BigWeather's Blog

Woke up unusually early, 6a.  After a quick breakfast at the hotel we headed to the nearly adjacent Palazzo Vecchio for a self-guided tour.  The first room we came to was massive, a great hall lined with paintings and overlooked by a second floor balcony.  Tucked to the side was a small study, or studiolo, built by Francesco I de’ Medici in the early 1570s.  It was lavishly painted floor to vaulted ceiling.  The rest of the first floor had office for various Medici members.

The second floor had rooms based on various elements as well as rooms depicting pagan Greek and Roman gods, goddesses, and myths.  Past an impressive Hall of Lilies lay the most awesome room — the Hall of Geographical Maps.  In the center of the room sat a large globe, surrounded by fifty three painted maps lining the walls.  It was amazing seeing depictions of animals, real and imagined, in lands from all over the globe including the Americas.  No Australia or Antarctica, however, as they hadn’t been discovered by Europeans by the late 16th century.

Dodging a large tour group we made our way to the excavations under the Palazzo.  The rest of the family elected to pass the visit as there were uneven metal grates and stairs to navigate.  The Palazzo was built on top of a Roman theater.  There wasn’t a ton to see, mainly some foundations and parts of walls as well as a few statues and some pots and urns.  There were neat shadow projections of performers and such to help bring the place alive.

Exiting the Palazzo we headed to the Piazza del Duomo and purchased tickets to the Duomo and other connected sights.  After a surprisingly brief wait in line we entered the cathedral, formally known as Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore.  I’ll be honest, it is quite underwhelming inside compared to many of the cathedrals we had seen thus far.  The walls are almost completely unadorned, left a uniform gray.  The sparseness is in part because it was built with public funds and most decorations thus honor the civic leaders of Florence, such as a painting of Dante that shows a view of Florence in the late 1400s (long after Dante died) as well as scenes from the _Divine Comedy_.  Also, quite a bit of the art pieces have been moved to the adjacent museum.

Despite the sparseness, however, the interior of the cathedral’s dome, or Duomo, was spectacular.  It depicts _The Last Judgment_ over a vast 39,000 square feet.  Though the product of several artists in the late 1500s using different techniques it still managed to look very impressive.  There was also a funky 24-hour clock with I at the bottom and it even used IIII for four, VIIII for nine, etc.

Once we were done with the cathedral proper we descended some stairs into the remains of the Roman houses (including mosaics from North Africa ca. 500!) it was built upon as well as the earliest Christian church, Santa Reparata, as well as subsequent expansions to the church.  It had many graves of prominent Florentines including bishops as well as the tomb of Brunelleschi, designer of the Duomo’s dome.  In an alcove were skulls, shin bones, and other relics in small glass chests.  Several Medici artifacts like spurs were also on display, as well as a recreation of the original Christian altar that graced the small original church.

For lunch we went to Panini Toscani, a very small sandwich shop right across from the Duomo.  We waited on line for over half an hour and happened to be in line right behind a couple on honeymoon from North Carolina.  They were visiting London, Florence, and Rome.  He was a NCSU graduate student and she a UNC undergraduate and NCSU graduate.  We talked about home as she hailed from Cary (having gone to Enloe Highschool), NCSU basketball, Brexit, etc.  Finally making it into the shop were were treated to a demonstration of the choice of four cheeses and three meats.  We then chose our meat, cheese, bread, and toppings.  It was simply amazing, very tasty.

We sat in front of the Duomo museum in the scant shade and ate our paninis.  Genetta showed a little bit later and got her panini and Addison got a bit more.  We watched pigeons pecking for crumbs (and tossed a few which they played with) and even pieces of meat (they didn’t like that) in the flagstones in front of us.

We headed back to the hotel about 2p while Michelle and Genetta went shopping.  They returned between 2:30p and 3p as Michelle wasn’t feeling very good.  I headed back out with them to finish shopping — Michelle got a leather bag and Genetta some tea — as well as a quick stop for gelato from a shop off of Via dei Neri.

