Duomo arigato

Monday was our first day without any structured plans. Originally we were supposed to have a tour in the morning, but after learning that some of the museums and monuments are closed on Mondays, we decided to reschedule for Tuesday.

We set out at about 11am, walked through Piazza Santa Maria Novella and walked to the east through some street merchants to the "Duomo" or Cathedral of Florence. The cathedral was built in the 13th - 15th centuries as a place of meeting as well as worship, then had a beautiful marble facade added in the 19th century. The Facade is made of white, green and pink marble and is stunningly intricate with hundreds of sculptures and adornments. The piazza has the cathedral, a bell tower, and the baptistery. The baptistery is an octagonal marble building but is adorned in a more medieval style with simple geometric patterns. This building is one of the oldest in Florence and is really relatively simple aside from its intricate doors which have sculpted panels.

Inside the cathedral is a vast amount of space. It was built with the ability to hold about 30 thousand people. It has high arched ceilings and large stained glass windows throughout but the highlight of the interior is the dome over the center. The dome is painted with a huge fresco. The painting is of the final judgment and has figures in heaven, during judgment and in hell. We decided that we wanted a closer look, so we headed around the cathedral to the entrance of the cupola.

Brunelleschi's cupola is visible from almost anywhere in Florence since it sits well above all of the buildings on the skyline. Unfortunately there is no lift to the top so you must trek up 463 stone steps to get there. The space is tight and I wouldn't recommend the hike if you are at all claustrophobic. The stairways are not wide enough for more than 1 person to pass at a time and there really isn't an awful lot of ventilation so it is rather stuffy. About half of the way up (seems like forever) you get access to the inside of the dome and can walk around where the base of the dome and the cathedral ceiling meet. Then you return to the cramped steps for the remainder of the trip until you reach the top. The view is stunning, with 360 degrees of the city and surrounding landscape. We remained at the top for about 15 minutes then began the descent. On the way down you get to walk around the inside of the dome, this time at the base of the fresco, it is amazing to see that each of the figures must be 15 feet tall, we stopped here for a while and let others pass so we could try and take in all of the painting. Eventually we made our way back down to the street.

We continued to walk around the city and came upon Dante Alighieri's house. The house is relatively hidden within some small side streets. It is well preserved and is now a museum to this famous poet. There is a bookstore as well. My favorite was the children's illustrated inferno - nice.

Eventually our wondering made us hungry for dinner. We settled down at a place called Il Cavollino with a view of Palazzo Vechio. I had wild boar with a tomato sauce which was awesome. After dinner and a cappuccino we strolled back to the hotel, getting some gelato along the way. All in all it was a nice relaxing day.

Jake & Erica - 0. Italian Trains - 2.

Jake and I travelled from Siena to Florence on Sunday. Happily, our train wasn't until 12:44, so we had a bit of time in the morning to sleep in, get breakfast, and get all packed up. We were worried that travelling might be a little rough after our wine filled Saturday, but we were actually both feeling great!

We headed to the train station in Siena fairly early. After our struggles with the trains in Rome, we wanted to make sure that we had plenty of time to get where we needed to be. However, when we got to the station, we realized that this was much smaller than Termini, and it was really easy to get to our platform. I was a little nervous because the man at the ticket desk told us that we couldn't get reservations for this train. I did NOT want to get stuck without a seat again, but he insisted that we wouldn't need them. And, he was right. When the train came, we got on and sat down with no issue. We made friends with a couple from Tenessee on the train. They were also headed from Siena to Florence.
Right around the time that the train was supposed to arrive at Florence, we pulled up to a station with big signs all around that said FIRENZE Redicci. Well, we knew that Firenze was florence so we hopped off. The husband of the couple we met hopped off as well, and his wife was a few steps behind him. The three of us watched in horror and shock as the train doors closed on her, and the train pulled away!! Jake and I felt so bad for the man and his wife. We offered to let him use our cell to give her a call, but sadly he didn't know her number.
After we got over this event, and took a moment to look around us, we realized that we were in a very small, fairly empty train station. This did not seem like Florence. After some research we realized that we were actually supposed to get off at the next stop - FIRENZE S.M.N. Oops. So we found the next train to the right station, hauled all of our bags down the stairs, then up the stairs to the correct platform, and sat down to wait. A few minutes later, they announced that our train had switched tracks and we needed to go to a new platform. So again we went down the stairs and up the stairs with all of our bags. Guess what happened next?? They switched the platform AGAIN! Back to the very same one that we started on. I thought Jake was going to hit someone if he had to drag that stupid giant suitcase around one more time, but luckily that was the final change, and a few minutes later the train arrived. We made it to Florence without further incident.
We parted ways with the husband before he found his wife at the station, so we're both still wondering if they ever managed to find each other. I really hope they did!

