I'm at the Apple Store in Florence because my computer wouldn't turn on (the screen) and even though it was on, it was overheating! So I got it fixed here - it's my adapter, he thinks, and he gave me one to use!! Nice Marco!!! :) And they don't have free wi-fi here (go figure!!) so he put me on HIS account so I could sit here for 1/2 hour and check email, etc.
Anyhow, I rented a bike the last evening in Lucca so I could ride in the morning before the bike shops opened. I was up and out by 7 and rode the medieval wall!! It had rained overnight but not now. Then I rode probably every street in town because no one was up and no crowds!! I discovered the stream of water running through the town and biked along it. Outside the wall there was a bike trail along the wall so rode that. This flat area is where the moat used to be.
I turned the bike in and went to get the girls. We taxied to the train station and rode about an hour to Firenze! We took a taxi to our airbnb (we've found this is most efficient as the sidewalks are so rocky and bumpy we'd ruin one of our suitcase wheels if we tried to walk - even though it turns out to be only 20 minutes away! ALSO I had been avoiding the weekend in Florence as Rick Steves says the 1st Sunday of each month the museums are free! Huge crowds, I figured! So we went to Lucca on the weekend. HOWEVER, yesterday, May 1st was a huge holiday, Workers' Day! And the crowds crossing the Ponte Vecchio were HUGE!! We could barely walk down the street. The Apple Store was closed, even though online when Angie checked, it said open! I was hoping that many of the tourists were here just for a day trip from somewhere else, so it wouldn't be so crowded while we're here, until Weds.
Well, today it's raining so maybe that cut down the crowds as it's not so bad!! Our hostess, who lives next door, Elisabetta, is delightful and so helpful! She had a map that she marked 5 restaurant choices and 5 Gelato places!! We chose one and walked past the Duomo (AMAZING outside! but huge lines so we just looked) and headed north near the Accademia to Trattoria ZaZa for a spectacular salmon dinner! Loved it! And we were all really hungry by now - it was 2:30.
As we walked back, we looked for Bargello, a great sculpture museum, that was supposed to be open on Sunday. but Workers' Day closed that as well!! as we headed back to our airbnb, we saw a huge crowd in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, a Medici business building. Turns out there was a dancing group in Medieval dress - we couldn't really see close up. We crossed the PV - with its jewelry stores lining each side! and stopped at the Supermarket for milk for Angie's breakfast. We then had trouble with our key to the outside of our apartment. Fortunately, someone was leaving the building and let us in. Then there are the stairs - probably 40-50 up to our top floor!! Good exercise!! Fortunately, when we arrived, Elisabetta's partner was home and he carried our suitcases up!! Going down should be much easier. Elisabetta's family has lived in these two apartments since the 40s. Ceilings are very high; we have two bedroom/living rooms, a little kitchen and hallway, a bath and an entry way with another single bed.
We had some wine, cheese and crackers in our room for supper. We're also carrying around a bag of delicious apples and oranges that I've had every day. Cathy introduced me to a great breakfast in Bologna - she carries a bag of regular oatmeal, adds water and fruit the night before in a cup and puts it in the fridge for the next morning. She simply microwaves ( you could add nuts, chia seeds, hemp, raisins, whatever) and Voila!! Nutritious, stick to your ribs breakfast! She's sharing with me!!
Today was kind of a work day for me. When I turned my computer on yesterday, I could hear the BOST (the Apple Store guy said that is what that sound a MAC makes is called! I used to just call it the "dingy thing"!) but nothing appeared on the screen. Then it got really hot!! The whole computer. And I had trouble shutting it down! I finally succeeded and tried several times but the same thing happened. So I went in at 10 when they opened and they gave me an appointment for 1:15!!!
So we went off to the Hertz car rental. We saw a Eurocar office and I thought that was where I'd booked! Wrong! They sent us down the street to Hertz. The office was full; I had to take a number. Our reservation isn't until Weds. but I wanted to confirm and also check the size of the car. I sat next to Mary Faith, from Milwaukee, who had thought about going to Clarke College in Dubuque (my alma mater) but ended up at another one in Indiana. We chatted; they were waiting to pick up a rental and go to their rented villa south of Florence for 3 days. They'd been in Rome with a friend of her husband's and got a real insiders tour!!
Finally a woman came out behind the counter and said only those already with a reservation should stay. I went to the counter to ask if I should come back and she quickly tried to look it up. I had the WRONG number because I rented through a broker and THEN to Hertz - sort of like you book on Kayak but they send you to the particular airline. I was able to see my old emails on my iPhone and get the right number for Hertz. Still nothing! She said I had the WRONG Hertz office - there was another one besides at the airport on the other side of the river.