I walked Genetta back to her apartment, observing some amusing graffiti of an octopus grasping a red car along the way.  I then headed west a few hundred yards to the Piazza del Duomo and went through the Battistero di San Giovanni, or Baptistery of Saint John.  Wow!  In addition to ornate balconies with white and black marble was the real star of the show — the amazing ceiling. It depicted not only Jesus and saints and such but also a devil eating corpses.  Metal!  After I left I convinced Michelle to go through (she had been waiting outside as she didn’t feel well).  Afterwards she headed back to the room, with me following soon after once I was done taking a couple of pictures of the outside, including the ornate (but reproduction) doors (the Porta del Paradiso, or Gates of Paradise).

At about 5:30p I decided to head solo to the museum, rushing as I thought it closed at 7p.  It turns out it closed at 9p, giving me ample time to enjoy.  What a museum!  The first room was three stories tall and had a reconstruction of the original cathedral facade (prior to the redesign in the 1500s — which was better than the subsequent redesign in the 1800s) with some of the original stonework and statuary excavated over the years.  They also had the Roman sarcophagi that graced the area between the cathedral entrance and baptistery.  Of note too were the three original baptistery doors, moved to the museum to protect them from the elements.

They had a disappointing la Pieta but much of the rest of the artifacts in the museum were very impressive.  One gallery housed a series of diamond and hexagon “medallions” displaying professions and people that once lined the bell tower or Campanile.  Another gallery had large wooden models of the dome built to help in the actual construction as well as models from other designs that lost the competition.  Maps showed where timber was harvested from Church-owned lands in the countryside surrounding Florence.

Later rooms housed vestments, scepters, music books, and an ornate silver altar with miniscule details.  There was also a nice terrace affording decent close views of the dome.  Walked back to the room just before 8p.  Suddenly horns were blaring, guys cheering and shouting and running in and out of the bars lining the street — Italy had defeated Spain 2-0 in the round of 16 of Euro 2016.

I convinced Addison at about 8:20p to make a mad dash across the Arno river and up a steep bluff to the Piazzale Michelangelo which afforded beautiful sunset views of the city.  Once there we got some water and took a number of photos and enjoyed the evening breeze.  Descending the hill shortly after dusk we passed a big screen next to the river showing Iceland versus England, Iceland winning in a massive 2-1 upset.  We stopped at Lungarno 23 for dinner (yes, again).  Addison and I both had bacon cheeseburgers with fries and got takeout for Michelle — Lungarno 23 salad and Coke.

We got back to the room just before 11p.  Michelle really liked her dinner, made her feel a bit better.  I picked up the laundry and refilled our water bottle at the fountain in the Piazza.  Transferred photos from the cameras and blogged for a bit, heading to bed at about 1:30a.  What a busy day!

We awoke at 6a and ate our hotel breakfast at 7:30a sharp as we were to be picked up at 8:15a for our bus tour of parts of Tuscany.  Before heading to the pickup spot we saw the plaque on the piazza marking the place that Savonarola (of Bonfire of the Vanities fame) and two conspirators were burned in 1498 after being sentenced and hung.  Gruesome!

After pickup not far from our hotel we were driven to Firenze SM Novella.  Our bus, a large air-conditioned touring bus, left at 8:45a.  While not full there were a number of people, perhaps fifty or so.  Our guide, Giulio, was around 30 and spoke fluent English and Spanish, seamlessly drifting between the two.  The driver, Massimo, was an older gentleman but didn’t speak much (if any) English, speaking through Giulio when needed.

On the way out of Florence we saw a prison.  It was in the shape of a stadium, with the cells opening to the air overlooking the “field”.  While I certainly wouldn’t want to go to jail (and especially not in a foreign land!) it seemed like a pretty nifty setup.  No idea if it was a minimum or maximum security jail, however.  Also on the way out we saw several neat signs including one with rain clouds, snowflakes, and the like marking slippery when wet and dangerous conditions.

