Our Italy Travels - a beginning

[I began this online travel journal in the winter of 2005, a year of great changes for both of us. Since we enjoyed several rather spectacular trips to Italy in the years preceding I wanted to post those as well. Those posts can be found in their respective years in the archives.]

So, to begin:  in June of 1994 Susie and I jumped off the deep end of travel, so to speak. For our first trip abroad together we decided to fly to Europe, rent a car, rent not one but two houses, drive around for about a month, experiencing what it might be like for two strangers living in a strange land. For nearly half of that time we were joined by Susie's brother Dick and his wife Dorothy, avid travelers to Europe also willing to try out this idea of tourists living abroad.

We flew into Zurich, rented our car (a VW Passat), headed south and drove the back roads over the Italian Alps, dodging insane motorcyclists, to the Italian city of Merano, staying at the Castel Freiburg perched on one of the hills overlooking the valley, then down to Niccone in Umbria for a a week, and on to Vagliagli just north of Siena for two weeks where Dick and Dorothy joined us from Rome. Susie and I ended our trip in Bellagio on Lake Como for the final few days in Italy before crossing back into Switzerland. Whew! That's a mouthful of four weeks of travel crammed into one long sentence.

Over 5,000 kilometers of incredible food, wonderful wines and an experience that defined the very concept of travel for the two of us and set the tone for every trip we've taken since.

Join me on our trips to Italy beginning in the late 1990s. . .

outside a bar along Lake Trasimeno, near where the Carthaginians defeated a Roman army so long ago

Back to Europe in 2022

In 1994 Susie and I took our first trip abroad as a couple. Our travel plan was pretty simple and, as it turned out, would define how we have travelled ever since: find a place to visit, rent an apartment and just be in that place, getting to know the neighborhood, the town. As a result we spent three weeks in June split between two home rentals in Italy. Bear in mind we didn't know Italian, had never been to Italy and didn't know anyone who had ever done such a thing -- so why we decided on such a way to see the country is beyond me. 

But we did. And a good thing we did.

Anyway, our first rental (pictured below) was for a week in Umbria. We then met up with Dick and Dorothy for two weeks in a small village just north of Siena.

While we have certainly stayed in our share of hotels during our various travels since, we have tended toward apartment rentals of a week or longer, often significantly longer. And, to repeat, we've almost always tended to stay in one place, using it as a home-away-from-home as it were.

Not this time. In the spring of 2022 our return to Europe will find us traveling in new and unique ways. Two months seeing parts of Europe we have never visited before, and pretty much all by train. 

If you're keen on knowing the details check out the itinerary below. . . 

a week in early June 1994, close to Niccone in Umbria, north of Umbertide

Susie and me, Fonte Gaia, Siena

with Dick and Dorothy in Siena

One of the very first things we did to prepare for the trip was renew our passports (due to expire in 2023) since we were going to be gone for some two months. We also applied for and received the Global Pass (part of the Trusted Traveler Program).

That done we could then begin to layout the specifics of our itinerary.

In broad terms we wanted to visit Scandinavia, we wanted to see the MacDs in Germany and we thought it would be nice to see Prague. That much we knew. 

As for getting around we ruled out renting/leasing a car (we did that back in 2005). Why? Well, for one thing our trip would entail visiting/spending our time in major cities where parking could be a major hassle. Plus, why have a car in a large city when public transport would do just fine? And taking the trains from city to city would be stress-free!

So we opted for a Eurail pass: we each have a two-month pass that allows us 15 days of unlimited train travel. One thing we learned early on was the necessity in some countries of having to make reservations, which I've already done for several of our longer travel legs.

Next was to lock down where we wanted to spend our time and how much of it in each location. This is how things ended up:

We leave Michigan 20 April and arrive in Munich the following day. 

After spending a week in Munich (with a side trip to Salzburg) we take the train to eastern Bavaria and spend a few days with the MacDs. We hope to do a couple of day trips, one to Regensburg and another to Nuremberg. 

From Germany its on to Prague for four nights followed by an overnight in Hamburg, on to Copenhagen for four nights and then train to Stockholm where we'll meet up with Richard and Pauline. 

