Friends in Florence

We spent a couple of days in Florence last week. We traveled first class on a Eurostar train complete with train stewardesses serving coffee, juice & snacks and assigned seats. This was a big change for us because previously we have just been traveling around on the no-frills local trains as our destinations have not been far and we always travel second class. Needless to say, all five of us really enjoyed the luxuriousness of it all. And since we have been living in a beautiful, yet historic B&B, the hedonistic American in me booked rooms in a modern, air-conditioned hotel just outside the main downtown of Florence. It was very nice and some of us enjoyed the relaxation of taking a bath instead of a shower.

It is August and Florence was PACKED with people! It was really quite amazing and honestly, a little off-putting compared to the peace, quiet and bargain priced gelato we enjoy here in Padova. 4 euros ($5) for a gelato! The first day we headed to a “hands-on” museum of replicas of Leonardo da Vinci’s various inventions. It was low-tech and just filled with wooden models of his flying machines, printing press, anvil, gears & gadgets, etc. Very “waldorfian” and the kids loved it – you could touch everything. Nick spent the next few days sketching out his own ideas for the re-creation and improvement (of course) of some of the models. Apparently, there will be a lot of building going on when we return home. That night we went to a small restaurant recommended by the hotel with great food, good wine and wonderful service (especially for the ragazzi).

But the best part of our trip was the next day when we met up with some friends of Sam’s (and now ours), the Kavanaugh family, who were on a cruise and took a day trip to Florence. It was really great meeting up with some familiar faces and the kids were giddy (and a little wild if you can believe that) with the excitement of seeing people they knew and could talk to. (It has unfortunately been very isolating for the kids this summer and while they have been having fun with all the newness and adventures of Italy, it is clear that they are very lonely for attention and we are all looking forward to school starting. The few children we have met they have been too shy to make friends with because of the language barriers – which I think are really less of a problem than they think it is. In hindsight, which is always so darn perfect, we should have waited until mid-August to move here.) We all went to see The David and it is just as awe-inspiring to me as it was 10 years ago when I came here with Terri. Even the kids were “wowed” by the sculpture and only Isabelle was young enough to get caught up in his nakedness – she refers to The David as “the guy with the decorative penis.” (I honestly have no idea where she came up with the descriptor “decorative” and you can’t make this stuff up, so I have no comment, although it is soooo hard to resist.) After that we had lunch in an outdoor café, went to see the famous Ponte Vecchio and they headed back to their ship. We then headed over to the see a famous palazzo/palace and the “you can’t miss them” Boboli Gardens (Guess what, you can miss them, take my word for it.) That night we had dinner in our hotel since we had spent the entire day walking around. I noticed that they had green Granny Smith apples all over the bar & restaurant in a decorative kind of way and asked the waiter if he could cut up a couple for the kids to have for dessert. He was a bit surprised that we actually wanted to eat them, but they were fresh and juicy and tart, just like we like them. So I’m sure he had a good story for his friends about the bizarre American family that ate the decorations.

Like many who travel to Florence, the artist in everyone was inspired and all the kids spent the next couple of days with their sketchbooks in hand, drawing anything and everything. The next day we got up early and headed over to the Ligurian Sea for a couple of days, but that is another story for another blog. I must immerse myself in Italian culture and do the laundry for 5 people coming home from a 6 day trip without a dryer! I don’t want to forget to publicly thank the Kavanaughs for their graciousness with our rambunctious gang and also for lunch!