Post by Owen on Sept 7, 2014 1:14:07 GMT
European Traveler--Florence ~ Sept 2011 ~ Donna
This travel tale was written by Donna and relates to a Trafalgar Tour.
It was originally posted on the Trafalgar forum.
This travel tale was written by Donna and relates to a Trafalgar Tour.
It was originally posted on the Trafalgar forum.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Mike gives us good history lesson on Florence and the renaissance. He is very knowledgeable & I have enjoyed his talks about the history of Europe. This is one of the great things about this tour—these insights and background stories are things we would not have gotten on our own.
We get to Florence and at least this evening I am not impressed. Our hotel is very nice—but quirky & that’s ok. Our room is nice (small) and the bathroom has a very weird, small corner shower—yet they wasted room on the bidet. wink
We go down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We sit with the Yacht couple & the couple traveling with them. They share some stories about Australia and how life is there. Nice folks. It’s a buffet this evening, not as good food as last night. I have several chunks of roast beef, a roasted chicken ¼, a nice chunk of salad with evoo & balsamic and a dinner roll. I also have a little pasta with (beef) sauce. Its ok—but not nearly as much fun as the night before. We do get a little red & white wine. I have a nice glass of red with dinner. For dessert I have a small pastry square—it’s ok—flaky & with vanilla cream inside. The best is a cup of tiramisu gelato—YUM--it is dusted with chocolate and is delicious.
After dinner Hubby & I go for a walk along the Arno River. I find it a little creepy. There are people in the park and there is light, but I feel vulnerable. As we walk a guy starts walking parallel to us. I decide to turn toward him and head to a little outdoor café & he stops and acts like he is doing some exercising. I think he was sizing us up to rob us once we went down a little further where it was darker. Hubby thinks I am paranoid. Well, we will never know as we get to the main street unscathed. 2 ladies from our tour meet us on the sidewalk and ask us how it is—I told them to be careful. I don’t want to sound weird but I got a real bad vibe. In hindsight I wish we had stopped at one of the outdoor cafes that were river side—but the whole episode has me wanting the safety of our hotel. We turn in early, another big day tomorrow. 1st I shower and wash my hair. A weird shower—so small, I closed the curved door wrong and got water all over the floor. I think that has happened to me in every hotel room so far on this trip—some very interesting plumbing fixtures across Europe. smiley Tomorrow….we have a look at David!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Up early this morning. (5:45) we go down to the restaurant and it is not yet open so we go for a stroll. We look at a map at the hotel and go walk toward the old town. Saw a number of beautiful old buildings, great vintage architecture. We cross the street and walk back along the river and stop for a bit to take photos of a water fall within the river and an ancient looking tower on the other bank. It is still dark and the city is pretty as it wakes up. Much more charming than our impression last night.
Another big buffet breakfast. Wow—I am getting too used to eating like this. It is going to be hard to go back to a bowl of cereal in the morning when we get home. J I try the hot chocolate, it’s ok, a croissant with a jam filling—very good, scrambled eggs, bacon, a half cold cuts and cheese sandwich. I ended with a cup of yogurt. I think my daily yogurt has been helping my digestion.
We head off to old town Florence. We meet our guide Bridget, a German who’s lived in Italy for 10 years. She speaks very good English as she lived in America for 16 years. We wait in line to enter the Academia Gallery to see David. While in line, a vendor approaches our group with many art posters. He lays many of them out on the alleyway street as a couple of folks from our group try to decide which ones they want. All of a sudden a car comes and drives over & parks on the paintings. Everyone gasps—until we realize it is the Policia. They take the inventory from the vendor and he takes off. Bridget tells us that there are “black market” vendors—the ones who do not have shops or carts. She said they do not pay the vendors fees or taxes. She said it is illegal for them to be selling the items and it is illegal for tourists to purchase them. It was an exciting little moment.
This is why I wanted to come to Italy. Florence was a must—for David & for the sculptures in the Piazza della Signoria. This is where the Renaissance was born! We enter the Accademia and it is lined with the gallery's small collection of Michelangelo's work including his four unfinished Prisoners, intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II, and a statue of Saint Matthew which is also unfinished. We come into the open gallery & there he is—David. Fantastico!
He is about 17 feet tall and originally stood in the Piazza. David, a depiction of the biblical figure in David vs. Goliath, was the symbol of Florence as it became a republic…battling against the powerful rulers. It took Michelangelo three years to carve it from a single block of marble. The statue was moved into the Accademia about 100 years ago. It was moved and the gallery was built around it. The head and hands are a bit out of proportion—a little big. That is because the statue was originally supposed to be up along the roofline of the Florence Cathedral, so Michelangelo made them a little larger so that it would be appropriately proportioned to those looking from the ground.
We leave the gallery and come to the Cathedral, the Santa Maria del Fiore—it is incredibly beautiful with inlaid marble and incredible mosaics. It has a tall separate bell tower and large dome. It is the fourth largest church in Europe, 502 ft long & 381 ft high. Just across from it is the San Giovanni Baptistery with its huge bronze doors—one side depicting scenes from the Old Testament—the other from the New Testament. We next walk to the Piazza and the statues and fountains are incredible. Again it is almost like sensory overload—we just don’t have enough time to see everything and really study it. Bridget next takes us to the Basilica of Santa Croce which is very near the Duomo. This church is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, and we see the very decorative burial alters for Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli. The church is very beautiful—but outside in the square in front of the church they have set it up for a concert this weekend with George Michael. They have a stage set up & bleachers—it all takes away from the church—disappointing.
We get an hour & 15 minutes to walk, do more sightseeing and shop. We got gelato and a seat in a small café. The gelato in the case was displayed in beautiful—almost—glowing colors. I got chocolate and Hubby got chocolate chip. YUM
Since Florence is known for its leather goods, as we start to shop I begin searching for a dress purse. I find one I really like for 26 euros. I try haggling but he won’t go any lower in price so we walk away. Hubby is very proud of me. smiley I find the same one later and get it for 25 euros. Small victory—ha ha.
We buy our granddaughter a cool purple purse (her favorite color) and we get our daughter a unique coin purse. We find a cool tee shirt with little Italian cars on it for our grandson and we get a pair of architectural prints and a post card of David. There are lots of small alleys and streets and we go here & there & of course I get all turned around—thank heavens Hubby has such a good sense of direction, he knows exactly which way to go to get back to our meeting place. We look at the statutes one last time in the Piazza and then we go into an exchange place to turn some of our extra British pounds into euros. We keep some pounds to tip Mike, who lives in London.
Next Stop Rome!