After four nights in Sweden it's on to Oslo for five nights (end enjoy Norway's national Independence Day celebrations on May 17). Then Flåm (a popular part of the Norway in a Nutshell Tour) for two nights followed by four nights in Bergen.  

From Bergen we fly to Amsterdam and then train to Gouda for five nights. While in the Netherlands we hope to pop over to Delft and The Hague as well as Rotterdam. 

From Gouda we train to Paris for our final two weeks.

As for accommodations we have reserved apartments (through Air BnB) in Munich, Prague, Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen and Paris where we return to the same apartment we rented in 2018. We'll be staying in hotels in Hamburg, Stockholm, Flåm and Gouda.

We fly out of Paris on 14 June.

I'll post a final itinerary update before we go and hope to post daily or nearly so while we're traveling. Note that because of the restrictions imposed by Mailchimp (my email program) notifications will probably be sent out infrequently. You can plan to bookmark the blog and visit at your convenience, of course.

Until next time, be well, be safe and happy travels wherever you'r going!

B-24 Crash in Italy April 3, 1944

Entry by Navigator LT Tunis Vanden Berg, in a log recording his 8th mission flying on the B-24 "Raunchy But Right". Home base, Stornara, Italy. Outline is used for all his 35 missions.

• Target: Budapest, Hungary
• Bombs: 10 500-lb demolition
• Enemy opposition: no fighters but heavy, intense, accurate flak
• Damage to enemy: no planes shot down
• Damage to plane: almost completely destroyed
• Remarks: The roughest mission ever. Our controls were shot out and we crashed near our home base. Everyone got out with a few minor injuries, how I don't know. We really laced up the target, but good. The Lord was with us.

According to Capt. Roy Lassiter, pilot, they lost power to three of their four engines. "I felt helpless," he told a reporter years later. "I had six to eight seconds to put the plane down. We hit a stone fence. the plane broke in two under my seat, and I fell out on the road." The co-pilot was thrown clear into another field and several Italian boys helped out out the fire.

Crew no. 12,  745th sqd 456th bomb grp B24 raunchy but right - Kneeling: SGT Holliday nose turret gunner; LT Lassiter, pilot; LT Richards, ex co-pilot; SGT Natoli Upper turret gunner; SGT Hill Engineer; Standing: SGT Keefer belly turret gunner; LT Eckert bombardier; LT Vandenberg, navigator; SGT King, tail turret gunner; SGT McNeil, radio operator. The men never again flew as a crew but they remained lifelong friends

Not your typical tour of Pompeii

Firenze for the locals, Florence for the touristi

Piazza della Repubblica

Piazza della Repubblica

Siena, Italy

For those who have been here, a glance back at the past; for those who haven't yet found their way to Siena, a look forward into the future. . .

crossing the Piazza del Campo

apartment building wall near the basilica of San Francesco

overlooking the Piazza del Campo

Siena from il Crete

uno vicolo

Alfieri, flag-bearers

Piazza del Campo

Strolling the streets of Siena figuring out what to do next

Having put our Vermont house on the market and our stuff in storage, and without any clear plan in mind, we headed off for Italy in the fall of 2005. Our first stop was a small apartment  in the Torre contrada just off the Pizza del Campo in Siena, Italy, which we rented on a month-by-month basis.

The two of us spent our days meandering the side-streets and back-alleys of this medieval walled city, wrapped in stone, protected from the cares of the world while we figured out what to do with the rest of our lives. I'd like to share a few moments of that very special time with you:

Happy New Year!

Piazza Vittorio Emanuele in Siena, Italy

Today called the Piazza del Campo (and Palazzo Comunale is now Repubblico), this is undoubtedly one of the coolest places to hang out day or night, anywhere in Italy.

Ar there tourists? you bet, but so what? Come late or early for quiet and a taste of local flavor. And try it in January!

Venice Street Scene by John Singer Sargent

Thanksgiving with the Bechis in Asciano

As I was going through some photographs I took some years ago in Italy, I came across a short series of images from Thanksgiving of 2005. Susie and I were living in Siena and had been invited to join Patti and Roberto Bechi and a few of their friends for Thanksgiving at a home of another of theirs in Asciano, just south of Siena.

That's Patti above.

