Wow, when you said jam-packed you weren't kidding. I can't believe you managed to see as much as you did.

This report makes me wants to go to Rome with my sister again. But darn it all, she went and had a baby so I'll have to wait a few years at least.

what a fabulous trip report. My husband and I are going with our teenage daughters this June to Rome and Florence with a bike trip in Umbria in the middle; this makes the wait a little easier. Do you remeber your pr-trip reading list? I'm currently reading a fascinating biography of Francis of Assisi by Adrian House and would be interested in knowing what you read? Thanks

So glad that you are enjoying my long report! Yes, it is really incredible to write down most of what we did. I actually edited stuff out! We were go, go, go every day. Eleanorw,, I do have a list on my desktop at home and I'll try to add it tonight (assuming I get a chance to leave the office at a decent hour-year end for an accountant is not a fun time). I'll post the next installment sometime today/tonight.

Day Six (Tuesday): 10/24/06
Our last morning in Rome. We had breakfast delivered to our room and checked out of the hotel by 7:30. The front desk held our luggage, called us a taxi and we arrived at Piazza San Pietro by a few minutes after 8. We met John and the rest of the group at the obelisk and as we walked to the Basilica, John started giving us a lesson in the architecture. We ascended the stairs and entered the portico with its 5 bronze doors. The central door was manufactured in 1445 for Old Saint Peters and the artist, Filarete, was from Florence. This door was made around the same time as Ghiberti’s “Paradise Door” at the Baptistery in Florence so I had fun comparing the two and Michele took a good look so that she would remember it when we got to Florence. We entered the church.
At first sight you really don’t realize how large the church actually is. Everything within (statues, mosaics, alters, baldachino) are proportionate. Although awesome in size, the individual doesn’t feel belittled. The church was still quite; masses performed by visiting priests at the side alters were finished and tour buses hadn’t started to arrive yet. There were very few people and we had a leisurely visit. How could I possibly do justice to Saint Peter’s? Entire scholarly books don’t do justice to the place. Highlights for us were: Michelangelo’s Pieta (which we’d seen as children at the NY Worlds Fair – thank you Cardinal Spellman for having pull with the Pope); Bernini’s baldachino (OK, so he did loot the bronze from the Pantheon but it is spectacular); Bernini’s Cattedra and “Gloria” (is there a more beautiful apse in any other church in the world?). The mosaics are beautiful, the tremendous statues in the niches of the pillars are lovely, the ancient Saint Peter with his toes worn away from millions of pilgrims kisses was humbling and the light! The light streaming into the nave was spiritually uplifting. One other comment, don’t miss the shrine to Alexander III by Bernini; that skeleton of Death lifting the marble drape and reaching for Alexander is both wonderful and really creepy. It was nearing 10:30 and our tour was over. The church was getting crowded and the line outside had already formed. We thanked John and went in search of a bancomart. We found the ATM and sis also spied a vendor selling 12” tall gladiator figures; he had three styles and she bought all three. Another taxi and when we reached the hotel, she ran over to via Nazionale to a tourist store and bought a nice big duffel to hold the gladiators on our transit to Florence.
We retrieved our luggage and arrived at Tremini about 45 minutes before departure. We stopped to buy a bottle of water and found the track where our train was already waiting so we had plenty of time to board and get settled. I had learned in fall 2005 that the seat numbers in first class are typically Italian – in other words, whatever numbering order is used there seems to be no logical sense applied. I had sis wait on the platform while I entered the car to get our bearings. The luggage rack was already full but we were assigned seats 92 & 96! These turned out to be the last seats in the car; one seat on each side of the aisle near the door to the lav and next car. Next to the seats was plenty of room for our suitcases so, not only didn’t we have to deal with finding someplace to stow them, we never had to worry about them as we would have if they were out of sight.
