Firenze

I took the day off on Friday and on Thursday night took train(s) to Firenze via Novara and Milano. An old classmate of mine from MSSE was there with a school group and she asked if I could come meet her while she was in Italy. It was either Firenze or Roma. I'd never been to Firenze, and it was closer by 2 hours so, off I went!

The train ride was HECTIC. I had been out the weekend before and I couldn't buy the train tickets because I wasn't sure of my final plan, then I was in bed sick (again) with a cold for 2 days. (I think every time I turn on the heater I get all stuffed up - just last night I had to turn on the heater again because it was cold... my nose is stuffed up like you wouldn't believe) Lots of running around to buy the tickets at the 10 minute stops between different trains (took 3 altogether). The EuroStar train from Milano to Napoli (via Firenze) was SO nice. It was almost like business class, with posh seats and tables for each person. :-)

When I arrived in Firenze, Judy wasn't there to meet me like we'd quasi-agreed on... eek. It was raining outside. Double eek. I had no idea where the restaurant was that she had emailed me. Triple eek. The information desk was closed, the bus information center was closed, and the train information clerk was nonresponsive when I asked where I could ask for help. Quadruple eek. As an after thought, I remembered Libor's friend Martina, whom I would meet on Saturday morning. I called her and asked her what bus I should take to get to the hotel. She said it's only 20 min, just walk. So, walk I did... Brunelleschi's Dome was easy to find, a dominating feature of Firenze's skyline. :-) It was rainy and dark, so the dome was all mine. I walked to the baptistry, looking for Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise. Mmmm.... It was dark, but I could see the gold gleaming from the huge doors behind a metal gate. I was all alone. :-)

After 30 min of walking my way down Florentine streets, I found the hotel and Judy walked in right after me. She said she'd gone to the train station but arrived just as I'd left! No matter, I found her and we stayed up late catching up on news. So nice! She was with 1 other teacher and 2 students, a subgroup within a school group from the US. The next day was a "free" day and we headed to the dome where 3 of us (not including Judy) walked UP the dome! :-) It was about 364 steps... STEEP! All along the way there were little windows that opened up on a view of Firenze (see photo above). About halfway up, traffic was directed out onto a glassed off ledge on the inside of the cathedral. Here we could see the paintings on the ceiling of the dome very clearly and up close. Basically it was levels of purgatory - the bottommost were scenes from hell, moving up to repentence and heaven, with a small circle of kings and people observing. The depth of the painting was fabulous. I got some really good photos. Up the stairs we went again, circling the middle layer of the dome. Brunellesci was so determined to have the dome finished in as short a time as possible that he had lavatories, sleeping quarters and kitchens built within the dome so the mason workers didn't have to descend all the time. Can you imagine? Wow. At this point, traffic became 2 way - considering that the passageways were only about 3 feet across, this required some creative negotiating of bodies passing by each other. Traffic was again redirected onto another ledge, this time right at the edge of the base of the paintings within the dome. I was blown away. Inches away from my face, a beautifully stylized man lay on his back, screaming in terror, eyes bulging and limbs flailing as a devil's minion held his face down with a 2-pronged wooden fork and forced some kind of noxious looking liquid into his mouth. The detail and complexity of colors to make the images look so real, it was amazing. (Sorry the image to the left is dark - will fix it when I get PS) Sadly, though, I could see that people had at one time written on the base, some names scratched. They'd been repainted and covered up with a sheet of plexiglass. Indeed, most of the way up the dome, the walls were COVERED with graffiti. This dome is about 700 years old. So sad to see such disrespect of historic artifacts. After making our way on this top ledge, we climbed/crawled the last steep ladders out onto the top of the dome. :-) Unobstructed views of Firenze awaited us. The sky was gray so everything came out flat, but with some tweaking in PS (hopefully this week???), the images will look superb. :-) The dominating feature of Firenze (other than Il Duomo) is the red tiled roofs of all the buildings. As I walked around the dome taking pictures of the skyline, I saw a young woman (probably my age) with a black felt marker and writing her name on the white marble struts of the dome. I was so pissed and genuinely wishing I was fluent in Italian so I could give her a what for. Especially if she didn't speak Italian, it'd be perfect, I could yell at her like she was personally insulting me! >:-O

So after that trip, we decided to make our way over to Galleria dell'Accademia to see the original David. The line stretched around the block so we had quite a bit of a wait ahead of us. After an hour or so (it seems you need to wait for everything in Firenze), we finally got in this small building that was built specifically for the statue of David that used to be in another piazza but was moved after his wrist was broken in 2 places during a citizen's riot. There was a hall of sculptures, but all that was ignored as I looked up in awe of the REAL David. :-) I spent some time walking around it and observing as many details as I could. There were dozens of students all occupying all the benches surrounding the hall, looking bored as they waited for their school groups to leave. Ahh... Judy and I agree wholeheartedly, "Youth [really] is wasted on the young." The details... wow. You can see the veins on the back of his hands, the rough rock in his fist, the smoothness of the marble showing his musculature. The intensity of his stare, the sling slung (ha) carelessly over his shoulder... After gazing at this from all sides as much as possible, I went to check out the statue gallery, Michelangelo's Slaves and also Pieta. These sculptures were left intentionally unfinished... Indeed, the figures in the marble were slaves of the marble itself, forever condemned to a life of shadows and ambiguity. Sorry no pictures... no camera allowed. Here's pictures I found from another website... http://www.all-art.org/early_renaissance/michelangelo5.html