Back to Siena - April 2009

My wife and I just missed the celebration for Liberation Day in Italy: April 25. Which also happens to be my birthday but that's another story. Anyway, a few updates on the city that rests more or less at the center of the known universe. (photo: view looking southward from the garden of the Hotel Santa Caterina)

Lisa is moving her English-language bookshop from Via San Pietro to inside her husband's hotel the Palazzo Rivera. The hotel closed it's (very good) restaurant and had the space available and in these trying economic times the move made sense.

Two bits of good news: both Boccon del Prete and Osteria Castelveccio are still open and still serving delicious food at good prices. Also the service is friendly and the spaces enjoyable.

Boccon del Prete
via San Pietro 17
Siena
phone: 0577 280 388

Osteria Castelvecchio
via Castelvecchio 65
Siena 53100

We stayed at the Hotel Santa Caterina, just outside of the Porta Romana, at 7 via Piccolomini. The hotel was recommended by a friend, Roberto Bechi and we can easily see why. The breakfasts (include dint he price) are perfect, with delicious caffe and pastries from nearby Peccati di Gola, one of the city's best pastry shops. The rooms have all been recently refurbished (the hotel moved up from a 2- to a 3-star rating) and the service is attentive and helpful. The garden overlooks southern Tuscany and is a perfect place to relax and get away from the bustle of the city or after an day of traversing the countryside looking for just the perfect view of Tuscany. Parking is an additional charge but worth tucking your car away for a couple of days so you can explore this wonderful city on foot.

The two lunches we had in the city were average at best and generally disappointing: Ristorante Vitti on via Montanini and Permalico on Costa Larga.

Both of us thought the gelato at our favorite spot just off the Pizza del Campo on via di Citta was somehow softer and the flavors more diffuse.

Caffe Fiorello, also on via di Citta is still serving some of the best caffe in the city center -- and say hi to Alicia, the blonde who is always there, always smiling and always pouring the best java you'll find.

Nannini's has opened a new space on Banchi di Sopra, mostly a gelato place to rake in the tourist bucks I suppose. The main Nannini's down the street just short of the Campo is still there but their antipasto (which used to be free during Happy Hour) is gone and the space seems less inviting. But the prices haven't changed (two Negroni Sbagliatis for 8 euros).

Traffic has only gotten worse, as far as we can tell. Parking is challenging for non-locals today and don't even think of driving into the city center, anytime, anyway, anyhow.

Contrary to what Rick Steves once said about how Siena is pedestrian friendly -- not true. Look the wrong way and you're history. So many locals park inside the walls now -- they are permitted to do so -- thus crowding the already small and narrow streets even more. Stay away from the main streets such as via Pantaneto and Banchi di Sopra, for example, and you'll generally be fine.

The move toward providing widespread internet connection accessibility has generally stalled in Siena -- and possibly in Italy as well for all we know. We spent three days hearing the same lame excuse from our hotelier: "Mi dispiace, but the Internet isn't functioning right now, but maybe later" and of course later came and went. Just plan on doing your online work at one of the internet "points" in the city.

Hotel Santa Caterina
Via E. S. Piccolomini 7
Siena 53100
phone: 0577 221 105
http://www.hscsiena.it

Global Warming in Providence and Italian reflections

Global warming may or may not still be controversial -- after all so is evolution -- but one thing seems certain: the weather is weird. This past week has seen incredibly, brutally cold temperatures spring back up into the 60s here in Providence. We were reeling from monsoon-like rains earlier in the week with Florida like temps while just a few miles to our north much of New England was getting hammered by one of the worst ice storms in years.

Like I said, weird.

Work is still good for both of us: Susie continues to come up with new desserts, which I never get to taste but hear of constantly each day. I can't help but wonder is there no end to her dessert menu? Anyway, we are lucky indeed not just to have the paychecks of course but to be doing something we truly enjoy and getting paid for it. What the future holds for us is anyone's guess, but right now things are looking pretty good.

One other thing seems certain, is that we will not be going to Italy for New Year's break. Money is of course the issue, as it is for most folks in these times, but also time: Gracie's is going to be closed for only a couple of days after the new year and Johnson & Wales returns to a regular schedule on January 3rd. nevertheless, I hope to update my Siena website sometime this coming year. Assuming the gods haven't taken a fancy to other plans of course.

