Florence

Florence was fast and furious.  We checked into the hotel then set out to see the sights. 

 

 

Pretty sure this lion is appalled at all the nudity and violence in this piazza.

 

 

You all know what the David looks like, so I thought I'd share a picture from a different perspective.

 

 

The Duomo, as seen from 300 or so steps up in the Campanille.

 

 

 

Made it almost to the top before we had to stop.

 

 

If there's a carousel, we'll be on it.

 

 

 

Ate a truly fantastic dinner at Il Giordino around the corner from our hotel.  The service was excellent, because our server was the owner (at left, below).  And we met our chef, her husband (center, below).  Definitely recommend.

 

 

 

It's all about the wine

One of my favorite wines in the States is Banfi Centine.  When I found out that we could visit the Banfi vineyards and do tastings, a stop there was added as a "must" for the trip.  We found the castello and managed to beat a tour bus into the tasting room.  There, we met a fun couple from D.C. and chatted with them about our travel adventures.  They weren't so lucky with their rental car, a Fiat Panda (I think).  This is us and them, Jen and Brad. 

 

Banfi vines.

 

 

Next stop was Montepulciano, AKA, "Is this hill seriously that steep?" Great views from the top, though.

 

One of the clock towers has this great bell ringer.  We ate lunch underneath the tower, so we had an earful when it rang.

Tuscany - Siena & Volterra

Let's just skip the part where we got lost driving to our B&B and didn't check in until 9:30 PM. 

We arrived at Agriturismo il Caggio (http://www.ilcaggio.it/en/home.html), got all settled in and had the most wonderful meal prepared for us by Rebecca's mamma. I wish I had caught her name, we just called her Mamma.  This is Rebecca & her Mamma.

Seriously, the best meal we've had so far in Italy.  Four courses: bruschetta, linguini with ragu, steak & grilled potatoes, and a dessert I couldn't pronounce then and can't remember now.  Accompanied by a lovely red wine.

The following morning, we had a nice breakfast and headed out with no particular direction in mind.  We ended up heading toward Volterra, so we stopped there and walked around.  The Roman ruins are neat, but a bit boring, to be honest.  Maybe if we had walked in and around them they would have been better.  Kind of hard to beat the Forum in Rome...

No sparkly vampires in sight.

 

 

Everywhere I looked, I said, "Ooooh, it's so pretty!"

Siena was a challenge.  It's a big(ish) town and the center is all off-limits to cars.  That means we had to park a bit of a distance away, but we weren't expecting to be this far away!  OK, fine, we parked in the wrong place.  But we had a great view of the cathedral!

 

Get back in the car, find a closer spot, and walk 10 minutes to this.  What an incredible sight to see in person.  It's just gorgeous.  I think JJ Abrams would be proud of the lens flare there...

 

Not entirely sure why  this parade was happening, but it was so much fun to see.  As we were walking to the duomo, we heard drums, and then we saw some boys dressed up and throwing flags.  As more and more people gathered, but nothing happened, we decided to continue to the duomo.  As we returned, the parade was getting under way.  There were a lot of people now and maybe two dozen boys and men with flags.  There was also a very popular trio of pugs.  One owner held his pug up so it could see the parade.  TOO CUTE!

Driving like an Italian

The plan was to pick up our rental car at the Roma Termini train station through Hertz.  We arrive at the station, make our way to the Hertz desk, and proceed to stand in line for an hour.  When we finally step up to the desk, the woman says, "No more automatica, you drive manual?"  Lee & I looked at each other with mild terror and say, "No!"  The woman says then that she has a SMART CAR that's an automatic and we laugh, knowing there's no way our huge suitcases and other bags would fit in a Smart car.  We tell the woman no again, and she says OK, she'll try to find another automatic.  She types away industriously and we think we're in the clear.  She swipes my card and gives me the paperwork and we're good to go.  I ask her, just to make sure, "Not a Smart car, correct?"  She looks at me in surprise and says yes, it's a Smart car!  Oh boy.  Turns out, Hertz cannot give us a car, so we get our refund and step next door to Avis, where there is no wait, and get an Audi A1 - automatic - for CHEAPER!  How fun is that?  The bad part is that the car is at the Avis lot INSIDE THE CITY.  We had a bit of a time making our way out of Rome, but, once I put myself in the mindset of a Roman driver, all went well. 