Montalcino

One of the things we had been looking forward to the most about our trip was our guided tour of the wineries around Montalcino. Our guide, Silvio, picked us up about 9am and we headed off into the countryside. The montalcino region of Tuscany is famous for 2 types of wine - Rosso and Brunello. Silvio talked to us about the area and its history as well as about the grapes (Sangiovese) and what goes into making the world famous wine. The winemakers are monitored closely by a governing body and are only allowed to produce a limited amount of grapes for these special wines. Because of this the growers go out into the fields and pull down a percentage of the grapes at different times during the season. They find the grapes that are not up to par and toss them onto the ground around the vines. This allows the remaining plants to absorb all of the sugars from the discarded grapes. After harvesting the grapes are fermented and moved to barrels made of slovanian oak for 2 years and then into bottles for another 2 years before being released as brunello to the market. The rosso wines are only aged for about half of the time and have less strict standards than the brunellos.

We made our first stop at Castello Romitorio, which is owned by artist Sandro Chia. The grounds surround a 12th century medieval stone fortress which is now the private residence of the owner. The structure sits on top of a hill and has a view of montalcino. The Cellar is quite modern with large stainless steel barrels for maturation and hundreds of smaller wood barrels. There are also machines for the sorting of grapes and bottling the wine. We went into the guest house and were treated to tasting of 3 of the wines - Rosso 2006, Sant Antimo 2006 and Brunello 2004.

We then visited the Fattoi winery which is a family owned and operated small winery. The family does all of their own harvesting by hand. We tasted their Brunello 2003 and 2004 to see the differences in the same wine from differnet vintages. We also had the chance to go out into the vineyard and see the family harvesting the grapes. You could see the remnants of the earlier discarded grapes at the base of the vines.

We then headed to lunch. Silvio took us to an out of the way restaurant that was inhabiting a thirteenth century church. The restaurant has no menu. Instead the chef prepares a number of fresh dishes and places them out on a table for the patrons to try. The dishes are different every day based on what is available and fresh. We had a fantastic tomato soup, roast beef with a fresh green pesto sauce, greek salad with fresh olives, roasted vegetables, cauliflower souffle and fresh pasta with panchetta and a light butter/cream sauce. Everything was delicious. For dessert, we had small cookies made without eggs or milk (but with red wine) and a mixture of ricotta cheese and coffee - which was incredible. Silvio was nice enough to get us a bottle of Ferrero Brunello di Montalcino to enjoy with our lunch. It was fantastic. We were supposed to visit the Ferrero vineyard as well, but the husband and wife that run the vineyard decided to start their harvest that day, so unfortunately they had to cancel. The wine is a favorite of Silvio's though, and he didn't want us to miss out on it.

After lunch, we headed to Sant Antimo church which was founded by Charlemaigne and is now home to some gregorian monks. The church sits in a valley surounded by olive trees and vineyards.Unfortunately we weren't able to hear the monks chant as they changed their times due to a special anniversary that day, but the church was beautiful.

Our next stop was to the estate of Biandi Santi. This vinyard sits on "Tenuta Greppo" so we wanted to check out the place with Erica's family name. Unfortunately since it is harvest time, we were not able to tour the cellars or go out into the fields. Biandi Santi is kind of the patriarch of the region, as he developed the standards that are used for making Brunello. The property is gorgeous with large cypress trees lining the private road and ivy covering the residence.

For our next stop, Silvio took us to visit the totally organic winery, San Polino. The winery is owned and operated by a woman named Katya and her family helps her run the business. The winery is in an old tuscan farmhouse where the family lives upstairs and the wine is produced below. Katya was born and raised in London, but has lived in Tuscany for over 20 years. She took time to bring us into the vineyard and show us the vines and grapes, to taste the fruit and explain their process and methodology. They use no pesticides, fungicides or herbicides and pick all of the grapes by hand. We took a tour through all of the barrels, and then sat down behind the farmhouse for the tasting. We had a chance to taste the Rosso 2007 (which was just bottled - and didn't even have a label on it yet) and the Brunello 2004. We also got a sneak peek of the brunello 2008 straight from the barrel. The view from San Polino is absolutely incredible, it is completely unobstructed and you can see the valley and far away mountains for miles and miles. The land is sparcely populated and seems relatively untouched. Unfortunately my pictures don't do it any justice.

