Sunday, May 23--Fiesole

We met up with Alex in Florence to return a cell phone he had loaned us, his road map atlas and the keys to the beach house. It sure was good to see his familiar face! He was so kind to us during our visit to Italy! Originally, we had hoped to take Anna and Alex to dinner this weekend, but that didn't work out with their schedule, so we settled for meeting on Sunday morning over coffee. We walked to a piazza and shared some of our travel stories. When Alex found out that we planned to go to Fiesole for the day, he offered to give us a ride there. Fiesole sits in the hills above Florence and is the site of the ruins of a Roman amphitheater, baths, and temples. Then even father up is a Franciscan abbey and church. We toured the ruins, took a break for lunch with a panoramic view of the city of Florence below and then toured the abbey before taking a bus back to Florence.

We were heading back to our room through the maze of street vendors that crop up daily in every little spot along the already narrow, busy streets surrounding the Duomo. Suddenly there was a parade of people in Medieval dress with colorful banners and drums. At the very end of the parade, was a group of falconers. Apparently, it was a parade in honor of the Feast of Pentecost. Later we saw some of the people from the parade continuing to celebrate Pentecost at one of the little bars on a side street.

We decided to do a light dinner tonight and get some pizza from a place that we had seen the previous night. It was one of those shops with a glass case full of a different varieties of pizza and I had my eye on a slice of procuitto and artichoke pizza. Sorry to say, it looked better than it tasted. Later, we Skyped with Courtney and Molly and got to see little glimpses of Alex and Gabe as they squirreled around in the background! As always, it was so good to see and hear from them. Hard to believe they are half a world away! Tomorrow we head for Roma, to meet up with Ryan and his friend Sam Kean from Sioux Falls, and our friends, the Vikens.

Saturday, May 22--Hey Dave!

As soon as we woke up this morning, we called the front desk and asked our hotelier if she could get us reservations to see Michelangelo's "David." Florence is full of great and famous art and sculptures, but the one thing we really hoped to see on this return trip was our friend Dave. We'd read last night, right before going to bed, that tickets/reservations are hard to come by without at least a few days' notice. So when the hotelier called back in about 15 minutes to say we had reservations this afternoon at 1:15 to see the "big guy," we were relieved and happy! You can tell this Hotel Duomo is used to American and British tourists, because unlike a lot of small Italian hotels, they offer a full breakfast, with choices that the Americans and Brits like--such as eggs! Our hotel is less than a stone's throw from the Duomo, making it a very convenient location. So we set out after a nice breakfast to the Michelangelo Piazza, which sits up on a hill across the Arno River, overlooking Florence. The weather today was as sunny and warm as we've seen in Europe, and needless to say, we are very happy about that! The walk to the Piazza involved a nice walk along the Arno River that runs through Florence, and a lot of steps, and we were again thankful that our health allows us to do things like walk/climb up to the Piazza. Once there, the view of Florence below was well worth the climb! We hung out there, took some photos, then went to a nearby beautiful park where we walked and enjoyed the greenery, and the peace and quiet. Bev conspired with me to take a photo of the shortest skirt of the many that we've seen in Italy! We made a stop at a public restroom, where for about 50 cents you can use a bathroom that is quite clean, before heading back down the hill to Florence. We had almost gotten back to our hotel when Bev realized she'd left her lightweight sweater in the bathroom, back up the hill. We didn't have time to go back and retrieve it before our reservation to see David, so we kept on schedule. We walked past a line that is no doubt a 3-hour wait to get into the Academia Museum to see David for those without reservations. We arrived at the door for those with reservations, and we were the only ones there! The guards let us in, 5 minutes early.

David was well worth the effort to see him. You don't have to be a student of sculpture to find David absolutely amazing in his life-like detail! He is enormous, and his muscles, tendons and bones are so realistic in their detail, consistent with the posture of David's body. To think that that detail came out of a big chunk of marble is beyond comprehension!

After seeing a few other works in the Academia, we walked back to the Duomo where we caught a cab to take us back up to the restroom by the Michelangelo Piazza in search of Bev's sweater. We weren't about to walk those steps a second time! Lo and behold, the sweater was lying there with the attendant. Someone had turned it in! I still don't know if tourists here in Florence are that honest, or if my cold-blooded wife is the only person who even thinks of wearing a sweater in today's heat and sunshine. In any event, the sweater was safely back in her possession! Wanting to turn lemon into lemonade, since we were back on the hill for the second time today, we decided to have lunch and a glass of wine at a bar overlooking the beautiful City of Firenza! It was so nice up there, enjoying the vista, I was almost glad Bev had left her sweater!

