ALL HOTEL BUFFET BREAKFASTS SHOULD HAVE A PASTRY SECTION LIKE THIS.
Sigh.
I want pastries. Sulk.
Our train didn't leave until about noon, so we hung out in one of our hotel rooms and chillaxed.
We watched more Italian Food Network.
It was all good until the food they were cooking got really gross.
Things like veal tongue, brains, tripe and testicles.
You read that right.
We changed to a channel that just showed bloopers, ala America's Funniest Home Videos.
It was time to say goodbye to Rome.
We got to the station early and had to wait for the board to announce what track our train would be on.
We parked ourselves outside a bookstore.
Of course, Katie had to go in and look around.
As we were waiting, a dude started yelling (and probably swearing - not sure as he was speaking Italian) and making a giant scene.
So much of a scene that the train station carabinieri came to deal with him and calm him down.
Everything seemed to be fine, until the dude started explaining his story to a nearby traveler and then he got riled up all over again.
We were hoping that he didn't wander over to engage us.
He didn't.
Our train arrived and we headed toward the platform.
Because I was still on crutches, Mikey had to take my super heavy backpack luggage.
I had a rollie carry-on bag and was once again on picture duty.
It was a two-hour high-speed train ride to Florence.
We selected first class seats so we could have beverages and snacks.
Plus, I got a discount when I signed up on the train website.
I had some mini hazelnut pastries.
Mikey had some crackers.
Katie had chocolate macarons and a Coke.
She was happy and caffeinated.
For some reason, she decided to try to learn Gaelic via Duolingo during the train ride.
There were lots of giant villas nestled in the countryside.
Santa Maria Novella, Florence's main train station, was way smaller than Rome's.
There's no metro in Florence.
The station is named for a basilica that stands across from it.
Florence, as it's known in the UK and the US, is known to Italians as Firenze, pronounced fee-REN-zay.
Say it with me now.
Gooooood.
It's lyrical, isn't' it.
Although Florence is known by many names (look it up, it's crazy), I really prefer Firenze.
It seems to fit a city that is considered to be the heart of the Renaissance.
After spending two plus hours on an air-conditioned train, it was a bit brutal to be thrust into the late day heat and then have to navigate to our hotel.
Blech.
We successfully found our hotel and were pleasantly surprised by the size of our room.
Everyone had their own bed and there was plenty of space to spread out.
The bathroom was also giant.
It had a soaking whirlpool tub, double sinks, a walk-in shower, a bidet and a toilet.
And it had lots of towels.
Huzbend made a reservation for dinner, and we hid in the air conditioning until it was time to head out.
What did we watch?
Italian Food Network, of course.
We also discovered this AMAZING commercial for Che Amor di Caffe coffee.
The commercial is hosted by Tiziano Crudeli, an Italian sports journalist and commentator.
We decided to look him up after seeing this commercial a bunch of times.
His delivery of the 1-800 number to call is beyond words.
See for yourself.
We tried a restaurant that specializes in risotto and rice-based dishes.
Katie enjoyed some rice bread and I'm indulging in some Fanta.
Mikey is contemplating eating risotto.
He was not excited by the menu offerings.
First up was squid ink arancini.
Arancini are rice balls that are stuffed with something (meat or cheese) and then fried.
These were not a hit.
They tasted weird. Mostly like squid ink.
I did not eat any.
Everyone ordered a variety of risotto for their meal.
I think Mikey got something with duck ragu?
Not sure what Huzbend had.
Katie had a sage risotto with truffle dust on it.
I was not brave and just went with traditional pecorino cheese and black pepper risotto.
I liked mine.
Noone else liked theirs.
Well, at least we tried something new.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this in another post.
Italians eat late.
Dinner isn't served until 7pm with most eating closer to 8pm.
Dinner is usually a relaxed affair.
We didn't get done eating until about 9pm and decided to wander our way back to the hotel.
Below is one of my favorite pictures.
At first, your eye is drawn to Katie and her tie-dye shirt.
Then the street.
Then, you look up and notice the giant dome in the background.
