Fiesole...

Our last trip in Italy was to Fiesole, a small hill town overlooking Florence. Days of little sleep and traveling from city to city had caught up with us in Florence and we needed a break from city life. Fiesole was just the right remedy for our weary souls. Unfortunately we were unable to recharge our digital camera battery so we have no digital pictures of Fiesole (I pulled these pictures off the web).

The bus from Florence to Fiesole runs up a winding road and stops at the center of Fiesole by the cathedral and clock tower. Center of town is quaint but not quiet; Fiat's buzz around the circle in all directions. We meandered on to a side street where we found a beautiful view of the countryside from a park bench. The wonderful thing about vacation is that when you find a park bench with a view you can just sit there and do nothing for as long as you want (or until your butt goes numb). And so we sat.

Daily gelato treats are a must when Italy. After we had our gelato break we felt filled with super human strength and decided to make the climb up toward the Franciscan chruch located on the very tippy top of the Fiesolean hill. Midway up the climb is a park of rememberence which is in part dedicated to 4 men who gave up their lives to save the inhabitants of Fiesole from Nazi soldiers. The view is panoramic and entirely quiet. This was Kristin's favorite part of our whole Florence portion of the Italy trip. We savored the view for quite a while on another park bench and then hiked up to the beautiful Franciscan church and monastery. On the way back down the hill we stopped at a purse shop and Kristin purchased a nice leather purse. I purchased a leather walet (only to find out later that it was made in China!).

Across the Arno River

Kristin and I made the trip to the Uffizi Gallery on day 2 in Florence. The Uffizi houses some of the most famous Renaissance art. I am clueless about art and so the gallery was less than meaningful to me. But we did see some famous works by Botticelli, Michelangelo, DaVinci and Rafael.Next to the gallery is the Vecchio palace pictured above.

This large square leads to the Ponte Vecchio which is the oldest bridge crossing the Arno river. Jewelry shops housed in old wooden and plaster rooms line the bridge. So we crossed the Arno and had a delectable lunch and then headed to Boboli gardens.

We found Boboli gardens to be a much needed break from Florence's exhausting auto traffic and endless maze of streets. Click on the picture to the left to get the full view of down town Florence from Boboli gardens. On our way back across the Arno we discovered our new favorite gelato stand--Innocenti‎. We ordered delicious gelato in cones and ate them on the walk over the Arno river. Priceless.

Automobiles, trains and steak.

Traveling from Montepulciano to Florence (Firenze) was tricky. We made arrangements with Hertz to drop off the Fiat in Chiusi which is about 20 minutes away from Montepulciano.One slight problem, though. When we arrived in Chiusi we couldn't find the Hertz. So we called the English line with Hertz and asked for the phone number to Hertz in Chiusi. Just as I was dialing the local number an older Italian man asked me something in Italian with the distinctive word "Hertz" in it. I had no idea what he was asking but at that point any local person talking about Hertz sounded like a good bet to me. I answered "Si" (always answer "Si" or "Prego" when you don't know what an Italian person is saying; you never know what that will get you). He took us out to a Hertz representative who just happened to be dropping a car off for someone right where we were. There was no official Hertz rental office in town, but he was able to receive our car.

We caught the train to the Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence. A ten minute taxi ride through Florence brought us to our nice hotel (the biggest room we had while in Italy, and warm showers too). After settling in briefly we went out for lunch near the large marble Duomo at the center of historic Florence. At the restaurant I had my second unsuccessful encounter with the metric system. I noticed beef steak Florentine style on the menu..."(for 100gr.) €. 3,90." Not sure what that all meant I decided I would just order it and find out. The waiter looked at me and said, "It is almost one kilogram. Do you know how much a kilo is?" I couldn't remember the conversion so I looked at him and sheepishly said, "No." He was annoyed and told me, "There are 2.2 pounds per kilo. Do you still want the steak?" It was like being quizzed by my old high school chemistry teacher. "Si, prego," I said to him. Minutes later an exceedingly thick steak came out. Minutes after that an equally large bill came out.

And that is the story of how I ordered the tastiest and most expensive steak I have ever eaten in my entire life. You can check out my steak at:

http://www.pepo.it/statiche/index2.asp?idlingua=2

At home in Tuscany

Moving to Italy is not something I would ever plan on doing, but I like to imagine myself settling into the places I have traveled. Doubtless I would pick Tuscany and I would think Montepulciano would be a suitable home town for a fashion conscious wife and agrarian oriented husband. It felt like a place I had lived in before; or maybe it is just the sort of place after which I have longed. Driving up the road toward Montepulciano we caught glimpses of the town nestled into its ancient Etruscan hill and I felt my heart running out ahead of our Fiat eager to plunge into this wonderful bit of compagna Italiana.

