Week 13 Florence
July 25 – 31
25th We traveled to Italy on RyanAir. When we arrived, we were disappointed by the lack of ink on the passport stamp. We had barely legible proof that we had arrived in “Paradiso” as one of the characters in the play insists on referring to Italy. The hotel was cozy and remarkably close to the Duomo. Laura and I shared a room with two other girls from the program.
26th We (including Logan, though not in the same room) slept in until 9:30 which is actually remarkable considering the blasting bells of the Duomo’s bell tower at eight o’clock every morning. We hurried to breakfast upon learning that Lynda wanted us to join the other classes in a tour of the Duomo. When we arrived, we were just in time to enter with our group without the hassle of waiting in line. The building is amazingly empty, but the Dome is exquisite. We decided we would climb the dome early in a few days to beat the crowds.
We then separated from the group to walk the Ponte Vecchio. On the way, we stopped at Mercado Nuevo where the famous boar statue/fountain watches over the market and drools. The Ponte Vecchio shelters a massive crowd, so we made our visit short and planned (as we did many times) to try to come back when there weren’t so many people. Then we walked to Pitti Palace where we took a nap at in the large shadow of the palace. I have decided that the best way to feel as if you have really been somewhere is to take a quick nap there; then you haven’t had to rush the whole time. Rejuvenated, we walked along the walls of old Florence heading towards Piaza San Michelangelo. We didn’t make it up, though, because we had to get back to the hotel for rehearsal. Afterwards, we ate at a place with Dante in the title and had an amazing meal including gnocchi. Once full, we wandered the city to find some good gelato. We ate our ice cream on the street so we could see the parade going by, evidently a celebration of a saint’s birthday.
27th We got to the Academia early and saw the David with a small crowd that built as the minutes went by. The statue really is perfect. His hands are so muscular, as is the rest of his body, but his hands are the most impressive. We also saw unfinished statues by Michelangelo known as The Prisoners because they were not released from the stone. Once the crowd got to be too much, we headed to Boboli Gardens in Pitti Palace. There we walked through the greenery, took pictures of the cityscape, drew flowers as part of one of Lynda’s mindless assignments, napped (though I think Laura is not included in this we), and searched for the statue of Bacchus – ugly thing, that statue. We were late to rehearsal because the gardens are not equipped with exit signs.
For dinner, we ate at one of the many restaurants that boast a three course meal for 10 euros. We traveled to a gelarteria by bus because Logan’s friend, who served a mission there, said it was the best. It was good, but maybe not the best. It depends on your preference of texture.
28th We got to the Dome early and were one of the first to get to the first tier. Of course, we lagged behind a bit to get a good look at the fresco. It depicts the last judgment which includes some very miserable people being tortured by hell’s minions. We climbed the spiral staircase to the top and rested for a while. My pictures of the city from that height are remarkable. I could see everywhere I had visited.
Next, we walked through the market set up around the San Lorenzo Basilica with the famous Medici chapel. Later, we met with the group and explored the Uffizi. We sat for a long time in front of Botechelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera. Our favorite, though, was Davinci’s Annunciation. The paint is eerily smooth. We also took some time to mourn the art and books sacrificed to Savonarola in Piazza Del Senoria where the insane leader was later murdered for his crimes. After rehearsal, we made our favorite trek; we visited Fiesole, a small town in the hills. We ate dinner, gelato and some decorative candy before witnessing the sun set over Florence.
29th Though we started out late and the tardiness of the train made us even later, we made it to Venice for a day trip. We took a water bus – gondolas are inordinately expensive – along the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. There, we climbed the tower (by climbed I mean we took the lift) to get a full view of the city as we had done on the Duomo. It was lovely, but didn’t mean as much since I didn’t really know what I was looking at.
We left P. San Marco in a hurry because there were too many people and even more pigeons. We got away, but also got lost. The streets are like a huge hedgerow meant to keep you from escaping Venice. We considered giving up and just staying lost, but Logan got us back on track as we followed a path set out by the guide book we secretly borrowed from the hotel bookshelf. Once we looped back to P. San Marco, we bussed it back to the station. Not without completely losing each other first. Luckily, we had been together long enough to be able to guess where the other people would logically end up. We quickly ate at a Chinese restaurant, the rumor being that Chinese was best in Italy because of Marco Polo’s escapades, and ran to the train.
You would think the adventure ends there, but you would be wrong. We had a run-in with a Fanta of questionable origins. The flavor: chinotto, its translation: chinotto. After gagging on the drink and banishing it from our presence, we asked what chinotto was and all we were told was: chinotto – we figure it’s some kind of root, like ginger. Blech.