After an hour or so driving through the beautiful countryside of Tuscany we arrived at the first of four destinations for the day, the town of San Gimignano with its many tower houses.  Once a thriving independent town based on the pilgrims’ route to Rome from England and France (the Via Francigena) it had quite a large merchant class catering to the pilgrims’ needs.  They used this wealth to build tower houses — not only as a display of wealth (the taller the tower the wealthier the family) but also for defense.  Should an enemy come calling (often in the form of roving bands of mercenaries) the wealthy family need only pull up the ladder to protect their family.  Originally there were 72 towers, of which 14 survive, with the last built in 1311.  This last one, the tallest surviving tower at 177 feet, is known as the Torre Grossa and served as a guard tower.  One of those towers that did not survive was much taller at 230 feet!

Sadly, the Black Death hit San Gimignano in 1348 and killed three-quarters of the people.  Unlike Florence the town never bounced back.  There was a silver lining, however, in that the town’s rapid decline and remaining in obscurity meant that it is well preserved to this day.  The vast majority of the town’s remaining 5,000 people cater to the tourists that come to see the remaining towers (though only one is open — the Torre Grossa).

In addition to the very impressive towers, many with tufts of vegetation growing from them as well as the hint of exterior staircases, a few other things stood out about the town.  There were vast… flocks?… of swallows flitting about the tower tops.  One of the two piazzas in town had a neat old well, the other a church.  We didn’t get to visit the inside of the church, however, as service was going on as it was Sunday morning.  We also ate some “free” (included in the tour price, I’m sure) gelato that was quite extraordinary (having won some Italy-wide competition, supposedly) that would normally have served as an afternoon snack instead of a pre-lunch snack.  We were in San Gimignano in the morning as Siena (the normal morning destination) cathedral was also having services and it was not to be missed — hence the destinations were flipped.

San Gimignano had a variety of quaint shops including one specializing in painting metal soldiers but we didn’t have much time to shop aside from buying a few magnets.  We also took the time to walk along the walls and see some beautiful views of the countryside of Tuscany.  So very beautiful!  Reluctantly headed back to the bus at 11:15a and talked with Giulio.  We laughed as a different tour bus was leaving and one of our group ran after it asking it to wait up before realizing it wasn’t his bus.  Even more amusing was hearing Giulio relate the tale to Massimo in Italian a few minutes later.

A short fifteen minute drive along a narrow road and around a couple of tight turns (along which we were treated to views of both San Gimignano and our destination Monteriggioni) we arrived at the small walled town built by Siena to guard against their rival Florence.  Unfortunately I didn’t get any decent wide view of the small town’s walls and its fourteen towers — the downsides of being on a tour where I can’t just have them stop the bus for pictures!  In the parking lot we were amused by a guy yelling at *something* under his car — never did find out what it was!

Walked a short way to the gate into town and visited the main piazza that had a marketplace set up.  Michelle and Addison bought magnets and sat on a bench while I went across to the other gate and climbed up to the top of the walls (for a 5 euro fee) to take some pictures.  Atop the wall the view was spectacular and I could even see San Gimignano off in the distance.  To give a sense of how tiny the place is, the walls encircling the town are only 1,870 feet long and only forty people live within today.  On the way out of Monteriggioni at about 12:20p we saw a sign with the town’s name and a diagonal red line through it indicating that we were leaving it.

After a short ride to Siena we had a fairly long walk from the outskirts of town near fortifications built by the Medici to the old town, arriving about 1p.  We at lunch with the tour until 2p, quite tasty.  We had salad, bread, pasta with ground beef ragout, pork slices with roasted potatoes, pastries, and (for me, at least) water.  We met a nice lady from Honduras who was currently living in France with her two pre-teenage daughters.  She said the oddest thing about living in France was going to school on meet the teacher night and other events and having wine.  She also recommended that we visit some islands off the Honduran Caribbean coast.

