hello again, i mentioned in my last post that the mister and i stayed in an apartment in Florence for two weeks a few years ago. we used the company Untours (www.untours.com) and found an apartment with one bedroom, sitting room, kitchen, small balcony, on the second floor of an ancient stone building which had a Medici emblem as well as the high water mark from the horrible floods. Untours is a great way to travel and our Untours Rep, Mary Jane, was absolutely wonderful and helped make our trip an unqualified success.
in transitioning from windows to MacBook, Picasa to iPhoto, i've misplaced my Florence photos. when i find them i'll include some but they're just like yours or your cousin's, or whoever you know who went, it's a wonderful place but pretty much the same as it has since we've been invading...so my pix aren't going to make much difference to the travelling world...
anyway, the benefits of staying in a neighborhood instead of the tourist areas, apartment instead of hotel, are: local restaurants, which are MUCH CHEAPER and friendlier than in the tourist area; local groceries (i love to shop for groceries in foreign countries); chance encounters with locals, and in Italy, they love us; great opportunities to see less well known points of interest. there were two ancient churches in our neighborhood, each of which had interesting architecture and wonderful paintings. we were right around the corner from the architecture museum which had a wonderful garden and our bus stop was next to the garden wall, so we could enjoy the garden whilst waiting for our bus.
the other part about staying in a neighborhood is that you aren't tempted to cluster with other tourists. i think we take the path of least resistance sometimes and gravitate to people who speak our language. if we're staying in a neighborhood in another country, there probably aren't as many people from our 'real life' and i think we learn more and are able to make contact.
i mentioned in a previous post that my beloved Garmin GPS and my husband's wallet were (probably) pickpocketed while we were waiting for a bus near Duomo. I put my gps in my rear pocket (the term dead ass immediately comes to mind) and husb put his little wallet (complete with retired military ID card and credit cards) in his breast pocket. i was a cop for 20 years and i probably warned people about pick pockets 20 thousand times, altho this isn't a big problem in our area, thank goodness. so, when i discovered that warren's wallet was gone, i retraced our route and ensured that we hadn't left it at a charming little shop, etc. after i made the trek i discovered that my gps was missing, also, and realized that we hadn't left those items, they had been removed from our person(s). i was stunned. i couldn't believe that I (I!) could be the victim of a pickpocket......
i observed two types of law enforcement officer in Florence: police and carabiniere. i didn't know who would have jurisdiction over this type of tourist victimization, so called our Untours Rep, Mary Jane, who advised carabiniere and told us she would be right over to assist us. i told her that we wouldn't need any assistance (it was late evening by that time and I didn't want to inconvenience her any more than necessary), she replied that since we didn't speak Italian she could help with the report and i told her that i had a big gold badge and my retired id card and i was sure that as soon as i flipped that out we would be taken care of--i know, it sounds cheesy, but that's the way it goes...
anyway, we had already notified all the banks, fortunately, not all his cards were taken, and we tried to notify the nearest US military installation about the ID card; then we called a cab (the only time we didn't use public transport) and hied on over to the carabiniere HQ. at the entrance were two TALL, DARK, AND EXTREMELY HANDSOME young men in beautifully fitted uniforms. be still my heart. they did not speak English but gestured to a sign-in book. i signed in and got out my badge case. we were not pushed ahead of any other citizens but when it came time for our interview by the desk sergeant, the shift commander came in and made it a little easier to complete the report since he had traveled extensively with his family in the US and had actually been to our town. i must admit that the sergeant got a little chuckle when he listed my occupation...retired senior deputy sheriff... and actually guffawed when he asked me my assignment and i admitted to a few years in the crime lab...
despite this experience, i still regard our trip to Florence as an unqualified success. our carelessness was our fault and our responsibility and the thefts could have happened anywhere.
we used the wonderful intercity rail system to make a trip to Assisi one day and Pisa another day. we hired a car and driver and took a trip through Tuscany one day, which was wonderful. the rest of the time we were on our own, except for a half day orientation tour with Mary Jane. we had our choice of location and toured the central market, which was magnificent. we had a wonderful lunch at a little market restaurant, outside.
we used the internet to make museum reservations; the apartment had wifi. my mistake in the Uffizi was to use a downloaded audio tour from a well known American travel writer/tour guide/pbs television host: it was outdated and did not include reorganizations of the collection. i would rent the audio tour at the museum or take a guided tour in the future.
i did extensive reading/research before we left and usually travel with three different guidebooks as well as maps of all sizes and configurations. i don't carry all that stuff while we're sightseeing but i like to be able to refer when planning a days' touring. i found the church of San Miniato which is described in Wiki as one of the finest Romanesque churches and one of the most beautiful in Italy. it stands on a tall hill, with a beautiful view of the city. the interior is gorgeous and no description or photo is really able to accurately reproduce what you feel and see when you sit in the pews. there is an organ concert, free, open to the public, every week (check on days/times), and a mass in one of the chapels with Gregorian Chanting by monks from the monastery adjacent. i'm neither Catholic nor religious but this church is worth the hike up the serpentine roadway and i'd do it again just to enjoy the incredible beauty of the church, exterior, interior, landscaping, music, a truly wonderful and worthwhile experience.
i found all the usual tourist locations in Florence to be OUTSTANDING but you have heard about or seen for yourself, so i won't try to do better than the guidebooks. i loved sitting at an outdoor cafe near the Duomo, people watching.
i also loved the one of the churches around the corner: San Marco, which has the wonderful paintings of Fra Angelico where they were painted, in the cells of the monks, including Savonarola.
i especially love pottery, so the facade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti, Piazza della Santissima Annunziata with beautiful della Robbia plaques, was something i photographed over and over, wish i could find them right now. the Ospedale was also around the corner from our apartment. but every neighborhood in Florence has noteworthy and beautiful buildings containing breathtaking art.
my husband's physical condition no longer allows the kind of hiking we've done in Europe, so i'm taking trips with gal pals and my younger son (while he's between relationships); husband and i take cruises if the ship is making a round trip and i can drive to the point of departure/return. but independent travel is still my favorite way of seeing the world and Untours really makes it easy.
go, readers, go, especially when our kids are in school and Europe isn't so hot and crowded...have a glass of red wine in an outdoor cafe for me...
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