Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part eight

How great the art….

One of the reasons Bill really wanted to go on this trip to Italy, besides to indulge his love for fine wines and good food, was the chance to visit the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. When we visited Florence in 2013, we were only there for two nights. We stayed in a hotel outside of town. For some reason, we didn’t make time to go to the Uffizi Gallery during that trip. I think it was because he hadn’t booked ahead, and either couldn’t or didn’t want to stand in line at the ticket office. So, on this trip in 2022, we made a point of seeing the art gallery.

Bill loves to look at art. I am less interested in it, although I will admit that some of the paintings I’ve seen in art galleries amaze me. One would think I’d love to look at art, since it’s been such a big part of my life. I have a sister who is an artist, and after his career in the Air Force, my father made a living selling and framing art. But when it comes to museums, I tend to find interactive ones– science and natural history museums– more interesting. During the COVID era, I’ve not been that interested in going to many indoor activities at all. We did go to the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Zurich last year, and that was fun. Especially since tasting chocolate means taking off the damnable face masks. 😉 Below are some photos from breakfast and our walk to the museum.

The Uffizi requires booking a time in advance. Bill got us an appointment for 10:00am. After a simple continental breakfast at Hotel Firenze Capitale, we walked to the gallery. On the day of our visit, the Uffizi was still requiring everyone to wear face masks. I’m not sure if that’s still required as of May 1. There were a lot of people there when we were there, so I would imagine that anyone who is very concerned about contracting COVID-19 would want to wear a mask, even if they aren’t required. On the other hand, my guess is that people will get the virus whether or not they wear a mask, especially if they don’t cover their eyes. That is one thing I did notice in Italy. Many people in Italy wore glasses with their masks, which would make it less likely that they would get the virus.

We picked up our tickets, stood in line, and went through security. Then, we walked up several long flights of stairs that left me breathless and lightheaded at the top. I did notice that some people used the elevator. Before I knew it, I was among hundreds of people walking through rooms of beautiful art… with many depictions of mothers and babies, Madonnas, and marble statues of naked men with small penises. There were exhibits featuring Michelangelo, Botticelli, and Leonardo da Vinci, as well as many lesser known, but very impressive, artists. I took a lot of photos.

At one point, Bill wanted to walk into a very crowded room. I demurred and said I would see him later. He thought that meant I was leaving the museum altogether, but I meant I was going to go to a less crowded place. I don’t like crowds, even when COVID isn’t a thing. Later, Bill sent me a private message on Facebook, asking if I was still in the gallery. Yes, of course! And I did enjoy my visit. I went back later to see the paintings I missed when the rooms were full of people. Uffizi has a cafe, for those who need a moment with some coffee to process everything.

All in all, I found the Uffizi more manageable and less overwhelming than the Prado in Madrid was, when we went there in 2014. I haven’t been to the Louvre yet. Bill and I didn’t go there when we were last in Paris, back in 2009. We’ll have to fix that at some point. Below are many photos from the Uffizi.

There’s more to come, but I needed to break up the group. I wish we had spent a little more time around the Uffizi. I wanted to buy some art while we were in Italy, but didn’t get a chance. I noticed some artists near there when we were in line. We did visit the gift shop at the Uffizi and bought a few gifts for Bill’s daughter and her kids.

After we bought gifts for Bill’s daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren, we walked out of the museum. I heard a British guy say, “Yea! Now it’s drinks time!” Man after my own heart. I spotted a beautiful silk scarf in a shop window and decided to go in there and purchase it. And now I have another cash drain, because the designer, Massimo Ravinale, has a Web site, and I loved their stuff. May be time to order Bill a spiffy new necktie.

The huge photo load in this post has made loading much too slow. It necessitates closing this one and starting a new one. Sit tight for part nine.

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Art in Breckenheim…

We’re leaving tomorrow for our Stuttgart dental/edge of France odyssey… I am looking forward to seeing some new things, even if it does mean wearing a fucking face mask for a few days. Hopefully, the dental visit will go okay.

In the meantime, I got some pretty photos from some children’s artwork that was put up in our little village over the weekend… I’m not sure what the occasion was, but it was nice to see these pictures done by the local tykes. (ETA: Our local Facebook group announced that this was a contest. Winners were announced today.). Maybe it has to do with Carnival. I remember how, a couple of years ago, we got mooned by a drunken kid who was celebrating Fasching. That was before the COVID-19 nightmare, though.

The other day, we ran into some kids from the local elementary school, dressed in their Fasching costumes. One little girl asked if she could pet Noyzi, who was obviously wanting to say “hi”, but still too shy to stand still for a pat on the head. He’ll get there. I’m continually amazed by how sweet and kind Noyzi is, in spite of his humble beginnings. He loves people, and other dogs… He even loves Arran. I have noticed how kind and considerate he is to the old man, even though Arran is cranky towards him.

Speaking of the dogs, they are now wanting to be walked, and only being somewhat patient. So I will wrap this up and get on my way. Stay tuned for some honest to God new fresh content on this blog VERY soon! I can’t wait!

ETA: Here are a couple more photos…

*Looks like our neighbor’s got a cause.*

Polska

Big business in Poland, part nine

Thursday morning was cold, rainy, and kind of depressing. It was the perfect day to visit an art gallery. Just around the corner from the Sofitel was the City Gallery promoting the works of Bronislaw Wojciech Linke, an artist who was born April 23, 1906 in the Polish community in Tartu, Estonia. From 1917 to 1919, he witnessed political turbulence; first he saw the February Revolution, then the German army fighting with the Red Army and Estonia’s struggle for independence.

In 1919, Linke, along with his father and brothers, were repatriated in Kalisz, Poland, which had been destroyed in 1914. It was one of the first cities in Poland to be decimated when World War I began. In 1914, there were 68,000 people living there. A year later, only 5,000 remained. By the end of World War I, the city had been mostly rebuilt, and most of the former inhabitants were able to return. Sadly, after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Kalisz suffered another setback. It was annexed by the Germans and by the end of World War II, 30,000 local Jews and 20,000 local Catholics were murdered.

Linke graduated from a Gymnasium (a type of German high school for especially bright students who plan to attend university). Then he left his family and began working on perfecting his art. He studied industrial design in Krakow and painting in Warsaw. He was a graphic artist for the pre-war magazine, “Szpilki” and an illustrator for “Dziennik Ludowy”. Despite all of this, there was only one solo exhibition of his art. That was at the National Museum of Warsaw in 1963, which was the year after Linke’s death in Warsaw, Poland. Since then, with the exception of the April show at the Museum of Independence in Warsaw, there have only been small retrospectives of his work in Poland.

I was really just trying to kill some time when I stumbled on this free exhibit at the City Gallery in Wroclaw, which is running from November 8th until December 7th 2019. I’m glad I stopped in, especially since pictures can say things that words can’t… and since I don’t know Polish, art is a more effective medium anyway. Here are some photos I took of Linke’s art. As you can see, he had a lot to say about war, which he did with his art. And he wasn’t just saying it about Germany, either… Russia and the United States got a mention, too.

I spent about twenty minutes or so in the gallery. It wasn’t a particularly large exhibit, even though there was also a video presentation in Polish. I probably should have spent longer, since the helpful leaflet about Linke’s work includes more information about his history. The artist and his wife, Anna Maria, were forced to flee German occupied Warsaw in 1939 because he had been listed as an enemy of the Third Reich by the Gestapo. Adolf Hitler and his cronies weren’t fans of Linke’s work, which often depicted Hitler in caricatures and were published in the Polish and foreign press.

The Linkes escaped to Lviv, a city in Western Ukraine, then were sent to a camp in the Dubowa Village in the Republic of Chuvashnia, and then to Orsko, where Linke worked in industrial plants and painted propaganda and advertising banners. In 1946, the Linkes were repatriated in Warsaw, where Linke died on October 6, 1962. For more on Linke, click here.

After my visit to the art gallery, I decided to have lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, an American chain restaurant that specializes in typical American food and memorabilia from rock stars. I really struggled with the decision, since it’s such an American institution. I’ve only been to two other Hard Rock Cafes– the one in Oslo, Norway, and the one in Berlin. We went to the one in Oslo because it was 2009; we didn’t have much money; and the Hard Rock Cafe had one of the most economical menus in Oslo, which is a very expensive city. We went to the one in Berlin because a couple of people in Stuttgart had requested that I pick up a couple of souvenirs for them, since they’re collectors of Hard Rock merchandise. I went to the one in Wroclaw because I felt like eating something American.

As it turned out, I really enjoyed my lunch at Hard Rock Cafe Wroclaw. I ordered “twisted mac and cheese”, which was fusilli pasta with a creamy, slightly spicy cheese sauce and grilled chicken. It was served with garlic bread. I know I shouldn’t eat such carb loaded things, but it was such a nice change of pace, plus it was very comforting on such a dismal, grey day. A bonus was that I got a great view of the square, as workers were putting the finishing touches on the Christmas market being set up to begin on Friday. One thing I didn’t like, though, was that Hard Rock Cafe had kind of a lame beer and wine list… but there were plenty of fun cocktails for those who are into that sort of thing.

I did some more writing and reading during the afternoon as I waited for Bill. When he arrived well after dark at about 6:00pm, we went looking for dinner. Wroclaw is interesting, because there are three Greek restaurants located almost right next to each other. They’re all on the same side of the square. Even weirder, two of the restaurants are called Akropolis. The other is called Greco. We ate at Greco in 2008 and weren’t all that impressed with it, so we decided to visit the first of the two Akropolis restaurants. It turned out to be more like an Italian restaurant with a few Greek accents. Our waiter seemed really tired, too. I was a bit disappointed in it… but at least the inside was cute.

Salmon on a bed of spinach with a side of lemon sauce.

This is also the only restaurant that billed a service charge. I’m not sure what the charge was for, but it was about 22 Zloty. Not sure if that was the tip or what, but it seemed a bit shady. I used to work at a place that had a service charge, but it wasn’t a tip. It was used for linens.

We stopped by the hotel bar one last time to say goodbye the friendly bartender. I spotted this funny label belonging to a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, which is usually one of my favorite wines.

The label was more interesting than the wine was…

Next post, I’ll wrap up our last day…

Cologne, North Rhine Westphalia

The Eagles sure didn’t stink in Cologne… part 4

I’ve noticed that as I age, some mornings I wake up hurting. Tuesday was one of those mornings. I had really bad lower back pain. I don’t think it had anything to do with the bed, which was very comfortable. Anyway, because I was hurting, I popped a couple of Advils and we decided to have breakfast at the hotel. Naturally, breakfast wasn’t included in the rate. I don’t think I had the option to add it. If I had, I would have. It’s probably because there’s a choice between continental breakfast or just eggs at a lower price, or the whole shebang.

Excelsior Hotel Ernst has a nice spread at breakfast, which one would expect when they charge 34 euros a person. There are many breads, pastries, cereals, sausages, smoked salmon and smoked trout, and even a shrimp salad. You can order eggs done any way you want them, or get Eggs Benedict with truffles. You can also have pancakes or French toast made to order and champagne, if you want it.

The first morning, we went with the buffet and lingered over breakfast while I waited for the ibuprofen to kick in. I never eat enough to justify the high cost of a buffet and I often end up taking more than I want or need. Still, I was happy to try some of the vast choices at the buffet. We could hear our new American friend in the next room, talking to other English speakers.

Bill looks at the menu, then decides on the buffet.

The hotel offers high tea for lunch, so we decided to book that with some champagne. The staff prefers it if you book the tea 24 hours in advance, but they were able to accommodate us for 2:00pm. I figured that was perfect, since our concert started at 8:00pm, and I didn’t want to go there hangry, like I did for Elton John’s show. Of course, we were supposed to get access to a buffet before Elton’s show, but we got stuck in Stuttgart’s hellaceous traffic, which made us right on time for the show.

After breakfast, we decided to go for a walk, which took us close to Cologne’s Colonius TV Tower. Yes, like most German cities, Cologne has a TV tower with an observation deck. Colonius, which is owned by Telekom, was finished in 1981; however, the observation deck and restaurant are not currently open to the public and evidently haven’t been since 1992. Why? Because they lack a vendor. This information comes from Wikipedia, which I’m so glad I consulted before we wasted the energy walking to the tower itself.

The forever closed to the public Colonius tower, which I suppose is still a place of business for some people. I guess it’s interesting to look at from the ground, anyway.

I did read that the powers that be are trying to find a way to reopen the tower at some point. Every year, the discussion ends because of the cost of the renovations that have to be done to make it safe. They’d have to upgrade the fire protections and build another elevator. According to the article I linked, no one has the 15 millions minimum it would take to make those improvements, nor does anyone want to raise the money. Given how much Germans seem to enjoy observation decks, I’m kind of surprised Colonius hasn’t been reopened by anyone after so many years.

My back was still hurting, so we headed back toward the hotel and stopped by the Cologne City Museum, a really cool art museum I noticed the first time we visited in 2012. This museum is memorable because there’s a car with wings on the roof and it has bright red and white shutters, like one sees in The Netherlands. Adult admission is 5 euros and, though it didn’t take long for us to see the whole museum, we thought the exhibits were interesting. They all seemed to be done by young artists.

I took these photos a couple of days ago, but I have similar ones from 2012.

The first exhibit was a showcase of postcards the artist got. Some were rather startling. They were displayed on tablets mounted on the wall. I thought the message directly above was the most interesting.

There was an exhibit about Native Americans in Montana, faced with living on reservations. It was both interesting and very sad. Native Americans have faced many cruel challenges thanks to the invasion of us European types.

I was very moved by this exhibit that focused on a young woman with Down’s Syndrome named Sofie.

Look carefully at the faces in these photos… I once knew a woman with two different colored eyes…

There was even a video exhibit about the Masons. Very interesting to me, since I have uncles who are Masons and a husband who used to be LDS. If you know anything about either group, it’s not hard to see how similar they are in some respects.

By the time we were finished with the city museum, it was raining. We walked back to the hotel, getting soaked in the process. While we probably could have fit in another museum before our high tea date, I kind of wanted to rest for awhile. Also, Cologne’s sidewalks are often cobblestone, and I swear I almost fell at least four times, stumbling on the uneven pavement. So we went back to the hotel for a rest… drying off in the process.

At 2:00pm, we went to the piano bar and waited for the lady who is in charge of high tea. We did high tea at the Merrion Hotel in Dublin last year. It was a rather fancy thing to do. At the Excelsior Hotel Ernst, it’s a bit more laid back. That was a good thing, since I didn’t bring any nice clothes with me.

Well, it beats working, right? We enjoyed a nice glass of champagne before the tea and snacks were brought out.

We had four kinds of sandwiches: egg salad, smoked salmon, ham, and cream cheese and chive (or something similar). We had brownies, little fruit tarts, and blondies with nuts, as well as macarons, caramels, nougats, and chocolates. We also had warm scones with jams and clotted cream. I think the scones were my favorite part.

Bill picked out a tea for me and a tea for him, and we sat there sipping it with our pinkies out… I’m kidding about the pinkies.

Before the tea service started, we had creme brulee made with tea.

I really liked this custard. It was creamy and the tea gave it a very interesting and pleasant herbal flavor.

I think I enjoyed the Merrion’s version of high tea more than the Excelsior Hotel Ernst’s version. It was still enjoyable, though, and held us through the evening so we didn’t have to eat wurst at the concert. I think the high tea with champagne ran about 44 euros a person. I’ll have to double check.

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Vienna, Austria Part 6… Art and Aussies!

After we walked around Vienna, Bill and I went back to the Albertina Museum. I like art well enough, but Bill really likes it and is fascinated by graphic depictions of history. I find art museums kind of tiring, but I always learn something when I visit them. The Albertina had a Picasso exhibit that I thought would be interesting. The Albertina was very busy on Saturday and we spent a couple of hours strolling through its many halls of art. I snuck a few photos.

These three are paintings by Picasso…

Here’s one by Claude Monet. There was also an interesting Degas exhibit. I don’t know much about art, but I do remember seeing some of Degas’ paintings in Glasgow, Scotland when we visited a couple of years ago.

I had to get a shot of this…

I mainly go to art museums for Bill’s sake. I do like looking at art, but I find museums kind of overwhelming. I prefer natural history museums to paintings. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my dad built a second career framing artwork.

After the Albertina, it was time for lunch again. We wandered back to the area near St. Stephan’s cathedral and almost got hit by a horse and buggy. Actually, we weren’t in any real danger, but a guy yelled us in German to be careful anyway. At this point, we somehow ended up in a passageway. I never ignore alcoves or passageways when I visit cities because I find that’s where a lot of the coolest stuff is. At the end of the passageway, we found our restaurant for lunch. We promptly ordered a bottle of wine and I got some interesting shots of Bill…

A very nice Austrian red…

Our waiter was a very friendly and charming guy from Serbia who took good care of us… I enjoyed salmon with potatoes and asparagus, which is in season right now. Bill had chicken and asparagus. TripAdvisor says this restaurant sucks, but we enjoyed ourselves. The wait staff was very pleasant and the food was decent.

I took a photo of this lingerie shop, which was easy to see where we were sitting. I couldn’t get over the tag line, “Lingerie to kill for…”

Before we left, we tried the Sacher torte, which is famous in Vienna. It’s chocolate cake with apricot filling. There was a time when Bill wouldn’t eat apricots because it’s bad luck for tankers. Since he was a tanker in the Army, he respected the superstition. He doesn’t avoid them now. The torte was delicious! The prosecco was good too. I saw a lot of prosecco rather than champagne in Vienna.

After lunch, we strolled around another part of Vienna and ended up at the Danube. It was lucky we went there, since we planned a day trip to Bratislava for Sunday and we wanted to take the hydrofoil boats there instead of the train.

Greek church

I love little nooks like these…

Traditional wear!

A “beachy” area on the banks of the river.

By the time we were done walking around the river, I really needed to pee. We started heading back toward the city center. We found a public restroom, but only the men’s restroom was open. I really needed to go, so we ended up going to Billabong, which is an Australian restaurant with lots of Aussie beers and cuisine. We spent an enjoyable few hours there, drinking beer, listening to music, and glancing at the soccer games on the TVs.

A wall of brews…

Bill decides what’s next…

There’s a sign on the bar that says “Drinking with tipping is like sex without orgasm.”

Bill tried the kangaroo…

I had spare ribs. Bill ate kangaroo, which tasted a little like filet mignon to me.

Bikers passing as we enjoyed our suds and sustenance.

We headed back to the hotel somewhat earlier. Bill had some work he needed to get done. Unfortunately, the beer caught up with us and we went to sleep somewhat early.

anecdotes

Greek art!

When Bill and I were in Athens last month, we purchased a couple of new paintings from an art store. The man who ran the store was Australian but had Greek heritage. His store was loaded with canvases, a lot of which were kind of stereotypical Greek settings. There were lots of paintings of Mykonos, Santorini. and scenes from places in Athens. My eyes were drawn to one painting in particular, which caught my eye the minute we walked into the store. It was hanging on the wall and depicted a bunch of Greek men sitting around smoking, holding court, with the Acropolis in the background. Yeah, it was kind of stereotypical, but I did actually see a lot of Greek men doing this sort of thing…

And then my eyes landed on a much bigger painting that was a whole lot more interesting… I knew Bill would love it. It was unsigned and apparently done by an anonymous Greek art student. I decided we had to have it. The shop owner was desperate for a sale. He originally priced the first painting at 250 euros and the second at 85 euros. But he eventually came down to offering both for 230 euros. We did not haggle with him. He haggled with himself. It was very odd.

Anyway, we had them both framed and they look great…

We’ll hang them in our new home. No sense putting more nail holes in this one.

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Poland… artist heaven!

Back in 2008, when we were still living in Germany, Bill and I decided to take a trip to honor our sixth wedding anniversary. We had been wanting to go to Dresden, thanks to a Powerpoint presentation one of my husband’s friends sent him. We also wanted to go to Prague. I had found an interesting looking hotel called The Blue Beetroot while researching places to visit.

The Blue Beetroot was run by a British couple of Polish descent. They had purchased a dilapidated barn for about $4,000 and fixed it up. It’s now a thriving boutique hotel. In 2008, it was still getting started and it sounded like a really neat hotel, albeit in a place called Bolaslaweic. I didn’t know that Bolaslaweic was the pottery district in Poland, even though I owned a couple of Polish pottery pieces.

The price was right to stay at The Blue Beetroot, so I booked a couple of nights in Dresden, five nights in Poland, and a couple of nights in Prague. What I didn’t know was that besides great pottery, Bolaslaweic was home to some great artists, notably Dariusz Milinski, a fascinating painter, and the Borowski glass factory, which is notable for its glass sculptures. I’ve linked to the Borowski studio in Germany, but Bolaslaweic is where the factory is located and you can get your hands on some beautiful pieces at a fraction of the cost. Below is a chameleon that I bought at the factory for about $650. In America, it sells for over $1500. I have two other sculptures as well– a hippo and a “gonzo” (bird).

Bill and I came home from Poland loaded down with art, including three glass sculptures and two sketches by Milinksi. I wish we could have bought one of Milinski’s paintings, but we visited the glass factory first and spent a lot of money there. Please click this link and look at the paintings if you’re interested in art. His work is amazing.

We had an interesting experience in Milinski’s gallery. His parking lot was empty and he had a big dog tied out front who seemed kind of mean. We went inside and there was art everywhere… paintings, drawings, sketches, and sculptures. Nothing had a pricetag. Milinski himself wore pants made of the American flag and a ripped up t-shirt. He looked a little like Charles Manson and spoke no English. My husband’s rudimentary German sufficed for communication purposes.

He made us coffee, turned on some music, and watched us as we looked at his work. I saw several paintings I wanted. Unfortunately, he only wanted cash and we were low on cash because we had just spent a lot of money at the glass studio. It would have required going to an ATM and there wasn’t one close to the gallery. I saw one painting that he wanted about $600 for. It would have been a steal, really. We ended up leaving with a couple of drawings. We were disappointed and I think he was, too. If we ever get back to Bolaslaweic, we will go back and buy a couple of his paintings… if we can still afford them!

Milinski’s puppet theater

Sketches by Milinski. All of the people depicted in his work were inspired by people he knows from his village. Must be quite a place!

Back in November, we went to Scotland and while we were visiting Edinburgh, we stopped in an art store. I was quickly attracted to one specific artist’s work. It was by Matylda Konecka, yet another Polish artist. I regret not buying a large print or two. Instead, we purchased a small framed print that fit in our luggage. If we ever get back to Edinburgh, I’m going back to that art store for more. Click here for Matylda Konecka’s Web site.

When we were in Florence, we ran across a street musician playing guitar so beautifully it made me weep. It turned out he was from Poland… Piotr Tomaszewski is an award winning Polish guitarist who makes his living selling CDs on the streets of European cities (though according to YouTube, he seems to favor Florence). We bought two of his CDs for 20 euros and that music was easily my favorite souvenir from Italy.

Two videos I made of our trip to Italy in 2013. I used Piotr Tomaszewski’s music as background.

And a few years ago, Polish-American dancers Anna and Patryk were featured on America’s Got Talent and actually brought tears to my eyes.

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/4z4qk2j41m4&source=uds

After pondering all of this, I’m thinking we’ll have to get back to Poland and the Czech Republic at some point. Eastern Europe is fascinating… with so much undiscovered art and music to be had at such affordable prices. I didn’t find Poland to be the most beautiful country I had ever seen, but there is still much beauty there. I want to explore more of it. Poland is full of hidden beauty… You might not necessarily see it in the scenery, though I did manage to find a couple of beautiful scenes; but you can find it in the art, music, and dances of the people. It’s well worth a first visit and a repeat visit!

Polish landscape near Karpacz, a ski resort area…

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Italo… and Florence…

We left for Florence on the afternoon of May 7th. I had booked us a room at the Hotel Relais Marignolle through Jetsetter.com. I was excited about Florence because Bill had never been there and he loves art. When I was there in 1997, I didn’t get to see too much because I was very poor and traveling with a couple of equally poor folks. We had big plans to try to get to the Uffizi.

As I was researching train travel in Italy, I discovered that Italy has a new high speed private train system called Italo which competes with TrenItalia. We had experienced traveling on TrenItalia before, but I was curious about the new train system. It turned out the prices were pretty good, too.

Italo has three different classes of service: Smart, Prima, and Club. Club is basically first class service, while Smart class consists of cheap seats. We booked Prima, which has more room, bigger seats, and offers a free beverage and snack. We thought Club only offered television over the Prima– since we don’t speak Italian, we figured we didn’t need it. But it turns out Club is actually really first class and, given the fact that our train cars were pretty crowded on both trips, might be worth looking into for next time. I noticed our car was chock full of Americans and Asians, too, at least on the leg from Venice to Florence. There were a few Italians on our leg from Florence to Rome.

Italo offers boxed lunches you can purchase from Eataly, which is a really cool gourmet store. Bill and I visited Eataly’s flagship store in Torino, Italy back in May 2008. They have expanded since then, with more locations in Italy, New York, and Tokyo. Italo’s snacks are also made by Eataly.

Italo offers free Wi-Fi, but you have to have an Italian cell phone number to access it. I noticed one resourceful lady on the train made friends with some guy who appeared to be an American living in Italy. He shared his number with her so she could log on. They also offer outlets so you can charge your phone or iPad. Make sure you bring a plug converter. The restrooms were super clean, efficient, and easy to use. Our tickets cost about $100 per leg– $50 per person. Overall, it was a good experience, clean, fast, and convenient.

Not all the TrenItalia trains looked as bad as the one of the left does…

When we got to Florence’s train station, I gave my first dirty look of the trip. An older Italian woman was in the car with us as we were trying to get off. In Europe, a lot of times you have to open the train doors by yourself when you want to get off. However, because everything on the train had either been automatic or done for us, I was unsure how to proceed. She was yelling at me in Italian to hit the green button. I did, but for some reason, it didn’t respond. So I hit another button and she yelled at me again. I gave her what must have been an annoyed look. Bill caught it and her reaction, which was apparently one of unpleasant surprise and annoyance.

We got off the train and into a waiting taxi, which took us to the Hotel Marignolle. This place is a few miles outside of Florence on a beautiful estate. You really have to have a car or the ability to pay for taxis to stay at this little inn, but if you have the means, it’s worth it. The access is gated and once you’re inside it, it’s like an oasis of calm. They have a pool and serve breakfast in a charming gazebo. I didn’t like the breakfast that much, but I have to admit the place was gorgeous. Hotel Marignolle is owned and run by a family and they seem to take a lot of pride in their inn. It was nice to go there in the evenings after having been walking around in the crowds all day. Taxis to get there are expensive, though… about 16 euros each way.

We stayed in room 3…

There was a very charming French couple staying at this hotel and they decided to join us for dinner at Trattoria Bibe, which is very close to the inn. The owners of the trattoria will actually come up to the hotel to pick you up. I have to say, of all the meals we ate on our trip, the one at this little place was probably the best. Our waiter was especially impressive. He spoke four languages fluently while in our presence… English, French, Italian, and German. The French couple asked if he spoke Spanish and he said he didn’t, but I’m guessing he could easily get by. Most of the rest of the staff didn’t seem to speak English. It was actually very refreshing. There was a great looking garden out front with lots of lemon trees; I bet it’s beautiful to sit there in nice weather with a bottle of wine.

