The Grandeur of Florence

Florence. Firenze. I've found myself wondering multiple times on this trip-- why don't we, in Western countries, refer to cities by the same names that locals call them. To us, it's Florence, Italy. But to the locals, it's Firenze. They live in Roma, not Rome. And Venezia, not Venice.

View of the Old Bridge from Piazza Michelangelo.

We started our first full day in Florence by meeting Ben and Rups at the Piazza Michelangelo for some impressive views of the city. From up on the hill, we could get a clear view of the Old Bridge, the Duomo Cathedral and various other impressive buildings. From here, we got our first glimpse of the grandeur of Florence.

Next, we wound our way through the city to visit the Accademia, home of the Michelangelo's famous sculpture, "David." I've heard of friends who waited hours to shuffle through a line to view David. But we were able to walk into the Accademia with no line, and oggle David for as long as we pleased. I'm not actually sure if we saw the real David (apparently they often put a fake one in the museum if they are touring the real statue), but nonetheless, I was impressed by the details of the sculpture. You are not allowed to take pictures of David, so I have nothing to show. 

Our next stop was All' Antico Vinaio. The number one rated Florence restaurant on Trip Advisor. They make overflowing sandwiches of fresh meat, cheese, tomato, artichoke and anything you could imagine, on fresh focaccia.

Ben and Rups waiting in line at All'antico Vinaio.

Tom loved this place so much, we went back for lunch the following day too. And at $5 Euro ($7.50 CAD), it was one of the cheapest lunches we had!

Tom and I chowing down.

After lunch, Ben and Rups took us to their favourite gelato shop, and then we parted ways so they could catch a train back to Venice-- they were flying home the next day.

Tom and I headed to the Boboli Gardens, part of the Palazzo Pitti. We wandered around for almost two hours enjoying the expertly manicured gardens and grounds. At that point we had been on our feet for almost seven hours, so decided to call it a day. Then we tracked down a Chinese restaurant so we could have a break from non-stop consumption of pizza, pasta and panini.

Tom in the Boboli Gardens.

A fountain statue in the Boboli Gardens.

On our second full day in Florence, we finally went inside the absolutely beautiful Duomo Cathedral. Tom and I stayed at a B & B inside the heart of old town-- and could actually see the Duomo down the street from our hotel window. These pictures don't even do the Duomo justice-- this is definitely a building you need to see in person to appreciate. It is a towering structure made of white, pink and green limestone. It is beyond ornate, the carvings adorning every surface and corner are intricate and detailed.

A side view of the Duomo Cathedral.

   

A front view of the Duomo Cathedral.

It was also interesting to see that the outside facade of the Duomo is in being restored. Sections of the building are gleaming white, while large sections are still grey-- or even black, with years of built up grim and pollution.

So... With all this grandeur on the outside of the building, we imagined the inside of the building would be a sight to see. And sadly... It wasn't. The inside of the Duomo is surprisingly bare. The Pisa Cathedral was far more impressive on the inside than the Duomo in Florence. By far the most impressive part of the interior were the extensive paintings inside the dome.

Paintings on the dome in the Duomo.

Tom and I took the steps up to the top of Duomo to get another view of the city. Something I found a little sad was the amount of graffiti on the cathedral. Why people find it necessary to deface everything, I will never understand.

Graffiti on the Duomo.

Tom and I at the top of the Duomo.

We spent the rest of the day eating gelato, getting more sandwiches, and exploring the Galileo Science Museum.

On our last morning in Florence, we sat on the steps of the Duomo and watched locals hawking their crappy souvenirs to tourists. It was actually a very interesting sight to watch. You see the same souvenirs everywhere-- these blobby kids toys that squeak, wooden letters you can connect like a train, painting replicas, knock-off purses, and camera tripods. It's illegal for these people to sell their wares, so they are always carefully watching for police or carabinieri, who circulate through the piazzas on a regular basis. When the sellers see the police coming, they scoop up their stock and melt into the crowd, only to reappear moments later when the police are gone.