I also saw a painting by DaVinci whose colors were badly eroded, but the details were obvious. I also ogled over one of Botticelli's smaller paintings as well (a precursor to the wonders of Uffizzi I'd experience later). The 2 students were moping quietly on a bench (but definitely accompanied by dozens of other students in the same boat), so we left and quickly made our way to a possible trattoria that was marked in my travel book. We made it 20 minutes too late, so we grabbed some sandwiches at the bar next door. One student went back to the hotel with the other teacher, the other student grabbed a map and ran off to explore Firenze on his own, and Judy and I headed to the Uffizzi. We waited in line for 2 hours but believe me, the wait was WELL WORTH IT. There was a ROOM full of Botticelli's paintings, including the effervescently beautiful Birth of Venus and La Primavera. :-) Judy preferred to admire from the bench, but I was up close, looking at every color and detail I could muster. Botticelli is a master of creating beautiful textiles for the clothing that the subjects wore. In Primavera, one nymph was wearing a gauze sheath, and I could see details of the leaves in the bushes behind her. It was so beautiful. We only had 45 minutes to look around before having to go meet the tour group, so we rushed through the other rooms, stopping only to see one of Michelangelo's paintings, a Giotto painting, and a Caravaggio painting on a shield of Medusa's head dripping black blood, fury raging in her frozen face. The gift shop alone is also amazing - it covers the entire first floor of the museum (there are a total of 3 floors - we skipped the 2nd floor and went to the 3rd for the Botticellis). We only had 15 minutes to agonize over what we wanted only to sigh in exasperation when realizing there were other rooms full of stuff we didn't see! I went back on Saturday morning to see if I could get in again, but when I'd passed it at 7:30 in the morning on my way to the train station to buy my tickets, there was already a line so I knew it'd be impossible for me to get in. Next time I'm definitely reserving tickets before even going to Firenze. (all the pix in this paragraph from diff websites, sorry for not sourcing them here ... don't arrest me!)

Dinner was mediocre - I was disappointed that this was the Italian food that they were trying! :-( The good part was the wine carafe Judy and I split. Mmm..!

Judy and I stayed up late again, talking about different things. At 10:30 we were the last people in the lobby! (10:30 is only the end of dinner for most Italians!) The next morning, they left for Roma and I speed walked my way through Firenze to the train station so I wouldn't repeat the same mistake of not having a ticket ready. I went back to the Uffizzi, the line was 2 hours long so I said forget it. I'm going to enjoy my last few hours exploring Firenze! I explored the nearby Palace (former home of the Medici family), but I didn't have time for the 1 1/2 hour tour, so I contented myself with the gift shop and then wandered around the different piazzas until 11:15 when I'd meet Martina and Massimo near the train station. It was nice to see them - Martina is finishing school, same as Libor. I was disappointed I couldn't understand most of what they were saying (especially Massimo - but I appreciate his trying to speak English) due to my stuffiness and just not used to their accents. Martina speaks English very well (definitely British English), and obviously is a smart woman. She has my email address so hopefully we can communicate better through email.

Off I went again on the train, but this time the train car wasn't as nice as the other one. The train was full - not everyone had a seat so they were sitting on their luggage in the passageways between cars. People who didn't have tickets spent time in the WC - I was PISSED because I had to go to the bathroom very badly and basically there was only 1-2 free WCs on the entire train because of all the free-loaders. The same thing happened when I was on the train to Biella - only 1 WC for the entire train so I stubbornly sat outside the WC waiting for the person to come out, and when the train arrived in Biella (a 30-40 min ride), a young man came up to the WC, gave a discrete knock at the handle, and the door opened and a young man came out. I gave him the evil eye and he flicked his hands, getting water in my face. *grrrrrrrr* Ended up powerwalking the 20 minutes to get home so I could use my bathroom. Sometimes it's a PAIN not to have a car. And this is a painful realization for me to make, as I was so dedicated to a possible future without ever owning a car. Not possible unless you live in a fairly larger city with better access to things. :-/

This week is a short one... I have 3 days of work, then we have Easter vacation for 10 days! Whoo hoo!! Unfortunately I can't go anywhere until after Saturday - on Friday is my appointment regarding my Permesso di Soggiorno. Yay - Simone, Daniele and I should have fun. :-D Seriously.

Hope all is well and you are enjoying good weather!