March 22, 2011 Tuesday

A lot of walking today, or seemed so, because I still have this blasted cold. We were out of the apartment by 10:00am. Carlo didn't supply us with a map as Claudio had done, so our first mission was to find one. The newsstands didn't carry them, so I tried a hotel and sure enough, they gave us one. Now we are free, strong and empowered, ready to take on the city of Firenze. First we went to the Uffize Gallery to reserve/purchase an admission time for 1:00 pm. We then headed to the Galleria Academia to do the same for tickets tomorrow, however on the way, we "bumped into" the Duomo. That it is called breath-taking is not an exaggeration. The structure covers a couple of city blocks and has a facade of pink, white and green marble, with a large red-tiled dome. I'm sure we'll climb that another day, and today we headed for the campanile, the 82m bell tower with 414 steps to the top. Though this is fewer steps than to the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, the climb was harder for me. I know it was partly the fact that the climb for the campanile was straight up, and I think my cold affected my stamina too.

After the climb that made me wish I'd given all my financial information to my son before I'd left the country, we found our way to the Academia and reserved our spots for 10:15 am the next morning. Then we meandered back through the streets (there is no other way than to meander - no streets go directly to anywhere else in Florence) to the Uffizi Gallery. We got the audio guides, which gave Tenar more information than I possibly could, and saw some beautiful, some interesting, and some "once is enough" paintings. I've always been a fan of Rembrandt, and was happy to see some of his works, as well as Da Vinci, Giotto, Boticelli and Michaelangelo. We left the Uffizi at 3:30, feeling quite educated, thirsty and hungry, realizing we had skipped lunch. We stopped at the closest pizzeria and had a Napoli, which was an anchovy and caper pizza. My grandson likes anchovies. How lucky am I? Then I found the page in the guidebook with the top five top gelaterie in Florence, so we continued our charter of tasting the best gelato in Italy. We headed for the closest, called Geleteria die Neri on the via de' Neri. They were touted to have a gorgonzola flavor, but that turned out to be a summer offering only. Nevertheless, what I had was good. I don't remember the flavors. I can only say that while some impress me more than others, I haven't met a flavor yet that I would reject. Happy with our cones, we headed west on a hunt for the hand-puppet store. We found it just west of Ponte Santa Trinita on Via del Parione. It is the most adorable little store run by a woman who makes everything in it; not only hand puppets, but jesters and clowns with wonderful ceramic heads, and pillows with animal appendages and faces.

Then down to the river, across the Ponte Santa Trinita bridge, and home to our apartment, sight-seeing all the way, of course. I was not feeling especially well and my cold was getting worse (long coughing spells, plugged ears), so I opted for bread and cheese from the market for dinner. The cheese was good, the bread horrible, but Tenar was a trooper, not seeming to mind at all the meager meal. And so, good night.

March 21, 2011 Monday

Our final morning in Rome. We took a last walk around the neighborhood (last walk this trip, Tenar and I decided). One of the stands on our market street was selling old lamp prisms. I had an impossible time understanding the price. Was it four for 2€ each, or one for 3€ each. Did I have to buy four? The vendor and I were definitely lost in translation. I finally said I only wanted one. He said take it, no charge. Or something to that effect. I said, "really, zero"? With eyebrows raised. He nodded, so I walked off, holding my prism up to the sun.

We went "home", got our bags, and got on the #910 bus for our last ride to Stazione Termini. I purchased two first class tickets on the express train to Florence. The ride was comfortable, there was an outlet to charge my Blackberry, and we wrote in our journals. I was starting to doze off, when the train pulled into Florence. For Tenar, who's used to 2-4 day trips on the train, the shortness of the trip was quite a surprise.

