2100- Dinner went kinda weird. We went to a place Rick recommended and we were the first ones in line as it was closed until 7.30 PM. We looked at the menu and decided it wasn’t a spectacular one. For instance it had like 5 different variations of veal, and like spaghetti and red sauce. I don’t think so. So we bickered and hemmed and hawed and decided eventually to go in and see what is was about. When we did there were no seats left as the many remaining tables had a reserved sign on them. So we left. In the course of waiting for the place to open, though, we did run into a group from CO. They were friendly, they offered to share their table with us. For my first time dining out I did not want to sit separate from my husband and to have to make pleasant conversation with strangers. We did just cop out and go to the restaurant in front of our apartment. We sat at a table for 2 in between two other tables for 2. Both couples were middle aged and German- though not apparently together. The tables were awfully close together and one could not help but listen to the other’s conversation. Awkward! So we had Tuscan mix crostini for appetizer. They were bread (not toasted as I would have liked), one had tomatoes tossed in a marinade for a topping. One had marinated mushrooms, and 2 had a beef pate’. Luke is not a fan of pate’ I on the other hand love it. Second course was for me homemade tortellini with a cream sauce. Luke had country Tuscan vegetable soup which was like thick minestrone. It was tasty enough as he didn’t complain. No noodles rather beans. For main course I had salmon with “pink sauce” it was the same cream sauce that was on the tortellini but with whole red peppercorns inside. The salmon itself was good but I got kind of disgusted when I pulled out like 12 bones from my mouth. I’ve had a few episodes with things stuck in my esophagus before like one time I swallowed a plastic fork tine that came off in my food, the other time I had a shard of turkey bone from a helping of ground turkey. Both times they were stuck in my esophagus for a while- I even went to the ER after the turkey shard was stuck for like 18 hours. They even confirmed it with x-ray, they did a scope and everything. AHHH. Needless to say I was kind of freaked out. Ok, now back to what Luke had. Luke ordered a Florentine steak which is made from the cows of the area. It was a BIG steak, it hung off the edge of the plate. Luke has kind of missed “meat” since we have been here and that took the edge off. He ate it all. We had with the meal a 0.45 L of “still” water (not with bubbles) for €2, and a bottle of Rifuno Chianti house wine for € 17. The meal was slowly timed and we almost drank the whole bottle before the main course. I don’t think Luke and I have EVER drank a bottle of wine ourselves. The whole meal at that touristy place cost us €88. If we would have gone to that other place- it would have been more like €40. Oh well. We did have a bit more selection, though a crap waiter. We got up to wander around the square, saw the people who offered to let us sit at their table at the other place. We quick skirted away so we wouldn’t have to make forced conversation……again.
We treated ourselves to our first Florence gelato, which Florence specifically is known for in Italy. I had tiramisu’ flavored and Luke had hazelnut flavored. We sat in the square, wandered over to the street performers where a flautist played- he ended with “Danny Boy.” For some reason I always cry when I hear that. I don’t know why. I don’t like choke and cry but my eyes cry and water. Luke thinks it’s funny, it must be the lyrics. I do remember singing it in choir. Then we heard the dude singing Simon and Garfunkel covers and we went back to the apartamente. We heard about mom and dad’s trip to the Ponte Vecchio and going to an inexpensive place where the locals dine. They were satisfied with the price and the food. We went to bed at 2230. Still were loud drunks in the street which we acknowledged and easily dismissed with sleep and earplugs. Good night. ljf
Sunday, April 22, 2007 6:06
Buon Giorno! I needed to write in my Boun Journal. We are back and waiting a delicious dinner. Luke is cooking. We got up at the early hours of 7.30, damn. We may as well have gone to church. We had a breakfast of a roll, jelly, cheese- the standard. Then we were all dressed, coiffed and ready to go by 9.00. We headed NW of the Piazza Singoria about a 5 min walk to the Bargello. Admission was € 7 each. Kinda stiff I think. But not bad compared to American standards. We saw Michelangelo, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and 4 different “David’s.” Rick, again, narrated. The Bargello was originally the police station. It has a wide open courtyard surrounded by the building. It had big doors to let the horses and carts in and yet protect the insides. I did notice that the big doors that were not in use but opened and then a modern tall glass door was retrofitted to fit inside it. The point I am trying to make is that the doors are as big as the doors at the entrance to our building. We saw some armor (adult and