs with fantastic art and history along the walls.

Our room was small, but clean. The wooden furniture was a light aqua color that reminded me of dollhouse furniture.



After showers, we decide to have a nice dinner at a restaurant with a high Zagat rating called, Antica Pignone.

At Antica Pignone we are seated in a large dining room alone. From our vantage point we can see a small private room filled with a party of Japanese businessmen ordering lots of wine. The wine list is 30+ pages, with easily ¾ of the selections costing more than 300 Euro and several of them as much at 10,000 (for real). Reed said the restaurant is considered by Wine Spectator to have one of the best wine lists in the world. We share a caprese salad for antipasti and tagliatelle for primi. We settled on a Villa Novare Valpolicella Classico Supreme Ripasso 2004 – which was considerably less than 10,000 Euro! My dinner of sea bream and Reed’s of prawns were decent, but not great. The meal becomes our running joke after we pay 216 Euro for completely average food and insufficient service. After dinner and short walk in the square, we turned in.

Day 2 Venice, Sunday, May 13 and Festa de Mama (Mother’s Day)
We woke up early to attend the 10am Gregorian mass at St. Giorgio’s across the water. An ancient, slightly deaf friar named Guiseppe was talking to an extremely excited American teenager about the church. We planned on taking a picture with Giuseppe, but the conversation between him and the nice girl from Washington State went on seemingly forever.





The mass was a fairly normal Catholic mass, just in Italian and with a few Latin parts. Being touted as a Gregorian mass, we expected hear beautiful chanting in singing. It turns out that not all those in the Gregorian order have beautiful voices. Minus the language difference, the mass was just like those we attend in Atlanta.

After mass, we went to the Accademia museum which I LOVED. Many of the paintings by some of the greatest Renaissance artists were hanging on the walls with no case or other protection from the public. I put my face right up to a Titian and examined the brushstrokes. If you like Renaissance art, this museum is for you.

Outside the Accademia, we had pizza:



On the Accademia Bridge outside the museum, Reed and I called our moms to wish them a Happy Mothers Day. We had to wait until it was late enough, as we were 6 hours ahead in Italy.

We decided to walk back to the hotel, and on the way, we came across a puppeteer performing a show:



And a video:



And another video:



And witnessed a gondola traffic jam:



and a prime gathering point:



We made it back to the busy St. Mark's Square:



And decided to sit at one of the outdoor cafes - where we knew the prices would be steep, but the view and people watching unmatched. Candice ordered a berry drink and Reed a beer - which came with olives and chips on a silver platter and included an 8 Euro cover charge for the band playing behind us. Here's our 32 Euro order:



Yes - that's totally outrageous - but it was really nice to be able to sit there in the courtyard after walking around all morning and be able to watch all the people and listen to the music.

We got some good pictures of the tower:



and each other:





So, as we're sitting there, we're watching various people feeding the pigeons with feed sold by vendors on the square. The pigeons are EVERYWHERE and are very aggressive with anyone who looks like they have anything they can eat. After thinking about it for a while, Reed decided that we couldn't leave Venice and not feed the pigeons. Here are some pics:









And a video:



To bring down our cost of dinner average after last nights wallet-buster, we just had sandwiches at a nearby place - nothing special. We ended the day just walking around the many sidewalks and canals looking into windows and watching the people.

Florence 3 – Uffizi Gallery and La Giostra (5/11/2007)

We started day 3 of Florence with a quick stop at the café Riviore for a cappuccino and brioche (although Olga’s is called a B&B, it’s more of just a B, with tickets for a free B around the corner.) We walk across the piazza for our 10AM reservation at the Uffizi Gallery. (thanks Rick Steves for the note about getting reservations!). The Uffizi is a U shaped building with an open courtyard in the middle where it seemed like several thousand people were anxiously trying to figure out where to go and how to get in. There are three gates. Gates 1 and 2 are for entry, and Gate 3 is for picking up reserved tickets so you can bypass the lines at Gates 1 and 2. However, there was a line out the door of Gate 3 that didn’t seem to be moving much. Candice and I went to the front where there was a guy working the door – occasionally letting in about 15 or so people at a time. It was now after 10AM, so I asked him about it and he says to stick around up near the front – which we did - and we eventually got our tickets and could now go right in one of the other gates. Wishful thinking. Turns out, at each gate, there were two lines – one for people with reservations/tickets (us) and one for those without. There was no zipping by everyone in the line (need to update your tips in your book, Mr. Steves) (edit: Candice says she heard there was a strike that day by some of the Ufizzi employees which caused a lot of confusion). Even so, it was good to be in our line, even if the wait was about 40 minutes, as the other line was at least 2 hours long – maybe more.





