Florence

After a 2 hour train ride from Rome and enjoying the beautiful countryside, I arrived in Florence (Firenza in Italian) and made my way to the hotel in the rain on foot. Upon exiting the train station I encountered a man looking like a carbon copy twin of Johnny Depp in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. I would have taken a picture but who really wants to be the guy who gets gutted by a pirate at a train station? ;-)

The hotel was one of the nicer ones that I stayed in with a Bed and Breakfast type of feel at a very reasonable rate. It had a nice view of the city from the top of the roof.

Florence is a neat town to just walk around and check out the sites. There are lots of art museums, cobblestone streets, a nice river walk, and loads of bridges over the river. Michelangelo's David sculpture is housed in a museum here and is fairly huge 17 feet tall. The example of craftsmanship is pretty amazing. One bridge is called Ponte Vecchio and houses numerous gold and silver jewelery shops. In World War II, the Germans preserved this historic bridge though they blew up the others when they retreated from the Allied advance.

One enormous church in Florence that I went inside was called Santa Maria della Carmine. I also saw Dante Alighieri's house of Divine Comedy fame as well as his home church.

There were several street painters doing chalk drawings. One that was fairly impressive was a copy of a Carravagio painting. I also enjoyed listening to the violinists throughout the city.

I think I preferred the food in Florence slightly more though it may have been due partially to the less crowded nature of Florence at night vs. Rome. More gelato was consumed in addition to a fabulous tasting calzone.


Florence Street Scene

Violinist

Arno River

A Church in Florence

Dante's Church

Santa Maria della Carmine

Florence Town Hall

Florence Street

A Cafe in Florence

Via Maffia

Ponte Vechio from the river

Ponte Vecchio inside

Street Painter

The Vatican

I went on a tour of the Vatican with a tour company called Romeing Tours and thought the information provided was quite thorough and insightful. We stood in line for around 45 minutes to get in but I made good use of the time by picking the tour guide's brain on Roman combat strategies. The Vatican is around 100 acres and is actually it's own country with approximately 550 citizens. The Vatican City is said to have one of the most reliable postal systems in the world. I mailed a post card to try it out and it successfully reached its destination.

The parts of the Vatican that I saw included some nice architecture, great examples of art which culminated with the Sistine Chapel as well as the magnificent St. Peter's Basilica. Several pope's lie are buried there with a few being embalmed or bronzed for the viewing public.

On Sunday, I went back to the Vatican at noon where the Pope gave a blessing to all in attendance in something like 12 languages. There was a massive number of people there, similar to a crowd at a football or basketball game. I could see the pope but he was but a small spec far off in the window he stood in to address us.

The Vatican is guarded by a group of 100 Swiss guards who are trained to kill with a battle ax and sword. I didn't see the battle ax but they were definitely armed with swords. Swiss guards must be Catholic, single, between the ages of approximately 20 and 30, male, have Swiss citizenship, and be fluent in 5 languages. Their uniforms are a bit court jesteresqe in appearance.


The Pope Giving a Blessing

St. Peter's Square during Pope's blessing

St. Peter's Basilica
Andrew in St. Peters Basilica

Pietra sculpture

Pope Innocent XI

Nero's Bathtub

Vatican Paintings

Swiss Guards

Pope's Throne

St. Peter's Basilica Dome

The Broker

The Broker by John Grisham

This story is that of a man who was once a powerful lawyer/solicitor in Washington D.C. but then got caught up with power and greed and consequently got in some major trouble with both the US government as well as those of several other countries. He went to jail for many years then as a president was going out of office, received an unexpected pardon. The CIA sent him to Italy to find out who would try to kill him to help them know more information about what he was originally involved in. (He of course does not know this part)

He then proceeds to become immersed in the Italian culture and begins learning Italian. The CIA leaks his whereabouts and it is a race to escape. Through a series of spy like maneuvers, he eventually makes his way back to the US using someone else's passport. The book proceeds in thriller fashion with a decent amount of Italian culture incorporated. I read it just before going to Italy so it provided a nice primer to the culture. A blog entry on Rome and Florence will be forthcoming.