firenze to the airport or firenze to reality, take your pick

for the last day of my marathon trip to italy we explored firenze. i have to admit, it didn't capture me as readily or as strongly as paris had. but i visited paris late in the summer, when many parisians take to cooler vacation spots and fewer tourists roam the streets. i had to give firenze a fighting chance. it is, of course, the cradle of the renaissance.

the morning dawned sunny and our shutters let in some of the light from our west-facing courtyard. as i opened them a bit to let some more air in, it was cook and breezy. a perfect spring day. we took turns enjoying the best shower (thus far) of the trip and then set out to move the car to a spot where it would be OK for the day - no tickets, no towing. the desk clerk helped us out by finding us a spot across the street at the hotel jane; a couple was leaving and a spot would be opening up in ten minutes or so. we watched a number of people leave the hotel without moving a car. finally the couple came outside, loaded a few last bags into the car, and were ready to take off. i tried to catch the driver's attention to let rotten back up past the spot (he was parallel parked on the opposite side of the street, about five cars ahead) behind the spot, ensuring no one would steal it (parking is cutthroat in most of italy, by my estimation and experience). he did not see me, or chose to ignore me, so i had to play traffic cop for a couple of moments. it seemed rush hour had hit the small neighborhood and i found myself dodging italians on cell phones, eating, and eyeing the spot. i'm pretty sure if someone had wanted the spot they would have helped themselves to it, treating me as an inconvenient speed bump (the sign for which, in italy, looks like a nice pair of boobs). finally i convinced a woman to stop long enough for rotten to throw the car in reverse, overshoot the spot, and pull in. the nice thing about all the small cars over there is in many places the parking is nose-in, so you can fit more cars on a curb, side-to-side. parking settled for the day, free of charge, we helped ourselves to the continental breakfast at hotel orcagna, included with the stay. it consisted of typical pastries and coffee (cappuccino) but also yogurt, cereal (they even had something that looked like cocoa puffs, can you believe i passed it up?), and juice. it was really quite tasty and a good perk of staying in the quiet hotel.

then we walked the short three blocks or so south to the river, where the city was still trying to wake up, for the most part. the throngs of tourists we would see later in the day were still enjoying their breakfasts, and aside from a couple of school groups unloading from busses we kind of had the sidewalk to ourselves, along with people going to work. we enjoyed great views of the bridges and of the uffizzi gallery and piazza del grano. we stopped long enough to watch a few people rowing on the river arno, then walked across the ponte vecchio. the bridge is the only to have withstood the nazis in world war II. the others were taken out, while ponte vecchio remained. today it still has the buildings lining it, housing jewlery and tie shops. many of the shops were still opening for the day. it offers beautiful views of the city; i love being near the water and this was one of my favorite spots in firenze.

on the south side of the river we walked down a few more streets lined with cafes, shops, and hotels. we even snuck down a quiet neighborhood street, a narrow lane lined almost impossibly with cars, with a couple of people here and there but little going on. we stopped for another round of cappuccinos and chocolate croissants, and planned out our day in firenze. we had an ambitious schedule so we got moving, back across the ponte vecchio and into the heart of the renaissance.




our first stop was the piazza del grano, near the uffizzi gallery. many of the museums in firenze are closed on monday; in our case, we were lucky with the weather and it was a day worth spending outside in the italian sun. we got to see david's cousin, the other david. he stands where the original once stood, but as you know, the original resides in a museum, and we couldn't check him out in person. he looks nearly-human sized as he is dwarfed by the torre d'arnolfo, a huge tower built in the 1200's the sheer scale of everything, combined with its age and its ability to withstand wars, cultures, and time, amazed me. i grew up interested in history, predominantly because as a kid born and raised for a bit in the midwest, i really never saw "old" things other than lakes and rivers. when we moved east i was introduced to colonial history, plus people living in houses that were actually 100+ years old. european history just blows that out of the water. time has a new face, and i found myself saying, man, that's OLD - repeatedly.

we walked up via de caltzaivoili to the duomo, the 4th largest cathedral in the world. from the outside it is a puzzle of pink, green, and white marble. there's nowhere to stand in the piazza to get a complete view of it. it is just too big. we walked around the outside, soaking up some sun, and found the line for the climb up to the cupola. we read about this in the guidebook and it sounded like something very worthwhile, for its views of firenze and of the inside of the cathedral. i was a bit intimidated by the thought of climbing 463 steps. the line took about a half-hour to get through and we reached the point where we had to pay our 6 euro fee. i asked rotten to climb behind me (then i felt kind of like i was just holding him up by going slowly, not some unknown italian or otherwise tourist). panic got the best of my mind at first; the steps are very narrow and one-way only. up. they aren't tall steps, but they don't really relent until you hit a room about 1/3 of the way up. we moved through the room, filled with sculptures, quickly, because a group of high school students was there and we wanted to pass them up and hopefully avoid them the rest of the visit. about 2/3 of the way up there is an observation area for the inside of the cathedral, giving inspired views of the main worship area along with the amazing paintings on the ceiling of the dome. the scale of the paintings is breathtaking - enormous angels and demons are overhead and you realize someone was on a scaffold painting them, one bit at a time. what a project.




