Florence and Siena

We took the vaporetto to the train station, where we took the frecciargento  high speed train to Florence. It was not truly high speed on that trip, but nice. It speeds up as it gets closer to Rome. Our seat mate was a mischievous English teacher, who bantered with us, and told us that all Italians would try to cheat us.

We bumped our luggage down the bumpy sidewalks of Florence to our apartment, where Asadeh met us in the street, recognizing my photo. The apartment is a studio, and felt like a NYC apartment, but perfectly adequate, with a great  location. We can see the Duomo church from our balcony. 

We found a great panini place and walked around the amazing Duomo church. We bought tickets to the Uffuzi museum, and then walked across the Ponte Vecchio, and up a steep walkway to the Plaza Michelangelo, with a great view of the city.

We had dinner in Bevo Vino, a funky cafe near the river.

Thursday we got up early to go the Uffuzi; we had tickets for 8:15, so we were ahead of the masses.   It was a bit overwhelming.  It was amazing to think of one family with so much wealth and art.  Sandi thinks that she has a better understanding of the Renaissance.  We admired the open air statues in the Plaza Veccio.  At that point we were on art overload, so we went back to the panini place, and took an afternoon nap.  In the evening we went to mass at the Duomo. We went to bed early to get ready for a big day on Friday.

Friday was an all day tour to San Gimagnano and Sienna.  We started at San Gimignano, a hill town and a UNESCO world heritage site.  it is well preserved, and unique for the towers found on many of the houses.  The town was full of busloads of tourists, but it was possible to get off the main road and see a little on our own.  Sandi spent some time and money in the leather market, but managed to show some restraint.

For lunch, we went to a vinyard, tasting wines, olive oil, and truffle oil, which they would be happy to ship to your home.  The guy was quite a saleman.

In Siena, we had a short tour of the town, and then just spent time in the plazas people watching.  The town's peak was earlier than others, so the archtecture is Gothic.  A lot of the economy of the town is and has been based on banking, for hundreds of years.  Siena is famous for the Palio horse race in the square, with neighborhoods competing with each other.  If you want to see it, you need to book a year in advance.   

On the way back to Florence, we stopped at another smaller hill town and fortress, Monteriggoni.  Many movies have been shot there.   Monteriggoni and Sienna are on the pilgrimage route to Rome, the Via Francigena.  Like the camino a Santiago, this has undergone a resurgence of popularily.   

A long day but a good day.

Saturday we slept in, and had a liesurely breakfast.   We headed for the central market, which was very busy and somewhat upscale, but with vegetables and other market products along with fancy food.  We spent $10 to stock our larder.      

In the afternoon, we visited the San Lorenzo church, another amazing church, where Michelangelo and other great artists worked.  

We went to the English mass at the Duomo, and then sat for an hour watching people. Sandi prepared a nice pasta meal.