Vatican Museums & [Day] Trip to Amalfi!

July 24 - 26th

After such a long weekend, it was back to [reality] in Rome. Well, as much as living in Rome can be reality. We had three days of class before our next three-day weekend, and we began to get into our final project for our studio class. As a break from the tedium of our normal classes (and coming up with building design after building design) we took our final contemporary architecture field trip with architect Luigi.

Left: The Lateran Library (obviously a new building) addition to the Laterano complex of buildings, a sort of school for monks (next to San Giovanni in Laterano). It has a regular stack library, but the reading room is a system of ramps with desks on the ramps. The slanting windows on the facade correspond with the ramps.




Left: Inside the library reading room, looking up at the ramps. The railings of each floor were just solid pieces of glass, and let's just say that when I made it to the top floor, I was a bit freaked out. I had to sit down for a bit at one of the desks before I could head back down.








After the Library, we took a bus to the Macro museum, where they are adding an addition. It is actually in the middle of construction, so it was interesting to see it in its incomplete state. We also got a tour with the project architect, who told us all about the space. However, he only knew Italian, so we only got the translated version from our guide Luigi. The interior of the building was an open space, open to the public, with galleries off the sides. Also, the roof is a public space, except for the large glass skylight over the central atrium, which will have water running over it to keep it cool.

Left: View of one of the gallery spaces, with its notable catwalks. Because of them, you will be able to view the art at ground level and from above. I look forward to visiting this space when I return to Rome in the future.


As we approached another weekend, we made big plans for how to spend our three-day break from classes, but with only a three-day week, we had limited time. Also, as we met our half-way point in the term, we realized that our time in Rome was limited, and there was still much to see in this Eternal City.

So we decided to stay in Rome for at least Friday, to visit more of Rome's more time-consuming spots. After a late night visiting one of the clubs in Rome, we took the morning easy, then headed to the Vatican Museum in the afternoon (the best time to visit the museum is weekday afternoons). It was amazing!

Left: The surprisingly contemporary entry to the Vatican museum.









The first room we went into was a library of first edition Bibles, in many languages. They were beautifully illustrated, and some of them were HUGE! It wasn't until the very end that I found an English Bible, and it was a small little thing.

Left: a first edition Bible illustration page... I can't remember which language... Latin?






After the Bible gallery, we entered into the Pinacoteca, the main picture gallery, which included a few Caravaggios, Raphaels, etc, etc, etc. I was surprised that photography was allowed in every room of the Museum (except the Sistine Chapel - drat!) just without the flash.

Left: The Transfiguration by Raphael, in the largest room of the picture gallery. This was one of the darkest rooms, so you know that there must be important works in there. Not to mention the large crowds of people gathered around it.








I had been told about the Raphael Rooms in the Vatican, that they were perhaps better than the Sistine Chapel. I knew that they were at the end of the Museum, but when I came to them, I wasn't sure it was them or not, but then I saw...

Left: Raphael's School of Athens, on the upper part of the wall in the third Raphael Room. It is a painting of people in his time: philosophers, painters, scientists, etc. A funny story: he was painting this the same time as Michelangelo painting, and he went and saw what he was doing a few rooms down, and then went and added him to his painting. (Front and center, in the purple).

So after winding a bit through the museum's modern art gallery, we ascended the stairs into the Sistine Chapel, at the very end of the Vatican Museum. Luckily, we came in pretty late in the afternoon, and during the time we were there, it really thinned out, and I actually sat on one of the benches that line the edge for a while.

Left: Sistine Ceiling center. Although pictures are not technically allowed inside, there were tons of other people taking pictures, and no one said anything, so I took a few, but then the reinforcement came in... and the camera went away.

So after a lot of debate, I decided to head to the Amalfi Coast for the weekend. Two of my roommates were going, and I originally wanted to head to the northern coasts, but the train was a bit more expensive, and long. So we set out for Altrani, a sea town just a few hundred feet from Amalfi, early Saturday morning. I planned on just staying until Sunday morning, but transportation always takes longer than expected...

Left: View from our train on the way to Salerno. It randomly stopped on the tracks in the middle of nowhere, so we were checking out what was going on. (We never figured it out) It was a long day of travel. After our delayed train, we missed our ferry to Amalfi, so instead we took a bus along the VERY windy road, that took over an hour. The bus had to honk its horn around every corner, I was a bit frightened.


So we finally made it to our destination, Altrani, and found our hostel (Altrani is not very big) right as the office was closing.  But the management was really nice, even if the room was not.  It was nice, but small, and the walls didn't go all the way to the ceiling, so we could hear everything our neighbors were saying.  Also, the shower in the bathroom was interesting, because there was no shower, just a showerhead on the wall, so the water went everywhere!  But I couldn't complain, because...

Left: The view from our hostel was amazing!  (Not from our room - because it had no windows - but from the entrance).  Also, we were about a four minute walk to the beach through these winding stairs, so... no complaints here.




Step one of our amazing beach trip: lay on the beach.  It was late-afternoon by this point, so the sun wasn't at its strongest, but I still preferred laying under a big umbrella, with a good book (the Twilight series, if you're curious).

Left: View from my lounge chair, wasting away the afternoon.  All the beaches along the Amalfi coast are built into the valley between the cliffs.  Altrani is an especially small one, but very picturesque!  On top of the large arches is the road that we took into town, so you can see how ocean-front it really is.  We didn't spend too much time in the water because it was cooling off, but it was so much different than the other beaches we had been to.  This coastline is sort of protected by a cove, so there are less strong waves, making it more like a lake.  It did make it easier to swim in, though, because you didn't have as much up-and-down movement.    

Left: More overall view of Altrani, as we are walking towards Amalfi.  The beach is basically one private beach (where we got 2 umbrellas & 3 lounges for 15 euro) and one public beach.  You can see how the building are built right next to (and into) the long arcade, which appears to be pretty old.  Then, towering over the whole town, is this large cliff that appears to be one large boulder or something. 

After our beach day, we headed to Amalfi for a little exploration & for dinner.  (We got pizza in Altrani for lunch, and the guy just let us take our glass plates right out on the beach - it was lovely).  We found out that the Amalfi coast is well-known for its limoncello (lemon vodka) and ceramics.  We went to this one Limoncello store, and the shopkeeper was giving free samples.  He was very confused why I wouldn't take one.  He kept saying, "but it's free!"  He did recommend a good place for dinner, though.

Left: At the center of the town is the Amalfi Cathedral, and in typical Italian fashion, we came upon a wedding!  They were taking their photos along the grand staircase.  The cathedral was closed, so we planned to stop here tomorrow.  Amalfi architecture is much more strongly decorated than that in Rome, including one ceramic dome that is supposed to resemble a yellow lemon.

The next morning, we set out for Amalfi in the morning, so that our afternoon could be more flexible.  The Cathedral was nice, of course, but next to it was the courtyard, which is laid out as a typical paradise garden.  It has a collonade around it, a small water feature at the center, and it is laid out in a four-square pattern (like the four rivers of the Garden of Eden).

Left: The Cathedral courtyard.  I really liked the pattern that the arches made on the walls.  I tried to sketch it later from a photo, and it was quite difficult!  You can walk all around the collonade, but there are only two small entrances into the central garden area, which we thought looked like a tropical paradise - fit for a paradise garden.




After another lazy afternoon on our favorite Altrani beach, we left from Amalfi, this time in a ferry from the dock (no more winding roads on a honking bus for us!).  We were all a little sun-kissed from our beach weekend, but we still sat on the top deck of the ferry to get god views of this beautiful coastline.

Left: View towards Amalfi as we departed from our ferry.  You can see the dramatic cliffs behind the town, and the predominately-white architecture.  The main tower in the center is the bell tower for the cathedral.  