Afterwards we walked with Giulio to the city center, a large plaza called Piazza del Campo dominated by the town hall or Palazzo Pubblico.  We couldn’t walk into the center of the plaza as they were setting up for the twice-yearly horse race, a famous event in the region.  The peremiter of the plaza had hard-packed sand and dirt on it to serve as the track and wooden stands were built all around.  Each of the town’s districts (represented by a color scheme and animal) have a horse and bareback rider race around the perimeter of the plaza, the winner being recognized as the best district until the next race.

While we stood in a group listening to Giulio’s instructions a nearby band of musicians playing to restaurant patrons kept getting louder and louder each time Giulio asked them to get quieter.  Finally muttering “bastardos!” he conceded that they had won.  A local lady joined us as our tour guide to Siena.  We were equipped with small walkie-talkies so that she could speak quietly to us as we’d be going to the cathedral.  She told us all about Siena (a town now of 50,000 people) and its rivalry with Florence in the 1500s.  There are seventeen districts and the races are held in early July (the 2nd this year) and mid-August.  She told us that only the horse need finish first, the rider can fall and that doesn’t disqualify the district’s horse.  She told us that despite living in another district she was born in the district represented by the turtle and she’s thus a turtle for life.

We walked uphill through narrow streets away from the plaza to the spectacular cathedral.  She pointed out arches and windows in adjacent buildings — originally the existing cathedral (already quite big) was to be greatly expanded and become just the end of the new cathedral.  This didn’t happen, however, as the Black Death put a stop to those plans.  Sadly because it was hot and so bright I totally missed taking any photos of the front of the cathedral and its really cool triangular mosaics.  Genetta has a nice shot of them in her blog here, however, from when she went.  Yay!

Inside was amazing.  The first thing that struck us were the black and white striped marble pattern everywhere as well as the colorful flags of all of the districts lining the main corridor.  There were also 56 floor mosaics made of white, black, red, and even yellow marble.  Only some were on display, however, the rest protected by carpet to prevent them being worn.  Twice a year they uncover them all — Genetta actually got lucky when she went earlier in the month and saw that.  Another cool detail were busts of the first hundred or so Popes (all of the ones up until the mid-1300s) staring down from above.

As spectacular as the cathedral was, the library was even more amazing!  As it had never had lamps within it was free of soot and sported the original — never restored — murals with beautiful colors.  The ceiling was equally impressive and cool old music books were on display as well.  At the bookstore we bought a small dragonfly ornament and magnet before re-meeting the group at the plaza at 4:10p.

Once back at the square we couldn’t linger long as they were wetting the surface for a trial run of the horses.  Sadly it was not to be for another hour and we had to leave before then.  We did get to see, however, a parade by one of the districts, blue fish banners waving in the breeze.  After a long walk back to the bus we proceeded to our last stop of the day, a vineyard, arriving at 5:30p.

After a short (but not short enough, haha) tour of the winery we sat with others at tables and tried two white wines, a red wine, some cheese, bread with olive oil and veggie mayo spread, and salami.  Before each wine was poured the vintner described what we’d be tasting but honestly it was lost on us.  We did meet a couple from Glasgow who were great to talk with so that’s something at least.  While the rest of the tour shopped for wine and such we headed outside and enjoyed the view of the Tuscan countryside and the nice early summer evening.

At 7p we hopped back on the bus for nearly an hour.  Along the way Giulio talked with Massimo lots.  He kept talking about his dog’s big ears and called him “Dumboreener” based on Disney’s “Dumbo”.  He also started talking about the movie “Armageddon” and the dog “Little Richard” that he called Ricardino.  I think the sun may have gotten to him!

Arrived back in Florence about 7:50p and walked back to the room.  We met Genetta there, wine in tow for us to take back for her (as she’s underage in US terms).  We went to a burger joint called “Off the Hook” that was quite good.  I had a bacon cheeseburger with cucumber and onions as well as fries.  Everyone else had burgers too.  Much Coke was drunk and Genetta had some white wine.  Belgium was playing somebody for Euro ’16 at the time.

Dropped Genetta off and on the way back to the room had some gelato before going to bed.  What an insanely busy day!

