Becky

San Gimignano

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Becky

Finally, San Gimignano

I finally made to the one Italian town that has always been on my list of must sees but just didn’t work out on my previous trips. There was no way I wasn’t going to make it there this time.

After my successful use of public transportation to Perugia (even with the workers strike foiling my afternoon departure) I decided I was ready to brave the bus to San Gimignano.

I used a bit of my precious cell data service to look up the bus schedule and found a bus left at 1:40 then every hour after that. It takes about 2 hours by bus so I wanted to catch the 1:40 to maximize my time. The bus station is right beside the train station and it took me well over an hour to walk there on Friday. So to make the bus I was going to have to be on my most focused walk.

I mapped out my route and since I did better walking along the river I decided to walk out, down then b ack in instead of cutting through town. It was probably longer but fewer opportunities to get lost. I really only had one turn after I headed back in from the river there was just no way I could get lost. The question was could I get there and get my ticket in 40 minutes.

Anxiously watching my watch at the end of class I couldn’t focus on my work. When he said there was time for one more activity I almost groaned. I know I am an adult and could have said I needed to leave but I didn’t want them to think I didn’t like the knew set up so I stayed and did the assignment. Of course this was the first one that really hard and j missed several. When he checked it he didn’t just correct them he had me try again. Now by my watch it is after 1 and I need to be leaving not working on the plural versions of colors. Finally I get them all right and I run for the door. The whole way debating on if I’ll take the 2:40 train or wait till tomorrow and try again if I don’t make it in time.

Finally a plan that worked. I made it to the bus station with 8 minutes to spare. No wrong turns and only 3 people in line in front of me. I get my ticket and go to the bus parked in my spot only to be told it was the wrong bus San Gimignano would be the next bus in the slot. For a moment I felt like I hurried for nothing. But the buses changed quickly I got my seat and the bus took off at exactly 1:40. My watch was 5 minutes fast.

I had to transfer buses at poggibonsi (great name for a town) and that was a little confusing. Not really being much of a bus rider I thought the bus would go from one station to the next not stop occasionally along the way. I see the poggibonsi town sign and the bus is stopping but is is just at the grocery store one person gets off and the bus takes off. We meander through the town which is much bigger than its name implies all the while I thinking I missed my stop. But then finally we pull up to the bus/train station and the driver tells you to get off for the San Gimignano transfer.

After a 20 minute wait I am back on the bus heading up winding narrow roads to San Gimignano. I got my first glimpse just as we were coming around one of the too narrow for a bus curves. It really is impressive from a distance. It sits on the top of the hill with its medieval wall still completely intact. You could see it off in the distance but we never seemed to get to it. Once again I was reminded that I was on a city bus as we stopped at every possible place to pick up or drop off a local. When we got closer I got worried that I wouldn’t know when to get off and end up in sienna. We stopped several places that would have worked for getting into the town but the bus driver once again told you when to get off. It would have been hard to miss anyway since there was a big parking lot that said San Gimignano right beside the bus stop.

The town was smaller than I expected having just come from Perugia, San Gimignano seemed tiny. My first stop was an Enoteca where I tried some wines and cheeses. San Gimignano is basically a wine, prosciutto and cheese place. They had some great sheep milk cheeses. I wish I could have brought them home. She said they would be fine I unrefrigerated but I don’t think I could have handled the smell.

I basically walked around and enjoyed the views. It is a really pretty area. Vineyards and farm land surround the town.

I paid the $5 to go into the duomo which was small but nice. The walls were covered in frescos from floor to ceiling. They were some of the easier to understand or connect to the bible story. There was a series on creation and my favorite was eve coming out of Adam’s stomach. So basically Adam was lying on the ground and Eve was popping out his middle. Not exactly what I think of when I here about Adam and Eve but I knew exactly what they were referencing so I guess it worked.