children’s), swords, more glass and pottery ware, jewelry, crossbows, della robbia (fruit and green wreaths made of porcelain, ivory object art in addition to all the portraits, busts, and sculpture. We saw (and I got a post card of) the Donatello “S. Giorgio” made in 1416. St. George the dragon slayer. This big statue with shield was the equivalent to the “David” (the one we all know so well). It was as prominent and meant so much to Florentines. It was placed in the Orsanmichelle church that is just a few blocks away from our oh so centrally located apartment. We saw Donatello’s David done in 1430. What I refer to as the Pimp David which a photo is in one of the first blog entries- I think the Itinerary entry. This David was boyish, confident, feminine and naked. Rick Steves points out that Michelangelo grew up admiring this statue as it was prominently placed in his adopted home with the Medici’s, this had to have been an inspiration to him. We saw the bronze reliefs that were contest entries to grace the prominent church baptistery doors. The were important because they were the first examples to show real depth and real perspective. Also saw another “David” this one by Verrochio. He was younger, and really looked like the shepard boy that would slay Goliath. Mom was really interested in the Luca della Robbia terra cotta relief panels. These were porcelain painted and supposedly my Grandma Joanne just loved della robbia. It was porcelainy greenery with lemons and fruit. Saw some sculptures that were special because there was so much freestanding material sticking out in the air and not much touching the base of the sculpture to ground it. Saw Michelangelo’s Bacchus 1497, a grape leaf crowned hedon who loved to taste the wine and enjoy parties. There is a little nymph with him too. Saw another Michelangelo David- also known as Apollo- they are unsure which he was. Either it was David with the sling or Apollo with the quiver of arrows. Any way this one is unfinished and “larger that life” has so much more personality in the face. He copied certain elements of the other “Davids” and changed others. Saw Giamboligna’s Mercury. He supposedly looks like the FTD florist insignia. He is a bronze statue standing on 1 leg the other is extended behind him, also 1 arm is outstretched in front and the other is holding a wand of some kind. That is about all the art talk you can handle. I am writing this for my diary and memory but also for the blog too. Sorry if you are bored to tears.
We stopped at a near by outdoor café for un caffé, Luke and I had double espressos, Mother, a single, and Father a cappuccino. We paid for the caffé’ and also the outdoor dining service, 10 € total. Not terrible, but necessary because we were all yawning like crazy in the museo. As it was 1130 we decided to go to the Straw Mercado (market). It turns out that Luke and I were there previously with out even knowing. It was a covered market in the sense that there was a gothic curvy roof above us with columns to support the roof, but no walls to make it like an ancient shelter house. Ha, ha. Mom looked at scarves and purses, lots and lots of purses were on display. They will give you a good price. What was on the tag was never what they offered. It made you feel like it was a good deal.
Next to the market on one of the pedestrian streets there were artists doing sidewalk chalk drawings (for donation, of course) of major complex works of art. The drawings were amusing and amazing. I think I took a photo of that.
We all headed back to the apartment at 1230 and had a little lunch of cheese, crackers, a cold pizza (€5 from the mercato centrale yesterday- bought it cold and then heated it up), apple, oranges, buns etc. Luke and I headed at 1300 to the Uffizi museum. Conveniently the Uffizi was a block away and we figured out how to claim our tickets/reservations that were paid for online. We got to bypass the long line and gain entry and went through the metal detector and x-ray baggage scanner (like in all museums here). We bought a guide book on the street as the down to earth Rick Steves (the travel guidebook author) instructed. We paid € 9.50 + the € 3.00 reservation fee each for admission. The travel book cost €7.00. We saw a room full of busts along the wall and portraits along the ceiling of important civic patrons (of that time). We saw just a few of the religious medieval church altar paintings. It was neat to have the artistic important points spelled out to you in common terms. One of the neat things about the medieval art that we saw was you saw the progression to flat, no perspective people and no backgrounds to some incorrect perspective with Mary’s face getting rounder and more realistic to accurate perspective, and Mary modeled after a real person and looking like there was a body showing through her shroud rather than just a blob of robe color with a face and hands. Saw some early renaissance of a battle scene where Uccello (in the early 1400s) painted a big scene of some A- perspective element work and some D grade elements. (That’s how Rick pointed them out to us). I got a post card of that too.
