The Pitti Palace was the final escalation of the rediculousness that were the Medici. The extremely weathly family ruled Florence for a good 400 years before eventually falling into decline. Though "humble" bankers and not nobles, they managed to produce several popes and eventually were given titles. There are various Medici residences scattered throughout the city, but the Pitti Palace was the culmination of Florentine opulence. The Boboli "gardens" are actually several "axis" spanning eleven acres. I thought that we could just go there and roam around like in the US - usually you don't have to pay for the gardens of a manor. I was wrong - it was 10 euro alone for gardens and a few of the smaller museums!! You have to pay another 10 euro to enter the palace itself. I was very spoiled in DC; this paying for museums/gardens/etc is a drain on my wallet.
One note about the Gardin Boboli -- it ain't no easy stroll through the flowers. It was work honey. Jen and I thought it was the perfect way to get back into the day -- so we were unprepared for the hike in front of us. Not only is it multiple acres, it is multiple acres uphill. This is a trend I am noticing in Florence; a trend bathed in sweat, and accompanied by aching lungs and shredded feet. But we did it, we made it, and I enjoyed myself. I especially enjoyed this guy:
Don't hate cause I get all the hotties.Post Boboli, Jennie and I decided to go have our first real dinner in Italia. We decided just to visit our neighborhood Trattoria. We sat outside, enjoyed some very good red wine, and ordered our meals. I ordered the pasta a la caza (fresh linguini with porcini mushrooms) and it was delish! Jennie learned an important lesson however - she ordered the chicken...and that is what she got. Nothing else. So, they apparently observe the classic Italian dining structure -- multiple courses. But all was well -- they wouldn't let us leave! They ended up giving us free dessert and another free after dinner drink (sambuca - blech!!). What was supposed to be a normal weekday dinner ended up a two and a half hour affair. It was a good way to end the day.
Sunday I rousted Jenn and headed out to hike up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. It is reputed to have the best view of Florence. Jen had been there prevously, but had arrived by bus. We found out that walking it is an entirely different thing. Again much steepness, much uphillness. But Jen and I agreed that if we did this three times a week we'd be in SUPER good shape. So, we panted and groaned and heaved our way to the top, and the view was as promised. The Piazzale is dedicated to Michelangelo and there are copies of his works scattered around the piazza. There are also two churches, the Basilica of San Minitao and the Church of San Salvatore, and a beautiful graveyard. Unfortuntely we were were just a half hour too late on Sunday to go into the cemetary -- we will have to do that again in the future. But we did go and explore the two churches; I personally think that the Basilica had one of the most arresting mosaics I'd ever seen. (Random sidenote: I love gold leaf. Love. It. Please bury me in a dress made entirely of gold leaf.) There was a bride and groom taking pictures in front of the basilica and in front of city overlook - I bet they turned out awesome.
The Church of San Salvatore was plainer and simpler. In fact, apparently Michelangelo reffered to it as the "comely peasant girl". It was nice but not really notable; the best thing about it was when Jen thought that the bible was open to the book of "salami" (it said Salmi).
And then we went to the market and bought salami.
Well, we did more than that, but it was pretty boring and housework related. I am indoctrinating Jenn into the cult of clean sheets. Not that she is dirty...she just isn't fanatical like me. The rest of the house can go to hell but god forbid you put your feet on the bed. We ended the night by sitting on a bridge and watched the sun set over the river.
Tutti bene.
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