So, long story short, we took our ferry to Salerno, where we planned on catching a 5:30 train back to Rome (to be home before 9:00).  We were all worried about the ferry taking too long, but we got to the station by 5:00.  However, our train (and almost all other trains in the station) kept getting more and more delayed, to the point where the station was full of people waiting.  They kept giving announcements in English & Italian, but the Italian announcements were much more descriptive, so we suspect they may have been giving a reason for the delay.  In the end, we left the station at about 9:30 pm, to get home at a fun 1:00 in the morning.  It was a relaxing yet exhausting weekend, not quite the best prep for a busy week ahead!

Walk like a Venetian...

July 18-20th

Welcome to Venice!  A land unlike any other, we came to find out.  Islands cut up by canals and connected by bridges... makes for a lot of walking up and over.  Tiring.  After spending a hectic two and a half days in Florence with only a two hour train ride for a break, we were already a bit exhausted.

I didn't even realize this, but Venice is an island.  Yep, you heard it right, an island.  I had always thought that Venice was just separated from the mainland by canals, but it is really surrounded by a huge lagoon.  The city is a large island shaped like a fish, cut into pieces by its many canals.  So now you know.

Left: View from the train tracks crossing the lagoon - my first gondola sighting!

After buying a map of the city (a necessity in this labyrinthian place) we stepped out of the train station, and were immediately on the Grand Canal.  This main canal runs through the center of the city, with its south end stopping exiting to the lagoon at St. Mark's Square.  

Left: View from train station of Grand Canal.  You can see an odd phenomenon of Italy on the central church facing the canal: screens with images in front of scaffolding.  I guess Italy had a lot of important facades, and they want to keep up the image at all times.

 

While crossing the grand canal, we had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into.  The bridges crossing this canal are much larger than any others, but even the small ones are rough with just a few steps, because there are so many! Even more so when you are carrying a heavy duffel bag and you are wandering about trying to find your apartment...

Left: Grand Canal (again)

Walking along the narrow streets, I was fascinated by the "water streets" all over the place.  They had just regular street signs, but instead of "Via...." they said "Rio..."  Unfortunately, the maps rarely said the canal names....

Left: River street, Rio Marin

We finally got to our apartment, and we were blown away by how nice it was.  We actually had a living room, kitchen, bath & two bedrooms that were nicer than our place in Rome.  What was even better was that our apartment was cheaper than the other group of us who were staying in a rundown hostel.  Our place was a little bit of a walk from the main sights (and therefore the noisy people) in a residential district, but we were still on one of the main islands, pretty close to the train station.

Left: My bedroom in Venice.  Ikea, much?

After finding our place to sleep, the next necessity was food.  We went looking for a grocery store through the most narrow streets I've ever been in.  They were more like hallways.  I guess that works when you only have pedestrians.  That was also weird, because I knew there were no cars in Venice, but there is nothing with wheels.  No scooters that come up behind you, or even bicycles.  I know it should be obvious, but it was a nice realization.

Left: Holding my camera up for a "eyes in the back of your head" shot.  You can see the top of my head at the bottom.  So narrow!

Typical Venice Facade along a canal: Three parts, the center section is open to allow for breezes, the two sides are closed rooms.  You can tell by the amount of windows.  Also, the second floor becomes the main living spaces (because the bottom floor floods so much). Pretty interesting, eh?  I remembered all that from Intro to Architecture class three years ago...

Left: Venetian facade (nice arches)

We were walking along the grand canal, and there were a ton of these party boats with blaring music heading down.  It just so happened that we came to Venice on one of their holidays (who knows what it's for) so all these boats were heading towards the Venice Lagoon just off St. Mark's to gear up for the fireworks show that night.  We watched them from the square, right next to the Doge's palace, and it was packed! - probably the best fireworks show I've ever seen, despite the obnoxious drunken Italians around us.  

Left: Party boats (complete with blaring music)

We met the other group of people traveling with us (there were nine of us in total) at the Ponte Rialto, which turned out to be the worst place to find anyone.  It is basically three bridges next to each other, with two lines of stores in between.  Complete madness.  I even lost the group for a while, and one guy didn't show up at all.  So we sent out a search party, and I was sent to St. Mark's square.

Left:  Ponte Rialto: beautiful, huge, and packed

-maybe because of the holiday?