Saw the highlight the Botticelli “Allegory of spring” and the “Birth of Venus.” The ladies are just beautiful. The renaissance was about the change of church art to art for art’s sake. The naked ladies are sensual not sexual. Michelangelo has a poem that says souls will never ascend into heaven “until the sight of beauty lifts them there.” Botticelli finds God in the details of the painting. Saw some religious Da Vinci another “Annunciation” where the angels tell Mary that she will conceive the savior- has this look on her face like “ how am I going to tell my parents.” Saw a Martin Luther the Christian reformer portrait. He denounced being a monk, married a defrocked nun had 6 children and adopted 11 orphans. Wow. That’s how pissed they were at the Catholic Church. The nun who was 20 years M.L’s junior said she married to “please my father and annoy the Pope.” Saw a Raphael Madonna with J.C. and St. John the Baptist portrayal. Saw a Raphael Pope Leo X and cardinals- Leo was a Medici so that was fitting to Florence. Saw a Titian version of “Venus,” this was Venetian renaissance and was more art for pleasure than art’s sake.
We thought we were done here but saw some more “modern” art- like a few of the Dutch masters: Durer, Rembrandt’s “Self portrait”, Caravaggio’s “Bacchus” We gladly exited the museum as 2 hours was a lot of museum. I just can’t wait for the Vaticano Museo!!! AHHH. That will be a big bight to chew.
We came home to Dad and Mom with groceries. Mom and I went for a walk to the Duomo and to get her some cigarettes and a lighter at a Tabacchi shop. We got a caffé espresso there too which we drank standing at the counter. Yummy. We walked to the Duomo and around it and looked at some stores that the men would scoff that we went into. Meanwhile Dad and Luke returned to the grocery store to get some vinegar or some salad dressing for the fresh lettuce we bought yesterday at the Mercato Centrale.
We all came home again and Luke was busy cooking. They got some potatoes which we boiled and parslied, we had salad with fresh vine ripened tomatoes (that smelled like an actual garden), onion, and herb dressing. Luke made some turkey breasts that were pounded flat seasoned with salt and pepper, then a little bit of tomato sauce topped with a bit of fresh Italian parsley and fresh mozzarella! We had a buttered bun and we were FULL.
Oh, we also had our first Florence box table wine. Dad bought 1 liter of white table wine for €1.05. Mom even enjoyed the wine, and she is not a wine lover. Dad really enjoyed it as he had like 3 glasses. After dinner, Dad went again to the grocery store to buy some gelato. You see, gelato on the street is way too expensive for us. At like 21.00 we went to the Uffizi piazza and listened to more street performers the same flautist and the same Simon and Garfunkel cover guy and his wife who sings back-up. Luke and I got smart this time; we each brought and beer and waited for the best seats in the house on these certain stairs with a wall to lean on. We came back home after an hour or so and had some lemon and strawberry gelato from the freezer section of our local Magi grocery store! It hit the spot. It was pretty good. Now Luke is lounging on the couch looking longingly at me to finish the blog the heck up so we can go to bed. Good night as it is 2230 and bedtime. We’ll publish this. ljf
We treated ourselves to our first Florence gelato, which Florence specifically is known for in Italy. I had tiramisu’ flavored and Luke had hazelnut flavored. We sat in the square, wandered over to the street performers where a flautist played- he ended with “Danny Boy.” For some reason I always cry when I hear that. I don’t know why. I don’t like choke and cry but my eyes cry and water. Luke thinks it’s funny, it must be the lyrics. I do remember singing it in choir. Then we heard the dude singing Simon and Garfunkel covers and we went back to the apartamente. We heard about mom and dad’s trip to the Ponte Vecchio and going to an inexpensive place where the locals dine. They were satisfied with the price and the food. We went to bed at 2230. Still were loud drunks in the street which we acknowledged and easily dismissed with sleep and earplugs. Good night. ljf
Sunday, April 22, 2007 6:06
