Day 13, getting to know David

Our third and final full day in Florence was, you guessed it, full. It found us up bright and early and waiting in a continuously growing line outside the Accademia.

We had pinned our hopes for the morning on getting to the museum early enough to see Michelangelo's David without having to wait for hours with hundreds of other people. This is where the Firenze card was pure magic. Because, even though we watched the tour groups pile up outside their own entrance, and the individual sight seers crowd around theirs, we were ushered in through our own, special, Firenze Card door right at opening time. Two rooms and a hallway later we found ourselves in David's larger-than-life presence. The hall was large and high ceilinged, and, with only about fifteen of us in there, library quiet. Yep, fifteen of us, give or take. We had plenty of room to walk all the way around the giant guy, and, for some reason, the almost private showing lasted for at least a good fifteen minutes before others started to trickle in. It gave us plenty of time to really take in the work and feel a bit of awe in its presence. We had so much time that we actually left to see other exhibits and were utterly surprised by the crush of people packing the hallway when we came back through it not a half hour later. 

Firenze Card for the win. 

The rest of the Accademia was less than exciting, although they did have a pair of hurdey gurdies that was to die for. It's possible that the real bagels we found at a little shop around the corner were more to die for, but that might be because it had been weeks since we'd enjoyed real honest-to-goodness bagels.

When we left the Accademia we wandered by Brunelleschi's orphanage and then over to the home  and chapel of the Medicis. The Medici home was something I had greatly looked forward to, and while it didn't deliver on the level that I had hoped, it's "open for visitors but not quite a museum" status was somehow just the thing. Disappointing was the vulgar Pinocchio art exhibit that cluttered the hallways, and that much of the original home currently houses government offices of some kind and so was off the tour, but I still got a chance to stand in the courtyard and  imagining Michelangelo and cohorts running up the wide, sweeping staircases and through the long hallways. That was what I had wanted, and it was there for the taking. The chapel was less impressive, and partly under construction. That was fine.

We finished the morning with a climb up Giotto's tower (lots of climbing in Florence, lots of climbing), and this has to have been one of the most magical moments for me, because we reached the top just at noon, and the entire city erupted in ringing bells. It was amazing.

We took the afternoon off for shopping, gelato, and beer, then finished the day with a tour of the Palazzo Pitti. From town we followed the Vasari Corridor, over the Ponte Vecchio and through the narrow streets, up the hill to the palace, all the while imaging the Medici rulers using the covered walkway to get to their offices (Uffizi) on time and in one piece (that, or Dan Brown's Inferno, one of the two). The Pitti Palace was a confusing place, in terms of camera rules, so there are few pictures from inside the museum, but a handful more from our romp through the Boboli gardens there.

And that was it. That was Florence. The next day was again one of driving through foothills and on up into the Apenine Mountains for the last bit of magic on our trip. And magic it was, too.

Brunelleschi's Orphanage, the Ospedale degli Innocenti

Look for Lorenzo, the plaque said, he's the one in the red hat.

The Medici tombs in the Medici Chapel

The Duomo, buried in the center the city you run into it all the time

Giotto's Tower (photo from day 2, but since we climbed it on day 3, I think it goes here)

The Tower is the best place to photograph the Duomo, the Duomo the best place to photograph the Tower.

Cool bat with a mustache thingy...I have whole folders full of great doorway and window decorations

Tiny beers for you!

Palazzo Pitti

The ornate ceilings and walls were *painted on* (mind blown)

Boboli Gardens

The best views of the city are from the Boboli Gardens—note Giotto's Tower, Brunellschi's Dome on the the Duomo, the smaller almost identical dome of the Medici Chapel, and the fortress-like top of the Palazzo Vecchio

The Grotto and the Vasari Corridor 

Day 12, the Uffizi and more

Our second full day in Florence was as full as the first. When we first arrived in the city and picked up our Firenze cards, there was a brief moment of panic as we took in the long list of visiting possibilities compared the the short number of days at our disposal. There is a lot to see in Florence. A lot. But the good news is that the old city center is relatively small, and pretty much everything is walkable. The further good news for us was that, thanks to the cards, some planning ahead, and our being there outside of peak tourist season, we spent very little of our little time waiting in lines.

Still, we spent our first evening planning every minute of every day so as to maximize the time and get to as many sites as we could. It reminded me a bit of Disney planning—deciding which activities are most important and then planning which lines will be shortest when and how to get to them all. This may have added to the carnival feel I got from the city as a whole.