On our second day in Montepulciano we slept in and then breakfasted in the dinning room at a table next to a young, laughy American couple. Cappuccinos and tasty salted eggs made to order, toast and Nutella, home made breads and pastries, Fresh squeezed orange juice from blood oranges. Yum! And then we ambled through the quiet streets with no pressure to be anywhere; the very essence of vacation. Kristin and I wanted some time to pray so we would occasionally duck into a cathedral, pull out our Bible and draw close to God. My favorite cathedral in town was Chiesa di Sant'Agostino. In college I read St. Augustine's The Confessions. Sitting in this cathedral named in honor of Augustine I reflected on his conversion and listened to the child's voice echoing down through the ages singing, "Pick it up and read, pick it up and read." I opened the Scriptures to Psalm 150: "Praise the LORD. Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in his mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise Him for His surpassing greatness." Hanging above the alter was a wooden crucifix by Donatello. Pouring over Donatello's detail of Christ's agony I was reminded once again that God's greatest achievements in my life do not always occur the way I expect.

We strolled on to a local organic Enoteca called Croce di Febo. Here we had our first oil tasting and it was fun. We tasted three different oils in small shot glasses with bread and red wine. The oil had a surprising grassy flavor to me. It is now my favorite. That afternoon we set out for a drive through Tuscany. We stopped briefly at Pienza for some of their delectable goat cheese. Unfortunately the town was crowded and we found no goat cheese. We were there long enough for Kristin to snap a couple pictures of the town. Pictured to the right is a Pienza building very typical of the architecture in Tuscany. From Pienza we went to Montalcino--home to the mighty red wine Brunello. The people in the enotecas were snooty and uninviting. We did pay for a tasting at the town castle and decided that Brunello was not our favorite wine.

Back in Montepulciano that evening we sat on the steps to Chiesa di Sant'Agostino eating rosemary bread sticks, sliced pepperoni and cheese. After our snack we walked up the hill and stopped in a pastry shop just as it was closing, but in time to purchase Cannoli. Cannoli is an Italian pastry-tube filled with vanilla flavored ricotta cheese. How good was it? Well, if I were to conduct a search for evidence of God's goodness the search would quite possibly stop at this particular Italian pastry. Seated on a bench at the top of town, I consumed the cannoli in a fit of gustatory ecstasy. All the while Kristin and I happily watched the Tuscan countryside go to sleep.

Oh the wonders of a Fiat

While in Italy our morning cappuccinos became a ritual breakfast experience. And perhaps our best cappuccino was the morning we woke up in Assisi and strolled over to a local cafe. An inviting barista took our order and encouraged us to take a table. We watched Italians stop off at the counter for a quick cafe on their way to church or work. That morning we realized that Italians do not linger over coffee like I had imagined; for Italians it is a brief stop en route to work where pleasantries and gossip are briefly exchanged. Ritualistic, but not drawn out.

We headed to the train station and caught one of the morning trains to Perugia (once again Kristin navigated the Italian language in purchasing the tickets). Our end destination for the day was Montepulciano, but we had to stop at the Perugia airport to pick up our rental car. The drive to Montepulciano in our Fiat was easy to navigate. I had envisioned us getting hopelessly lost in Tuscan countryside, but the signage in Italy really is terrific. Once we arrived at Montepulciano I couldn't figure out how to get into the city except by driving on ultra-narrow cobblestone roads. Very quickly I found myself navigating on streets that could hardly fit my Fiat. Italian pedestrians were looking at me through my windshield and saying things; I have no idea what. Eager to get off the narrow street I turned down a side street that turned out to be a dead end. And that's when I discovered that I had no idea how to put the Fiat in reverse. So Kristin sat at the wheel while I pushed the Fiat around and we managed to get back out of town.

Montepulciano was without a doubt my favorite stop in Italy. A picturesque hill town chalk full of Enotecas (wine shops), gelato stands, and quaint grocery stands with local cheese and peperoni. Our hotel, Albergo il Marzocco, felt to me like the most authentic Italian experience. The main attendant was a hospitable Italian woman who showed us where to park our car and took our breakfast orders in the morning. After morning cappuccinos we could stroll from one end of the town to the other hand-in-hand window shopping or wine and cheese tasting.

Montepulciano has sprawling tunnel systems under its buildings. Some of the Enotecas bill these tunnels as Etruscan tombs and offer free tours. Now these "tombs" are used to store large barrels of wine and showcase collections of ancient novelties (one Enoteca even had a chastity belt).

Pagans, Franciscans and Americans.

Fortunately we arrived at Roma Termini just in time for a very friendly conductor to direct us to our 7:45 train. Two and one half hours of train ride through Kentucky-esque green hills passed quickly.

As we entered Umbrian country side the hills turned into mountains and villages of stony buildings began appearing high atop foothills. The Assisi train stop was about 5 kilometers below the town, so we entered the station's tobacchi store and Kristin obtained tickets with some key Italian phrases (cheers to Kristin). Once we boarded the bus a friendly older Italian woman spoke to us in Italian asking us where we wanted off. She pointed out the right stop for us and we hopped off with luggage in tow.

