We caught another high speed train, this time from Rome to Florence. It is pretty amazing when you can travel 280 km (168 miles) door to door in less than 3 hours using only public transportation (and you feet of course). I'll note here that for 3 months, we have each been living out of a single carry-on sized bag.
The trip crossed a good part of Tuscany which was impressive. I wish we had a car and more time, but I'll save that for a future trip sans kids. The Tuscan countryside appears neat and orderly with rolling hills covered with small plots and relatively few straight lines. The result is a more organic feel than the large mono-culture crops we see at home. There are orchards, vineyards, pastures and wheat near ready to harvest.
Florence is compact leaving little need for public (or other) transport. Although, there are little buses that manage the narrow streets. Other than that there is surprisingly little vehicle traffic in "downtown" Florence. I thought Rome was busy with tourists on a Saturday; Florence matches that on a Monday. Everyone is stopping and pointing and gawking and posing and taking photos. I'm right there with them, but my stride doesn't seem to match the rest of the crowd's.
There were not many bicycles in Naples. There were more in Rome, but it was a weekend so they were mainly recreational. Watching people ride on the cobblestones made my butt and teeth hurt. There are plenty of bicycles in Florence, but the streets are paved with paving stones (minimum 12" x 12") so the streets are smoother.
Ann-Kristin booked a 2 bedroom apartment overlooking the Piazza del Duomo, a pretty popular place. We look out on hundreds (at times maybe more than a thousand) tourists and up at the immense Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore. There is no sleeping past 7:00 am when the bells ring.
In addition to just wandering around (we've covered 10 miles in a two part days), we were able to visit the Galileo Museum, the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia Gallery and climb to the Piazzale Michelangelo for a view of the city. The Galileo Museum displays lots of telescopes, astronomical instruments, and mechanical and electrical experimental devices. The Uffizi Gallery is the "greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere." The House of Medici initiated the art collection in 1560 (47 years before Jamestown). It includes works by Bottecelli, DaVinci, Michelangelo, Perugino and Rafael to drop a few names. Bottecelli has a way with complexions, but not feet. DaVinci had an almost grotesque understanding of human anatomy and Michelangelo's works were just simply beautiful. The Accedemia Gallery is dedicated to religious art mostly from the Renaissance. It is home to Michelangelo's David and several unfinished works. David is carved from an enormous (17 feet) and remarkably unblemished hunk of marble. David's face looks pretty tense, like someone about to face a giant with only a sling. He's got great hair though. There are also several of Michelangelo's half-finished sculptures that are nearly as interesting and help one understand how figures take form out raw marble.
We hope to go to the DaVinci Museum tomorrow.
We try to research what we should be doing a day or two ahead. It takes a lot of effort, especially since getting to Europe where there is such a density of things to see and our schedule is compressed. When we looked at Florence, things did not seem promising. The two main attractions, the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery are closed on Mondays, the one full day we had in Florence. All the websites we checked said we should have booked well in advance of traveling to Italy. We tried and couldn't find tickets online for the partial days we were there. To be sure, we stopped by the Uffizi and checked on Sunday and the lines were a block long for both ticket purchase and entry to the museum. We decided to write both galleries off. Then Sunday night Ann-Kristin checked online again and found they were selling tickets for Monday, June 1st. Go figure? It turns out June 1 was to be a "straordanaria" day and both the Uffizi and Accademia would be open. I bought tickets online and when we went to the Accademia in the morning there was virtually no one there. Everyone seemed to have the same expectations we had that the galleries were closed and so no one showed up. No lines whatsoever and very light attendance inside. We had the same experience in the afternoon at the Uffizi. Double bonus! Like on most all of this trip, we have been most fortunate in Florence.
An Italian Frecciarossa bullet train
What it looks like to go 180 mph!
Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore from the front door of our apartment
Galileo Museum telescopes
Ponte Vecchio (a bridge lined with shops) - the only bridge across the Arno to survive the Nazis
Florence street
Zoe and Jack eating meringues
East Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo
Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo
Jack and Zoe chasing bubbles
The sun setting behind Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno
Palazzo Vecchio
Michelangelo's David at Accademia Gallery
Piazza del Duomo from our apartment
Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa at Piazza della Signoria
Botticelli's The Birth of Venus
Botticelli's Spring
Ponte Vecchio
Michelangelo's Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist
A Florentine mini-bus
The trip crossed a good part of Tuscany which was impressive. I wish we had a car and more time, but I'll save that for a future trip sans kids. The Tuscan countryside appears neat and orderly with rolling hills covered with small plots and relatively few straight lines. The result is a more organic feel than the large mono-culture crops we see at home. There are orchards, vineyards, pastures and wheat near ready to harvest.
Florence is compact leaving little need for public (or other) transport. Although, there are little buses that manage the narrow streets. Other than that there is surprisingly little vehicle traffic in "downtown" Florence. I thought Rome was busy with tourists on a Saturday; Florence matches that on a Monday. Everyone is stopping and pointing and gawking and posing and taking photos. I'm right there with them, but my stride doesn't seem to match the rest of the crowd's.
There were not many bicycles in Naples. There were more in Rome, but it was a weekend so they were mainly recreational. Watching people ride on the cobblestones made my butt and teeth hurt. There are plenty of bicycles in Florence, but the streets are paved with paving stones (minimum 12" x 12") so the streets are smoother.
Ann-Kristin booked a 2 bedroom apartment overlooking the Piazza del Duomo, a pretty popular place. We look out on hundreds (at times maybe more than a thousand) tourists and up at the immense Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore. There is no sleeping past 7:00 am when the bells ring.
In addition to just wandering around (we've covered 10 miles in a two part days), we were able to visit the Galileo Museum, the Uffizi Gallery, the Accademia Gallery and climb to the Piazzale Michelangelo for a view of the city. The Galileo Museum displays lots of telescopes, astronomical instruments, and mechanical and electrical experimental devices. The Uffizi Gallery is the "greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere." The House of Medici initiated the art collection in 1560 (47 years before Jamestown). It includes works by Bottecelli, DaVinci, Michelangelo, Perugino and Rafael to drop a few names. Bottecelli has a way with complexions, but not feet. DaVinci had an almost grotesque understanding of human anatomy and Michelangelo's works were just simply beautiful. The Accedemia Gallery is dedicated to religious art mostly from the Renaissance. It is home to Michelangelo's David and several unfinished works. David is carved from an enormous (17 feet) and remarkably unblemished hunk of marble. David's face looks pretty tense, like someone about to face a giant with only a sling. He's got great hair though. There are also several of Michelangelo's half-finished sculptures that are nearly as interesting and help one understand how figures take form out raw marble.
We hope to go to the DaVinci Museum tomorrow.
We try to research what we should be doing a day or two ahead. It takes a lot of effort, especially since getting to Europe where there is such a density of things to see and our schedule is compressed. When we looked at Florence, things did not seem promising. The two main attractions, the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery are closed on Mondays, the one full day we had in Florence. All the websites we checked said we should have booked well in advance of traveling to Italy. We tried and couldn't find tickets online for the partial days we were there. To be sure, we stopped by the Uffizi and checked on Sunday and the lines were a block long for both ticket purchase and entry to the museum. We decided to write both galleries off. Then Sunday night Ann-Kristin checked online again and found they were selling tickets for Monday, June 1st. Go figure? It turns out June 1 was to be a "straordanaria" day and both the Uffizi and Accademia would be open. I bought tickets online and when we went to the Accademia in the morning there was virtually no one there. Everyone seemed to have the same expectations we had that the galleries were closed and so no one showed up. No lines whatsoever and very light attendance inside. We had the same experience in the afternoon at the Uffizi. Double bonus! Like on most all of this trip, we have been most fortunate in Florence.
An Italian Frecciarossa bullet train
What it looks like to go 180 mph!
Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore from the front door of our apartment
Galileo Museum telescopes
Ponte Vecchio (a bridge lined with shops) - the only bridge across the Arno to survive the Nazis
Florence street
Zoe and Jack eating meringues
East Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo
Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo
Jack and Zoe chasing bubbles
The sun setting behind Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno
Michelangelo's David at Accademia Gallery
Piazza del Duomo from our apartment
Cellini's Perseus with the Head of Medusa at Piazza della Signoria
Botticelli's Spring
Ponte Vecchio
Michelangelo's Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist
A Florentine mini-bus
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