We got comfortable, sat back and relaxed for the next 90 minutes as we rode through Tuscany. This was Michele’s first look at the Tuscan countryside and she loved it. Sis has always loved low mountains and rolling hills and had at one time considered moving upstate to Sullivan or Duchess counties; she spent her transit in reverie and thought the country was beautiful. I, on the other hand, am strictly a city girl; all I saw out of my window were farms. Well, I’ve seen Tuscany before and it’s nice to pass through on my way to cities. I spent my transit tweaking our Day One Florence itinerary to accommodate our later than expected arrival. But foremost on my mind was Santa Maria Novella. If I saw nothing else in Florence this visit I would not miss this church (on each of my previous three visits, events intervened precluding a visit)!
A pleasant, restful and uneventful train ride. A long walk down the platform pulling much too heavy suitcases and a quick cab ride around the corner to the Adler Cavalieri Hotel (via Della Scalza). Florence! My heart soared.
Just as I had to Hotel Britannia, several weeks before arrival I contacted the Cavalieri. I alerted them to our early arrival time, insured they understood twin beds and confirmed they would store our baggage until check-in time. The hotel was nice; a marginal 4 stars. It seemed a little worn down here and there but, on the other hand, had a lot of 4 star amenities. You enter the lobby but it is really just a long front desk in a nice woody room. Off to the side is a room with leather seating and a clubby feel. There were a couple of long corridors leading to banquet rooms and such. Display cases were here and there and contained high end product displays like in a Hilton or other 4 star brand.
Our room was ready and we were assigned a triple room at the front of the hotel. It was a great room. Two large windows with excellent soundproofing let the sunlight stream in. Along with the twin beds, there was also a massive sofa that would be the third bed, an also massive wardrobe and armoire set and an English language movie channel on the TV. Not that we were in Italy to watch TV, but it was nice to watch in the morning while dressing and at night before bed. The bathroom was modern with luxury toiletries. We looked forward to another comfortable stay and were not disappointed. We hung up a few things, locked some stuff in the safe, stopped at the front desk to arrange our dinner reservation and headed out into the Florence afternoon.
Our first stop: Santa Maria Novella. Many of the sights we’d seen in Rome were fantastic and brought me to the state of wonder but only Santa Maria Novella brought me to the state of tears. When I entered that soaring Gothic space and walked over to see Giotto’s Cruxifiction … well, that just did me in. I cannot describe how I felt looking at this masterpiece! The work is beautifully restored with vibrant colors and gleaming gold. But then, all of the art, indeed the entire church has obviously been the focus of a major restoration project. The façade is currently under scaffolding and, while we were there, renovation of one of the obelisks in the piazza was completed and the other, begun. The artworks within are all in superb condition, that is to say the best condition possible. “La Trinita” by Masaccio looks washed out like it was over cleaned but perhaps this is result of the original paint mixture or of some previous restoration attempt. It’s still an impressive fresco. How appropriate that Brunelleschi’s Crucifix hangs in this same church. As I stood in the Tornabuoni Chapel looking at the incredibly beautiful fresco cycle by Ghirlandaio and his workshop, I felt my spirit soar. A physical pulling sensation from the solar plexus and the top of my head began to tingle! I cannot recount in any words I know the beauty of this chapel. The stain glass window also designed by the master is in complete harmony with the rest of the work. One of the greatest masterpieces I’ve been privileged to see. There is just so much more great art in this church: Cappella Strozzi with frescos by Filippino Lippi; the Polyptich by Andrea Orcangna; the massive Della Robbia in the Sacristy (indeed, the entire Sacristy/giftshop is a treasure). We spent about 2 hours in the church and were really getting hungry as we’d only had an early breakfast (were we really in Saint Peter’s Basilica this morning?) Rather than go on to visit the museum, garden or cloister we left to forage for lunch.
We crossed the street and headed down via Dei Banchi toward the Duomo. I had in mind to eat at Lo Scudo on via Dell’Oriuolo (really good pizza and pasta, right behind the Duomo) but right there at the corner of via de Panzini was a small café that looked nice. We walked in to see the cold display and were told the soups were minestrone and pasta fagiole; I ordered the first and sis, the second. In just a few minutes they arrived nice and hot. The soups were both very good and we also shared a tremezzi. It hit the spot.