We walked back down to Florence after this mid-afternoon lunch, and walked around the tourist-filled streets, enjoying the whole Florence experience, including street artists, mimes and musicians. Later, for dinner, we went to a second generation family-owned trattoria, run by two twin brothers, recommended by our new best friend, Rick. The place is said to be a local favorite, and it was full when we got there, so one of the brothers told us to come back in 20 minutes. When we came back, he put us at a table for 4 with a young couple who happened to be from Vancouver, B.C. Since they spoke perfect English, of course, we had a wonderful visit over dinner, comparing travel notes. We were also told that they were recent law school graduates and were completing some final studies required to become Canadian lawyers, so we had plenty to talk about! One of the great things about this kind of traveling is the people one meets, and the sharing of stories that always happens. Assuming, that is, that they speak English!

Wednesday, May 19-Thursday, May 20--Goodbye Beach House

On Wednesday, we were hoping to go to Lucca to ride bikes but, alas, the spotty off-and-on rain dissuaded us. So we hung out at the beach house, washed clothes and got ready to leave for Assisi on Thursday. We made a final trip into Camaiore to pick up a few things and have lunch at our favorite ristorante there, Locando de Monche, so we could eat there one more time. I took a picture of Bev with our favorite server there, Ilyr (pronounced "Ilya"). Ilyr speaks decent English, but with a bit of a German accent. It turns out that he is from Romania, but lived in Germany for a couple of years, where he learned English. He laughs at his German-accented English. I was in the mood for fish and Ilyr highly recommended a fresh fish from the area, so I ordered it. When it came, it was the ENTIRE FISH, and it "only had eye[s]for me," so to speak!

After getting everything packed up, and the house cleaned and buttoned up, we got on the road about 8:30 this morning, Thursday. Our driving skills, including the toll roads of the Autostrade, Italy's interstate highway system, are definitely improving! Yesterday we re-loaded the "Europe City Navigator" on our Garmin, hoping it would improve what has been a frustrating experience here in Italy. The area around La Pieve, where we've been basing out of for the last two weeks or so, doesn't even show up on our Garmin! So with Garmin actually showing the Assisi area, but primarily with Bev's navigating the old-fashioned way, we made the 3 1/2-hour drive to Assisi, arriving around noon.

Approaching Assisi is a beautiful sight! The hills of the Umbrian countryside are glowing green, and Assisi sits on the side of one of the hills, with the St. Francis Basilica and other churches looming over the valley in their splendid, pink-and-white glory. On arrival, we tried to get a room at a place Rick had recommended, but when I called, I was surprised to learn that they didn't have a room for tonight. Rick's book made it sound like rooms would be plentiful, but our first choice was full. We then called our second choice and they had plenty of vacancies with a good view, so we went there and were pretty overwhelmed with the panoramic view of the valley below! Enrico is the owner and his wife, Mary, is from New Jersey. We never met Mary, but Enrico was very kind, and his English was very good, so that was really helpful for information about where to park, etc.

We spent the afternoon walking around Assisi, and Bev commented on how clean and beautiful the city itself was, not to mention the beautiful setting of Umbria. We toured the Basilica of St. Francis, which is beautiful and impressive. I'm pretty sure that the wonderfully simple St. Francis rolls over in his grave regularly, seeing how ostentatious the basilica erected in his honor. Rick said that Umbria is known for its great sausage, so we dug right in with a couple different sausage dishes for lunch, and it was terrific. By the time we had dinner, we couldn't wait to order sausage again! Before dinner, which is always late--around 9:00 p.m.--I had gotten a bottle of a red Umbrian wine for 9 euro and we shared the bottle on the patio of the hotel and saw a gorgeous sunset with a nearby church in the foreground. The pictures give you an idea of the fabulous view! As usual, however, no photo can capture the panoramic beauty.

We had one of the finest meals we've had in Italy tonight at Trattoria Pallotta. You guessed it--another Rick Steves recommendation! He hasn't missed a beat for us on this trip! Thanks Rick--keep up the great work!

May 21, Back to Florence

Our time in Assisi was short but so sweet. However, we needed to return the car to the Florence airport tonight, so did the Rick Steves walking tour of Assisi, which included the church of San Rafino, where St. Francis and Clare were baptized, the Temple of Minerva, and the beautifully simple Church of Santo Stephano--much more like what Francis would want for "his" church. We had a snack of rocciata "strudel" on the steps of the fountain in the town's main square.