I'd emailed Carlo, our Florence apartment contact while on the train, so had the address to give the taxi driver. Carlo's only means of transportation is a bike, I'm pretty sure, so no train station pick up for us. The trip was short, across the Arno River, to 119 Via di San Niccolo, where we met Carlo and gained entry to the apartment. It's an old building built in the 1500's. The front door is arched, high and made of thick wood. It looks like the entry to a castle. And typical for Florence. Behind that are tall, heavy, wrought iron gates, and behind those is a double glass door. At the end of the marble hall is a small, almost invisible small door that is wood but has been painted/plastered over to match the wall. The wall looks like an addition added later to separate two parts of a typical Florentine courtyard. It looks like a door to a storeroom, but when opened, the other half of the courtyard comes into view, with soaring arches and columns. We're going to be safe here. It takes us three keys to get into our apartment, and there's a doorman of sorts. He doesn't open the door, but keeps an eye out while watching television in the room by the front door. I know because I can wave to him through his small window as we leave each day. The walls of the apartment are about two feet thick and both windows look into lovely private gardens, inaccessible to us, unfortunately. It's a great place with both WiFi and a computer we can use.

Once settled, we headed out for a little sight-seeing. We didn't go far, but did make it to the famous Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is for pedestrians only, and lined with shops; shops filled with gold and diamonds and other jewels. Hereafter, I refer to it as the Golden Bridge. We returned to our neighborhood to find a place to eat. We found a sweet little place at the east end of our block called Antica Mescita San Niccolo, where we both had Rigatoni with Ragu. I highly recommend it. We chatted with the people next to us who were Japanese, visiting from Boston. On the other side of was another English-speaking gentleman. In spite of we tourists who were there, this did have the feel of a neighborhood restaurant. An older gentleman was spotted at the door and the young waitress went to open the door for him and help him in. She then sat with him and explained the menu, almost nose to nose with him and, of course, using hand gestures. It was a very sweet sight.

We then went home down the cobblestone street, unlocked our three doors, and tucked ourselves in for the night.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Today we decided to go to the old Appian Way and the catacombs. Itinerary: #910 bus to Stazione Termini, stop for a salami and cheese sandwich on marvelous Italian bread accompanied by fresh-squeezed orange juice, catch the red line metro to San Giovani Square, then the #218 bus to Appia Antica. All went smoothly until San Giovani, where we couldn't find the correct bus stop. A woman who saw us cross her path twice while looking questioningly at our map offered her help: because of construction, take the #85 bus right beside us across the intersection, and we would find the #218 bus there. Thanks! We did so, and still could not find the #218 bus stop. We went up to a newsstand in an empty lot and said with a question mark, 218 bus? The Italian speaking-only man simply held up a strip of paper that said, in English, "Bus number 218 leaves from under those trees". So funny, it made my day. So we crossed the square and sure enough, under the trees was the stop for bus #218.

In a short time we saw the stop for one of the catacombs and got off the bus.

We had an hour and a half to wait before they re-opened after the long lunch break, so we explored the grounds and made daisy chains.

At 2:00 pm we entered the catacombs with our English speaking guide from India. Tenar had been looking forward to an experience like the one Elliot and I had in the Paris catacombs, with bones stacked higher than our heads in an orderly fashio n, and we could explore on our own. This was, instead, an original burial ground with crypts and open spaces where bodies had been. The catacombs had been raided long ago, so much of what we saw were horizontal oblong niches. We saw levels 1 & 2 out of the 5 total. Quite astounding how they managed to construct this nearly 2000 years ago. There were small chapels also. They weren't labeled as chapels when constructed, but were rooms into the walls of which the family members were buried. The living members would gather in the rooms at the burial, then on the anniversary of the death in years after. The guide said this was how the tradition of church services began.

After viewing the catacombs, we tried to find a place to rent bikes, to no avail. We ended up outside the grounds of the catacombs walking on the old Appian Way.



Tenar on the Appian Way



We had seen many sheep grazing while on the grounds of the catacombs, and while walking on the cobblestone road, began to hear a lot of bleating. We turned to look and saw the entire herd of hundreds running on the road across to the other side, stopping the traffic. We watched as they disappeared down a long driveway. We would have followed, except it was marked private. They were trailed by a man we had seen with the sheep while they were in the meadow, wearing clothes and high muddy boots, carrying a broom that consisted of small twigs tied to the bottom of a stick. I assume he was the instigator of the sheep's exodus, and since he was trailing, it was hard to tell. At any rate, it was quite a sight.

