Pictures from Firenze...

Pictures from Firenze...

Before dinner at an Osteria near the apartment, by S. Ambrogio

... and after we devoured the bistecca Fiorentina!

A spot for a cappucino....

Shopping partners!

Firenze lights up its streets for the holiday...

Montalcino-5 gennaio

Two Smarts at once!

Looking upstream toward the Ponte Vecchio

Jessica's new purse---it looks better in person! This is at the outdoor market near P. Signoria... the fellow minding the stall was a cute Brazilian who has been in Florence for 4 years, working for the owner of this and 3 other stalls... they must do a good business with these carts--these and the ones in S. Lorenzo were all hoppin' busy during this holiday week...

5 gennaio (Jan 5-Montalcino)

It's Monday about 4:30 pm (8:30 am Phx, 7:30 am Tahoe), and Trudy and I have had a wonderful day walking around this little hill town, and walking around the perimiter of the town, looking at the valleys and mountains surrounding it... We had a wonderful light lunch with pecorino cheese with honey, and bowls of Ribollita soup--an area specialty, and some wine--Rosso di Montalcino--lighter and younger than the Brunellos...Tomorrow we will go back to Siena for a couple of days and then decide where to go from there--maybe still Puglia, or possibly stay on the Mediterranean side--Napoli, Sorrento??? Anyway, we have a blank slate after Siena, so will decide in the next few days... Yesterday morning we left Firenze at about noon. The train from Firenze to Montalcino is not near direct, so we took the bus to Siena, then to Montalcino.

But first, a little about the last couple of days in Firenze... on my last post, I talked a bit about new years eve, and posted a couple of pictures. The 31st was the day I went to Pisa to meet Trudy at the airport. Trudy took the obligatory shower after her flight from the US and I went to the supermarket to stock up... later we got ready for dinner at Trattoria Garga, and walked across Firenze to the restaurant. People were out across the city, strolling, talking, going in and out of the bars, and the piazze were full of locals and tourists. We stopped at the lovely bar at the corner of P. Signoria where the staff all wear crisp blue jackets, ties, startched white shirts (even for morning cappuccino!), made our way through the crowd and had glasses of prosecco.

Garga was wonderful--the staff was jovial and inviting, and our waiter was engaging and helpful, talking and explaining the dishes in english... We ordered a bottle of red wine, and proceeded to make our way through only two courses... I had a pasta dish with a citrus/cream sauce--like a lovely citrus fetticcini--very delicate but deeply delicious--Trudy had a risotto that she enjoyed immensely. For the second course Trudy had a veal with creamy avacado sauce--molto bene! I had a roasted lamb that I was a bit dissapointed with, but it in no way diminshed my enjoyment and admiration for the wonderful food and service at the restaurant. On the way out Signora Garga was at the front of the restaurant, and I told her how much we enjoyed our evening and our dinner, and told her that I had first read about the experience of new year's eve at the restaurant in the Saveur article, and she was very gracious, and said that they appreciate the comments, and that no matter how many times they year the compliments, they never get old. We said grazie, e buona sera, e auguri, and had kisses all around, and went out into the cold, windy streets, winding our way back to our apartment...

Trudy and I spent the next couple days shopping, eating, having wine, stopping in for cappucino... On new years day we walked a lot, and went across the Arno, and Trudy indulged me in my request to attend the vespers and mass at San Miniato abbey... the church has 3 or 4 different altars and we went to the one at the farthest back of the church, and soon the priests and monks came in and took their places behind the altar, and began their songs and chants... a beautiful sound that I have loved since I was very young and we visited my uncle Bobby--Brother Dominic, at the monistery in California where he lived for many years... we sat on cold marble steps at the back of the chapel, where there were about 10-15 pews (very small) which were filled with tourists, and locals, with the older women in their fur coats and fur hats--and listened throughout the 1 hour + mass... we did leave after 1 hour and 15 minutes when they started communion... it was a wonderful experience for me, and Trudy enjoyed it as well... So far on this trip I have attended the english mass at Florence's Duomo (only about 1/2 hour!) and have lit candles in 3 or 4 churches for my mother and for Rose (who is like my grandmother--and lives in the Bay Area), and have visited many churches, both to look at the splendor of the art, and to sit and be silent, and to pray in my way for those who I love as well as those for whom I wish the best, no matter our relationship...

Me at San Miniato, overlooking Florence.

Ok, Florence... Trudy and I walked our feet off, shopping, eating (ok, you already got this routine!) and taking in the best of the city. I had already visited all of the museums and churches that I came to see, and could have visited them all again, and will do so on my next trip and my next... We did some shopping at the outdoor San Lorenzo market, as well as at the wonderful indoor/outdoor market at S. Ambrogio near our apartment. Here are pics of inside and out:

Here is an electric car--which is bigger, the car or the motorcycle???

