Our quickie vacation in Toscana was filled with sun, fun, an occasional rainy afternoon, crowds of people, magnificent art, impressive fortress-like hilltop towns, and the sound of many different languages as tourists from around the world flocked to see this jewel that is Italy. My children, mom and I walked away from this vacation with different impressions, some of which I am happy to tell you about. Matthew now ten years old was absolutely thrilled to make the trek up the worn marble stairs to the top of the Pisa tower. This was a promise come true for him that I made before we ever moved to Italy. I was the only one of our family who did not climb, I stayed down and kept our dog company. At nearly six months pregnant, I considered that climbing with a large group of people, and worrying about slowing them down was something that I was NOT interested in doing.
After seeing a random billboard Gabriel became intent. He cited that since he wants to be a writer, he needs to learn as much as he can, and so he viewed the museum of Torture in Siena. Matthew was not even interested, and when Gabey came out he was a little white and told me that the torture was worse for the poor women, than it had ever been for men. Hmmm... Poor boy, what did he see? No, I am sure I don't want to know. Gabriel, the easygoing boy that he is enjoyed all of our outings, not asking for something from us every ten minutes, like his little brother. Only one evening when after walking in the heat all day and making plans for dinner Gabriel asked to please stay "home" in the agritourismo with his brother and the dog. So under the watchful eyes of our wonderful hosts at the agritourismo, we left the boys, the dog, a cell phone, and two margarita pizzas. We adults took the opportunity to go out for dinner together and eat a "bistecca fiorentina" at a restaurant very close to the Ponte Vecchio. The steak, when it arrived in front of me was so huge that without even meaning to I started laughing. This amused our waiter. I told him that I hadn't expected half a cow! Our steaks each weighed a pound and a half! Needless to say, we didn't even attempt to finish them.
My mom and I enjoyed a beautiful day at the Uffizzi. Being pregnant and losing valuable bladder space, I must use the bathroom more often than I like and so I became intimately acquainted with the bathrooms at the Uffizzi. One of the times we were there, we ran into another American woman who was marvelling at the clean, modern, spacious bathrooms well stocked with seat protectors and paper! I had to agree, these were by far the nicest public bathrooms I have ever yet seen here in Italy. We take these conditions for granted in the U.S. but here it is something to marvel about. I did find it ironic though that with all the fantastic art in the corridors above us, we were gushing on about the bathrooms!
Le Macine, the agritourismo where we stayed was wonderful. It was only four kilometers from the center of Florence, so that was convenient. But for those who love the "country" it was idyllic. The house was built in the 1600s, and had beautiful wooden beams across the ceiling. We had a refrigerator, and a little cookstove. Our hosts were wonderful, friendly and outgoing. They didn't speak much English, but enough I am sure for travellers who don't speak Italian. Every morning they served a big beautiful breakfast to their guests at one long wooden table with chairs and benches set around it to accomodate us all. Coffee, tea, hot milk, cookies, cakes, bruschetta with wonderful home made olive oil and fresh tomatoes, fruit salad,bread and home made fig, berry and prune jams, home made salame and home made juice were there each morning. I am sure I am forgetting something. This was the most diverse and bounteous spread I have ever seen served for breakfasts at an agritourismo. The day we left we bought about 20 bottles of their wine, and a 5 liter container of olive oil from them. I was told the wine was to help me bring in the milk when the time comes for the new baby. I had to laugh! Lots and lots of water will help, but I know that the old wives tale here is that wine for the mom will bring milk for the baby. Well, anyway I will certainly enjoy a glass of that wine in the afternoons after the baby is born. I tasted it, and it is good. I like a homemade wine. This one tastes mellow and a little sweet, a good sipping wine.
Overall I must say that I was charmed by the warmth and smiles of any of the Florentines that I interacted with. Of course this is generalizing, but they seem open and friendly. I must have become a little more used to the people of Torino, salesclerks who will never smile at you, and a general unfriendliness or at least an unwillingness to offer any kind of customer service to their customers. Not so in Florence from what I saw. For example in the Piazza Signoria my mother and I had just bought a few trinkets from a vendor and said "Buona giornata" "Have a nice day" to them and walked off when one of the vendors called me back. He handed me a stack of postcards- for free! For no reason! I was so amazed. It was the first random act of kindness I received from an Italian that I didn't know in the two and a half years that I have lived in Italy.
My mom and I walked off talking about how nice that was, and how unusual, and then we came near the entrance of the Uffizzi where a street musician was playing the guitar. We listened and were entranced, and eventually plucked out a cd from his guitar case after placing in it the appropriate euros. We told him how beautiful the music was and he smiled and nodded. We put the cd in the car to listen to it. The cd cover shows the same musician, and the skill level was the same. But that hauntingly beautiful classical music that had so captivated us? It was replaced by technically dazzling, but rather cold arrangements. Sigh. Who knows, maybe we were simply romanced by a magical afternoon in Florence, the whimsical weather that was slightly rainy interspersed by glorious sun, too much art to fathom, and a handsome young guitar player who could pull heartstrings with a haunting barely remembered lovesong.
Ciao Ambra!!
ReplyDeleteI wondered how your summer was going. Glad to hear you are feeling better and having a good visit with your Mom. Sounds like a wonderful time.
I finally put up a new blog and Ale and I are doing great!! I'm going to be writing about all the wondeful experiences we had together here in Portland.
I'll send you an email in a few days. Take care!
UAU! this sounds so fun/beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIsn't Toscana magical?!!!
ReplyDeleteYes, at 6 months pregnant it was a good idea not to make the climb! :)
What a nice vacation :)
ambra, i couldn't agree with you more about the general friendly attitude in florence! being from rome, i'm also used to grumpy, unpleasant service people who barely do the necessities (i had no idea torino was like that too).
ReplyDeleteDespite all of the tourists, the florentines manage to maintain such a calm & cordial air about them. i was also amazed by how CLEAN the city is!
gotta love it!!!