This is the cupola of the Santa Marie del Fiore cathedral, also known as the Duomo di Firenze.
You'll see more of it in our next blog post.
Here it is in all its giganticness.
"Whoa."
The Duomo complex consists of the cathedral and dome, the baptistry building, a bell tower, an ancient archaeological site underneath the current cathedral and a museum.
Here is the front of the cathedral and the bell tower.
The complex is done in a gothic style.
It's made up of green, pink and white marble.
The baptistry building is across from the front of the cathedral.
These are replicas of the famous "Gates of Paradise" front doors of the baptistry.
The real ones are in the museum, and you'll see them in the next blog post.
These bronze paneled doors are considered the kick-off the Renaissance.
Our hotel was located about 3 minutes from the piazza that was home to all of these sites.
To kick off Katie's birthday, we were able to chill out and enjoy hotel breakfast.
The kitchen team brought her a birthday fruit tart that, sadly, she couldn't eat.
So, I ate some for her.
She enjoyed her cappuccino, some GF packaged muffin thingies and this green juice which I think was apple?
The Italians celebrate a national holiday on Katie's birthday.
Many places are closed and many Italians have the day off.
The holiday, officially known as Ferragosto, celebrates the peak of summer.
Ferragosto was established back in Emperor Augustus times to relax and unwind after the work to harvest and plant.
Not to be outdone, the church decided that August 15th was also the day that the Virgin Mary ascended to Heaven. So there's a religious connotation to the day as well.
After all the walking the day before, I was nowhere near 100%.
We came up with a plan to protect my bruised palms. One that did not include nasty-ass socks.
We wrapped cooling towels around the plastic handles of my crutches.
On tap for today was, of course, more walking.
First up was the Borghese Gallery.
The only way to get there would be to walk quite a distance or take the metro and then walk.
We asked if the front desk could call us a car to take us there.
They were happy to oblige, and a taxi screeched up to the entrance of the hotel.
Huzbend sat up front and I did not envy him.
We drove at lightning speed down streets that were way too small for cars, flew around blind corners and just about drifted around roundabouts.
We got to the gallery with PLENTY of time to spare.
We decided to find a seat to wait for our entry time.
Bernini is famous for combining the humanism of the Renaissance with the comic-strip action of Mannerism to create what is known as the Baroque style.
You'll see more of his sculptures later.
You may also remember him from his work on St. Peter's Basilica.
Back to that ceiling.
Here's a closer view.
You can see the three-dimensional statue paintings.
And here is the room that was under that ceiling.
Katie was in love with the details.
Leda and the Swan - Il Sodoma
This is thought to be influenced by a painting/drawing originally done by Leonardo da Vinci.
He was popular so a lot of artists, especially those of his time, tried to mirror his work.
This next painting caused an argument between myself and Huzbend.
He said they were boobs on the plate. I said puddings.
This is Saint Agatha, the patron saint of Sicily.
She was a Christian who spurned the advances of a Roman prefect and suffered because of it.
He had her imprisoned and tortured.
They tore her breasts off with tongs and burnt her at the stake.
Huzbend was right.
You know you're in a fancy place when you are surrounded by amazing art that also includes paintings of the mansion you are currently standing in.
We learned on this trip that when you see multiple colors of marble it means that the person who owned it had a lot of money. More colors mean imports from other countries.
This was in the threshold of a doorway.
This slab of marble was split in half and spread out.
That is what creates the mirrored pattern.
Allegory of Sleep - Algardi Allesandro
You usually see white marble, but this was jet black.
It depicted a small boy sleeping.
A statue that combines both white and black marble.
It's of a woman with a dog on her lap and her hand on the head of a child.
This is Portrait of Marchello Sacchetti - Pietro da Cortana.
Katie surmised that he must have been fun at parties.
Katie could not get enough of the ceilings.
Totally understandable.
They were unbelieveably gorgeous.
Katie to herself, "I wonder what's in the garden? I. Want. To. Investigate."
Here is one of Bernini's most famous sculptures - The Rape of Proserpine.
