Italy Bound - Rome

I am posting this part of the trip now since it doesn't seems that I will ever complete the text.  Maybe some cold snowy winter day.
Sunday, September 18

Driving into Rome in a 9 passenger van is not for the faint of heart.  But with Jack at the wheel and Geof at 3 maps and 2 GPS displays we made it with no tickets, no accidents, and very little screaming in the van.  We found the appartment building that contained our B&B and Alfie came down to help get our suitcases into the small elevator that took us 3 flights up to the apartment.  The van was double parked during this exercise and was almost ticketed by 2 policemen.   A futile exercise because immediately after Jack and Geof drove frantically away to avoid the policeman and his ticketing book and to return the van, a truck took it's place in the double-parked space and the policement were no where to be seen.  We trudged up the 3 flights of stairs - weren't sure if we trusted that rickety looking elevator - and met Ivana, the innkeeper. 

Ivana is French, and reminded me of Cloris Leachman is one of her more scattterbrained roles.   Alfie was the better english-speaker and the better suitcase-hauler and seemed to occupy one of the rooms in the B&B with his wife who (perhaps) did some of the cleaning.     After the critical job of deciding who had which room, and getting the suitcases settled in the correct rooms, I (who had reserved the rooms,  so I was the interface person) got a lesson in how to use the various doors.  I was a very poor student and Cloris - I mean, Ivana - did much sighing and pantomiming to finally train me in the proper use of the antique looking keys and the recalcitrant doors.  I also received a lesson in the use of the coffee maker and was told to train all the others in its proper use.  The most important part of the coffee making procedure was to remember to hit the stop button so that the very small cup (this is expresso, remember) would not overflow.   I think I was a bit more trainable in this process because there was less sighing and even a smile involved.

When the training portion was over, those of us who had not been involved in returning the van had to hurry out and figure out how to meet Jack and Geof at the coloseum at the appointed time.  Luckily Lisa found an English speaking clerk in one of the souvenir shops who told us to take bus #46.  The bus came fairly quickly and took us right to the coloseum.  This was the last time we were to have such good luck with this particular bus.

The market at Campo de Fiore:

The B&B is on the west bank of the Tiber just south of the Vatican and only about 3 blocks away.  We could see St Peter's dome from our bedroom window. 

Another favorite activity became watching from our windows the chaos that was 
the morning rush hour.  The many many scooters and motorcycles provided a brownian motion like randomness to the larger traffic.

St Peter's Basilica

We took a tour of St Peters led by one of the official tour guides.  The rennaisance artists who designed and built St Peters did NOT go in for understated elegance.  Every inch is covered in voluptuously carved marble and highly decorated precious materials - some of which  - we were to learn - were looted from 'pagan' monuments and ancient historic shrines like the Pantheon.  The Basilica is cavernous, the dome immense.  So immense that the size cannot be judged from the floor of the basilica.   

Vatican Museum

Coloseum and Roman Forum

The Jewish Ghetto

Rome by night

Pantheon

A beautiful ancient building, especially at night.

We went back during the day.  The dome of the Pantheon is still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome142 ft in diameter and 142 ft to the opening in the top. 

Trevi Fountain

This is a major tourist attraction and was very crowded. 

The many scuptures that comprise it are beautiful.

Last Night

Amazingly we are still friends after 2 and a half weeks, and countless meals together.

Italy Bound - Tuscany

Thursday, September 15

Today we rented a very large van and drove to several places in Tuscany before getting to our next B&B.  Greve is a picturesque town where the town square has a status of Guiseppe Verrenzano (of Verranzano Bridge fame) and a strange status of a nude male torso.  Kind of like the ‘David’ in Florence but without head, arms, or legs – but with everything else. (!) 

San Gimignano is a medieval walled town where, for some reason, the people built lots of high towers.  The skyline looks a little like NYC.  I should research the history of this place.  Why did they build so many towers?  The drive to San Gimignano was long and very curvy and mountenous roads.  I arrived in San Gimignano very car sick and very dizzy!

The drive from there to our next B&B was flatter and much better – but very exciting in its own way.  We made a few wrong turns and had some exciting times on steep and narrow dirt roads and hair pin turns.  Jack and Lisa did a great job driving today in very trying circumstances. 

The Tuscan vistas from those curving mountain roards were spectacular. 

We finally arrived at Montalcino and at our B&B – La Crociona Crocedimezzo.  

This is a working vineyard but also has 11 small apartments for rent. 

The land is beautiful,  small patios set under grape vines,  a pool, lots of grape vines. 

Friday, September 16

Montalcino has market day on Friday.  We parked in a lot at the edge of town and walked up about 4 flights of stairs into this ancient hilltop village.  The streets were all stone.  This was obviously a place where people lived.  We heard much more Italian being spoken than English – few tourists.  It took us a while to find the market – a kind of Italian rural K-Mart.  There were stalls selling clothes, shoes, sewing supplies, table cloths, curtains, and at the end, food.  Fruits, vegetables, sliced meats, cheeses, and at one stand a man was slicing slabs from what looked like a whole pig.  We wandered around a bit, had breakfast at a café, and then bought supplies for lunch.  The grocery store was fun, figuring out how to weigh the oranges we bought,  and communicating with the ladies at the deli counter.  

Once we had made our sandwiches for a picnic lunch, we drove to an Abbey first built in the 800s.  There the brothers still sing their prayers 6 times a day in Gregorian chant.  Abbazia di Sant Antimo is beautiful and showing its age. 

