frolicking fridays, round 6

This past Friday was the beginning of a long, full weekend. The boys had Monday and Tuesday off (Dec 7 & 8), so we made plans to travel and rest. Friday James and I tackled a bit more of Florence, Saturday we buzzed to Pisa, Sunday we landed in San Gimingano and Volterra, so Monday and Tuesday we aimed for days lazing about our home (with regular visits to our nearby piazza, now filled with Christmas vendors).

Though we are all big fans of seeing as much of Italy as possible, we are also strangely possessive of our 'free time' at home. Down time is in high demand. No doubt much of it has to do with all that we absorb on a daily basis---Anthony and Caleb especially (e.g. Italian immersion at school).

Friday James and I had grandiose plans to visit Santa Maria Novella, a church full of famous paintings and artifacts---a must see when you visit Florence. Upon arrival, we found the church closed (closed every Friday, actually). Luckily, there is much to do, see, discover and explore in Florence. We pushed off to yet another church on our short list: Ognissanti (home church to Amerigo Vespucci, burial to Boticelli and canvas to frescoes by Ghirlandaio). Again our plans were foiled... it is also closed on Fridays. Naively hopeful, we swung by to peak at some of Ghirlandaio's frescoes in Santa Trinita---also closed.

Three strikes, but far from out. While skipping from church to church like frogs on a series of lily pads, we found a few 'flowers.' First was an outlet clothing store on Santa Maria Novella's piazza. No, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun to browse and mentally bookmark a store for future indulgences. We walked through Palazzo Strozzi, learning more about this formidable family. Inside the Palazza ticket office, there was a little room with a model of the original palazza and background information and inspiration re: the Strozzi family (free!).

Other Friday highlights included a visit to Dante's house---a museum that we had walked by what feels like a hundred times. This time, we finally went in (James is actually reading Dante's Divine Comedy). Truth be told, we wouldn't recommend it. If you are a Dante aficionado and/or family-line history buff, perhaps. But otherwise I would skip it, mostly because there are so many impressive museums and artifacts and sites in Florence that would be a better use of your time.

We peeked into a few stores, hid under our umbrellas and found a quaint little spot for lunch: Enoteca Coquinarius (Via delle OChe, 15r). We took our time. The kind of time chatting and vino-drinking and food-sampling that leads to losing track of time. It was packed, and cozy and we tried braseola and ravioli and dense chocolate cake. Perfectly memorable.

On our way home, James popped into the Paperback Exchange (to buy some books), and I swung by the grocer. The latter wouldn't be so interesting, except I came home with some red wine glasses and a Christmas table cloth. Add a few well appointed candles... and our home is now humming of the holidays.

Bologna: Lights, Porticoes, Food, and Towers.

This last weekend (November 28-29) our family visited Bologna. The main reason we made this trip is because Monday was a national Tuscan holiday, and we did not have school. So our family scheduled a trip to Bologna. We ended up leaving just after my soccer game, where we hopped into a rental car and took the "shortest route" to Bologna. First of all, we did not take the train due to my game timing and train timing to Bologna---we would of had to wait 4 or so hours after my game, so instead we went by car. Second of all, I put shortest route in parenthesis, as this on our GPS meant avoiding toll roads, as in no freeway. So we took a ride in the country, found a WWII memorial, with foxholes---along with a bomb hole or two---and a small hill Santa Lucia, with Mary and Jesus on the crest (which we decided to walk up to). Along with some amazing views, we all enjoyed our trip to Bologna. When we got to Bologna we checked in to our hotel, dropped off our bags and walked downtown.

Now for the first thing on my list: Lights. We left Florence at midday, took the long way around, arrived in Bologna at night---and enjoyed the Christmas lights throughout the city (similar to Florence it has a new style of lights in every street). Almost immediately we were stunned by the curtains, arches, and globes of lights, which spanned across each road. We walked around and shopped at the expansive shops. Bologna is not a really touristy city like Florence, but seems more business oriented, between good food, and actually a lot of clothes.

Second item: Porticoes. The city is known for these, and even though it was rainy while we were in Bologna... we didn't really care. We were always under cover, because every sidewalk had a portico (see picture). Other than the little back roads, every single sidewalk in the city central seemed to have porticoes. It may sound overly costly, and takes forever to put up, but the funny thing is that, this city has been a large city for hundreds and hundreds of years. So the people running it today have not paid for porticoes to be built, they only pay for maintenance. They were amazing, and for me added an entire new level to the city.