So, our second full day in Florence was as full as the first. We focused on the Uffizi, the Galileo Science Museum, The Basilica of Santa Croce, the inside of the Duomo, and the Church of Orsanmichel. The Uffizi was amazing, but does not allow pictures, though I accidentally snagged the photo button a few times while I was trying to take notes on the various pieces of art, so I have a couple of shots to mark the visit there. The Galileo museum did allow photography, and was surprisingly enjoyable. Although, like the Casa di Dante, it had little that was actually Galileo's, unlike Dante's sort-of-maybe-almost museum, Galileo's provided lots to see, read, learn, and do. They had wonderful videos that demonstrated how many of the pieces were made, used, and worked. Plus they had lots of very old globes, clocks, and telescopes, and I love very old globes, clocks, and telescopes.

The Basilica of Santa Croce, a.k.a. the church with all the most famous dead people in Florence, was one of hte most simple churches, but one of the more beautiful for it as well. We followed our visit there with a trip inside the Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) to see the dome from the floor below. As beautiful as it the duomo is outside, the inside was a little of a let down, but the Baptistry across the way was hiding a surprisingly golden dome behind Ghiberti's famous doors. And Orsanmichele was exciting mostly for the ring of statues set in its walls, particularly the St. George and the Dragon by Donatello.

We finished with beer, and some time to rest our feet before a delightful dinner outdoors on a small square near the Palazzo Pitti. 

Resting our feet at the Uffizi
 
Birth of Venus, by Botticelli, housed at the Uffizi

The Portrait of Leo X, by Raphael, housed at the Uffizi

The Galileo Science Museum

The Basilica di Santa Croce

Galileo's tomb

Michelangelo's tomb

Santa Maria del Fiore

Plaque to Brunelleschi

Dome inside the Baptistry

Church of Orsanmichele

Donatello's St. George and the Dragon

On the Arno near the Ponte Vecchio

Standing under the Vasari Corridor

The Vasari Corridor over the Ponte Vecchio

clams for dinner!

Days 10-11, our first days in Florence

Our days of rest in Verona were brief, and were exactly the recharge we needed before the flurry that was Florence. We arrived in Florence in the afternoon and while dad and Curtis returned the rental cars (a job made much more difficult by street closures for an annual bike race we knew nothing about), the rest of us met our landlord of the week and got checked into our new digs. Something I haven't talked about much is how we secured our accommodations, and if you enjoy traveling but haven't perused the VRBO (Vacation rental by owner) site, you might be missing out. It was a new on on me, but not to the rest of our group, and Julie and dad secured used it to secure most of our stays, all of which were very enjoyable. In Florence, our apartment was just a block away from the Ponte Vecchio, and had a wonderful view of the Arno. In addition to the excellent location, the apartment provided us with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gathering room, a dining room, and a kitchen. Sure, a hotel will change your bed and give you clean towels, but staying in these apartments allowed us a place to be together, and overall it saved us money. 

Back to Florence...after our brief country stay it was a bit overwhelming at first, this definitely having something to do with the bike race that closed so many of the city roads, and so many of our planned crosswalks. The race lasted the entire week that we were there, and it forced us to make a few detours, but while this was a serious issue for our drivers when they were returning the cars, it really wasn't that much of an inconvenience for the rest of the time. Plus the tourism office gave us a really great map of the city with the bike route and open crosswalks clearly marked to help us out.

Back to Florence again, I really thought it would be my favorite city of the trip, but in the end it couldn't beat Rome. Florence was the seat of the Renaissance, if such a thing existed, birthing front runners like Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and Galileo. It is still home to many key Renaissance pieces and landmarks, and I loved these. Seeing the home, offices, and sanctuary of the Medicis was top on my list. But Florence as a whole was a little too carnival for me. Where Rome seem integrated, with ancient and Renaissance sites spread throughout blocks of bars, shopping, and offices, Florence was everything in one place, and everything was a site hawking its desirables to the passersby. 

That being said, I loved everything we saw in Florence, and every minute of every day was full. 

Day one was really only a half day, and we spent it checking in and picking up up our Firenze Cards, which were worth every penny, not only for the savings, but for their line skipping powers. A big tip for visiting families: we purchased Calvin his own Firenze Card, and though it probably wasn't necessary at every site, without his own card we'd have had to wait in line at several sites, including the Academia and the Uffizi, and not having to wait was worth it by far.

Day two of Florence was our first real day in the city. We spent with Brunelleschi's dome (the dome of the Duomo), Donatello's David at the Bargello, the Palazzo Davanzati (a medieval tower house), a merry-go-round in the Piazza Republica, the Casa di Dante (in the building that might have been Dante's house, but probably not, with items that could-have-might-have-but-probably-didn't belong to Date, yadda yadda), the Duomo Museum (closed for construction except for two or three pieces), and the Palazzo Vecchio. It was a full and busy day that was as exhausting as it was rewarding, and just the start of a long few days in Florence.