As I have often said, one just never knows what funny twists and turns life has in store for us, right Pop?

(photo above: dad holding me while we both sat on the slide -- pretty much says everything you need to know about our relationship.)

Siena in motion, again

Revisiting a few older images that remain perennial favorites of mine, but with a twist:

Firenze 2006

Here are some images I took in Florence, Italy (Fireze, Italia) while we were living on Via dei Servi in 2006. It was a grand time: we got to spend Memorial Day at the American National Cemetery outside of Florence and see Italy beat France (France!) for the World Soccer Cup on a big screen TV in the Piazza Annunziata! Was that cool or what?!

Siena, Italy, June 25, 1994

A look back to the trip that started it all. Susan and I went to Italy for the very first time in June of 1994. The two of us first spent a week at a farmhouse in Umbria and then joined Susan's brother Dick and his wife Dorothy for two weeks at a villa just outside of Siena.

After we said goodbye to Dick and Dorothy, they headed south to Rome and we drove north to Lake Como and Bellagio for four days before heading for home. What a great ride we've had so far!

Romano talks with Roberto Bechi

In February of 2005, during an extended trip to Siena, local guide and Siena expert Roberto Bechi and I began videotaping a series of interviews of Tuscans talking about living and working in Tuscany. This is, I believe, the very first one we did. Roberto's good friend "Romano" operates the last bottega in Florence, the Casa di Tessuti, or "house of treasures," a store where they sell absolutely incredible fabrics. And of course, Florence began her life as a source for some of the world's grandest fabrics.

  

Just a great Friday

(Photo: detail from the Duomo.)

Friday morning we got up earlier than usual since Susan wanted to bake fresh jam-filled croissants – I mean she had puff pastry dough sitting in the reefer doing nothing. But in fact the real reason was a former associate of Susan’s from Vermont, Steve S. and a friend of his John were coming up to Florence for the day and we had arranged to meet them at the Accademia at 9:00 am.

Naturally we had an ulterior motive here: we had asked Steve to bring us several items from the states: a couple of things Susan had ordered, some baking soda for her, and for me some aluminum foil (the Italians use something that looks like aluminum foil but is in actuality a metallic-looking rice paper).

A few days before they left for Rome where they were planning on spending most of their time, Steve had sent us an email inquiring about making museum reservations through an online company. (Strangely enough I had just a day or two before received an email from this same company asking if I was interested in becoming an affiliate and checked out their services and pricing. I declined that opportunity.)

Anyway, I told Steve I could call the museum reservation number directly for no charge (the online company charges a hefty commission), which I did and in all of 45 seconds they had reservations for John to visit the Accademia and for both of them to see the Uffizi. All they had to do was show up. (This was John’s first trip to Italy and he wanted to see the David – and since Steve had been to the Accademia several times before he was going to go off for an hour or two and explore the city.

They took an early Eurostar train from Rome at 6:30 and arrived in Florence a little after 8:00 am. (By taking an early “Happy train” they got in on a significantly reduced fare. Further evidence of what a great train and what a great value the Eurostar is here in Italy. Check out the Trenitalia website.)

(photo:John and Steve on the Ponte Vecchio.)
Well we met them on time and picked up our goodies in exchange for some of Susan’s goodies. We all chatted as John waited in line for his reservation time, sort of. Although the Accademia was supposed to have opened at 8:30 – and John’s reservation time was for 9:15 -- the doors were still closed at a little after 9:00 am. The word on the street was there was a “mini-strike” but that they would open soon and indeed, about 9:30 the doors opened and John went on inside. We said goodbye to Steve and planned to see them around 1:30 outside the Uffizi where they had reservations for an 11:30 entry.

Anyway we gave them one of our phones so they could call us and let us know if they needed more time or wanted to alter the meeting time and place.

As it turned out that was a wise move – giving them a phone – since they did indeed want more time in the Uffizi, particularly to enjoy the Leonardo exhibition which is there until the end of the year (I believe). They raved about it later over lunch and were clearly happy they made the trip up from Rome.