Then we decided to just walk around. We entered Piazza del Duomo and circled the church. The ornate encrustation really impressed Michele. We stopped to view the Gates of Paradise door at the Baptistery (I mentioned to Michele that two of the panels will be on display here in the US sometime in 2007 – the name of the museum displaying them escapes me, but I’ll surely find out the details). We then walked down via Proconsolo, the curve of which follows the pattern of the ancient Roman wall, past the Badia and Bargallo and over to Piazza Signoria. We lingered here for a while, walking around and looking at the statues on the piazza and in the loggia. This was my fourth time to Florence and I’ve read extensively about the city over the years, so I was glad to act as unauthorized tour guide for Michele. It was now past 7:00 and we had 8:30 dinner reservations in Santa Croce, so we exited the piazza by way of Piazza d’Uffizi and Michele had her first look at the Arno
We walked over to the Ponte Vecchio and sis finally got to see what I’d described to her after my first visit. We window shopped for a while; some of the shops were closing for the day but plenty of them were still open. I noted how high the prices were – much higher than they were in November 2005 (less than a year earlier) – and way, way above what they were like in spring, 2003. I actually saw a tri-colored bracelet that matched a suite I’d purchased in 2003 (ring, earrings and necklace – not a chain with an ornament but an actual necklace); for the suite I’d paid E1100, for the bracelet they were asking E1500! Who needs another bracelet anyway?
Walking along the Arno on the way to Santa Croce, Michele stopped to buy an knock-off handbag for her grandchildren’s mom, L, (one big enough to hold the twins “stuff” for easy transport). She got a price she couldn’t refuse as the vendor wanted that last sale of the day. She also bought L a beautiful leather bag and a couple of more knock-offs during our shopping day later in the week. On we walked to Santa Croce while I pointed out the fortified palazzos along the way.
When my husband and I visited in late November 2005, we stopped into Santa Maria della Grazie on the lungarno of the same name. This tiny chapel houses a “miraculous icon” and I’d hoped to show Michele but the chapel was closed for the day. We arrived at Piazza Santa Croce at about 8:00 but decided to see if we could be seated early. We had reservations at Boccadama (Pz Santa Croce 25-26). This small restaurant is attached to a wine bar with the same name. The menu is very small but, from the reviews I’ve read, this place is all about the wine. Be forewarned about the short menu. For a non-picky eater (like me) the menu is great; everything looked delicious to me. Michele, on the other hand is kind of picky and every secundo had an ingredient she wasn’t crazy about. Dinner was delicious! We shared a plate of antipasti which was generous and consisted of sliced boar salami, proscutto and cheeses, various olives, and crostini. I enjoyed a bleu filet and Michele, who usually eats medium-well, enjoyed a rare sliced filet over arugula (which she doesn’t eat but this was her “compromise” order). She ate every morsel of that rare beef which she would never have touched at home – and loved it! The beef was superb. I can’t say what the wine was, exactly, but it was a Sangiovese and was delicious. I don’t recall if we had dessert.
OK. I have to admit that my trip report for Florence will have some gaps as, by this point I was falling down on the job in keeping notes. I’m not much of a note taker on vacation (this was actually my first real attempt at it) but at least in Rome, we really kept to our itinerary. I can therefore recall a lot of our experiences as the itinerary jogs the memory and I did try to always jot down what we ate. In Florence, we ended up kind of winging it a lot. We had a wonderful time but I know there’ll be some gaps in the report.
Back to Boccadama. We discussed our jam packed day over dinner. We had started early in Rome, meeting John at 8:30 at the obelisk in Piazza San Pietro; taken a restful and stress free train ride to Florence; was overcome by the beauty in Santa Maria Novella; and, had walked the streets of Centro Storico. Time to call it a day. We caught a taxi at the taxi rank on the piazza and reached our room at about 11:00. Tomorrow, more knock-your-socks-off art!