Then we were off to the Santa Maria Novella train station, and on our way to Rome!

No Vampires in Volterra

Leafing through our guide book, Tom found a section on the Tuscany town of Volterra, and decided that we would use our last day with our rental car to make a trip out into the country to see the scenic hill-top town. The town has a beautiful view, as well as some Roman ruins that we thought would be an interesting sight.

Conveniently enough, Tom's friends, Ben and Rupinder, were also moving through Italy on a holiday (although on a different timeline and moving in the opposite direction as us). However, our paths overlapped in Florence for two days, and they agreed that they would come on the day trip with us.

As we piled into the car after paying what surely amounts to the most expensive overnight parking bill. EVER. (over $60), we declared that we were heading to Volterra. Rupinder replied-- "the TWILIGHT Volterra?" Yes. For those of you who know how I hate-read all of the Twilight books, it all came rushing back to me. Bella hopping on a plane to Italy, driving recklessly through the Italian countryside in a quest to stop Edward from publicly revealing himself as a sparkly vampire in the sunlit main square in Volterra... Yes, you read correctly. I said SPARKLY VAMPIRE. I told you I hate-read these books, right? They were terrible.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the author of the Twlight series has never been to Volterra. There really is no main square with a fountain as she describes in the books.

Anyway, no more talk of Twilight. There are no vampires in Volterra.

The road to Volterra was long and winding, and everyone (except Ben) were feeling car sick when we pulled into a parking garage in the town. We got out, shook it off and took in the sights of the town.

Hilltop town of Volterra.

We ambled through the side streets for a few hours, passing a massive penitentiary plastered with NO PHOTOS signs.

Osage orange.

We saw some very bizarre fruits on the ground. I later googled, "green tree fruit brain", which immediately brought up similar pictures of the fruit. They are commonly referred to as Osage orange. They are not edible, and are actually full of a latex-like substance. They are a little bit bigger than a tennis ball, and they look like little green brains.

From here we continued through the town until we found the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre. Apparently at one point this amphitheatre was used as the town dump. It was later excavated and reclaimed when it was identified as an archeological site. As with many things in the off season, the amphitheatre was closed to visitors, so we took pictures from around the perimeter.

Ruins of a Roman Amphitheatre.

Tom, Ben, Rupinder and I checking out the ruins.

We finished our day trip off with a visit to the local patisserie. My favorite was a flaky pastry filled with a mixture of ricotta cheese. Yum!

Next up, our two days in Florence!

Portovenere and Pisa

On our last morning in La Spezia, we headed out early so we could revisit Portovenere in the daylight. Portovenere is a quiet little fishing village, complete with the ruins of a castle at its summit. Like Cinque Terre, there are rows of brightly coloured houses pressed tightly together, backing into the hills. 

Seafront houses in Portovenere.

We followed the path around the shore and up to some of the ruined buildings. The church is still well-maintained, looking sharp with its multi-coloured marble facade.

Portovenere castle ruins and church.

We attempted to visit the main building of the castle, only to discover that it wasn't open-- possibly only open on Saturday and Sunday (if we were deciphering the Italian signs correctly).

After exploring for over an hour, we hopped back in our car, and headed towards Florence, via Pisa. 

Tom and I had not done much background reading on Pisa, and I was really only expecting to see the Leaning Tower. I did not realize that Pisa is also home of a large and impressively adorned cathedral.

Cathedral, Baptistry and Leaning Tower.

Inside the Pisa Cathedral.

Having visited England and Paris in 2011, Tom and I have now seen quite a few cathedrals and churchs. There was St. Paul's Cathedral in London-- magnificent and pristine. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris-- aged and dirty, with the surrounding grounds smelling distinctly like urine... But we were very impressed with the inside of the Pisa Cathedral. It was beautiful!

Tom and I did not take the obligatory "Leaning" photo of the tower. Just a selfie shot of us near it!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

It is also worth noting that we ate one of our worst meals here... Or, at least I did! Tom had a pizza that was fairly good, I had spaghetti bolognese, that tasted a lot like Alphagetti. Not exactly gourmet cuisine. 

