And...We're Back!
Buongiorno, Everybody!
It's been a busy week, here, what with posting pics, scanning others and developing the 5 (!) rolls of film Alle and I brought back from our four-day mini-honeymoon. I'll be scanning those shots ASAP and getting them posted next week for those who are interested.
Here we go...and it's a doozy!!
Wednesday, March 3rd-
We left on Wednesday night for Firenze on the 18:33 train. Unfortunately, Alle didn't get home until 18:00 and we had no-one to take us to the station. Dad was sick, Rob was still at work, and so was Andrew. So, Alle and I all but ran to the bus stop to catch the last bus before our train arrived and left. We settled in, changed trains in Bologna, and arrived in Firenze a little over two-and-a-half hours after we'd left. It was dark, of course, and the night was cold and clear. We walked from the station to our hotel (the Hotel Constantini-Aldini), which turned out to be not even half a block from the Duomo. We ate dinner at our favorite ristorante a few blocks away, and then stopped for gelato on our way back. It was nearly 23:00, but there we were, eating nearly a half kilo of gelato in our room. Unable to finish it, we decided to try to preserve it by putting it out on our windowsill in the below-to-zero C weather. We snuggled down to a weary, well-travelled and well-fed sleep a short while later.
Thursday, March 4th-
Around 6:30 I woke up and curiosity prompted me to open our bathroom window and have a peek outside. Imagine my surprise when I found the tower of the Cathedral looming over the roof of the hotel! Incredible! Alle was awake and I told him to take a look, too. He was as impressed as I was, even though he'd stayed at this hotel before. The bells of the cathedral rang out at 7:00 (what an alarm clock, eh?), and again at about 7:30, I believe. Alle drank the remains of our gelato - apparently it wasn't quite cold enough outside to keep it frozen. Then again, it was rather "melty" when we bought it... When another salvo of the bells came at 8:00, I surrendered and decided to make an attempt at figuring out the shower. I don't mean the hot-cold part or how to get the shower working as opposed to the tub, or anything like that. There was just a shower. The whole bathroom, large and roomy as it was, could be argued to be the shower, in fact, since there was no bathtub and no shower stall. There was the spigot in a corner (the kind you can take off the hook for more, erm, thorough cleansing), and a shower curtain on multiple long-handled hooks that formed a semi-circle when you pulled them around you in that corner. (If you've ever been in a shower on an RV, you get the idea)There was also a square rubber mat about an inch tall that you placed over the drain so you wouldn't slip across the tile floor. Alle had forgotten about this but he was used to it from past travels. Myself, however...? I managed. Once showered, dried, and dressed, we went to breakfast (the same every day - rolls, sweet croissants, toast and jam and tea or coffee) and then we got our things to go to Siena.
Siena. What a great place. So ancient and so modern at the same time, somehow. The town has been featured in films (both American and Italian) and is achingly picturesque. I could have used an entire roll of film on the first (older) corner we found. (I will go back one day just to photograph details.) We strolled for most of the day, had a delicious lunch in a small ristorante, walked along the Piazza del Campo (the place where the Palio - the fiercely competitive regional horse race - takes place) and the Palazzo Pubblico, toured the Duomo (amazing), and made our way through winding narrow streets before discovering a park which overlooked the outskirts of town and the Tuscan hills surrounding. We wound our way back to the bus station slowly, stopped in at the Universit� Per Stranieri and took photos for a friend of Alle's who wants to go there, and then boarded the bus to the train station as the sun began to set in earnest. After a cappuccino at the station, our train arrived and we headed back to Firenze, a dinner at a ridiculously pretentious little ristorante, and another gelato before bed. Another well-spent day. :)
Friday, March 5th-
Another early start and still no sign of the rain predicted for Tuscany, so we opted to catch a train to Lucca. Oh, dear. The train was a 'local', so we stopped at nearly every station on the route. It was also packed, and our nearest seatmate (bless her) needed lessons in hygiene. The heat was on high (the day was supposed to be a bit cooler) and so we all sat sweltering while an American tourist a few seats ahead blithely regaled her seatmate (and sadly, the rest of us) with tales of her slutty schoolmates and how her family can't pronounce the word 'ciao' correctly. Eventually seats were freed up and Alle and I found a more comfortable place to sit. The Americans had moved too, and soon were joined by others (students, all), and shortly thereafter a chorus of "Where are we? Are we in Lucca?" started. ...sigh... The train arrived nearly an hour late, and Alle and I left the bewildered students behind, heading for the city walls.
