Saturday, June 26, 2010

We're really home....look at that mess. We got up at 5:30am this morning in Rome, Italy and here it is 10:30 pm in Covington KY. It was a very long day and went really well until we hit New York...what a mess that place is....no one seems to be able to give good directions and we had to wait two hours for our luggage....anyway, we made our flight to Cincinnati....and Lucy still loves us.

Friday, June 25, 2010

The Pantheon....wow...this is our last day in Italy and we just arrived by train from Florence to Rome. My last item on our wish list was seeing the Pantheon when it was open...we walked around it a couple of times early in the month....it was open today! This is my fav in Rome. It was a Roman temple, a government building and now a church....with remains of the other two functions. It has an "occulum" an opening in the ceiling, so the light shines in that way. I heard that on Pentecost Sunday they drop rose petals down into the church from the top of the occulum...it is a quite beautiful place and I have more pictures to show you later.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

San Giovanni Festa....Festival of Saint John the Baptist...the patron saint of Florence...what a day...parades, music, boat races (although we missed that) and finally fireworks. We had our last supper in Florence out on our terrace. It's been a beautiful day and we were glad to be able to eat outside one more time. The next picture is of us on our way to watch the fireworks....unbelievable...just like Riverfest on Labor Day...people walking left, people walking right....motorcycles, cars and bikes...everyone is moving all at the same time but in different directions. It was quite a show and ended with what looked like Chinese lanterns floating in the air....off to Rome tomorrow. We'll miss our little apartment in Florence, but plan to return soon.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010`

Today we went to Lucca...by train. It was about an hour and a half ride. Lucca is a very old walled town and the wall is still there. This is a picture of part of it. It's a very pretty town and you can rent a bicycle and ride all around the wall....on top of the wall. Way cool...next time maybe a bike for me!

When we left this morning, we noticed people stringing all kinds of wires outside our building on the Piazza...what we didn't realize until we arrived home was that, the wires went from our building (Palazzo Uguccioni) to Palazzo Vecchio....and when we finally read the flyer hanging on one of the barriers, realized a high wire walker was going to perform tonight at 8:00. We were there....our building, our Piazza...how could we miss it....the pictures are the "wirewalker" coming out of our building and the other one on the left is of him right above my head as he's going into Vecchio! What fun this was and everyone clapped and he came out and we all clapped really loudly....fab evening!

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Today the plan was to make the long walk (2 miles) out to the big Stadium complex east of the historic center where we are staying. It was a long walk but we really enjoyed seeing this complex. The Fiorentina "Viola" play here....Florence's professional soccer team. It's huge...about the size of our football stadiums. On the complex is also a practice field where today they were having soccer camp for high school age kids. A baseball field that is a bit smaller than minor league but bigger than high school fields...the funny thing about that was the innings were numbered with Roman Numerials....there was also tennis courts and a very large swimming pool surrounded by a lot of grassy parts for sunbathing and picnics. It was a very nice place in the "suburbs". The last picture I want to show is of one of the "ambulanti" that wonder around Florence. They sell all sorts of stuff put out on a piece of fabric that they can wrap up quickly if the police come. The police really don't bother them....or chase them, it's some kind of game. The reason they are not legal is they don't pay taxes so the Guardia di Finanze is not happy about them.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Happy Birthday, Uncle Bruce.....wish you were here!

This is what Italians do at 6:00 in the evening....since they don't eat dinner until 9:30 or so, they get a little munchy at 6:00ish, so they get a glass of prosecco (champagne from Italy). Italians don't drink wine without eating something, so when you sit down at a table and ask for two glasses of Prosecco, you also get some fun munchy things...tonight it was bruschetta, olives and pistachio nuts! woohoo! After the prosecco, it's time to take a long walk and then go back home to watch the end of a "football" match. After dinner we went for another long walk (although it's just a little cold here this evening) over to Santa Croce to see what's going on...nada!

But this is what sunset looks like looking east from Santa Croce! Red sky at night, sailors delight....we're going to have a great day tomorrow....the sunset says so!

The picture to the left is two art students in Florence, making a chalk copy of a masterpiece on the sidewalk. The city has designated three spots along this street for artists to do this work. They had two baskets out for donations and both were full.....they have a picture of the original for comparison...this is one of the better ones we've seen since we've been here....there's also a ballet on the Piazza Signoria tonight....too cold to go out and watch...poor dancers!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Father's Day...even in Italy! Thanks guys for the card and texts.

