Leaving Florence on to Rome

Day 9, Oct. 16

We were up at 7:30 to have a quick shower & tidy up the apt. Lucy is coming at 9:30 to pick up the keys & return our deposit. We are catching a train to Rome at 10:40. We hop in the taxi & arrive in lots of time. Our luggage is getting heavier don’t know where we have pick up the extra lbs. We are taking the fast train 1&1/2 hrs. Arrive in Rome & go to the taxi stand. Pile into one cab & ask how much, he tells us 45 Euros & Lyn starts arguing. It costs 30 to go from the airport to town! Tells him she will pay 20. He kicks us out & we get in another, we make a deal for 25 because we have 4 pieces of luggage. You have to be on your toes here or you can turn into easy prey. Know your prices before you open your wallet.

Our apartment is in the Testaccio district south of Rome. We will be using the bus or metro.  Not as fancy as Florence but still very comfortable. We overlook the  Testaccio Market which is open every day. Should be some good bargains. This is a blue collar area so the prices are a lot cheaper. There is a grocery store just around the corner so we stock up with supplies & decide to eat in tonight. Lyn bought 2 cans of beer for 1 euro what a bargain.

Pitti Palace & Michelangelo Piazzle

A slow start again today as we have no set destination. We both need to do a bit of shopping and want to go down to the Via Guicciardini which is the street that comes off the Pont Vecchio. There are many high end tourist shops and different types of stores and vendors that we are sure we will find what we want. The Pitti Palace is also on this street.
Lyn has her heart set on a wine jug and a ceramic Christmas ornament with something to represent Florence. We have seen some lovely ones, they are hand painted and in many different styles. We spot a shop down a lovely looking alley and follow the signs to a wonderful shop. The artist runs this store and does most of the work herself. On top of that her prices are as nice as her patterns and Lyn find a jug for wine with the Florence emblem. She will also ship home for you.

Sienna

Day 7, Oct 14

Today we go to Siena! We are out the door and on the bus to the station that we think houses the bus we want. Hmmmm….wrong bus station. Had a nice tour of the station but no bus. A nice police man gives us directions. Out of the station, across the street, turn left, turn right and there it is. We buy our ticket with moments to spare. Make sure you get a return ticket or buy your return as soon as you get to your destination. We were not sure when the bus left but the traveling gods are with us and we are off in moments.
The country side is beautiful when we leave Florence. We climb for the whole trip and enjoy the views. As we enter the city we are impressed with what we see. Siena had a financial crash in the 13th century and never regained their place of eminence financially in Italy and as a result they could not afford to tear down buildings and build new so the city is frozen in time.

Museum Opificio delle Pietr Dure & Santa Croce

Day 6, Oct 13

Slower start today. We hadn’t planned any destinations and sort of decided over breakfast that maybe we would explore with a bus. So first thing is to the nearby shop to buy a ticket loaded with 10 passes. The little electric minibus comes right down our street so we hopped on and had a tour along the Arno River and when the bus turned around we got off and caught a line going north to Piazza St Marco. We wanted to check out the lineup to the Accademia to see David. David was having much too much company today (the line went around the corner, around the block and down the road). Next time maybe.
So off to see the Museo dell'Opificio delle Pietre Dure. That means the workshop of hard stone. Sounds better in Italian. The Medicis set this up in their palace in the 1500s to produce fine furniture with semi precious stones. It was moved in the 1800s and now has its own home. We visited the museum and were awed by the fine work and beauty of the workmanship. They have over 600 different varieties of stone and for a rock hound it was amazing to see the wonderful things they could do. Eventually the art reached such a high level of skill that no one could afford it anymore and they priced themselves out of the market.

Uffizi Museum, Duoma & Mercado

Well up bright and early for our date at the Uffizi Museum. We booked our reservation time before we left Canada so this morning we just had to turn up and pay for our tickets. We walked right in which was a great delight when you saw the length of the other lineups. We had to time ourselves when viewing the different rooms as there are hoards of tours racing through and they can sweep you along if you are not careful. Only 600 people are allowed in at one time. We downloaded Rick Steve’s pod casts for the Uffizi and were able to get a good understanding of the finer points of the many masterpieces we were able to view. The palace is a very interesting and if you visit don’t forget to look up. Many of the ceilings are works of art in their own right.

