Florence - Day 1 - June 1, 2010

Travel to Florence - We're up about 6 a.m., which was an early start for an evening that ended late with the misadventure to the cute and colorful island of Burano. We rushed through breakfast at Al Campaniel and hot-footed it off to the train station where we easily find our train and seats, thanks to Bob?s study of the system (a challenge in Italy - systems). It is crowded with lots of tourists - mostly young Americans around us - and a couple of young Japanese gals who have absurdly huge suitcases that Bob muscled around for them. The train ride to Florence is smooth through green country with the Dolomites in the distance ? nothing unusual and not dissimilar to the Willamette Valley except for the square white, gold, gray, and peach-colored plaster houses with their terracotta roofs. I use the time to write about our Venice adventures.

Arrival in Florence - We arrive in Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence within about two smooth hours (about 11:30 am) and promptly buy our tickets for Pisa. I am anxious to get out of there for fear of gypsies. The tunnel to the street has me most worried and, from the descriptions in guidebooks, it sounds like one must dash through a gauntlet of pickpockets just lying in wait to snag valuables off tourists. Only one harmless gypsy came up muttering something to me and moved quickly along as I deliberately turned my back to her. Other than that, no one jostled or bumped us, no one looked like a bum, a drunk, or a pickpocket in disguise as a tourist or businessperson. I felt completely safe. We didn't quite come out of the right tunnel but eventually - and easily with a map - made it to our 2-star hotel, Nuova Italia. There are throngs of tourists and people everywhere and we do not stand out as weirdo, American baboons - another fear of mine.

Hotel Check in - Our reservations at Nuova Italia have all been handled via email about six months ago and reconfirmed at least a couple of times. At Nuova Italia, Daniella spoke perfect English and quickly checked us into room 16, which is located up two flights of concrete steps. As usual, it is good to have light luggage as there is no elevator and we must haul everything up the stairs. The room is reasonably nice with decent beds (1 queen + 1 twin), armoire, clean bath w/large shower tiled in red, and a desk. The windows face a narrow and busy walking street which is noisy all day and night (as we soon later discover). We keep our windows (double paned to shut out noise) shut. At night, we discover we can request A/C (later, when meeting up with Justin, our friend and guide in Rome, we learn that the hotels pay quite a surcharge for using A/C - for clothes driers, people pay a 100% use tax - which is why no one has a dryer and everyone hangs their clothes on lines affixed to their buildings) and we also are able to access wireless internet - yaay!

Exploring Florence - We dump off our suitcases and, with not a minute to waste, we're off for the afternoon. We are very close to the mercato (market) and outdoor vendors with scarves, sunglasses, leather goods and the like, so we stroll through there on our way to the large domed Medici Chapel. Once inside we look at lots of antiquities - mostly of the religious variety. There's a beautiful chapel to see (murals, paintings, statuary, gilded surfaces) and then we head upstairs to the tomb of the Medici family all designed by Michelangelo. He had his hand in all art and carvings there. Like all Renaissance tombs in churches and chapels, these are massive. They're constructed of granite, marble, and draped with plaster angels, etc. We don't linger too long as we are off to the Medici-Riccardi Palace. Like most palaces, the exterior is nothing much to rave about (which is why I seldom take an exterior picture) as all the money is spent on the interior for the enjoyment of the residents - including an interior, grassy courtyard. After tromping up a couple of flights of interior stone staircases, we view Renaissance art of all types.

What's for lunch? - We head to the indoor mercato where there are supposed to be places to buy sandwiches and picnic items. We really weren't prepared for a picnic and we end up fumbling our way through ordering sandwiches from Perini, a deli recommended by Rick Steves. My few Italian words haven't kicked in yet and I couldn't even remember the word for sandwich (panini). The guy helping us spoke a few and he said, "you want sandwiches (nod - si)? What kind? (oh dear, what to say) Something of everything?? (whew - he guessed right). He hands one to me and says, "Here. Bite." We end up with two beautiful and very crunchy panini filled with fatty meat (proschiutto), parmagiano doused in balsalmic, and marinated dried tomatoes. We head off to a nearby piazza, sit in the sun and munch away feeding an awful lot of the crunchy bread to the eager pigeons. We down the panini with water from our bottles having refused to pay $8E for a small bottle of Coke (Whaaat? $10 for a 16 oz. Coke? What dummy pays that??)

