Kiss and Ride?

In the U.S., at suburban subway and train stations, you might see signs for the "Kiss & Ride", the passenger drop off and pick up area, like the signs below.

DC Metro Kiss & Ride sign in Virginia

A Kiss & Ride sign from Miami.  Just a guess based on the freakishly full lips. 

So, we were surprised to see the sign below in n Italian train station. 

We guess that kissing is a universal language and needs no translation.

P.S.  Have you ever seen how Italian couples kiss in public, especially young couples?  It is a full-face, mouth-gaping, long-duration public display of affection.  We would share photos but neither of us of wants to snap a photo for fear of getting smacked.

Museums: The Uffizi #3

Let's visit the Uffizi art gallery again. 

Here are some fun facts about the Uffizi:

     •     Construction:  Began 1560, completed 1581

     •     Purpose:  Government offices (uffizi in Italian) and art gallery

     •     Location:  Next to the Arno river an connected to the Palazzo Vecchio by an enclosed walkway for easy, safe passage above the street

     •     Art Collection:  In 1737, the last Medici gave the entire Medici collection to the Tuscan state. There was one condition, that the collection amassed over three centuries never leave Florence.  The goal was to preclude the foreign rulers of Tuscany from scattering the collection elsewhere in Europe.

During our visit, we saw more works of art that had escaped our attention during earlier visits.

Greg especically likes allegorical seascapes, like the one below.  The painting tells a simple story: "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." 

In a hard-to-find floor of the gallery, there is a wonderful collection of European paintings. Below is a Rembrandt self-portrait. 

In an easy-to-find room with extra security are a couple of Italian masterpieces, including the one below.

Baptism of Christ by Leonardo da Vinci and his teacher Andrea del Verrochio (1470-1475) (Some art historians attribute the figure of Christ in the center to da Vinci.  Da Vinci may also have painted the landscape and one of the angels at left.)

And now for some snakes:

Susan is not a fan of snakes and hopes that St. Patrick visits the Uffizi and leads the snakes away. 

Thanks for joining our tour.

Sesto (or Sixth)

The Westin Excelsior Hotel is a beautiful building in Florence along the river.  We stayed there during a visit long ago.  Sometime after we stayed there, they added a rooftop restaurant and bar, now the 6th floor.

We recently visited Sesto for brunch.  The food was delicious and the view was great.  There are not many rooftop venues in Florence open to the public.  So, Sesto is a unique treat. 

We took a few photos during our visit.

The view from Sesto

Chicken with artichoke hearts and teriyaki sauce (aka chicken fingers)

Sea bass with potatoes

Chocolate stick with ice cream

Tiramisu a la skid mark

The restrooms at Sesto are VERY nice.  

As we know from living in the Big Apple, it is always important to know where to find a nice restroom. Sesto has been added to the list.  Now, you know too. 

[In a low whisper] If you build it, they will come.

What is "it" and who are "they"?

The "it "in this case is a mall outside Florence, far outside Florence.  The mall is constructed next to a factory with farm acreage around the rest of the mall.  So, the mall is equivalent to a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield, like the one in the 1989 film Field of Dreams. 

The "they" are bargain hunting tourists.  The mall brands itself as a luxury outlet, boasting prices below retail.  So, buses shuttle tourists from Florence to the mall to shop for bargains at stores like Prada, Versace, Gucci, Pucci, Ferragamo, Valentino, Tom Ford, Alexander McQueen, Coach and so on.  We saw tourists from all over the world (many from China) looking for bargains and leaving with large bags. 

Whether products are the current trend and whether prices are below retail are good questions.  No matter.  Window shopping and browsing are fun. 

Some random hottie browsing in Versace

A Versace jacket.  Can you see Greg in it?   Neither can he.  Greg's color isn't orange.  It's green.

Gucci has a large store at the mall, with a very nice eatery upstairs.  The Gucci Caffe.  How chic! 

 

Only in Italy, #2

The other day, we saw His Holiness, Pope Francis.   No lie.

We saw the Pope in a gift shop not far from our apartment.  Instead of being full-sized and in the flesh, the Pope had gone small and solar-powered.  How eco-friendly.  See below.