I could have titled this post “the day day I saw a body” but decided against it. Saint Fina is displayed in the duomo in all her glory. Of course she is enshrined in a glass coffin and looks super fake but they claim it is her actually body. As saints are, she is well preserved and looks more like a wax figure than a corpse. I almost missed her the first time by. I had looked at the paintings but has not noticed her down on the ground. There was a pamphlet on her that for a small donation you could take and it talked about this board she laid on for five years. I thought I had seen wood so I went back to see if it was in fact the board. The sign claimed it was and while checking that out and getting grossed out by the fact that they kept this board where this young girl died with horrible sores all over body, I saw the coffin. At first I thought it was a figure placed to represent the young girl but I was wrong. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen the two popes at Saint Peter’s in Rome. Not exactly the highlight of my trip but something worthy of sharing. An surprising not an uncommon sight in Italy.

After the church I had a bit more wine and wondered around a bit and took a lot of pictures before heading back to the bus. Of course per my usual I went down the wrong street and came out somewhere different. I recognized the place as one of the earlier bus stops and considered just waiting there. But I was hungry and had intended to grab a pizza on my way to the bus so I climbed back up the street only to turn to my right and come back down again. Figuring I had worked out enough for the pizza I ordered the stuffed which was basically two crusts.

The bus ride back was pretty uneventful and I made it back safely to mamas about 8:30.

I enjoyed San Gimignano and it is a beautiful town but probably too touristy for some. It is well worth the hassle of getting there to me just to see the towers rising from the hill. Other than the steep ups and downs it is easy to walk around town since there are very few cars. I am glad I made the effort and would certainly go back if I have the chance. Although probably not for everyone I loved the lazy nature of San Gimignano.

All about school

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Becky

As I said, I didn’t showcase my italian skills on the first day and got put in the beginner class. I can’t decide if that was a good thing or not.

The school is full immersion and after the first day we are not supposed to speak any English. If I had been in level two I think that would have really thrown me. I was not ready to hear nothing but italian. However, level one is basically a repeat of things and words I already know. The main problem is that there are only two of us in the class and she is a complete beginner from Japan. She speaks a little English but not much. Her main problem is that she won’t even try. We do a lot of work matching words to pictures and she just sits there. It makes class awkward on occasion.

There has not been a lot of structure to the class. We jump around from nouns to verbs and only learn the singular terms for everything. We listen to a lot of lessons trying to pick out individual words and hopefully that will improve my conversation. That is if everyone would talk as slowly as they do on the lessons.

The Freestyle class at home has more structure and I think that might work better for me. However, I can see where this method works if you have the time to go straight through. My Japanese classmate is here for 8 weeks.

I got to try my skills in Perugia. I could never quite catch “can I help you” but I did okay after that. At least I could understand prices so i have improved a little. I also didn’t do to bad in the museums. There were some english interpretations but not many and I was able to make my way through it.

As usual I spoke to soon. You should be careful what you wish for or my case complain about because sometimes you get it. My brilliance finally showed through and they decided to advance me out of the beginners class. They said it was just not enough of a challenge for me. However, I wasn’t ready to join the next level of students (so much for my brilliance) and now I am in a class of one. I have one on one instruction for 2 hours where we work on conversation and then 2 hours of activities where someone pops in occasionally and goes over my finished assignments.

Today I had to talk about my typical day using the few verbs I know. So I could basically tell her when I got up, showered, got dressed, when and what I ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, how long I worked, watched tv, read and finally when I went to bed. She was surprised by how early we get up and go to work but even more so by the fact we eat breakfast at the office and that it is a taco. She’s said she went to work early (9:00 am) ate lunch around 1:30 and never had dinner before 8. She is very nice so hopefully this week will be fun.

Better Sunday in Florence

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Becky

Duomo at night

After getting back from Perugia I cabbed back to mama’s to drop off my bag. It felt like I added ten pounds to it but I am pretty sure I didn’t buy that much chocolate (only 8 pounds my gelato Me and David. Allori paintings or so). It only took me a few minutes and about half a dozen tries to get the door unlocked then I was off to see the sights.

I headed out to the monthly antique flea market with just a small detour (3 blocks) to get gelato. I had not had any in a couple of days and needed to catch up. I know you are saying that I made up for it with chocolate and that would be true but I am on vacation and should be able to have dessert every day if I want.

