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Italy
Page 4
Saturday, September 27
Next on the agenda was traveling from Cortona through the heart of Chianti to Florence, Firenze in Italiano.
It was a great day for a trip except that certain among us were suffering slightly from an overdose of Cortona, making the ride up twisty S222 a little, um, problematic.
These issues were assuaged somewhat by a pit stop at a beautiful little bar/restaurant called "Nuvolari"
We drove by it and actually did a U-turn to go back, it looked so inviting.
It was great! We had some hair of the dog and learned about Mr. Nuvolari, a dashing Italian race car driver in the middle of the last century.
Nuvolari, " L'Italia che Vince! " - Well, Nuvolari did OK today for us!
We did as Nuvolari appears to be doing in the photo above and went on our merry way.
A typical Tuscan scene from Route 222
Porcchetta! This was at the market in Greve in Chianti, but it's a fairly common sight in Tuscan markets everywhere. They slice meat off this big boy, throw it on a fresh roll, charge you 3 or 4 Euros, and it's yours!
The main street in Greve
This is the restaurant in Greve where we had a very nice lunch.
It was a nice quiet setting too.
Here is somebody's lunch, maybe Lorri's.
This is my lunch. Notice the shaved truffles? They smelled strong but tasted great! Unfortunately we learned something about eating truffles and then driving with four people in a small car. They're called "truffle burps" and the smell just like truffles!
We turned the Volvo in at the rental facility at the airport, surviving a lecture about the scrape on the fender and how we should have called somebody before we left Rome. Yeah right.
Anyway, we were very pleasantly surprised with the "flat" in Firenze. Here are a few photos of it.
Bedroom #1
Bathroom #1
Living and dining area
Dining and Living area, and Debbie
Kitchen.
Bedroom #2
Relaxing in the LR. The place was huge!
View of the Medici Chapel from our balcony
The balcony
View of the Piazza from the balcony
Mike and Jack
Oh, did I mention that Deb fell off the curb while crossing the street in Greve? Here's the proof.
We settled in then went for a walk around town
The Duomo and Bell Tower
Palazzo Vecchio
Fake wine, fake David
Deb and Mike toured the Uffizi. This is as close as Lorri and I got.
Ponte Vecchio (first of many photos of it)
Diamonds, Gold, Rolex watches! You can get it all on the Ponte Vecchio!
Crossing the Arno downstream
Cute couple
Hey, is that the Ponte Vecchio?
We walked around for a while and ended up here, a pizza place on our piazza. Piece a pizza on the piazza!
Sunday, September 28
While Deb and Mike toured the Academia and the Uffizi, Lorri and I decided to stroll the Boboli Gardens and go out for a nice lunch somewhere south of the Arno
We walked by the Duomo
We walked by the Bell Tower
The Baptistry was totally covered in scaffolding and construction material, except for the doors.
We walked past the Palazzo Vecchio
Crossed the river north of Ponte Vecchio
San Giovanni Battista by Giuliano Vangi
The Roman Gate to Florence
The other side of the Roman Gate
Unfortunately, the Boboli Gardens were closed due to the "recent inclement weather", so we wondered around a bit until we found a likely place for a leisurely lunch
We ended up sharing a table with an Italian family. The dad and two sons are on the bicycle as they were leaving
The mom and nonna hung around to pay the bill, I guess. It was fun to watch how they interacted. Families must be the same everywhere.
Crossing back over the Ponte alla Carraia, two bridges downstream form the Ponte Vecchio
We picked up dinner food and cooked it up while waiting for Deb and Mike to get back from touring
Chicken and risotto! and wine!
Monday, September 29
This day was shopping day in Firenze.
But first coffee on our balcony
Even though we were right on the square, there was not much noise inside the apartment. The windows facing the square were thick and double-paned and there were air-conditioning units in all the rooms.
Sabani is where Mike and Lorri bought leather jackets and Deb bought some sort of leather shawl. The guy in the middle was the sales guy. He earned his money that day.
We continued walking and shopping and ended up at
This place for a very nice lunch
Next door was this place where, after lunch, Deb and Lorri got a shampoo and blow-out. Above are the finished products. Below are the works in progress.
Since Deb is in the business, she is writing off her entire trip as a "research project" based on this activity
"Do you have curly hair?"
Walking after lunch, we came across this sign. What a perfect flow chart!
It was in front of this place. I "heart" Lions. Penn State Nittany Lions?
Among the hundreds of college t-shirts and banners hanging on the ceiling inside, there were a few PSU shirts including this one. How many NCAA volleyball championships have the Lady Lions won recently? A lot!
Guinness for strength!
The Medici Chapel
We bought a small original water color from this guy.
After a nice dinner around the corner at Trattoria Antellesi, we called it a day and got ready to head to Lucca on Tuesday.
Tuesday, September 30
Before leaving Florence, we decided to tour the Medici Chapel since we were so close to it.
We were rewarded by a few Michelangelo's, including this one, from 1521, which is above the tombs of Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano.
Another Michelangelo, Day on the right, Night on the left and the Duke of Nemours up in the middle.
You guessed it, Michelangelo did this one in 1531 and 1532, Dawn on the left, Dusk on the right, and the Duke of Urbino deep in thought in the middle
The Chapel dome
OK, enough art. We packed up, grabbed a cab to the airport where we rented a nice Renault Captur for our drive to Lucca.
We arrived, somehow, at our local pizza place a little earlier than expected.
So we walked around our little town, Sant' Andrea di Compito, while we waited for Catia and the keys to the house.
There was a little excitement in town because some sort of rescue helicopter circled and landed and then took off again.
There it is! We never did find out what happened.
Here is the main road through town
We found the house and walked to the yard where there is a pizza oven which you see in the background
They take their soccer seriously here in Italy. This was stenciled on the side of a house along the road
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Sunday, September 28
Monday, September 29
Tuesday, September 30
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