Reliving my trip through my blog and I found a page I had forgot to post.

Also noticed that for the last three I posted I went back to bad habits and posted as pages and not posts. So there are three other posts you might have missed if you were waiting for notices before reading. I didn’t leave you hanging and blogged about my last day in Milan, a shopping recap and returning home safe and sound.

Anyway hope you enjoyed reading my adventure. Until next time…

… I can hardly wait to start planning.

Ciao Firenze, ciao Milano

It is hard to leave florence. It got off to a rocky start but I soon found my groove and I hated to see it end. Of course my checkbook needed for me to leave.

I only did two hours of class then back to mama’s to get my bags. Both mama and her husband met me at the house to say goodbye. We hugged like family and I got the two sided italian kiss. Think more grandma then friend. I hope to get to make it back to stay with them again. She claims to be a big fan of “chili beans” and just hearing her say it in her italian accent made me smile. I’ll have to send her some ingredients and an authentic Texas recipe for her to try.

Good thing the train ride was relatively short (1:40) since I couldn’t find a seat. By the time I got my extra large duffle up on the train there were no seats to be found. Me and three others camped out by the luggage rack area. A majority of the people got off in Bologna and I briefly had a seat but then I was seated in someone’s reserved spot. When I bought my ticket I could have reserved a seat but then I had to be able to find it. So I didn’t want to mess with it. I also didn’t do 1st class figuring there would be more seats in 2 to choose from and no reason to spend the extra $25. I bought first class from Rome and ended up in second but I should have splurged for this one as well. Since I had to stand the food I bought went uneaten and I was starving when I got to Milan.

I got off the train and a porter asked to get my bags. I almost said no. I had dragged that extra large bag through the florence station I could get it through Milan but on second thought it was super heavy and not the best roller and my overnight bag still had the 10 pounds of chocolate (no I haven’t eaten it all, there should be some when I make it back to Austin) so I went with the porter he zipped me through the station to a hidden elevator and out to the taxi stand before I would have found the exit sign. I wasn’t sure what to tip him generally there is no or limited tipping in Italy. So I just grabbed all the coin money I had a little over 5€. I think the best money I have spent the entire trip.

The taxi ride to the hotel was a round-about route. So I had no idea where I was. It was however much cheaper than the taxis in Florence. I was in the cab probably twice as long for several dollars less.

I arrived at the hotel just after 3 and I had a ticket for the 4:00 group to see the last supper. I barely had time to drop my stuff off and head out. It turned out that my hotel was supposedly a 10 minute walk the the church on somewhat of the same street. Not sure who timed it but it was not 10 minutes for me. The hotel said go left cross at the light and go left again. None of the street names matched what he gave me in the map. I panicked and waited at a taxi stand. When no taxi showed up I panicked again and took off walking. Deciding that was stupid I went back to the taxi stand and waited for a taxi. My ticket said to arrive 20 minutes early and I got in the taxi at 7 till 4. Good thing it was close we pulled up right at 4. Figuring my ticket had been released I was disappointed but went ahead and tried hoping I could get in on a later tour. But I made it just in time. It was like they were waiting on me.

I am really glad I made it. I was afraid I would be disappointed in the painting but I wasn’t. It is faded but it is much better in person than in the pictures. They say they have touched it up a lot and one thing I did understand in my italian tour was that some of the large areas of colors on the robes were new. They used a slightly lighter color so you could tell the difference.

I was surprised to see that the painting continued under the table. Most of the photos chop it off at the table but the disciples have feet. There is enough detail to make our toes and sandals. Jesus’ feet are lost to the door if they were ever included. The tour talked a lot about the food in the table. To me it looked like a big brown glob and some rolls but she spent a lot of time talking about it but I couldn’t make much of it out. Something about bowls of water to wash and communal plates but that is all I got.

Surprisingly it is in a very plan building. Even the church next door is plain from the outside by italian standards. Inside it is a very pretty church. It felt like a church. It has all the paintings and such but it wasn’t so big that it felt empty. It might of seemed more church like because their was music and a priest taking confessions. The dome and some of the walls were done in this strange etching. There wasn’t any color the design appeared to be just scratched into the plaster. I paid the 2€ to light up the dome and I was very glad I did. It looked completely bare without lights but there was etching all the way to the top.

There was a da Vinci museum in the cloister where they were showing some of his actual manuscripts. Seems he wrote this multi volume treatise on painting. They are in the process of removing the binding to better preserve the pages and are displaying some at a few places in Milan. There were probably two or three dozen pages with small sketches and his explanations on perspective and human form. He was very detailed on how someone should paint and study painting. I was amazed they have so many pages of his writings. It was very cool to see it.

I thought I would be able to find my way home relatively easy. Not sure why I thought this since I have struggled the whole trip with directions but still I thought I could do it. And eventually I did. As I said the street names
didn’t match the map. The map would say Cundicci and the street sign would say Conducce and of course the street names changed every so often but no indication of where on the map. But eventually I made it back. I had to stop in a gelateria to ask directions and to get my first Milano gelato but I was already on the right road supposedly just a straight shot. When the street Ys what is straight? I was on the wrong side of the road and choose poorly and had to back track a bit.

Luckily there were restaurants on my street so I didn’t have to go far for dinner. As I passed one coming in the people were eating pizza so I figured it wouldn’t be too fancy. However, by the time I got there they had switched to the dinner menu and is was very fancy and mostly fish. I am so glad I didn’t go with the shrimp when I saw it come out in all its glory with little feelers stretching across the plate. I went with sliced steak with arugula and Parmesan not really the Italian dish I was looking for but good. I had a nice montecino to go with it.

