A Day in the Walls of a City

I am using a different technique today. Usually I write then insert pictures. Today, it's pictures first. For those of you that do what I do, you'll understand the importance of process. For the rest of you, I'm sorry I brought it up.

Yesterday was a little hard on some of our family with the heat and the claustrophobia brought on by the narrow streets and walls being a bit much.

I was given the opportunity to plan today and I ran with it. It was a nice light day with only two churches, open piazzas, a couple of walks on the wall and stroll through a garden.

It started with a mistake. I thought there was a fee to enter the park that runs along the type of the city wall. It turned out I actually just bought admission to a garden that I didn't know existed. It was lovely.

Our first staged photo of the day.


Our second.


This is an American pine tree.


Finally, a pond with goldfish. It was a great accident for us and it got the day off to a good start.


The wall around the city has a 15' wide path that has walkers and bike riders all over it. It runs 4 km around the city, about the length of the Greenlake path. This is the view south.


We worked our way to our first cathedral. As you remember from yesterday, there are tons of flowers on the terraces and balconies.


This is the approach to Duomo St. Martino.


And the front. The noteworthy item inside is a crucifix said to be carved by Nicodemus from Lebanon cedar. There is a spiritual story about how it ended up here, but, I'll let that go for now.


This was our lunch spot at Piazza Napoleone. Named for Napoleon's sister.


Hey, look! Flowers on a balcony.


This I was our second cathedral of the day, San Michelle in Foro.


Then it was off to our planned garden stop, the gardens of Palazzo Pfanner (bless you).


We started back on the wall. This is the view to the north. There are fewer houses on this side. The green space used to be a moat.


One last staged photo, then, nap time.


It's time for dinner and the rest of my family has made an effort.


So Cathie felt it was important to document it.


We had a very nice dinner at Oesteria Georgio. I don't know how Italians eat four courses. I am up to two and it is work. It was still a great meal.


And we end our trip to Lucca where we started it yesterday, Piazza Anfiteatro.


Tomorrow, a rental car and the back roads of Tuscany. I hope they are ready for us.

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Location:Lucca, Italy

Hopefully Slowing Down

The trip started with Cathie working two long weeks so she could get as much done before her vacation. We had to quickly put a plastic fence up in the backyard two nights before we left because Pippa, our new Maltese puppy, had found a hole and could get out. Of course in the midst of all this, the only help that I have is the strategic use of my left arm.

From there, we go to straight to Venice which is busy and crowded with a lot to see. Next, Verona with 5,000 people jamming themselves into the opera every night. Then, Florence which is packed with people, art, churches and history.

Now the trip slows down. We leave Florence, with the most significant purchase of our trip, poofy pants. It was decided that Alexandra must have these. We would see them five to ten times a day and they looked like the perfect travel pant for her. They were 10€ at an outdoor market.



Lucca is a walled city of 100,000 people. I don't know how many live inside the walls. It was a hot day, and as we started wandering around, the streets empty.


We found lunch, then went to the Piazza Anfiteatro Romani. It is on the site of a former Roman coliseum and it maintains that shape.





There was a stage setup and that night there was going to be a concert by a King Crimson tribute band with David Collins, the original violin player from the band. For all the prog rock that I listen to, I've never been a King Crimson fan. I didn't realize there was a violin player in the band.



We did a fair bit of wandering. Lucca has narrow streets and the residents like to decorate their balconies with flowers and laundry.


There are courtyards behind the street walls that you can see when gates are open.


Madeleine found her dream ride.


It was hot, so we went back to the hotel for naps.


Then, out to dinner. The restaurant had lasers shooting against the wall across the street. I think it was to distract from their confused service.


And we end the day with one more balcony that was on the walk home from dinner.


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Location:Lucca, Italy

Il Duome e Bella

It's the second full day in Florence. The schedule is set. It's the remaining highlights of the city: the Doumo, Medici Chapel and the Accademia.
We start with our first line of the day, half an hour or so to get into the Doumo.


Once inside Cathie decides we are going to take the free English language tour that starts once they get 8 to 10 people. This evokes immediate eye rolling and foot dragging from the rest of us. Please, not the tour. We just want to do it on our own.


As expected we lose. The tour was surprisingly informative. The British art student without any charisma and a slight lisp, did a great job of covering the history of the building, then explaining Botticelli's painting on the dome.


There is a great deal of significance in the above photo. You can look up the artistic/religious interpretations or take the English tour from the British art student. The major point here, is this Cathie's third trip to the Doumo over 35 years and it is the first time she has seen it not covered in scaffolding. Given her love of Botticelli, she was very pleased.



My buddy Mike recommend Grom for gelato, so that was next. I don't know if I'm ready for best in Italy, but it delivered. Excellent stratciatella and caramel.


On to San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapel. I assume the Medici money has been gone for a while. That said, the paintings in San Lorenzo are some of the cleanest, best lit art I have ever seen in that old of a cathedral. We are once again in a no picture zone, so here is the inside if the cathedral from wikipedia.


We missed seeing the library by five minutes. We are going to try tomorrow before we leave. The girlies passed on the Medici Chapel and it was just as well. Back in the day, they did a superior job of collecting relics. Nothing like the bone fragments of saints to brighten a day. I am thankful the descriptions were in Italian.

We eventually made it down to the Michelangelo Chapel, where he did the monuments/sarcophagi for the Medicis. His work is always amazing.