Pluto is abducting Proserpine and dragging her to the Underworld.
Pluto struggles with Proserpine. His muscles are taught. His fingers digging into Proserpine's flesh.
She pushes frantically away from him.
It is inconceivable that someone could use marble to convey this moment of action. The sculpture tells a story and is meant to be experienced in 360 degrees.
You could examine this statue for hours, just drinking in the detail.
The statue includes Cerberus, the three headed dog.
It was hard for me to pull away from that one, but there was much more to see.
Another Bernini. This one from his early works. He was 20 when he made this.
It depicts Aeneas, Anchises and Ascanius running away from Troy.
In this pic you can only see the first two A's.,
This was an Eqypt themed room that held some ancient Roman statues and mosaics.
A Roman mosaic of what might be a water nymph.
The mosaics were inserted directly into the floor of the villa.
The Borghese also holds a great collection of Caravaggio paintings.
Here is his take on Bacchus.
It's said that this is a self-portrait from a time he was recovering from a serious illness (hence the greenish hue to his skin).
Caravaggio liked to use chiaroscurro - using extreme contrasts in light and dark.
An example of ancient Roman art repurposed for the villa.
The horse and rider were excavated from a villa owned by the Emperor Hadrian.
This room was filled with Roman mosaics depicting hunters and gladiators.
A short clip of a room full of sculptures and a ceiling, of course.
Say hello to Napoleon Bonaparte's sister depicted here as the Goddess Venus.
The 23-year-old married Prince Camillo Borghese in Paris and they moved to Rome.
He commissioned Antonio Canova to create this statue of her.
Nude portraits of members of high society were unusual. It caused quite the stir.
Let me introduce you to the first of five statues representing David that you'll see on our trip.
This David was sculpted by Bernini.
Some pointers about Bernini's David:
He's a man, not a boy.
He's shown in the middle of action, about to lob a stone at Goliath.
You can see the concentration on his face and tense muscles.
He is biting his lip.
I affectionately call this "Superman David" because he looks like Clark Kent un-glasses-fied.
We'll move on to another dynamic Bernini sculpture - Apollo and Daphne.
Pictures just cannot do this sculpture justice.
It portrays the moment that Daphne is being transformed into a laurel tree to escape the advances of Apollo. As you walk around the statue, you see the various stages of transformation.
It's mid-action as Apollo runs at Daphne to grasp her but ends up only grabbing bark that is encasing her.
Her fingers are sprouting branches, her hair leaves and her toes are in process of rooting themselves into the ground. The tiny detail work in the marble is amazing.
We'll end our tour of the Borghese Gallery there.
It doesn't get much better than that (except in Florence and we'll be getting there soon).
If you'd like to tour the Borghese Gallery on your own, you can visit thiswebsite.
It has information on every painting and scupture on display.
We grabbed our bags, exited the gallery and found a shady spot to sit and relax.
The padding on the handles of the crutches helped, but they were a bit too thick. I found that they were hard to grab, and they made my fingers fall asleep. I had to stop frequently to shake them back to life.
Katie REALLY wanted to explore the gardens behind the villa that she had spotted through a window.
Off she went.
She found a fountain and some shrubbery.
There was an old aviary back there too.
Here's a quick tour....
When Katie returned, we rented a 4-seat electric bike to see the rest of the park.
All four seats had pedals, but there was only one steering wheel and one brake.
It was hard to keep my crutches up and away from the pedals.
The bike got going pretty fast on downhills with only a hand brake to stop it.
In addition to that, the park was filled with pedestrians, other bikes, golf carts, scooters, and a tourist train driving around.
It was a free-for-all and, to put it plainly, just a little nuts.
We went off road once, slowed to a stop going up a hill and had to get out and push once, and panic gripped the handrails more than a dozen times.
We survived.
Our next destination was a few blocks away from the park. We had a later afternoon entry time, but it was too far to go back to the hotel and easily get back. Especially with my hurt foot.
We found a park bench and the kids played on a playground for most of the afternoon.
It was quite pleasant in the shade, and it was fun to people watch.
I'm not sure what our lunch plan was this day.