In the meantime I had told Cathy and Angie there was no sense in all of us missing sight-seeing. So they went off to catch the Hop On/Hop Off bus around Florence. I said I'd meet them after Hertz and then Apple!! We ended up not meeting until back at the apartment around 6!
I walked another 1/2 hour to the second Hertz place, right in front of a Metro stop. Lots of cars on the roads here, as opposed to just a few downtown - they are mostly pedestrian streets in town and big fines for driving in cities! The Hertz guy checked that I had a reservation but he couldn't show me a car - he had 6 people with reservations today and only 2 cars!! He showed me a private car outside that he said was about the same size! I got the smallest, cheapest one for just 4 days through Tuscany down to east of Naples at Cerrito Sannita, where we will meet up with David again who can translate when we meet up with Angie's cousins and Uncle, none of whom speak English!! That's this weekend!
Now I had to head back to Apple Store! I went across to the Metro stop and hunted for coins for a E1.20 ticket! Before I could get it, the Metro came!! I grabbed my stuff and hopped on, hoping I could get a ticket on board! No such luck; so I just sat and hoped no one would ask me for my ticket!! And give me a big fine!! It arrived at the main train station where we'd arrived yesterday and I hopped off!! I put the coins in the Poor box by the candles in Il Duomo later!!
I made a bathroom stop at dependable McCafe and grabbed some food to go and walked in the pouring rain back to Apple. After waiting my turn for the Genius to help me (and surreptiously eating my chicken nuggets - I NEVER eat those at home but it was quick!!), I finally got a text saying for me to "return to Apple store." I texted back that I was already there, the soaked, blonde, old lady in the black sweatshirt sitting at a table in the middle of the store." Finally Marco, lovely young man, came over and solved my problem!!! He seemed to think it was my conversion/adaptor that I had bought so I could plug stuff in!! He showed me the little piece that slides off my big MAC plug, but would work in European plugs. I asked if I could buy one here - answer was no. Finally, sweet man, just slid it off and said, "Take it!" So that's how my computer is now plugged in here and recharged!! Somehow he also was able to help get my iPhone to read my Yahoo mail!! That hadn't worked since I've been here!! Big success!
So I sat there and hoped to check all my mail - Would you believe? Apple Store here does NOT have free wifi? I never heard of such a thing! Marco put me on his personal account and said I could use it for 1/2 hour or so. So I got caught up!
Next door was a lovely book store where I was able to buy a road map of southern Italy for our drive later this week. I also found a cute version of Pinocchio, written by Florentine Carlo Collodi (his pen name - really Carlo Lorenzini) in the 1800s. We had seen lots of Pinnochio puppets, etc. around town. I also got a cute Mini-Chef book for the kids with recipes for Italian dishes! To go with the aprons I had bought them in Lucca!
It was too late by this time to meet up with Angie and Cathy on the tour bus so I headed off towards the Duomo area. First I clined the 414 (whew!) steps up the Campanile (Giotto's Tower) because Rick said it was fewer steps and less crowds than the Duomo climb. Turns out the Duomo dome was closed!! But no line so up I went huffing and puffing and taking lots of breaks. But a great view and lots of photos were my reward! Coming down was MUCH easier.
Next was the Duomo itself - most of the good stuff is removed in the Museo Duomo I visited later. The outside of the Duomo is the magnificent part - all green, pink and white Tuscan marble! Rick called it "noisy" from the 1870s. It's claim to fame is the amazing Brunelleschi's magnificent dome! It was copied for St. Peter's, the US capital and many others. It was modeled on the earlier Pantheon dome in Rome.
And the Baptistry. The ceiling of that was magnificent Venetian glass. I had to lay down on a bench to view it! Christ's huge figure had one thumb up, one down doing His Judgement!! The famous bronze doors of Ghiberti's (outside are copies; the originals I saw later inside the Duomo Museum under glass!). Amazing!!
My final stop was the Cathedral Museum behind the Duomo - where many of the original marble work is housed - including a touching Pieta by Michelangelo that was designed for his own tomb! Works by Donatello. They had wifi in the museum so was finally able to connect with Angie who said they were back in the apartment. I wandered through the outside part of the Uffizi on my way home.
We had a great pizza dinner at a little hole in the wall David and Elise (his girlfriend) had discovered when they lived here two years ago studying. So we went and took pictures with the owners who knew David and Elise well!! Fun evening! Home with our daily gelato!! White chocolate and a chocolate with nuts!! MMMMmmmmm!