Sue and I ran some errands and about 1:30 pm started walking over to the Uffizi to meet up with Steve & John when the phone rang. It was Steve calling to say they needed more time so could we meet them a little later? “Sure of course”, and we decided to meet them at the Ponte Vecchio at 2:30. We met them on time amidst the mass of tourists crisscrossing the bridge and the first thing we all agreed upon was the need for food. So it was off to lunch (“pranzo”).

It was starting to get late in the afternoon for pranzo -- so many places close from about 2:00 or 3:00 and don’t reopen until dinner.

There was one place I had read about that was located on the southern side of the Arno (the “Oltrarno”) right along the river just a bit east of the Ponte Vecchio. So off we went to the “Golden View Open Bar” – the prices looked good and so did the ristorante and in we went. Since it as getting well past lunch we had our pick of where we wanted to sit and choose a table for four right on their tiny overhang outside and overlooking the Ponte Vecchio and Arno River. Touristy maybe but the air was fine, the view cool, the service friendly and the food as reasonably priced as it was tasty – and so were the wines. (Via dei Bardi 58r, ph. 055.214.502.  “Always open”. They also have live jazz as well. Check their website for dates and times.)

We talked for a couple of hours swapping travel stories – although Susan and Steve briefly slipped off the deep end into “Medical Talk” but quickly pulled themselves back from the brink. We had a grand time indeed.

We paid the bill and then headed off to show them Susan’s school, which we found still open (usually there is little if anything going on there on Fridays). In fact her chocolate instructor, Andrea Bianchini was giving a private lesson. (Andrea is a renowned chocolatier in Italy.) Ironically his “bottega di cioccolato” (chocolate shop) was the next stop on our itinerary! (“La Bottega del Cioccolato”, via de’ Macci 50, ph. 055.2001.609. 

We arrived at Andrea’s shop on Via de’ Macci and his sister was working the showroom wrapping several of the traditional cakes for Easter (“pasquale”). Called “Colombo” these cakes are formed in the shape of a dove and can be found literally everywhere in Italy at this time of year. In Andrea’s shop the cakes are completely covered in chocolate.

We had no sooner walked in than Susan’s other chocolate instructor, Michele, saw her and invited us all into the back room where they were in the process of preparing more chocolate treats for their inventory. Naturally fresh samples flowed from the preparing table to our hands (and by extension our mouths). Since the space was rather cramped I moved back into the small showroom – dominated by an enormous chocolate egg which was being raffled off apparently for 3 euros a ticket -- and chatted with Andrea’s sister Stefania while she was working – she made me an offer of sampling more chocolate which I could not refuse.

 

After we left the “bottega” we headed walked up Via de’ Macci maybe 200mts or so to the “mosaic laboratory” and showroom – Susan and I had been her once before and we thought this was such a cool place we wanted the guys to see this too. We weren’t disappointed and neither were they.

The woman who had shown us around the small but very inspiring workshop and showroom was as amiable as we remembered, a genuinely friendly person who obviously enjoyed awing her listeners with describing these most impressive of ancient skills – Steve was particularly taken with the instrument used to cut the stone: a wire strung between the two ends of a bowed piece of wood. That was it! Seeing these old skills and tools put to use in was indeed awe-inspiring and all of us agreed this place was clearly worth the stop; a long stop in anyone’s journey. “I Mosaici di Lastrucci”, Via dei Macci 9, ph. 055.241.653. Very close to Santa Croce. Open most of the day and into the evening.)

From Via de’ Macci we turned right onto Via S. Giuseppe and walked up to Piazza Santa Croce – although before getting to the piazza we stopped at the entrance to the leather school, located in the old cloister behind Santa Croce and went inside. Unfortunately they were just getting ready to close and so there was only one man working his table but Steve came away from the school with a new belt, which was hand-cut to fit him.

The weather Friday had begun a bit overcast but close to the end of the afternoon as we strolled across Piazza Santa Croce the sun came out to stay at least for a while and we enjoyed our leisurely walk through the historic center of Florence. We had hoped to get inside Santa Croce to see where some of the world’s heavyweights lie at rest: Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli but the church had closed just before we left the leather school. Another trip perhaps.