A short side story: Calvin had long since finished the book he was reading on our trip, and since I'd underestimated the time he would have for reading, we'd packed only the one. So on our first day in Florence we looked up book stores that would sell book sin English as well as Italian. In this way we scored copies of a few interesting books set in Italy, or written by Italian authors, and while we waited for the rest of our party he sat outside the Casa di Dante and read Pinocchio, much to the delight of several tour groups, who paused to take his picture along their way.

Asleep on the drive from Verona to Florence...

The Arno in the morning

Ghiberti's doors on the Baptistry

Climbing the Duomo

Inside the dome
Brunelleschi's brick work

The steep climb over the dome to the top

Giotto's Tower from the top of Brunelleschi's Dome

The Bargello

Donatello's David

Palazzo Davanzati

Merry-Go-Round in the Piazza Republica

Casa di Dante

The ceiling in the Palazzo Vecchio (as made famous by Dan Brown)

Cosimo il Vecchio Medici

Lorenzo "The Magnificent" Medici

Dante's death mask

The Uffizi and the Galileo Science Museum, across the Arno from our apartment

Days 8-9, Verona (9/21-22)

Verona was the breath of fresh air that we needed. After our exciting water taxi ride to the airport we picked up our cars and drove through the foothills to Verona, where it turned out that our next stay was in a bed and breakfast on the very top of one of those mini, rolling mountains. The very top, and it had lots of grass, and trees, and an olive grove, and vegetable and fruit patches, and being on top of the mini-mountain, the view went on forever. It was an abrupt change from the narrow streets and tall buildings that we'd been enclosed by for a week by that time.

Before settling in we stopped for our first winery tour of the trip. Verona is the Valpolicella region of Italian wine, and we enjoyed a tour of the Bertani winery there followed by tastings of their ripasso and amarone. For Jon and myself (and Calvin) it was our very first winery tour. I loved the old, dark, brick basement stacked with wines nearly a hundred years old. Calvin was disappointed that they didn't go into details about how the different bottling machines worked, but enjoyed the trip just the same. I think Jon enjoyed the wine.

The rest of our stay in Verona included getting a good rest in the very modern and comfortable agroturismo farm on top of the mini-mountain, followed by excellent breakfasts on the patio overlooking the view, and one day of walking all throughout old-town Verona. Smaller than Venice, old-town Verona offered several ancient Roman sites, like the old bridge, the ruins of a theater, the old gate into town, and an amphitheater that was kept in excellent shape and is still in use today. Castelvecchio is the old fort/castle in town, complete with surrounding walls and a drawbridge, and of course there were churches to wander into. Jon and I also did the extreme tourist thing and stopped by Juliet's balcony just to say we'd been there.

One of my favorite things about Verona, was enjoying meals outside on patios overlooking the city below. We ate both breakfasts this way, fresh and delicious buffet-style breakfast with real coffee served to us by our host, and also one lunch and one dinner at a delightful open-air restaurant just a little ways down from our bed and breakfast with enjoyable table wine and a litter of ferrell kittens scampering about. Also memorable for me was the night that we drove part way down the mountain to dinner: parking alongside the narrow, winding road and we walked up the road a bit looking for the restaurant and instead found the old city walls, surrounded by tall pine trees and being circles by innumerable chirping bats in the deepening twilight. It was beautiful, and it felt like an important moment, something to be held onto forever. 

Lunch on a mountain top

Bertani winery tour

At our foothill top stay

Verona

The house of Capello, purported by the tourist industry to be the inspiration for Shakespeare's Rome and Juliet

The view of Piazza Bra from the top of the Amphitheater

The drawbridge of Castelvecchio

Porto Bosari, the ancient Roman entrance to the town

The old Roman bridge

The spookiest building every, or at least in Verona. It was even surrounded by a cool draft.

Saints (or something) hiding in the doorway of the Duomo

pirate Jesus inside the duomo

The Scaglieri tombs

The sacred rooster on the door of the church

Days 6-7, Venice (9/19-20)

We left Rome by high speed train on Thursday morning and arrived in Venice in the early afternoon. Even through the light stress of maneuvering luggage onto a Vaporetto (the water bus) and through narrow streets to our Venetian home, I was already feeling the awe of being one of those places that you only read about or see in photos, one of those places you thought you'd never, ever see in real life. But there we were.