Anyhow, I rented a bike the last evening in Lucca so I could ride in the morning before the bike shops opened. I was up and out by 7 and rode the medieval wall!! It had rained overnight but not now. Then I rode probably every street in town because no one was up and no crowds!! I discovered the stream of water running through the town and biked along it. Outside the wall there was a bike trail along the wall so rode that. This flat area is where the moat used to be.
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| Biking outside the Lucca wall! |
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| Outside of the wall and the bike trail |
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| St. Martin's Cathedral and on the right the bank, SECOND oldest in the world, after Siena, guide Wanda said. |
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| My reflection on the bike in the mirror! at the Botanical Gardens in Lucca |
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| Closeup of Madonna on top of pillar |
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| From a distance. |
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| Me at the top of Guigli tower in Lucca. |
I turned the bike in and went to get the girls. We taxied to the train station and rode about an hour to Firenze! We took a taxi to our airbnb (we've found this is most efficient as the sidewalks are so rocky and bumpy we'd ruin one of our suitcase wheels if we tried to walk - even though it turns out to be only 20 minutes away! ALSO I had been avoiding the weekend in Florence as Rick Steves says the 1st Sunday of each month the museums are free! Huge crowds, I figured! So we went to Lucca on the weekend. HOWEVER, yesterday, May 1st was a huge holiday, Workers' Day! And the crowds crossing the Ponte Vecchio were HUGE!! We could barely walk down the street. The Apple Store was closed, even though online when Angie checked, it said open! I was hoping that many of the tourists were here just for a day trip from somewhere else, so it wouldn't be so crowded while we're here, until Weds.
Well, today it's raining so maybe that cut down the crowds as it's not so bad!! Our hostess, who lives next door, Elisabetta, is delightful and so helpful! She had a map that she marked 5 restaurant choices and 5 Gelato places!! We chose one and walked past the Duomo (AMAZING outside! but huge lines so we just looked) and headed north near the Accademia to Trattoria ZaZa for a spectacular salmon dinner! Loved it! And we were all really hungry by now - it was 2:30.
As we walked back, we looked for Bargello, a great sculpture museum, that was supposed to be open on Sunday. but Workers' Day closed that as well!! as we headed back to our airbnb, we saw a huge crowd in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, a Medici business building. Turns out there was a dancing group in Medieval dress - we couldn't really see close up. We crossed the PV - with its jewelry stores lining each side! and stopped at the Supermarket for milk for Angie's breakfast. We then had trouble with our key to the outside of our apartment. Fortunately, someone was leaving the building and let us in. Then there are the stairs - probably 40-50 up to our top floor!! Good exercise!! Fortunately, when we arrived, Elisabetta's partner was home and he carried our suitcases up!! Going down should be much easier. Elisabetta's family has lived in these two apartments since the 40s. Ceilings are very high; we have two bedroom/living rooms, a little kitchen and hallway, a bath and an entry way with another single bed.
We had some wine, cheese and crackers in our room for supper. We're also carrying around a bag of delicious apples and oranges that I've had every day. Cathy introduced me to a great breakfast in Bologna - she carries a bag of regular oatmeal, adds water and fruit the night before in a cup and puts it in the fridge for the next morning. She simply microwaves ( you could add nuts, chia seeds, hemp, raisins, whatever) and Voila!! Nutritious, stick to your ribs breakfast! She's sharing with me!!
Today was kind of a work day for me. When I turned my computer on yesterday, I could hear the BOST (the Apple Store guy said that is what that sound a MAC makes is called! I used to just call it the "dingy thing"!) but nothing appeared on the screen. Then it got really hot!! The whole computer. And I had trouble shutting it down! I finally succeeded and tried several times but the same thing happened. So I went in at 10 when they opened and they gave me an appointment for 1:15!!!
So we went off to the Hertz car rental. We saw a Eurocar office and I thought that was where I'd booked! Wrong! They sent us down the street to Hertz. The office was full; I had to take a number. Our reservation isn't until Weds. but I wanted to confirm and also check the size of the car. I sat next to Mary Faith, from Milwaukee, who had thought about going to Clarke College in Dubuque (my alma mater) but ended up at another one in Indiana. We chatted; they were waiting to pick up a rental and go to their rented villa south of Florence for 3 days. They'd been in Rome with a friend of her husband's and got a real insiders tour!!
Finally a woman came out behind the counter and said only those already with a reservation should stay. I went to the counter to ask if I should come back and she quickly tried to look it up. I had the WRONG number because I rented through a broker and THEN to Hertz - sort of like you book on Kayak but they send you to the particular airline. I was able to see my old emails on my iPhone and get the right number for Hertz. Still nothing! She said I had the WRONG Hertz office - there was another one besides at the airport on the other side of the river.
