Strolling across the Arno -- in CLEAN clothes!

Ciao for Saturday!

Okay; I first need to recap dinner last night! We walked over to Osteria Vineria I’Brincello on Via Natzionale to yet another Rick Steves recommendation; probably took 10 minutes to get there. The Osteria was painted a great orange, and we were one of the first to arrive. We had the first table next the door, with a good view of the bar area which was used for some food prep, which was fun to watch. We started by splitting a bruschetta with fresh tomatoes and basil and garlic – fabulous! For mains, Linda tried the pasta pici (which is a homemade fat noodle, like VERY thick spaghetti) with a meat sauce. It was great! I had their homemade gnocchi with fresh tomatoes – Linda calls them “angel pillows” – they were so light I thought they would float off of the plate! For dessert we split a pane cotte, which had a very caramel sauce (a bit too strong) on top; okay, but not great. We washed this all down with sparkling water and a nice bottle of Chianti Rufino – all for a total of 35E for the TWO of us! Hard to believe…

Back to the hotel, and to bed by about 10 p.m. and for once, no setting an alarm for the morning! Up about 7, and down to breakfast at 7:30 as we wanted to be at the Laundromat when it opened at 8! Yes, folks, today is definitely laundry day! We were the second people into the Laundromat, as it is probably 50 feet down the street from the hotel. Loaded up everything together, got detergent out of the machine, and voila, we were on our way! It took almost exactly one hour to wash and dry everything, and we were back on our way to the hotel by 9 – lovely, very clean facility; machines looked fairly new and the entire place was very well taken care of! So…clean clothes all around! YEA!!

Stored everything away, and headed out again, this time for the other side of the Arno and the Boboli Gardens of the Pitti Palace. The temperature was definitely warmer today, probably low 50’s to start with, and the sun was shining in a cloudless sky. We noticed that they were setting up some sort of market in our square right in front of the hotel, but it still had a ways to go; figured we’d check it out on our return. We headed first for the train station, to see about tickets to Lucca for tomorrow. Before we got there, however, decided to check out Santa Maria Novella church, as it has a stunningly beautiful front. As it turns out, it has a REALLY stunningly beautiful interior as well, but NO photography! GRRRRR… The frescos and paintings were wonderful, as was the stained glass. We saw a painting that Michelangelo helped paint when he was 13 years old! (Talk about starting out early!)

From there, it was just a few minutes to the train station; quite a mob scene when we entered, but I spotted a newspaper stand that advertised as selling train tickets – so, instead of waiting in a REALLY long line for proper assistance from a real person, or standing in another line in front of a machine, I was able to get our tickets for tomorrow (5E each) and out we went.

We headed to the Palazzo Strozzi, which turns out to be a MAMMOTH building which looks very highly fortified – takes up an entire block of Florence, and done in stone – don’t think anything would be able to penetrate those walls or knock it down – so if they didn’t want visitors, all they would have to do is close the door! The Strozzi is now used exclusively as gallery space for special exhibitions, and they were holding one now, called (translated from Italian) Bankers and Beauty…wasn’t sure what the connection was, so decided to give it a miss, but it is an interesting building to see; took a few pictures of the courtyard.

We did find an interesting jewelry store ... those green things are emeralds!

Passed several more very interesting buildings to get to the Arno, and crossed over at St. Trinita bridge; paused to take a shot of the Ponte Vecchio. We were now in an area of antique shops – so if you need a full-size marble statute for your garden, they can certainly help you out! We had decided after so many indoor museums and galleries to go to the Boboli Gardens.

Quite lovely, as I recalled from our first visit there many years ago. Not too much is currently in bloom flower-wise – some very late roses occasionally – but the garden itself – set on a hill behind the Pitti Palace is enormous! There were fountains, and steps and seats and statuary everywhere (which was good, because getting all the way up the hill wasn’t that easy!) At the top, we visited their Porcelain museum which included a HUGE variety of table ware as well as various statuary. Walked down the avenue of the cypresses and exited out the Porto Romano which put us back on the street paralleling the Palace. Stopped for a quick lunch at a patiseria where we sat (thankfully!) and had individual slices of pizza margarita and cokes along with splitting a very light meringue for dessert.
Headed back to the hotel, stopping shortly before the Ponte Vecchio to purchase a really lovely cashmere scarf in red burbury pattern for me – so of course it starts warming up; you knew that was going to happen!

Arrived at hotel to find a very interesting arts and craft fair set up on the piazza. Some VERY lovely things available; great sculpted and painted rocks, gourds, glass work, leather – and many of the artists were actually working right there in the square next to their tables. One couple had a lathe where he was turning wood; another was blowing glass; a third making glass jewelry – such a fun place to visit! Would like to say that we managed to make it past every stall, but we didn’t…oh well! What would holidays be without souvenirs???

So – back inside and time for naps; sun is streaming in our windows; very relaxing!
More later!

Much love,
m
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