Anyway we now had an objective: John wanted to find a phone card so that he might call his son back in the US and after one or two stops were eventually successful. As we searched for a place to pick up a phone card we stopped briefly at the intersection of Via Corso and Via Proconsulo trying to decide what the next move would be when our collective eyes caught sight of someone skipping in the opposite direction – that’s right skipping – someone clearly caught between two genders and dressed with an eye for confused identities. It just added to the day being filled with the intense power of this most unique of cities.

It’s amazing to think of the large number of years of college education represented by the four of us and yet it took us easily 10 minutes or so to figure the phone card thing out. But we figured it out of course and after John left a message for his family we headed off to our favorite hangout Paszkowski’s for an aperitivo. We sat outside overlooking the Piazza Signoria and marked this occasion as our first warm evening sitting outside at a café sipping prosecco. And to top it all off we were sitting with a couple of friends, enjoying the (almost) warm evening air and talking about, what else, Italy and travel.

After our aperitivi the four of us walked to the train station and after a few minutes at the fast ticket machines Steve and John had their return tickets on the 8:53 pm Eurostar for Rome. We waited with them and chatted until the train arrived. We said our good byes and they headed off to board the train.

Susan and I then walked back to our neighborhood and since it was nearly 9:00 pm we thought we would try a nearby local ristorante, the Cantina Barbigianni on Via S. Egidio for dinner. (Via Sant’ Egidio 13r, ph. 055.248.0508, www.cantinabarbagianni.it. Open for dinner only, 7-11:30 pm.)

The “cantina” was rather minimalist in décor but made up for that by being “maximalist” in service (thanks Joan). The food was imaginative and the wines well priced with a nice selection by the glass. We enjoyed a superb meal and a couple of glasses of very tasty wine: another prosecco of course with the first course and a Valpolicella with our second course. No dessert or coffee for either us however and after we paid the bill we headed home and to bed. We couldn’t help smiling as we walked down S. Egidio to Via dei Servi and our apartment, commenting upon the fact that it had been a truly wonderful day spent in the company of really nice people.

Twice in one week. Man are we lucky or what.

Wish you were here,

Steve

Italy Italy

We are back in our apartment in Siena after an uneventful and somewhat relaxing return trip.

We closed on our house 30 December and spent the next two days getting ready for the movers who came on 2 January to pack everything up. We then moved what few things we had to the nearby Best Western hotel and that night had dinner with our realtor Winnie Denis. The next day, 3 January, the movers returned to start loading everything up and after running a few errands (like shipping three more boxes of stuff to Italy) we signed the paperwork for the move and storage (in Rutland) and headed off for Massachusetts.

The weather was quite nice in Rutland but farther south they were getting hit with a small snowstorm and fortunately since we had to wait for the movers to finish most of their loading we got in behind the storm.

We spent a warm and cozy evening with Dick and Dorothy (Susan’s brother and his wife) and then Wednesday morning drove into Boston to pick up Susan’s visa, which went off without a hitch. We then commenced to get lost in Boston – a first actually – but enjoyed the fact that we were in no hurry to get anywhere and ended up seeing places we had never seen before. We also tried an Audi dealership in Natick, MA to see if they might be interested in buying our A4. Oh they were interested but they were less than willing (or able) to give us anything remotely close to what the car is worth. So we decided to pass and hold it for a few months longer and store it down in Massachusetts. One or both of us will likely return later in the spring to try and sell it then.

So we spent an extra day just relaxing and trying to get a handle on what it was we had just done: selling our house and putting all of our things into storage (aside from what we had shipped back this trip) and the fact that our only “home” was now in Italy; a strange but exhilarating feeling.

Sister-inn-law Dorothy took us to Logan airport early Friday and upon checking in we had the good fortune to get upgraded to what British Airways calls "World Traveler Plus". This essentially gives you a bit wider seat and moves the seat-to-seat room from 33 inches to 38 inches. Very smooth trip and Susan in fact dozed for part of it. We arrived in London on time and took the Heathrow Express train into Paddington station and checked into our hotel, the Quality Crown Paddington, which was just across from the station. Our room was quite small but very new with a nice bathroom and there was a huge flatscreen TV on the wall, which was used to run much of the room's services. Pretty hi-tech.