Every bit of Florence was fantastic, but by Sunday (4 gennaio) I was ready to move on to smaller towns with more countryside... next... Siena and Montalcino...

ciao, tutti!

Buon Anno!

Trudy and me on New Year's Eve at Trattoria Garga in Florence!

It's Friday morning, and I have a lot to write about, but will probably not get to everything today... On Wednesday I took the train to Pisa, which has an eay airport connection-the airport is just a few minutes from the downtown train station, and there is a 5 minute train connection... anyway, I got to the airport, ducked into the bathroom, had a quick cappuccino at the bar, and in less than 5 minutes of standing at the arrival gate, Trudy showed up! Unlike my late flight, hers got in about 20 minutes early. It was great to see her, and we took the train to Pisa, then got a train to Florence about 20 minutes later.

We walked from the station to the apartment, rolling Trudy's suitcase. We walked through the San Lorenzo market so she could get a taste of the shopping to come... back at the apartment she took a shower and I ran over to the local supermarket--since it was new years eve, most of the stores were closing early, and we needed the basics... coffee, wine, cantucci, cheese, olives, bread, milk, pears, mandarins... we had a nice light lunch with some wine, and then went out to walk around a bit before going out to dinner.

Our hosts, Mariaclaudia, Gianluca, and 3 year old Giacomo, were getting ready for a new years party, and they invited us to come after dinner for a new years toast with them and their friends... we got ready to go to dinner and walked to Trattoria Garga... I think I wrote about this already in this blog--it is the restaurant that I have been wanting to go to new years eve dinner since reading that fabulous article... so we walked through our neighborhood, and along the Arno for the beautiful views upstream and downstream from the various bridges... just magical tonight with pretty clear skies and lights outligning the domes and towers, and glittering onto the arno... fantastic.

It's 1:00 and we haven't left the apartment yet--Mariaclaudia came over for coffee and we talked for the last couple hours, so I will finish the new years eve post later... ciao tutti, e buon anno, e auguri!

E martedi in Firenze

It's Tuesday--I woke this morning to a crystal blue sky--halleluiah! A day without a fleece, AND a raincoat, AND hat and gloves is just fine by me! I had a quick caffe e latte at the hotel, just to wake up but not for pleasure, checked out and left my backpack--which has somehow grown, and I have only bought two books and a small bottle of contact lens soulution--maybe it's just sloppy packing... I stopped for a quick cappucino and was at the door of the Ufizzi for those with reservations at 9:15-- the tickets give you a 15 minute window, but I swear nobody ever actually looks at the ticket. But, at every museum and church that I have visited, at some point early in the visit, at one of the many turns and entrances to rooms and hallways, someone does stop you to tear off the stub, leaving you with the remainder of the ticket. All of the tickets are the same, so I now have about 8 stubs--one way to somehow remember all of the wonderful places--the unbelievable art--that I have seen.

I began this trip, like those before, sure that I would write a decipherable diary of the places, the restaurants, the museums, the shops, but once again there is too much to do, and by the time I sit to write (like now) I just can't muster up the time to go back to my ticket stubs, my guide books, and my maps to chronicle my journey... Also, I have not bought a guide book to the art of Florence, which would have been a really good idea... I have ripped out the Florence pages of my Rick Steves' 2005 Italy gide, and also the pages of the 2009 Lonely Planet book that I bought for this trip (I would have used my 2005 Steves but he doesn't cover southern Italy) and have paged through them to be sure I don't miss the highlights... then I have gone through every room and every gallery of each of the places I've visited, reading what every english translations they offer. Some, like the Uffizi today, have a short statement in Italian and in English for just about every piece, but a lot of the info describes the piece's journey to the Ufizzi...

So, it was just me and about a hundred Asian tour groups in the Ufizzi--they have a strategy where each group of about 20 completely surrounds the piece, barring the way to read the inscription or to get up close--pretty irritating until I put on my iPod with a bit of Italian pop, a bit of Pavarotti, and tried to pretend that they weren't there... it worked pretty well... I loved the amazing golden guilded and framed altar pieces from the early--12th to 14th centuries... then the Lippis and the Botticellis--so soft and spiritual. I love Michalengelo's Holy Family--the painting in the round guilded frame with the crazy heads sculpted into it--for a man known for his sculpture, he sure could paint... you see the same attention to the body, with depth and muscles, as you see in his sculptures. I don't know very much about renaissance art, but I have read a little about Michalengelo and this period and am fascinated... I saw his sculptures the last few days in other museums, and of couse the David... There is so much to know about art--to imagine the many thousands of works of art that exist and the magnificent restorations, and the people who have studied and chronicled this art... there are piles and piles of books in all of the shops--from highly specialized to general--it's impossible to imagine how captivated people have been over the millenia by all of this genius and talent and spirit and belief... of everything I have seen, I'd say about 70% is Jesus and Mary--either haloed Mary with baby Jesus, or Jesus' crucifiction... and the other 30% is murder and massacre--either of the general populace or of particular saints...