My first view of St. Mark's was quite interesting, because rather than admiring the architecture, I was looking for a lost group member.  And there were a lot of people to look through.  But no luck.  On the way back, though, the guy with me and I got very turned around (easy to do when the canals do not follow straight lines - even the big ones) and we got lost ourselves.  You'd think the Ponte Rialto would be easy to find, when there are signs everywhere, but it's not true.  We finally made it back to the bridge 45 minutes late, everyone was mad, but the lost soul had been found.  So I guess it was a happy ending?

After re-grouping, we were setting out for a place for dinner, trying to decipher the winding pathways, and the best way to traverse them.  This was a common occurrence in Venice: get to a canal, look at the map, chose your direction, get to a canal...  So easy to get lost!

Left: the map will be our guide...

 

The typical Venice canal: narrow, curving, and gondola-filled.  Look at the gondolier kicking off the wall!  I never rode a gondola here (quite the expense) but maybe someday someone will pay for me...  I figure I have to give a reason to come back someday. 

Left: crossing a bridge (yet again), but the nice thing is that you get spectacular views down the canals (which is why the bridges are usually quite full with photographers)

We made the mistake of going to a restaurant with a menu in more than three languages (which Richard tells us to avoid) and the food was overpriced and not very good.  That seems to be typical in Venice.  Thankfully we had a pizza place right by our apartment with E1.50 slices... so we didn't go to a restaurant again.

After dinner we went to the fireworks display... then out to the waterfront promenade by the Accademia.  We stayed out pretty late... but the city was just winding up.  I saw so many families out at 2:00 in the morning, I couldn't believe it.  I could barely stay awake.  And we had an early morning the next day...

The next morning, we set out for the Biennale: an art exhibit that occurs every summer in south Venice, alternating between art & architecture (this year was art).  It was a long walk out there, but it had nice views of the Lagoon & Isola San Giorgio.  The exhibit was separated into pavilions that were designed by a specific country (with art installations inside) and then a main exhibit hall.  We ended up spending almost the entire day there, there was so much to see.

Left: Isola San Giorgio in the distance

This was in one of my favorite pavilions (as far as the art installation - the building itself wasn't that interesting).  It was set up like a disaster scene, like someone with anger issues had terrorized the house or something, I'm not really sure.  But the dining table was broken down the middle, there was an upholstered armchair that appeared to be melting, and this staircase that had broken off.  It was strange to walk through, because it really felt like someone's house.

Left: Danish pavilion art installation

The other art installation in a pavilion that I really enjoyed was Russia's.  Their theme was "Victory over the Future" and it was pretty intense.  So much so, that I couldn't get a good picture of it.  It had a compilation of artists that were each so unique, that made it more interesting.  Kind of hard to describe.

This image is of the Nordic pavilion (Finland, Sweden, Norway) and it was my favorite pavilion building.  The art installation was strange (which was a common occurrence that day) but I loved the structure.  Perhaps a trip to Finland is in order...  Not only did it have trees growing up into the roof, but all the living spaces were sunken in to the floor.  The living room was a few steps down, and the bed was in a box in the floor (so the top of the bed was even with the floor).  Quite interesting...

Left: Nordic Pavilion

This was my favorite art installation, and it was in the main exhibition hall.  At first glance, it appears to be a spiral staircase.  Pretty typical.  But you can also hear a faint clicking noise.  So looking closer, and you notice that the handrail is actually film reel, winding its way up and down the stairs to the projector, which is projecting a movie on the wall behind.  I was so mesmerized by the reel that I barely noticed the movie at all.  How do you think of something like that?

Left: Film-reel staircase

The main room of the exhibition hall was pretty nice, too.  There was just a ton of string (although it was more durable than string) criss-crossing in the room and forming spheres.  I guess it is supposed to represent a black-widow's web, which creeps me out just thinking about.  It was really fun to walk through, and being a short person helps in that way.  It constantly changes as you move throughout.

Left: walking in a spider web...

There was a huge building dedicated to Venice itself, which is known for its glass (especially Murano Island, just across the Lagoon).  So they had these crazy glass sculptures outside the building.  I really wanted to get something like this to take home, but I didn't want to pay the intense shipping costs... so I bought glass jewelry, instead.  Nice compromise.

