Fun at the Rooftop Pool...

When we checked into the Grand Hotel Minerva, the girls didn’t even notice the pool sign next to the elevator. After we dropped our luggage into our lovely room, I said I wanted to check the view from the roof, which was fantastic. They sure were shocked when they saw the pool, which was the primary reason I had chosen this particular hotel. I knew that after a hot day of sightseeing, they’d appreciate cooling off with a swim.

Not only did we stop for a swim break in the middle of the day, but we went back in the evening as well. The fellow manning the pool’s snack bar wasn’t impressed with the girls ability to jump into the pool, but we didn’t let the “No Diving” sign stop them since technically they weren’t diving. As long as they weren’t bothering the other guests, I figured it was okay to let them be kids.

Our Final Day in Florence

Our Final NIght in Italy...

We made our way up the hill to Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sunset and to see the best views of the historic center of Florence.

Silly us: we only loaded the TripAdvisor App, which is great for finding good restaurants, on the iTouch instead of on my smart phone. This meant the maps were on a device without GPS and couldn’t lead us to the restaurant we’d chosen. It was disappointing to end up at a rather mediocre place for our last evening in Italy, but we did learn a valuable lesson.

At least we didn’t miss the spectacular nighttime view of the Ponte Vecchio.

More Sightseeing...

Ashlynn wasn’t completely off the hook for seeing art as I did drag the girls to the Palazzo Pitti to see the Royal Apartments and the Gallery of Modern Art.

Later in the day, we walked back over the Arno River and admired the Ponte Vecchio in the soft light.

Galileo Museum...

Ashlynn was relieved that I wasn’t dragging her to the famous Uffizi Gallery to look at Italian art. Instead, upon Steve’s recommendation, we went to the small and uncrowded Galileo Museum. We especially enjoyed the special exhibition The Geometry of Illusion: Art Meets Science. At first glance, the sculptures and paintings were totally distorted. However, when viewed from a precise vantage point or when reflected in a mirror, we discovered the hidden art. This odd shape transformed into an open window with flowers on the windowsill.

 This square frame magically became a circle.

 What looked like a ribbon with numbers, became the face of a clock.

And this bizarre contraption became the gates of an old building.

Geocaching in Florence...

It’s rare for me to be the first to spot a cache, but that actually happened when we went geocaching in Florence. This microcache was a small cyclinder hidden along a drainage pipe containing a roll of paper for us to record our find.

Ashlynn found another cache behind this sign in front of a small church on the opposite side of the river. Despite several attempts, we never did find the cache near the Duomo.

More of Our First Day in Florence...

We covered a lot of ground on our first day in Florence. The girls especially liked exploring the San Lorenzo Market, which winds around the streets beside the San Lorenzo Church.  We bought Jimmy a few ties and each got a leather belt and a Venetian mask.

Ashlynn was relieved that the lines at the Duomo were so long that I didn’t make her go inside, but that didn’t stop me and Veronica from photographing its impressive facade.

We were thankful to the concierge at our hotel for booking us a table at Zio Gigi, which Carolyn had recommended, as the place was packed. The owner is famous for breaking into song. This seafood pasta was undoubtedly the best meal that I’ve ever had in Italy!

An Impressive Medieval Bridge...

Another one of Florence’s biggest attractions is the Ponte Vecchio stone arch bridge across the Arno River. Dating to 1345, it originally housed butcher shops, but is now home to jewelry stores.

A Masterpiece in Florence...

When Carolyn, Steve, Samantha and Zach set off to Rome for the final stop on their European tour, we got on a train back to Florence to spend two nights. After checking into our hotel, we dashed off for our pre-booked appointment to see Michelangelo’s David. After a wait in the hot sun, we finally got to see the world’s most famous statue. No photography is allowed at the Accademia Gallery (where he’s been housed since 1878), but Veronica has gotten quite good at shooting from the hip (with no flash, of course).

Finished in 1504 when Michelangelo was only 29, this 17-foot-tall statue originally stood in front of the Palazzo Vechio (town hall), where this copy now stands.

Imagine our surprise when we walked into the museum’s garden and came across this pink David by German artist Hans Peter Feldmann.