We wound our way back to bus #218 and rode back to San Giovani Square, where we decided to have an early dinner of gnocchi. The waitress was quite taken with Tenar because he ordered his dinner in Italian. She confirmed for us that we could take the #85 bus into ancient Rome's center, so we did. We wanted to see the Pantheon while there was some daylight coming through the opening in the dome. Alas, it was closed for Sunday mass, so that will have to wait for another trip. We also had a second goal, which was to find another of the gellaterias on our "best" list: Cremeria Monteforte. Here Tenar had one flavor that tasted like roses smell. Yum! The literature says it's right behind the Pantheon. It's not, it's to the right as you face the Pantheon. However right behind the Pantheon is the wonderful tea store, if you're so inclined.

We then made our way to the Trevi fountain. As it was our last night in Rome, we wanted to toss in a coin to assure our return to the Eternal City, Roma. Then, as usual, we headed to bus #52 for our return home. What a difference from our first night's return to the apartment, when I anxiously examined the map at each turn to make sure we would get off at the correct stop. Now we are pros. On arrival home, there was a lengthy session of hand-washing to be done, followed by hot tea, reading and bed.



Saturday, March 19, 2011

 Awake at 5:00am to catch #910 bus to Stazione Termini for our tour to Naples and Pompeii. The hour was especially difficult as I'd kept myself awake for all but a couple of hours coughing. Blasted cold. But we made it with time to spare for a breakfast at a little bar near the bus: sweet roll for each, espresso for me and latte (order a latte here and you get milk only, no coffee) for Tenar.

We settled ourselves on the bus and in about 2.5 hours were in Naples, where we had an hour guided tour given by Victorio, who could speak English, German, Spanish, and of course, Italian. We saw the outside of Castel Nuovo, as well as a large galleria covered with a glass dome, and the public square outside of what used to be a palace and is now a museum. All nice and interesting, and I must admit I was most taken by how the outside walls of the high-rise apartment buildings were undulating wih all the laundry drying in the breeze.






Mt. Vesuvius

We were carefully counted as we got back on the bus. Finding all present, we departed for Pompeii, on the other side of Mt. Vesuvius. 

We stopped outside the walls of Pompeii in the tourist-centric square containing a large hotel, street vendors and small shops where they sell cameos and local limomcello (liquor), coral and the usual tourist tacky souvenirs.





Giant Lemons





The first thing I noticed was a hanging string of enormous lemons, as big as grapefruit, or bigger. Perhaps these are the special lemons to make the limoncello?





Cameo carver (or was he just pretending?)



We were led on a short tour of the hotel shops containing the real deal in coral and cameos. The cameos were lovely, carved from shells.











This was followed by a three course lunch at the hotel.



Street in Pompeii



 Finally we were led into the excavated Pompeii. What a fascinating place. More than a place, a town. We saw remnants of homes, shops, bars, restaurants and whorehouses The population was 22,000 when the volcano erupted and they had three whorehouses. Seems excessive, but what do I know? Out of the population of 22,000, 2,000 were killed, buried in the ash of Vesuvius. Why did they not get out? I guess we'll never know, except for the poor dog who was chained to a post and forgotten. And interesting is that over the years more people died from lead poisoning than from the volcano. The pipes taking the water into the homes of the wealthy were made of lead. The common people who had to fetch their water from the fresh-water well were much healthier and lived to an older age. Ironic.



We were led back to the tourist section and encouraged to support the local economy. I bought a small bottle of lemomcella in a bottle I thought might make a nice bud vase when empty. Back on the bus, Tenar and I were anxious to get home. Five a.m. had been an awfully long time ago. We arrived back at Stazione Termini at about 8 p.m. and found a little place (1 counter, 2 tables) for a quick slice of pizza, then caught #910 bus back to our apartment. PJs, hot tea and bed. Good Night!















