Finale of Our Roman Holiday

Today was our last big day of sightseeing in Rome, and in fact for the rest of our trip. Tomorrow we fly from the Rome airport to Paris, then we have a half day in Paris before flying home on Monday.

A couple miles south of our hotel is a cluster of Roman ruins including the Colosseum. We got a cab to Palatine Hill, the least visited of the ancient sites, and spent at least 2 hours wandering through what used to be the massive home to the Roman emperors. The road leading by this massive structure, the Via Sacra, or the Sacred Way, is still intact around Palatino (as the Italians call it). We followed this path up to the top of the hill where the most intact bulk of the ruined palace lays. Probably the most noteworthy part of this tour is that the home of Augustus Caesar (aka Octavian), can be toured... or at least the surviving parts of it.

Vatican City

Today we visited Vatican City. We wisely took the advice of others and made a reservation to get in. The wait time when we arrived around 10am had to have been at least 3 hours, and the line continued to grow all the while. Conveniently, we were able to more or less walk right in (there was still madness to get through before actually entering, but we just stuck to the buddy system and made it through intact and together). If you have already figured it out, I will say it very clearly - the Vatican makes Disneyland look like a ghost town. I have never seen so much humanity crammed into such a small area. So if you don't like crowds and are not dying to see the Sistine Chapel or St. Peter's Basilica, this is something you may want to skip.

So once we accepted that we would be in a continuous crush the entire day, we set out to enjoy ourselves. There are basically three major things to do in the Vatican: the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. We started out by first just viewing the architecture of the Vatican itself, aka the Apostolic Palace, where the pope both lives and conducts business. The palace is created in a very classical nature, with tall clean columns and statues overlooking the square below. These are actually statues of various saints (I had to explain to Ryan that no, not all the saints are up there - there's just not enough room for that!).

Rome!

On the morning of Ryan's birthday, we left Florence by high speed train and headed to Rome. It took about 2 hours and gave us a taste of some of the beautiful countryside Italy has to offer. Upon arriving in Rome, we snatched a taxi (there seemed to be no real organization in the taxi queue so we just flagged down the first one we saw milling about) and drove to our hotel, Hotel Concordia, which is conveniently located just around the corner from the Spanish Steps. We arrived around 1pm, so we had the whole afternoon to wander the city and familiarize ourselves.

Some first impressions: Rome is big, much bigger than Florence. Not just big in size, but in people, cars, Vespas, art, etc. The drivers are crazy, the kids on their mopeds are crazier, and the pedestrians are craziest. There does not seem to be a single rule of the road that cannot be broken. That being said, my second impression of the city is that it's gorgeous. There's this blending of ancient with sort of modern. I say sort of because there's a law in Rome that no building can taller than Saint Peter's Basilica, so no really modern buildings have been erected. Instead, the buildings all have a kind of 1950s chic about them, which I really like.

There is so much to do on in Rome that we decided to just get a feel for our neighborhood today, then the next day would be "Vatican Day," and Saturday, our last day, would be "Ancient Day." The massive Pantheon, the Roman Temple built in 126 A.D., is massive. Externally, the structure is entirely Roman, with an inscription to Agrippa, the Roman consul who designed it, still inscribed across the top. The inside, however, was made into a Catholic church in 609, which was a blessing since, although disappointing to not be able to see the temple in completely original form, nonetheless was the only reason the pagan temple was not completely destroyed.

The Pantheon is an amazing building, and whetted my appetite for more of the classical. We next walked to the Piazza Navona, which is the site of a former Roman stadium encircled by a Roman racetrack (a la Ben Hur) and which is now a public square. The racetrack still remains, but instead of surrounding gladiators it surrounds vendors selling Coach knockoffs. There are three huge fountains here down in the classical style dating back to the Renaissance. One, the Fountain of the Four Rivers, shows anthropomorphized figures of four major rivers representing the four known continents at the time (1600s): the Nile for Africa, the Danube for Europe, the Ganges for Asia, and the Rio de la Plata (apparently in Uruguay?) representing the Americas. The fountain also contains various animal life representing these continents - I still have not found the armadillo, but I know he's on there.