It is hard to tell, but the pictures above show two lines in each direction – the people next to the building and about 4-5 people wide are those in the non reserved ticket line – that line goes all the way to the end of the building. Our line was only about 2-3 people wide and went about 20 rows behind us and 20 or so in front of us at the time the picture was taken. I’d hate to not have a reserved ticket! Even though in the shorter line, many people were upset to wait at all – and the atmosphere was a little tense. Some Spanish lady kept bumping into Candice even after a few annoyed looks. Finally Candice told her in Spanish to quit touching her. Problem solved. Then there were others who would cut the line looking to ask the gate keeper what the deal was. Once told, they would try to play ignorant and just stay in the place where they entered the line. Annoying!

Once in – we were very happy.

The Uffizi is, well, the Uffizi. It’s awesome – filled with some of the greatest pre-renaissance and renaissance art from the mid 13th century to the mid 17th century. However, they don’t allow pictures, so I’ve got nothing to show you – except half way through, during a transition between rooms of art, they have this view of the Ponte Vecchio:



Others were taking the same shot, until the photo police started warning, “No pho-to, No pho-to.”

OK, so we saw some pretty great things there – for instance, the main hallway is lined on either side with busts and statues of great Roman leaders from Caesar through Constantine. The rooms are organized chronologically at first, so you can get a sense of how art changed through the years. It was really interesting to see how almost all paintings up to about 1450 were all two dimensional. The people in the paintings were usually religious figures like Mary, Jesus, or various saints, and the colors were dominated by gold and red backgrounds. Most of the expressions on the faces were very grim and serious. The transition into the renaissance period of paintings was glorious! The colors, 3D realism, perspective, subject matter, and beauty display the reawakening of the renaissance. Good times were here! Repression, poverty, death, disease, and despair were in the past (well, relatively).

There was a Botticelli room including the famous Birth of Venus, some Leonardo Da Vinci drawings, Lippi, Giotto, Durer, Michelangelo, and others – if you go to Florence, this place is a must.

We spent a long time at the Uffizi – about 4 hours including the lines we had to endure, so afterwards we were about museumed-out. We found an Irish place on our square that had free Wi-fi and thought it would be fun to hang out over there. Well, the Wi-fi was free, but the Guiness was 6 Euro and the pizza was microwaved. Enough said about that. Here’s a pic so you’ll know what to avoid:



Time for dinner at the place we tried to get to the night before – we had been looking forward to this all day. We left a little early so we could check out a pottery shop near the restaurant – but it happened to close a little early that day (seems to happen a lot in Italy).

Anyways – I’m about to describe the best meal Candice and I have ever had. I hope I can do it justice!

Cantina della Giostra:



has two rooms – the first is located just off the main entrance – the second is in another building about 25 yards down the street. Both rooms are beautiful – we were in the second room (both pics below):





The menu started with a 2 page description and philosophy of the family run restaurant – which can be summed up in two words, “Slow Food” – cooking and eating meals slowly over several hours to enjoy not only the food, but the company and the experience.

The menu items were all in Italian, but our waiter did a great job at answering questions and providing his thoughts on each item and he helped select the perfect bottle of wine – a Tuscan Red called Gaja Magari 2002 – and it was excellent. The waiter decanted the wine, which was a great show for each of us - as neither of us had seen it done at the table before. I wish I had a picture of that!

Candice enjoying the wine:



Soon after completing our order, a woman appeared with a plate full of anti pasti – which we hadn’t even ordered. The plate was huge and contained about 6 different items – there were two slices of a special bologna, celery roots in a white sauce, pickled red peppers, a potato-based item in the shape of a small ball, a pickled eggplant item (which I didn’t touch, but Candice loved), and one other I can’t remember at the moment.

Next for our primi piatti: spaghettini taormina pomadorini crude e basilica for me (a spaghetti with tomato sauce and balsamic vinegar with slices of toasted Italian bread) and Candice had ravioli di Pecorino e pera william fatti a mano danoi (a ravioli with pecorino cheese and pears).

