After the mandatory nap and changing into dry clothes we, on the advice of the desk clerk, go to a nearby trattoria, supposedly very popular with tourists. After entering the place, we decide to try to find another restaurant. The place is overcrowded, under-serviced and over-priced. Other than that, it looked great. Instead we wander into Trattoria Alliense. It's owned by an Italian Canadian. The food is superb. The wine is good. The service is personal and efficient. The ambiance is warm and welcoming. We decide later that it was, most likely, the best restaurant we visited while in Italy.
While we are there, we help a couple of young Japanese women figure out what they might like off the menu, argue with a Danish woman whose husky voice reminds me why I stopped smoking, discuss the failings of Northern Florida with a woman from Orlando who has already been befriended by the Dane and defend our Florida position with a family from Jacksonville, Florida who are very aggressive in singing the praises of their city. It appears the owner, whose name I have unfortunately forgotten, seats foreigners in the front room and locals in the back room which works out well for all. As we depart and are making our good-byes, he thanks Tom and me for the free entertainment.
We reluctantly return to our hotel but not before eating a stomach settling gelato. It's been a great day.
Tom and I decide that the breakfast at the Sempione, is barely edible and later discover it cannot compare with the coffee and pastries at the coffee bar next door.
Our first full day in Florence is fully booked. You can find Florence photos on my photo page. We have an early reservation at Accademia. What the reservation allows us to do is stand in the "reservation" line which is not clearly marked and can only be identified by asking people already in the line. Why someone would not make a reservation is beyond my understanding. The procedure is for the "reservation" people to be admitted about 15 minutes after their scheduled time and if there is room, then people from the "non-reservation" line are admitted. It keep the crowds from overwhelming the venue.
I have never seen a statue that impresses me as much as Michelangelo's "David" does. When I visited in December, experts were restoring the statue and the scaffolding was intrusive. Today there is no scaffolding and I sit for 20 minutes or more just looking at "David." How did Michelangelo create such a masterpiece at such a young age, especially one that so broke with the past?
The rest of the museum, with the possible exception of Michelangelo's unfinished "Prisoners" and a couple Botticellis, is rather pedestrian. An inordinate amount of space is given up to copies of ancient works of art done by students over the years. I also discover that finding the men's room is even more problematic and I have a near disaster - poor planning on my part given my eating habits while in Italy.
We leave "David" reluctantly and head for the Museum of San Marco, previously a Dominican monastery and the home of both the sublime Fra Angelico and the rabble rousing Savonarola. This museum, which is relatively uncrowded, has a room of incredible illuminated bibles, dozens of Fra Angelico's paintings on the walls of the monks' cells, and a collection of Savanarola's artifacts in the rooms he lived in. I'm surprised and thankful that it isn't more popular with tourists.
As I get up three or four times during the night, it occurs to me that I might not be eating right. My solution: ignore my stomach and enjoy the Italian food.
I skip the hotel breakfast and go next door to the coffee bar - great coffee, great pastries. Tom doesn't show and I start to worry. He hasn't slept past 6:00 A.M. since we met in Rome. He commutes over 100 miles each way to his job so he usually rises at 4:30 A.M., evidently a hard habit to break. He eventually shows and announces that he inadvertently slept in. As we leave, I am undercharged by the cashier and go through a lot of self vs. self arguments about whether to say something or not. I finally decide to go back and tell the owner. He misunderstands and thinks I'm complaining about being over-charged. I try to explain and at some point, he tells me to forget about it. I decide further explanations are useless. Is this Karmic justice or what?
Tom has mentioned that he loves sculpture so I suggest he visit the Bargello Museum, which Pam and I had been at in December. I decide to try the Palazzo Vecchio, which Pam and I missed in December. We get lost but find our way eventually after walking an extra mile or so. God knows we can use the exercise.
The Palazzo Vecchio is unimpressive from the outside but very impressive on the inside. Its contents are more interesting from an historical point of view rather than from an artistic one. As I wander around, I realize that even the wealthy Medici's lived in circumstances that today's average American middle class family would totally reject. I visit just about every room and have to rush to meet Tom at our pre-arranged spot. We have a late morning beer and a snack before moving on to Santa Croce Church.
Visiting this church for the second time does not detract from the wonder of its attractions. First, who's buried there - it's a list of the Renaissance who's who, Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, etc. The art is magnificent. The courtyards are well kept. The attached museum is fascinating. One could easily spend four or five hours here and still not take in everything. I start to get compulsive about seeing it all when I begin to feel light-headed. It's time for lunch.
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