After leaving Katya, we traveled up to montalcino. It is a classic medeivel city similar but smaller than Siena. The streets are narrow and curve up and down throughout in steep hills. We spent some time at the fortress at the high point of the city and climbed the tower for a 360 degree view of the area.

After a capuccino, we headed to our last winery, Marco Lazzaretti. Marco is a young wine maker who has gotten a lot of praise from the wine community. Marco's first brunello in 2001 received critical acclaim and a 94 from wine spectator magazine. This is a testament to his ability as a winemaker. He has a small cellar with large barrels of slovanian oak and we sat down at a table surrounded by them to taste his wine. We tasted his rosso 2006 and 2007 as well as his brunello 2004. Tasting was accompanied by a selection of meats and cheese, and we had some conversation with Marco while Silvio translated.

We arrived back at the hotel after 9pm making it a very full 12 hours of wine tasting and site seeing. Silvio was a great guide and all of the wines we sampled were outstanding. We have a few bottles heading back to us after we arrive ,as it was hard to leave the vineyards empty handed. So far this has been the highlight of our trip!

Siena

Jake and I didn't have very much time in Siena. We arrived on Friday afternoon, and left on Sunday morning. We knew that all day Saturday would be spent touring Montalcino, so Friday was really our only time to explore the city. After quickly checking into our hotel, we set out, and wandered the streets. Siena is a traditional medieval city. It's built on a big hill, with walls surrounding everything, and small winding roads. At the center is a large shell shaped piazza called Piazza del Campo. We stayed in the Piazza for a while, and watched the people go by. We were hoping to grab a (very) late lunch while we explored, since we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Unfortunately we quickly learned that all of the restaurants in Siena close between 3 and 7. Food at 4:00 is hard to come by!

After our outing, we headed back to our hotel to relax for a little while. I was surprised by our hotel in Siena. I expected it to be something quaint, and traditional, but it was actually much more modern than our hotel in Rome! It was a really nice room, and the location made it easy to walk to everything which was nice.

For dinner that night, we decided to try a restaurant called Osteria le Loggio. It's just about half a block south of Piazza del Campo, and it was recommended to us by our travel agent, as well as listed as a suggested restaurant in our guide book. Our meal there was delicious, and really reasonable. The only thing we had that we didn't love was the appetizer that our waiter recommended - tripe stuffed with chickpeas and cheese, served with tomato sauce. I will say it's the best tripe I've ever had, but really, I'm just not a fan. I had risotto with mushrooms and duck liver for my dinner, and Jake got a bean soup with homemade ravioli stuffed with cheese and chickory. Both were excellent.

By the time dinner was over, it was about 10:30, and since we knew Saturday would be a long day, we decided to turn in for the night. So that's really all of the time we spent in Siena. It was actually a nice change from the business of Rome, and I'm really happy that we got to spend some time there.

Leaving Rome

Today we were headed to Siena for the next leg of our trip. Our travel agent had booked us reservations on the 8:30 train to Chiusi, where we could get a connecting train to Siena, but after looking at the train schedule, we decided that we would take the 10:44 train instead, and give ourselves some extra time to sleep and have breakfast. It sounded like a good idea at the time. After all we had a first class rail pass good for any train, so we headed to Termini station at about 9:15.

I waited in line at the ticket counter to get our rail pass stamped and was told that all we needed to do was put the date in, i was also told that if we wanted to reserve seats we could do so for 3 Euro per person, but that wouldn't be necessary. So we headed off to find our train. The station had large signs and we could see our train listed, however no track number was given. We waited around for a while but still no track number and we began to get a bit nervous since it was closing in on 10:40 and we had no clue where the train was. Suddenly all of the signs went blank - All of them. in the entire station. I went to the info booth where the gentleman there seemed to have no interest in helping me. He told me begrudgingly that the train was on track 11, so we headed there to find a train out of service. I headed back to the counter only to see that the train was on the platform right behind the info booth. We hopped onto the first car (thinking that this was a first class car) and were repeatedly pushed out of our seats by people with reserved seating. We moved to car 2, then 3, then 4 just to find no seats, all the while dragging all of our luggage along with us. We hopped off the train to talk to one of the conductors and were told that without a reservation we would need to pay a difference but to go to car #5, and sit in seats 41, 42 or 43. After finding no empty seats on that car we hopped off then back on to car #6 just moments before the doors closed and the train started moving. We finally found some empty seats, and sat down sweaty and exhausted after having to run with all of our bags through a crowded train for the last half hour.