Secondi was Tagliata di Chianina aglio olio e rosmarino – sliced steak with olive oil and rosemary. Candice had filetto di branzine di mare al vino brunello - sea bass served under a bed of cooked tomatoes that were cut to look like roses. Mine came with a bunch of cooked rosemary on top of the steak and was very aromatic and delicious. The steak was cooked perfectly and had just the right amount of seasonings to go with the rosemary and oil. Pan cooked sliced potatoes came with the steak and were delicious as well.

Candice’s main course:


Both of us overheard the next table ask what was best for desert – and the response was tirimi su! The menu had it as "Tirimi Su...Su...Su!") The guests at that table raved about it – so we were hooked – and it was fantastic – and was made with something other than marscaponi on top - whatever it was, it was the best I’ve ever had.

The highlight of the evening was seeing and talking to the owner of the restaurant, Soldano D’Arburgo Lesey (his son, Dimitri was there too). He’s dressed in chef’s traditional clothing and has wild long silver hair. Apparently he personally shops for all of the nights food at the local markets every morning. He milled about the restaurant talking with guests and was more than happy to take a picture with us:



Overall, from end to end, the best meal and experience of the entire trip.

After dinner we wandered over to the Ponte Vecchio for a nighttime view:



Not too exciting – lots of people and that’s about it. All the shops were closed for the evening.

Florence Day 1 and 2 (5/9-10/2007)

Florence – 1

Arrived in Florence around 5:45 PM and walked from Santa Maria Novella station to the B&B located on Via Calimaruzza 4 near the Uffizi. The walk took about 15-20 minutes down very crowded sidewalks. One thing we’ve noticed in Italy is how pedestrians will think of nothing to walk in front of a car at an intersection – there must be an some code that people have the right of way that we weren’t aware of – as without fail, the cars stopped every time and allowed people to cross. However, the cars don’t stop if you don’t make the move to cross. Similarly, we’ve noticed that people in Europe are pushy and have no patience or courtesy with lines. They will move around you at any opportunity to advance their own position. When standing at a counter at an espresso bar, if you don’t speak up, someone else will. There is no sense of order or recognition of who’s next. We’re leaving Venice now, and I found this to be true more so there than in Florence – Florence was definitely a bit more mellow about it – kind of like the difference between New York and Chicago. Anyways… back to Florence…

Our B&B, Olaga’s house, was interesting – and a great place to stay.



The owner, Roberto is very personable and will chat you up for as long as you will let him.



We buzzed the door and entered a baren foyer lighted only by the light of the door – just enough to see the stairs in the far corner. Once the door closed, it was too dark to see. Feeling around blindly, we found the stairs and started to climb one slow step at a time (with our 45 lb packs on our backs). 79 steep steps later, we reach the Olga’s house door on the 3rd level (technically, the 4th floor as in Europe, the first floor doesn’t have a number so the second floor is called the first).

Roberto met us at the entrance to give us the key and his suggestions for places to eat pizza and have dinner around town. The room was pretty basic – and modern, but very comfortable considering it seems like everything in Italian cities is all crammed in as tight as can be.



We used our Zagat guide to find a place to eat – and decided on Cantenetta Antinori Wine Bar, which got at 24 food rating.





We had an amazing antipasti of porcini mushrooms and artichoke hearts drizzled with olive oil. The primi piatti was tagliatelle with beef – and it was incredible. The pasta was freshly made and perfectly cooked. Secondi Piatti for me was prime rib – cooked just barely medium rare in the center - and was the most flavorful steak I’ve had at a restaurant in a long while. Candice had sliced chicken breast over a bed of arugula and topped with a creamy parsley sauce. The wine was a bottle of Marchese Antinori Chianti Classiclo Riserva 2001 (only 29 Euro) and was a perfect match for the meal. Desert escapes me now, but our entire dining experience was a great memory. Perfectly relaxing – which was much needed after all the activity in Rome. The restaurant had two levels of seating – we were on the lower, main level. From what we could tell, the patrons were mostly Italian – maybe some other nationalities, but not American.

A slow walk home past the Duomo and Piazza della Repubblica brought us to the end of the day.