Buon Giorno! I needed to write in my Boun Journal. We are back and waiting a delicious dinner. Luke is cooking. We got up at the early hours of 7.30, damn. We may as well have gone to church. We had a breakfast of a roll, jelly, cheese- the standard. Then we were all dressed, coiffed and ready to go by 9.00. We headed NW of the Piazza Singoria about a 5 min walk to the Bargello. Admission was € 7 each. Kinda stiff I think. But not bad compared to American standards. We saw Michelangelo, Donatello, Brunelleschi, and 4 different “David’s.” Rick, again, narrated. The Bargello was originally the police station. It has a wide open courtyard surrounded by the building. It had big doors to let the horses and carts in and yet protect the insides. I did notice that the big doors that were not in use but opened and then a modern tall glass door was retrofitted to fit inside it. The point I am trying to make is that the doors are as big as the doors at the entrance to our building. We saw some armor (adult and children’s), swords, more glass and pottery ware, jewelry, crossbows, della robbia (fruit and green wreaths made of porcelain, ivory object art in addition to all the portraits, busts, and sculpture. We saw (and I got a post card of) the Donatello “S. Giorgio” made in 1416. St. George the dragon slayer. This big statue with shield was the equivalent to the “David” (the one we all know so well). It was as prominent and meant so much to Florentines. It was placed in the Orsanmichelle church that is just a few blocks away from our oh so centrally located apartment. We saw Donatello’s David done in 1430. What I refer to as the Pimp David which a photo is in one of the first blog entries- I think the Itinerary entry. This David was boyish, confident, feminine and naked. Rick Steves points out that Michelangelo grew up admiring this statue as it was prominently placed in his adopted home with the Medici’s, this had to have been an inspiration to him. We saw the bronze reliefs that were contest entries to grace the prominent church baptistery doors. The were important because they were the first examples to show real depth and real perspective. Also saw another “David” this one by Verrochio. He was younger, and really looked like the shepard boy that would slay Goliath. Mom was really interested in the Luca della Robbia terra cotta relief panels. These were porcelain painted and supposedly my Grandma Joanne just loved della robbia. It was porcelainy greenery with lemons and fruit. Saw some sculptures that were special because there was so much freestanding material sticking out in the air and not much touching the base of the sculpture to ground it. Saw Michelangelo’s Bacchus 1497, a grape leaf crowned hedon who loved to taste the wine and enjoy parties. There is a little nymph with him too. Saw another Michelangelo David- also known as Apollo- they are unsure which he was. Either it was David with the sling or Apollo with the quiver of arrows. Any way this one is unfinished and “larger that life” has so much more personality in the face. He copied certain elements of the other “Davids” and changed others. Saw Giamboligna’s Mercury. He supposedly looks like the FTD florist insignia. He is a bronze statue standing on 1 leg the other is extended behind him, also 1 arm is outstretched in front and the other is holding a wand of some kind. That is about all the art talk you can handle. I am writing this for my diary and memory but also for the blog too. Sorry if you are bored to tears.
We stopped at a near by outdoor café for un caffé, Luke and I had double espressos, Mother, a single, and Father a cappuccino. We paid for the caffé’ and also the outdoor dining service, 10 € total. Not terrible, but necessary because we were all yawning like crazy in the museo. As it was 1130 we decided to go to the Straw Mercado (market). It turns out that Luke and I were there previously with out even knowing. It was a covered market in the sense that there was a gothic curvy roof above us with columns to support the roof, but no walls to make it like an ancient shelter house. Ha, ha. Mom looked at scarves and purses, lots and lots of purses were on display. They will give you a good price. What was on the tag was never what they offered. It made you feel like it was a good deal.
Next to the market on one of the pedestrian streets there were artists doing sidewalk chalk drawings (for donation, of course) of major complex works of art. The drawings were amusing and amazing. I think I took a photo of that.
