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May. 9th, 2006 03:19 pmIt is thunderstorming outside, so we are taking a nice indoor afternoon break. For a snack, I have: a teeny cream filled pastry, some bruschetti cracker thingies, and a triangle of soft cheese. For lunch, we had sesame crackers with cheese, with radishes and wild strawberries from the Central Market. And a teensy bottle of limoncello. Oh, and mango gelato for dessert. Aaaah, food. :)
We wandered around a lot today, and visited the Bargello, which was completely uncrowded but very cool. We seem to have been lucking out in that respect when it comes to museums.
I have made myself slightly ill by eating too many pastries and Delicioc. Must. Drink. Water.
We wandered around a lot today, and visited the Bargello, which was completely uncrowded but very cool. We seem to have been lucking out in that respect when it comes to museums.
I have made myself slightly ill by eating too many pastries and Delicioc. Must. Drink. Water.
(no subject)
May. 8th, 2006 09:36 pmToday we went to an olive oil shop and bought a bunch of organic olive oil and a bottle of strawberry balsamic vinegar. We watched two cats walk across the rooftops of the buildings behind our hotel. At the end of our dinner, two Australian men were seated at our table, and we talked to them a little bit about Florence and Rhode Island (they had it confused with Nantucket, I think, but hey. :)) I had some completely inadvisable hot chocolate (delicious and rich and real, just the kind that gives me headaches! Yay!) and I nearly finished off our tiny peaches. I also bought presents (birthday/Christmas/souvenir/whatever) in the markets and shearling mittens and a kid's Firenze t-shirt (how touristy) for me. :)
We visited the inside of the Duomo today - the church part, we didn't climb the dome. Visiting the inside is free, and while Rick Steves claims the best part about it is the shade, I think he's being dumb. It's totally worth the time it takes to walk in at the end of the day and look around. It's all big and tall with a beautiful fresco and a 24 hour Roman numeral clock and marble floors. The shade was nice, sure, but not the best part at all. :)
I am already starting to dread the journey home - finding a train here from Roma termini was the most stressful part of our trip, and I'm not looking forward to getting the train back when getting to the airport on time is at stake. As it stands, we leaving very early so hopefully we'll have more then enough time to sort of any snags. Still, ugh. But I am looking forward to being home, too. Don't get me wrong - I love Florence and am really enjoying myself. I just have a bit of homesickness and I look forward to sleeping in my own bed and seeing my birdies again. (Hey, regular travelers, is homesickness normal even on a great trip? I feel weird, like I'm being ungrateful or unappreciative or something. But I really am loving my time here, it's just, you know, kind of exhausting to be Far From Home.)
I'ma go eat cheese and crackers with the boy now. Every morning we take some prewrapped cheese and crackers and Nutella from the breakfast downstairs and save it for our evening snack. :)
We visited the inside of the Duomo today - the church part, we didn't climb the dome. Visiting the inside is free, and while Rick Steves claims the best part about it is the shade, I think he's being dumb. It's totally worth the time it takes to walk in at the end of the day and look around. It's all big and tall with a beautiful fresco and a 24 hour Roman numeral clock and marble floors. The shade was nice, sure, but not the best part at all. :)
I am already starting to dread the journey home - finding a train here from Roma termini was the most stressful part of our trip, and I'm not looking forward to getting the train back when getting to the airport on time is at stake. As it stands, we leaving very early so hopefully we'll have more then enough time to sort of any snags. Still, ugh. But I am looking forward to being home, too. Don't get me wrong - I love Florence and am really enjoying myself. I just have a bit of homesickness and I look forward to sleeping in my own bed and seeing my birdies again. (Hey, regular travelers, is homesickness normal even on a great trip? I feel weird, like I'm being ungrateful or unappreciative or something. But I really am loving my time here, it's just, you know, kind of exhausting to be Far From Home.)
I'ma go eat cheese and crackers with the boy now. Every morning we take some prewrapped cheese and crackers and Nutella from the breakfast downstairs and save it for our evening snack. :)
(no subject)
May. 7th, 2006 10:56 pmBriefly:
We visited Fiesole and the Roman ruins there today. It was a nice break from the city and plus, you know, RUINS. How cool is that?
It rained for the first time since we got here, but not until we were safely back in Florence. We were walking to dinner actually. It started to rain, then it started to pour and thunder. We had dinner outdoors under a tent with clear plastic walls, and watched it storm. I felt bad for the waitstaff, but it was still kind of cool. :)
I am tired and don't feel like writing out anymore, so here are pictures to tell the stories for me:
http://pics.livejournal.com/rfreebern/
We visited Fiesole and the Roman ruins there today. It was a nice break from the city and plus, you know, RUINS. How cool is that?