Left: Venetian glass exhibit

Back to St. Mark's after the Biennale.  We were completely grossed out by what people do to these pigeons.  Okay, so I know that the birds are everywhere, but do you need to call them towards you with food?  We even saw one kid laying on the ground with the birds hopping all over him.  So gross!  Squirrels are one thing... but pigeons?  

Left: Mother-daughter day-out in St. Mark's Square (mother photographing daughter's contraction of rare bird disease... priceless)

I didn't mean to make it black-and-white, but my camera liked to switch back and forth sometimes (because I would accidentally turn the dial) but it is quite dramatic.

We spent the rest of the afternoon mask-browsing, because other than glass, masks are the most prolific souvenir throughout Venice, so I had to have one... This one place we went to, the girl was making the masks in the corner of the store, so I knew the one I got was hand-made, as well as beautiful.  I should have taken a picture of it... Is the suspense killing you?

After an early night the night before (we just stayed in the apartment, and got an entire huge pizza for E10.oo from the nearby pizza place) we woke up early to see some architecture.  First stop: a gate designed by Carlo Scarpa, who really likes his angles and machinery.  This gate is the entrance to one of the Biennale exhibits that are scattered through the city.  He is an architect that I didn't know much about before, but I am slowly to appreciate quite a bit...

Left: Carlo Scarpa gate

Next we headed just around the corner to the Calatrava bridge, which was just completed last year.  His bridges are quite common to me, since we have one in Redding, but this one is quite unusual.  It spans directly to the Train station over the Grand Canal, but rather than a sloped pathway over (it looks pretty flat) it is only flat on the stop, with ramp-stairs at the edge, like most bridges throughout the city.  It also has the typical skeletal structure underneath, and frosted glass tiles in some parts.

Left: Calatrava bridge

After checking out of our apartment (leaving my sunglasses behind) and waiting at the train station for an hour to leave our bags there for the day, we didn't know how we wanted to spend the rest of our time.  We figured we should take a boat somewhere (because the city is built on water) so we decided upon San Giorgio.  The water bus is kind of expensive, but it was a good way to see the city.  I didn't get any pictures from the boat because my memory card was filling up, and all my batteries were dead - it was quite the weekend!  We got to the island right as the church was closing, so we got a few shots inside, then walked along the waterfront.  Then we headed back to St. Mark's for pizza (expensive, but look at the view - back to where we came from)

Above:  View of Isola San Giorgio from our lunch table, not too shabby...  I also got a nice sketch in while I was waiting for my pizza, but I'll have to show you the real thing.

Ahh, Venice.  Quite an unusual city, but it is a good place to visit.  I didn't see much of the architecture interiors, ( I didn't even go inside St. Mark's Basilica - the line was long and in the sun) but it was nice to explore and get a good feeling for the spirit of the city.  Oh yes, and I took home quite a few bug bites as well.  Apparently a city becomes a breeding ground for mosquitos when you build it on water, hmm...

Under the Tuscan Sun

July 16-18th

I'm going to try this a little differently, and incorporate the images into my writing, rather than so separated... Hopefully it will look a little more cohesive. Okay.

So, Florence... is amazing! It was almost Redding-hot, getting up to the high 90's both Thursday and Friday (mind you, no air-conditioning at all) but it was still so wonderful, we just made sure to take our afternoon siestas. There is no way to sum up all that happened, or to show all the pictures (I took almost 900 pictures in 5 days) so I'm separating Florence and Venice to make it more feasible.

After a quite sleepless night (I don't know why I worry so much) we headed out early to our train. We had to get there especially early because we had to validate our Eurail passes, and the line was long. The train was lovely, though, and the 1.5 hour trip flew by, watching the landscape change around us. After orientating ourselves at the train station, we set out for our hostel, and I really wished my duffel bag had wheels (or that I was capable of packing light). However, I got a good feel of the city after passing amazing store after store. I knew I was in trouble - or at least my wallet.

