Saturday, October 12
Firenze, Firenze, Toscana
Highlight: Piazza Santo Spirito
Lowlight: Ann's knee was really acting up
Fair warning: the photographs in this post are crap. In the blinding morning light on the Ponte alla Carraia, as I was trying to photograph a heron in flight, somehow my large fingers managed to set my camera for use in the dark of night. And so, all these photos are grainy. As are some potentially exquisite photos of fall color back home, before I discovered the cause of the problem more than a week later.
 |
| Posing with Selfie Coordinator-in-Chief |
After our lengthy outdoor dinner last night, we turned in as early as possible and were up at 7:30. We left the apartment at 8:30, heeding the advice about Firenze that we got from Lorenzo at Lyn and Neal’s little get together. He told us to go early and go south of the river to avoid the overwhelming crowds. I realize that it is hypocritical as a tourist and part of the problem to complain about other tourists.
On leaving our third-floor apartment, going back down the steep, narrow stone stairs with shallow treads was an instant reminder that we are not in a brand new country where everything is subject to building codes. These stairs were here centuries before building codes. And they are awkward, but they get the job done.
 |
| Pastries and Coffee at Bar Pasticceria Piccioli |
We walked a block to breakfast at a local pasticceria that our host recommended, Bar Pasticceria Piccioli, a beautiful little space with great pastries, populated primarily by locals. The barista pulled a really decent shot of espresso. When we were checking out at the register, we chatted with the owner a bit. If we lived in the neighborhood, we'd be regulars here.
 |
| Window Display at a Nearby Pasticceria |
On our mission to get ahead of the tourists and go to the south side, we we headed across the Arno on the Ponte Amerigo Vespucci, the closest bridge to our apartment. We walked along the river past the Ponte alla Carraia, the Ponte Santa Trinita, and the Ponte Vecchio.
 |
| Our Shadows in the Arno |
 |
| Saturday Morning Crew Practice |
 |
| Little Egret on Arno Dam |
 |
| Dam Across the Arno |
 |
| Chiesa di San Frediano |
 |
| I Want This Rooftop Terrace Overlooking the Arnop |
 |
| Ponte Santa Trinita |
 |
| Palazzo Spini Feroni |
After walking along the river in the brilliant morning sun, we we headed south away from the river into the neighborhoods near the massive city block-sized Palazzo Pitti from ca. 1450. To my eye, it has a good bit in common with the brutalist architecture of the Soviet Union before its breakup. That is, the palace is rather more functionally designed than beautiful.
 |
| Unexpected Rose in an Unexpected Piazzetta |
 |
| Fresco on a Building on the Via de' Guicciardini |
 |
| Impressive Lighting at the Palazzo Pitti |
 |
| Quasi-Brutalist and Fortress-Like Palazzo Pitti |
 |
Ship's Prow Building
Not Sure I'd Like to Have Been a Finish Carpenter Here |
From here, we tried to go to the Giardini Boboli and Bardini, but they are located on a steep hillside above the Arno and Ann’s knee couldn’t take the climb. So, we walked back down to the river and made our way over to the Piazza Santo Spirito which was supposed to be quaint, less touristy, and a good place to find eats according to our host.
 |
| Torre dei Mannelli Near the Ponte Vecchio |
 |
| The Uffizi from South of the River |
The crowds thinned out as we got away from the river and the Ponte Vecchio area and soon enough, we found ourselves walking down a side street towards the Basilica di Santo Spirito whose duomo we had seen from across the river on our walk yesterday. The closer we got to the church, the more restaurants we passed getting ready for Saturday lunch and the more locals we saw out walking or heading to the farmers market in the piazza. We enjoyed a few quiet moments on a bench in the piazza watching life go on around us in a rare non-touristy part of Firenze.
As we stood on line waiting for a table to free at this tiny restaurant, I tried to steal some free WiFi. The first network that came up on my phone was JMU Florence. Those of us from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia all know about JMU in Harrisonburg. In fact, I have a friend who taught in Firenze in the Hospitality Management program but who had since returned to the States. I looked up and saw the JMU sign across the street from us. I had no earthly idea that we were anywhere near their building. Call it a coincidence.
 |
| JMU Florence, Who Knew? |
We finally got seated at a table for two just opposite the front door and ordered a bottle of wine and two pizzas for what would prove to be our final meal at a restaurant in Firenze. This pizzeria is so popular that there are signs on the wall on the sidewalk indicating the start of the line for a table as well as the line for to-go pies on the other side. We stopped not because it was busy but because we saw excellent looking pies with our own eyes as we walked by.
 |
| A Table After Standing on Line for 15 Minutes |
 |
| One of the Servers We Joked with During Lunch |
Toward the end of our lunch, we decided that we were going to take it easy tonight and go to bed early in preparation for our return trip home the next day. To that end, we ordered two more pies to take with us for dinner. As for the long lines and many Americans at this pizzeria, I would find out back at the apartment why this is so.
After folks in America woke up, I texted my friend who worked at JMU Firenze and told her we were there and accidentally stumbled into her old neighborhood. In the course of our conversation, she told me that Gusta Pizza was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Better I did not know this beforehand. Guy Fieri featuring a place is not a vote of confidence in my experience.
Pizza boxes in hand, we headed back to the apartment over the the Ponte Santa Trinita where I took the opportunity to shoot some photos, mainly of the bridges. I was intrigued by the inscribed decorative medallions on the Ponte Santa Trinita. The Latin translates roughly to: "Cosimo I de' Medici, having restored the bridge, increased the glory of the city, 1569." This bridge was destroyed by the Germans in 1944 and subsequently rebuilt from salvaged rubble and new stone quarried from the Boboli Gardens (the original quarry for the 1569 bridge) in 1958. Damn, they have some history in Italy.
 |
| Tower of the Palazzo Vecchio |
 |
| Pigeons Flying Under the Ponte Vecchio |
 |
| Decorative Medallion on the Ponte Santa Trinita |
 |
| San Frediano Behind the Sleek Arches of the Ponte alla Carraia |
 |
| Playing in Firenze |
Back at the apartment, I shared with Ann something that I overheard at lunch that made my stomach lurch: there was a one-day TrenItalia strike planned for midnight running all day Sunday. Naturally on Sunday morning, we were planning to take the local tram back to the airport. We were not sure if the strike would affect the tram. The tram web site said nothing about a strike, so fingers crossed. Our host was unsure and texted that we could get a cab at the train station if the trams were not running. I went to bed that evening with that little uncertainty on my mind.
In the afternoon, I got an email alert about our flight from Delta and tried to check in. The Delta app punted to Air France and redirected us. Air France’s web site could not find our booking. I thought we’d have to arrive early and do it old school at the ticket counter, but after several attempts, I found the appropriate magic incantation to get through to Air France and get us checked in.
We did not go back out after returning from lunch at mid-afternoon to be fresh for our trip tomorrow. Of course, who wouldn't want to go out and wine and dine on the final evening in Firenze? But at the end of three weeks, we were finally ready to be done with our vacation. We showered, watched some Netflix, packed, and ate cold pizza for dinner.
We hit the sack early hoping that it would not be a battle getting to the airport in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment