28 Dec 2017 Florence, Italy

Off with our friends to enjoy New Year’s Eve in Florence, Italy. Will let you know when we arrive. Ciao!

29 Dec 2017 Flight to Florence

We were delayed in Newark and didn’t take off until well after nine pm. We had dinner on the plane… salad, green beans, stuffing and… Wait for it…turkey with BBQ sauce. Yuck! But I did have two nice size glasses of red wine which made up for the not so great meal.

There was a lot of turbulence throughout the flight… And we were really rocking, but interestingly, I found it soothing and I actually slept for once on a plane. Go figure.

We transferred planes in Munich and flew on to Florence, flying over the beautiful mountains with little towns tucked beneath them. We checked into our hotel, The Diplomat and then we walked around town a little with our friends the Elliotts and the Williams. We found the restaurant where we made reservations for New Year’s and it seems like a quaint little place so we are looking forward to eating there.

We walked by the river Arno, and viewed the Ponte Vecchio or Old Bridge. The Germans, during WW II, destroyed all the bridges crossing the Arno, but this bridge miraculously was not destroyed.

It was around five and most restaurants close in Florence from 4 to 7 pm, and we were getting pretty hungry so we didn’t want too wait. We found one place open right by our hotel and we stopped in and enjoyed delicious soup and pizza there.

The weather was beautiful today and it was nice to escape the low temperatures we left in Bethlehem.

Tomorrow will be a busy day and we are tired so I’ll say goodnight!

30 Dec 2017 Florence

We had an amazing day in Florence. The weather was perfect and we started the day with a bus tour that took us to see an overview of the city. The view was spectacular and after the photo op we drove to visit the Galleria dell ’Accademia to see the renown sculptures by Michelangelo including above all, the statue of David. The statue of David was created between 1501 and 1504 and stands about 14 feet high. The marble statue depicts the biblical hero David, before battle with the giant Goliath. It is interesting that Michelangelo chose to depict David before battling the giant rather than afterwards, as most work had depicted up until that time. The details of the sculpture, like the veins in the arm and the taut leg muscles highlight Michelangelo’s amazing understanding of the human anatomy. It is also interesting that the head of David, his right hand and his feet are not in proportion to the rest of his body, but are much larger than they would ordinarily be. Some scholars think this was done by the artist on purpose as the statue was originally supposed to be placed high atop the cathedral of Florence and therefore those parts of the body had to be accentuated to be viewed from far below. But the vestry decided it was too beautiful to be placed atop the cathedral so the statue was placed in Piazza della Signoria where it remained until 1873 when it was moved to the Accademia under the magnificent skylight that was created to further enhance the statue’s beauty.

We also visited the Uffizi Gallery, one of the most prominent art galleries in Italy. Many of the works were gifted to the museum by the ruling house of Medici. On display are many famous works of art by Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo, Davinci, and Raphael. As we were fortunate to view these original works of art, we could understand how these artists are among the greatest of all time.

We also toured Florence on foot with our guide, seeing the beautiful churches and squares and window shopped along the quaint streets.

Back at our hotel we had a glass of wine and spoke with Lucy, our concierge, who helped us plan a day on our own for tomorrow. Ten of us will take the train to Lucca, a Tuscan village and when we return, we will celebrate the new year.

We all went out to dinner and went back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep after an amazing day in Florence.

31 Dec 2017 New year’s Eve

Today we decided to take a train ride to the town of Lucca, a little Tuscan town about 1 1/2 hours by train from Florence. We were going to go to Pisa but our concierge said Lucca was a more authentic Italian town.

The first site you see when you get off the train is the Cathedral of San Martino, a beautiful structure in the square. We couldn’t get into the cathedral upon arriving, since Sunday mass was going on, so we walked the narrow streets for awhile waiting for the mass to finish. The shop windows were decorated for the Christmas holiday and I loved looking into many of the upscale stores along the way. I also loved watching the people go by, many dressed for Sunday services at the Cathedral of San Martino, and hearing the Italian language spoken as the people passed. by..

