Blogs from Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 11

30/05/2019 – Pisa Donderdag van La Specia naar Pisa, via Carrarra en Lido di Calmaiore. Op bezoek bij Oma/Opa Aaltert, en samen naar de Cavi di Marmo, een begeleide rondleiding in het hart van een operationele marmergroeve in het Carrarra massief. De identieke plaats waar reeds de Romeinen 2000 geleden hun witte marmer haalden en Michelangelo zijn ruwe blokken zelf kwam uitkiezen. De uitgezaagde ruimtes midden in de berg zijn indrukwekkend. Er passen kathedralen in. De technische uitleg hoe de blokken uitgezaagd worden door middel van diamantdraden en water onder hoge druk heb ik niet helemaal gesnapt, maar dat ligt aan mij, en dus zeker niet aan onze gids Francesca in een perfect Italiaans Engels. De toegangsweg is spectaculair, gedeeltelijk door lange smalle donkere tunnels, stijgingen tot 10% en haarspeldbochten die met de MH soms in ... read more

John was up early and took a long walk to get some pictures of Florence empty. He discovered that there were others who were up, still partying at a number of all night bars near Santa Croce. And of course there were people awaiting the start of the schedule at the train station. John stopped for a coffee and sweet roll at the only café open other than McCafe (MacDonald’s café) across from the station. Upon awaking to her birthday Peggy discovered some fleur de lys earings from Volterrani e Raddi jewelers just down stairs across from our hotel. Peggy’s family has gone there for gifts for generations and John is keeping up the tradition. After breakfast we walked to San Lorenzo Chapel where the Medici are buried. It is an amazing building in that the ... read more

Up late and out with plans for the Palazzo Vecchio but disappointed as it was totally occupied with a special conference closed to the public. Went to Ors San Michele, the building/church built by the guilds as a meeting place. The church is on the first floor, with meeting rooms on the second and third. What is amazing is that each of the floors has 30+ foot ceilings. Quite beautiful and a real challenge to climb the stairs from floor to floor. Amazing pictures of the major Florentine sights from each of the windows of the upper floors. From Ors San Michele we made our way to the Museo Duomo del Opera, the museum of statuary and other art from the Duomo and Baptistery. We have not been into the museo in a number of years ... read more

Up early to be sure we made it to the Ufizzi and “skip the line” priority. To be sure that we were sufficiently energized we stopped at Rivoires for coccolata compana and got really jacked up. Thus fueled we got into the line for entry and swiftly moved up the stairs to the gallery. As expected, it was incredible, especially as they have spread some of the most important pieces out rather than having them crowded together in a few rooms. We went around the floor in about 90 minutes and then had a pick-me-up at the café overlooking the piazza (and all of Florence). This allowed us to revisit many of the pieces (Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Pintorechio, Durer, Tintoretto, Da Vinci, Fra Lippi, Montagna, and others). Upon leaving the museum we went to pick up ... read more

Peggy slept in while John went out for a ramble around the centro storico, taking pictures of the Duomo and the main streets and piazzas. After meeting up for breakfast atop the hotel (overlooking the roofs of the city and the Palazzo Vecchio (city hall) we walked to Café Rivoires for coccolatta compagna (sp), Peggy’s favorite from when she was a student here in Florence. According to legend, one cup will keep you going for five hours. There certainly is enough chocolate and whipped cream to make this a reality. Buzzed we arrived at the Bargello, a wonderful medieval fortress, to take in some of our favorite statuary. This fabulous building has a great pedigree, as city hall when the guilds ran things (they locked up those in charge for a year so that they couldn’t ... read more