Ciao, Firenze. Buon Giorno, Roma!

OK, here's the post that I wrote on the train...

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12/30/2005

I write the beginnings of this lastest post while riding on the EuroStar Treni from Florence to Rome. We had a very nice time while in Florence. The people where friendly, the scenery fantastic, and the food was great.
We spent three nights in Florence (Firenze from here on), electing to stay in our room after arrival the first night as we were both tired, and Wendy was trying to fight off a cold. We had reservations at a small bed & breakfast, unfortunately when we arrived there was nobody home. We walked up the street 2 blocks to a nearby hotel praying there was room for us to be able to stay the night. Fortunately they had a room available for us, and we were able to stop there and not have to try to find another hotel in the city after dark.
It was a very nice little hotel in a building that was roughly 100 years old. High ceilings, a small bathroom, and a bed, but that was enough! We slept well, and the next morning we headed into the center of town after the complimentary breakfast.
That first day we meandered up to the center of town on via del Corso, stopping here and there as we saw fit to look into shop windows and buy a trinket or two. We found a wonderful little wine store, and bought some small bottles of Lemoncello, Grappa, and some Absynthe ("Green Fairy" if you've seen Moulin Rouge...) We found a chuch that was featuring some concerts during the holidays to help raise money for restorations, so we marked the map and planned on returning that evening after dinner.
We eventually made it to the old Roman center of town, and from there headed for the Duoma, and Giotto's Tower. We decided to (foolishly) climb the tower, but only made it as far as the first gallery. There are three levels to the tower, but when we reached the first level, the wind was so strong that it took our breath away almost more than the view of the city. Bitingly cold, it was difficult to take pictures past the tears that wer forming in my eyes. We elected to head back down at that point, and see the inside of the dome.
There is a lot of history in that church, that we later learned from visiting the Duomo Museum, and from reading the notes from Rick Steeve's book on Florence. It was originally built without the dome, and left open to th esky until someone came along who could build a dome to cover it. The outside of the church is not it's original facade, but was built only a short time ago relative to the history of the churh itself. There were many rejected proposals on how the church could be refinished after the dome had been completed.
We climbed the stairs to the first gallery inside the dome, and again decided not to continue all the way to the ceiling. It was a great many tight, narrow spiral stone stairs to go both up and back down, and our bags were getting heavy with the stuff we had bought along the way there. We then spent some time resting in the church, and Wendy lit an offering for all the pets lost in the recent hurricanes in the gulf area.
We wandered a bit more, locating the Uffizi and glancing towards Ponte Vecchio. Heading down a back street we found a great little place for dinner, and enjoyed bread and bean soup, wine, and pizza. After that, it was time to head back to the small church we had located earlier, stopping along the way at a couple more small shops.
The concert was very nice, organ, flute and voice. I forget the composers that were featured, but the music was very nice. It started to snow while we had been eating, and now it was really coming down. The walk back to the hotel seemed longer than the way out, and we arrived with a couple inches of snow covering everything.
The next day, everything was covered in snow, as I think I posted previously. That day we visited the Uffizi, Ponte Vecchio, saw the Pisi Palace, and the Duomo museum. High lights of the Uffizi were the two paintings of Venus; Boticelli's and Raphael's, and there were couple of Michelangello's paintings. At the Duomo there was the Michelangello's Pieta, and several other great pieces. The day before we had also visited the Acedemia gallery, and seen (of course) David.
That about covers our two days in Firenze. It was a little frenetic at first, but seriously enjoyable. I look forward to the day that I can come back with a bit more time, so that I can take it slower, and take more time to visit with people while enjoying more of the sights. Ciao!

Rome...

Here we are, now in Rome. I had a really nice long post already prepared, but the late night internet cafe that we found this evening has some restrictions, and I'm unable to get at the CD that the text file and all the photos from Florence are on... grrr... anyway, there will be a lot more information up later, and I hope you will be able to check back then. :)

The latest news...

Tuesday, we went to Maranello via Modena, and since there wasn't anywhere to put our bags, Wendy waited in the Galleria Ferrari lounge while I quickly toured the gallery. I'm posting from an internet cafe in Florence, and will be putting up a gallery of the pictues that I took of all the beautiful cars, but for now here is just a taste...




We had a great taxi driver for the trip from Modena to Maranello and back (he came back out to give us a ride). t was his last two days as a cab driver after 15 years. We made it to our train connection on time, and were off to Florence!

When we arrived in Florence, we found our B&B, but nobody was home, and there was no answer on the telephone, so we had to walk up the street and beg for space at a neat little hotel. Fourtunately they had a room available, so we were set for the night, but expected to have to move the next day. When we checked at the desk on the wat to breakfast, it turned out that the room was available to us for the remainder of our stay in Florence.

We headed out into the town, and saw many of the sights that day. More pictures to come when time and internet connectivity allow. ;)

That night it started to snow, and when we headed back to our hotel after a concert of organ, flute and voice in an old church, there was white stuff sticking in the streets, and 2" on the cars that where parked. We made it back to the hotel, and shook off a coating of snow before heading up to bed. This morning there was over 6" of snow on everything. Beautiful!

Thouroughly enjoying myself, and loking forward to my first taste of Grappa (Grape liquor), and found some absynthe to bring home with me! :)
Stephen

On to the next town...

