Florence October 10-14, 2022

Monday morning a two hour train ride landed us in Florence. What was suppose to be a 15 minute walk from the train station to our Airbnb apartment, according to our host, turned into almost 45 minutes. We knew our apartment was located close to Ponte Vecchio and we had an address. Unfortunately, we thought we remembered more about how to get to the Ponte Vecchio then we actually did. We finally wised up and started asking people for help. Ultimately we ran into a young couple from California that had an actual, printed on paper, map. What a concept. Five minutes later we were at our apartment. Lynda had arranged for us to drop off our luggage before checkin time, which we did, and then spent time exploring Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio is a bridge over the Arno River that dates from the 16th century. In 1593 gold buyers and sellers took over the bridge and it remains the location of very exclusive jewelry stores. Little one room shops line both sides of the bridge. Many of the stores require you to ring a door bell for admission to the store. The jewelry displayed in the windows was jaw-dropping beautiful. Unfortunately, so were the prices. Turns out our apartment is only a block from Ponte Vecchio. We have a stunning view of the bridge from the balcony off our living room. Tuesday morning we began our day at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo. From the outside the Duomo is a stunning edifice. Inside, other then the alter, it is a bit austere. It is not as full of beautiful art work and sculptery as the other cathedrals we have visited. Still, it is impressive if for no other reason then its massive size. The much smaller Bapistry sitting across from the Duomo is a far different story. It is in the shape of an octogon and has four large entry doors. Each door is fitted with panels made of gold, each panel dipicting a story from the Bible. Inside there are ornate mosaics also featuring Biblical stories. Obviously the Medici's put all their money into decorating the Bapistry rather then the Cathedral. After lunch we visited the Central Market area. The actual Central Market building features many stalls containing butchers, cheese shops, produce stalls and fish markets. Several of the streets surrounding the Central Market are lined with leather shops. Each shop has displays on the street with leather goods from wallets and small purses to clothing, mostly coats and jackets. Particularly at the coat stands, if you show interest in a particular coat you usually are escorted to the main shop where more merchandise is on display. Bargaining over the price of items is an accepted practice. Jeff ended up buying a new leather belt, Tim a credit card wallet and Kelsey a new purse. That evening we enjoyed dinner outside in a lovely piazza on a beautiful, moonlite, night. On Wednesday we took the train to Siena, a large city located about half way between Florence and Rome. We discovered Siena in 2003 when we spent 5 weeks in Italy. Siena is famous for its enormous Campo. The Campo is big enough to hold a twice a year horse race. There are 16 districts in Siena and each enters a horse in the race. There is much pageantry involved in the holding of these races and great prestige for the district that wins the race. Siena also has a Duomo which is as beautiful on the outside as Florences, but is much more ornate on the inside. We ate lunch at a restaurant we discovered in 2003. It was every bit as good on this trip as we previously remembered. Two interesting stories from lunch. Lynda order Ribollita, a cross between vegatable soup and a vegatable stew. She loved it on the first visit to this restaurant and was looking forward to it again. Shortly after placing our order the waitress came back and announced that they were out of Ribolitta. Lynda has heartbroken and told the waitress that the Ribollita was why we came to the restaurant. Lynda accepted the waitresses heartfelt apology and order pasta. Two minutes later the waitress returned again and told us she had told the chef that the customer was in tears because there was no Ribollita so the chef said to tell the customer he would go down the block and get the ingredients he needed to make her Ribollita. Needless to say, Lynda was thrilled. Story number two. At the end of the meal Kelsey announced that the Pici Cacio e Pepe was best she had ever eaten. She is going to ask the Holt High School cafeteria to add it to their menu. We had time for some window shopping and gelato before taking the train back to Florence. The high point of any visit to Florence for us is a visit to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. It is a sculpture of such exquisite detail and beauty that we will spend 15 or 20 minutes just sitting or moving about the statue to take it all in. We took the family there this morning (Thursday). We think/hope that they were equal enthrolled with this work of art as we are. There are lots of other sculptures as well as paintings in the Galleria as well as a small museum of music instruments. There were three and four hundred year old Stradivarius violins and cellos on display. But, of course all of these pieces of art pale in comparison to David. The Basilica of Santa Croce was our last stop. It is not as large as the Duomo but is equally as beautiful. It has two features that stand out over the Duomo. First, there of people of note buried in the Basilica; Dante, Michelangelo and Machevelli in particular. Second, there is a school of leather attached to the Basilica. This school was orginally started to give poor children a chance to learn a trade. Now, while still teaching students how to produce items made of leather, it also has a store that sells these goods that produces added revenue for the Basilica. Tonight we clean the apartment and pack. Tomorrow the last leg of out trip begins in Venice. Ciao.