30th We slept in til 8:30 then sleepily headed to Marcado Centrale, an indoor market of some fame. There we shared a watermelon half and some beef with potatoes from the restaurant that Logan’s 1000 Places to Visit Before You Die book recommended – actually, several more places than that were visited because of the book, but the book’s involvement has been underplayed until now. (Don’t worry, Laura only tasted the potato and is not included in the We of beef-eating). Then we spent a stint at the Post Office and took turns souvenir shopping and waiting in line. We walked to Santa Croche Basilica then to Santa Maria Novella (Logan is not in the latter we due to exhaustion and lack of interest) before dragging ourselves to rehearsal.
That night, we finally made it to Piazza San Michelangelo, though this time by bus, and saw the city just after sunset. It was a little more romantic than I needed it to be, but still worth the venture.
31st We had to be to the airport at 8:00pm, so we crammed as much as we could into the morning and afternoon. We took a train to Pisa (where the airport is located), made a cursory visit to the leaning tower and its accompanying church – by the way, there is nothing else in that little city - and traveled on to Livorno. We went to a beach resort that seemed to only have six songs in its DJ’s repertoire including an anti-love song that must be edited when played in the States. We swam (this We does not include Laura who did not bring her suit and stayed shaded on the rocks under an umbrella) in the Mediterranean, and climbed rocks that appeared to have been arranged by a colossal child with no sense of how to sort things according to color or texture. We all napped under the umbrella, but I became completely un-shaded from the waist down and did not reapply sunscreen during my hour and a half nap (and, no, I didn’t plan to sleep that long. The sea just relaxes you beyond any other sleep aid). I was severely burned, but didn’t feel the pain until we were waiting in the airport. I was really red and ached all over. I could feel myself dehydrating.
The rest of the experience is all a little blurry since my only thought was to get home and borrow Elicia’s aloe. We did make it back safe though, and luckily weren’t part of the group that lost their bags for a few days because of flight mix-ups. My only complaint of the trip was that the exit stamp for our passports was just as light and illegible as the first. Hopefully, you can all take my word for it and not need the irrefutable proof of a legible passport stamp to validate my Italian adventure.
25th We traveled to Italy on RyanAir. When we arrived, we were disappointed by the lack of ink on the passport stamp. We had barely legible proof that we had arrived in “Paradiso” as one of the characters in the play insists on referring to Italy. The hotel was cozy and remarkably close to the Duomo. Laura and I shared a room with two other girls from the program.
26th We (including Logan, though not in the same room) slept in until 9:30 which is actually remarkable considering the blasting bells of the Duomo’s bell tower at eight o’clock every morning. We hurried to breakfast upon learning that Lynda wanted us to join the other classes in a tour of the Duomo. When we arrived, we were just in time to enter with our group without the hassle of waiting in line. The building is amazingly empty, but the Dome is exquisite. We decided we would climb the dome early in a few days to beat the crowds.
We then separated from the group to walk the Ponte Vecchio. On the way, we stopped at Mercado Nuevo where the famous boar statue/fountain watches over the market and drools. The Ponte Vecchio shelters a massive crowd, so we made our visit short and planned (as we did many times) to try to come back when there weren’t so many people. Then we walked to Pitti Palace where we took a nap at in the large shadow of the palace. I have decided that the best way to feel as if you have really been somewhere is to take a quick nap there; then you haven’t had to rush the whole time. Rejuvenated, we walked along the walls of old Florence heading towards Piaza San Michelangelo. We didn’t make it up, though, because we had to get back to the hotel for rehearsal. Afterwards, we ate at a place with Dante in the title and had an amazing meal including gnocchi. Once full, we wandered the city to find some good gelato. We ate our ice cream on the street so we could see the parade going by, evidently a celebration of a saint’s birthday.
27th We got to the Academia early and saw the David with a small crowd that built as the minutes went by. The statue really is perfect. His hands are so muscular, as is the rest of his body, but his hands are the most impressive. We also saw unfinished statues by Michelangelo known as The Prisoners because they were not released from the stone. Once the crowd got to be too much, we headed to Boboli Gardens in Pitti Palace. There we walked through the greenery, took pictures of the cityscape, drew flowers as part of one of Lynda’s mindless assignments, napped (though I think Laura is not included in this we), and searched for the statue of Bacchus – ugly thing, that statue. We were late to rehearsal because the gardens are not equipped with exit signs.
