Giorno Tres: Venezia a Fierenze
Day three began with an earlier start, enjoying a lovely breakfast in the hotel and a crisp morning. Oh it was beautiful! Sunny an warm with a nice cool breeze. We headed to the Rialto Mercado (market) to check it out and were greeted with the lovely sweet smell of fresh produce. The fish market is closed on Mondays, so it was just the produce market. They had some gorgeous foods all sweet and brightly colored. We wandered a bit then found our way back easy enough. The signs are quite funny. Some are actual signs in a bright yellow with an oddly curved arrow indicating the way. Others are either paper signs, or spray painted on the wall! It’s quite funny. Then sometimes they guide the way, and others they sit and wait to see if you might be able to figure it out!! There may be great signage, then you hit a dead end and no clue where to go! After the first day and a half or so, we (I should say, Kim) seemed to get the gist of things and we made our way around pretty well. We headed back towards Piazza San Marco and the line at the Basilica wasn’t too bad so we got into it. According to the ‘church and sights opening guide’ the basilica wasn’t supposed to open until 10:30. So much for getting the most current listing! Here was the first place that suggested appropriate attire, and I got some rather pointed hand gestures as I was putting a shirt on over my sleeveless shirt. I was also conveniently covering the strap to my bag, as I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed in with it, but despite our best intentions, we just couldn’t find the bag check which was at a nearly closed church (was not an active church, but was still used for a bag check.) We got in and saw a sea of pink wraps, which we later suspected were actually tablecloths that we found at many of the local restaurants, which women used to cover their shoulders. I’ll hold my sarcasm, given that I don’t know everyone who may read this very well, but I found it to be a rather interesting thing that people had to have shoulders covered. No one appeared to be turned away due to salacious knees showing though we didn’t see any of the amazing skirts while in line (we saw two women wearing skirts that we simply couldn’t figure how it stayed down to cover their backsides!) Interesting contrast, but I digress..
The church was MAGNIFICENT and what I most enjoyed was the tons of mosaic all around. There was an amazing and intricate pattern on the floor of different colored stone and mosaics, and some of the most ornate and detailed mosaics, many with gold leaf, on the walls. We toured the little museum which had more mosaics and tapestries and the ‘Wall of Gold’ which was really beautiful. It was a really large panel of gold depicting scenes with these huge gemstones gleaming everywhere. One wall in the church had an amazing pattern from the stones that made it, which was in a square/diamond pattern and incredible consistent. It was quite stunning.
It was such a nice cool day and we walked around a bit more. We stopped in the post office to get stamps for post cards, then wandered back into the maze of San Marco to stop back to find a jewelry store that a friend of mine told me about. We had somehow passed it on the way to our hotel on the first day, but wanted to drop the bags and never could find it again. Today was no different! The people watching in Venice is quite amazing too and varies widely between the ultra-fashionable, to the rather scary fashion statements like bright kelly green or hot pink pants. It was good going.
We stopped back at the hotel to check out, and the man who checked us in who was quite cranky was ultra-friendly. He was all talkative, asking about our time in Venice and even gave us kisses when we left! I speculated that perhaps Monday was the day that he started drinking before noon! We headed out for lunch and found a lovely pizzeria on a side alley and got an amazing meal of Caprese salad (tomoatoes, fresh buffalo mozzerella, and basil) and a pizza with tomatoes, ricotta and mozzerella with basil. The pizza was just perfection, nice and creamy and crisp and both were really enjoyable. We then got our bags and made our way to the vaporetti (boat) to take a tour of the grand canal on the way to the train station. It was really beautiful and we took lots of pictures. We got to the train station with plenty of time and debated checking our bag, but decided it would be more work than it was worth. So we enjoyed two blended fruit drinks and chatted for a bit. The train ride was fine and we napped a little bit, only little because there was a child sitting near us with an ear-piercing shriek that was just wonderful!! The ride was beautiful through the hills of Tuscany and we found our hotel pretty easily. It’s in the shadow of the duomo and in a perfect location. The room is a bit of a disappointment, but the location can’t be beat. I once again goofed on the type of room, so let’s just say Kimmie and I will be a bit, um, cozy until tomorrow when they can change our room! The guy in check in was very nice, poured us some wine an gave us restaurant recommendations.
We walked a bit and went briefly to Otrarno, or ‘across the Arno’ river. We saw the bridge Ponte Vecchio, which looked like it had houses built on the sides, though the street level was all stores, and saw the side of Piti palace. We had a nice dinner at a place recommended of fresh pasta with mushrooms, carpacchio which was really great. I had a crème catalan which was like a lemony crème brule, and Kim had chocolate panna cotta (I know, I didn’t have chocolate, if you can believe it!!) We snuck a gelato in earlier too, but hey, we haven’t had much dairy so it’s a good thing.. Oh, and of course we had a nice chianti with dinner! We saw some great people watching as well, including a very interesting man riding a bike that sounded as if it would fall apart any minute! He had a bamboo typed mat tied to his back, as well as an assortment of other things that were rather odd!
Tomorrow we’re actually touring—I know, I know. It’s a walking tour of Florence, then an Uffizi tour (which I wouldn’t ordinarily do, but the Vatican Museum tour was one of the best I’ve seen! I already bought my ticket though, so I’ll give it away to someone.) Also doing a tour of the accademia to see the David. I’m not one for tours, but I think this will give us a great orientation and will enable us to see most of the main sights. Since we’re doing a couple of day trips, our time may be a little limited.
Bueno Sera!
Sam
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