After enjoying some pizza and people watching in the piazza, we then headed out to the Campo de Fiori, another public square which was used as an execution site in Medieval Italy. This is where Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake as a heretic for expressing his belief that the sun, not the Earth, was actually at the center of the solar system - a statue of Bruno now stands in the center of the square, defiantly facing the Vatican, which you can just barely see peeking up over the skyline. After such a bloody history, it seems ironic that this is where a fish and vegetable market has been held every morning since 1869, but even more ironic is that originally the site was a meadow, and the name actually means "Field of Flowers."

When we got to the Campo de Fiori, the vendors were breaking down their stalls for the day. In the late afternoon, apparently the cafes put out chairs and tables or people to enjoy the view and an aperitif, then in the evening it's a popular meet up spot for locals and tourists. Hopefully we will catch the market on another morning!

We had walked a decent way by this point, so we headed back to the hotel for the siesta hour, doing some window shopping along the way. It's Rome, one of the fashion capitals of the world - do I need to tell you what we saw here? Well, let's just say certain sections of Rome make the ritzy section of South Coast Plaza look dowdy!

After relaxing for a bit, we headed to a restaurant that sounded pretty good, Osteria dell' Ingegno. Well thank you, Fodor's, for the recommend, because it was wonderful! Great ambience with colorful modern art that reminded me of Spain, wonderful service, and excellent food. To start, Ryan and I shared the nudi, which is "naked ravioli." Essentially, it was the filling of the ravioli (pesto and ricotta cheese) with a drizzling of olive oil - so good! Next I had a traditional Tuscan dish called mezze maniche, which is a noodle like penne, only shorter and fatter, with a light tomato sauce with...wait for it...bacon! Ryan had a Madras chicken curry which was also pretty tasty as well as a nice change of pace. All in all, quite good, pretty affordable, and great atmosphere! Not bad for our first night out in a city known for tourist trap restaurants!

After dinner we went back to the hotel via a path that would take us by the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Both are pretty amazing when all lit up against the night sky, both are huge, and both are crawling with people! I got a chance to throw a coin into the fountain, but Ryan didn't, so I guess that means I'm going back to Rome solo! We are going to try and do a sunrise walk one morning, so hopefully he will get his chance then!

 

Last Day in Florence

On our last day in Florence, we decided to take it somewhat easy. In the morning, after some croissants with Nutella (it's not vacation if I don't eat Nutella for breakfast), we headed to the Bargello, a museum of mostly statues. It houses my favorite statue, Donatello's David, as well as some other sculpture from Donatello and various other artists from the Renaissance.

It wasn't horribly busy when we got there, so we had plenty of time to admire the sculpture at our leisure. I love Donatello because he puts so much personality into his work - his cherubs look mischievous, his fauns look downright naughty, and his Bacchus looks drunkenly knowing. He actually has two David's there - one that looks younger but manly in a boyish kind of way with a hint of a lofty smirk on his face (Ryan's favorite), and the other, the one I refer to as the "floppy hat David" (he's actually wearing a wide brim helmet, but whatever), which is my personal favorite. This David is very androgynous, practically feminine, and has the look of quiet pride on his face. Personally, I think his face says, "Try to look humble, try to look humble!" while on the inside he knows he's a badass.

After exploring the rest of the Bargello (a few other interesting sections, like their collection of Persian treasures), we decided to visit the Santa Croce church, where there is more sculpture and paintings, including a Cimabue crucifix (he dates back to the 1200 and I believe is considered a precursor to Giotto and a few other medieval artists who eventually lead to the birth of the Renaissance). There are also some frescoes from Giotto, some paintings from Donatello, and various pieces of religious art. However, the main attraction of this church is the number of Renaissance stars who are buried here, such as Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo. Memorials for Da Vinci and Dante are also here, but they are both buried elsewhere. It's kind of sad here, because there are various crypts all along the floor of the church where everyone walks, so many have been worn down over time, thus erasing the intricate design these marble graves once portrayed.

We decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. Our hotel's tower bar opened up for the season that day, so I had a couple of glasses of prosecco and Ryan had some white wine, and we enjoyed the sunset with some of our fellow hotel guests. Once the sun finally disappeared, we decided to go back to Rose's Ristorante and American bar (www.roses.it) where we had that fabulous ossobucco. When we arrived, Rita, the at least trilingual waitress (she spoke fluent Italian, English, and French - I would not be surprised if she spoke Spanish and German too) who had taken care of us on our last visit, recognized us and gave us a couple of glasses of prosecco on the house. She then went on to make the rest of our meal the most memorable and wonderful one of the entire trip - not only because it was delicious (it was - it practically makes me want to cry knowing we will not have this restaurant to go to on a regular basis back home), but also because of her amazing service and friendliness. We ordered a bottle of rose (I prefer red wine while Ryan likes white, so we compromised on rose) - she brought out the bottle we ordered as well as a different bottle. She explained the other bottle was a rose from her hometown in Italy (the heel of the boot on the map of Italy) and she would recommend we try it - we took her word for it, and are so glad we did because it was the best rose we have ever had! Next we had the crispy ravioli as an appetizer again, followed by the ossobucco once more for Ryan and a duck a l'orange for me (have I mentioned how much I love duck?), and both were just the most amazing things either of us had yet to enjoy on this trip! Finally, on Rita's recommendation, we had a Chantilly cream in a chocolate cup with fruit and raspberry sauce for dessert. I really cannot emphasize enough the need for everyone who ever visits Florence to absolutely go to this restaurant! Ryan and I are already planning other trip just so we can eat here again!

Thursday we head to Rome, so after dinner we trekked up the stairs to the top of the tower for once last glimpse of the city under the stars. I'm sad to leave my new favorite city, but I'm excited to see the antiquities of Rome!

 

Art Walk of Florence

We decided to make Tuesday our big art day, since most of the galleries are closed on Sunday and Monday here. We started out at the Uffizi, which is apparently always a bitch to get into thanks to it housing some of the most famous art from the Renaissance. Luckily, we had the foresight to purchase the Florence Card, which gets you into almost every museum in the city AND let's you cut to the front of the line. Even with this, it was still kind of a cluster to get in. Once inside, it was clear from watching the masses where the famous Michelangelo and Botticelli paintings were, so we decided to start with the statues and work our way back to that particular area of the Renaissance artwork. I personally enjoy statues more than paintings anyway - they just seem to be a more accessible and humanistic.

There is a very thorough collection of art in the pre/early- Renaissance section - quite a few Giotto's showing the beginnings of perspective and shading. When we finally got to the room with the Botticelli's, surprisingly it was not The Birth of Venus that was mobbed, but The Coming of Spring. When it comes to Renaissance art, I am a big fan of the classical, so I was happy to view these even amongst the crowds. The next room had Michelangelo's Madonna and Child, but we moved through there pretty quickly since there were multiple tour groups just camped out in front.

One of the most interesting sections to me was the tapestry room - the amount of work that went into these woven masterpieces is astonishing! Unfortunately, many are in desperate need of restoration, but the process is very expensive, and the museum needs to often spend that money on the higher traffic areas, so who knows how much longer these will be of displayable quality! Overall I would say the Uffizi is worth going to once... but unlike the Louvre or the Getty or even the Academia, I for one will probably never repeat that visit - just too many people!

For lunch we found a little restaurant close to our hotel where Ryan ordered Tuscan chicken with bacon in a wine sauce and I got a risotto with mozzarella in a meat sauce - a heartier risotto than I am used to, but pretty tasty. The chicken, on the other hand, was phenomenal - both stuffed with bacon AND with a piece of bacon on top. We ended up sharing our food so that I could enjoy some of that bacon goodness too!

