Florence, day 2…

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Let me begin with the end. We took a 3 hour Segway tour and it was totally fantastic! I put this on Instagram and FB. If you’ve seen it, just pass it by.

I am not coordinated. It took me a bit to get the hang of it but my oh my… Segways are fun! This is low season, crowds are light, so it was not hard to get around. Our guide, Andrea, in red, was very good. And we made a new friend, Shalom, in pink, from London. Karen is in the white vest.

Karen concurs… Segways are amazing. (Side note: see my red leather gloves? I got them today and they are fantastically warm and flashy. They will be easy to find in my bag for sure.)

We started the day at the Uffizi. Botticelli’s Venus was on the top of my list of things to see but there is so much more.

As is true in many museums, the Venus has glass in front of it. The glass here, and throughout the museum, was clear and clean, but it is not like looking directly at the painting. There is always a bit of glare and/or reflection between you and the painting. I don’t love it, but that’s the way it is.

I believe this is by Titian. I remember the painting from my college art history classes. I do love her self possession. That woman appears to be just fine the way she is.

I am still actively noticing the shadows cast by frames in museums. Look at the shadow on the wall below the painting. It is part of the show.

Rembrandt! Right there, on the wall!

We were not alone at the museum… these two gentlemen were reading about the painting to the left.

Which was another version of the Venus story.

Karen was particularly drawn to these two little images. Even now I am unable to tell you what they are.

I took photos of ceilings, because I like them. This one looked like it was embedding with big shells…

The next ones are painted.

I am particularly fascinated by trompe l’oeil. That is a flat surface painted to look like it has depth. The blue dome above is not indented.

It’s painted to look indented onto a barrel vault. Pretty much that whole ceiling is a flat, rounded surface. Amazing.

After the Ufizzi we had a quick lunch at Mister Pizza (I love that place) and then I hurried to the tomb of Lorenzo de Medici to take a photo of the statues of Crepusculo and Aurora for Steve.

I think this is the correct tomb…

Unless it is this one:

In either case, I think I go the photo. After this, we headed off to join our Segway tour. What a great day! Tomorrow we will see Michelangelo’s David and more. I can’t wait!

Florence!

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We rode the train from Rome to Florence. The hardest part was figuring out how to read the kiosk so that we went to the correct train. It was simple once we did sort it out. It’s nice that Karen is a good and willing subject in so many of my photos :-).

I did sew on the train. My Block 1 of the Hand Sewing Adventure is nearly done!

Our hotel, Hotel Centrale, is near the Duomo, which is in the city center.

After a bit of unpacking we headed out. It didn’t take long for us to be happily surprised by the view.

I did a search for gluten free food in Florence and there is a lot of it. Honestly, it may be easier to find good GF here than it is in the US. The pizza for lunch was great (as with the Florentine steak for dinner).

After lunch we followed Rick Steves’ walking tour of the city. We decided to go ahead and climb the Campanile, which is next to and sort of part of the Duomo complex.

The view was spectacular!

Florence is a very walkable city and it is lovely. We strolled to the Piazza Della Repubblica. The arch was triumphal, the carousel was pretty…

.,, port a potty was in the way of my very fine photo.

We went into the Orsanmichele (a church with many famous statues). I climbed more steps for more views of the city.

I may not love the stairs but I do love looking at a city from high up.

The Uffizi Gallery was closed today so we headed to the Galileo science museum. It was interesting, and hard to take good photos of

Then we walked to the river…

Here we are doing the Charlie’s Angels pose 🙂

We headed back to the hotel as the sun was going down and golden light bathed the dome. Not bad for a first half-day!

Rome, day 2…

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My first adventure of the day was shared with two of Hunt’s students, Clint and Cole. We walked to the American embassy, a block from our hotel.

I have never to one of our embassies when I’ve been out of the US. I thought it might be interesting to go inside for a quick visit.

The Italian guards outside were perplexed, but nice, as they said we could not go in. Only employees and probably those with appointments could go in. I’m sure there are many, many reasons why drop-ins are not welcome, plus today was Sunday. That said, I hope it’s easier for an American citizen to get in if help was really needed.

Next Hunt, Karen, and I went to the Colosseum. Imagine a football stadium that seats 80,000 people and you get an idea of the scale involved. It’s a well-maintained ruin. `

Notice the people in the photos and it puts the scale in perspective.

There’s a lot to be said for visiting Rome at this time of year. The crowds are much smaller and it’s not hot.

Hunt, a historian, shared the backstory of many of the places we went. I wish I remembered more but the biggest takeaway for me is that as the city evolved, new structures were built on top of older structures. Dig down, and there’s likely something built by man below.