I'd heard stories about Venice. We'd been warned that it might be dirty, we'd been warned that it could stink, we'd been warned that it would be wet. Aside from some water in the square at high tide on Friday, none of those things really turned out to be true for our visit. The impression I took away was one of winding narrow streets packed with people and over-priced shops. Being short on space, there just isn't that much to go around. 

I think our first afternoon there was my favorite, and I know it was Calvin's as well. After finding our wonderful accommodations (a room with a view overlooking the Grand Canal), we slipped out to grab some lunch and ended up with a fantastic gondola ride that took us not only through the main canals but also down some more narrow paths. We started just below the Rialto Bridge and went through the main island to come out on the lagoon. From there we took the much loved Bridge of Sighs route home. With the sun falling lower in the sky the air was cooler and the quiet of the smaller routes was relaxing. I greatly enjoyed the colors of the buildings, and we had a good time finding pigeons in odd places again. Our gondolier gave us tidbits of information, at least half of which I was unable to understand through the accent, but it didn't matter. The trip was delightful.

On our second day we wandered through the narrow streets to St. Mark's Square to see the Basilica and the Doge's Palace. We'd been warned ahead of time that the Basilica was undergoing a long-term cleanup and repair project and would be mostly hidden behind scaffolding, and in truth very little of the front of the church was visible. Instead, we enjoyed watching the long line of visitors inch along temporary walkways over a growing pool of water as they waited their turn to enter the building. We'd arrived in the square at the beginning of high tide.

Having seen so many amazing churches in Rome we opted to be awed by the external Byzantine characteristics of St. Marks and skip the long line to get inside. We skirted the puddles, took some pictures, munched on gelato (of course), got overtaken by a wave while sitting on a bench near the lagoon, then went to the Doge's Palace, home of the Terrible Ten (think inquisition), the Mouth of Truth (a place to deposit your most accusatory notes where the Venetian inquisition would get them, but don't turn in a lie lest the mail slot bight your hand off), and the Bridge of Sighs. We saw it all, crossed the bridge, sighed at our last view of freedom before entering the dungeon, wandered through the dungeon, and took a big breath of fresh air as we crossed back over the bridge to our freedom awaiting on the other side. Melodramatic, I know.

Both nights that we spent in Venice we all gathered in the dining room of our humble, 300-year old abode to watch the sun sink below the buildings across the Grand Canal. It was relaxing, it was beautiful. We eschewed fine dining and gobbled snacks like prosciutto, cheese, and bread. Thanks to Curtis and Julie's excellent shopping skills we had the perfect ingredients to make good use of the panini maker in the kitchen. And on Friday night, after tucking in those of us who prefer early bed to late music, we headed to a nearby church to take in some Vivaldi (after stopping for gelato first, of course).

Calvin says that Venice was his favorite stop of the whole trip. He love the gondola ride for sure, but I think what tipped the scales for him was the extra time we enjoyed just sitting in the apartment, not having to be somewhere or see something. I loved those moments, too, the evening spent together with good food, good wine, and good company.

On Saturday morning, just about the time we were beginning to dread the walk with luggage back through the narrow, winding streets and the process of elbowing our way onto a Vaporetto to leave the island, mom flagged down a water taxi to find out how much it would cost for a ride to the airport (where we were getting our rental cars for the next leg of the trip). Amazingly, it was a deal, so we all hopped in, luggage and all, and not only saved ourselves the headache of the walk, but cut about an hour of time from the trip as well. Plus the ride itself was a real bonus, and watching our driver talk on the phone with one hand, drive with the other, and shift with his elbow while flying through water traffic was entertaining. Getting out at the airport we watched him back away from the dock amid seven other boats. Jabbering all the while with only feet between them not a curse word was uttered and nobody seemed concerned. We all agreed that if any of us had to do it, we'd have crashed long ago, but it's a way of life on Venice.

And then we were off to Verona.

On the dock in front of our apartment on the Grand Canal

On the Rialto Bridge

The Rialto Bridge from the gondola

The Doge's Palace from the gondola

The Bridge of Sighs from the gondola

The moving boat

A series of what looks like near-misses in the gondola on the Grand Canal:
nearly missing a water taxi...

nearly missing another gondola...

nearly missng a Vaporetto...

St. Mark's Basilica

St. Mark's reflected in the high tide flooding of the square

Pigeons again

The Venetian Campanille

The Stairway of Giants inside the courtyard of the Doge's Palace

St. George and the Dragon in the courtyard

The Mouth of Truth in the courtyard

The Lagoon from a window in the Doge's Palace

From the Bridge of Sighs

into the dungeon

The flood line from April 11, 1966

Taking a taxi out of town