When we were sure the mass was ending, we made our way back to the cathedral. However… we couldn’t find it, which was pretty unbelievable considering the massive size of the church. We

walked and walked and walked… Finally asking someone along the way who didn’t speak English but attempted to send us in the right direction with hand signals. We finally found the cathedral and went in, after paying three Euros apiece, but the cathedral was not as beautiful as the many other cathedrals we have seen in our travels, so it was a bit disappointing.

We had seen a place to eat lunch on our earlier journey through the streets so we made our way back and had a delicious lunch of pizza and of course wine. We then walked thru the market and all the ladies bought rain hats which looked pretty dorky on us, but they were lined and warm and kept our heads dry from the raindrops that had started to fall.

We caught the train back to Florence, had some more wine and then got ready for our new year’s celebration at 13 Gobbi, a restaurant where we had reservations.

We had a delicious meal at 13 Gobbi….too much to eat… lots of wine… And lots of laughs! Midnight came and we toasted each other, so happy to be with good friends to ring in 2018. We also raised our glasses to our friend Ron who passed away New Year’s Eve last year and also to our friend Nader who we wish the best for as he regains his health.

We lit sparklers and started singing Auld Lang Syne, God Bless America, as well as a few other songs, to the delight of some other Americans who told us as we left that they enjoyed our singing! We’ll be here all week folks!!

We made our way back to our hotel… Watching out for the fire crackers being set off by many of the Italians in the streets, and fell into bed since we have an early wake up tomorrow to visit Cinque Terre.

Happy New Year!!!!

01 Jan 2018 Cinque terre

This morning we were up bright and early to take a tour of Cinque Terre with some of the most dramatic coastal scenery short of the Amalfi coast. Cinque Terre is made up of five beautiful fishing villages and has been an Unesco World Heritage Site since 1997. The town’s are amazing, with tunnels cut into the mountainside and trains and boats that ferry you from town to town. Since it is off season, boats were not a available, but we took the trains to get from place to place. The cliffs seem like they would be uninhabited given their steepness, but homes are built into the mountainside and roads and pathways are carved into the cliff sides. A railway line cuts through a series of coastal tunnels and carries inhabitants and visitors from village to village.

The heavens opened and poured down upon us during our visit to Porto Venere, a village on the Ligurian coast of northwestern Italy. Porto Venere is not part of the five villages of Cinque Terre. When we arrived, we climbed up the hill to visit the gothic Church of St. Peter, consecrated in 1198. It was a very austere church, but the outside portico with its breathtaking view of the Mediterranean was worth the climb and the braving of the raindrops. The village could be walked in fifteen minutes and the seaside views were spectacular. Amazingly, the sun came out and stayed with us for the rest of the day.

From there our bus took us to the train station where we were transported to Manarola, the first village we visited in Cinque Terre. Manarola is the second smallest of the famous five Cinque Terre villages. We were fortunate to be visiting Manarola around the Christmas holiday as the hillside is turned into a huge nativity scene with 300 characters gracing the mountainside.

We walked the streets, where boats are parked like cars along the road, awaiting the warmer weather to be ferried into the water, and we walked down to the sea to view the breathtaking views.

We boarded another train to Vernazza, a quaint seaside town where we visited Santa Margherita di Antiochia Church. This church overlooks the square and sits atop The harbor. The church is peaceful and simplistic with its stone columns. It dates back to 1318.

Monterosso, the next town we visited is the largest and most commercial of the communities and features the longest sandy beach, although the sand was not white but rather a grayish black with many stones. People were lounging on the sand and most had their dogs with them who were having fun running after the breakers. We enjoyed a delicious lunch in one of the many restaurants. I had gnocchi with shrimp and Allan had ravioli in a bolognese sauce. And of course… wine!