Awoke at 6a and blogged a bit before breakfast at 8:30a, eventually setting out around 10a.  Our first errand of the day was looking for some boxers for Addison.  We were pointed in the direction of a department store called “COIN” which took up an entire block and was four stories of stuff.  Amusingly there was a section called “Intimo Donna — lingerie and seduction”; they don’t mince words in Italy!  Found some boxers but they were 30+ euros each.  Yeah, no.

We walked past the Duomo and Baptistry (with its impressive — if facsimile, as the originals are safely stored away from the elements — doors) and on to the Accademia Gallery.  We were admitted in pretty short order.  First we saw the ubiquitous religious pre-Renaissance art then an exhibition of instruments that the Medici owned including a violin cello and harpsichords.  They also had a serpent, a long, snake-like ancestor of the tuba.

Back in the museum proper we saw a sculpture (well, actually the sculptor’s model or gesso) meant to be viewed at any angle consisting of three twisting figures called “Rape of the Sabines”.  Saw more creepy skulls at the bases of the cross and the creepiness was upped even more by baby heads with red wings flitting about.

Next up was “David”.  It was on display in a brightly lit room and commanded the space.  It was far taller than I thought it’d be as well.  Despite seeing it all of my life (and certainly all over Florence not only as a copy in front of the Palazzo Vecchio but also as a tiny statue, on t-shirts, etc. at every single tourist trap) it was still amazing to see it in person.  I was particularly struck by the lifelike pose and the vein marbled hands holding the stone (which Michelangelo sculpted proportionally larger than is natural to make it more impressive).

Leading up to “David” was a series of unfinished sculptures called (appropriately enough) the “Prisoners” as they are trapped in stone.  They were originally intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II but the plans were scrapped due to funds running short and remained in his workshop unfinished.  There was also “Pieta di Palestrina” in the hall.

The next room contained many objects (statues, casts, etc.) found in sculptors’ workshops.  Heading upstairs there were some amazing tapestries and 1300s embroidery and other Christian art.

Headed back outside and got some take-out Subway for Addison and booked a tour of parts of Tuscany we couldn’t reach via train at an office nearby.  We then headed to Brio Pizzeria where Addison had some roasted potatoes, Michelle a mushroom and sausage pizza, and myself a ham, sausage, and salami pizza.  At an adjacent table people in a cooking class were eating what they cooked and seemed to be having a great time.  Next trip, perhaps!

Arrived at the hotel room for siesta (a custom I love very much!) from 2:30p until 4p.  At 4p we got some (very pricey, even for Florence) gelato then went on to Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze.  In front of the church a construction crew was tearing down bleachers and what looked to be a jousting ground — sadly we may have missed a really cool event from the prior day’s holiday.  Oh well.

It is a testament to the embarrassment of riches that Florence has sight-wise that Santa Croce isn’t on must-see lists.  Not only does it have amazing chapels, reliquaries, and stained glass but it is also home to the tombs of three giants: Machiavelli, Galileo, and Michelangelo.  One would be hard pressed to think of many heavier hitters in their particular fields.  The tomb of Michelangelo in particular was incredibly beautiful.  Three ladies — representing sculpture, painting, and architecture — sit about his sarcophagus looking lost and sad.

Well-worn graves from dating all the way back to the Middle Ages were scattered around the floor of the church.  After admiring a statue that was similar to our Lady Liberty as well as the numerous chapels, all lavishly painted, and a reliquary of a golden head containing a skull dedicated to the cult of a nun we headed out to the cloisters.  We checked out a room used as a meeting hall as well as a stick showing the height of historic floodwaters, topped by 1966’s catastrophic flood.  A small museum contained more artifacts.  As the church was closing we headed back outside and were treated to the basilica’s bells ringing above.  Sorry about the following deluge of pictures, but Santa Croce was really breathtaking!

Headed back towards the room, stopping to see some of the sculptures in Loggia dei Lanzi.  The Loggia is an open air covered sculpture garden adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria, the piazza where Palazzo Vecchio is situated.