Saturday morning we took a taxi to Liverpool St. station and got aboard the express train to Stanstead airport where we boarded a Ryanair flight for Pisa. We left gray, cold London with a few snow flakes falling about a half hour late -- spending the time sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off -- and landed in warm, sunny Pisa. A few minutes after reclaiming our bags we got on the train for Pisa Centrale station where we connected for Empoli, then changed trains for Siena where we arrived about 6:30 PM. We took a taxi to our apartment and after unpacking and changing shoes headed to our favorite haunt, Cantina in Piazza for something to eat. I also needed to drop off the prints Aimone had asked me to make before the holidays. I also had a book of prints for him as well as for Alessandra both of which I had arranged to be made via Apple before we left Siena in late December.

It is an odd feeling which both of us are experiencing right now. We are happy to be back here and feel quite at home here although we are getting ourselves emotionally if not physically ready to move to Florence two weeks from this coming Tuesday.

But things caught up with us at last and we slept until well after 10 AM Sunday morning. But what a gorgeous, sunny and warm morning it is!

After showering and putting fresh clothes on we walked down to another of our favorite places, Antonio Betti's Peccati di Gola for our Sunday morning caffe and dolce. Naturally I also had to pick up a small package of Ricciarelli.

So it's a day of relaxing and going to the store to stock our rather depleted larder for the coming week. Much of the city is still in it’s post-holiday phase – Epiphany was just this past week which is a major event here in Italy – so some shops and restaurants are closed for the next week or two.

We hope you are all well and enjoying a great New Year!

Ciao,

Steve

Holiday season in Siena

It’s been rather quiet here for the past few days. I suppose it’s probably been because of the lousy weather that we have stayed pretty much close to home. It’s been pretty much rain for the past few days with occasional breaks of sunshine. Aside from the daily passegiata, or Sunday stroll down to Peccati di Gola for caffe we have really spent most of our time working on projects.

making teddies

Susan brought along several bears to work on and is presently completing a design all her own: a candy cane bear made from – you guessed it – red and white mohair strips pieced together. It is really cute of course. Too bad she can’t get plugged into the craft community here this Christmas!

Although I’m presently without the big digital camera I’m managing to take a few photos now and then with my (lousy) little Nikon S1. Yesterday (Sunday) there was a unique demonstration put on by the local fire department (vigili del fuoco) on the Piazza del Campo.

 

ladder skills

They showed off their skill in falling from heights onto a large air bag, rather like Hollywood stuntmen I suppose, and also demonstrated their teamwork setting up a ladder and climbing it just about anywhere. In this case in the middle of the piazza! I did take some video of that and hope to use it to continue my practice on Apple’s Final Cut Express video editing software.

nice trucks

So little else is new but that is changing. There is a little market (mercatino) set up in the old market place for the holidays, just behind the Piazza del Campo. Some of the vendors appear to be from northern Europe, selling local food items (Germany and Austria) and holiday trinkets (Poland). It’s really quite nice actually. There is even a family down from Germany (we think) who run a Thai restaurant there and who are serving Thai food! Delicious! (Actually they serve Thai at one end and German at the other.) This little market will be replaced on 18 December by a market selling little pieces of antiquarian objects.

 

Another, much larger holiday craft market kicks off this Thursday at the other end of the town, and will stretch along Piazzas Matteotti and Gramsci on into the fortezza. Naturally we’ll check this out and get back to you.

In fact there are quite a few things going on in Siena this time of year., music concerts throughout the city as well as markets selling a wide variety of local items for the holiday season. There will also be ice skating available at the La Lizza gardens from 17 December through 14 January. I plan to put online here on the blog as well as on my website a complete listing of what is exactly going in Siena this holiday season.

And the lights are on in the city and it makes for a wonderful late evening stroll down the quiet streets, water glistening off the stones and showing the reflections of the overhead lights. Anyway, it’s pretty cool to be here really, bad weather (maltempo) or no.

