italy

Arrival in Florence

March 18th, 2009 by alephnaught

Arrival in Florence

Our flight from LAX to Paris was delayed an hour. When we got on the plane, we realized that they didn’t seat Aviva and I in aisle seats across from each other. We were across the plane from each other, and worse, we were in the last row, which meant we had less legroom, less […]

May 22nd, 2007 by alephnaught

Return to Chicago

We got up early and had a room service breakfast; the busboy brought in the breakfast on a cart while Aviva was in her nightie – whoops! We’re both tired and sore from all the walking and traveling. There’s an air controllers strike scheduled for today at 10AM and we leave at 9:25AM – I […]

Florence and our return to Rome

May 21st, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence and our return to Rome

Today we had no plans – our train leaves at at around 5PM so we can walk around as we want for a few hours. We decided to go to the Palazzo Vechio, the old palace of the Medici and the seat of the city government. But, on the way, we bought yet another ceramic […]

Florence

May 20th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

We got out a little late and went to the Museo del Bigallo across from the Duomo. This was originally an orphanage; women could leave babies outside – if they came back within a week, they could take their baby back, otherwise it was put up for adoption. Then we walked past the Duomo and […]

Florence

May 19th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

Today we started walking towards the Orgnissanti. We stopped at a print shop from which Aviva bought a print of grotesques the last time she was in Florence – unfortunately, no small ones so we passed. We went into the Orgnissanti, which has works by Ghirlandaio and Botticelli, who is also buried there along with […]

Florence

May 18th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

We were going to go to Pistoia today, but we decided we’d moved around enough. And, we didn’t sleep well last night – getting to bed (for us) late due to the noise outside didn’t help. We’re changing rooms today to move to the rear of the hotel – not a nice view but much […]

Florence

May 17th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

After breakfast, we started walking towards the Museo Horne, an art museum near Santa Croce. The museum has a number of interesting works, including a Giotto. We then had lunch at Trattoria Il Bargello, Borgo dei Greci 37/r; it wasn’t anything to write home about. Then we shopped a bit – Aviva bought more angels […]

Florence

May 16th, 2007 by alephnaught

Florence

We slept well – it wasn’t so noisy last night (it is during the day) so we’re keeping the room. We ate, cleaned up and got out of the room. We started walking towards a couple of jewelry stores Aviva likes; she’s been here enough that she doesn’t need a map to find a few […]

Orvieto and arrival in Florence

May 15th, 2007 by alephnaught

Orvieto and arrival in Florence

Since we leave Roma today, its time to reflect a litte. Aviva said at one point that Rome is beautiful but messy, which captures well the feeling of the place. At one point on Capitoline hill (it was 11:30A), all the bells in Roma seemed to be chiming at once, making a wonderful racket. Its […]

Rome – Trastevere and the Jewish Ghetto

May 14th, 2007 by alephnaught

Rome – Trastevere and the Jewish Ghetto

I slept through the entire night without getting up – quite a feat anymore. We grabbed breakfast and a shower and headed out – this is our last day in Roma and we’re heading to Trastevere and the old Jewish Ghetto. We took a cab over to Villa Farnesina. The frescoes are amazing. We stopped […]