We started the day with a really great breakfast to celebrate Father's Day and then had a very wet walk to St. James American Church about 15 minutes from our house. It was fun to hear all that English...American style for a change. There were quite a few people in church and the Rector was from Mobile Alabama...we liked his accent!

This is the inside of the church...it's a very pretty church and we were very glad we made the wet walk....the rest of the day was on and off rainy and we were in and out...depending on the weather....at 4:00 we watched the Azzuri tie with the Kiwis....too bad.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Rain, rain go away....we told you yesterday that today would be a rainy lazy day and boy was it....there's the lion on the bell tower at the Uffizzi Palace and see the sky behind him....yikes. We did manage to walk to the San't Ambrosio market for a few items and got absolutely soaked on the way home....had lunch, a little nap and then the sun came out so we headed out for the Centrale Market....got a few items and got toally soaked on the way home....the funny thing in Florence is when it rains, people come out of the woodwork (stonework actually) to sell you an umbrella for 5 Euros. If you say no, you can get the umbrella for 3 euros...they don't last long, but when you need one, ya need one.

And then this evening we went out to see what's going on in the Piazza...lots. We saw a group practicing for the ballet tomorrow and two young people who just got married....see them? The funny thing was they were having their picture taken by the photographer when three girls asked if the bride would be in their picture....from there it grew into one of those "flash dance" kind of things...all these kids jumped into the picture with the bride and groom...it was very funny and the couple was cheered by everyone on the Piazza for their good humor.

Friday, June 18, 2010

The best laid plans.....today was supposed to be a quiet day at home in Florence, but looking at the weather report convinced us to do Saturday's trip to Greve in Chianti and Panzano today instead....by bus. We stopped in Greve to revisit some places we had seen before. Greve is a really lovely quiet little town and maybe our favorite after Florence. At 12:25 we caught the next bus to Panzano (8 minutes away) for lunch. The picture you see is from the terrace of Oltre il Giardino (over the garden)....we ate here 2 years ago and loved the terrace and the food.

This is the terrace....you can see why we remembered it! It looks over the Conca d'Oro (Golden Valley) and it truely is....lots of olive trees and vineyards. Here we are...enjoying our lunch at il Giardino and a wonderful day in Chianti....back in Florence now and having our "day off" tomorrow....we think!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

We went on a bus tour today.....called Artisans in Tuscany. Our first stop was in San Cascine at an artists coop...it was beautiful and we bought a small piece of pottery from the artist. At our next stop we saw this bomb shelter that was just recently discovered outside the town. It was used during WWII to protect the towns people from both the Germans and the Americans (both bombed this town)....the church as also hit several times, but was always rebuilt. This last picture is a little hard to make out, but it is a doorway in the little town of Barbarino Val Pesa and it is a V with a bug in the middle. It is the symbol of the family that produces Vespa (wasp) motorbikes and also the family that produced Amerigo Vespucci (s may be a bad spelling, but you get the idea)...the man our country was named for. All in all, this was a great day...even with the little bit of rain. Oh, we also tasted a bunch of wine and olive oil and cheese!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Market day at La Lizza in Siena....this is one of the biggest outdoor markets we've ever seen...it goes on and on round a huge part adjacent to the Siena football stadium. We spent some time this morning trying to find our Owl and Dragon headquarters...found them both, then went to the market. We started at the beginning and by half way, we were ready for a nap. We didn't buy too much but it was really tempting. People come from all over Tuscany for this every Wednesday market. They have bunches of shoe stalls, women's clothing, housewares, hardware and food and flowers....it's just amazing and so much fun to watch people.....

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The famous shell shaped Campo....after dark. The whole point of us taking the bus to Siena and staying overnight was to sit on the Campo and watch the sun go down...unfortunately, it rained....so we sat on the Campo under an umbrella and had dinner and watched the rain come down...not much of a sunset but we did enjoy watching the little kids run in the rain....it was a really lovely evening anyway and we got totally wet walking back to our hotel. Oh well....

Monday, June 14, 2010

Today was a day of churches.....we visited the Duomo in Florence Santa Marie de Fiori and then the Basilica of Santa Croce. They both have beautiful paintings, marble tiles and sculpture, as well as a very long history of support from various Tuscan kings. The pictures here, however are of tombs in Santa Croce. the one on the left is Michaelangelos tomb and the one on the right (my favorite) holds the remains of Galileo.....these are people we've been reading about in history books (and math books) for a very long time....wow. I don't think you can really see it, but Galileo has his hand on a round "globe".....very controversial in his day!