After dinner I walked around a bit and window shopped mostly jewelry and shoes (I still have a chance to come home with these italian oxfords I have been eyeing) and a few clothing stores. The clothes and jewelry are high end but fun too look at. Since it had been at least 3 hours from my first gelato (and it was piccolo) and it had been a long day I decided I could get another. Thankfully there is one right across the street from the hotel. It was full of kids in costumes coming in for their free taste so I had to wait but no problem. Finally my turn and they had my new favorite flavor fondante which is dark, dark chocolate. Since it was gelato two for the day I went with piccolo again. I should have gotten a larger size it was delicious.

Now back to the hotel to plan my day of seeing Milan and dreaming of fondante gelato.

“Ultimo goirni in Firenze”

I can’t believe I have been in Italy two weeks. It seems like I just arrived.

Class is going to be late today so I have my morning to wander around. Not sure where I am going to so I just head out at 8:30 on a street I have yet to take. I pass the botanical garden but it is closed due to damage from a tornado in September. I had no idea Italy had tornadoes. After peeking through the fence I continue on and stumble on St Mark’s. It was included in my Ufizzi pass so I went in to see the Fra Angelico paintings again. It was early and at the beginning I had the place to myself. His paintings are beautiful and I am glad I stumbled on it so that I saw them again this trip.

Before I finished my solitude was interrupted by a group of high school girls. They I think enjoyed being out of class more than the art. Basically they just made it hard to go to the bathroom because that is where they all congregated. Girls are girls doesn’t matter what nationality.

Having finished St Mark’s I headed to the Duomo. It had been my North Star if I could catch a glimpse of it I could at least get going in the right direction. Although I had passed it multiple times everyday I had not gone inside. It was still relatively early for Italy/tourist standards so it wasn’t too crowded.

I remembered it being more impressive inside. It is just so big that it looks empty. After having seen Santa Croce, St Spirito, and other smaller churches I wasn’t as in awe as I thought I would be. The dome painting is still quite impressive (nothing like the view of the medieval hell monster eating people to make you feel like your in church) and the stained glass is nice but that is about it.

I went down under the church to buy my ticket for the baptistry and stayed to see the roman ruins. I don’t remember this from my previous trip. The new church (as new as a 15 century church can be) was built over a smaller church which had been built over a roman temple. There were still some mosaic tiled floors to see and what looked like steps. They had also moved some additional pieces down, mostly grave markings. I wanted to go in the baptistry but you had to buy the ticket for everything. There were no solo tickets. So since I had paid I did the roman ruins museum otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it. Of course that philosophy did not hold out for the cupola tour or the tower. I considered climbing the tower. Kind of on the idea that it furthered the theme of the trip. However after doing just over 150 steps in the Ufizzi (and yes I counted or tried to when I wasnt concentrating on breathing) I decided I really wasn’t up to 400 stairs. I have no idea how we did it last time.

So I basically paid 10€ to see the baptistery. Of course I was not the only one assuming all the older people weren’t climbing all the stairs in the tower or cupola. I do really love the baptistry it is gold mosaic tiles similar to what is used in St. Mark’s in Venice. After all the frescos in florence the mosaics are a nice change of pace. The dome of the baptistry basically tells the bible from beginning to end. There is a picture for Adam and Eve, the annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the cruxifixction and everything in between.

After the duomo I had just enough time for one more pizza before my class’s at 2. I went back to the pizza place by the school and tried something different. I went with the prosciutto and mushroom. It was good but did not compare to the caprese one I had earlier this week.

There was a Halloween meets wurstfest market in the St. Croce piazza which made it very hard to go to class. I had time for a quick beer then off to study italian.

After class which was only 2 hours I went back to the festival for more beer. I thought I would get a little snack for the train ride tomorrow and tried to buy a little cheese. The cheese vendors in Italy must all go to the same school. I asked for a little and he starts to cut off a fourth of a round of cheese. I keep saying smaller and he moves his knife like a centimeter. Eventually you give up and end up with more cheese than you needed. My train snack cost me almost 10€. The extra large pretzel I bought to go with it was only 1€.

Having decided that I needed the brown purse I had seen at the leather school day one I went back to buy it. I know you are saying that I didn’t need another brown purse and technically that would be right but I didn’t want to get home and regret not getting it so I did need to buy it to make sure I had no regrets. I know crazy logic but I can justify anything. And now it has my initials in it so it is a done deal.

For my last night in florence I just wandered around a bit. I considered going back to where I had the really good dinner but decided to try someplace else. It was okay but I should have gone back to the other place. The gnocchi was a little different but the salad was good. It was covered with more prosciutto than I could eat. I did have a nice glass of nobile moltipucianno.

After dinner I headed back to the house to pack up. I had to try and fit all my purchases in my bag. It was a tight fit but everything mad it in. It weighs a ton and I might have to pay extra to bring it home but I didn’t have to leave anything behind but the pillow I stoles from my mom. I thought it would help me sleep on the plane. No such luck there but was super glad I had it at “mama’s” house. I basically had a cot with the hardest pillow in the world. I can’t fault her the bed at the hotel in Perugia was just as bad.

My final night in florence is over. I can’t wait to come back again.