Catch-Up

I now need to play catch-up with our blog entries. We needed to take break from the computer for a couple of days and completely relish in the Tuscan surroundings, but we are in 100% good spirits and good health -- especially with the aid of an Italian wonderdrug called InfluMed we got from a farmacia in Siena on Wednesday. The pharmacies are interesting here in that you can buy very little over the counter (or at least it seems). You are forced to speak to the pharmacist, and they then more or less prescribe to you the proper drug, which I think is really the way it should be. Sure, our pharmacists are helpful when we seek their advice, but how often do we actually do that? Americans self-medicate on whim. Oh, and it was only five Euros.

Enough about that, though. Wednesday was a very nice day. We went to bed early the night before after our lovely dinner on our private terrace zucchini risotto and various cheese and cured meats) and then a beautiful evening walk in San Gimignano. We woke up at a not-so-early hour on Wednesday, had breakfast downstairs, and then set out for Siena. Finding parking was quite challenging, but definitely worth it in the end. We took many photos and spent most of our time either on the Piazza del Campo (the largest piazza we saw while here), in the Duomo, or in the Santa Maria della Scala. We were lucky because they only unveil the marble floor of the Duomo for a short time period every year, and this just so happened to fall within that timeframe. The artwork inside was completely amazing... photos definitely don't do it justice. The Santa Maria della Scala began as an accommodationn for pilgrims traveling along the Via Francigena and as an aid to orphans and the poor at the end of the first millenniumm. Over the centuries, it expanded its forms of assistance, eventually emerging as a modern hospital. It was only in 1997 that it was transformed into an important museum and cultural hub. The frescoed hall (called the Pellegrinaio) is incredible, but I thought the coolest part of the museum was our walk through the building's labyrinth -- a complete maze through the underneath of the building.

Okay... so I started this entry yesterday (Friday afternoon) sitting outside at the Locanda, and now I am at home in Atlanta trying to finish it up. And so I continue...

We had our last dinner at the Locanda on Wednesday night. It was, again, fabulous. We started out with an apertivo of champagne and crostini (one piece of toast topped with an herb butter and one topped with what I think was serrano ham or something of the sort). The appetizer was a "guinea hen salad in vinegar with sugar," the first course was ribollita soup, the second course was "spiced roast rabbit with green bean pudding," and dessert consisted of an assortment of fresh fruit and flan, which was beautifully displayed on the plate. I think both my and Jarrett's favorite course was the soup -- it was excellent. An interesting history was provided regarding the dish. It was served with bread, as most Italian meals are, as bread has always played a fundamental role in the diet of the people. During the Middle Ages, it was often the only food for the poor. On rich people's tables, after the pomp of the Roman culture, the taste for refinement declined; during big banquets, crockery was not used as much -- there were only a few dishes, and they were reserved for the most important guests. For the others, the dish consisted of a large slice of bread, on which all courses were served. At the end of the meal this bread, soaked with the seasoning of the various courses, was given to the servants or thrown to the people. They took the bread home and put it in a pot on the fire together with vegetables and a few legumes to obtain a hot and tasteful soup, ribollita, reboiled day after day. We again had some fabulous wine, and this time we had to take photos of each other with the gigantic wine glasses so you could have a better perspective as to how large they really are. I would LOVE to have a couple of them, but would just die if I broke one!

Wednesday night ended with Jarrett and I sitting out on our terrace, overlooking San Gimignano in all it's evening splendor. With the improved weather, we were able to see starry skies most every evening, and I swear that the stars sparkle more in Tuscany.

We woke up fairly early on Thursday morning to beat the rush into Florence... or at least that is what we were hoping for. With some advice from Roberto, we parked on one side of the Arno River and walked a bit and over a bridge into the old part of the city. The main thing I wanted to see was David, so we headed directly to the Galleria dell'Accademia, where we encountered a line winding around two-and-a-half sides of the building. I'd say we ended up standing in line around an hour-and-a-half, which was not horrible, but also not the most fun use of our time. The wait was totally worth it, though. No matter how many photos you've seen of David, nothing compares to standing there in front of the statue himself, all 17 feet of him (and he's on top of a pedestal in addition that). It's completely amazing to think that Michelangelo carved that out of one solid piece of marble -- the piece that made him famous at a mere 29 years of age. Crazy. With David under our belts, we decided to take a stroll by the doors of the Baptistry and the Duomo, but at a distance... we were done with the lines. Really, Florence was somewhat surprisingly unimpressive in a way. If you've been to New York City -- which I have on several occasions -- I think you'd find, as both Jarrett and I did, that Florence has the same feel, though just older and with some more impressive architecture. You have to take to walking the streets with the same aggressiveness as in NYC, and you seem to encounter the same sorts of attitudes. And then, of course, there is all of the shopping, cafes, etc. We did enjoy strolling through the outdoor market, bartering a bit, and finding some good buys, and we had a nice lunch at an outdoor cafe on the Piazza della Republica (excellent people watching), as well as the best gelatto we encountered while in Italy.

We actually ended up heading out of Florence around 3:30 that afternoon, so since we had time before dinner (and since the Dutch couple, also staying at the Locanda, said it was very nice) we decided to drive to Lucca and check it out. After getting lost and "boun-diching" around a bit (yes, there is a GPS story around that), we found a parking spot near the train station and headed toward the center of town, hoping the stresses of finding the place would pay off. They did. Really, besides being able to see David, I could have almost skipped Florence (though can you really do that if you go to Italy?) and spent the entire day in Lucca. It reminded me a bit of Siena, only more quaint, a good deal of green space, lots of folks on bicycles, an outdoor market for the locals, etc. -- practically everyone there was Italian. It was just nice to see the Italian way of life in it's most organic form -- it was a lot like what we encountered in Volterra (only a lot more pleasant without the start of a migraine!).

After returning to the Locanda, we walked up to San Gimignano for the evening and ate dinner outside (I had a mushroom risotto and salad and Jarrett had a pizza), followed by some window shopping and another gelatto (our last, sadly).

I think I'll let Jarrett write about the past two days, but I'll just say that we are home, are quite tired, and are much looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning -- in our own bed nonetheless! Oh, and it was great to see Merckx again. :)