January 25, 2012

Paul is now taller than I am.  He is not tall as I am not tall, and we are going in different directions.  At my last physical, I was a 1/2 inch shorter than the year before but am noticing my ears getting longer (and hairier).  Gravity and age are a bitch. 

Am gonna make an effort to finish off the Italy trip diary today.  I know that listening to someone else's trip is boring, and I know I am bragging on it a lot, which can be annoying, but this diary is as much about documenting this period in our lives for the kids future enjoyment as it is helping to keep in touch with far away friends, so bear with me a little bit longer.

We wake up New Year's Day morning early and the plan was to pick-up our rental car at the Venice airport to drive to Florence for three nights.  Note to future me...you can rent a car at the Venice train station (directly accessible by the vappretto rather than trekking to the airport).  We grabbed our Ford Galaxy van (with manual transmission) and hit the road for the 2.5 hour drive to Firenze.

A quick word about Italian drivers...have heard forever, and was reiterated several times just in advance of the trip, that the Italian drivers are crazy and that we were just as crazy to consider driving in Italy.  As regular readers of this diary know, driving is one of my favorite things to do, and I was curious to compare the Italian's reputation to the a-holes that are the Taiwanese drivers.  Granted, we drove mostly on highways at a quieter time of year, but I found the Italians to be superb drivers.  Yes, they drive fast, which is always fine by me, but they know how to do so politely.  For one, on the highway, they get their butts out of the fast lanes rather than sitting in them going the speed limit (or less).  That has always been a pet peeve of mine in the US, and seems de rigeur in TW, so I was perfectly satisfied with the open roads.  They also wait their turns in the traffic circles rather than hurling themselves into intersections in the perverse game of chicken that I am becoming used to here.

The other thing about the roads in Italy is the almost complete lack of Japanese cars.  I assumed that Toyota, Nissans and Hondas were ubiquitous around the globe, but we only remember seeing a couple of each.  Fiats (especially the Fiat Panda) were the economy cars of choice, but there were also tons of Mercedes, BMW, Audis, Alfas, Saabs, Peugeots, and Citroens.  Coming in second to the European brands were a decent amount of Fords.  No Chevy's at all...there was a lot of Opel's as well, which we later learned was a German brand owned by GM, which made the non-existence of Chevy's understandable. 

One of the main reasons I wanted to drive was to see some of the Tuscan countryside, but our drive this morning was foggy beyond words.  I made the second navigation error of the trip by not studying the directions into Firenze better and later learned that the two sets we had were competing, so where we got off the Autostrade did not match the final roads into town.  Paul has been my TW navigator and has become slick with reading the Google maps, but without an internet connection, we became reliant on hard copy maps and he has a way to go in developing that expertise (which he will attain as that skill is in his DNA).  So after getting lost for a while, he got relegated to the back seat and Ann-Marie was promoted to shotgun.  She was thrown into the fire and it took a bit for her to get her bearings.  At one point, after circling the city (and a particular ugly ass building multiple times) for a couple hours, I lost my legendary behind-the wheel cool and "yelled' at her.  She says she found the way in spite of my screaming, but I think my tough love caused her to attain a laser like focus that would benefit us the rest of the trip. 

Pretty much everyone that has spent time in Italy says that Firenze and the Tuscan region in general is the best.  While there is more to see in Rome and Venice, and do not regret for a second in spending most of our time in those two cities, if I was to return to Italy, I would devote as much time as possible to that area.  They have the lifestyle that you envision...laid back, gorgeous landscape, and the best food of all.  There is no doubt I could go there tomorrow and spend the rest of my life.

Our hotel was the Torre Guelfa and is in a 13th century home a block from the Ponte Vecchio that used to be a fortress for an influential family.  A part of the fortress was a tower that dominates the local skyline and is now a rooftop deck with a perfect 360 degree view of the city.

Just an awesome place...at the desk was an elderly man named Luigi( of course) that was so friendly and hilarious that I wanted him as part of the family immediately.  The interior was modern and well appointed, and the rates were reasonable so highly recommend this place. 

The historic downtown of Firenze is compact, so a quick stroll can get you anywhere you want to be in 10-20 minutes.  Their church (Duomo seen in the first shot) is huge and made of lovely pink and green marble that is simply stunning.

That last shot is in the piazza in front of the Duomo and these two Italian girls were running around photo bombing the tourists.  If you can't beat 'em...  Photo bombing used to be much more fun in the film age as it would take days for the bomber to be discovered. 

A must see in Firenze is the Galleria dell' Accademia, which houses Michaelangelo's David.  Arguably the most famous sculpture in the world, it was more impressive than imagined.  No photography allowed although Betty snuck one of his butt that I cannot seem to locate. 

The Meddici's were the dominant family in Firenze for centuries, and we spent a good amount of time exploring their palace and gardens.  Fabulous art and architecture in the palace, and the (Boboli) gardens were huge and immaculate.  We ran the kids there one sunny/warm afternoon so they could burn some energy.  And some neat sculptures. 

As with Venice, we didn't go into a lot of churches, but one to note is the Santa Croce.  A nice church, but what was cool about it was that it held the tombs of Machiavelli, Michelangelo and Galileo. 

The shopping in Firenze was the best.  Betty had heard about an outlet place called The Mall, so we spent a morning driving out to it.  This was the only day on our entire trip where we had rain, so took the opportunity to spend it inside.  They had outlet shops for all the fancy brands (Gucci, Fendi, Armani, etc.), but the prices were still high and was the biggest disappointment of the trip.  The Mall was jammed with Asians too (they love the brand names), but we just travelled 10,000 miles to get away from them so made a hasty retreat.  They did have a Lindt outlet, which helped appease the kids.

We were more intrigued by the local fabricators and went into a bunch of shops in town.  Many of them had the owners as the salespeople, and they were not just owners, but the designers themselves.  On our last night in town, Betty came to the hotel and wanted an opinion on a handbag at a shop next to the hotel.  The dude (Eugenio) was the nicest guy and they had some of the nicest leather bags I've ever seen...and felt.  The leather was like butter.  Eugenio travels to the local tannery's to pick out his leather, designs the merch himself and then fabricates them in his workshop in the back of the store (he gave us a tour).  He says that he gets frequent interns (that pay him) from the US to come and learn the trade, and that the Italians are less interested in learning as they would rather make fast easy money shuffling papers in an office.  I felt a little humiliated to be a (former) paper shuffler.  Betty ended up buying two gorgeous bags from him, and I picked up a new wallet and dopp kit.  The perfect shopping experience.

The other thing we loved in Firenze was the food.  We did not have a meal that wasn't excellent.  The greatest moment of the trip for me happened at the Mercato Centrale.  It's the busiest food market in town and is not a tourist destination per se, but is where the locals and restaurants go to get their foodstuffs.  Pictures could never portray how absolutely beautiful and varied the offerings are, and I wish I was a poet to be able to convey the true majesty of it (but am going to give it a burl one of these days).  You can see the quantity and variety of the meats in the picture below, and in the case below the meat were enormous wheels of the fluffiest, creamiest cheeses you've ever seen.  I was just standing in front of this counter in awe.  Betty was talking to him and said to make us his favorite sandwich, and Ann-Marie and I said, "make it three".  I will forever compare any future sandwich (or any meal) with what he put together for us.  A generous selection of meats, cheeses, and marinated veggies drizzled with beautiful olive oil served on bread that was fluffy on the inside and perfectly crunchy on the outside.  They guy was a artist..seriously in the top 5 moments of my life.

In a little piazza near our hotel is this bronze boar, and it is said that if you rub his nose, you will return to Firenze.

 

We shall return.