I am really enjoying this report! February (and my trip to Rome and Florence) can't get here soon enough! I was interested in your remarks about the Tuscan countryside...I thought I was the only heretic here who doesn't get too excited about grass and manure. Give me cement, and cobblestones, and noisy streets any day.

Thanks for such a wonderful report. Your descriptions make it come alive. I'm contemplating a trip to Florence in February and look forward to more of your impressions of Florence. I've been there 3 times but only for a day or two at a time. I want to stay longer this time and take it all in.

thanks for the great report! We were in rome and florence with our kids this year and in a week in each place, managed to do virtually nothing that you have mentioned so far, but we still filled our time with wonderful experiences. Perhaps that will convince the doubters that you can't do rome/florence/Venice in a day.

Great report! We're traveling to Rome, Florence and Venice in March. I am really enjoying this...

eleanor, here's the reading list you requested.Reading list: Rome

“Pilgrimage: A Chronicle of Christianity Through the Churches of Rome ”
by- June Hager

“A Catholics Guide to Rome”
by- Frank J. Korn

“High Renaissance Art in Saint Peter’s and the Vatican”
by- George L. Hersey

“Basilica, The Splendor and the Scandal: The Building of Saint Peter’s”
by- R.A. Scotti

“Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling”
by- Ross King

“Timeless Cities: An Architect’s Reflections on Renaissance Italy”
by- David Mayernik

“Rome: A Guide to the Eternal City”
by- Sophia Pescarin

“Subterranean Rome”
by- Ivana Della Portella

“Signs & Symbols in Christian Art”
by- George Ferguson

“The Early History of Rome”
by- Livy

“The Holy Bible” Acts of the Apostles

Reading list: Florence
I’d been to Florence before so I have many books from the museum stores which I re-read. Here are a couple of others:

“Brunellesch’s Dome”
by- Ross King

“The Renaissance”
by- Paul Johnson

Day Seven (Wednesday): 10/25/06
This was going to be a really big day: San Marco, Accademia, Uffizi. Huge. We woke early and went downstairs for breakfast by 7:15. The breakfast was better than OK but not to the same standard that the Hotel Britannia had been in Rome. Really good cold meats and cheeses; many baked goods (but all of them sweet); cold cereals; fresh yoghurt as well as commercial; soggy bacon; terrible (if any) dry scrambled eggs; canned rather than fresh fruit. The most terrible coffee I’ve had in Italy; so bad, in fact, that I drank tea for the duration. There was enough variety to put together a better than satisfactory breakfast but I would have loved some fresh fruit. We had the front desk call us a taxi; taxi service is one of the pleasures of Florence as their service is great.
We arrived at Piazza San Marco by 8:30 and entered the museum into the cloister. Stepping into the cloister, even today, feels like you’ve left the world behind. There weren’t many tourists there that morning so the cloister was actually empty and the entire museum was very quiet. We first stopped to admire the Crucifixion by Fra Angelico that is painted on the wall in the loggia. We also enjoyed the portraits of the various monks and saints painted along these walls as we made our way to the room full of Fra Bartolomeo works and then around to the former hospice with even more works by Fra Angelico. We then backtracked to the room with the great Crucifixion on the wall; I’d read that condemned prisoners during the Republic spent the night before execution in this room with their confessor. When I visited here with my daughter in 2002, she wasn’t able to enter this room stating she felt too much negative energy (I purposefully never told her the history of this room). We next went upstairs to visit the monks cells. This area of the museum did have a couple of French tour groups that were pretty pushy but, we’re from NYC so knew how to ignore their crush. I’d seen these frescos several times before but I always enjoy seeing them again especially when seeing them anew through someone else’s eyes. The library was closed so we headed back downstairs to use the lav and then entered the gift shop which houses (in my humble opinion) two of the greatest works in the museum: the Last Supper by Ghirlandaio and a very beautiful Della Robbia.
It was after 10:00 so we exited and walked through Piazza Annunziata on our way to Accademia and our 11:00 reservation. There was a not-too-long line for the non-reservation tourists and, even though we were about ½ hour early, we were allowed entry. So many people visit this museum simply for the Michelangelo’s (which are wonderful) but the main sala is full of beautiful paintings by: Perugino, Bartolomeo, Ghirlandaio, Lippi, Giambologna, Uccello and many, many others. We spent close to an hour in this room before proceeding to David, Prisoners, Matthew and Pieta. Michele’s comment about David “isn’t he just perfect!”. Yes, sis, he is! Then on through the medieval and early renaissance galleries of beautiful icons and alterpieces. More big names: Giotto, Gaddi, Monaco. And unknown names called “Maestra of …” . A new gift shop has opened since last fall and a proper exit from the museum is now completed. The gift shop is really nice and I bought some art books published by Scala; I buy these whenever I’m in Italy as I find they have good information and pictures and aren’t expensive.
We had a 1:00 reservation for lunch at Coquinarius (via dell’Oche, 15r), a wine bar I had hoped to try the previous November but never had the chance. It’s a small, modern place with seating for maybe 30 diners and ended up a great choice for lunch. I had a lovely salad with grilled chicken and Michele had a pasta dish (sorry, no note of exactly which pasta) which she also enjoyed. We relaxed over a glass of wine and talked about our busy morning. Michele was astounded by what we’d seen at San Marco and, of course, who isn’t impressed by David, etal? Sis was really looking forward to our afternoon at Uffizi and so was I. Each time I’d been to Florence I’d spent a minimum of 5 hours in this museum. Our reservation was for 3:00 and the museum closes at 6:50 on Wednesdays so this would be a shorter visit for me but I felt long enough for sis to get a real taste of the offerings yet avoid “museum overload” considering our itinerary for this day.
Before we knew it, the time was 2:40 and we had to rush to Uffizi to pick up our tickets. We left Coquinarius, making a left on via dell’Oche and walked past a small handbag boutique with very interesting handbags displayed in the window. My 23 year old daughter is a “handbag hound” and I’m always on the look-out for unusual designs which this boutique had many of. I rushed in to request a business card and told the clerk I would return (which we did on the following day).
Piazza Signoria was packed and I rushed ahead of sis to get to the ticket office. I was glad that I had been there just the previous year as I knew where the ticket office was located (which had been moved since my visits in 2002 and 2003). Had I not known the location I would have been lost as the area is under renovation and the office is hiding behind plywood. Tickets retrieved, a quick smoke and we entered the fabulous museum.
