Italy: part two

This is us on the train to Florence, and as you recall, after this pic was taken, Stephen was sleeping as I flipped through books furiously before our arrival. This was not a day for sight seeing, but for finding the Hertz rental office, getting our rental car, and heading towards our villa near Sienna. Karen was flying into Florence the next day and we were planning on getting a large amount of sight seeing done then. We got to the train station around 11:30 and had about two hours before we were supposed to pick up our car, so we checked our bags at the station and went in search of lunch and the Hertz office. Found the office and then an Internet cafe, so we stopped and checked up on Anna through email. We then started walking back towards the station and found a hole in the wall pizza vendor (really good food that was really cheap). We made it back to the station and sat on the marble floor at the station and enjoyed our lunch. Yeah, their train stations have marble floors..NUTS! OK, the weather there was never above 75 or so until right before we left, so sitting at the station (which is an open air station, not enclosed) on the floor was a very nice experience (if you don't mind sitting on the floor). While we ate, we had this little sparrow hop over to us like he was waiting for us to feed him. He was very sure of himself too, super cute. It was a very peaceful little lunch. So, we got our bags and headed back to the Hertz office to get our rental car. We got AWESOME directions out of town from the rental lady and were on our way. The streets in Italy are very small, especially in the center of the cities, which are mainly old stone buildings and cobblestone streets that were created centuries ago with the mind of only housing walking travelers. So, throw in a few cars, it gets a little hectic. Stephen did an AMAZING job and Karen and I were constantly thanking God that we were not the ones driving. : ) We arrived at our villa later that afternoon after a few detours (unwanted of course) and were overwhelmed with the beauty of the Tuscan countryside. The Pappini family was extremely generous and offered us complementary Red wine, Cherry marmalade and Lemionchello (lemon flavor liquor)..all made from their farm. Please enjoy the numerous pictures of our villa that we were so happy to have stayed in for 5 days and 6 nights.Our car. It was a Peugeot. The Italians are not NEAR as vain about their cars as Americans. It is all about economy.The villa, exterior. Apparently (we learned by reading the guest book) that the father of the household, Roberto, renovated and remodeled the entire villa with his son, Alesandro.
Stephen and I at the villa. They called their home Torrenpietra.The Papinni's home. It was not very far from the villa at all. Interior of the villa showing kitchen/living area. Stephen would write all the days happenings down each evening in a journal his mom had given him titled "Jots and Tittles", which apparently is a quote from a verse in the bible in good ole King James version. Matthew 5 :18, check it out if you have KJV. Pretty funny.
That is a tractor over there in the distance. It is not a motor bike. It was SO SMALL!
Stairs that lead to upstairs. It had one bath downstairs and one upstairs. It was a two bedroom and the windows opened up to the most gorgeous view in the morning.

Interior of the villa looking at the front door.
Their cherry tree that we saw one morning as we were leaving. We took a picture of it and Mr. Pappini saw us, walked over and offered us some. They were very good, ripe, but a little sour. That afternoon when we returned, the two grandmothers of the household had picked it clean.
The view from the villa at sunset in Italy. Those are vineyards. They were everywhere you looked, rows and rows of them. Just stunning.

So, the rest of the evening was filled with Stephen and I driving to a small town nearby and eating dinner, going to a small coop market and getting some groceries and another unwanted detour on the way back to the villa. Lets just say that there are not very many helpful street signs in Italy.
The rest of the post will be in itinerary form.

Sunday, June 15, 2008: Got up, ate breakfast that Stephen cooked. Eggs and toast with Cherry marmalade from our own villa's garden. YUM. Left for Florence. Karen's ETA is around 4 pm. So we are going to try to get as much done as possible before she arrives, because she has been to Florence before. Get to Florence with little problems, we feel that through our trials from previous evenings detours that we are becoming old pros at the Italy highway system. We get to the Duomo in Florence (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) and are DEVASTATED to learn that because it is Sunday, the church will not open until 1 pm and close at 4 pm. We had not thought of this and were frustrated at first when most all churches (which house most of the artwork in the city) were closed on Sunday morning. We have an appointment with the Uffizi gallery at 2pm, so we piddle around town and spend some time at the Baptistery doors in front of the Duomo. These doors were created by Lorenzo Ghiberti and it took him 28 years to complete them. When Michelangelo saw them for the first time, he dubbed them the "Gates of Paradise". They have remained by that title since then. I have always loved them and was able to actually see the 10 panels that depict various events in biblical history. Good moment.The "Gates of Paradise"

We went to Uffizi gallery and were able to see some amazing artworks. Botticelli's "Primavera" and "Birth of Venus". We were also able to see a few works by Michelangelo and Da Vinci. It was an amazing collection and I was so happy to see those works that I have wanted to see since I laid eyes on the slides in my Art History classes. Unfortunately we were unable to get pictures, they are not allowed.
The replica of Michelangelo's "David" outside Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The original was here from 1504 until it was moved to the Academia Gallery in 1873 to protect it from the elements.
The center of the Uffizi gallery corridor. It is filled with statues of famous Florentines who since the middle ages until the 19th century were distinguished in some way. There were quite a few that I knew as major contributors to history. To name a few: Vespucci (as in Amerigo), Galileo, Michelangelo, Donatello.

A parade was going on this day in Florence. I never found out what it was celebrating.


We met up with Karen right after the Uffizi gallery marathon ( it was a ton of stuff to see in a short time to see it) and went to the Duomo to sit for a while and find out where we wanted to go to dinner. I got a chance to check out the "Gates" again. : ) We had some time to kill since most all restaurants do not open until around 7:30 in Italy (they eat very late), so we decided to walk over to the Arno River since we were in spitting distance. Not a very pretty river. Very dirty. Anyway, we waited until 7:25 and we headed over to the restaurant.
The restaurant, "Trattoria dei 13 Gobbi" was recommended by one of the books we had. SO NICE. Was the best dining experience to date as far as atmosphere. We had a lemon tree behind us for goodness sakes. Our waiter was awesome. He was very nice and spoke really good English and he did not seem irritated by our questions at all, which is something we were beginning to get used to.


We headed back to the villa that evening pretty late. I did not get to see Duomo that day, but we discussed it, and my determination to see it brought us back on Tuesday of that week. I will talk more about that on the next post when I talk about our day trips to Sienna, Pisa, Assisi and many more. Sorry for the length, it was just so great, I hate to leave out too many things.