While hanging out at the playground we realized we were hungry.
Huzbend and Mikey walked to a grocery store a few blocks away, but because of the holiday it was closed.
They stopped in a convenience store and brought back some cold beverages.
We subsisted on snacks I had in my bag for the rest of the afternoon.
We were slowly losing our shade, so after the kids hopped off the swings, we made our way to a different part of the park.
Katie and Mikey explored interesting monuments and areas of the park.
Huzbend and Katie are returning from an adventure while Mikey is hiding behind a tree to scare them.
They don't look scared.
Katie wanted to check out what looked like the old foundation of a building that was in the field under these trees.
Adventure Katie off again!
She brought back some feathers.
Before we left the park, Huzbend was recruited to take a picture of these teens who were all taking pictures of each other.
It was time to make our way to our next destination.
Upon exiting the park, we walked under the remnants of the Aurelian Wall.
The wall kept Romans safe from invading barbarians for a century and some sections still stand.
I bet they didn't have Snoopy advertisements back in Roman times!
Yay us!
Katie requested that we visit the Capuchin Crypt for her birthday.
Because this is a sacred burial place, no photographs are allowed.
After walking through a museum dedicated to the history of the Capuchin order, we entered the crypt.
The crypt is a series of small rooms that are decorated with the bones from about 3500 deceased capuchin friars that died between 1500 and 1870.
At first glance, the effect of bones decorating a room is creepy.
On second glance, it's still creepy and you really start to think about all the bones on the walls.
On third glance, you think to yourself, "What kind of whacko sat and organized all these bones into patterns for years and years."
On fourth glance, you admire their attention to detail.
Yes. Those are crisscrossed mummified arms on the wall surrounded by thousands of bones and skulls.
(Thanks, TripAdvisor for the picture)
As if it couldn't get crazier, here is a representation of death made out of dead people.
(Thanks, Viator for the picture)
One more picture. Lots and lots of bones.
(Thanks, Wikipedia for the picture)
In some rooms, there were mummies laying in recesses in the wall or up against the back wall as if they were going to jump down and take vengeance on your living soul.
The church insists that this display is not macabre.
It's to remind one of the fleetness of life.
Their motto:
Quello che voi siete noi eravamo.
Quello che noi siamo voi sarete.
What you are now, we used to be.
What we are now, you will be.
Insert nervous laugh here.
Heh. Heh-heh. Ahem.
Moving on.
It was getting close to dinner time.
Katie decided that she wanted to return to Pizza in Trevi for her birthday dinner and our last dinner in Rome.
We began the slow walk over there, Darn crutches. Darn hurt achilles. Darn fingers falling asleep.
We took a break in an air-conditioned mall.
It turned out that it was filled with all sorts of luxury brands.
Mikey and I hung out on the first floor and made fun of the $5000 purses that surrounded us.
Katie and Huzbend adventured up to the top of the escalators.
They found a fancy chocolate shop at the top that had some gluten free options.
We each got a chocolate.
It was damn good.
We made it to the restaurant and had a good sit.
I can't remember what everyone had. My guess was pizza or pasta.
Katie had cheesy bread with truffle slices on them as an appetizer.
I think she also had a milkshake.
Pizza in Trevi was excellent again.
We capped off the meal with dessert.
Katie had some tiramisu.
Mikey got "lemon sorbet", which we learned is not lemon sorbet as we know it.
This version had alcohol in it (prosecco) and was served up like a cocktail.
The waiter let us know before hand and about the alcohol and promised to have it taken out.
Mikey was not convinced.
I decided to try something different.
Semifredo allo zabaglione.
It was...okay.
If you like marsala and egg ice cream, then this is for you.
Stuffed from dinner, it was time to walk back to the hotel.
Trevi Fountain was just as busy as ever.
We slowly made our way back to the hotel enjoying the atmosphere of Rome.
It was an early night in for us.
We chilled out in our hotel rooms watching Luca Pappagallo make and taste test nuclear hot meals on Italian Food Network.
Katie was amused with her hair and snapped a picture.