I made it to the market with no problems but it was a little to junky even for me. I walked through most of it and was about to give up when I saw some great war postcards. I bought a couple WWI cards and headed out. Then I found somethings I had been hunting for as a gift. One was really nice and a bit expensive but they came down on the price and I bought them both. Very excited about them but since they are a gift I can’t tell what they are but they were the only two I have seen so far on this trip.

From the market I headed to the Accademia. Of course I wanted to see the David again but really was going to see the Alessandro Allori paintings that are hung right by it. I feel in love with them on the last trip and was looking forward to seeing them again. Allori studied botany and uses flowers in most of his paintings. They are also usually more about women and he paints beautiful faces. The no photo ban from the last trip has been lifted so I have some pictures of David and the Allori paintings. The pictures don’t do them justice but they give the idea of the work.

After the Museum it was starting to get dark so I headed back to the duomo to find someplace for dinner. It had been a long time since my second tomato thing in Perugia. (No it didn’t make it to the train ride. I ate it as soon as I got to the station a little less than 2 hours after I ate the first one.). However, no one was eating at any of the restaurants yet. People here eat way later than we do. Not as late as in Argentina but not on my time schedule either. At least they were opened unlike in Perugia. I could have gone to any of them but the only thing worse than eating alone is eating alone in an empty restaurant. I just wasn’t up to it so I shopped instead. The brown purse I looked at early was calling my name so I went back and bought it and picked up a few gifts as well. I decided it was getting too dark to wait on the restaurants so I just grabbed a prosciutto sandwich and headed back to mamas.

Not sure how eating on my own is going to work out his week with it getting dark so early. There are not a lot of choices by the house. However it will be nice not to race home at 5.

not sure why the photos went in the middle but too tired to deal with it now Krissee, these are the best hands I have seen on this trip.

Perugia day 2

Gallery | Posted on October 27, 2014 by Becky

My day in Perugia.

Saturday morning I started early and did most of the chocolate festival before the crowds really got going. By 11 I had amassed the collection of chocolate seen in the earlier post and it was time to see the sights of Perugia.

Perugia is a hillside Umbrian town with Etruscan roots. The “centro storica” sits at the top of the hill and looks down on the more modern city below. I never ventured outside the historic area other than the cabs to and from the train station. The historic area was full of narrow little lanes and staircases. It was very fun to wander around in but tiring for my legs.

First stop the tourist office. I basically saw that they were having a chocolate festival and decided Perugia for my weekend trip. I didn’t know what else the city had to offer. I was surprised to learn that Perugia has 10 museums. Not sure how many I would see, I went ahead and bought the city pass.

First stop the National Museum. It was an amazing collection of medieval and gothic art. If you like guilded triptychs then Perugia is the place for you. You ramble through an old palace with room after room of alter pieces. They do a good job of moving through time and mixing well known painters with local Umbrian work. There are a few by Raphael’ students (you can see his teachings in their work) and some by Felinpino Lippi.

You start off in a modern art room with just a few large Renaissance paintings and I thought I would blow through it quickly but then it got much better. There were some beautiful paintings. It also holds a lot of ornate church pieces like staffs and chalices. And of course what Italian museum would be complete without a few dozen relics. There is nothing like seeing old bones lovingly displayed in glass boxes or ornate pictures to make you love the Italians.

It took me much longer to go through the museum than I thought and I was starving by the time I was through. Having had nothing but chocolate so far I needed some real food. Thinking I didn’t have time to stop and sit down, I grabbed a tomato, basil and cheese bread thing (not quite a calzone but close) it was delicious. However when I got to the next museum it was closed till 2:30. I had 45 minutes to wait. Should have set down for lunch.

I saw a lot of people coming in and out of these huge doors and decided o check it out. It was the Cathedral San Lorenzo. It didn’t look like a church from the outside but it was amazing inside. The ceilings were all painted and the stain glass was beautiful. Of course there were a few beheading scenes in the paintings. I don’t know why it is almost always a women holding the head. The signs looked like they said no pictures but turns out it was just no flash. I got a few good shots.

From there across the street was another big door that seemed popular. It led to a meeting room with frescos all over the walls. I had viewed it from windows in the national museum but didn’t know it had a separate entry. It also had this pane of stain glass that was just red and pink circles. I loved it. My picture doesn’t do it justice.