Arrived back at the room at 6p and rested until 8p (second siesta?  nice!).  Afterwards headed out for dinner, crossing the Ponte Vecchio to the south bank of the Arno.  The bridge was originally the home to many butchers, the offal and other remains being dropped directly below and carried downstream to the sea.  When the Medici came to power they cleaned up the area and installed a walkway from their offices on the south bank to the center of government at the Palazzo Vecchio.  As butcher shops would certainly not do they were replaced with gold and silver shops — and those establishments remain to this day.  There were many flags along the route and as many shops were closed they were locked behind very sturdy steel enclosures.  The bridge, even at the late hour, was crowded.

We dined to Lungarno23, a burger joint.  There was a lot of construction along the way, Genetta would later tell us it was to repair a sinkhole that occurred as part of the significant rain she encountered earlier in June.  Michelle had a bacon and cheese burger with green apple salad and some chocolate cake.  Addison had a bacon and cheese burger and fries, as did I.  Heading back across the bridge we passed a group playing Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and head to our room and bed.

We awoke early, about 6a.  As I’d been curious about how the Brexit vote would turn out I immediately checked out the news on my phone and was mildly shocked by the result.  After a bit of reading and realizing that my family wouldn’t appreciate waking so early I went back to bed for a bit.  We awoke a bit later and eventually headed to breakfast about 9:30a.  While we were eating we heard drumming start out in the Piazza della Signoria.  From the windows overlooking the plaza in the sitting room adjacent to the breakfast room we saw a large group of men in early Renaissance costume waving flags and playing the drums.  It was a part of the celebration of the Feast Day of St. John (or San Giovanni) — a holiday in Florence (and likely why the taxis were on strike the day before as the only thing better than a three-day weekend is a four-day weekend!).

Finally headed out about 11:30a (entirely too late, we’re bad about that) and headed to the nearby famous art museum, the Uffizi.  Michelle and Addison stood in line while I hunted down a FirenzeCard, first (unsuccessfully) at the Museo Galileo then to the Palazzo Vecchio where I bought two.  Addison didn’t need one, being a minor.  The tickets secured, we went for lunch at a local bar.  We all had paninis — Addison a ham and mozzarella, Michelle a mozzarella, tomato, and lettuce, and myself a salami and cheese.  Addison, predictably, didn’t care for his at all.

Returned to the Uffizi and after a short wait (due to the FirenzeCard) were admitted.  Addison got in free even (technically they can charge four euros for accompanying minors but they didn’t).  The place was massive!  The first rooms were mainly Middle Ages’ church art, predominantly the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus.  It was interesting seeing the crude (and sometimes unsettling creepy) art become increasingly life-like.  The subject matter also became less and less religious and begin to incorporate portraiture of government officials, nobles, and the like and eventually culminate with truly amazing paintings and sculptures of humans, often centered around not only Christian but also Greek and Roman mythological themes.

There was also a room, the Tribuna, built in 1584 and sumptuously decorated and packed with many paintings and the gorgeous classical sculpture the Venus de’ Medici.  For hundreds of years it was one of the major stops on the Grand Tour that many aristocrats took throughout Europe.

The following rooms had increasingly secular art such as the famous portrait of the duke and duchess of Urbino.  The windows of the central hallways afforded many beautiful views of the Arno as well as the Duomo.

Beyond the early Christian art Michelangelo’s “Doni Tondo”, Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”, and da Vinci’s “Annunciation” were of course stand-outs.  The colors of “Doni Tondo” really popped, whereas I thought “Birth of Venus” was a bit more muted (though bigger) than I expected.  Also check out the really odd sculpted heads that come out of the ornate frame of “Doni Tondo”.

The latter rooms were filled with later art, including much Dutch art from the 1600s — darker, a bit more depressing, a lot of still life of dead birds and animals and such.  There was also a special exhibition on painted wooden religious art — crucifixes, statues, etc.  On the way out we bought a magnet and then headed back outside where it was quite hot.

