Wednesday, September
9, 2015
Today was our travel day from Rome to Florence (about 3 hour
drive). The Italian country-side as we drove through Tuscany was stunningly
beautiful. It is dotted with little town perched atop large hills or small mountains,
many of which were built in the 13th-14th century.
We arrived in Florence, and let me tell you, the streets are
NARROW! Our mini-van barely fit on the streets, and the side mirrors could
easily pick off pedestrians on the very narrow sidewalks as well. People walk in
the streets in central Florence, which are blocked off to most traffic.
Thousands of people are walking between churches, museums and other points of
interest and jumping up and down off the curbs as necessary. Amazingly, it all
seems to work.
We stayed on a beautiful square – Piazza Santa Maria Novella
– where the new St. Mary’s
church was standing. It is about 500 years old! This is in contrast to the old
St. Mary’s church (the new church was built over the top of the old church) which
dates back well over a 1000 years ago. After we checked into the hotel, we
piled onto the elevator (again, I cannot tell you how small the elevators are).
The sign said “Maximum Capacity – 8 Persons (or 5 Americans),” and sure enough …
when Tim got on the elevator last, the warning system started beeping and the
digital sign was flashing “OVERLOAD.” Really! I am serious. Tim had to get off
and take the stairs!
We went to the closest street side restaurant on the piazza
outside our hotel. You know you live in a global economy when 6 Americans are
in Italy at an Italian restaurant, our waitress is oriental, she is wearing
French designer jeans, she takes our order in English while we listen to
Spanish music. Incredible. We are one people on one planet participating on one
economy. No one wins until we all win. There was some good humor at this
street-side restaurant; some sampling of the signs there:
“MEN – no
shirt, no shoes, no service. WOMEN – no shirt, free drinks.”
“I like
to use wine when cooking; I even use it in the recipe on occasion.”
“ FREE
food and beer … tomorrow.”
While waiting for our order, Chan tells us he did karaoke in
college (Butler). Debbie says to Chan, “Hey, look! There is a karaoke machine
back there.” Chan says, “Where?” And then we all told Chan never fall for it
when DEBBIE says to look at something … but ironically, Debbie was right … they
had a karaoke machine! We never got Chan to do any karaoke, so for now, his karaoke
expertise is still hypothetical.
We had a walking tour of Florence, which is much, much
smaller than Rome. We got a lot of history of Florence and got to see some of
the sites. Of worthy note, we saw the 18 foot statue of David sculpted by Michelangelo
as well as the Cathedral Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore. It is an incredible structure,
one of the largest Catholic churches in the world. There is a huge dome that
has a long story that goes with it, but suffice to say that in our current
times with our current technology, we would struggle to build this dome. That
fact that it was done 500 years ago makes it simply astounding.
We walked along the Arno River to a restaurant that was
recommended by Tim’s sister – Il Profeta. We all agreed that it was a
spectacular dining experience. How spectacular do you ask? Michele was actually
licking the plate of their home made secret sauce that covered her pasta.
Embarrassing but true – we have the picture. Our waiter said not to be worried
about this since JohnTravolta had been in the restaurant recently and did the
same thing! Our waiter, Martino, was very engaging. After a spectacular meal,
Martino went around the table, saying, “Here is something to remember us by,
and here is something to remember us by …” he was handing out business cards to
each of us – Michele, Chan, Debbie, Steve, Chris, and then he came to Tim and
continued, “Here’s is something you will never forget” as he handed Tim the
bill. He must have thought Tim was our father!!! Anyway, if you are ever in
Florence, go to Il Profeta.
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