Friday in Florence

Friday, June 3, 2011.  Our last day in Florence, the girls are really sad to leave.  The adults are slightly sad, but feel we’ve had lots of fun and have spent enough money at this point!

The city was significantly more crowded today, and the wait to begin ascending the 463 stairs to the top of the Duomo was an hour long.  No problem, Madeline wanted shoes after seeing the twins’ acquisitions the day before, so she and I used part of that time to buy two cute pairs for her.

Climbing the steps was dizzying, and I confess to getting my heart rate up at points where the pace was brisk.  At one point, the space opened up to an area with sculptures essentially waiting in the wings.  A nice surprise.

How lucky to get to walk out of the stairway and onto a balcony inside the Duomo where we could see the beautiful artwork on the ceiling.  Because of the plexiglass barricade on our narrow balcony, it was difficult to get a good photo of the inside of the building far below.  I did make the effort.

More, even narrower, winding steps up (at last) to the very top of the Duomo.  Spectacular views!  

We had one last outrageously good lunch, before checking out of our hotel and driving to Milan.  This was a long drive, and we’re staying at a hotel not too far from the airport for our flight to NY tomorrow.

Dan gets to fly directly back to the west coast, but due to a United flight departure time change, the rest of us have to spend a night in NY before flying the remainder of the way home Sunday.

Florence on Thursday

Thursday, Nicky had to return to NY to begin his drive with all his possessions back to San Francisco.  We were all sad to say “goodbye” because he had added so much to our fun on this trip.

Awesome hotel breakfast

David and Dan had ordered special hand-crafted leather boxes the day before, and they were ready for pick up after being engraved with their initials.  So we went to pick them up, and took of photo of them with the 3^rd-generation box maker.  A very cool shop.

spontaneous parade

Michelangelo

E with mime (cupid)

shoe shopping

dog carrying newspaper

mime

mime

We pushed on to the Galleria degli Uffizi, the Italian equivalent of the Louvre.  No photos were permitted inside, and we followed the rules.  So, we’ll only be able to show you a statue of Michelangelo outside and some cool mimes who were stationed between the statues outside the gallery.

Everyone was tired after the impressive gallery, and we returned to our comfortable hotel to relax a bit before a late lunch. 

After lunch, we split up in three:  Dan on his own, David and Madeline to relax a bit more, and the twins and I to shop. 

We mostly looked in the windows of all the designer stores, but did find a few that were on the fringe of our price range.  Late in the afternoon, the twins bought shoes at two different shops and we made it back to the hotel in time to get ready for dinner.

Amazingly, no dinner photos for this delicious meal:  brochetta, pear-stuffed ravioli in gorgonzola sauce (fantastic), lamb/pork/steak main courses.  So good!

Gelato was located on our walk home.  Another great day.

Florence!

We packed up the house in Vergato and drove to Florence.  Didn’t take long to get to the city, but driving in the city is a unique challenge since so much has been closed to regular vehicles.  Even on the cell phone with an English-speaking hotel clerk, it took us a while to arrive at the Hotel L’Orologio.

Once there, any problems were forgotten because the hotel was wonderful.  Check out the link to their website.

We went to a nearby shop for paninis and headed over to the l’Accademia to see the David.  Having recently finished The Agony and the Ecstasy, it was remarkable to see the David in person.  We observed how large his hands and feet were, and were surprised to see the ribbon going in back from his shoulder to his opposite hand.

lunch in Florence

city of vespas

outside the Duomo

There was an historic musical instrument exhibit on display and a variety of other beautiful sculptures.  The museum was small, and our appointment (arranged by the hotel) made for a very nice visit.

Florence Segway Tour

We followed a map to make it to our scheduled Segway tour at 3:00pm.  Only Dan had previously ridden a Segway (in Chicago), so the rest of us received instructions, strapped on earpieces, and roared off listening to our charming English-speaking guide, Valentina.

Seeing the heart of the city on Segways was the way to go!  We were able to cover a lot of ground, and learned about the history and architecture of the city.  We’ll be on the lookout for Segway tours on future vacations.

Florence First Evening

Wednesday night, we went to dinner at a restaurant recommended by nice Red Sox fans at Fenway Park.  We had several pasta samplers and a couple salad samplers before indulging in main courses of steak.  The blueberry steak was delicious, and the balsamic steak was excellent.  Various desserts followed; no one will recognize us when we return home.

restaurant menu

exiting restaurant

store window of shop on way home

Pisa

Tuesday must be Pisa.  Difficult for us to locate, but quite beautiful.  Tonight we have to pack up to leave the house, so I won’t write much.  Here are some photos of this excursion:

Tomorrow we head for Florence.

Venice

We took a very fast train from Bologna to Venice on Monday, May 30, 2011.  Dan was the only one in our group who had been to Venice before, and the rest of us were unprepared to be completely blown away by the beauty of the city.

When we arrived in Venice, we took the water bus down the Grand Canale to Piazza San Marco.

San Marco

This city of masks was like Chinatown on steroids, with lots of water, and nicer stuff.  Morgan made it her mission to buy the perfect mask souvenir, and we checked out many before she ultimately made her decision.

The San Marco plaza was packed with tourists and we slowly began walking through Venice, moving farther and farther away from the crowds.  We felt we found the “real Venice” after walking for some time.  Halfway to the train station, we realized that we could just keep walking through the small streets and alleys and return all the way to the train station on foot.  No small challenge, looking for water crossings in our labyrinth.  

Zillions of beautiful glass shops

E mails a postcard to her class

Cute shoes, but she didn't buy them

There was gelato procured along the way, and a stop in a beautiful (but smallish) museum.

Venice Afternoon

We had plenty of time before our return train, so we caught the water bus again and took it on a cruise just for fun for the last hour of the afternoon.  The back of the boat had seating outside for seven people, and seat by seat we moved in as vacancies appeared until our group had a private area in the shade for the entire ride back up the canale.  This was a part of the day that we each said was incredibly enjoyable.

The train ride back to Bologna provided a chance to rest up before searching out a great place for dinner.  Dan cleverly asked the wine shop proprietor to recommend a restaurant, and we were delighted with the meal we had that night.

Walking back to our giant car after dinner, we passed by the place where we had our first lunch after Nicky arrived, and our waiter recognized us.  He beamed with happiness and many hugs were exchanged.  So warm and fuzzy to feel at home in Bologna.