Friday, 18 March 2011

A sunny day! Even with that we got a late start, as I stayed in bed a little longer to baby my cold. I was watching a movie on the iPad, using my noise-canceling headphones so I wouldn't wake Tenar, when I noticed that the living room lights came on. I sat up, and there, peeking in the bedroom was a good-looking Italian man. Claudio had sent him with fresh towels. He explained that he had knocked. The headphones really work. I'll have to send an endorsement to Bose. We were both embarrassed, he for disturbing me, me for being caught in bed at 10:00 am.

Shortly after, Tenar and I began our day by going to what we now considered our market for fresh pasta for our dinner that night and down the street for fresh pizza for lunch right now. We happened by a shoe store, so were able to buy a pair of shoes for Tenar. A day in the rain let us know his old ones had lost any water-proofing they might have had. Putting them to dry on the radiator created an odor we didn't want repeated. Into the dumpster the old shoes went.

Tenar feeding Mr. Crippled Foot

After depositing our food at home, we caught the #52 bus for the ancient part of the city. We walked from the bus drop-off to The Spanish Steps. This is a great place to people-watch, if the only people you want to watch are the tourists or street vendors. Tenar was able to feed a few pigeons some of our left-over Italian bread. Lucky pigeons. This is also an area with some very high-end shops: Prada, Luis Vitton, Dior, Dolce & Gabana and one place I could afford, Sermoneta, where I bought a pair of very soft, cashmere-lined black leather gloves.





Roman Forum (Woman in front did not give her permission for the photo.  Forget you saw her.)



We then hopped on the metro red line, switched to the blue line at Stazione Termini, and got off at Formo Romano (the Roman Forum). There we saw a few more tons of marble in various levels of destruction. There was also a lot of green space in the neighboring section called the Platino on a hill between the Forum and the Colosseum. Even with all the tourists, I could imagine the Romans in the space, always of course in white robes with a circle of olive leaves perched on their heads.



Campo de' Fiori (just before the rain started)



We left the Forum to look for Campo de Fiori where I thought there would be a row of columns which the guidebook said formed some sort of optical illusion. We finally found Campo de Fiori, but no columns, no optical illusion. Turns out the optical illusion is a couple of piazzas south, but we couldn't find it. By that time there was one dark cloud in the city, and it was directly above us. The wind came up, the rain started, and again our map got soaking wet. Sigh. We saw a beautiful rainbow, and eventually the rain stopped, but we gave up on finding the optical illusion. It was dark! Putting the map away, we challenged ourselves to find the bus stop on our own, and we did! Tired in feet and mind, we took the #52 bus home for our dinner of pasta pillows with Ricotta and lemon, followed by an early bedtime.

Thursday, March 17. More Rain!

St. Peter's Square.  Do the umbrellas outnumer the columns?  I think so!

My oil of oregano has failed me. I woke up with a scratchy throat that moved into definitely sore by afternoon, with swollen membranes and glands by nightfall. A Roman cold. Ugh. Nevertheless, out we went, into a day that started with a little sun, then turned into a blustery, turn-your-umbrella-inside-out-heavy-rain day.

To be inside as much as possible, we made this a St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican day. St. Peter's was first, and we headed headed right for the Cupola, ready to climb to the top. For 7€, one could take the elevator part way and climb only 320 steps. For 5€, one could forgo the elevator and walk up all 521 steps. If the cost had been the other way around, we still would have climbed the 521 steps. What would the fun be otherwise? A couple of hundred steps up and we were inside the dome, looking down at the magnificent floor of the Basilica, and the tiny little people milling about. We then took the remaining 320 steps up around the dome (still inside and no longer able to see the inside of the dome) and out onto the small lookout up at the top in the open air. The views were breath-taking. Even though cold and rainy, it was worth it. We climbed back down and toured the inside that we had seen from above. The multiple-colored marble was everywhere, as well as many statues, carvings, mosaics, alters and St. Peter's tomb. A favorite sculpture of mine since I was young was The Pieta by Michaelangelo. I finally found it in a back corner, quite beautiful and behind a bullet-proof cell of glass. How sad.

