We finally made it back from Tuscany --- after a very long day of travel! Everything went smoothly until we hit Denver. The flight from Frankfurt to Denver was delayed due to a snowstorm in Denver. That put us into Denver late- and we had to collect luggage, go through customs, passport control, security check, etc… Luckily the flight between Denver and Oakland was also late --- by two hours --- so we actually made it! We left Le Boscarecce at 4AM on Thursday morning and arrived in Oakland at 8PM Thursday night. That doesn’t sound too bad – until you consider the time difference. 4AM in Tuscany is 7PM (Wednesday night) in Oakland. We had been up for over 24 hours and traveling that long as well!
Okay, so Italy was wonderful. At least Tuscany was wonderful. I didn’t enjoy Florence as much as I had hoped to. After being in Tuscany, Florence felt like just another big city, albeit with lots of fantastic architecture, art and shopping! Because we only went into the city to see specific sights, the areas that we were at were crowded with tourists (of which we were also!) The second day that we went into Florence, we took the train from Castelfiorentino to the city. Once we left the train station in Florence, we proceeded to get lost. That ended up being kind-of nice. We were away from the more touristy areas and ended up hanging out in a nice little restaurant.
We did make it to the Uffizi Gallery which houses a LOT of art. Unfortunately, after looking at art for 3 hours, it all ran together! A couple of the highlights that I remember… The Birth of Venus and a portrait of a suffering Christ – the painting was just the face of Christ wearing the crown of thorns. The person and emotions that the artist captured were very much human – in pain and agony but not looking up to heaven for deliverance (as in most paintings of that genre). It was very touching and disturbing ... and the only one in the gallery of its kind. The other thing that I found noteworthy was seeing the transition in the paintings – panels painted in the late 1100s or 1200s to more modern art. I’ve always known that art evolved over time but seeing the evolution of 1000 years over the course of two hours was awe-inspiring.
We had planned on being very laid-back and resting a lot while we were away but it didn’t turn out that way. Each day, we tried to make it to a different town or village. We rented a car when we arrived on Tuesday and had it for the entire time. If you plan to see little villages and places that are off the beaten track in Tuscany, you must have your own set of wheels – two or four. Gary was the designated driver for the entire trip. I’m glad that he is such a good driver – the roads in the country are narrow, one-lane deals. Cars often pass by with only a couple of inches in between them! And the roads are curvy, steep, and not always paved. It was great to have a rental car – cause we didn’t care if it got scratched up! At least we didn’t care as much as we would have if we had been driving our own car. And the rain made muck out of the country roads. The villa that we stayed at was along a dirt road. It was about three miles out of town (Castelfiorentino) and a mile away from a little village called Renai. The road through Renai was dirt. There were lots of potholes and trenches where the water had cut a path in the road – and it was very, very bumpy.
So we arrived on Tuesday afternoon. Susanna, the owner of the villa, made coffee for us after we arrived. We sat out on the patio next to the villa’s restaurant and just relaxed and looked out over the valley. We considered going into town for dinner, as the villa’s restaurant was closed that night. However, we laid down and slept until the next morning! So much for our first day in Tuscany – heh!
Wednesday morning started with breakfast at the villa. European breakfasts are different from American breakfasts. Breakfast at the villa consisted of croissants, ham, cheese, yogurt, cereal, biscotti, cookies, fruit, milk, Tuscan bread, and often some sort of fruit tart or fruit bread. It was all very good – although Gary missed his bacon and eggs! And the coffee was always served along with a pitcher of steamed, foamy milk. Mmmmm.
After breakfast, we decided to go to Volterra to see the sights. Volterra is not a big tourist draw – not nearly as big as San Gimignano or Siena. It was originally an Etruscan city. I’m interested in old stuff so found the idea of visiting an Etruscan city and poking around irresistible.
Okay – so the old stuff was interesting but the new stuff (aka - Gelato) was much better! My first day in Italy had to include Gelato. Mmmmm… Pistachio. I guess it is so good because Italians are not afraid of milk-fat! I found that I could only eat a little bit at a time. I saw people with huge cones of at least two different flavors – I don’t know how they could eat all of that! I decided to forgo the cone and got only a small cup (about 3-4 oz).
Wow – I told myself that I wouldn’t do a major brain splat when I posted my first blog upon our return, yet I am doing just that! So that is all for today. I am uploading the photos and will post the link to our flirk account as soon as it is done.
Ciao!
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