The stone is cream colored.  High windows let in streams of light.  There are columns inside along the center aisle, two of them with carved figures at the top instead of the stylized leaves on the others.  One square post has a mural painted on it. 

 About 30 people wandered in for the 12:45 prayers.  Eventually the brothers, eight ordinary looking men – various ages and sizes, filed in, in their white habits.  There are 60 brothers at the abbey, but only 8 at a time ‘perform for the crowd’.  The prayers, Sesta, took only about 15 minutes.  The voices were ordinary except for one brother who had a clear sweet voice.  The crowd of tourists mostly stood when the brothers stood and sat when the brothers sat.  Though, that petered out after a while.  I find it curious that people, young and older, who are marching around sightseeing, find it too tiring to stand for maybe 5 minutes.   When prayers were over, the brothers filed out and the crowd dispersed.

We proceeded on to the Ciacci Picolomini d’Aragona winery for a tour and tasting.  First though we ate our picnic lunch at the winery on a rise with a beautiful view of the Tuscan landscape.   We then had about 45 minutes to lie around in the grass and rest – a very nice break in an otherwise hectic few days.

The tour and tasting was conducted by a young woman named Martina.  She was informative and friendly and we dutifully swirled, and sniffed, and tasted and discussed and compared.  Don was very amused by the whole procedure.  She poured him a taste of the best wine.  He still doesn’t like wine.

Supper was at a restaurant down the road from the B&B, Fattoria dei Barbie.  We were unprepared for the beauty and style of the place. 

There was a huge arched fireplace, beautiful wood framed arched windows thrown open to the evening. 

Every once in a while the resident dog – looked like maybe a Russian wolfhound – would stick his head in a window – which was conveniently at chin height for him – and tell us something and then run off.

We were the only ones there for quite a while and were greeted at the door as “Bar-ba-ra’s friends”!  Barbara is the owner of the B&B who had recommended the place to us and made the reservations.  With this special status, we were treated to a free appetizer, 10% off, and shots of grappa at the end of the meal.  Don revealed that my father had introduced him to grappa when we were engaged.  Grappa is a very strong liquor that all the wineries make out of what’s left of the grapes after the wine is made.  Maybe this was like a rite of passage that, hopefully, Don passed.  He says he threw the shots back as instructed. 

Saturday, September 17

Pienza and Montepulciano are two more walled cities on mountain tops – more so, Montepulciano.  Pienza is noted for its Pecorino cheese which they recommend eating with honey and pears.    It is a very good combination.  

Montepulciano is spectacular.  Very high up – you can see it far in the distance while driving to it – very steep streets, a large piazza surrounded by big official looking buildings – one, a church, of course. 

We had lunch in the piazza under an umbrella.  Montepulciano is something of an artist colony.  They actually have an art festival in July/August and put on musical works too.  The shops were a cut above the ones in the other  towns.

Sunday, September 18

A day of rest!!! I finally broke out my sketch book and pencils and had fun drawing grapes and a sunny window in a stone building. 

The sky is developing some dramatic clouds – the first clouds we’ve seen in Tuscany – and the wind is blowing in a weather change.  It may be raining in Rome tomorrow.

Italy Bound - Florence

Tuesday, September 13

Today we took the train to Florence (Firenze) and walked to the Hotel Albion dragging our suitcases behind us.   It is a small charming hotel in a building ( built in 1845) with pointed church-like windows that used to be a school of sculpture. 

Our three rooms are the only rooms on the 3^rd floor up a winding staircase. 

The rest of the day we walked around Florence past the spectacular Duomo – the church that has its plaid pajamas on – over the Ponte Vecchio, and through the market. 

  

 A very different feeling from Cinque Terre: lots of people out and about, more urbane, bustling. 

This evening we had dinner at Il Latini – a very memorable meal!  This restaurant has only 2 seatings each night.  We were there for the 7:30 seating and a large crowd had already gathered outside.  For this restaurant, people need early reservations and I’m glad that Kris knew about it from her niece who’d lived in Florence, and got us some.   The crowd was very friendly all exchanging notes on how they’d heard about the place and how they’d gotten reservations.  Some people just came to the crowd to ask what all the excitement was all about.  Finally at 7:30 a man came to the door and started calling out names and admitting people.  The restaurant is large and has only large tables.  Parties are seated together to fill up the tables.   There is no menu – because there are no choices to make.  The food just starts coming out – lots of it!! All Tuscan specialties served family style.  An antipasto of cheeses and sliced meats, 3 kinds of pasta in different sauces,  a platter of meats that would please Henry VIII.  Large bottles of Tuscan wine are, of course, served with the food.  Dessert is a platter of treats that everyone samples.  (Weight Watchers was rolling in it’s grave!!)  Somehow Lisa charmed the waiter with a spritely “Did I win a prize??!!” and we left with 3 free bottles of their wine.  Definitely a recommended experience for anyone visiting Florence.  But don’t wear a belt!!!

Wednesday, September 14^th

Don and I went to the Leonardo da Vinci Museum while the others went to one of the big art museums in Florence.  The Leonardo exhibit is a set of physical representations of the mechanical devices that Leonardo sketched in his notebooks.  It was really quite fascinating – most of them could be manipulated and played with. 

There is a plaza across the river that provides a gorgeous panoramic view of Florence and the surrounding countryside. 

The problem is you walk up about a million steps to get to the plaza and then another few thousand to get to a stone wall near the Boboli gardens where we ate our picnic lunch. 

Then we walked down all those steps and back to our hotel where I took a hot bath and a nap! Travel is a physically demanding sport!