We all headed back to the apartment at 1230 and had a little lunch of cheese, crackers, a cold pizza (€5 from the mercato centrale yesterday- bought it cold and then heated it up), apple, oranges, buns etc. Luke and I headed at 1300 to the Uffizi museum. Conveniently the Uffizi was a block away and we figured out how to claim our tickets/reservations that were paid for online. We got to bypass the long line and gain entry and went through the metal detector and x-ray baggage scanner (like in all museums here). We bought a guide book on the street as the down to earth Rick Steves (the travel guidebook author) instructed. We paid € 9.50 + the € 3.00 reservation fee each for admission. The travel book cost €7.00. We saw a room full of busts along the wall and portraits along the ceiling of important civic patrons (of that time). We saw just a few of the religious medieval church altar paintings. It was neat to have the artistic important points spelled out to you in common terms. One of the neat things about the medieval art that we saw was you saw the progression to flat, no perspective people and no backgrounds to some incorrect perspective with Mary’s face getting rounder and more realistic to accurate perspective, and Mary modeled after a real person and looking like there was a body showing through her shroud rather than just a blob of robe color with a face and hands. Saw some early renaissance of a battle scene where Uccello (in the early 1400s) painted a big scene of some A- perspective element work and some D grade elements. (That’s how Rick pointed them out to us). I got a post card of that too.
Saw the highlight the Botticelli “Allegory of spring” and the “Birth of Venus.” The ladies are just beautiful. The renaissance was about the change of church art to art for art’s sake. The naked ladies are sensual not sexual. Michelangelo has a poem that says souls will never ascend into heaven “until the sight of beauty lifts them there.” Botticelli finds God in the details of the painting. Saw some religious Da Vinci another “Annunciation” where the angels tell Mary that she will conceive the savior- has this look on her face like “ how am I going to tell my parents.” Saw a Martin Luther the Christian reformer portrait. He denounced being a monk, married a defrocked nun had 6 children and adopted 11 orphans. Wow. That’s how pissed they were at the Catholic Church. The nun who was 20 years M.L’s junior said she married to “please my father and annoy the Pope.” Saw a Raphael Madonna with J.C. and St. John the Baptist portrayal. Saw a Raphael Pope Leo X and cardinals- Leo was a Medici so that was fitting to Florence. Saw a Titian version of “Venus,” this was Venetian renaissance and was more art for pleasure than art’s sake.
We thought we were done here but saw some more “modern” art- like a few of the Dutch masters: Durer, Rembrandt’s “Self portrait”, Caravaggio’s “Bacchus” We gladly exited the museum as 2 hours was a lot of museum. I just can’t wait for the Vaticano Museo!!! AHHH. That will be a big bight to chew.
We came home to Dad and Mom with groceries. Mom and I went for a walk to the Duomo and to get her some cigarettes and a lighter at a Tabacchi shop. We got a caffé espresso there too which we drank standing at the counter. Yummy. We walked to the Duomo and around it and looked at some stores that the men would scoff that we went into. Meanwhile Dad and Luke returned to the grocery store to get some vinegar or some salad dressing for the fresh lettuce we bought yesterday at the Mercato Centrale.
We all came home again and Luke was busy cooking. They got some potatoes which we boiled and parslied, we had salad with fresh vine ripened tomatoes (that smelled like an actual garden), onion, and herb dressing. Luke made some turkey breasts that were pounded flat seasoned with salt and pepper, then a little bit of tomato sauce topped with a bit of fresh Italian parsley and fresh mozzarella! We had a buttered bun and we were FULL.
Oh, we also had our first Florence box table wine. Dad bought 1 liter of white table wine for €1.05. Mom even enjoyed the wine, and she is not a wine lover. Dad really enjoyed it as he had like 3 glasses. After dinner, Dad went again to the grocery store to buy some gelato. You see, gelato on the street is way too expensive for us. At like 21.00 we went to the Uffizi piazza and listened to more street performers the same flautist and the same Simon and Garfunkel cover guy and his wife who sings back-up. Luke and I got smart this time; we each brought and beer and waited for the best seats in the house on these certain stairs with a wall to lean on. We came back home after an hour or so and had some lemon and strawberry gelato from the freezer section of our local Magi grocery store! It hit the spot. It was pretty good. Now Luke is lounging on the couch looking longingly at me to finish the blog the heck up so we can go to bed. Good night as it is 2230 and bedtime. We’ll publish this. ljf
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