Post-lunch wandering - After lunch we wander down a few blocks to the Santa Maria del Fiore gothic cathedral (aka Duomo). It's about 3 p.m. and, although there were huge crowds in the piazza, there was no line for the Duomo and we walk in for a free visit. As Bob put it, the designer put all the money into the lacy and frothy green-colored exterior - which is usually the opposite of that the designers do. This translates to a cavernous - but basic - interior with the first dome built since ancient Roman times. "del Fiore" means "of the flower" so the exterior fits the name.

It's gelato time and Florence is filled with seemingly hundreds of gelato places. But we are after one recommended by both Rick Steves and Bob's colleague who recently passed through Florence. At last, we stumble onto Grom which is supposed serve only organic gelato. Yeah, ok, sounds like a PR ploy to me. I guess the cows aren't fed hormones. Other than that, there's not much to gelato that isn't natural.

Accademia and Mr. D - We contemplate climbing the Duomo but my feet hurt and it's time to head to the Accademia for our reserved time of 4:45 pm. We had requested the Hotel Nuova Italia to reserve tickets for us for the Accademia and Uffizi which eliminates waiting in any lines. We paid for the tickets (in cash) when we checked into the hotel at a cost of $14E per person per ticket.

Once inside the Accademia, we popped on our Rick Steves podcast which brought everything to life and gave our visit some focus. These narrated tours are extremely helpful (along with his guidebooks and maps). The first site we take in is himself, Signore David. There he is in all his naked glory under a windowed dome that casts a glowing light on him. Oh my, the crowds and tour groups abound and there is no quiet reflection or admiration to be had. Nevertheless, we get to sit up close and personal.

I noticed a couple of people successfully snapping a quick photo and a few more hapless souls who get caught by the bellowing NO PHOTO!!!! guard. As soon as she is off chasing them, I sneak behind a column and grab my own quick shots. I bump up the ISO to 1600 and set the light meter so that I can do so with no flash. There's really no reason one can't take a photo other than it would get out of hand with tons of flashes going off and there would be fewer postcards sold in the bookstore. The rest of the Accademia is filled with statutes, sculptures, Renaissance painting by famous people, and a musical instrument museum. We pay our due respects and exit.

We head back toward the outside market vendors and I browse some large scarves (which I use on tables at home) similar to those Bob brought home from China. But, oh, the colors! And reasonable at $5E each. Quite different and lovely. I want, I want. But not yet.

Dinner time - We find a corner wine bar and sit on the sidewalk to have a couple of glasses. Next, we decide to search out a Rick Steves restaurant in the Mercato area and thus, stumble into Trattoria Za Za. We're one of the early birds - which is a good thing as we get a quick table per due per favore (for 2, please) outside under the large tent awnings. We order a half carafe of house red and out it comes with a basket of very chewy - but not flavorful - bread (we request some of the oil and balsamic vinegar that we notice others getting for dunking the bread). In addition, we order for $12E a large plate of antipasti of meats, cheese, olives, dried tomatoes, and artichoke. We nosh on that before the main order comes. I feel safest with pizza so end up with one that has ham, mushrooms, pesto, and a truffle sauce that is yummy! Bob orders a large salad and both come at the same time so that we can share them. Obviously, ZaZa's is on the tourist map as many Americans, Brits, Germans, etc. show up. Although ZaZa's is touted as a local hangout, there's no way a local would be caught dead here!

Bob is dying for a carbonated beverage and we ask the hostess for a market location. She is surprised that we're looking for something open - "at this hour," she says (It's about 7:30 pm.). But, she directs us to a nearby supermercado that is also in Steves book. It's a busy little place with women shopping for dinner.

Like a rabbit warren, the sections wind through the bottom of a large, old building. Obviously, they expand into spaces wherever they can acquire it. Bob finds some cold diet Coke for $.77E and is pleased with the price. We each get one and gulp it down like we?ve been stranded on an island for a week. Aaaah! Cold drinks!

At the end of the day - Back to Nuova Italia. Bob nods off while I toil away on the internet and get to bed later than I should. (At the time of this writing, we are actually on the train to Pisa. With long days will with sightseeing and church/museum hopping, there is little time for writing during the days where we're touring.)