from there the steps twisted tighter and tighter, and the windows outside offered views of the mountains surrounding firenze. the view from the top was well-earned and is a must to see if you ever make it to firenze. the old and new were apparent in the old houses topped in some cases by solar panels. we could see how people in this tightly-packed city, even more crowded than manhattan, give themselves room to breathe with rooftop gardens and small piazzas of their own. we could hear people in many languages oohing and ahhing over the sights. we met some other americans, friends from LA and a couple from san francisco, and talked with them about italy, about travels, and about the duomo. the amazing thing in italy, everywhere, it seemed, was the prevalence of graffiti on just about any surface imaginable. here, inside this spectacular cathedral, graffiti was rampant. we saw signs claiming anyone caught defacing historic properties would be arrested, but it was hard to believe. i did, however, like one bit we saw on our climb down from the cupola. it seemed rather fitting.

i am not necessarily a religious person; i grew up going to church and enjoyed going in college, more than anything because it was an hour built into the week for myself for peace and quiet. i haven't been to mass since grandmother's funeral service last may. however, i found great peace in visiting the churches and cathedrals we saw in italy. the smell of the incense and the beauty of each intricate detail made me feel calm. their coolness contrasted with the heat of each day. i certainly have a sense of faith and rely on it to help me through each day, more as a source of calm and a reminder that i can only do things one day at a time. being in these amazing places of worship calmed me down. i really liked seeing them.



next up we checked out some invading armies.



the remainder of the day was spent exploring some piazzas, some pizza, some gelato, and some shops. we ate lunch on a small cafe-lined street just down from the piazza san lorenzo and the church it is named for. the church was listed as being perhaps the greatest example of renaissance architecture, so we decided to see the inside. it was designed for the medici family and the family is buried in the tombs below the church. there is artwork by donatello, absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. the church is in amazing condition and it is mind blowing to consider the attention to detail that was used in its design and construction. an interesting fact is that michelangelo was commissioned to design the facade on the outside of the church but died before he could complete the project, so it never happened. it really is unremarkable from the outside. it is kind of like one of the geodes you see in geology class - looks like a rock outside, but on the inside you're amazed to find the detail and beauty.

the rest of our time in firenze we slowly made our way back to our car, parked about a brisk 15 minute walk away from the center of town. we took our time, me mostly shopping feverishly for dad and jimnerd, who are a tough pair to buy for even at christmas in our own familiar stores. finding something perfectly italian was tough. for dad i managed to find a glass shop with reasonably priced paperweights, which he collects. for jimnerd i fulfilled my promise to bring him back either a lambo or a ducatti - i went with a black lambo, 4 euro, and some formula 1 and motorcycle magazines. perfect. the man in the shop looked at me kind of funny, buying the italian magazines when i very obviously did not speak the language, but i was beaming with my finds.

a few more blocks and we were back to the car, programming tom tom to find some food in bologna, and then on to milan.


we love the autostrada! everyone speeds and there's nothing but passing in the left hand lane!



we made our way through the countryside on the autostrada to bologna. the drive was beautiful, and would have been more beautiful on some back roads, but by the time we arrived in bologna we both agreed the fast route was the right route. the long days were wearing on my senses - i was really tired. i tried to nap in the car but i also wanted to see what was passing us in the car - the mountains, hills, farms, and villas were just so pretty and out of the ordinary. i thought it was just as important as napping.

we didn't see much of bologna, but it had a completely different feel from firenze from the get-go. things here are built of bricks, not marble and stone, and everything looks different. still beautiful, but it has a different personality. another thing to remember about italy is many restaurants are closed on monday nights. the one recommended by the book (they had done so well the night before) was closed (so we thought... now we think it maybe just didn't have lights outside and was actually open afterall). we wandered about, trying to stay somewhere near the car, looking for a place to eat. we finally found it on a main road. trattoria giampi e ceccia served typical bolonga food - pasta, meat sauce, tortellini (invented in bologna). we helped ourselves to a dinner that didn't disappoint and were soon back in the car headed for milan.

i surfed the radio for music as rotten put in a long pull to the hotel we had reserved near the airport. this was run of the mill, but it had the best shower of the trip. good pressure, hot water... it was lovely. it had been another day for the books. beautiful, delicious - so much for the senses.

it was perfect to clean up and slide into bed, exhausted, packed to head home the next morning. i was sad to leave, even sadder when i heard just how beautiful rotten's digs were in the lakes, but i had to head home - work waited, and so did scans. italy to reality. too much for the senses. but i cannot wait to go back.