Florence

PHEW.

Sorry for the silence. Our internet went out yesterday, and I didn’t want to bother anyone about it…my phone has data, so my family in the US can still get in touch with me, anyway.

But we arrived  back from Florence today to find everything was back up, so I’ve cleaned the kitchen, repacked all the souvenir purchases, Instagrammed a bunch, so here I am.

We are staying about 10 miles outside of Florence at an apartment in the country that I booked on AirBnB two days before we arrived. It is a nice little apartment with all that we could want, but just a *little* more remote than is ideal, plus it’s been too cool to swim, so the advertised pool is of no use. That’s okay. I could maybe stay at a Motel 6 in Birmingham for what I’m paying to stay at an apartment amid olive groves in the Tuscan countryside, so it remains A Deal.

Before we actually got here, I wasn’t sure how much time we would want to spend in Florence – which is why I didn’t even attempt for us to stay in Florence, proper. I had heard so many conflicting things: Florence is great. Florence is my favorite. Florence is crowded and dirty. Florence is teeming with tourists and poseur American art students. 

So I figured…stay outside of Florence, have the car, give it a day, and if a day was enough, we’d have other options.

(You are saying…um…philistine? You think “a day” in Florence might be “enough?” Well…just remember that I have two kids and we are at the end of almost three weeks here. I didn’t know if they would just be at the point of Enough with museums and cities and such, so I was ready to be flexible.)

Well, we’ve ended up spending both days in Florence. I won’t say that I adore it, but one day definitely wasn’t enough, and of course two still just scratches the surface, but given where we are on this trip…two days is good.

I’m not up for narrative, so I’ll bullet point.

• We are not driving into Florence. We go to Scanducci, park at the big grocery store (not kidding – biggest grocery store I’ve ever been in, including Super Wal-Marts), then go to the tram that runs right into Florence. Free parking, no city driving, very easy.
• After much research and internal debate I ended up getting a Firenze Card. I’ll write more about this in a separate post because it’s a popular topic among travelers, but I’ll just say that for me, it was worth it.  No, the dollar value of the tickets I would have bought was less than what I paid for the card, but the convenience of not having to reserve specific times at the Accademia or Uffizi is worth that extra $20. Everyone values different things, and I value flexibility and freedom.
• Tuesday, we got off the tram and went straight to the Duomo area. We went to the baptistry first, then the Duomo. Climbed the campanile. Which was enough to make me decide I was *not* climbing the duomo dome itself. So far this trip, I have climbed a Bologna tower, up to St. Peter’s Dome, the Siena duomo and still have Pisa to go. Plus a zillion other stairs. I’m good.
• Then meandering and a sit-down lunch, which was nothing special.
• More meandering down to the Ponte Vecchio. Talked about it, crossed it, walked to the Pitti Palace, which I sped-read about and decided we would not be interested in. So we walked back across the bridge, I talked to them about the 1966 flood and pulled up some photos of it on my phone,  and then we made our way up to the Accademia.
• On the way, spent time in San Croce, the largest Franciscan church in the world. Much wonderful art, Michelangelo and Galileo buried there.
• Then to the Accademia, to see David. The line for unreserved tickets snaked around the block (this was at about 5, and the museum was open into the evening). With the FC, we went to the ticket office, I had to pay a 4E “reservation fee” for each of the boys (showing J’s passport as proof of his under-18 age, which pleased him), but then got that done and waltzed in. See, I told you it was worth it.
• Saw David,which, like the Eiffel Tower, no matter how iconic it is, is still astonishing at first sight.
• More moving, though, were the Michelangelo’s unfinished sculptures in the hall leading up to David.
• Poked around a bit more, including in the musical instrument museum. Made our way back to the train, got back to Scanducci, bought a roast chicken and other things at the grocery store and drove back …to no internet. #Sad.
• They explored the property, found scads of snails and some horses amidst the olive trees.
• Up this morning, same routine: park at the grocery, tram it to Florence.
• Started at S. Maria Novella, which is near the train station. Some fascinating art, including a Giotto crucifix.
• If you have traveled to Catholic sites, particularly in Italy, you know that they can be strict about clothing. Once in Sicily, I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and was handed a shawl when I walked into a church. I’ve heard it’s one of of the reasons there used to be so many scarf-vendors around St. Peter’s (didn’t see *any* this time…mostly selfie-sticks). I visited a Hindu temple outside of Atlanta and even though my skirt was barely above the knee…nope. Had to wrap up in a big black…wrap they hand out. S. Maria Novella has a solution I’d not seen before: Robes. They are mass produced, thin robes packaged in plastic. You waltz in wearing short shorts? Here’s a robe.
• Then back across the Arno to a branch of the Natural History Museum that is there. We like animals, I thought it would be a nice break, plus they have a collection of 18th-19th century wax human anatomical models I wanted to see. Bologna has a similar collection that I could never seem to get to, so I was particularly keen on this.
• It was a good idea. A quick walk-through, yes, but they enjoyed it – the animals, that is. It is an old collection (the kind of thing I really appreciate – seeing older, quirky museum collections) and with many of the specimens, you could see the taxidermist’s seam lines and so on.
• The anatomical models were FANTASTIC. The boys were skeeved out, but I could have stayed much longer. There were a number of people there sketching, so the collection still has great value, obviously.
• Then a quick counter lunch here, which was far superior to yesterday’s lunch. That is usually the case, I have found.
• Up across the Arno. The Galileo Science Museum is right next to the Uffizi, so we hit that first. Great, great exhibits. It’s not huge, but is certainly dense, centered on a couple of collections of historic scientific instruments including, of course, Galileo – a couple of his telescopes and other instruments, as well as relics – a finger bone and a tooth!
• They advertise an “interactive” section, but don’t go thinking that it will be anything like your typical American science museum (about which I have mixed feelings, btw). It’s all of two rooms, with maybe 5 “hands on” activities.
• Then the Uffizi – the FC card got us through within minutes, and without that 4E kid fee either.
• More on the Uffizi later (as in…next week). I enjoyed it, but it was mobbed and a couple of times it was challenging to see the art because of the tour groups.
• ….and back.
• Of course remember that all of this is interspersed with regular gelato stops. Always.