Today, we leave Torino and head south to Firenza (Florence). We are stopping along the way, getting off the train in Modena and hitching a ride to Maranello. We've created a slide show of the best of our pictures from Torino, please take a look.
http://www.pensandpixels.com/italy2005/torinogallery/
Yesterday, we visited the Automobile Museum, which was really interesting, and something that if you are planning on coming for the Olympics next year you should definitely take time out to go see. They have a few of the original Formula 1 cars, including Nikki Lauda's Ferrari, as well as 2 older, and 2 more modern Ferrari F1 cars. I mention this as a lead in to today's trip to Maranello...
For those of you that don't know, Maranello is the home of Ferrari. Here lies the factory, the factory test track, and the Galleria Ferrari. After visiting the gallery, we'll be eating lunch at the Cavalino Restaurant, and then heading back to Modena to catch the next train to Florence. For me, this will fulfill one (at least) dream I've had for a great long time. It will put me as close as I could possibly get to the Ferrari factory, without being a current owner.

OK, I want a castle...

Today we went to the Palazzo Madama, as it was the first time it's been open since renovations started 10 years ago so it was free. This was a late 1600's castle that has been updated several times over the past 300 years (!!!) They have repaired much of the original fresco and trim, and cleaned everything well. They exposed some of the original Roman structure that was under the floor in the main hall.


Looking out of the North East Tower, the spire of the building that houses the Museo del Cinema.


Looking to the South East Tower.

We then walked out away from the piazza down a couple of side streets, and found a great little restaurant to eat a late lunch in called Conte Verde.


After a leisurely lunch of pasta and salad, we started walking down the via Garibaldi all the way to it's end, then back to the Palazza Madama as they turned on the lights.


From there, we headed down Via Roma to the Stazione Porta Nuova (central train station).


This is the main Torino Olympics logo in Piazza Carlo Felize.

It was fun, there were hundreds of others out for an evening walk after the Christmas lunch, and we just walked along the closed shops, looking in the windows, and enjoying the evening.

We did stop for some hot chocolate along the way on via Garibaldi, Wendy had the Special Dark, and I had the Extra Milk chocolate... not what most would think of hot chocolate, this had to be stirred somewhat constantly to keep from solidifying along the top. Molten chocolate... Yum! (Think of the movie "Chocolat!" - it was like that...)

Anyone else have something to say?

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How to go to both heaven and hell on Earth

Answer: Plan to move around a country as much as possible in a very short time.

After 1 night in Milan, we were on the move again. This time, we were bound for Turin (Torino in the local dialect.) We made it as Wendy mentions here, and went looking around at the local open air market (largest open air market in Europe), but we are both beat. I napped while Wendy worked on her stuff, and now she's napping a bit before we head down to dinner.

Every time stop to eat something the food is just incredible. Much tastier than I
remember the food in Paris being, although we are spending a bit more on it here so far. That's the heavenly part of the trip - the food.

Well, the battery is dying, so I'll leave it at that. I'll have to put up some pictures sometime, so we will be sure to actually take some tomorrow.

Total Immersion...

Basically what she said. :)

We made it!

Well, we are here in Milan, sitting in our hotel, on a dial-up connection watching american shows in Italian. Local time for us is 19:38, and I see that it's 10:38 am in the states. :)

We haven't taken any pictures yet (the inside of the Milan airport isn't the prettiest place in the world, and IT'S DARK HERE...)

So, we are here and safe. Looking forward to trying to figure out the trains tomorrow, and sleeping the rest of this night away.

Stephen

Landing in London

We've safely landed here at London Heathrow airport, andfound an intenet kiosk to cause some trouble with. :)

We are going to try getting on the next flight out rather than waiting for the 3pm flight we were schedule to take, so wish us luck!

I was able to sleep for most of the flight, so I'm feeling pretty darn good. Happy Friday!

A holiday poem

As I sign off and prepare for my trip
I thought it wise to offer this tip:
During this season of merry and cheer
Please do be cautious in your consumption of beer…
There are many hazards in winter, for sure,
Yet driving while drinking would be too much to bear.
So while I’m away, in Florence and Rome
I wish all of you safe, happy holidays at home.

Happy Holidays, and watch this space for trip notes and photos as we visit Italy from today through the New Year!

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Getting ready to fly...

As the day draws near, I figured I had better post something about our trip, so that this page doesn't become completely stale and forgotten.

For those that didn't know, Wendy and I are globetrotter this holiday season. We leave Thursday night for Italy, spending Christmas in Turin and New Years in Rome. We'll be stopping in Maranello to visit the Galleria Ferrari between Turin and Florence, and then spending two days sightseeing before heading on to Rome.

This New Years Eve is our 8th wedding anniversary, so we decided we should do something special this year. With Turin preparing for the Winter Olympics and Rome not to far off, it seemed like a perfect time to visit Italy for our second trip to Europe. (Last time we spent a week in Paris in the fall of 2000.)
We've "hired a house sitter" (my Dad agreed to stay a while...) to take care of the "children" (all the pets) and now all that's left for my is the last couple pairs of socks, and my toothbrush.

We will be posting pictures and stories on each of our blogs as we traipse through Italy, so stay tuned for stories and more!

(If you would like to get an email whenever I post something, drop me a line at steve@pensandpixels.com and I'll do my best to drop a note when something happens. Note: This authorizes me to send you email notifications. If at any time you wish to be removed from my notification list, please let me know nicely, and I'll do so.)