The Romans knew how to move and manage the flow of water which was a key part of their empire building. They built sewers, aqueducts, baths, and lots of fountains!

We ended the day at the Spanish Steps. It was more crowded today, which made the people watching more interesting. Looking up the steps…

Looking down at the crowd coming our way…

Tomorrow Karen and I head to Florence on the train. Hunt and his class are flying to Tunis. Adventure awaits!

(That’s me, below, tempting fate by standing on a travertine post to get higher for the photo.)

I’m really not sure how Karen got me in a photo with no one else around because there really were a lot of people there.

The Vatican

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We got there early and Karen, Hunt, and I moved through quickly. I hate to admit this but there’s too much ‘there’ there for me. The statues, painted walls and ceilings all began to run together.

I did did like the floors!

This is a Sistine floor. I took it right before they said no photos.

Karen and Hunt did not want to go up into the dome at St. Peter’s, so I went by myself.

There is a lift, followed by a whole lot of stairs.

Along with dozens of others. First you are inside, looking down into the Basilica.

Then up more, and to the outside area very near the top. I do love seeing a city from above, outside.

Once down we had an amazing gluten free lunch. I had little round lemony donuts for dessert!

Then we met back up with Hunt’s students and went all over the place. Have I said this was a 9.8 mile day?

Everywhere you look, there seems to be a dome…

…or a fountain. Some are more famous than others. The Trevi Fountain is very famous, as indicated by the crowd.

But wait, there’s more!

And gelato, with crisp and tasty gluten free cones!

There are about 300 more photos but I’ll stop here. Good idea, right? Tomorrow we go out to see other things. I’ll be back.

London… been there, moving on…

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Karen and I have done our best to experience everything we could from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday night. I think we did pretty well! We’ve eaten at pubs, and mastered getting around on the Tube.

We went to two shows! Matilda on Tuesday night and, sad to say, I did a bit of napping once the lights went down. I do, however, remember a lot of it. Last night we saw The Play That Goes Wrong and that is one funny play! No photos allowed during either so you just have to take my word for it.

We went to the Imperial War Museum which I might not have visited but it was high on Karen’s list. It is a find museum, and very moving. Only some areas could be photographed.

We went to Westminster Abbey. Again, no photos in most of it and honestly, that was OK. It makes you live in the moment. I visited with one guard who ended up showing me places upstairs where boys long ago dug there names into the stone. Some things never change.

Downstairs I visited with a young electrician who was working on rewiring one of the chandeliers. Eventually they will all be dimmable and have the ability to change color. Cool, right?

I did take some interesting photos where they were allowed.

We had afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason on Wednesday. Very posh!

We did visit the other floors on our way out. What a beautiful building! We might have actually shopped if we hadn’t needed to make it to the show.

Thursday began with a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Karen suggested we take the hour long tour to learn about the building. You know, I don’t usually do that and I really should because it was fantastic! This is a wonderful museum and I am going to have to come back when I can stay longer.

I took quick photos, focusing on patterns in ceilings and floors.

The image in the center of the next photo is tile work. Look close and you’ll see that it’s all painted on hexagonal tiles! It made me think of English paper piecing.

There are halls with life-size plaster cast reproductions of famous statues. As our guide explained, they capture this art as it was, exactly, when the cast was made. And the original idea still holds… for the average individual who cannot see the real thing, this is an excellent alternative.

If you get close, you can see the seams in the plaster.

We took the Tube to head over to the Tower Bridge area and got to visiting with a couple sitting across from us, Mandy and Collin. They were on their way to the Spitalfields Market. Not only did they tell us about it… they became our tour guide. Along the way we stopped at White Chapel and detoured through the neighborhood made famous by Jack the Ripper.

And we shopped at the market…

We walked past London Bridge and the Tower of London…

And then, finally, we went to Liberty of London!!!!!

I resisted the urge to buy a Unicorn head. They were a little scary.

I did come away with several lovely bundles of fabric and I fully expect to be sewing with them soon. Some will surely end up in my Hand Sewing Adventure quilt. And, just so you know, you can buy from Liberty of London online.

We walked a lot, saw a lot, visited with a lot of people and just generally had a wonderful time! Tomorrow we leave really early for Rome. Maybe I’ll have time to sew on Block 1 on the plane :-).

Wednesday Giveaway

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I like short pins when I applique, and you can’t get any shorter than 1/2″! Short pins hold your applique neatly in place and they stay out of the way as you sew. What’s not to love?! Elaine is the lucky winner!

If you were not the lucky winner, you can order yours here.