Our next stop was Florence, but we spent our first day on day-trip to Volterra. More on that to follow!

Scenic Cinque Terre

Tom and I on the Cinque Terre trail.

The five famous fishing villages know as Cinque Terre (CHINK-qwe Tay-reh) are also in the off tourist season,  as of November 1. As a result,  Tom and I were not able to stay directly in one of the villages, and instead opted to stay in the nearby town of La Spezia (literal translation,  "The Spice"). Looking to save a little money,  we selected a B & B, which has turned out to be quite comfortable.  I think this would probably be considered more of a boutique hotel in Canada,  as the owners don't actually appear to live on site. They come in in the morning to spread out breakfast and clean rooms,  and are gone by mid afternoon. Our room is spacious and modern,  but the entrance and stairwell in the building are extremely dark. Both Tom and I have tripped down the stairs several times due to the dim lighting.

For our first evening in town, the B & B proprietor suggested we check out the scenic town of Portovenere, and suggested a restaurant for dinner. Portovenere was beautiful, and housed an old Italian castle that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately the sun was going down, so we will try to go back another time (stay tuned for a future post on Portovenere and Pisa). The restaurant had by far the cheapest and BEST food we have had on the trip so far. We are going there again tonight.

Monterosso al Mare.

We began our Cinque Terre hike by hopping on a train in La Spezia. We rode the train through to the last village, Monterosso. From here, we planned to work our way backwards. Unfortunately, we were only able to visit three of the five villages, because two of the trails were closed due to landslides. However, we were lucky in that the two remaining open trails are touted as the most scenic of the five.

A view of Monterosso through local grape vines.

Along the way, there were multiple terraces built into the cliffside, growing neat rows of grapes. Of course, there are no grapes on the vine at this time of year, but we did seem some oranges and limes that had fallen from various trees.

Warped trees along the trail.

There was a variety of plant life along the trail, including warped trees (pictured above), bamboo, fruit trees and cacti. After about an hour of hiking, we caught our first views of the next village of Vernazza. Vernazza is said to be the most scenic of the five villages, and has only recently recovered from intense flooding. On October 25, 2011, a particular intense rainstorm produced flash-flooding that brought mud, rocks and debris down into the streets of Vernazza and Monterosso-- in some places, up to 12 feet deep. Residents grieved for the three people who drowned in Vernazza, and one in Monterosso. Today you would never guess at the extent of damage and destruction. The residents have rebuilt, re-engineered and renovated.

A view of Vernazza.

If Venice is dog friendly, then Cinque Terra can be considered a cat haven. We must have seen over a dozen cats roaming through villages, sunning themselves, and generally enjoying the lazy life of a cat.

Cats sunning themselves.

A large cave off the coast.

The last town on our agenda was Corniglia. It took us about sixty minutes of hiking to make the trip from Vernazza to Corniglia. We were greeted by the sight of late-November flowers and more brightly coloured houses leaning against each other in the hills.

The village of Corniglia.

Brightly coloured seaside houses.

Tom and I managed to JUST miss the train, which arrives approximately every hour and a half. So we enjoyed the view, and strolled through the steep streets looking for photo-worthy scenes. Tom is generally in charge of the camera when we travel. This is because he takes pictures OF EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. 

Afternoon sunshine down a narrow street.

But I certainly can not complain about the pictures from this trip!

Up next... Portovenere and Pisa.

Venezia

A Venice canal.

Tom and I have embarked on our 2013 adventure to Italy! We left home on November 8th, and flew through the night to arrive in Venice via Frankfurt at approximately 12:15pm. One can't help but be awed by the dream-like waterworld that is Venice. No cars, no scooters, no bicycles. Just pedestrians strolling through narrow maze-like passages, crosscut by canals crowded with boats and gondolas. 

November is the off-season for tourism in Italy, and I can hardly fathom what the full-fledged peak tourism season must be like. Even now, the main waterfront is packed with people, and Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) is overflowing with sightseers, panhandlers and semi-suspicious looking sellers who I suspect will try to pick my pockets.