Sunday, June 13, 2010

It's Sunday....we started with a great breakfast on the terrace with melon and procuitto and a caprese omlet...yum. After we got dressed we headed to church at St. Mark's Anglican Church....missed it by 1/2 hour...so we went to a street market instead. But...on the way to the market we crossed the Ponte Vecchio and a nice couple from Germany took this picture. Of course we took their picture for them also. People are really nice in Florence. That was just the start of the day....we later found a parade and a big event at the Santa Croce Piazza. The people that were marching yesterday, marched into the stadium built on the Piazza and played drums and threw flags and shot cross-bows...it was very colorful since they were in renaissance (sp) costumes...very cool!

Saturday, June 12, 2010

We love a parade....and this one was exceptional. It had all these men dressed in costume with crossbows, javelins, guns, drums and flags....and then there were couples dressed in period costume....they marched all around the city. It was part of the San Giovanni celebration that ends on June 24th with fireworks, boat races and lots of parades and a big soccer game. We also saw about 8 weddings come out of the Palazzo Vecchio (across the Piazza from us). Apparently this is the "big" wedding venue in Florence for non-religious weddings. The funny thing we saw with the weddings is all the parties gather outside and then are called in when it's their turn....when they come out, everyone claps and lots of pictures are taken. Then the bride and groom walk together over the Ponte Vecchio and back to the Piazza....for more pictures...and then we're not sure where they go. We saw some very interesting wedding garb on both men and women....USA USA USA we watched the USA/England match on Italian TV with commentary on the computer from ESPN. Great game!

Friday, June 11, 2010

When we first got here last Friday, I showed you pictures of all the doors we have to go through to get to our apartment. All those doors (but one) has a key to open them and all the doors lock when you close them.....which means you must carry this hockey puck sized key ring with the 3 necessary keys attached....unless you're really concerned about getting a cigar lit and walk out without said hockey puck key ring....that's what happened tonight when we left the apartment for gelato and a cigar....but didn't realize it until we were back home. So embarrasing to have to call the landlord and plead with her to come let you into the apartment....sigh!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

After a really lovely breakfast at our hotel...we packed up the backpack and set out to see what we could see. What really catches our imagination is watching how people work....and in Venice, it's even more interesting since everything, from TP to oranges has to be delivered by boat. We stopped on this bridge to watch them move oranges from the boat to the calle and then watched a man with a two wheeled dollie, come and pick it up from there. We saw ambulance boats, police boats, bus boats (vaporetto), taxi boats, private boats, garbage boats and gas delivery boats....wood and cement delivery and all kinds of appliances and even fish! It was all very, very interesting...but we are glad to be back in Florence. World Cup starts tomorrow night....woohoo!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

We went to Venice today and this is what we saw...first, we traveled by train...two hours from Florence to Venice...it's quite a good way to travel in Italy and clean and fast. We took a "vaporetto" boat down the Grand Canel from the station to the Rialto Bridge...I'm sure you've seen it in some James Bond movies...and the Italian Job. It's really an incredible city...with no cars, bicycles or vespas...only boats and feet! We had decided to have a light supper on San Marco Square at one of the restaurants that feature music with snacks. To our surprise (after a long, long vaporetto ride around Venice) the "aqua alta" had struck....high water on the piazza. so there we sat in one of those red chairs...watching kids play in the water (and a few adults) and wondered if our feet would get wet. It was a very fun evening....

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

This is Gusto Leo....where we had supper this evening. And the guy with us is the pizza maker...we think we're going to bring him home with us. The other picture is what the pizza maker made! yummy 4 cheese for papa/gump and anchovie and caper for grandma/ma. It is one of our favorites. We ate here a couple of times in 2008 when we were in Florence and just couldn't wait one more day to get back there. They also have really good pasta to take away....back to our little apartment to eat on the terrace! It was a very long-walk day all the way to Parc Cascine for a large market. We took a picnic lunch and sat by the river and ate. It's time for Venice. No pictures tomorrow, but we will let you know what we're doing.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Sunset at Piazza Michaelangelo....what a fun thing to do. We packed our panini, some wine, a bag of fresh from the market cherries, and away we went up the hill. It's a long walk and all of it uphill, however there are steps most of the way. There are steps at the top that overlook the city and there's always a bunch of people picnicing there....also a young guy from California was playing a guitar and singing for change. It was quite an evening. I took the picture of sunset with the tower in the corner....we live right under the tower....it was a fantastic sunset over the river...and then we walked back home. Another great evening in Florence.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