I wandered around a bit more before heading back down to the Severo Chapel. It has the only surviving fresco by Raphael. He painted it early in his career before heading to florence. The chapel was tiny just one small room attached to a palace that is no longer all there. I sat down to view it (really to rest a bit) and was joined by the chapel kitten. She came in wrapped herself around my feet then set down on my shoes. She gave me an excuse to linger longer hated to disturb her.

From the chapel I went down in the Etruscan well. I have to say that it was creepy. I don’t know how long the stairs have been there but they were worn with wear. I was the first in my group and had to go to the end so everyone could walk out over the well. Then I had to wait till they were all finished to leave. You had to look hard to see the pool of water at the bottom. I was right up next to the wall and the cold water oozing through the walls was splashing on me and I was getting creeped out. Finally everyone was done and we headed back up. Probably took no more than 5 minutes but I was glad it was over.

I stopped at the house museum which wasn’t on my pass but was only 3 € so decided to do it anyway. It was a house that had been in the same family for years and they were all collectors. They had a crazy book collection the portion on display filled two room. They also collected dishes. These were people I would have fit in with. Maybe some day my collections will be in a museum. One of the later matriarchs was an American who loved to stitch. She opened a stitching school and Perugian cloth became a big hit from the 1930-40s.

It was a guided tour so I learned all about the family. The tour guide would say it all in Italian then switch to english for me. The others were a family and they didn’t seem to be that into it so the tour guide spent most of the time telling me about the art. The best piece in the museum was the chandelier in the dining room. It was murano glass from the 1890s. There were also some great views of the city from the back of the house. They allowed pictures so there are several included in this post.

From there I wandered around trying to find the other places on my map and trying to avoid the festival crowds. I shopped a little and brought I nice necklace hand painted with decorations from a painting in the museum, a scarf (green with white polka dots) and something little for my mom.

I finally found another museum that was attached to the church that didn’t look like a church. It was mostly artifacts from the church. It did have some nice illuminated manuscripts and more alter pieces. The best part is that a lot of it was displayed in the catacombs under the church so you got to see the stone structure that was holding up the enormous building. Though parts looked like a good blow could knock it down. I am sure there is nothing to worry about the building has been standing for centuries.

Figuring I had done enough for one day I started hunting a place for dinner it was about 7 and most places were closed. I finally found something open but there were no seats. I should have just waited there but you never know if the people plan to be there all night or not. I couldn’t find anything else so I decided to just eat at my hotel but it didn’t open till 8. I had a few beers while I waited. Dinner was much fancier than I expected and I am sure I surprised them when I ordered a metzo litre instead of a quarter litre of wine. It took me a while to drink it so I ended up just prolonging my dinner. I had zucchini lasagna with white truffle sauce. It was really good and well worth the splurge. Though how big of a splurge could it be when the first thing they set on my table were some lays potato chips. I don’t know who thinks chips belong at a nice place is beyond me. It wasn’t bad enough that they were sitting on the table you could here other guests crunching on them.

After dinner I stumbled up to bed and said buonanotte to my day in Perugia.

Sewing desk in the House museum

Me at the chocolate festival

Cioccolatte, cioccolatte, cioccolatte

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Becky

I great day in Perugia. The chocolate festival is chocolate heaven. My day started with a chocolate covered pancake and I have been tasting and buying chocolate all morning. I am going to go see some of the other sites of Perugia but since I needes to drop off my chocolate purchases I thought I would do a quick post.

Breakfast in Perugia

Perugia cioccolatte festival

Technical Difficulties

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Becky

I have been having issues with updating new posts. Instead of adding new posts I had been working under adding new pages. I thought they were the same thing but sadly they are not. If you have only been seeing what is showing up on this page there are several more posts under the menu (the pink box in the left top corner). Hopefully, I have it corrected and it will all work out better from here. I dated the posts under menu so they now show in order.

A brand new Florence

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Becky

I hate to say it but Florence isn’t what it used to be. Not to say that it is still not great just different. I don’t know why I thought it would be untouched by the changing times, population shift and increased popularity. It is Tuesday and there are still more people around town than I remember being on town on a Saturday. Sunday was crazy and I had hopes that it would get better during the week and it haas but just not as much as I wished. I had a pass to skip the line at the Ufizzi and still had to wait about 30 minutes. The line for tickets went around the corner. At some places it feels more like Rome.