We first went to the Ponte Vecchio, an old bridge that is lined with shops and apartments (topped with a secret pathway for the Medici Family to get to the Uffizi Gallery Building) specializing in jewelry. I was so tempted, but it was quite an expensive arrangement of jewelry, sorry Mom.

Left: Sitting on Arno River edge in front of Ponte Vecchio. So hot!

The best part about the Ponte Vecchio was its view of the river. But you had to be a quick clicker, because there was people everywhere! Most of them just browsing the beautiful (and shiny) window displays, and getting in the way. It's amazing how different this waterway is from the Tiber in Rome, because it is higher up, closer to the street level. Also, there are not trees lining the edge, so you get the architecture reflected in the water... amazing!

Left: Arno River view from Ponte Vecchio

After crossing the river, we headed up the south hill - just to check stuff out. The higher we went, the more we could see (through the slits between buildings) and this was my first view of the Duomo. Okay, so I first saw it when we were heading from the train station to our hostel, but I was carrying my bags and I couldn't take a picture... drat. There are not that many domes in Florence (especially compared to Rome) so the Duomo really stands out in the skyline.

Once we reached the top of the hill at this large garden, we were all too exhausted and heat-striken to do anything, so we went back to our hostel for a siesta. It turned into a three-hour siesta... but when it is 99 degrees outside, there's not much you can do.

Left: Duomo! (Santa Maria del Fiore)

After nap-time, we set out for gelato, then took a little sketchy-sketch time on one of Florence's many bridges to wait out the sunset. It was amazing. We were one bridge over from the Ponte Vecchio (where everyone else was congregated) so we got a view of that piece of architecture in the setting sun. Not a bad location. I just about finished my sketch before the sun set (which means darkness, apparently).

Left: Sketching the Ponte Vecchio as the sun sets.

Not a bad view, eh? Probably has the Pacific Ocean beat in terms of sunset-intensity... but only slightly! I really liked the rafts floating down the river... if anyone had a better view of the sunset than us, it was them.

After darkness came, we set out for a late dinner at a Richard-recommended place which was... okay. We spent our late night at the Space Disco Electronica, a dance club that was a bit underpopulated. They should have been paying us for the entry fee, bringing in a group of nine good dancers... I met this funny Asian from Denmark who I danced with. He wanted to clarify that he was just there for fun... and I was just fine with that.

Left: Sunset on the River Arno

We rose far too early on Friday morning to hike the Duomo. We were bracing ourself for the heat of the afternoon by hitting the major stops before lunch. The actual dome of the Basilica was designed by Brunelleschi, and it was the largest dome in the world since the Pantheon, built nearly 1500 years before. It was 461 steps to the top, through winding, narrow staircases - not good for a claustrophobic. The most interesting part of the climb was at the dome itself, where the stair runs up the side of the dome, with really steep stairs at the bottom, getting more gradual as you go up.

Left: Duomo in early sunlight








Before ascending up the final part of the dome, you enter out over the interior of the dome. You get a good view down on the little ants below, and of course up into the dome's frescoes. I couldn't believe how big all the characters were... being so up close to them. They were quite gruesome, with the closest people acting as demons from hell... yikes. But above that, it was much more pleasant, that is, if I could handle looking up.

Left: Springing point of the dome interior (Duomo)








We've reached the top! It was rough, but I actually looked down over the edge of the precarious railing... and it was quite the sight. The world below looked like some sort of playground for micro-machines, not the town of Florence that I had just walked through.

Left: looking down from the top: the curve of the dome (Duomo)







That's better. It's is much easier to look out than down (or even worse, looking up at the spire). I got a bit of sketching time of the surrounding hills, but it was heating up quickly, with very little shade (at 9:30 in the morning!) so we set out back down.

Left: Me grasping tightly to the railing at the edge of the platform, with views of more "modern" Florence behind.