We walked around the corner to the Museo Galileo, a museum backed with loads of cool instruments, globes, telescopes, you name it.  Of particular note were Galileo’s instruments, telescopes, and his middle, index, and thumb bones (ick).  It was extraordinary that in 1609 his telescope let him see so many details of the celestial bodies.  His telescopes, and indeed most of the instruments throughout the museum, were not only functional but also works of art.  Some came in remarkable cases like one that looked like a book.

The museum contained not only instruments from Galileo’s time (the late 1500s to early 1600s) but also on into the 19th century — a time when science became en vogue and traveling exhibitions offering in-house demonstrations were common.  Finally in the basement was an exhibit about the severe flood that struck Florence in 1966, a flood that destroyed most everything on exhibit down there.

As it was approaching evening we wrapped up our visit to the museum and headed back outside where there was once again drumming.  It would be our luck to stumble upon a parade of hundreds of men in Renaissance dress — flag bearers, pikes, a small cannon team, horsemen, and government officials with black robes and books heading east from Piazza della Signoria.  It stopped traffic completely, with the exception of a tour bus loaded with a local football (soccer) team.  While I watched the parade and snapped photos Michelle and Addison brought me a yummy strawberry gelato.

We headed back to the room for a hour-and-a-half siesta then headed out later looking for some clothes.  We made a reservation at Antico Fattore, a Trattoria first opened in 1865 for 9p.  In the meantime I worked on the blog in the room for an hour or so.  The restaurant was a bit cozy, with the three of us sharing a table with three young ladies from a German-speaking country.  We didn’t bother them and likewise they didn’t bother us.  The staff was really friendly.  We had water, Cokes, and some red wine.  While the bread wasn’t great the rest was.  Michelle had tomato bread soup and grilled chicken with cheese on top.  Addison and I shared a 1.5kg bone-in steak, fries, and onion rings.  While very good (though not seasoned enough for Addison’s taste) the steak was quite expensive.  Still worth the experience as Tuscany is known for it.  Wasn’t a huge fan of the wine — I think it is time to just throw in the towel on notions that I’ll ever appreciate it.

We headed back to the room at about 10:30p, after which I blogged until bed a bit after midnight.

Our second (and final) morning in Venice.  The hotel breakfast croissants weren’t as good so maybe he was right about them being frozen and reheated, haha.  During checkout we talked about Brexit and the hotelier had a more sympathetic view of the Leave folks, basically that EU regulations were hurting small food companies in Italy and he imagined the regulations were hurting in Britain as well.  He also gave us a recommendation on where best to hire a gondola ride as well as stated that St. Mark’s Basilica is a must-see.  Leaving our luggage with the hotel until we were ready to leave Venice we headed out for the morning’s activities.

We took a vaporetto, or water taxi, to the Ca’Rezzonico stop near the church we had visited on our first day, Chiesa di San Barnaba.  At the canal next to the adjacent square (or campo) we hired a gondola.  At 80 euros for thirty minutes it was a bit pricey but a trip to Venice wouldn’t be complete without it.  The area that was recommended to us was ideal as it was in an area of many smaller canals and our trip would only traverse a small section of the Grand Canal where the boat traffic (and waves) were a bit worse.

After being helped into the ride (Michelle and I facing forward with the gondolier behind us and Addison sitting in a side seat in front of us) we set off.  It was very peaceful, the canal water lapping gently against the boat.  We went under many low bridges, the sparkling water reflecting on the underside.

Our gondolier was born and bred in Venice and while he mostly just let us enjoy the ride in silence (though he did bust into a quiet rendition of “Return to Sender” by Elvis from time-to-time) he did carry on a conversation when prompted.  He enjoyed the fall the most — less tourists and a bit less hot.  He said that the tourism picks up a bit more in the dead of winter when the wind pushes the Adriatic waters towards the city, often flooding it — called acqua alta.

We passed two gondola factories and saw people going about their business.  I asked how people got to the boats that were parked in locations clearly not reachable by the walkways.  Apparently they climb down from a bridge or other structure or hitch a ride from neighbors.  We also saw a banner saying “NO Grandi Navi” — “NO Big Boats” — a Venice movement protesting the large cruise ships that come in and dominate the skyline and flood the city with day tourists.

