Our hotel was outside of the big city of Firenze - I never knew this was the real Italian name for Florence! Getting to explore the winding roads, tiny towns and farms of Tuscany for a few days was re-energizing.
There I am, saluting the strong Italian sun and Isaac's panorama photography skills. Our hotel was in part an old church; you can see the bell tower below. It reminded me of being back home - it seemed like even the smallest towns in Italy, like South Carolina, had at least one church. You can see (and hear) the bell towers which rise above the surrounding buildings.
Of course we had to try these chairs out! What a serene view.
We checked out the nearest town, Montelupo, which was adorably small. I looked it up on wikipedia and it has an astoundingly ancient history (click if you're interested). It has a sort-of town square with small shops, with the shop owners sitting outside chatting with one another. It was here that we tasted our first (and best!) gelato in Italy. Isaac had a rich chocolate and vanilla, I had fig-almond and pistachio.
This street is the town square area of Montelupo. We noticed that Italian grandmas love to lean out of their windows and watch you. We saw several grandmas leaning out of these second and third story windows watching the people below.
It took about 20 minutes to leisurely stroll through the heart of the city. Isaac was amazed at how small the place was and by the idea of people living their whole lives here, in such a tiny town.
For a while we tried to find somewhere to eat dinner. But many restaurants in Italy - especially in smaller towns - close between lunch and dinnertime. Again Isaac and I were amazed at the residents of Montelupo, just sitting around and talking, because there is not much else to do. Our search killed just enough time so that our scenic route back to the hotel was during the late afternoon, when the sunlight is golden. Olive trees speckled the grasses and grape vineyards rolled down the hills.
The next day we headed downtown. Florence has a strong and distinct personality - it felt classy and well-made, like its many hand-crafted creations. The city is known for its artisans - making things like fine art, jewelry and leather goods. I kept imagining that Italian women probably love to come shopping in Florence. We admired a few famous old churches from the outside as we wandered the very narrow city sidewalks.
Santa Maria Novella, a church that shares the same name as Florence's main train station, is about 500 years old.
We visited the Leonardo da Vinci museum, which had several models and machines based off of da Vinci's journals and ideas. Both Isaac and I find da Vinci so fascinating - he was a dreamer who loved learning - and it was amazing to see just a bit of his diverse interests. One thing I didn't know is that Leonardo da Vinci invented the odometer. His odometer looked like a wheelbarrow that would periodically drop rocks into a bucket as you rolled it along. The museum displayed many of his ideas: war machines, fine art, flying contraptions, and more humble instruments like a clock and retractable ladder.
I was excited to see two weather tools that I learned about with my second graders this past spring. We made our own versions of these devices - the anemometer and hygrometer - to measure wind-speed and humidity.
The da Vinci museum was pretty small, so we were able to enjoy all of it and still have energy left for the rest of the city. Of course we walked around more, and checked out some of those Florentine artisan goods.
I asked Isaac to strike a pose in the picture on the left below - the flag, city street and moped - this place seemed so Italian. On the right is a shot of the San Lorenzo market, it doesn't quite capture how long and overwhelming this street is. There are these tents, and then shop fronts on either side of the tents, and there is a smell of leather flowing through the whole place. I have never seen so much leather.
The next day was Sunday, and we stayed in the Tuscan countryside. We rode bikes from our hotel to Montelupo, and ended up eating the most tasty spaghetti with anchovies. Wanting more gelato for dessert, we walked to the town square, only to learn again that small towns in Italy like to take a rest in the afternoons, especially on Sundays.
We found one place open, kind of like a convenience store with a bit of everything, and had refreshments there. I had a cafe latte - served as shown below. Steamed latte (milk) in the cup, cafe (coffee) in the pitcher. Espresso drinks are very cheap in Italy, my cafe latte was 1.5 Euros.
Since Montelupo was having a lazy Sunday, we did too. We went back to our hotel and rested. For dinner, we decided to walk to the village of Turbone, which is even smaller than Montelupo. Turbone has two restaurants and that is about all there is. Even though we arrived an hour before the restaurant opened (at 7:30 p.m.), the family was nice enough to let us sit inside and sip drinks until then. We had fun observing life in this tiny town, where everyone knew one another by name.
I have a few comments about Italian food. We were surprised by the simple flavors we encountered in Italy. Spaghetti sauces usually had only a strong tomato taste and maybe an herb taste too. There were no salt and pepper shakers on restaurant tables, only olive oil and vinegar. Isaac's meat was seasoned with peppercorns and sat in a bed of olive oil. I think Italian food as we know it in America is way more seasoned than the real thing. It seems like Italians like a few strong flavors in their food, and that's it. We didn't come across any spicy food either. I ordered one dish because its description included spicy peppers, and the waitress even warned me that it was spicy. But when I ate it, the dish barely registered as being spicy. I guess the Italian palette is refined and simplified.
Our time in Tuscany came to an end too soon. The next day we packed up and prepared to head to Rome. Our plans were to take the train from Montelupo into Florence, and then head out from there. Our favorite small town of Montelupo had the last laugh. When we called for a taxi to the train station, we were told that the Montelupo train was broken down for the day. We had no other option but to take a long taxi ride to Florence. From there, we took a fast train to Rome. Once again I found myself marveling at the beauty of Italy's countryside as we headed to our last honeymoon destination.
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