Now for the third thing: Food. For the night that we were in Bologna, "The City of the Fat", we went out to a restaurant called "Antica Osteria Romagnola" (ranked number 3 of 147 in Bologna on Trip Adviser) it was amazing. I ordered a delicious Parmesan tortellini for my first course, then a reduced wine sauce pork chop for my second, and a finish of a delicious chocolate mousse, which was great. For me, you can't for wrong with mousse. Overall for me a 5 of 5, absolutely delicious... I might as well have rolled home. The restaurant had a really great atmosphere, and the staff were really nice. Other than that meal, the other food in Bologna looked appetizing, and as it is not a touristy city, the food was not gross, overpriced, and greasy. The sandwiches were a competition, and you could go to many delis and find a good sandwich for lunch.

And then number four: Towers. When you say leaning towers, what do you think? Well Pisa of course, but then you realize towers, Pisa is only famous for the leaning tower of Pisa. Well, Bologna has two large towers that also lean. The taller tower is 8 feet off center and the shorter tower is 12 feet off center. The shorter one actually had its top lopped off so that it would remain standing (48, and 97.2 meters). Anyway, we climbed the taller tower (498 steps) and were constantly foiled by landings that looked like the top, but in reality you still had to keep climbing. Caleb and I made good use of our soccer fitness. After the climb we reached the top, where we enjoyed a stunning view of Bologna. We saw the roads reach out from the towers, to where the ring wall used to stand.

We also saw the church of Bologna; it was huge, and was going to be larger than Saint Peters in Rome but the pope vetoed this notion. Although we have not seen Saint Peters yet, we were awstruck by the ornate church, in all its godly grandeur. Overall for me Bologna: 10 of 10. We hope to return later this year with grandparents, and it is definitely a great place for families to visit. One possible bummer is that we did not see a single ceramic shop, and we often like to browse in these shops---my parents for table ware, me for a tile of the city.

frolicking fridays, round 5

Thank god I write this down. We adore Fridays, but 2 days later are asking ourselves: what did we do again? Don't you hate that? When someone asks what you did over the weekend, and it takes serious concentration for you to revisit the pleasures of down time achieved in the past few days... though you know it was good.

So here we log our frolics. (And already I am beyond the 2 day limit of remembering: wish me luck!).

Friday is the day James and I shove off, venture out and experience Florence (with license to branch out beyond Florence... just not yet). This Friday was a tiny unique, as we have a penchant for standing in lines and thought we might add that onto our Friday 'fun' list.... right. Thursday was Thanksgiving, and we spent the entire day in line at the police station/immigration office. All four of us, waiting. And waiting.

And waiting.

And around 4pm we received signature on our permits to reside in Italy. Which really was much to be grateful for (and the reason we took a 3 week segue to the states). And the footnote is: we have receipts, but need to go back again in one month to pick up actual cards. We have stood in so many lines, it was a case of taking it in stride.

Then Friday morning James and I---receipt in hand---went to pick up another official card (you need two, they are distinct yet related... one is permission, one is residence). We took a number, sat in line and waited a mere hour... at which point we set up our appointment to return the following week. So it goes with red tape.


It didn't take much from our day, and we wouldn't have spent the extra time out of our 'day of touring' to stand in another line BUT we are excited about obtaining requisite cards because it gives us license to explore more of Italy. And by license, I mean, literally license. If we are official residents, we qualify for car-sharing, which means for a small fee we can participate in renting a car to go explore cities for a few hours or all day (less expense and hassle than renting a car).

Lines aside, Friday we managed to visit: the Buonarotti house (Michelangelo plus family line), the Medici Chapel (see dome photo) and Laurentian Library (top photo), and a lovely little cafe---Mangiafoco Caffe---to enjoy wine and a pile of cheeses, salami and prosciutto (plus truffle honey and reduce chianti glaze...). Although I love absorbing the rich tiles on the floor of the library, there is something about closing your eyes to truffle honey and the lingering notes of Chianti that cements memories in my brain...

Anyway, the Medici Chapel (including a room with works by Michelangelo) is on the backside of the famous San Lorenzo Church (the church has an unfinished facade---a sort of tribute to Michelangelo, who had grandiose plans for the front of Lorenzo the Magnificent's church). There are basically 3 different entrances around this large church complex (with separate entrance fees): 1. the church and old sacristy, 2. the Library (which includes a famous staircase designed by Michelangelo), and 3. the domed Medici Chapel (includes sacristy and Chapel of Princes with 'mini-me' dome similar to that of the Duomo).