My plan was to stick to the Renaissance art; three hours is just not enough time to see everything (it’s not even enough time to do any justice to the great Renaissance works). We spent the afternoon in these rooms and I just followed Michele’s lead. We spent as much time as she wanted in whatever rooms she was interested in. She “discovered” Botticelli on this trip and spent a lot of time enjoying his works which was fine with me as in these rooms are also some of my favorites, Lippi and Ghirlandaio. The museum was crowded but we just ignored the crowds and focused on our interests. I’m certainly not going to try to write an Uffizi Guide as part of this trip report. Suffice it to say we had a great afternoon of great art and would have been happy if we had the time and stamina to have had a longer visit. On exiting, the route is set out so that you pass through the DaVinci Special Exhibit. Assembled out of wood using Leonardo’s plans, these creations and machines were pretty astounding. The gallery was jammed with kids using the hands on displays which was truly heartening but made it difficult to pass through. We again spent some time in the gift shop and sis bought several decoupage reproductions and I, more books. We exited Uffizi and took a seat right outside on some long concrete benches just to give our knees and feet a break! To say we were tired would be a serious understatement.
We had no dinner reservations for this night as I had in mind to eat at Yellow Bar (via Proconsolo, 35-37-39R) which has a no reservation policy, begins serving at 8:00 and was close to Uffizi. We were going to look for a wine bar to kill time but was stopped in out tracks by the window of Cosimo (Piazza S. Firenze, 15-16-17-18R) seller of fine leather handbags since 1960. This family owned shop has some of the nicest handbags we’d seen and we ended up here for an hour of shopping. I purchased a mustard yellow bag for my daughter and a great leather portmanteau for myself – I now have a really special carryon bag for my travels. Michele bought a bag for our sister Maria and one for herself. I had a nice chat with the proprietor, the son of the original owner; he had an 8x10 photo of the shop during the great 1966 flood (the 40th anniversary of which occurred while we were in Florence) showing the water up above the plate glass windows! The entire first storey of the building was under water. I highly recommend this shop-the quality is excellent and the prices, honest.
Still too early for Yellow Bar, we started walking around and found ourselves on via del Corso. Michele noticed a gift and antiques store; a doll in the window caught her eye. We went inside where she purchased it for our niece, C. The merchant was an elderly gentleman that spoke perfect English and showed us around his interesting store. We bid farewell and continued along via Corso until we reached Brashi at number 67r, a family-run house wares store with lots of surprising items. Sis had spotted wooden carousels so in we marched. The carousels were also animated music boxes and momma brought them off of the shelf behind the counter so Michele could take a closer look. When she realized sis would be buying several, she brought her into a back display room that had shelves of them to choose from. Michele bought three (E25 each); one for each of her grandsons and one for C. She also bought wooden bugs (E10) that held a pencil cup with colored pencils for all three kids. I purchased a music box with dancing ballerina for C (E20). I had spotted wine serving kits and the one I decided on has the usual corkscrew, bottle coaster and stopper but also includes a champagne stopper, a special gadget to remove air from a re-corked bottle and a wine temperature gauge (E40); I purchased one for my husband and one for our daughter (the chef) and Michele purchased one for her oldest son. I also bought a set of cookie cutters to add to my daughter’s collection. Of course, every thing we purchased were wrapped up beautifully. We were their last sale of the day and they had locked the doors a good half hour before we were ready to go. I’m sure they were very happy about the sale and we had a fun time in this store. You could really go nuts buying stuff for your home or for gifts here and the prices are really reasonable for the style and quality. On to Yellow Bar.
We waited about ½ hour to be seated and were placed at the end of a long table. This place is a noisy, casual place with lots of locals and tourists. The pizzas look very good but we were there for the house-made pasta. I had an appetizer of proscutto and melon and sis had proscutto and fresh mozzarella, we both had delicious Pasta Carbonara. For secundo, I ordered pork cutlets in lemon and Michele had another rare beef filet (although not as rare as the night before). For dessert, we both had the sorbetto of the day which was honeydew – yum. Dinner was very satisfying and the atmosphere was fun; we ended up back here for dinner the following night. We asked the waiter to call us a taxi which arrived in just a few minutes. We arrived back at the hotel at 11:30 and decided that the following morning we were going to sleep late to recuperate from the very long day spent mostly on our feet. Our itinerary (and our age) was catching up with us!