The weather has been cool, hovering between 13-15 degrees, with light rain, but I actually prefer it that way. Tom and I can walk around all day without feeling overheated, and can alternate between wearing a light jacket or not.

On our first morning, we took a stroll to a park that we had viewed from our water taxi on the way in from the airport the previous evening.

Public dog park.

Up close, we realized that the park was an off-leash area for locals with dogs. There were dozens of dogs of all shapes, breeds and sizes frolicking in the grass. We have noted that Italy is a very dog-friendly place. There are dogs everywhere! On the waterfront, in parks, travelling on water buses with their owners, in stores... My favourite dog so far was a little lap dog-- maybe a Shih Tzu or Maltese mix, who was running around in circles in Piazza San Marco chasing pigeons. It didn't catch any, but it looked like it was having a marvelous good time.

View from the Rialto Bridge.

As we wound our way through the city, we found our way to the Rialto Bridge. We didn't capture a good picture of this bridge, but if you've been to Vegas, there is a replica of the Rialto Bridge in front of the Venetian Hotel. The bridge crosses the Grand Canal, and was a major tourist traps-- there were shops and snack bars built into the bridge.

Tom and I on the Rialto Bridge.

Our next mission was to find that church that was used as a library in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That did not prove to be too difficult. We located Biblioteca di San Barnaba with little-to-no-difficulty. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed by the now-converted church. For some reason, I thought it looked a lot older and ancient in the movie. It looked surprisingly clean and well taken care of in person. Not that that's a bad thing!

Biblioteca di San Barnaba.

We finished off our day back in Piazza San Marco, and paid the fee to ride an elevator to the top of Campanile di San Marco, aka the St. Mark's bell tower. This is a tall (if not the tallest) structure in Venice, and gave us an excellent view of the city.  

View from St. Mark's Bell Tower.

Below the bell tower is San Marco Basilica-- which we were not able to get a good picture of from the ground due to extensive scaffolding for repairs and restoration work. Interesting fact-- it had rained a bit on Sunday, and we had to enter the Basilica on raised platforms that were put in place so tourists didn't have to walk through the water that had pooled at the cathedral entrance!

I thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Venice, but thanks to friends' advice, we only stayed for two days. This was the perfect amount of time to enjoy the unique surroundings, without getting bored.

We are moving on to La Spezia, for a hike through the famously scenic fishing villages of Cinque Terre!

Eat Beef, Not Chicks!

The first time I saw the Dixie Chicks in concert was in 2003 on their Top of the World Tour. At the time, the United States had closed their border to Canadian beef, due to a BSE (mad cow disease) scare. I distinctly remember a fan in the audience enthusiastically waving a sign that read, "Eat Beef, Not Chicks!" During the concert, Natalie Maines, the Dixie Chick's lead singer, read the sign aloud-- and the crowd erupted in cheers.

Dixie Chicks: Cowboy Take Me Away

The last time I saw them was in 2006 on their Accidents & Accusations tour, after their infamous "...We're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas" quote. What followed was a barrage of intense criticism, a boycott of the Dixie Chick's music, controversy and death threats. I even remember a period when the Dixie Chicks engaged in a feud with country singer Toby Keith (an outspoken supporter of President Bush). Natalie Maines wore a t-shirt through one of her concerts that said, "F.U.T.K." 

Natalie Maines (Photo Credit)

And now, ten years have passed since my first concert with the Dixie Chicks, and I found myself once again in the Saddledome stands, eagerly anticipating their music. This time there were no political statements or controversy. In the passing years, the Dixie Chicks have taken a break from music and raised families-- nine children between the three of them. On Thursday night, they played a steady stream of Dixie Chicks hits-- sung chronologically from 1998 to their last release in 2006.

Those ladies sure can sing! And play the banjo! And the violin! These three women are amazing musicians with indomitable spirits. I'm so glad that went on tour one last time.

Yay, Dixie Chicks!

Dixie Chicks: Good-Bye, Earl.