Florence - Day 2

Wednesday - We had breakfast at the hotel as we needed to be back near the train station by 9:45 for our city tour. No backpacks or large bags allowed on this tour. Plus, there is a dress code as we will be touring some churches. 

Some stress, for me, this morning as we weren’t sure how the public transit system works. It turns out that we just tap a payment card and we ride the bus. It needs to be a separate card for each person. We made the tour starting point and the walking tour guide, Matt, was great. He walked slowly and was conscious that he had about 15 people behind him. The carousel was just a convenient spot to regroup.

He provided lots of history and insight of the area. This church was, at one time, the largest in the world. We had “skip-the-line” tickets for all of the stops. 

The painting was incredibly detailed and the building was in daily use. Not just a monument and tourist attraction. 

We made lots of stops and walked around 10k steps in the process. Lots of marble statues, churches, and a few bridges thrown in to keep things interesting. 

The last stop was at Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze. The lines here were ridiculous. Even with our “skip-the-line” pass, we still waited about 30 minutes. Way better than the several hour queue with day-of tickets. 

The iconic statue here was Michaelangelo’s David. They controlled the number of people in the small museum so it wasn’t too crowded. I even found many opportunities to sit down. Arthritis is making it more difficult for me to stand up all day. 

The tour was fantastic and recommended. Just realize that a lot of walking is required. We stopped at a random place for lunch before taking the bus back to the hotel. Now that we know how it works, it was easy. My only problem is my phone battery was getting low and I didn’t bring my battery pack. 

Florence -Day 1

Tuesday - After breakfast at the hotel, we took a water taxi to the Santa Lucia Station to catch our train to Florence. The front desk made the reservation for us and the desk clerk led us out and pointed out the pickup location. Very nice hotel. 

We were the only ones on the water taxi so we could stand up at the open roof and gawk at the scenery. It wasn’t a really long ride but would’ve been a long walk hauling our luggage. 

The Chiesa di San Simeon Piccolo was across the canal from the train station, and we had a bit over an hour wait for our train. 

There is a long bridge from Venice to the mainland just for the train. The ride is very smooth and quiet. We have our luggage with us in the overhead trays. We have plenty of room though others with much larger suitcases seem to be having difficulty finding space. 

Florence is a zoo compared to Venice! It took us a while to find the taxi stand and it was a wild ride to the hotel. Very narrow streets, pedestrians, dogs, horse drawn carriages, people in wheelchairs, bicycles, and scooters. Then add in buses, double parked everything, plus tons of cars, and one way streets. Bridget is upset by the cab ride. She thinks the cab driver added time and distance to the trip.

Venice - Day 3

Monday - Basically, a free day today. Nothing planned except Bridget’s trip to an Italian yarn shop. We then crossed on the Rialto Bridge to the less touristy part of Venice and gradually worked our way back. 

Lots of bell towers, and most of them had a lean to them unless they were attached to another building. One of the surprises was discovering Eduroam WiFi access points. This is a widespread WiFi access utilizing credentials from your “home” institution. In my case, the University of Alaska. Pretty cool (imho)!

The views down the canals are still not getting old. These are all water taxis as the gondolas are more common in the tourist areas. At least that’s what we were told by the extremely helpful hotel reception desk. 

We stopped for a snack, double espresso and lemon gelato, and had a great view of all the boat traffic. 

Near the University, we passed a gondola repair shop. Along this walk, we also passed hardware stores, grocery shops, and electronics stores. In the tourist areas, it’s all high end fashion brands and souvenir shops. 

We crossed the Grand Canal at the Ponte dell'Accademia, a wooden bridge near the university, and headed back towards the hotel. Over 9,000 steps. We are getting our exercise in around here. 

Would I return to Venice or is it a one and done? It’s a beautiful city though very expensive. I think the property and rent prices drive up the cost for everything. Dinner ranges from €60 to €100 and the breakfast buffet at the hotel was €30. Bridget decided to pass on the ultra-tourist gondola ride. For me, it’s between a one and done and I’ll return. We’ll see at the end of the trip as this is the only part of Italy I’ve seen…

Italy - Day 2 - Murano & Burano

Sunday - We met this morning for a 25 minute boat ride to Murano, where decorative glass is made. It was another of the older speedboats with a spectacular wooden interior. 

There are around a hundred artisans on the island and, we were told, that most of the Murano glass sold to tourists is imported from elsewhere. Why am I not surprised by that.

We were given a demo of a vase and a horse. One blown and the other solid. The ovens are 1200°C, with pools of molten glass at the bottom. After picking up a blob (technical term from me as I wasn’t paying attention), he proceeded to gradually blow it then reheat before creating the vase. The colors are created by rolling the blob in pieces of colored glass then reheating. 

The horse starts out the same but no blowing into the blob of glass. A lot of skill was demonstrated even creating these throw-away demonstration pieces. The vase shattered after about three minutes as it wasn’t put into a 600°C oven to cool. After ~8 hours, the ovens are shut off and the pieces cool overnight. 

We then took the boat to Burano, another island specializing in lace and cookies. 

Here are some of the lace made here. Up to seven individuals are involved with each piece as each artisan specializes in one stitch. 

Burano is also known for its colorful buildings. These were shops mixed with homes. The bell tower in the background is leaning due to the unstable soil. The tower next to St Marks basilica does not lean as it was recently rebuilt after being it collapsed in the early 1900s. 

Here is a better view of the bell tower showing the lean. It’s quite pronounced. 

On the boat trip back, we passed an island with a rocket. I don’t know what that was about.