Firenze!

The Ponte Vecchio

We are in Florence! We have been here for almost three weeks. Our apartment is great, located in the center and within walking distance of everything. We have been doing a lot of walking, which we love. In Los Angeles, no body goes out for walks. There is even a song that jokes about how “No Body Walks in L.A.”. Which is weird since the weather is so nice most of the year, but the city is not really “set up” for walking. People do not usually go walking to the market, or to go shopping, or even to a coffee shop. When they want to go somewhere they take the car- it’s faster. When we were living in the Marina we would see a few people walking around, but they were mostly surfers going to and from a session, or moms with strollers, and the dog walkers. Never, or extremely rarely, would we see young people or working business people out walking. I would have to say that Venice Beach is the most “walker friendly” area, and still the walkers would stick to the board walk on the beach and a few famous streets, such as Abbot Kinney and Main Street, but nothing close to Florence.

A very tasty resturant called Caffe Italiano, located close to Santa Croce, and near Vivoli (the best Gelato place).

Florence on the other hand, is a great city for walking. Not only is everyone walking but there are restricted zones where no cars are allowed creating a pedestrian friendly environment. There are all kinds of people from the sight seeing tourist, Americans, Chinese, Japonese, Spaniards, Swiss, and of course many Italians, and locals going to work. Florence is like Disneyland times a thousand with bus loads of people, massive must-sees that everyone wants to “hit”, and endless amazement. Just about every street has an alluring restaurant, or a Bar – as in a coffee bar with delicious sweet and salty pastries, and many little designer shops. You will walk by Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, or Prada, the Medici Palace, the Pitti Palace, the Ponte Vecchio, and lets not forget the Piazza della Repubblica, or the infamous Duomo that is, literally, one mind boggling building of amazement. Every building far older than the discovery of America, grand, full of decoration and embellishments, and are in architectural classes as examples of proportion perfection. The energy in the city is also fantastic. Like I said before, all the people ecstatic to be walking on the same stones as Leonardo Di Vinci and Michelangelo, and I have to admit I would have to agree with them. But, also the motorini ( Vespas, small motorcycles), the amazing small, and the cutest cars you will ever see, whizzing by you closer than comfort, the markets, and the smells in the air from the restaurants, bars, bread shops ( Paneterie). Well, you get the idea. This city is truly amazing.

Our first week here we went to the coast, about an hour away from Florence. We went to the Forte Dei Marmi which is in the center of Versilia. We also went to the marina where we will be keeping our boat ( the Open 5.70). The little marina is a funny little place but cute, not too expensive and had a yacht club, so it seemed like the most logical place for our little boat and we are once again members of a yacht club.

Vercilia is a beautiful place on the water. Since it is spring there was a good amout of people but Gimmy said in the summer it would be so crowded it is impossible to drive a car on the streets because the traffic is so bad and very hard to find a place to sit on the beach, unless you rent a cabana.

We also went to Fiesole, a beautiful little town in the hills just outside of Florence.

We took a walk threw a Roman amphitheater and a museum that recovered artifacts from the site. We had fun being the only people outside walking around the ancient ruins, which is another highly trafficked area during tourist season. The museum housed some articles from the Romans and the Etruscans. It was an interesting museum and we were bombarded with facts of the ancient life (remember history class?). There were many items recovered, including tools, pots, utensils for eating, figurines and a skeleton. After the museum we walked on top of a hill where it is known to have the best view of Florence and the hills of Tuscany surrounding. It was an amazing view but I did not take a picture as it would not do it justice.

Sisi and her Mamma