We found a bench looking over the sea and sat down to let the sunshine warm our faces as we waited for the next train to take us to Corniglia.

Corniglia is not right on the sea, but rather up high on the cliffs. It is a beautiful town and we walked around enjoying window shopping and watching the people. We boarded another train that took us to our bus for the two hour ride back to Florence.

Allan and I weren’t hungry so we just had prosciutto, cheese and sun- dried tomato sandwiches on delicious bread with some wine and then went to bed to get a good night’s sleep before our day trip tomorrow to Siena and San Gimignano.

Florence, Italy

02 Jan 2018

11:30 am

Siena and San Gimignano

Stazione Pisa Centrale

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you about the hotel we have been spending the week at. The Diplomat has many amenities…a fully stocked bar, manned by Ricardo, and a nice seating area where we spent many evenings socializing with our friends and reliving our daily sojourns.

Our room has a king-sized bed, but really no place to unpack your clothes in, which was fine for me, since I don’t unpack but rather leave everything in my travel cubes.

The bathroom has a heated towel bar which not only held the towels that enfolded us in warmth after our showers, but also dried our hand-washables in record time. Speaking of showers, the fire alarm went off the other morning on our floor but since the cleaning staff seemed very calm, Allan and I just walked down the stairs and went on our way to breakfast. Apparently fire alarms go off if someone is taking a steamy hot shower.

One morning we woke up to a trickle of water from our sink faucet and no water in the shower. I quickly filled up our sink with what little water came out of the tap before it stopped completely and we used that to get washed. The water came back about an hour later but by that time, we were ready to go on our tour and so off we went. (We did try to stay away from folks though throughout the day. Phew!) LOL!

We took a day long tour of Siena and San Gimignano today, traveling by bus. Siena is a city in central Italy’s Tuscany region, and is known for its medieval brick buildings that grace the streets. The city’s 17 historic “contrade” (districts) extend outward from the piazza and the historic center of Siena has been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

We stopped in to visit St. Dominic Basilica, where Catherine of Siena’s body is preserved. Well actually, only parts of Catherine are mummified there; her head and her thumb. The rest of her body parts are in other parts of Italy. Since she was so revered, many churches

wanted her…Even if it was just a small relic of her body.

The Basilica had an addition added to it, but unfortunately, the addition was more modern than the original. The stained glass windows I thought looked hideous… Like they were drawn by a six year old and colored in. I felt it was a shame, considering the beautiful paintings and original Gothic architecture in the old part.

Another site we saw was the Piazza del Campo, the enormous square in the historic center of Siena where twice a year, The Palio di Siena takes place. This is a horse race where ten of the seventeen contrades are represented and the jockeys ride barebacked and compete to be the winner. The race is run for three laps of the piazza and usually lasts no more than 90 seconds. According to Wikipedia…”It is common for a few of the jockeys to be thrown off their horses while making the treacherous turns in the piazza, and indeed, it is not unusual to see unmounted horses finishing the race without their jockeys”. YIKES!

We saw many beautiful churches, but the most spectacular was the Siena Cathedral. This magnificent structure has four distinct sides but the main portal highlights Romanesque, Gothic, and Classical architecture. It truly is a work of art.

We saw Torre del Mangia, a 340 foot bell tower, walked the quaint streets, and we found a nice place for lunch… And yes… Had some Chianti as well!

Then it was off to San Gimignano, another Tuscan town not too far away. The town is encircled by walls from the 13th century. Upon arrival we were treated to a beautiful panorama of the Tuscan area atop a hill and then we walked Florence, Italy

around until we came to some of the 14 towers that are in the walled town. From a distance, the towers might look like midtown Manhattan, but we only were able to view them from up close.