Well, I'm not surprised you need some recuperation! You two are wonder women -

I am really enjoying this - it's bringing back wonderful memories although you are doing mostly different things than we did. Please continue . . .

Linda

thanks for the list margaret

Day Eight (Thursday): 10/26/06
We slept late, until 7:30 (!) and went to breakfast at 8:15. The same story as yesterday, no eggs only dried bits left in the pan. The waiter was pretty surly, too, only bringing us one pot of tea water although we both wanted different teas. Maybe he got a lot of grief from earlier guests who wanted eggs! He was the only service person we met on the entire trip that had a bad attitude. Anyway, we ate and left the hotel to walk to the Bargello.
Near Piazza della Republica, Michele noticed a vendor who, along with various souvenirs, also sold inexpensive luggage. We both already knew we had to purchase an additional suitcase each in order to haul back our loot; Michele was doing a lot of shopping and I’d bought a lot of books so the new 50lb. weight limit was working against me. We noted the location to return to after visiting the Bargello. It was another beautiful day and the streets were already getting busy.
Because of its limited hours, I had never made it to the Bargello before and, like Santa Maria Novella, I was determined to see it on this trip. I really never imagined that the collection would be so extensive! The central courtyard itself was worth spending time in just in order to imagine what it must have been like to live in a fortified palazzo. The sculpture collection (Michelangelo, Donatello, Gianbologna, Cellini, de Cambio) is vast and important. This I expected. What I didn’t expect were the decorative arts; tableware, ceramics, jewelry. And the Della Robbia’s! We ended up spending about three hours here missing our reservation for the Brancacci Chapel (which was a conscious choice on my part – how could we cut short the Bargello?).
We decided to spend the day in the Centro Storico but first we returned to Theresa Cambi (via della Oche, 17r) where I bought two bags for my daughter; one of them a purple felt evening bag (E30) and the other a crocheted sack (E23). Michele bought a stylish leather handbag for L (E85) and one for herself. We next found Parione (via dello Studio, 11r), a lovely stationary store where we each made purchases. My daughter’s boyfriend, J, has a love for things related to writing so I bought him a box of hand made stationary paper and a calligraphy pen set with artisanal ink (E84, total). Michele bought our nephew, N, a journal and pen and also made a few other purchases.
We reached via Calzaiuoli and stopped at Migone, “confetteria classica Firenze” and bought fresh torrone (two kinds), cantucci and an assortment of hard candies to bring home. It was much too warm to consider chocolate.
We next made our way back to the vendor to purchase the suitcases and return them to the hotel. After dropping our purchases off in our room, we stopped into the Pharmacia Santa Maria Novella (which was a few doors down from the hotel) where I purchased a gift for my assistant at work and replenished my supply of talcum powder. Michele also bought powder and we returned these purchases to our room before heading back to the center. We were hungry and returned to the same café we visited on our arrival day to have lunch. This time, sis ordered the Riboletta soup (tomato with stale bread) which I’ve always been curious about so I tasted hers; it’s good but very filling. I again had minestrone and we shared another tremezzi. Well, we had a loose plan to shop and to stop into the Duomo and Baptistery but we never did visit them; we just shopped ‘til we dropped!
We spent the rest of the afternoon in “slow gear”. It was already after 3:00 and we still had gifts to buy so next we headed directly to San Lorenzo Market. Here, we had fun. We split up but kept each other in view and touched base often to look over and recommend vendors. My husband asked me to bring home local art. This is something we always do and enjoy together. I came across a woman artist showing her etchings and her work was well worth the asking price; I purchased two. One, a lateral view of the Arno with bridges, about 4”x10”, E15; the other, a standard view of the domes of San Lorenzo and Duomo, about 8X10, E25. My husband was very pleased. Other purchases I made (and recommended vendors): leather gloves (men, E35; women, mid-forearm, E42); silk ties (E10 or 3 for E25) and scarves (silk prints, E10; silk velvet, stamped Venetian style, E35; silk pashima E20) at Belinda (stand 21); leather bound journals (4”x6”, E15; 4x8, E20) and men’s wallets (billfolds with a change compartment, E25) at Molinuccio. My only other purchase here was an Italia baseball cap and Firenze T-shirt for our brother, The Collector. Michele bought some little duds for her grandsons and really nice sweatshirts for her sons, The Athletes. She found a leather men’s touring bag (very stylish shoulder bag to hold maps and such) for her husband who was to leave on a trip in November. She also found another handbag for herself that she just couldn’t resist as well as some other items.
All day we had our eyes out for a tabacci to buy Cuban cigars for our husbands. Michele spotted one, Tabaccheria (Borgo San Lorenzo,41r) and we each purchased 4 cigars for the hubbies: two Romeo & Julietta’s and two Partagas’. Michele also tried to find a leather cigar holder for her husband but all of them were for thin, short cigars. Next we stopped at a perfumery on via Calzaiuoli for cologne for sis’s older sons. Looks like we were finally finished, famished and ready to call it a day. We headed back to Yellow Bar for dinner.
We were laden with packages and told the waiter we’d wait until a booth was available; he said 10 minutes, it was ½ an hour. We didn’t care. It was our last night in Italy, so we were happy to stand out front, looking at the palazzos lining via Proconsolo. We had a reprise of the previous night’s dinner, except for secondo I had a salad. Again, very satisfying (I’m a sucker for fresh pasta). I had hoped to visit a few more restaurants in Florence but Yellow Bar really was just right for us on these final nights. It was only about 10:00 but we had the dreaded chore ahead of us – packing all this stuff up for traveling home.
It’s never fun to pack and it’s really not fun to pack with the intent of getting things home in one piece! Actually, my packing was pretty easy as I really hadn’t bought much (I’d just brought gifts for family while in Paris in April and Florence last November) and what I did buy was unbreakable. My major issue was distributing the weight with the knowledge of the 50lb limit – most of my purchases were books and I had no scale. Imagine, when I weighed in at the airport, one bag was 48.5 lbs and the other 49.8!! Michele had the challenge: gladiators, musical carousels, pencil holding bugs. Well, she did it and everything got home fine. One of her bags was over by about 2 lbs but the Alitalia agent made a pass (thank you kind agent). We finished packing somewhere around 2am but we had plenty of time to sleep late in the morning; our flight wasn’t until 12:00.