The Pope rocked back and forth.  He might have been waving, giving a blessing or grooving to his favorite Gregorian chant.  In any event, he was smiling and being very papal. 

Only in Italy.

Teatro della Pergola #1

Florence is home to several beautiful, old theaters.  One is the Teatro della Pergola, located a couple of blocks from our apartment. 

Some fun facts about Teatro della Pergola:

     •     The oldest opera house in Italy, completed in 1661 (with several renovations over 350 years)

     •     Primarily used by the Grand Dukes of Tuscany until opened to the public in 1718

     •     Hosted premieres of operas by Donizetti, Verdi and Mascagni

     •     Capacity today is 1,000

The theater takes its name from the street where it is located, Via della Pergola.  The street takes its name from a grape arbor, or pergola, that once stood there when the area was used for agriculture outside the city walls.

A while back, we attended a piano recital at the theater.  We enjoyed seeing the theater and listening to the splendid performance. Below are a few photos from our visit.

Teatro della Pergola:  stage

Teatro della Pergola:  ceiling and chandelier

Teatro della Pergola:  the theater has three stacked rings of boxes

Teatro della Pergola:  the foyer is lovely and ornate

Teatro della Pergola:  piano soloist Giuseppe Albanese in the foyer following his wonderful performance of Franz Liszt works, his specialty 

Some random dude obviously having a good time

Only in Italy #5

While watching Italian television recently, we came across a show about panettone, the popular holiday sweet bread loaf. 

The show wasn't a light-hearted cooking show on the food channel.  Instead, it was a serious journalistic look at panettone on a major network.  The interviewee was a university professor of food science.

Italians know panettone.  And they take it VERY seriously. 

Here are some photos from the show. 

Only in Italy.

Where do you live in Florence? #5

Where do we live in Florence?

We live in a lovely one bedroom apartment that was renovated not long ago.  Everything is modern and the furnishings are nice.  We rented the apartment for a year based only on photographs and the recommendation of the rental agent, a very reputable company in Florence.  Upon our arrival, the apartment exceeded our expectations.  So, we are happy to be calling this apartment home for a year.

We have already shared a few photos of the apartment (the loft and the view from the balcony).  Here is a complete set of photos from the rental agent's website, with some of our own photos.  Enjoy the virtual tour.

The building where the apartment is located is large.  Originally, it was home to a Florentine family starting 500 years ago.  Over time, it was converted into multiple individual apartments for many families. 

Our building is tall and wide.  Our apartment is at #20 and is located on the third floor in the back.

#20, our front door.  The door is heavy, thick and well-secured.

Once inside the front door, you are in a nice vestibule with a decorated, barrel-vaulted ceiling.  Next is another well secured door, an iron gate.

After the iron gate is an old stairway.  It goes up and up.  Let's start climbing the stairs to our third floor apartment.  Like many older buildings in Florence, our building has no elevator. 

As a reminder, in Europe, floor numbering is different than in the U.S.  The floor on the street level is called the piano terra or ground floor, not the first floor.  Instead, the floor directly above the ground floor is called the first floor, and so on. 

All this is just a long way of saying that we live in what would be called in NYC a 4th floor walk up.  Good for exercise, especially when toting luggage or grocery bags. 

Here we are on the second floor, the door to our apartment.  But wait, we said our apartment is on the third floor.  It is.  Once through our apartment's door, there is another stairway inside the apartment.  We think it's cool.   

The stairway inside our apartment leads up to the living room.

The living room.

Another view of the living room.

The bedroom.  The bright orange sheets can be seen from space, which is why the International Space Station uses our apartment as a landmark while orbiting the earth.

The terrace outside the bedroom.  The terrace looks onto a school's athletic fields and, in the distance, the large garden of the Four Seasons hotel.

The bathroom.  A small clothes washer sits on the far side of the sink.  No clothes dryer since dryers consume too much high-cost electricity

The kitchen.  There is no microwave since they consume a lot of high-cost electricity.

The loft with a convertible couch/bed

The upstairs half bath

That's nearly the end of the tour.  What we truly enjoy about the apartment is its great location and wonderful windows.  How would you like to wake up to this view every morning? 

We like the view very much and we would be very happy to share it with you in person.