In the meantime I had told Cathy and Angie there was no sense in all of us missing sight-seeing. So they went off to catch the Hop On/Hop Off bus around Florence. I said I'd meet them after Hertz and then Apple!! We ended up not meeting until back at the apartment around 6!
I walked another 1/2 hour to the second Hertz place, right in front of a Metro stop. Lots of cars on the roads here, as opposed to just a few downtown - they are mostly pedestrian streets in town and big fines for driving in cities! The Hertz guy checked that I had a reservation but he couldn't show me a car - he had 6 people with reservations today and only 2 cars!! He showed me a private car outside that he said was about the same size! I got the smallest, cheapest one for just 4 days through Tuscany down to east of Naples at Cerrito Sannita, where we will meet up with David again who can translate when we meet up with Angie's cousins and Uncle, none of whom speak English!! That's this weekend!
Now I had to head back to Apple Store! I went across to the Metro stop and hunted for coins for a E1.20 ticket! Before I could get it, the Metro came!! I grabbed my stuff and hopped on, hoping I could get a ticket on board! No such luck; so I just sat and hoped no one would ask me for my ticket!! And give me a big fine!! It arrived at the main train station where we'd arrived yesterday and I hopped off!! I put the coins in the Poor box by the candles in Il Duomo later!!
I made a bathroom stop at dependable McCafe and grabbed some food to go and walked in the pouring rain back to Apple. After waiting my turn for the Genius to help me (and surreptiously eating my chicken nuggets - I NEVER eat those at home but it was quick!!), I finally got a text saying for me to "return to Apple store." I texted back that I was already there, the soaked, blonde, old lady in the black sweatshirt sitting at a table in the middle of the store." Finally Marco, lovely young man, came over and solved my problem!!! He seemed to think it was my conversion/adaptor that I had bought so I could plug stuff in!! He showed me the little piece that slides off my big MAC plug, but would work in European plugs. I asked if I could buy one here - answer was no. Finally, sweet man, just slid it off and said, "Take it!" So that's how my computer is now plugged in here and recharged!! Somehow he also was able to help get my iPhone to read my Yahoo mail!! That hadn't worked since I've been here!! Big success!
So I sat there and hoped to check all my mail - Would you believe? Apple Store here does NOT have free wifi? I never heard of such a thing! Marco put me on his personal account and said I could use it for 1/2 hour or so. So I got caught up!
Next door was a lovely book store where I was able to buy a road map of southern Italy for our drive later this week. I also found a cute version of Pinocchio, written by Florentine Carlo Collodi (his pen name - really Carlo Lorenzini) in the 1800s. We had seen lots of Pinnochio puppets, etc. around town. I also got a cute Mini-Chef book for the kids with recipes for Italian dishes! To go with the aprons I had bought them in Lucca!
It was too late by this time to meet up with Angie and Cathy on the tour bus so I headed off towards the Duomo area. First I clined the 414 (whew!) steps up the Campanile (Giotto's Tower) because Rick said it was fewer steps and less crowds than the Duomo climb. Turns out the Duomo dome was closed!! But no line so up I went huffing and puffing and taking lots of breaks. But a great view and lots of photos were my reward! Coming down was MUCH easier.
Next was the Duomo itself - most of the good stuff is removed in the Museo Duomo I visited later. The outside of the Duomo is the magnificent part - all green, pink and white Tuscan marble! Rick called it "noisy" from the 1870s. It's claim to fame is the amazing Brunelleschi's magnificent dome! It was copied for St. Peter's, the US capital and many others. It was modeled on the earlier Pantheon dome in Rome.
And the Baptistry. The ceiling of that was magnificent Venetian glass. I had to lay down on a bench to view it! Christ's huge figure had one thumb up, one down doing His Judgement!! The famous bronze doors of Ghiberti's (outside are copies; the originals I saw later inside the Duomo Museum under glass!). Amazing!!
My final stop was the Cathedral Museum behind the Duomo - where many of the original marble work is housed - including a touching Pieta by Michelangelo that was designed for his own tomb! Works by Donatello. They had wifi in the museum so was finally able to connect with Angie who said they were back in the apartment. I wandered through the outside part of the Uffizi on my way home.
We had a great pizza dinner at a little hole in the wall David and Elise (his girlfriend) had discovered when they lived here two years ago studying. So we went and took pictures with the owners who knew David and Elise well!! Fun evening! Home with our daily gelato!! White chocolate and a chocolate with nuts!! MMMMmmmmm!
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