Speaking of Germany, this weekend we head off to Germany to visit Christina and Glen in Giessen, just north of Frankfurt. The plan is for us to take an early morning train to Pisa, fly Ryanair to Frankfurt’s Hahn airport (a smaller satellite airport I’m told) and they will pick us up. We’ll spend a couple of nights with them and then on the 12th head into Frankfurt proper where we will try and catch all of the world-famous “frankfurter” attractions and stroll a bit before taking a bus to Hahn airport and spend the night at a nearby hotel. We’ll be ready to go for our return flight back to Pisa on the 13th. Should be a blast – I’m already getting geared up plenty of schnitzel.

Today the sun is out in bits and pieces so thought we’d take off for Florence on the bus. We’ll leave midday and spend the afternoon and early evening there, window shopping and enjoying their lights. We will probably have a bite of lunch somewhere off the main tourist track and then take an early bus back home. It is really quite the way to go, particularly when traffic inside Florence is now strictly limited, parking can be a real headache and you just never know about the weather right now. So hey sit back, relax and leaving the driving to, well, somebody else.

We hope to catch the Nature Train (treno natura) on Thursday and do some videtoaping of this old steam locomotive as it wends it way through southern Tuscany. Friday we link up with Roberto to do videotaping of some exteriors for our Tuscan Voices project. We also hope to meet with his cousin Antonio Betti who owns and operates Peccati di Gola. Susan’s goal is to see how all those wonderful sweet things are made. My goal is to do for his shop what I did for Cantina in Piazza on my website. In fact my eventual hope is to turn my Siena site into a highly personalized and specialized guidebook of our experiences in Siena: that is on our experiences in wine, food, sweets, and unique handcrafted items.

Rainy days still

Rainy pretty much all day Tuesday so it was a good day for us to stay in and work on projects. Sue is working on a new teddy bear design using fur cut into strips like a candy cane and promises to be really cute. In the meantime I’m working on my before and after photos for Aimone at the Cantina in Piazza as well as trying continuing the steep climb up the Final Cut Express learning curve. (FCE is a digital video editing software program from Apple.)

We had a break from rain on Monday and thought it was a good time to head back to Florence to pick up the additional documentation necessary for Sue’s visa application. Shortly after we returned from the US last week we contacted the school and explained our recent ordeal with the clerk at the Italian consulate in Boston. The response and probably an accurate one was “he doesn’t sound like he was a very happy man.” Yep just what we needed: An unhappy bureaucrat holding our lives in his clammy, cold, dirty little hands (sorry for the slip into Dickens but it just seemed so relevant here).

Anyway we took the bus to Florence, arriving a little after 10 and then went to school to meet with Valentina who provided Sue with the necessary (!) documentation for our December appointment at the consulate in Boston.

Since it was such a nice day we strolled around the city’s historical center. One of the places we wanted to visit was the Central Market (“Mercato centrale”) located not far from our apartment and we were pleasantly surprised by what we found. It will definitely be the place where we will buy our fresh foods: meats, grains, spices, vegetables and fruits from all over the world. The first floor is mainly fresh meat and fish and lots of fried fruits with the fresh produce on the second floor.

We then strolled over to the Arno and couldn’t help but notice all the holiday lights strung across the streets. In fact all along the Via dei Calzauoli between the Duomo and the Piazza Signoria the lights are hung rather like draperies. Beautiful – and they were all on too even though it was daylight. And down the side streets lights were hung like falling waters twinkling. Pretty cool. (By the way Siena too has recently strung lights through much of the historic center but they have as yet to be turned on at night.)

We started to cross the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio but about midway across the bridge we came upon the statue of Cellini. The small wrought iron fence surround the statue was covered in locks with names and dates on them. This seemed to be a favorite spot with the tourists and many were having their photos taken with the statue and locks around it. I thought maybe it had something to do with political prisoners somewhere. Sue seemed to think it looked a bit too much like the notes and gum all over the doors at “Juliet’s house” in Verona.

love locks on the Ponte Vecchio

Sure enough we found out later that lovers are leaving these locks as tokens of their “eternal love” but the city of Florence has a somewhat different view of what exactly constitutes eternity and frequently orders the locks cut off. But they keep reappearing and so now the city is reportedly considering putting signs up (as many as 4 mind you) prohibiting the placing of locks. That should really deter love I’m sure.

What would Dante think?