Florence

Hello friends,

We arrived in Florence on Monday. It's hard to believe that it is already Wednesday evening. It's been a whirlwind-- as has most of our Grand Tour. Despite getting plenty of sleep (most nights), I often experience moments of tremendous exhaustion. It's a lot to take in.

Doesn't this just say "Florence"?

We are staying in a nice apartment, right in the middle of everything in Florence. it's on a narrow street, close to the major Florence cathedral-- and across the street from a bar. Thankfully, our apartment comes with serious windows. A set of multiple-pane windows, plus a set of older windows, and then you finish it off with some indoor shutters. The whole thing cuts down on the noise dramatically. Good thing, too, because motor scooters scream down the street night and day and, since we are not far from the hospital, ambulances come down our street too on a regular basis.

Yesterday (Tuesday), we climbed the tower next to the cathedral. In the gift shop at the bottom of the tower, we found a great book called, "Florence: Just Add Water." The book is a great introduction to Florence, geared to children Margaret and John's ages (not too "babyish," John would say). We have been using the book all around Florence.

Here are Joseph and the kids, with the new guidebook, on the Ponte Vecchio:

Here is some guy (Joseph insists it is not his bald spot) reading the guidebook to our children:

After the Tower, we visited the Baptistry, the place where all Florence children were once baptized. Baptisms took place only twice per year. The Baptistry was also used as a kind of covered town square for public events. The domed ceiling of the Baptistry features mosaics of Jesus Christ and stories of the Bible. According to Joseph, the "best part" is the picture of the Devil actually eating a poor sinner. Yikes. John's been having a hard time getting to sleep the past couple of nights.

Since it was raining when we emerged from the Baptistry, we decided to stay close by and visited the Duomo just next door, including the Duomo crypt. Lots of marble. Lots of space. I guess the intent was for worshippers to feel small, in the presence of God. And, then, one part of the floor is designed to have an spider-web effect, so that if you stand in the middle, you will feel like you are being swallowed up. Nifty.

After a little gelato to give everyone a little extra energy, we walked toward the Uffizi to see about getting tickets (the guidebook warned that reservations should be made a month in advance, but we were still hopeful). On the way, we visited a market (where Susan petted the famous Florentine pig — thus, according to legend, assuring that she will someday return to the city):

Getting tickets at the Uffizi was an exercise in ridiculousness, although we were victorious in the end. Signs around the Uffizi courtyard are put out intended to help poor, hapless tourists figure out which doorway they should go to-- depending on whether they have tickets, just a reservation number, they want to get tickets, or they have no ticket at all but want to get in that same day. Yet, the signs are not really clear. The only thing that is clear is the huge line of people who are trying to get in on the same day. That line features a glowing, flashing sign that indicates how long you must wait before you will know whether or not you will get in that day (it was flashing 1-2 hours when we were there). Finally, we found a person to ask. Joe went into the indicated doorway and, in no time, had tickets for Wednesday at 10:30-- at a premium, of course. But, hey, we're in Florence.

Then, we wandered a bit more, and admired the Santa Croce church.

Then, it was time to visit the food store, get some supplies for making dinner, and settle in for the evening.

Today (Wednesday), we let the kids sleep in. We wanted them to be as fresh as possible for the Uffizi, since we had paid so much for those tickets! We got to the Uffizi in time for our appointed entry. Getting in is a lot like getting on a plane. Metal detectors and a machine checking bags. We even had to take off our belts! Joe observed that at least we didn't have to take off our shoes!

But, we got to see some great art. The book that we had picked up was very helpful. We worked our way through the best of Italian painters and sculptors, stopping along the way to talk about 14th century Madonnas, Giotto, Gentile da Fabriano, Botticelli (The Birth of Venus and Primavera), and finally, some Da Vinci and Michelangelo. We had hoped to get through the museum and then go to lunch, but after about an hour and a half, it was clear that we would need to get something to eat. We were all fading. And, there was still a lot to see. But, once you are in the Uffizi, you stay until you're done, so our only option was the cafe. Much to our surprise, however, the cafe turned out to be quite nice. Our little lunch was delicious and not outrageously expensive. Margaret had a grilled tomato and mozzarella cheese sandwich. I had a chicken, cheese and lettuce panini. And, Joseph and John had "toast," a lightly grilled ham and cheese sandwich, with the crusts cut off. Just perfect for John.

And we took some nice photos of the Palazzo Vecchio from up close:

After some refreshment, we continued on in the Museum until about 2:30 when we finally declared ourselves "art-ed out."

Then, it was time for family squabbling in the Piazza della Signoria. Well, not so much squabbling; more like family poutiness. Margaret could only think of gelato. Joe was on to the next big site. I was just plain tired. And, John just wanted family unity.

Finally, we ended up at the Museum of the History of Science. Most of it is being renovated, so we were limited to two floors. But, lucky for us, we could still view Galileo's middle finger, in a jar, in a glass case. Lovely.

After the museum, we ran a couple of errands. We finally got Margaret her gelato (chocolate and caramel, I think).

Then, Joe and John climbed the tower of the Duomo.

Margaret and I went off to the food store to get dinner.

Tomorrow, we are off to Lucca to meet our new friends from Canada who are living in Lucca for a little while. We met them on the bus in Salzburg. They have a daughter who just happens to be 11 and a son, who just happens to be 9. They will show us around a bit and all of the kids will have the opportunity to play with other English speaking children. Should be a good day for all.

Ciao!

Susan