Our guide was knowledgeable, but after awhile we really didn’t know what we were seeing and what the historical significance was (and to tell you the truth, we really didn’t care). The breeze had picked up and we were starting to get chilled so we just wanted to end the tour and find some hot cocoa. Which we did and boy…was the cocoa delicious. It was the consistency of chocolate syrup and I had to ask for some milk to dilute it a little. It was delicious and really hit the spot!

It was a long day and we just had a sandwich, some wine and then went to our rooms for a good night’s sleep.

03 Jan 2018 Pisa and Florence

Florence, Italy

Today Allan and I decided to go off on our own and took the train to Pisa to see the leaning tower. How could we be an hour away from Pisa by rail and not see that iconic landmark? It is so easy to get around via the train system and we were in Pisa in a little more than an hour.

We walked from the train station through the streets of Pisa, and crossed the Arno river, the same river that flows through Florence, starting in the Appenines, continuing through Pisa and ending up in the Tyrrhenian Sea which is part of the Mediterranean.

There are many upscale stores in Pisa and many little cafes tucked along the main street. After about a twenty minute walk, we made a turn and there before us was the tower. The tower is in the Piazza del Duomo, where the cathedral and the baptristy can also be seen and the entire area is enclosed in walls. We researched and found out that although the leaning tower is probably the most famous landmark, it is actually the bell tower for the magnificent Duomo (cathedral).

The tower started to lean during construction in the 12th century because of soft ground on one side that couldn’t support the weight of the structure. The tower continued to lean through the decades and was stabilized in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The height of the tower is 183.27 feet from the ground on the low side and 185.93 feet on the high

side. According to Wikipedia…”Prior to restoration work performed between 1990 and 2001, the tower leaned at an angle of 5.5 degrees, but the tower now leans at about 3.99 degrees”.

All around were tourists doing the touristy thing of having one person take the photo of another “holding up” the tower. Were we going to participate in that silly make- believe????? You betcha!!! And we have the pics to prove it.

We walked back to the train station along the river and saw a beautiful little church, Santa Maria della Spina. The tiny church was built around 1230 and the architecture was magnificent. What an unexpected treasure to find.

We took the express train back to Florence and as we exited the station, Allan commented that he got me back to Florence in one Pisa! Always the comedian that guy!!!

We did some more touring of Florence, found a little restaurant where we had to walk downstairs to a bricked underground dining area. There we enjoyed homemade pasta, Chianti and finished the meal off with a cappuccino for me and an espresso for Allan.

We toured Florence one last time and then went back to the hotel to pack. We met everyone for our goodbye dinner at Osteria Pastella and we all had the beef dishes that Florence is known for. We had a great time but now it’s to bed for our early morning wake up call and our flight home.

Arrivederci Florence.

Florence, Italy

04 Jan 2018

7:00 pm

Ciao Florence… Hello Chicago???????!!!
Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Snow storm has us diverted to Chicago where we are waiting to rebook a flight. Will be here overnight. Hope we can get some deep dish pizza!!!

05 Jan 2018 On our way home

Chicago O’Hare International Airport

Well… Airline put us up for the night in a Marriott hotel and gave us each 30 dollars worth of vouchers for food. It was good to have a good night’s sleep and a morning shower.

We will take a flight to Philly and then a bus to Newark… Uber over to Scott and Erin’s to pick up our car and then drive to Bethlehem. Kids all asked us to stay overnight but we just want to head home. Just hope our flight takes off.

It was a great time in Italy and we are so glad we made the trip. See you on our next adventure!

06 Jan 2018 Back home again

Our flight to Philly was fine…then we took the bus to the Park and Ride where many of the travelers had parked their cars for the trip. Allan and I had parked at Scott and Erin’s home, so we needed to get back to Jersey. We were fortunate in that a car was provided for us that took us back to Jersey, and we picked up our car and headed back to Bethlehem…stopping along the way for an early “breakfast” at McDonald’s! We arrived home around 3:30 am. It was a great adventure…and actually it was the first time in all of our travels that we were diverted to an unplanned flight stop.