After lunch we strolled over to the Academia, famous for housing Michelangelo's David. This is pretty much considered the major (and for some, the only) draw to this museum, but Ryan quickly steered me over to some of Michelangelo's unfinished statues, know as the Prisoners. These half finished giants seem like they are trying to fight their way out of the marble. They are almost sad to behold - they were not coming to life how Michelangelo foresaw them, so they were abandoned to be ever encased in their stone tombs. Definitely a must see.

On the way back to the hotel from the Academia, we decided to pop into the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, yet another Medici Palace once inhabited from the Medici family until they got tired of it. This museum was pretty interesting. It had a special exhibit showcasing an eclectic collection of items from various individual dealers and afficianados. It was interesting to see their favorite Florentine pieces from their different collections. We also visited the treasury rooms, which housed the usual opulent religious paraphernalia and art from the peak of the Medicis reign of power.

We decided to go back to the Il Grotto Guelfa restaurant that we visited our first night here. Ryan was determined to get the risotto he had there 10+ years prior, and so he did. I settled for the gnocchi alla Gorgonzola, then for dessert we shared Tuscan creme and I enjoyed a delicious espresso (decaf, of course). We then returned to our hotel, climbed the rickety stairs to the tower balcony, and enjoyed Florence at night under the stars while listening to the locals scream, "ole, ole, ole, ole!" (I think there was a soccer match going on). All in all, a long but pleasant day!

 

Florence Day 2

We have spent the past two days trekking all over Florence to enjoy the art, architecture, and atmosphere of this awesome city. On Monday, we started out at the famous Duomo, the large domed church designed by Brunelleschi. The church itself has many sculptures and works of art, but the main draw is the beautifully painted frescos inside the dome. After admiring this, we wandered down to the crypt below, where various religious figures and knights (aka Crusaders) are buried. Then we headed over to the Campanile (the bell tower of the Duomo) to hike the ten thousand stairs (maybe not quite that many, but close) to the top for the best view of the entire city.

We debated going to the top of the Duomo instead, but the problem with going to the top of the Duomo is that, once up there, you can't see the Duomo itself, which is the most impressive thing on the cityscape! So we did the Campanile, which was tiring but absolutely worth it. My poor legs were shaking by the time we were done, so we quickly checked out the Duomo Museum, which has all of the different designs offered up by the various artists of the time as well as Brunelleschi's final designs and the changes he made to those plans over the decades it took to actually build.

By now it was absolutely time for lunch. We stopped at a restaurant right around the corner from our hotel and enjoyed the most amazing gnocchi with a cheese sauce and porcini mushrooms as well as a Margherita pizza. It was so good we plan on eating there again before moving on to Rome.

After lunch we headed to the Galileo History of Science museum. This museum covers everything from barometers to electrical current generators to chemistry sets dating back to the 1300s. My two favorite areas were the pharmaceuticals (not surprising that nearly half of the Florentine population died from the bubonic plague when you see what they were working with!) and the astronomy section. It's hard to believe that scientists from the 1500 and 1600s were able to deduce anything about the heavens when you look at the tiny telescopes they were working with! But everything has got to start somewhere, and even if you're not a science nerd, I would still recommend this museum just to be impressed with what they were able to come up with back then, and to see how far we have progressed!

Upon returning to our hotel, we enjoyed the sunset with some wine of the top of the tower garden - I still can't get over how much we lucked out, finding a hotel right in the heart of the city with such an amazing view! For dinner, we found a hip little restaurant called Rose's, where we had a truly amazing dinner! We started out with "crispy ravioli," which was really 2 puff pastries with pancetta and cheese, and a baked zucchini flan. Both were absolutely incredible. We were getting pretty full at that point, so we decided to share the ossobucco, something neither of us had ever been fans of before - probably because we'd never experienced it Florence before! It was falling off the bone tender, and the sauce it was served with - well, I just don't have the words to describe it. Another restaurant we definitely plan to return to!

 

Florence Photos

New album for Florence posted.

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