Travel journal - Part 1 - Florence
May. 7th, 2010 09:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mojosmomSince I've been home two weeks, it's about time I wrote about my trip, no?
Both flights (Chicago-Zurich, Zurich-Florence) were uneventful, as all flights should be. Sadly, because I'd gone through passport control in Zurich, I don't have a nice "Firenze" stamp in my passport. All this "European community" stuff means a much less interesting and less colorful passport. I took the bus from Amerigo Vespucci airport to the Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station, and walked to the hotel from there, as it was only about a 15-minute walk and, of course, I wanted to see the sights! The walk was along the Via Tournabuoni, which is where you shop if you have more money than God. I don't, so I didn't, even if the hotel was just down the street from Salvatore Ferragamo.
My hotel was wonderfully located, one street over from the Arno, between the Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte Santa Trinita, on the Borgo S.S. Apostoli, near the Piazza del Limbo (a juxtaposition that amused me). I could see the Duomo from my window, and across the street was an art gallery with a sculpture garden.
It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, so after unpacking I went out to explore and get my bearings. I walked along the Lungarno, crossing to the Oltrarno on the Ponte delle Grazie, then back over along the Ponte Vecchio, admiring the jewelry stores as I went. Then I headed in the other direction, towards the Ponte Santa Trinità , stopping for my first (but not last) gelato of the trip. I wandered into Il Papiro, which, as the name implies, has lots of pretty things made with marbled and other decorative papers, but did not buy anything as I wanted to see what else was available.
When I went back to the hotel to change, I asked the guy on duty if he could suggest a place for dinner. To his question, "Cheap, medium, or expensive?", I said, "cheap or medium". So he recommended a couple of places, and I decided to go to one near St. Mark's English Church, as I had reserved a ticket for their (truncated) performance of La Traviata. It was the Trattoria la Casalinga, clearly a neighborhood place, full of regulars and families. I had minestra in brodo, scallopine di vitello al limone, patate rosto and crem caramel for dessert, with a quartino of house white.
As I walked towards the church for the opera, I saw this place:
It's the Palazzo di Bianca Cappello. She was the mistress, and later the second wife, of Francesco de' Medici, and had a rude ditty sung about her: "Il Granduca di Toscana/ha sposata una puttana/gentildonna Veneziana" ("The Grand Duke of Tuscany/has married a whore/a Venetian gentlewoman").
I enjoyed the opera. Nice voices, particularly Alfredo, prosecco at intermission, and I didn't get back to the hotel until nearly midnight.
As a result, I overslept, and missed breakfast at the hotel, so I headed out to find a pasticceria for tea and pastry. Then went to the Uffizi, and, when I saw the lines, was very glad I had a reservation! I spent about five hours in the place. It's got tons of gorgeous stuff. The prints and drawings room was closed, or I'd likely have been there even longer. I spent a good deal of time with my head tilted back looking at the ceilings, which are replete with fantastical figures and designs. I had with me an old guide book that I'd gotten at Powell's that was both useful and opinionated! It said the Uffizi had an "incomparable view of the Arno and surrounding hills", but I was to learn that there are incomparable views of the Arno and surrounding hills all over the place.
I also spent a fair bit of time browsing in the shops there. OH, they are good at marketing! First there's a small shop, then a big one. Then a shop with stuff for kids, and a big bookstore. This is followed by a Ferragamo boutique and then a little trinket place and post office. I can't imagine anyone gets out without spending a euro or two or three. I bought a few books and a pair of earrings.
Dinner at a restaurant down the street from my hotel, the Antiche Carozze: salsiccie Toscana, with patate al forno, melanza e pomodori, really good warm bread, a glass of Chianti and panna cotta ai frutti di bosco.
-- to be continued
Both flights (Chicago-Zurich, Zurich-Florence) were uneventful, as all flights should be. Sadly, because I'd gone through passport control in Zurich, I don't have a nice "Firenze" stamp in my passport. All this "European community" stuff means a much less interesting and less colorful passport. I took the bus from Amerigo Vespucci airport to the Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station, and walked to the hotel from there, as it was only about a 15-minute walk and, of course, I wanted to see the sights! The walk was along the Via Tournabuoni, which is where you shop if you have more money than God. I don't, so I didn't, even if the hotel was just down the street from Salvatore Ferragamo.