Later after we had been riding for a while the same man from the platform came by collecting tickets. He told me that we owed 10 euro since we had no reservations, he also told us we could move to the first class car (2 cars away). I am still not sure why he didn't direct us there in the first place, just as i am unsure why the man at the ticket counter didn't tell me that I needed a reservation since it would have only cost me 6 euro at the desk instead of the 10 i had to pay. Lesson learned - never get on the train without a reservation.

Ciao Roma!

We had a lot planned for our last full day in Rome, so we got up bright and early at 6:30. After grabbing a quick breakfast at the hotel, we met our tour bus outside at 7:45. We had a 3 hour walking tour of Vatican City planned for the morning. The tour kicked off with the Vatican City Museum. The Museum is actually what used to be the private residence of the Pope. The portion that we toured is a series of halls filled with amazing artwork. The first hall that we walked through was decorated with roman statues. Of course we had to take a picture of the statue of Atlanta! She was a famous runner. Her story is that she could never be beaten in any of her races, until her last. At the end of this race, she dropped a handful of golden coins. When she bent to retrieve the coins, she was passed, and she didn't manage to regain her lead.
The next hall we walked through had amazing tapestries lining the walls. A couple of the tapestries had optical illusions in them, so that as you walked past, the figures in the tapestries would turn, so that they were always facing you. It was incredible to see them, and know that they were handmade, hundreds of years ago. The ceiling in this room was also really incredible. The entire thing looked like it was sculpted of marble, but it was really one big fresco painting. The dimension of the ceiling was so realistic that it was hard to believe!
Next we walked through a hall decorated with incredibly intricate handmade maps. The pope ordered the maps to be made because at the time most people would not be able to travel, so the maps allowed people to see what the world looked like.
After this it was time to see the Sistine Chapel. You aren't allowed to take any pictures or video in the chapel, and frankly, I'm not sure that it would matter if we had. I'm pretty sure anything we took wouldn't even begin to do this place justice. I think you could stand in there for a week and not see all of the detail in all of the paintings.
For the last stop on our tour, we went back to St. Peters Basilica. Even though we had just been there the day before, it was just as wonderful the second time. This tour guide gave us some different and interesting facts that the first had left out, and she also took us around to some different areas of the church. The mosaics in St. Peters are just so beautiful, I feel like I could stare at them all day. I really can't wrap my mind around how they were created. Did you know that it took five years to create each one? And that's with an original painting to work from!
At the end of the tour, the guide took us to a souvenir shop where you could purchase vatican artifacts. We had been to the same shop the day before (Jake and I suspect that the tour company owns the shop!), so instead of going in, we took a seat on the ledge outside. We thought we were lucky to get a spot on this ledge, but it turns out we weren't as fortunate as we thought. After a few minutes of rest we both got pooped on by a pidgeon!! Ack! It was not pleasant. Someone was nice enough to donate a wet nap to help us clean ourselves up, and luckily at that point it was time for us to head back to the hotel anyway.
After a shower and a change of clothes, we headed back out for our afternoon adventures. We found a cute little pizza place where we stopped for lunch, and after that, we walked over to Piazza de Spania, and the Spanish Steps. The view from the top of the steps was really amazing. We spent some time just relaxing on the steps, and watching the crowds of people walk by. Then we walked around the Piazza for a bit, and did some window shopping. At around 6 we took the metro back to our hotel. We decided to make it a pretty early night, since we had to travel to Siena in the morning. So, after a nap and a shower, we just walked out to a little pasta place down the road from the hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and turned in for the night.
I can't believe the first leg of our trip is over already. Rome was so wonderful. I would be really sad to leave, except I am so excited for all of the other places that we get to visit, and I know that we get to come back for a few days at the end of our trip. That made leaving a lot easier!