Final Night in Siena...

After the fiasco of our private tour, we decided to keep our final evening together simple. Steve poured over TripAdvisor to get a recommendation for a relaxing place for dinner. He chose Osteria del Gatto, which was ranked #4 at the time, where we enjoyed a very good meal for a very reasonable price. Afterwards, the kids ran off to play Frisbee in the main square and to get an ice cream, and we stopped for an after dinner drink. It was unfortunate that Jimmy was unable to join us, but it sure was great being together. There’s still so much of Italy to explore. Who’s going to meet us for our next adventure?

No Longer Little Kids...

Tuscany July 2012

When we were together in the Loire Valley in 2005, the kids (plus cousins Johnny and Jimmy) climbed onto some giant hay bales. When we saw some in Tuscany, we couldn’t resist trying to recreate the photos. Of course, we forgot that the kids had grown a lot in the last seven years and it wasn’t so easy for them to balance on top of the giant wheels of hay.

Loire Valley June 2005

Beautiful Sunflowers...

While we weren’t impressed with our private tour, we were impressed with the Tuscan sunflowers. This field definitely made for a great photo op. 

Minimizing Sightseeing?

Much to our dismay, Simon minimized how much sightseeing we’d do on our all-day tour. Rather than taking us to a winery, we stopped for a tasting at a wine distributor. Then we went to San Galgano Abbey. This Cistercian church was finished in 1268. The roof collapsed due to a fire in the 16th century and it has been in ruins ever since.

The abbey is now used to host operas during the summer, which is a fantastic setting. We tried to sneak the kids onto the stage for a photo, but got caught. Steve also caught them when they posed for this photo.

Unfortunately, Simon wasn’t aware that the church on the hill above housed the original Sword in the Stone, so we missed seeing it. Sadly, despite a variety of walled cities and castles in the vicinity, we missed seeing anything else in the area. Simon was a nice guy, but he was clueless as a tour guide.

A Crazy Tour of Tuscany...

For our final day together, Carolyn suggested that we do a private tour of the Tuscan countryside. We figured there would be little risk in hiring the British partner of the Italian chef who’d given a wonderful cooking class the previous week. When Simon arrived in his old VW van without air conditioning, we knew we were in trouble.

While the countryside was lovely, we spent a lot longer then necessary circling around when Simon got lost and refused to pull over to consult his navigation system. Luckily he finally managed to find the restaurant that he’d booked for lunch and the food was very good.

Unusual Statues and Vending Machines...

Not far from the main gate of San Gimignano, we came across this statue, which Carolyn couldn’t resist posing with.

Apparently, the rusted naked guy statue was quite popular and showed up in several different places including the top of this tower.

This statue was in the main square. We couldn’t help but notice that he was within sight of the condom vending machine. Steve calls this photo Mother-Daughter Time in San Gimignano: Learning the Ways of the World.

San Gimignano...

We took a bus ride to one of Carolyn’s favorite Tuscan towns, San Gimignano, a medieval walled city which is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We roamed the quaint town for hours and had lunch at a restaurant with this lovely view.

While Steve took Samantha and Zach to the Torture Museum, we visited an old convent that is now a music school and went shopping.

Dinner with the Locals...

When we were at Zest, the British waiter mentioned that his neighborhood was hosting a dinner in the streets to celebrate winning the il Palio, a horse race dating back to 1656. Two weeks earlier, 10 riders from 17 of the contradas (districts of Siena), rode bareback around the  main square of Siena 3 times in the 90-second dangerous race in front of huge crowds.

It might be hard to tell in this photo, but this woman is sucking on a pacifier. The theory is if your contrada wins il Palio and you manage to touch the jockey, that it is like being reborn.

For €10 each, we were able to join in for the dinner. This was clearly not the usual tourist destination. Dinner was served family-style with large bowls of pasta bolognese, platters of burgers and potatoes, and bottles of wine passed around. Despite the fact that we couldn’t communicate with anyone around us and I had potatoes and bread for dinner, this was definitely one of the most memorable things we did all week.

Each contrada has its own flag; the winner was Onda (wave) with a symbol of the dolphin on its flag and lights. As the winner, their flag was hung all over the city.