The food at this place was excellent. I had ribs that were served with a delicious apricot chutney. Before that, I had a savory flan made with leeks. Dessert was especially awesome, with white and dark chocolate mousse and ice cream. Bill had something that he said reminded him of a really high speed Nestle Drumstick, with nuts and chocolate. When we paid the bill, they brought out a round of limoncello on the house. Then the same guy drove us back up the hill to the inn.

The next day, we ventured into Florence and visited a couple of museums, though neither was the Uffizi. We saw the Bargello museum, the cathedral, the baptistery, Santa Croce, and another church museum, which we stumbled upon when I really had to pee.

We stopped for lunch at a cute little place that lured us in with smells of garlic. A couple of young American women were there with a guy who could have been a local. I’m sorry to say, this group was pretty embarrassing. They sat at probably the best table in the restaurant and were very loud, as one of them talked about the terrible menstrual cramps she’d suffered on a recent date. When they tried to pay their bill with a credit card, it was rejected. The women left, ostensibly to get some cash. When they came back, one of the women asked for water, which she apparently never got. They made some comment about being late and got up… and based on the shocked and dismayed expression of the waiter’s face when he opened the check, apparently didn’t pay their bill. It was very brazen. I got a bad feeling about them anyway, since when we came into the place, one of the women, who was wearing a very short dress, was standing outside smoking and looked a bit like a prostitute.

I ate this salad…

Bill had a salad, too.

Somehow, I forgot to pack my contact lens case and you can’t just pop into the drug store to pick one up when you’re in Italy. We ended up having to visit an optician in order to buy one. The first guy didn’t have any cases for me, but the second one had what I needed after I explained that I was willing to buy saline solution, too. I needed it anyway.

Here are some photos from our too brief time in lovely Florence…

The ceiling in the baptistery…

Santa Croce

Caught in the rain as we crossed the Arno…

The restaurant where we had dinner. I had cannelloni as I watched the very sexy waiter… He had two young, good looking helpers, but neither could hold a candle to him…

The cathedral. Yes, Bill cried.

Baptistery

Ceiling in the cathedral…

I love flower and produce markets…

The Arno before the rain hit… Made me want to break into “O Mio Babbino Caro”

The above photos are from a cathedral/museum we visited because I needed to pee. I think it might be San Lorenzo, but I’m not positive. The urge to pee was so great that I didn’t pay that much attention as we paid our 12 euros! The inside of this place was awesome, though. You could stare at the frescoes all day and not see the same thing twice. I will post more photos after I’m finished with the trip report.

We stopped for a breather in this park. When we sat down, there was just one elderly lady on the park bench, but she was soon visited by friends, obviously neighborhood folks. They were fun to watch. This park also had a really cool station where people could get fresh bottled water.

It started to rain while we were in Florence and we decided to wait it out in this place by the bus/train station. It was fun to watch the guys running the place, selling ice cream, coffee, beer, and convenience items. The bathroom was disgusting, though.

On the way back from dinner, we ran into a street musician named Piotr Tomaszewski playing guitar. His music touched me so much that I cried, so Bill bought me a couple of discs. He is Polish and has a MySpace. Go on YouTube and you’ll see many people had the same weepy reaction to his music that I did. I’m listening to one of his CDs right now and it’s just as gorgeous as it was hearing him live.

I didn’t make this video, but this is him…

Bill loved Florence, just as I expected he would. We will definitely have to go back there. It’s a big, busy city, but compared to Rome, it’s positively and pleasantly doable.

Check out the graffiti…

My video of Florence… Recycled photos, but more music by Piotr Tomaszewski

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Tag Archives: art

Food and wine in Switzerland, Italy, and Liechtenstein… part eight

Art in Breckenheim…

Big business in Poland, part nine

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Vienna, Austria Part 6… Art and Aussies!

Greek art!

Poland… artist heaven!

Italo… and Florence…