Rome Day 2

After a rough night trying to adjust to the time difference, we awoke and were down in the hotel lobby at 7:45am. We were picked up by our tour company and headed out with about 12 fellow travelers to take a tour of some of the monuments around rome.

We started out at Trevi Fountain, where we each tossed a coin in so as to assure our return one day (turns out that the city sweeps all the coin out of the fountain twice a week and gives it to charity). We then walked to the Pantheon which stands out quite a bit from it's surroundings. Inside this ancient building is a large dome which is comprised completely of stone with a large opening in the top. This is in fact the largest dome of its kind in the world. The interior of the Pantheon has been converted from a temple for all gods (the name pantheon actually means "all gods") to a christian church. This is also the location of the resting place of the famous renaissance artist rapheal, who died at age 37. We walked from here to piazza navona which used to be a location for chariot races, but is now the location of a palace built by an emperor for his mother in law. We stopped here for a capuccino and we learned that if you buy the coffee to take away it costs a third of the price you pay if you sit at a table.

Next, we boarded a bus and headed to Vatican City. It was a Wednesday so the Pope was at St Peter's and this was obvious by the sheer volume of people in the square around the Bascilica as well as the large screens showing the Pope's readings in multiple languages. After waiting in line for about 15 minutes, we were able to enter the church. St. Peter's is the largest and tallest chruch in the world. Inside the church is filled from floor to ceiling with great works of art in marble. Hundreds of statues and giant mosaics of religious figures are around every corner and in every crevace. Some highlights are the Sculpture of Pieta by Michelangelo which is arguably the most beautiful scuplture on earth. this is the only sculpture behind glass after being damaged by a visitor in 1972. We also saw the 800 year old bronze statue of St Peter. So many people walk by and touch Peter's feet that its foot has been replaced 3 times already. This is also home to Michelangelo's second most famous ceiling as he is the architect of the High dome at St Peter's. This was the end of our tour and we headed back to the hotel.

We decided to head down toward the ancient area of the city and grab some lunch. We found a restaurant called Wanted, and sat down. We ordered some prosciutto and melon as an appetizer, followed by pizza (we quickly learned that one is plenty large enough to share). Lunch was very satisfying and we headed on down to the Roman forum shortly afterward.

The area of the forum is filled with ruins of collumns, roadways, arches and buildings. My only complaint is that the city has placed some modern suplture around the area. These scupltures (which are beautiful) seem extremely out of place and really detract from the feeling that this area has. I am really confused by the city's decision to do this. We took a short jaunt to the colosseum and walked around. This is a really amazing place and unfortunatley pictures don't do it justice as to the feel of the environment or in its size - the stadium would hold 40,000 people!

We decided to take the subway back to the hotel, change and head to dinner. We stopped in a small place just near piazza barbarini. We had some caprese salad, pasta carbonara and homemade tortelini. After dinner we headed back to Trevi Fountain. The Fountain was much more busy in the evening than it was at 8:45am. We had some gelato and walked back to the hotel where we called it a night.

Hello Roma!

Jacob and I have made it to Italy! After a crazy Monday filled with last minute packing and errands, and a pretty quick and easy plane ride, we landed in Rome at 9:45 this morning. The weather was sunny and beautiful, which was a welcome change from soggy Atlanta. We grabbed a cab at the airport, and were treated to an extremely scenic ride to our hotel. Rome is really amazing. Everywhere you look, there is something to see.

Unfortunately when we arrived at our hotel we were told that our room wouldn't be ready until 2:00. Thankfully, they were nice enough to hold our bags for us though, so Jake and I were free to wander around the city for a few hours. We spent some time walking in circles, familiarizing ourselves with the area. We walked through Termini Station, and Piaza del Esquilino, and eventually settled down for some lunch. We had delicious Pizza Margherita with espresso to end. It was fantastic. After that it was time to make our way back to the hotel.

Our hotel is gorgeous. It might be the prettiest room I've ever stayed in. It's on the 6th floor, and it has huge windows that open up, and look over the city.

After a quick nap and showers, Jake and I headed back out. Our goal was to walk over to the Spanish steps, but unfortunately it started raining before we made it that far. We did get to walk through a lovely garden, and Piaza Barberini on our way though. We stopped in a gelateria, you know, just to get out of the rain, and had some wonderful gelato. After that we decided it was time to head back to the hotel since we need to be ready for our tour at 7:45 tomorrow morning. That's pretty much it for our first day in Rome. So far, I love everything about it!