From there lunch, then half an hour at the outdoor market. (I'm always reminded of Mr. Mike's impression of Elvis with 10 inch steel needles through his eyes at this point. Look it up if you haven't seen it.) I think it was bracelet shopping and stuff.


I took the girlies to the Accademia. Cathie has been twice and didn't need to go again. It is really a one item museum with a lot of art you have stopped caring about at this point. (Do I really need to see more pre-renaissance altar screens?) It all surrounds Michelangelo's David, which is always worth the wait in line and the exorbitant ticket price.


Naps and we're off to dinner. Cathie has picked a place that sounds great and is within a couple of blocks from the hotel. But first, the obligatory "My family looks nice I must have a photo in front of the hotel shot."


We walk into dinner and it is the classic Italian restaurant atmosphere. It is owned by an old man who still works there, but, really he is just hanging out. There is one older (old) waiter. One son (the one who speaks better English) is managing the restaurant. The other son waits tables. This is the owner carving a t-bone steak.


I don't know what happened before we had arrived, but the entire staff was mad at each other. Lots of eye rolling and dirty looks as people walked by. The owner was either used to it or oblivious to it.

The food was great. I had ravioli in a walnut cream sauce and a secondi of osso buco with spinach. Cathie had a really good seafood risotto and Alexandra had noodles in a ragu. The wine was very good.


On the way out, the owner and his wife were sitting at a table. They stood, thanked us for coming and shook our hands. They were very lovely.

Gelato on the way back and an early (earlier) morning tomorrow.

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Location:Florence, Italy

Classic European Touring

Today was a classic touring day in Florence. Got up, had breakfast, made a schedule, powered through it, small laundry, nap, then dinner. Furthermore, today's pictures are only the edges of the story, because the majority of the day, we were in places where pictures were not allowed.

Cathie and I were in Florence 20 years ago. I noticed then, that when were close to the train station, Cathie would start to use the St. Maria Nouvella cathedral as a landmark. From the train side it is an old, non-descript church.


The other side is beautiful cathedral.


It is a very nice church inside. One of the alcoves was fully designed by Fillipo Lippi. He did everything; the frescoes, the stained glass window and a painting. Cathie asked me if there was anything of significance in this church and I mentioned Lippi. At that point, Cathie said, "No, I meant famous." I went into annoying husband mode and said, "Hey Madeleine, is Lippi significant?" Her reply, "Yeah, the name's familiar, we studied him." And I got to gloat.

We wandered narrow, side streets to get to the Uffizi. I love this part of Florence. It is quiet, away from the crowds and a great way to stay out of the sun.


We bought reserved Uffizi tickets so we didn't have to stand in line. We had 20 minutes to kill, so I sat in this covered (I'm guessing here) portico with Alexandra and Madeleine. They have signs posted saying no food or drinks and two guys with vests that say Ambienzale Vigilanze, ambience vigilantes.


Alexandra sits down next to me with a half drank Coke. I tell her not to drink it. She says okay. Five minutes later, I have one of the ambience police standing there telling her not to drink it. I take it away from her and put it in the backpack.

We get into the Uffizi. It is the main classic art museum in Florence, similar to the Louvre in Paris, but not as big. You can walk the entire museum in an hour and a half and linger appropriately at the important pieces. If you linger too early, it takes a long time.

Madeleine is lingering over the pre renaissance altar screens in the first two rooms, while Cathie and Alexandra appear to be hurrying to the Botticelli rooms. It turns out, they missed a turn, missed the rooms and had to back track.

One of Cathie's favorite paintings is "The Birth of Venus". This is Cathie's third trip to Florence, and it is the first time it is on display.


We eventually catch up to them, then immediately fall behind. It is hot and crowded. We see the three da Vinci's


The Michelangelo, where I try to explain to Alexandra why it was scandalous to not have Jesus in Mary's lap and why it was important, no luck there.


Here is our one photo inside the Uffizi. We were an hour in and Alexandra couldn't decide if she wanted to hurry up and leave or sit because her feet hurt.


We saw the three Rembrandts, found the Caravaggio and almost sprinted through the Vasara exhibit. Uffizi, checked off the list.


Cathie found a cafe for lunch that we thought was air conditioned. It only felt that way because it wasn't as hot as it was outside. Next, on the list was the Ponte Vecchio.


As always, it is hot, crowded, and full of people window shopping jewelry most of them can't afford.


Hot, tired and feet really hurting, Cathie promises the girlies a taxi ride back to the hotel when we finish San Croce. It is my favorite church in Florence, with the tombs/monuments of Galileo, Michelangelo and Dante.


The list is done. We catch a taxi back and I sit in front again trying to figure out where these guys learned to drive. I'm sure it was a racing school. To get to our hotel, he made a right turn across three lanes of traffic in front of the train station and no one honked at him.

I did sink laundry in the hotel. My Outdoor Research t-shirts are amazing. I will like them on Facebook shortly.

We went out to dinner. Our waitress started off in Italian, then flipped into English when we struggled. As she walked away, there was something familiar about her accent and I told Cathie, "She's not from here." It turns out, she's from Bainbridge. She went to school at Whitman, did her junior year in Florence, then came back when she graduated. She is taking a year off while she figures out what is next.

I had the tortellacci (large tortellini) in ragu, followed by a simple grilled sausage. They were both delicious. Alexandra finally got her steak, which was also very good. For dessert, I had vin santo with biscotti again. For those of you who come over for dinner, is will soon be a staple at my house.

Hotel, bed, done.

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Location:Florence, Italy