Day 2

The highlight of the morning – Academia and The David. The museum was about a 15 minute walk from Olga’s – past the Duomo and up a crowded and tight street called Via Ricasoli. Most of the time, the street is filled with people leisurely strolling one way or another or looking at things for sale laid out on the side walk or in little booths. Occasionally, a car would attempt to make it’s way through, and it was like parting the Red Sea – but slowly. We followed Rick Steve’s advice and made a reservation several weeks in advance. Good thing we did, as the line for people without reservations was enormous – and who knows how much time they would stand in it under the sun and on the pavement – with no place to sit. When we made the reservation, they instructed us to be there 10 minutes ahead of time. We got there about 8 minutes prior, and for a fleeting moment, I thought they would give up our place and make us stand in line. Luckily, that wasn’t the case!

No pictures inside means no pictures of the actual David (no pho-to, no pho-to!). Below is a picture from a replica, standing in the Piazza della Signoria near Olga’s:



This copy doesn’t do the original justice. In Accademia, The David is about 14 feet tall and stands alone. When you enter the museum, you are brought into a room with several other statues and paintings – which are interesting and wonderful in their own way. You go through a doorway which leads to a long hallway with more paintings on either side, but your attention is immediately drawn to the amazing statue at the end of the hallway. Standing alone under a 30 foot arch, is The David. People are massed around under it – staring up at the amazing detail. Not being a student of the arts, beforehand I knew it was a famous statue, but had no appreciation for difference between it and any other famous statue. What could be so special – it’s just a person carved in marble, right? How wrong I was! The quality is apparent on first glance. The detail is perfect. Veins pop out of his hands. The muscles of the legs, abs, arms and neck are just right. The expression in the face is believable – as it is said this is the moment just before David was to take on Goliath – rock in hand and sling around his shoulder.

There were other paintings and statues in the museum, but – really – I can’t differentiate them – especially since the star of the day soaks up so much attention.

Time for lunch – nice little place down the street and over a block called Bar Ginori, where we had sandwiches, cappuccino and an espresso dopio.

On to the Medici e Riccardi Palace – just around the corner. The Medici’s were the most influential family for several generations during the renaissance – and in effect ran Florence. They were not nobility though – all of their riches were self made – in trade and banking, I think.



Candice is dancing in the main hall of the palace - which had an amazing mural or fresco on the ceiling and wonderfully painted mirrors on the wall opposite the windows - which were hidden by some big ugly drapes!

The palace is a well-fortified mansion in the middle of busy Florence – where the lower walls were solid stone, giving the feeling of impregnability. Inside held a inner courtyards and access to the upper levels. Michalangelo lived here as a g here as a guest of the Medici’s and studied his craft as a teenager and throughout his early career. Frankly, it was a little dissapointing as the Florentine government uses part of the palace so we were not allowed in many rooms.

After the palace, we found some gelato and wandered around the neighborhood – which was the home of the sprawling San Lorenzo Market – vendors selling everything from leather bags and goods to T-shirts to linen shirts and dresses to cheap souvenirs.



Wandering through the market led us to our next destination, the Basilica of San Lorenzo and the Cappelle di Medici. Neither of which allows pictures inside – but from the outside, here’s the Basilica:



And in the back, the entrance to the Cappelle:



The Cappelle di Medici was special because in it was a room entirely designed by Michelangelo and contained crypts of 4 Medici’s – three of which Michelangelo knew personally. He wasn’t able to finish the room, as he died as he was almost complete. We could have done without the basillica - but we mistakenly entered it first and had already paid before realizing we were not exactly where we wanted to be. Funny - we actually walked past the back entrance and thought it was too quiet and not enough people interested for there to be some famous Michelangelo sculptures inside. Now we know.

Next was the Babistry and Giotto’s tower in front of the Duomo.



The Babtistry, on the left above, is a one room building with eight sides – the eighth side representing the neverending day of life after death. The dome inside is the thing to look at (I was just happy to be able to sit down in a cool dark place after the super hot day at the market!):



and the doors outside:



We climbed Giotto’s Tower – all 414 steps up this monster:



so that we could get this view:


It was actually worth the climb!

Dinner was at Ristarante Natolino – nothing special here – we chose it because our first choice was booked (more on that later). I had Veal with a tuna sauce – which was served cold and Candice had something she can’t remember at this point. Wine was Il Grigio de San Felice Chianti Classico Riserva 2003 – very good.



We did meet a nice couple from France – Philippe and Elisabette – nice conversation while we waited for our table. The service was pretty good as the owner gave us Proseco and antipasti while we waited for free and the waitress was good – helped with the wine selection and made a good choice. She was really happy with the 10% tip we gave her – must not happen often.

Florence Day 3 up next…