Margaret, I've enjoyed your report. You're right, you did pack a lot in! Isn't all that shopping fun? I no longer shop much at home, but when traveling, I do enjoy it.

Margaretlb, thanks for the wonderful report. It really made me miss Italy.

Margaretlb, a truly wonderful, beautiful and informative trip report. I had started reading it once but reread the entire thread tonight..so enjoyable! And you are so fortunate to have a sister..I always wished I had been so blessed. Thank you for sharing your time in Italy and all the time it must have taken you to post this report. Best regards.

Yes, Loveitaly, I am lucky to have a sister. Actually, two sisters. I'm the oldest and the sister I took this trip with is two years younger - we shared a bed growing up. My other sister is 10 years younger than I and still has young children so couldn't make this trip. I wrote my trip report in Word and then copied/pasted. My sister is a housewife and her children and grandchildren fill her life with lots of love and lots of stress so I wanted to give her the trip of a lifetime for her 50th and I wrote the trip report for her - so she could remember all we did. She told me last night that she's read it twice and can't believe we did all this - so, there you go, that's the reason I wrote it all down. She spent last night plopped in front of the TV as Discovery/Times channel had a whole night on Rome and she was glued to the set. She was never too interested in foreign travel but now says she's ready to go to Venice! I usually travel with my Dear Husband and he and I spent two weeks in Paris in April. He's not able to travel overseas again until next fall so this coming April, our 24 year old daughter and I are headed to Paris for a week. It seems I'm only happy when I'm planning another trip

What a wonderfully detailed report, Mille grazie, and an especially nice gift for your sister, too. I was delighted to see that you recommend "Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling” by- Ross King. I had ordered a copy to educate myself for my first trip to Italy in June. It arrived today and I can't wait to dive in.

Marcia, Ross King also wrote "Brunelleschi's Dome" about the building of the Duomo in Florence. If you're also headed to Florence, you might like to also read this book.

Well Margaretlb, I will say your two sisters are blessed also to have you as their "big sister"!

I too enjoyed "Brunellschi's Dome".

Wishes to you and your daughter Margaret for a beautiful time in Paris!