We then went into the Vatican Museum with it's ornate ceilings, marbled floors and statues. Not feeling that well, I probably did Tenar a disservice in not lingering longer with all that the Vatican has to offer, and my main goal was to get to Michaelangelo's "Creation of Adam" in the Sistine Chapel, and then away from the crowds. I had thought the chapel would be small and round with the painting covering the entire ceiling. Instead the room was rectangular, quite large, with the Creation painting, though dead center, one of many, all painted by Michaelangelo. The four years it took him to finish the ceiling now makes more sense.

After the Vatican, it was our thought to descend the stairs to the Tiber River and walk along to Trastevere, a small, quaint 'happening' neighborhood south of the Vatican and west of the river. Where two days before there was a walking path, it was now flooded! That's how much rain we've had! We took the upper route to Travestere, and it is indeed charming, with narrow cobbled streets and many restaurants and shops. We found another highly recommended geletaria and ordered what was become our usual, a small serving of two flavors. I had a pinion nut (not my favorite) and a custard called Santa Capala, I think, that was good. I'm finding that the names don't matter that much, because except for the basics, they seldom repeat from one geletaria to the next. Now that desert was over, we felt inclined to have dinner, so stopped at a local restorante, offering pasta for 5€. My recommendation: if a pasta dish costs only 5€, don't eat it. Splurge on the homemade pasta like we had the night before, or buy it fresh at the market and cook it at home.

After dinner we headed back across the river for a couple of miles and came across the Pantheon from the back. It's round! The front portico gave me the impression that the building was square or rectangular. What a surprise to see it from this angle. We stumbled on a tea shop directly in back of the Pantheon. They were out of chamomile, but recommended a tea with Roobios (?), Arancia (orange), and Eucalipto for my sore throat, as well as some spicy Ginger candy. I'll let you know how that works out. We again caught the 52 bus at San Sylvestre Square. We were safely transported home where aspirin, tea and bed awaited me.

Wednesday. It's Raining. Really Raining!

Getting a little more adjusted to the time difference. I think I woke up at 9:30 this morning. It had been pouring rain when we went to sleep and was still pouring in the morning. After a light breakfast of an egg and fruit, we decided to go to the colosseum, thinking there would be fewer tourists on such a wet day. Again onto the 910 bus to Stazione Termini. After a brief detour to the ticket office to reserve a tour for Pompeii for later in the week, we found the metro. It took a bit of questioning to get ourselves on the track going the correct direction, but we made it. Two stops later on the blue line toward Laurentine, and we were at the "Colesseo." We were right about the crowds: we got in with no waiting. The colosseum is as impressive as I've been told. Even without the marble coverings and with obvious deterioration, it is beautiful. It seems much more elegant than it's history of bloody games and death would imply.

From the top level I spied a restaurant across the street. We'd thoroughly explored every level and were soaked to the skin, despite our raincoats and umbrellas, so we made that our next stop: Bar Reatorante Martini at Piazza del Colosseo 3. We had an antipasti followed by homemade ravioli in a butter and sage sauce for Tenar, and gnocchi in a 4-cheese sauce for me. Absolutely divine. Small bottle of wine for me, a Sprite for Tenar. For desert it was cheesecake for Tenar and dark chocolate for me. I asked if there was access to WiFi in the neighborhood and they gave me the password to theirs (how nice), so be both were able to get caught up on our blogs. We had been sitting there for quite sometime, so I asked if it was okay. The waiter said we could stay until 1 am if we liked, then brought me a lemomcella after dinner apertif and Tenar a handful of candies, compliments of the house. I love Italy! We did only stay a few hours and left at 7:30 before the heavy dinner crowd came in.

Back to the metro, then to the 910 bus and home to our little Paroili neighborhood. We were cold, we were wet, and we had had such a fun day!