tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70697215071170868312024-03-12T17:56:11.069-07:00Nancy's Italy 2014Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-43950807023865903732014-05-18T22:30:00.000-07:002016-10-16T08:17:00.797-07:00Random Wandering, Shopping and Il Santo Bevitore
We are both tired and looking forward to a day of just aimless
wandering. We slept late and skipped breakfast at La Scaletta; while it is a
good value, I am tired of eating exactly the same thing every day, with scrambled eggs I cannot eat taunting me from the chafing dish. (This is one dish that Florentines do not improve. To be fair, I don't eat scrambled eggs in restaurants at home either, Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-11930990496587137782014-05-17T22:30:00.000-07:002016-10-16T08:15:47.056-07:00Giardino Boboli
Today we slept in a little; we are both enjoying our trip, but the
constant motion is perhaps taking a bit of a toll. We lingered over our breakfast
and decided to visit Boboli Gardens today, as it is a lovely cool day, the
gardens are close, and we both wanted a bit of the natural world as a counter
to the art and architecture we have been enjoying.
First we headed to the Sapori e Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-28628381037669345582014-05-16T22:30:00.000-07:002016-10-16T08:13:27.170-07:00Galleria dell Accademia, Roman Amphitheatre, 27 Years of Marriage Celebrated
Because we had reserved tickets to see the David, which we inexcusably missed on the last trip—our first—to Florence, we were up fairly early. We had the usual breakfast at La Scaletta, and then a long (for Florence) walk
through not crowded streets to the already very crowded Galleria dell'Accademia.
We were very, very glad to have made reservations, as otherwise we would have
had quite the Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-54628587088321870852014-05-15T22:00:00.000-07:002015-02-12T18:05:33.231-08:00Lazy-ish Day, Mercato Nuovo and the Plant Market
We started the day again with the breakfast buffet at La Scaletta; though we love the staff here, we are beginning to think that having an apartment next time would be lovely. For one thing, we wouldn't have to share our breakfast time with others. So many clearly cannot read the signs about carrying one's tray back down off the terrace (to keep the pigeons under control, because they are quite Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-7885280059510119082014-05-14T23:00:00.000-07:002014-08-14T10:51:48.861-07:00Art Viva—San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Siena
We were up early and off without breakfast, as we needed to be at
the Art Viva offices no later than 8:15 AM for our tour. As is not unusual in Florence,
we walked around the building housing Art Viva a couple of times before we found the entrance to get to the second floor office of Art Viva; most businesses don't have really large signs at the street, which can make finding them difficult, Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-6284956270561505122014-05-13T23:30:00.000-07:002014-07-30T19:45:27.721-07:00Palazzo Pitti and PlanningBreakfast at La Scaletta again; Larissa made us caffè americano, rather than making us drink the coffee from the automatic maker—much, much better! That, with brioche (what we'd call croissant), soft, brie-like cheese, Tuscan bread, tomatoes and fresh fruit makes for a filling, if somewhat unusual breakfast.
Because it was supposed to rain, we decided to walk to Palazzo Pitti Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-12730361460572690422014-05-12T23:00:00.000-07:002014-07-29T20:18:32.382-07:00Mercato Nuovo, Piazzele Michelangelo, San Miniato al MonteWe got up a bit late, but still managed breakfast on the terrace, getting there at about 9:30 AM. Today, we decided to start at Mercato Nuovo, so that we could rub the snout of Porcellino, which is supposed to ensure one's return to Florence. (I suspect that it is not as effective as having a good salary and no children to pay for, but I'm willing to indulge in a little superstition and shopping.Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-54192223495282751772014-05-11T19:07:00.000-07:002014-07-31T09:35:31.640-07:00Mercato Centrale, Basilica di San Lorenzo
Up by 8:00 AM today, so that we were able to breakfast on
the lower terrace at La Scaletta. It looked as though it might rain, so we
grabbed our coats and headed in the general direction of Basilica di San
Lorenzo, which wasn't to open until 1:30 PM, but as we were still a bit sore,
we thought meandering slowly in that
direction would be a good idea.
We decided to cross at Ponte Santa Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-7083991044482303042014-05-10T23:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T16:53:14.578-07:00Palazzo Vechio, Santa CroceAs we had stayed up reading very late on Friday night, we slept so late that by the time we were cleaned up, we had missed breakfast at La Scaletta. So, for old time's sake, we walked back down to Cafe Bellini, across from the Pitti Palace. Although sitting outside was lovely as always, our waiter was the surly dark fellow from 2012 for whom we didn't much care, and the caffe americano was not Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-73763390484141525232014-05-09T23:00:00.000-07:002014-07-17T16:50:30.274-07:00Santo Spirito, Bellosguardo, and About the TownAfter a long, quiet restful night, we arose at about 8 AM, and then enjoyed the buffet breakfast at La Scaletta.
The breakfast buffet at La Scaletta (photo from http://www.hotellascaletta.it/Filtrate/50.jpg)
Then back to visit Santa
Spirito, a lovely medieval church, somewhat 'improved' since our last trip,
with the addition of electric lights and speakers. But the natural light
falling on theNancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-34385999607292211602014-05-08T23:30:00.000-07:002014-07-17T16:38:09.892-07:00Getting There, Part 2, Florence Here We ComeThat Detroit-to-Amsterdam flight is a long one, about 8 hours. Ours left
at 4:55 PM; all in all, done again, I’d try to get on the flight we took the
first time, that left at 10 PM, as it’s not that difficult to try to sleep
then. This time, I was able to rest my eyes and nap fitfully for 2 ½ to 3 hours, but Shawn never slept at all. We
spent four more hours waiting at Schiphol,
whichNancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7069721507117086831.post-59295317732669355042014-05-07T22:00:00.000-07:002014-07-15T16:21:02.573-07:00Getting There, Part 1We were up early (for me) at 6:10 to immediately get cleaned
up and ready to travel. I was emotional about packing up Rufus, Brigid and
Lizzie to go to Alpha Boarding; I always feel like the worst parent when I'm
leaving them at the kennel, even though I obsessed about picking the best
kennel for them... Brigid was manic about the whole thing, Rufus a little
confused, and Lizzie very unhappy.
Nancyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15545982160191630967noreply@blogger.com0