We loved Assisi from the moment we laid eyes on it. It struck us as being a small, quiet and friendly rural Umbrian village. Not overly quiet the weekend we were there, though. Calendimaggio (an annual pagan festival held in Assisi) happened to be occurring that weekend and the town was decked out with banners and people clad in renaissance garb. Our hotel was around the corner from San Rufino, the church that St Francis and St Claire worshiped in while they were young. Just down the street was another church, the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. Originally it had been an 1st century BC temple to Minerva. Later it was re-purposed as a local catholic church. Considering that only 3,000 people reside in Assisi I find it amazing that they have so many cathedrals...I counted at least seven.

How can I aptly describe our pleasant stay in Assisi? All I can say is that everything seemed right there. Light pink and tan stone composite buildings lined the streets. Green shutters framed all the windows and flower boxes with geraniums and succulents were perched on virtually all the window sills. We had breath taking views of Assisi from the fortress high above the town--Rocca Maggiore. Walking in and out of tunnels and up upon turrets we were amazed at the severe natural beauty in the surrounding hills. Strong gusts of wind were blowing up over the ridge and I thought I'd witness my wife go blowing over the turret's wall several times. I held on to her just to be neurotic about it all.

Long about evening we were craving a truffle pizza and we stumbled upon a local's pizza hangout. Here we had our first unsuccessful encounter with the metric system. Of course both of us studied the metric system in school and are completely aware of the nomenclature. However, when a waitress asks you (in Italian) if you are sure you want 750 mL of wine it doesn't compute right away. Questions with the word milliliter in it do not belong in the context of a restaurant for me; definitely in the chemistry lab, maybe at work every now and again, but never in a restaurant. I was more than a bit confused about the point our waitress was trying to make about the ridiculous quantity of wine I was about to order. So I did what any ignorant American would do, I repeatedly answered "Si" to her after every sentence she offered to me and after every incredulous look she gave me. The bottom line is that Kristin ordered 250 mL of white wine and I ordered 750mL. Do the math and wait for it...that's right we ordered a liter of white wine to accompany our fairly light dinner. Thank goodness for long dining periods and a long wait for our desert to be served.

I came, I saw, I conquered...

After a period of being lost in search of our hotel, we decided to purchase a street map of Rome (a note to fellow travelers: printed out Google maps are not detailed with all street names). The Kennedy Hotel was about a 3 minute walk from the Termini. The room was small and tidy with a cool view of some Roman monument outside the windows. After a quick shower we hit the streets for an 8 hour walking tour of Rome.



Kristin's co-worker had given us a check list of must-see spots in Rome so we searched the map and decided that the Spanish steps would be the first stop. Walking along the Roman streets I was quickly dazzled by the abundance of ancient churches, monuments and statues on every block. Arriving at the top of the Spanish steps we had a terrific view and were able to see the lay out of the entire city.




Next stop was Trevi Fountain which was a very crowded with throngs of tourists. After that we visited the Pantheon which I found fascinating. Built in the first century AD as a temple to the god's of ancient Rome. In the 7th century it was turned into a church (which means that some famous artists were commissioned to create a bunch of paintings and sculptures from Scripture for the pagan temple). I distinctly remember two things about the inside. First, how cool it felt on the inside on a warmish day. Second, how crowded the inside of this ancient church was with tourists.

And we saw so much more. Il Vittoriano, the Colosseum, the Forums, Constantine's Arch and Michael Angelo's Moses statue. By the time we were done making our circuit around ancient Rome we were ready to collapse into our hotel bed, slipping into a blissful oblivion. We woke up the next morning to breakfast in the hotel with our first taste of delicious cappuccinos. So delicious were the cappuccinos that we lingered over them a little too long. Realizing that we had only 15 minutes to get to the large Termini train station and find our train for Assisi we gathered our luggage and rushed off, unsure if we would catch our train.

Journey to Italy

Kristin and I arrived safely home from Italy last night after 24 hours of traveling. I was so absorbed with traveling details and enjoying Italy that I had no time for a travel blog. So I am blogging each day over the next week to chronologically share my travels with friends and family. Consider this day one...our travel day to Italy.

The one word that would most aptly describe my travel attitude would be 'enthusiasm'. I was so excited about going to Italy that I couldn't sleep the night before our flight out of Columbus. After hours of lying awake with a big "I'm-going-to-Italy" grin on my face I decided to get out of bed at 2 am and begin packing (I'm a last minute packer!).

We transferred in Philadelphia and boarded the biggest plane on which I have ever travelled. We were bound for Rome and I had visions of Roman ruins racing through my mind. Kristin recommended that I sleep on the plane so that when we landed on Friday morning I would be ready for a day of exploring. But once again I was so excited that I stayed awake the whole way to Rome watching movies, listening to music and reading The Economist. Eight o'clock AM Rome time we landed at the Aeroporti di Roma. Amazingly our journey to Rome was not over. We gathered our luggage and managed to figure out how to board the Leonardo Express train bound for the main train terminal in Rome (Roma Termini).

Thirty minutes later we stepped foot off the train into the hectic Termini with luggage, back pack and map in hand and that wonderful crusty, sleep-deprived travel film over our eyes.