Italia: Firenze, Siena, Pisa, Tuscany

Time really is a missing commodity these days. While most moms turned into soccer moms I was having a relatively peaceful life with piano classes, voice classes and some badminton on the side for the kids. But now my girl has joined Volleyball and my son is doing Cross Country at their schools and voila' there are games sprinkled all over the calendar with pickups and drop-offs galore. Not to mention those practice sessions that fall so cruelly on weekends! I am talking about the Saturday mornings you used to look forward to after a grueling week of activities and those quiet Sunday afternoons that were set aside to gather some calm before the next week's storm. Gone with the wind is all I can say. I am glad the sports activities have come to a halt for the moment. Who knows, maybe one day I will take to sports just like I have taken to vegetables.

Continuing with our Italia trip as you guessed from the title.

From Rome we took the evening train to Florence. Panoramic view is the word for it. Beautiful country side slipping by.  So what is new, those of us from Kerala -read panoramic- might say. But this countryside has its own inimitable beauty. The ten of us had the best seats at a really good rate. A ride to remember.

Il Duomo, Florence, Italy

We reached Florence at night and decided to walk to our hotel which was a few blocks away. Dragging luggage over cobblestones is not a fun walk but I am glad we did it. Florence is the one place I would like to go back to. It has a bit of everything. More amenities like in the US, Tuscan countryside at your beck and call, museums and churches galore. We stayed at Hotel Paris and since the night was still young, walked over to the Dome. Yes, Brunelleschi's Dome. Again like most Italian churches, adorned every inch with some artifact or sculpting and breathtaking as expected. At least from the outside since it was closed at night although well lighted. Then we all went to sleep after a customary dose of gelato.

Painting at the Uffizi

Some of us woke up early next morning to see the inside of the Duomo (the Dome) but some of us like me stayed and rested. Later on we visited the Uffizi Museum and guess what, more famous and awesome paintings, sculptures. Honestly one cannot do justice to the paintings by such a brief visit. The Uffizi shows off all the artwork acquired by the Medici. Medici literally ruled Florence although they started off as bankers. Became very wealthy and powerful and started patronizing art and architecture. Luckily for us, they gave many commissions to such stalwarts as Michael Angelo, Ghirlandaio, Raphael, Caravaggio the list goes on. There were many Medici popes who continued the family tradition in Rome.

Then we went to Galleria dell' Accademia where the famous statue of David resides. As perfect and magnificent as The Pieta, this reminds us once again why Michael Angelo continues to live through centuries.
Looks like he was after perfection. Our hotel was close to Basilica of Santa Croce where Michael Angelo is buried. HAunt went to see it. Unfortunately we didn't make it. The Uffizi Museum by the way was the office building of the Medici where they had their accounting activities. The Uffizi means the office you see. Here is a picture of river Arno from the Uffizi.

River Arno, view from the Uffizi

Since Florence is very walkable like most places in Italy, we walked everywhere. No matter where we went we always ended up at the square in front of the Duomo. At night my kids played throwing some kind of lighted flying toy high up into the air, we had more gelatos and we walked more. The covered bridge with tiny gold jewelry shops was a novelty. Didn't notice that we were on a bridge while passing through!

Ponte Vecchio, ponte = bridge

When everyone opted for rice and pasta as usual for dinner, the kids and I decided to checkout the milkeria we had seen while passing by. We were rewarded with the best waffles, gelato and coffee. Score!

Replenished with a good night's rest we got up and got ready for a tour through the Tuscan countryside that included wine tasting, a visit to the fortified city of San Gimignano, the leaning tower of Pisa, Da Vinci's house among other things. Since it was a bus tour we were time limited. So we had to see Pisa in half an hour through drenching rain. Umbrella peddlers are a dime a dozen since sudden rain showers are a common occurrence. Three euros is the cheapest you can get an umbrella for.

Tower of Pisa on the right, taken by Hcousin in the moment rain cleared a little

If it wasn't for my Hcousin's organizational skills, things would not have gone so smooth for us. She, along with her husband did a splendid job in keeping us together, leading us and making the most of the trip without wasting too much time without the hassles of being on a tour all the time.

View from San Gimignano's town square

San Gimignano was surprise. A beautiful quaint little town on the hill with fourteen towers still standing. We enjoyed every minute. I didn't know that it had a famous ( but of course) little church that housed the remains of a little saint called St. Fina!

On the way we had visited the house where Leonardo Da Vinci grew up. I guess to this date there is no man who has done as much work as he has in so many fields. There were many displays of the prototypes made from the pictures in his codex.

This is a view from the top floor of his house. If you look closely through the rain, you can see the vitruvian man standing up inside the circle. Leonardo helped solve that puzzle among the many other things that he used that always buzzing brain for. Our wine tasting stop was combined with pasta lunch and tasty pieces of meats. Italians know how to make food tasty. The pepperoni and salami that we tasted there even from the  Italian grocery stores were eons away from their counterparts available in the grocery stores here. Full of flavor and great to eat with fresh bread and oils. Yum! The winery was in the middle of Tuscany and the young Italian owner regaled us with many stories. We loved the one about real Chianti wine. If the bottle has a black rooster on it then we can presume that it is the 'real' Chianti wine. OK!

The Duomo, Siena, Italy

Our last stop was at Siena. This is a find! Located so close to Florence, Siena does not get as much publicity as its historic rival. I was taken away by the  beauty of the church, another one called The Duomo. Superlatives are beginning to sound pedestrian when it comes to describing the architectural beauty of italian anything. After viewing the church we walked around a bit before getting back to the bus. My girl had walked off with HAunt. As we returned to where the bus was parked, I was jolted out of my reverie when aunt asked if we had seen my girl. Apparently she had walked off again while our aunt was in a shop. So we retraced our steps, got slightly lost in the process and finally began walking back with a heavy heart to recoup and plan what to do. I made a decision in my mind to stay and comb every inch of Italy till I find my girl. Luckily, as we came closer to the bus, who do we see but the little truant who had walked off safely with the cousins! I burst out in tears but she was not happy being lost when she was not:-) The cousins didn't even know about her being lost because she was with them! Poor aunt, bless her heart was really miserable but I told it would have happened even if she was with me. I think other than me and my husband, my kids are the closest to her and I have no problem sending them with her anywhere because where there is love, nothing else matters. Anyway it ended up happily but I still remember the ominous, high walled, damp streets of Siena that filled my heart with the darkness even if for a moment. After we got back, the cousins went out to see the streets of Florence one last time while the rest of us including our aunt and uncle took some well earned rest.

Next day morning we all packed up, said bye to Firenze as they say in Italy and did the cobblestone luggage drag walk back to the train station. After some wait we got on the train to our next stop, Venice. More of that in the next post.

A painting inside the church in Siena