It's all about the food....that's what we thought about this morning as we left for our walk....food, find food, buy food, eat food. We found a new flavor of Gelato...called bacio...chocolate with hazelnut...yummy. But what you see here was supper on our terrace. It was a beautiful evening...cool, little breeze and we had a great supper of lots of local produce. After supper we went for a long walk along the river....almost like being at home.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

So just in case you were worried that we were in some bug-infested hovel on a back street in Florence, this is the sign we see every day when we walk out of our elevator into the courtyard.....notice the "palace". So here we are Vannasdall's from Kentucky staying in Palazzo Ugiccioni...whew! Today was grocery shopping day. We started with the open market in San Ambrogio for fruit and veg and then went inside to find cheese and meat. A really friendly shopkeeper helped us with our needs and we will go back to him (we call him Alex) since he was so friendly. Then we walked to the supermarket...for paper and canned goods (no cheerios...poor papa/gump) and dairy. After a short nap we wandered into street market on Piazza delle Repubblica with local goods. Bought wine and olive oil and now are home looking at BBC news...all we can get! It was a good day...oh yeah, did some laundry too! bedtime! ciao bambini

Friday, June 4, 2010

We arrived in Florence by train today....the train was wonderful but the 1/2 hour late was not so much...made us a little nervous since we were to meet our landlord at 4:00 and not due to arrive until 3:45. Anyway we made it and were very impressed with the train. Here is where we are staying and the doors we have to go through to get to our 4th floor apartment. First is the massive door in a very old building

called Palazzo Uguccioni. The next door is the metal one with another lock that lets us into the courtyard....next comes the elevator...we have our very own private key to get to the 4th floor....so impressive! And the last one is the door to our Apartment Alcova. We have one bedroom, small kitchen and a great terrace with south exposure so we get sun in the morning and a little sun in the afternoon, but shade in the evening...it's actually perfect...may stay forever!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Today was definately a day of overload. We walked to Vatican City via the south side of the Tiber and walked back straight out of St. Peter's Square to the river. We saw the most beautiful sculpture and artwork ever.....but of course, the crowning glory to the day was the Sistine Chapel. We couldn't take pictures inside but ya'll know what the ceiling looks like, or will when you study any art history in school. The picture of the stairway is in the Vatican Museum and is down only....it's amazingly beautiful to look at...but we did not go down that way as we had just started our tour. The other picture is of the outside of St. Peter's where the Pope comes out on the little balcony to bless the peeps standing below....There must be some kind of event going on as there were lots of chairs and a stage set up in the center. It rained a little, but we had a wonderful time anyway. You must see this some day......we're really glad we did.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Rome...day 2. Here we are (after getting lost 100 times and finding a really cool parade in the meantime) at the Colosseum. It's very old and very big and there are lots of steps to walk up to get to this level. Actually, it's a bit overwhelming to stand here and hear what all took place here so very many centuries ago. We had a wonderful time looking at all the old stuff...made us feel really young! This picture was taken by a woman from Virginia! 2, June, is Republica Day in Italy...it's the day all the regions were united into one country. Lots of music and marching and speeches and helicopters and police and military people all over the place...quite exciting.

Tuesday, June 1, 20910

This is the front of our hotel in Rome...very nice...small and on a great street. Our room is just 3 floors above this door way so sometim it will be a bit noisy, especially when there's a party at the restaurant across the street. We had a fab day, took a HOHO bus trip to see all the sights and where they were located. Then we walked a bunch of places and had a great pizza at Piazza Navone...saw the Pantheon and came back home...we're very tired...will write more tomorrow.

Monday, May 31, 2010

It's finally here...house is locked up, lucy and ricky are fed, Charlene picked us up at 8:30am and we're on the plane to Italy...Delta 246. We left an hour late owing to a runway repair at JFK, but arrived in Rome exactly on time. Our limo driver was there to pick us up with a card with our name it and we arrived at our hotel without incident. going to bed...see ya'll later