My hotel was wonderfully located, one street over from the Arno, between the Ponte Vecchio and the Ponte Santa Trinita, on the Borgo S.S. Apostoli, near the Piazza del Limbo (a juxtaposition that amused me). I could see the Duomo from my window, and across the street was an art gallery with a sculpture garden.
It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, so after unpacking I went out to explore and get my bearings. I walked along the Lungarno, crossing to the Oltrarno on the Ponte delle Grazie, then back over along the Ponte Vecchio, admiring the jewelry stores as I went. Then I headed in the other direction, towards the Ponte Santa Trinità , stopping for my first (but not last) gelato of the trip. I wandered into Il Papiro, which, as the name implies, has lots of pretty things made with marbled and other decorative papers, but did not buy anything as I wanted to see what else was available.
When I went back to the hotel to change, I asked the guy on duty if he could suggest a place for dinner. To his question, "Cheap, medium, or expensive?", I said, "cheap or medium". So he recommended a couple of places, and I decided to go to one near St. Mark's English Church, as I had reserved a ticket for their (truncated) performance of La Traviata. It was the Trattoria la Casalinga, clearly a neighborhood place, full of regulars and families. I had minestra in brodo, scallopine di vitello al limone, patate rosto and crem caramel for dessert, with a quartino of house white.
As I walked towards the church for the opera, I saw this place:
It's the Palazzo di Bianca Cappello. She was the mistress, and later the second wife, of Francesco de' Medici, and had a rude ditty sung about her: "Il Granduca di Toscana/ha sposata una puttana/gentildonna Veneziana" ("The Grand Duke of Tuscany/has married a whore/a Venetian gentlewoman").
I enjoyed the opera. Nice voices, particularly Alfredo, prosecco at intermission, and I didn't get back to the hotel until nearly midnight.
As a result, I overslept, and missed breakfast at the hotel, so I headed out to find a pasticceria for tea and pastry. Then went to the Uffizi, and, when I saw the lines, was very glad I had a reservation! I spent about five hours in the place. It's got tons of gorgeous stuff. The prints and drawings room was closed, or I'd likely have been there even longer. I spent a good deal of time with my head tilted back looking at the ceilings, which are replete with fantastical figures and designs. I had with me an old guide book that I'd gotten at Powell's that was both useful and opinionated! It said the Uffizi had an "incomparable view of the Arno and surrounding hills", but I was to learn that there are incomparable views of the Arno and surrounding hills all over the place.
I also spent a fair bit of time browsing in the shops there. OH, they are good at marketing! First there's a small shop, then a big one. Then a shop with stuff for kids, and a big bookstore. This is followed by a Ferragamo boutique and then a little trinket place and post office. I can't imagine anyone gets out without spending a euro or two or three. I bought a few books and a pair of earrings.
Dinner at a restaurant down the street from my hotel, the Antiche Carozze: salsiccie Toscana, with patate al forno, melanza e pomodori, really good warm bread, a glass of Chianti and panna cotta ai frutti di bosco.
-- to be continued
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 05:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 09:34 am (UTC)Oh, I can taste the food and the wine as I read! Look forward to the next episode!
I have a friend, a Spaniard, called Pablo, and he became a friend this way: He and I were working in the same real estate office some years back. My heart and soul were not here at that time, although my body was, I was travelling around Italy, and on my desk was a copy of a Spanish travel magazine with the Ponte Vecchio featured on the cover. Pablo stopped by my desk and picked up the magazine, looked at the cover and put it back down. "I used to work just there," he said, pointing to the end of the bridge, "selling marionettes." Now there is the kind of thing you don't hear someone say every day! It turned out that in his youth he had bummed around Europe (he was only in his 40s at this time, mind), and Italy he had learned to make marionettes. So he passed his days making them, and evenings selling them. There followed a loooong conversation about Italy, but his experiences were far more interesting than mine!
no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 02:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 10:56 am (UTC)No Italy for us this summer; we're thinking Chrietmas.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 11:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 02:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 02:36 pm (UTC)