It was hard to leave Assisi after such a short stay, but we had to keep reminding ourselves of the Rick Steves mantra: Assume you'll return! We would LOVE to return to Assisi someday! From there we drove to Cortona, the subject of the movie, "Under the Tuscan Sun." Like Assisi, we found Cortona very charming and a place we'd like to spend a few days in, but about all we had time for was to park our car, have lunch and walk around the old town for about an hour. Pledging to return, we left for the Florence airport to return our rental car. Speaking of, I've loved driving this little Fiat Panda, with its stick shift, which is a treat for me. Our gas gauge was showing we were getting low on gas, and I needed to return the car with a full tank, so I wanted to get as close to the Florence airport as I could before filling up. The hills that Cortona sit on are so high, that when we left for Florence, I put the car in neutral and coasted down the hill. I'll bet we coasted more than 5 minutes before I applied the gas! It was fun!

We got to the Avis Car Return site at the airport about 5:00 p.m.--an hour before the car was due back. We had driven it for 15 days, and drove 1,520 kilometers, and NOT A SCRATCH on the car! We did our best to obey the speed limits and restricted driving zone signs. The laws on speed and restricted areas are patrolled by cameras. Hopefully we don't get home to South Dakota only to find a ticket in the mail from some inadvertent violation! From Avis, we walked to a nearby city bus to the train station in downtown Florence, and with bags and backpacks in tow, we walked 10 minutes to find our hotel--the Hotel Duomo. It is located about 40 feet North of the famous Duomo! Great location, just as Rick says! This time in Florence, our weather is great and we look forward to the weekend here!

Tuesday, May 18—Bummin' on the Beach!

The sun woke us today! And we didn't complain, but did sleep in regardless. We are on “holiday” after all! We eventually got up, and Bev made a good, old-fashioned American breakfast, complete with scrambled eggs, ham, toast, and croissants, with cappuccino thrown in as a willing nod to our Italian hosts! We threw a load of clothes in the washer, and then got in the car and drove to the beach at Viareggio, probably only about 15 miles away from the house. There, we rented a couple of loungers on the beach, which also gave us rights to a changing room and a rinse shower. We hung out in the sun, reading and napping, for about 4 hours. It was funny, but after six weeks of foreign travel, as I lay there in the sun, totally relaxed and listening to reggae on my iPod, I felt like I was truly on vacation for about the first time since we left Florida! It made me realize that as fun as traveling around other countries is, there is a certain stress to it. Moments of total relaxation like this are actually rare!

We drove home late this afternoon, got the clothes out of the wash and hung them out to dry on a clothes line in the back yard. Haven't done that for years! Tonight we just had to return to the ristorante we'd enjoyed a couple of weekends ago in Camaiore for a late dinner, then came back to the house to read and relax. Tomorrow we will probably stay close to the house and chill some more, and get the house cleaned up before leaving for good on Thursday for Umbria.

Monday, May 17—Is it me, or is that tower leaning?

The gentle, green rolling hills of Tuscany greeted us out our window this morning when we woke up. The difference in topography between this part of Tuscany and the area near Camaiore, where we've been basing out of, is significant. Mountains, not hills, loom over Camaiore and the village where we are, La Pieve. This area of Montepulciano has mountains in the distance, but the immediate area is vineyard after vineyard, interrupted occasionally by olive trees, and plenty of green crop land. We've all seen this Tuscany in photos, but they don't do it justice. It's serenely beautiful, if not almost trite. But if it's going to be this beautiful and peaceful, we'll put up with trite!

After a light breakfast of a pastry and cappuccino, we checked out of our room at the Belle Vista, so aptly named for the place that had the nicest view of any of our places in Italy so far. We drove north to Pisa, which is on our way back to our home base. We felt that we owed it to ourselves to plunge into the inevitable tourist trap that is Pisa, since it was on the way. Yet, at breakfast on Sunday we met a couple in our “convent” in Siena who had just come from Pisa and said it was worth a couple hours of time. When we got to Pisa, we parked at a free parking lot recommended by our “buddy” Rick, and took a bus into the centro, then did the Rick-recommended walking tour, which took us through a part of central Pisa not so suffocated by tourists. This gave us a feel for the college-town atmosphere that gives Pisa the credibility that the tourists do not. Apparently there are 45,000 students at the university in Pisa, and their presence provides a welcome energy we didn't expect. We ultimately ended up at the famous tower, and wouldn't you know, it's still leaning! We didn't bother to pay the 15 euros (each) to walk the steps to the top. We've loved Italy from a number of different heights and towers now, with probably more to come, so we passed on this one. We did try to take one of those corny photos of me holding up the leaning tower, but couldn't seem to convincingly pull it off. Apparently that takes more talent that one would think, or we just suck at special effects! We did go inside the Baptistry to hear the security guard do the every-30-minute routine of intoning several notes, letting them hang in the acoustics of the dome, where they resound long enough to harmonize with one another. Then it was on to the Duomo, to see yet another beautiful church.