Sorry it's a bit blurry, but this is the interior of the Basilica. We actually came here later in the afternoon (when the line was shorter) after our shorter siesta, but I wanted to put this with the other Duomo pictures. There is very little adornment in this space (very unlike the many Baroque churches in Rome) and I think I like this mix of Gothic & Renaissance. I guess that's what happens when you are the birthplace of the Renaissance: some of the old traditions carry through. Like, for example, the pointed arches, clustered columns, and stained glass. The floor was a really interesting mosaic as well.

Left: Interior of the Duomo Basilica






After hiking the Duomo, and losing the rest of our group, we searched for the Laurentian Library (and its grand stair entry), which wasn't in any guidebook or map we had. For a well-known space designed by Michelangelo in the late Renaissance, you would think it would be easy to find, but this is Florence, where there is priceless art & architecture around every corner... We did find San Lorenzo Basilica, and figured that it would be a good start, and it turns out, that was it! Next to the Basilica is a courtyard/cloister with the Laurentian Library upstairs (then up more stairs). I guess they are normally pretty restrictive of pictures, but I got a nice lady or something, so I got a few good ones. I remembered studying this small space because this is when Michelangelo starts to do some crazy things. Like oval steps, pilasters that get narrower at the bottom, and corbels that support nothing. A strange guy.

We found a nice place for lunch. It was a cafeteria-style place, where you pick your choice from a line, then pay per plate. The best part was it was air-conditioned! Oh yeah, and I had a view of the Duomo out the window.

I don't have a picture for proof, but Florence was a shopper's paradise. I guess the Ponte Vecchio is one clue. Our hostel was unfortunately close to Piazza Nuova, where they have a daily market dedicated to leather goods. It all started with a beautiful green leather purse... and it all went downhill from there. Okay, so it wasn't that bad... but I found some great things. Perhaps I will put in some pictures of my new possessions.


That night we went out for what was probably the best meal I've had in Italy. It was a little family-run restaurant in the northern part of town and it was delicioso! I had my first taste of bruschetta (yum) and seafood! I thought I would be adventurous (and the waiter recommended it) so I ordered the seafood pasta. I was a little worried when it came out: a nice plate of linguini covered in mussels and clams. Yikes. But once I got over the texture (it helps if you slurp them out of the shell, rather than trying to chew) the flavor was amazing. And the little dining room was cozy!

Left: my plate of sea creatures (some of the shells still had to be broken open)






For our last morning in Florence (we had train at 11:30) Amy and I planned on finding a good place to sketch the Duomo. However, as we were walking around at 7:30 in the morning, it was quite empty, even in front of the Uffizi Gallery. Shocking. So we had this crazy idea to get in line for the daily admission. However, I really wanted to go up to the Piazza Michelangiolo, which has some of the best views of the city. So Amy graciously waited in line while I ran (literally) to the top of this piazza - and there were a lot of stairs). But I made it in time to take some impressive pictures (in my opinion) that I can hopefully sketch in the future.
Left: at the Piazza Michelangiolo overlooking the city. Classic Florence.

So after my dash up the hill, I get back at 8:05, just before they open at 8:15, and we are just about the second group in line. The excitement builds, but I don't want to get my hopes up. After all, according to Richard, you need reservations months in advance to get inside this place. Well we proved him wrong! Even on a Saturday morning, you can get inside. I felt like I was part of a special club or something as we passed through the doors and entered one of the best art galleries in the world...

Left: entry to Uffizi Gallery

Unfortunately, we were scheduled to check out of our hostel at 10:00 am, which means we had just under two hours to see a very large gallery. We felt rushed, but we still got a good overview of the rooms, while spending a bit more time at specific famous works of Caravaggio, etc.

Left: covert picture of the gallery corridor which is not technically allowed. You notice the guidebook in my hand, obscuring the left part of the picture... there was a guard coming up behind me, so this was taken at waist-height. You can see ancient sculptures all along the walls.

The last "room" we saw in the Uffizi was an outdoor terrace that had a spectacular view of the Duomo. It was a nice farewell point of the beautiful city before we had to dash out of the gallery and grab our bags and head to the train. I was greatly impressed by Florence (despite the heat and the mobs of tourist groups). We didn't see the David, but perhaps on my trip back...

Left: Duomo view from the Uffizi terrace