Lucca is another amazing place; a small town lies behind still-formidable walls, and again the modern and the ancient rest side-by-side in a most interesting alliance. We ate lunch and walked through a few of the squares, and after a visit to the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit in the museum, Alle led me to the center of town, a beautiful piazza, the Anfiteatro, which at one point in it's history had been a Roman Ampitheatre. There's a history in Italy of the old theatres of Roman times being torn down and the bricks used to build homes. In Lucca, they did the opposite - the theatre was left standing and the homes built into it. If you walk the circle of the outer walls of the Anfiteatro, you can see portions of the original building peeking through more modern plaster and brick. There are several towers in Lucca, many of which you can enter and climb to the top. Sadly, I wasn't up for it (exhausted after walking Siena the day before) so we decided we'll visit again one day. We tramped tiredly back to the train station in a beautiful evening sunset, and waited for our delayed train back to Firenze. Dinner that night was at a Chinese place we'd seen advertised at the hotel - the food was great, the service acceptable, but slow enough to persuade us to get one more gelato for dessert. :)
Saturday, March 6th -
We showed up for breakfast after nine and were gone before the crew cleaned up at 9.30. Alle asked if I wanted to go to Pisa and I had to admit I didn't. I wanted to sleep in, and he agreed it sounded good. The day was grey and drizzly to boot, perfect for dozing lazily for a while. However, the lure of a walk in Firenze proved irresistable, and we got up around 11.00 to stroll through town and take pictures. We climbed the hill across the river Arno and took photos of the city panorama in the rain, then walked back to town, heading for Santa Croce. I got some photos there in spite of the rain, and then we walked past all the leather goods shops while I thought about Mom and how much she'd like them. LOL! We got back to the hotel and slept and rested for a while until we just had to go for a walk in the rain to the bookstore in the nearby square. It was fun in spite of the damp, and dinner was great. And yes, more gelato followed... We read magazines in our room, ate gelato and lounged on our oh-so-comfy bed while we debated what to do on Sunday. We had to check out at 11.00, but if we chose, we could leave our bags at the desk and go walking. We decided to wait and see.
Sunday, March 7th -
"Ow." That was the first thing I said upon waking. I positively hurt from head to toe - even my hair and my hands ached, it seemed, and so I greeted Alle's cheerful morning sounds with small, pained whimpers. After an initial consultation, he opined that I needed to get up and move around a little. Easier said than done. We had breakfast and I came back to bed while he showered. He packed while I took my turn, and then he asked what I wanted to do: see more of Firenze, or go home? "Home," I sighed, reluctant in spite of myself. Typical vacation feelings, I know, but I felt achingly tired even though it was late in the morning, and I didn't relish the idea of trudging home even later. So we took a roundabout route to the station and I got some photos of Santa Maria Novella - the church next to the station. It took a while, but our train showed up eventually. Lucky us, there was a strike of railway workers going on! Rumour also had it that it was snowing at home. Hmmm... We took our seats on the train and headed out of Firenze, away from Tuscany, and into and under the snow-dusted mountains. A few tunnels later we emerged into snow-capped hills above us. Cool! A few more tunnels, one especially long one, and then 'WHAM!' the scenery outside our train was pure, pure white! Most of the people on the train (at least in our carriage) were from the south - many from Rome, coming to Bologna for a football match - and they all let out a collective gasp of surprise. There was excited murmuring all around while announcements cautioned about late trains due to the strike and the snow. Oh, no...
Cont'd...