The stores also seem different. More like the open market everywhere. It is hard to tell what is really made in italy and what is just made to look like it. I have found some great places. The Italian Leather School is great. Think project runway for purses. You can watch them working through windows. Each person has a table and was working on a single design. Their purses run from about $150 for a smaller bag up to $20,000 for these beautiful ostrich bags. I have my eye on a multi-strap chocolate brown medium sized bag. I am waiting to purchase till I have seen more options.

I also found the store where I bought my purse last time. Theirs were also really nice but a bit more formal. They have a line that they also sell in the states now called “the Bridge” which had some really nice things but I hate to buy a purse in italy with an English name. It just seems wrong.

I haven’t made it across to shop in the Arno area. Supposedly there are good shops over there with the craftsmen right on site. I am hoping I’ll find some unique pieces over there. I plan to go tomorrow after class.

I am going to have to venture farther from the tourist areas to find the florence that I remember but I feel certain it is still out there.

Cheese, cheese and more cheese

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Becky

First day of cooking with mama.

Yesterday was very busy. I rushed from mama’s to class then around town trying to find specific places. At 4 I had a walking tour around the school to point out places to eat, bank, drink and more importantly get good gelato. That made me late for cooking with mama. I basically ran through Florence in 5 o’clock traffic ( no one follows any traffic laws or red doesn’t mean stop here) and was 10 minutes late. I felt horrible, mama of course was fine and told me to go rest and we would start at 5:30. I must have looked a sweaty mess which she didn’t want in her kitchen.

Sadly I am the only one cooking this week but that is probably a good thing. Her kitchen is tiny. As short as she is she could reach across and touch both sides. The only way it works is the balcony is right off the kitchen and the clothes line acts as the holding table. We made a three course meal in less space than I would make a sandwich at home.

We started chopping vegetables for ratatouille which then cooked for the next two hours. We then made spinach ricotta “naked” pasta to boil later for the first course. For the second we made a parmigiana soufflé to go with the ratatouille. All which was finished with a ricotta lemon cheese cake. Cheese, cheese and more cheese. Mama loves ricotta.

We served food for five but had plenty for a few more. Dinner is served course style with wine for me and her husband. The two Colombian girls are not drinking. It would be perfectly acceptable in Italy but they might just be worried about mama’ opinion since she does not drink. She however is very quick to have her husband refill my glass for which I am grateful.

Italian is spoken pretty much exclusively at the table. I basically just nod and smile. She speaks perfectly good English and spoke that while cooking. Her husband speaks Italian only and she thinks the girls should be farther along after 3 months. So dinner can be a quiet event.

All in all a great night. Not sure if I will be able to recreate our meals. She promises me recipes but not sure a pico of flour will translate. It was pretty much just cooking by feel.

The journey begins….

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Becky

Off to Charlotte. I am at the airport waiting to board the plane. So far so good. I think I have everything ready. At least I have my passport, credit card and iPad everything else I can replace when I get there if I have to. I have downloaded every app recommended so I can Skype, text, find wifi, and get a map of florence off–line so I should be good. The at&t international plans were crazy expensive so that didn’t work out as well as I hoped. I have unlimited text but otherwise will need to use wifi to connect. Not sure how this will affect my posting but figure if mama’s or the school doesn’t have it I will just have to find a cafe/bar with wifi. It will be quite the sacrifice to have a glass of wine during my posting.

I was late with my last post. I drafted but had to wait for the pictures to move over to my iPad then forgot to post it. Since it was already done I went ahead and posted. Hope I didn’t confuse anyone I am about to get on the plane. Next stop ROME…

Testing 1…2…3

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Becky

National Park Tour 2011

Big splurge for Labor Day 2013. Great weekend with Margaret.

Just trying to get the hang of my new blog. I have added a few posts but wanted to see how adding photos worked. Here are few from previous trips. No order to them just pictures I thought worthy of sharing.

Plan…Travel…Repeat

Author: Becky