Florence! (by Karen Honold, visiting writer)

   October 29 – While the snow began falling in Summit, Matt and I met in the airport in Florence, Italy.  It was the beginning of a very special adventure and week together far from home.  We had perfect weather for the entire stay in Florence - temperature during the day was in the low 70's and in the mid-50's at night.

   Unlike Newark Airport or JFK, there was only one place where Matt could enter the terminal, so it was easy to find him as he came striding through the exit!  It was so nice to see him after 2 months!  And as only Matt can say, it was the first time I had ever seen him in Italy!!

   Upon arrival in the city, we decided spur of the moment to try the Galleria dell’Accademia where Michelangelo’s David is displayed.  Before my departure, Fred had pointed out that the captives by Michelangelo were also amazing and that was true!  The talent in one person to accomplish so many different works of beautiful of art is humbling!   Matt and I approached the David three different times by walking past the Captives.  It made me so appreciative to be in Florence, the city that started the Renaissance.   One more Matt note -- as we were circling David from behind Matt said, "You can tell from this angle that he works out, because that thing... is sculpted."  He always has a comment to make me laugh!

   After seeing the David, we chose a 
restaurant with a view of the Duomo and 
enjoyed a nice Italian meal!  While 
waiting for dinner, we attempted to
imitate the fierce look in David’s eyes.  Matt did a much better job than I did!

   One of the many pleasures of Florence are the street performers.  The first night, we lingered in the Piazza di San Giovanni listening to a steel drum player who was truly inspiring.  The sounds of the drum in the plaza echoed in such an amazing way.  It was a spiritual experience.  Looking forward to the next day, after visiting the Uffizi, we saw some performers dressed to look like statues.  This one broke role to answer his cell phone.  And the street art is amazing, every day we passed chalk artists in varying degrees of completed works.

   October 30 - Early Sunday morning we braved the chill to visit the Uffizi.  What an amazing collection of art!  Statues, busts, oil paintings and so much religious art!  Some of our favorites were:

·       An unfinished DaVinci painting of Madonna and child, the scale of the painting was probably 10 feet high by 15 feet wide.  It is an incomplete masterpiece, but even the parts that were left unfinished invite you to use your creativity to fill in the blanks.

·       A portrait of a nude dwarf - two paintings back to back - one side was the front of the dwarf and the other was the back.  He appeared to be a fierce nude dwarf.  And rounding the second side his backside had us both laughing!

·       The ceilings on the top level were all painted elaborately with too many scenes to describe.  We have a post card as a record of what they looked like.

   We had a bite to eat on the rooftop of the Uffizi, listening to church bells ringing and sitting under a clear blue sky.  It was so relaxing and the food was amazing!  Did I mention the cappuccino in Florence? It is amazing pretty much anywhere you get one.  We had at least one per day, maybe two.  And the gelatto is amazing too!  So many flavors.  We also availed ourselves once per day of snacking on gelatto!

View from Plaza Michelangelo - Florence

Sunday night we went to the Church of San Miniato, at Diane Bakalar's recommendation.  They had a 5:30 Mass that was primarily chanting.  It was a beautiful church with three altars.  The Mass we went to was in the lower part of the church where the acoustics were amazing.  The walls and ceilings were probably at one point completely fresco-ed, however plaster repairs were done over time and part of the fresco is covered.  You can see why Italian restaurants like La Pastaria use that technique on their walls.  It is very authentic.   The Mass was almost mystical in that environment with lots of incense and with the chanting of about 10 monks/priests.  Definitely worth the climb up the hill!  On that same hill is a plaza called the Michelangelo Piaza.  It overlooks the city of Florence.  Matt and I got to be there before Mass, as the sun was setting, and afterwards when the sun was set.  The view was amazing both times!  

October 31 – Halloween - We climbed the Campanile, adjacent to the Duomo  - 414 steps to the top.  It was worth it!  We could see all of Florence to the countryside.  Afterwards we had a relaxing and rejuvenating breakfast on an open plaza sitting in the sun - and only one gypsy came by to beg for money!

Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) - Florence

    Lingering on the Ponte Vecchio in the mid-day sun, we took in the sights of glittering jewelry! Matt was wondering how much the Ponte Vecchio is worth.  Each shop has hundreds of pieces of jewelry that seemed to start at about 150 euro and go up to 11,006 euro (Matt wondered why the 6?).  Truly millions of euro we are sure. It was a nice morning! 

    We took a brief rest in the afternoon before meeting our group to go to an Italian cooking school and cook our dinner.  We prepared a four course dinner that consisted of an eggplant appetizer, a savory crepe (which they made gluten free for me), farmer's chicken and tiramisu (again gluten free for me).  It was a fun experience and we met some very nice people along the way!

Halloween Night - Florence

   After dinner we decided to check out the action that might be happening for Halloween.  There was not much going on, but we ended up in the square where we had our breakfast that morning listening to a trio - bass, guitar and violin - that were very entertaining.  Several people stopped by in their costumes while we were there.  It was a nice end to a full day of Florentine experiences.

    November 1 - Tuesday morning, our last day Florence.  We walked around part of the city we had not explored.  We found the central market, which was not open due to the holiday, but there were plenty of street vendors that were there!  It is amazing what you can buy from a street vendor in Florence.  Leather -- coats, shawls, boots, shoes, journals, belts; lots of scarves and hats, Florence style masks of all colors, shapes, sizes and decorations.  Of course, souvenirs galore!

   Back to the hotel to check out and get to the airport for a 1 pm flight to Alicante.   Arrivederci to Florence!

   Editor's note - Thanks Mom! For coming to visit and for writing this guest blog entry.  I hope everyone enjoyed the writing of my awesome momma.  We also spent four days in Alicante.  More to come.  Remain in tune.