After the Ufizzi I still had an hour or so, so stopped for another capuccino and a brioche, and walked along the Arno... I took a picture coming off the Ponte Vecchio so you could see how busy this place is... but luckily you can go just a couple streets away and it's lovely and pleasant and free of tourists--this is what it looked like this morning, and a pic of the polizia, who walk around with these white patent leather bags with who-knows-what in them:

I had to take some pics of this room and its adorable kitchen/cupboard:

Ciao for now... it's almost 17:00 and I am off to explore my neighborhood... and Mariaclaudia has recommended a restaurant near Santa Croce, so I will walk a bit, then go early as she suggested (19:00) and then on the way home stop to buy some milk for my caffe latte in the morning. ciao tutti!

The Oltrarno

These are the pics from across the Arno--the Oltrarno:

These are from the Ponte alle Grazie where I crossed over to the Oltrarno--the one on the left looking upstream, and the ones on the right looking downstream toward the Ponte Vecchio.

This is Santa Croce church and piazza:

Today I walked to the Santa Croce area, and saw the church and sat on a bench in the square for a bit, then walked along the Arno for a ways... it is so picturesque--such a broad river, lined by high banks and by buildings all along... and the series of bridges set apart, and all different. Today, with the clouds lifted, I could see the hills and mountains with snow ringing the city, and it was a spectacular site. I walked across the arno, and followed the signs (how not like Italy to have a way guided so well with directional signs) to Piazzele Michalangelo with the bronze (I think) statue of the maestro:

then up many more stairs to a church/abbey--all with magnificent views of the city! The church was surrounded by ornategraves and families' mausoleums--I took some pictures, but then paid the beggar at the door of the church, plus paid a few euro to light some candles for my relatives, so perhaps that will compensate for taking the pictures?

It was a relaxing day after dashing from museum to museum over the last couple of days. I am getting to know my neighborhood, and stopped in a little bar--had a proscuitto and formaggio pannino and a Moretti beer, then was lulled by one of the hundreds of gelato shops for a little cioccolato/tiramisu cup of gelato!

I am going to the Ufizzi tomorrow at 9:00 and have to have my luggage packed since I won't be back before check out time--I'll leave my things at the desk, spend a few hours at the Ufizzi, then go to the new apartment that Trudy has rented--it's near the Academia, about a 10 minute walk from here.ciao, tutti!

Monday 30 dicembre

Finally--the sun is out! I went out without my raincoat over my fleece this morning, and it's lovely... I slept until 10--I must have had a bug, still am a little achy, but don't think I had a fever... went to a bookstore, Paperback Exchange with all english books--what a strang thing to walk into a business and be greeted with a Hello instead of a buon giorno! I remember much more english speaking in the stores when I was here before--maybe since it's winter, and the tourists aren't so numerous, the shopkeepers tend to stick more to italian?

I had a wonderful cappuccino and brioche at a little bar where I'd gone a acouple days ago... delicious. I forgot my camera and my good map, so came back to the hotel to get them and to get on my computer and check the weather. The blue skies won't last long--it should be sunny on Wednesday when Trudy arrives, but after that it's rain and snow... I'll enjoy the sun while it lasts! Today I am going to take it easy--walk to the Santa Croce area, walk along the Arno, and later today go across the Arno to explore some more.
ciao, tutti!

Still Sunday night

My friend (and Flagstaff neighbor) Trudy is flying in on the 31st--same flight from JFK, and we will travel together until Jan 17 when we return home via Rome and Atlanta. I hope she doesn't have the same delay I had... I will track her flight on line, as I am taking the train to Pisa to meet her at the airport. Trudy made a reservation with a woman who she rented an apartment from the last time she was in Florence... I am going to check in on the 30th, and am really looking forward to that. This hotel has little ambience--the coffee isn't even espresso, and when I asked the proprietor about it this morning, asking for espresso con latte, not coffee con latte, he said espresso is a problem, and brought me coffee... how espresso can ever be a problem in Italy (except when you can't get some) is beyond me. Luckily there is a bar or cafe at about every third or fourth doorway in this city, so once I go out to brave the cold I make up for his miserly coffee...

A few years ago there was a cover/feature article with recipes in Saveur magazine, titled New Years in Florence (or something like that) and it featured a trattoria that is run by an italian chef and his canadian wife--reading the article I could just see and taste and feel the wonderful food and conviviality... I made the biscotti, and saved the magazine... so yesterday at about 19:30 I walked to Trattoria Garga and made a reservation (un prenatazione) for Trudy and me for 21:00 on New Years! I guarantee that there will be no jet lag for Trudy--she'll stay up all day, celebrate New Years' in Fiorentine style, and will wake the next day ready to see the sights!
buona notte!