Check out Instagram and Snapchat (amywelborn2) for more…and here are some random pics.

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

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Up to Siena and more

All right, the last couple of days in a quick nutshell.

Sunday morning, I spent a while wandering Sorano looking for another Catholic church I swore must be there. Indeed, one church was right around the corner from our apartment, but as I interpreted it, the Mass times were 8 and 11:30 – the first being too early, the second being later that I wanted.

When I mapped it, I thought I had seen another Catholic church, but when I set out walking..it was nowhere to be found and my data didn’t work. So..I wandered. Which was fine.

Got the boys up, then we left at 11:29.30 for 11:30 Mass, which is nice. The congregation was composed of 18 people, including the three of us. More on that later when I can be more reflective. It was sad, with one tiny glimmer of hope who wished us pace with great sincerity.

We then headed to the path below the village that led to our own area’s via cave – of San Rocco. It was quite a hike up – and when we were back “home” looking up at the plateau upon which we’d stood, it was hard to believe we’d done it. But worth it. Several Etruscan burial sites, caves and niches, and a small (locked) Romanesque church.

And on the way back…it started raining. We were wet, certainly, but not soaked or hurt, so who cares. We hung up our cloths, dried off, ate, waited for the sun to come out, and made our next moves – a tour of the town’s castle (I didn’t take any photos because it was just the three of us, an elderly American couple and our sweet Italian tour guide with her charming, precise English, and it just didn’t seem like the right time. For most of its history, it belonged to the Orsinis. If there is one aspect of history I am emphasizing to the boys on this trip it is simply the patchwork history of Italy, and I think they are getting it. I know I am certainly coming to a more solid grasp of it myself.

The sun was out, so we decided to head over to Pitigliano – this amazing place – where we actually parked (free, because I had actually studied up on it and understood that if the lines were white, the space was free), wandered, checked out the duomo (Mass was happening), the Jewish quarter, and ate some dinner. There was a substantial Jewish population in Pitigliano until World War II, when most left, but the synagogue and other historic buildings are still maintained – not open on Sunday. What was terribly sad was that the complex was guarded by two military guys with machine guns. How tragic that that is necessary.

****

Back to the home base, where we did a bit more wandering, up to the rock that has been built up into a viewing wall. We spent a lot of time up there looking, studying the landscape, talking, and imagining the people – from the Etruscans to modern times – who have inhabited the place.

***

Then it was time to go. The apartment is located in a pedestrian-only zone (as is most of the town), so you can’t park there. The instructions I got for where to park were basically this: “Don’t go in the main gate of the village. Keep going and you will come to some nut trees near a power station with a yellow sign. Park there, walk down the stone steps and you will find the road to the apartment.”

O-kay. 

It took me a couple of tries – I drove past once, couldn’t imagine that that was actually where I was supposed to leave my rental car, but the road led me up, up, up a mountain across a gorge from the village. What was funny was that when I finally found a place to turn around, not one, but TWO cars pulled into the same place behind me, both drivers studying maps when they pulled in. Solace in a confused community.

Well, it was a safe place, the car was fine, and the walk wasn’t bad, except a bit of a chore up the stairs with suitcases. But I didn’t do that, so not my problem, eh guys?

***

The drive to Siena took a bit longer than I thought because I turned off on one wrong road, and instead of backtracking, I decided to just keep going an alternative way. It’s fine. It’s all gorgeous scenery.

***

When people drive to Siena, one of the great concerns is parking.  Most Italian cities have what they call ZTL zones – historic zones in which driving is limited to those who have special permits. If you venture into a ZTL, you apparently get zapped with a massive fine, and everyone is super scared. I didn’t have a problem – I just followed the “P” signs which indicated a lot with available spaces – Il Campo – and parked there. Easy.

***

We only did the basics, unfortunately, but they were quite enough for one afternoon – the Campo, the Duomo, inside and from up top, and the Catherine of Siena sites, include the relic of her head, which was not at all gruesome.

I’ll write more on that later.

It was a rainy day, but not too bad. We found shelter in churches and gelateria. Which is a metaphor for something.

Then a rather tortuous drive to the outskirts of Florence – probably more tortuous than it should have been – found the new place. We went to the biggest supermarket we’ve been to on this trip – an Esselunga – and stocked up, and then drove back up the hill to eat things like salami and prosciutto sandwiches, pepperocini stuffed with tuna. a cold pesto pasta dish, cheese, bread, olives and Italian chicken nuggets – “just to see”.

I obviously hope to get into Florence today…we’ll see…

Random photos I don’t have time to label. Seriously – follow me on Instagram or on Snapchat (amywelborn2) to get more during the day. I have videos on both – and remember Snapchat stuff is only up for 24 hours. You have to download the Snapchat app and register, but it’s painless – and you can make your kids cringe with embarrassment that you’re on Snapchat, and possibly drive them off of it as a result, so that’s a win.]

(Photo related – the blog header is from the Siena duomo – heads of popes lining the walls. I am convinced that whoever designed Disney’s Haunted Mansion had visited this place. It’s all I could think of as I looked at them looking down at me with their various expressions….)

 

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