It rained for the first time since we got here, but not until we were safely back in Florence. We were walking to dinner actually. It started to rain, then it started to pour and thunder. We had dinner outdoors under a tent with clear plastic walls, and watched it storm. I felt bad for the waitstaff, but it was still kind of cool. :)
I am tired and don't feel like writing out anymore, so here are pictures to tell the stories for me:
http://pics.livejournal.com/rfreebern/
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May. 6th, 2006 10:02 pmBTW, the past couple of nights have been fun in terms of watching Italian TV for a little while before bed. I saw VM's "Clash of the Tritons" in Italian (I was impressed with the dubbed voices, they were close to the real actor's voices). This means I got to hear "Say repressed homosexuality!" and "Hi Dad! Their case is fuzzy and circumstansial" in Italian! I also saw some of an MTV special on Britney Spears in Italian. Fun!
(no subject)
May. 6th, 2006 09:36 pmWe have established a flexible pattern we like - a slow morning, where we stop by the hotel breakfast for water and snack stuff, then go out for coffee and a pastry and some brief and easy adventure. Today's adventure involved finding a shoe store I'd seen with boots I wanted to try on. Eventually, we found it, and I bought them. I look all Italian in them, ;)
At home for our break, we watched this week's Veronica Mars and took a nap. Then we went out for lunch and then to the Santa Croce church. At Santa Croce, we saw Galileo's tomb, and Michaelangelo's. And Dante's, though Dante isn't actually in it from what I gathered. Galileo's tomb, people! It is so cool here! :) We were allowed to take pictures there too, so you can see photos as soon as they are uploaded (they are going now,)
After Santa Croce, we went down to the Uffizi and because it was a little over an hour before closing, there was hardly any line. This is quite a thing, since during the day the line is...impossibly long. Like, indescribably long. If you go in the morning or afternoon, you could be in line for hours. We were in line for maybe 15 minutes. And then there was the Uffizi's contents to explore! Honestly, it was a little overwhelming, especially since we've spent the last 5 days looking at amazing things constantly. But while I had to sort of...skim, some of it did stick with me. We got to see Bottecelli's "Primevera" and "Birth of Venus" up close and personal. We were not allowed to take pictures in the Uffizi though, sorry.
Today's gelato flavors: riso (rice), chocolate, strawberry, and mocha. See, you can get two flavors in each little cup, so I'm trying to try as many as possible before we go. :)
Now I am exhausted and suffering from a touch of stendhalismo, so I'm going to go read or something.
At home for our break, we watched this week's Veronica Mars and took a nap. Then we went out for lunch and then to the Santa Croce church. At Santa Croce, we saw Galileo's tomb, and Michaelangelo's. And Dante's, though Dante isn't actually in it from what I gathered. Galileo's tomb, people! It is so cool here! :) We were allowed to take pictures there too, so you can see photos as soon as they are uploaded (they are going now,)
After Santa Croce, we went down to the Uffizi and because it was a little over an hour before closing, there was hardly any line. This is quite a thing, since during the day the line is...impossibly long. Like, indescribably long. If you go in the morning or afternoon, you could be in line for hours. We were in line for maybe 15 minutes. And then there was the Uffizi's contents to explore! Honestly, it was a little overwhelming, especially since we've spent the last 5 days looking at amazing things constantly. But while I had to sort of...skim, some of it did stick with me. We got to see Bottecelli's "Primevera" and "Birth of Venus" up close and personal. We were not allowed to take pictures in the Uffizi though, sorry.
Today's gelato flavors: riso (rice), chocolate, strawberry, and mocha. See, you can get two flavors in each little cup, so I'm trying to try as many as possible before we go. :)
Now I am exhausted and suffering from a touch of stendhalismo, so I'm going to go read or something.
(no subject)
May. 5th, 2006 09:07 pmToday:
Central Market in the morning. We bought loquats (I don't know if that's how you spell it, but that's what they are - they were called nespole or something in Italian) and teensy tiny peaches, and a shrinkwrapped hunk of parmesan.
Cappucino and a chocolate croissant for breakfast, gnochetti for lunch. Then we walked down to the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. Everything here is beautiful, it's enough to physically hurt you, but in the good way. We also saw the mythology and erotica exhibit in one of the museums in the Pitti, along with their normal collection of Medici treasures.
Dinner was our first real Italian pizza and tiramisu. Amazing.
We walked home and took pictures of the closed up shops on the Ponte Vecchio and the empty outdoor markets. The sanitation crews were out cleaning up the day's trash and washing the streets.
Central Market in the morning. We bought loquats (I don't know if that's how you spell it, but that's what they are - they were called nespole or something in Italian) and teensy tiny peaches, and a shrinkwrapped hunk of parmesan.
Cappucino and a chocolate croissant for breakfast, gnochetti for lunch. Then we walked down to the Palazzo Pitti and the Boboli Gardens. Everything here is beautiful, it's enough to physically hurt you, but in the good way. We also saw the mythology and erotica exhibit in one of the museums in the Pitti, along with their normal collection of Medici treasures.
Dinner was our first real Italian pizza and tiramisu. Amazing.
We walked home and took pictures of the closed up shops on the Ponte Vecchio and the empty outdoor markets. The sanitation crews were out cleaning up the day's trash and washing the streets.