Then back to the car we went, and drove the 30-minute trip back to our house in the hills above Camaiore. It felt good to be back “home,” after a 4-day weekend of traveling and seeing new sights. We have the luxury of pacing ourselves, since we have a month to spend in Italy. So tonight for dinner, we walked to a little trattoria (a simple restaurant) down the road about 10 minutes from the house. Because of the very low blood alcohol limits here in Italy, I don't drink if I'm going to be driving, so it was nice to be able to walk to this nearby La Pieve trattoria, and enjoy wine with dinner. The house wine (“vino roso de la casa”) is inexpensive, and a real compliment to the Italian cuisine, so it's really nice to be able to enjoy wine with a meal. While we were eating and enjoying the local character of this very clean and attractive trattoria, about 15 young men, obviously a soccer team in their early 20's, along with their soccer coach came in from soccer practice. It was fun to get in on this touch of local color, not to mention watching how many bowls of spaghetti those guys could put away, along with a few beers. It was just a fun, amusing atmosphere that we got in on, much like our dinner last night in Montepulciano. We again felt fortunate that we have come upon these out-of-the way places here in Italy, away from the throngs of tourists, where we can feel at least somewhat imbedded in the lives of these colorful “locals.”

On the short walk home, through the dark hills under a crescent moon, we were entertained by no small number of fireflies, making us feel that they were trying to guide us home with their lights. It was almost like something out of an enchanted movie scene. Then looking to the sky, we saw something we've seen little of so far this month in Italy—stars! And from what we've heard of the forecast, tomorrow should be sunny too. Maybe the beach will be on tap for tomorrow?

Sunday, May 16--Montepulciano

The sky was overcast yet again today when we woke up, had breakfast and checked out of our room at the convent in Siena. After retrieving our car from the parking garage, we headed south to Montepulciano, which had come highly recommended by our brother-in-law, Steve. The trip lasted only a couple of hours and was uneventful; I'm getting the hang of this Italian driving! Our Garmin has been screwed up and is very frustrating, to say the least. Up in the Camaiore area, much of the data is missing. On the way from Siena to Montpulciano, however, the Garmin suddenly started showing roads. So the GPS helped somewhat, but Bev's navigating was still the deal-maker as we arrived at our destination shortly after noon. Once again we followed Rick's recommendation and called a phone number he gave for a place with a nice view that was in our price range. We arranged to meet the owner of the Belle Vista at her place, and after she showed us the room with a pretty spectacular view (see video), we took it for the night, got our car from the outskirts of town and parked it in a lot close to the hotel. There were a lot of stairs to climb to our room, so once again we were thankful for not having to haul luggage—even luggage with wheels, up the many steps. Backpacks are truly one of the greatest inventions since the wheel!

After getting unloaded into our room, we had a great lunch at a wonderful Rick-recommended risorante up the street from our hotel, then set out to explore this beautiful little mountain town, where “New Moon” was recently filmed. Late in the afternoon, we stopped for wine-tasting at Contucci winery, where we were charmed by Adamo, and took some photos. We were curious about the church that we could see down the hill from our bedroom window, so we walked down there, took some photos, and went inside to check out yet another really old Italian Catholic church! By the time we climbed the long road back up to our part of the city, it was starting to rain again, lightly, and when we got up to the old part of the city, it was time for dinner. We walked around in the light rain, under our umbrella, looking for what looked like the right spot for a light meal, as we'd eaten a lot early this afternoon. We found a place that was very busy and looked very clean—two key ingredients to a potentially good dining experience! Bev and I each ordered a pizza, and shared a salad. While dining, we quickly realized that we were the only “tourists” in the place, and it was packed—with locals. That's always the sign of a good restaurant. Most were ordering pizza, and for good reason: they were terrific. There's just something about being surrounded by locals—friends and families enjoying Italian meals—that enhances the experience of foreign travel! Even though we can't speak their language, we've gotten used to being imbedded with the locals, and much prefer that to being surrounded by a hoard of American tourists.

We purposely over-ordered, by each ordering our own pizza, since pizza makes for a great lunch on the go the next day! By this time, we'd eaten more than our share, and had several good up-and-down hill walks under our belts for the day, so we headed back to our room and called it yet another good night in Italy!