Santa Maria Novella & Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

Day 4, Monday

Okay folks you have Lyn, Chris is sitting on her bum dictating. I just poured myself a large glass of wine & I am now hen pecking (2 finger typing). This morning Lucy our landlady who goes beyond the call of duty arrived with her brother- in-law, (yesterday was her boy friend) to try to fix Chris’s computer. Sorry still won’t work. So down the street to an internet café were there is students reading & studying. We fit right in probably thought their grandmas were invading. Yeah finally got on our blog. Alice is the internet provider for Italy & it is very expensive. The password for any internet connection is in excess of 20 digits & letters.God help you if you screw up typing it in!

Boboli & Bardini Gardens

Oct 10, Day 3

We have our land legs again! After a visit by our landlady to try to get our internet working (Lucy is so kind) we head out to visit Pitti Palace. We walk through Piazza Santo Spirito and there is a street market and it looks like a neighbourhood garage sale. Love looking through other peoples stuff. We decide we have better junk than them. People is great.
Next stop the Palace. Oh dear, look at the lineup. Plan B says because it is a glorious day we will start by visiting the Boboli and Bardini Gardens at the rear of the Palace. Should have planned a picnic. The garden took us up the side of a hillside to enjoy spectacular views of the city.

Lovely pools and statuary to enjoy. The gardens are very simple and restrained. Very peaceful compared to the streets not far away. Very few flowers and smaller plants like the lemon trees are all potted to move indoors for winter.
When we left the Palace we were looking for somewhere to eat but found that most places close their kitchens between 2:30 and 3:00. Came all the way home to finish off the last of our cheese and etc. Food is so yummy when you are hungry.

Duomo & Bargello Museum

Day two

This morning Chris slept in and Lyn went exploring. Around 11:00 we headed out to see what there was to see. Just to get our bearing we start to walk along the Arno River which is just a block away from us. Down the Via Santa Maria to the Duomo Church. We paused at the Uffizi to watch the tourists and marvel at the lineups.

Next stop was Bargello Museum. This is an old early Florence police station and it has been converted to house many beautiful statues by famous Donatello, Michelangelo, etc. and relics.
There was a large market in the Piazza Della Signoria where what ever you might want was available in triplicate. This is the place to buy shoes, purses and coats. Lyn says “Sorry Rick. Not going to buy you anything this time. You have to wait till we go to Mexico.”
Then back across the Ponte Vecchio looking at all the gold shops. It is wall to wall jewelers on both sides of the bridge. We slowly made our way back home stopping in small shops to pick salad, lasagna, eggplant pasta dish and grape pie dessert. As usual we bought more than we could eat. Oh well we will have it for lunch. Saturday was really busy with so many tourists. Can’t imagine what it would be like in high season.
Off to bed early again. Still catching up on the time change.

Travel Tip:
Museum Bargello
Duomo of Florence
This is the official website for Florence's Museums - http://193.42.139.9/english/

Settling in

Oct 8, day one

Hi everyone, sorry for the delay in getting this up but we have been internet challenged and no one seems to be able to hook us up. So plan B is to find internet coffee shops to use their WIFI.
We arrived in Florence to a lovely sunny afternoon (24 degrees) and called our landlady, Lucy, to let her know we had arrived. A cab ride soon had us at our destination. Our apartment is in the Oltrarno district. It is a rustic area and next to the old city wall. Our apartment is in a building that over 500 years old and you can still see many of the original features. We are very comfortable and have a 2 bedroom apartment. We have all the Mod Cons. Dishwasher, washing machine, 3 yes I said 3 flat screen tvs. Too bad we can’t speak Italian.
Lucy, our landlady is very helpful and quickly got us oriented. First night we wandered the neighborhood and shopped in Santo Spirito (wine, cheese, bread, salami, olives, etc) for an indoor picnic and off to bed early. Lyn found a small store selling beer across the street so everyday we try a new type. Italian beer isn’t bad! The neighbour's cat arrived at the kitchen window with a welcome and request for dinner. Too cute. Off to bed, we are pooped.

this is our apartment