For dinner, we ate at one of the many restaurants that boast a three course meal for 10 euros. We traveled to a gelarteria by bus because Logan’s friend, who served a mission there, said it was the best. It was good, but maybe not the best. It depends on your preference of texture.
28th We got to the Dome early and were one of the first to get to the first tier. Of course, we lagged behind a bit to get a good look at the fresco. It depicts the last judgment which includes some very miserable people being tortured by hell’s minions. We climbed the spiral staircase to the top and rested for a while. My pictures of the city from that height are remarkable. I could see everywhere I had visited.
Next, we walked through the market set up around the San Lorenzo Basilica with the famous Medici chapel. Later, we met with the group and explored the Uffizi. We sat for a long time in front of Botechelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera. Our favorite, though, was Davinci’s Annunciation. The paint is eerily smooth. We also took some time to mourn the art and books sacrificed to Savonarola in Piazza Del Senoria where the insane leader was later murdered for his crimes. After rehearsal, we made our favorite trek; we visited Fiesole, a small town in the hills. We ate dinner, gelato and some decorative candy before witnessing the sun set over Florence.
29th Though we started out late and the tardiness of the train made us even later, we made it to Venice for a day trip. We took a water bus – gondolas are inordinately expensive – along the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. There, we climbed the tower (by climbed I mean we took the lift) to get a full view of the city as we had done on the Duomo. It was lovely, but didn’t mean as much since I didn’t really know what I was looking at.
We left P. San Marco in a hurry because there were too many people and even more pigeons. We got away, but also got lost. The streets are like a huge hedgerow meant to keep you from escaping Venice. We considered giving up and just staying lost, but Logan got us back on track as we followed a path set out by the guide book we secretly borrowed from the hotel bookshelf. Once we looped back to P. San Marco, we bussed it back to the station. Not without completely losing each other first. Luckily, we had been together long enough to be able to guess where the other people would logically end up. We quickly ate at a Chinese restaurant, the rumor being that Chinese was best in Italy because of Marco Polo’s escapades, and ran to the train.
You would think the adventure ends there, but you would be wrong. We had a run-in with a Fanta of questionable origins. The flavor: chinotto, its translation: chinotto. After gagging on the drink and banishing it from our presence, we asked what chinotto was and all we were told was: chinotto – we figure it’s some kind of root, like ginger. Blech.
30th We slept in til 8:30 then sleepily headed to Marcado Centrale, an indoor market of some fame. There we shared a watermelon half and some beef with potatoes from the restaurant that Logan’s 1000 Places to Visit Before You Die book recommended – actually, several more places than that were visited because of the book, but the book’s involvement has been underplayed until now. (Don’t worry, Laura only tasted the potato and is not included in the We of beef-eating). Then we spent a stint at the Post Office and took turns souvenir shopping and waiting in line. We walked to Santa Croche Basilica then to Santa Maria Novella (Logan is not in the latter we due to exhaustion and lack of interest) before dragging ourselves to rehearsal.
That night, we finally made it to Piazza San Michelangelo, though this time by bus, and saw the city just after sunset. It was a little more romantic than I needed it to be, but still worth the venture.
31st We had to be to the airport at 8:00pm, so we crammed as much as we could into the morning and afternoon. We took a train to Pisa (where the airport is located), made a cursory visit to the leaning tower and its accompanying church – by the way, there is nothing else in that little city - and traveled on to Livorno. We went to a beach resort that seemed to only have six songs in its DJ’s repertoire including an anti-love song that must be edited when played in the States. We swam (this We does not include Laura who did not bring her suit and stayed shaded on the rocks under an umbrella) in the Mediterranean, and climbed rocks that appeared to have been arranged by a colossal child with no sense of how to sort things according to color or texture. We all napped under the umbrella, but I became completely un-shaded from the waist down and did not reapply sunscreen during my hour and a half nap (and, no, I didn’t plan to sleep that long. The sea just relaxes you beyond any other sleep aid). I was severely burned, but didn’t feel the pain until we were waiting in the airport. I was really red and ached all over. I could feel myself dehydrating.
The rest of the experience is all a little blurry since my only thought was to get home and borrow Elicia’s aloe. We did make it back safe though, and luckily weren’t part of the group that lost their bags for a few days because of flight mix-ups. My only complaint of the trip was that the exit stamp for our passports was just as light and illegible as the first. Hopefully, you can all take my word for it and not need the irrefutable proof of a legible passport stamp to validate my Italian adventure.
posted by Sylvia at 4:22 PM
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