After a good stretch in the smaller side canals and a final quick bit on the Grand Canal we returned to the docks, settled with the gondolier, and went on our way.  In a tiny nearby store at Campo San Barnaba we bought some pastries — chocolate muffins and a cinnamon raison roll — and some water.  Addison bought a Homer Simpson t-shirt depicting him as Vitruvian Man from the church (as the church was hosting an exhibition of modern day constructions of da Vinci machines, which we passed on as we had a full morning planned).

Hopping back on the vaporetto we motored down to Piazza San Marco and stood in line for the Basilica di San Marco.  Luckily the line moved quickly as it was early.  Not so quickly that we couldn’t enjoy some of the sculpture adorning the church, though.  What an amazing interior!  Practically shimmering with gold everywhere and amazing Byzantine style art.  I definitely enjoyed it more than the St. Peter’s at the Vatican.  On the way out we bought a book and a magnet.  Back in the plaza we saw a guy with pigeons on his arm and shoulder, lured there by bread crumbs.

We took the water taxi back to our hotel’s stop, Rialto Mercato.  We decided that we enjoyed the Chinese restaurant so much that we had to go back for one last meal.  We had spring rolls and dumplings again.  Michelle had sweet and sour chicken, Addison beef and onions, and myself beef and celery.  Excellent again!

Did a little bit of shopping (a few magnets and a glass Christmas tree) and headed back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage.  Took one last ride on the water taxi to Santa Lucia station and got the 3:25 Frecciarossa to Firenze SMN (Florence’s main train station, standing for Santa Maria Novella).  The train hit 299km/h (about 200mph)!  The trip was largely uneventful and I took the time to choose some photos for the blog.

Upon arrival in Florence I was delighted to see no line for a taxi.  Turns out they were on strike for better working conditions.  We’d learn from our hotel shortly after that it was pure coincidence that the next day (Friday) was a holiday and striking on Thursday made it a four day weekend.  Pure coincidence.  As it was very hot and we had our luggage Michelle wasn’t very happy about the situation (well, none of us really were!).  The walk to the hotel was less than a mile but due to the heat and traffic it wasn’t the greatest fun.  We got to the Piazza della Signoria next to the 13th century Palazzo Vecchio (still the mayoral office of Florence) so I knew we were close.  I left Michelle and Addison and set off down an alley where a group of hotel workers pointed me to the next alley for our hotel, the Relais Uffizi.

The hotel was very old, the building dating from the 1400s.  The halls were very narrow and took unexpected turns and even had occasional step ups and downs.   Our room consisted of a large bed downstairs and steep stairs to a loft with another bed and the only bathroom.  The roof consisted of large wooden beams.  Most importantly (particularly to Addison), the WiFi was actually decent-ish!

We texted Genetta and she was nearby at a restaurant and came on over to our room after I went out to the plaza to meet her.  We visited awhile then walked a short distance to El Chico, a Mexican grill.  It was not the most authentic Mexican ever but was quite tasty.  We then walked to Gelateria Dei Neri and had gelato.  Yummy!

Heading back to the plaza we listened to a concert band play.  In honor of Orlando an American flag and a Gay Pride flag hung beneath the EU, Italian, and Florence flags.  The Palazzo Vecchio was really neat — tons of heraldry shields, a copy of Michelangelo’s David in front where the original stood for centuries (the original having been moved to a nearby museum), and a large group of 1500s sculpture in a covered area.

Addison and Michelle headed back to the hotel and we gave Genetta a new pair of shoes we had brought from home for her as she’d worn the ones she brought with her out.  I walked Genetta back to her room, passing by the very impressive Duomo, as the main cathedral of Florence is known.  The bright white marble practically shone despite the late hour.  After dropping her off I filled up a water bottle at the public water fountain next to the Palazzo Vecchio, headed back to the room, and slept.