After some trouble with the Garmin, we finally headed in the direction we wanted and found Roman aqueducts out in the middle of a field.

 

Nice rental, eh?  I want one.

 

Part of our itinerary, and a big reason to rent the car in Rome, was to drive over to the Mediterranean.  We finally made it and it was spectacular.  Lee wanted to go down to the beach to actually put her feet in the water, but the beach was not the best and the water was too rough.  We walked out on what must have been some kind of boat slip or dry dock, so that was nice. 

 

Along the way into Tuscany, we stopped at an old abbey, which is now just ruins.  San Galgano is beautiful, especially in the late afternoon light after the rain.  We weren't able to go inside, but just looking at it from the outside was nice enough. 

 

Rome day 4 - Colosseo

Ciao!  Today we had a fantastic tour led by Lara of the Forum, Palatine Hill and Colosseo.  It was exhaustive and exhausting.  I learned more than I'll ever be able to remember.  Our tour guide, Lara, is an archaeologist, and was very put out that a political event was mucking up our views.  On to the pics.

Colosseo in the morning, before our tour.

Photo by Lara, tour guide extraordinaire!

 

In the Colosseo basement, where one must have privileged access and be accompanied by an official with the keys.  It was pretty cool.

 

Max & Lara, tour guides. 

 

Last night in Rome, enjoying the beautiful light.

 

Lee decided to bring home a special souvenir.  I'm not sure there's a box on the immigration form for a carabineri...

The Pantheon, at night, with an almost-full moon.

 



 

St. Peter's basilica.

 

Rome day 2 - Appian Way & La Traviata and Day 3 - The Vatican

Writing this Thursday after five hours in Vatican City.  So very tired.  It may not make much sense.

Wednesday we made our way out to the Via Appia Antica, taking the bus the entire way.  Good thing we stopped at a TI for help on which bus to take.  We arrived at the Appian Way and started walking.  And walking.  And checked out this.

 

Then we just had to play around a bit...

 

 

Then the dark clouds rolled in on thunder and the rain began to drop.  FYI ~ buses run few and far between along the Appian Way.

 

Wednesday night we went to see La Traviata at a wonderful theater, Salone Margherita, near the Spanish Steps.  It was fantastic, in no small part to the free pasta between the first and second acts.

 

The rain was still falling as we left the opera and walked to the Spanish Steps; it was lovely.

 

 

Thursday - Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica tour

 

After our very late night at the opera, we awoke very early to meet for our tour of the Vatican.  It was totally worth waking up early because it meant that we were able to see the Sistine Chapel with only a few of our closest 100 friends.  As opposed to our closest 400 friends.  It was spectacular.  Our tour guide, Vera, from Walks of Italy, was fantastic.  Tour guides aren't allowed to present to the groups while in the Chapel, so she shared with us points of interest before going in.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures, of course, but that's OK. 

 

After the Sistine Chapel, we moved on to the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica.  By the time we arrived in St. Peter's, the mad crush of crowds had arrived.  The Pope was scheduled to perform some ceremony that afternoon, so much of the center of the basilica was blocked off.  You can see the chairs in the below picture.



Michelangelo's Pieta.

 

View of the outside of the Sistine Chapel.  There are no lights inside, because it would damage the paintings.  The windows are lit from the outside.

One of the many fresco maps in the map gallery.

 



 

Random ceiling.  Probably was a bathroom or something.

 

Now it's time for a siesta before going back out for dinner.  Ciao!