Monday, July 11, 2011: “Stairway to Heaven?”

Day 4: Firenze

We bid Rome farewell this afternoon after a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood our hotel was in. When we stepped out of Hotel Montreal (the Rome hotel we both highly recommend for anyone else who visits the city) we could see Sainta Maria Maggiore (yet another church). We decided that since we had walked past it everyday of our trip we should probably check out the inside. It’s too bad Beth forgot the important lesson we learned earlier this week and dressed like a whore and bared her shoulders (scandalous). Luckily this church provided large, dryer sheet-like wraps, which she is modeling in the picture (and you can also see that she was not really dressed like a lady of the night). The church was beautiful in a different way than St. Peter’s. It was large but slightly simpler than St. Peter’s. A church worth seeking out and visiting if you find yourself in Rome.

After paninis for lunch, wandering the streets, and of course some more window and real shopping we walked to the train station to head to Florence. After a short hour and a half trip we were in our next major destination. We walked three HOT blocks to our hotel and then discovered we had 91 stairs waiting for us to actually reach our room (where tonight’s blog gets its name). We thought, “Thank goodness we splurged on an air-conditioned, third story hotel room.” Antonio, the elderly and incredibly sweet hotel owner, showed us to our room, which had not had any AC on all day. It was a little toasty. Our AC in Rome was strong; we woke up in the night cold! Florence AC, not so much. It whispers out a cold air. It sounds like it really wants to work hard, but too many visitors over the years have asked it produce a 21 degree Celsius room (our request as well) and it just can’t handle it. We broke the rules and left the AC on while we went to dinner. Shh, don’t tell Antonio.

Dinner was great (I feel like I say that a lot). We met a British couple who were also teachers. Both Beth and I are finding the conversations we have with complete strangers to be very enjoyable. Everyone has an interesting story to tell. It also makes us feel better about our travel skills—we are a little better prepared than some. Last night we came across a family from Hondo, TX (outside of San Antonio) and the mother was almost in tears and her two teenage daughters were flustered as well. I gave them some pointers on getting to and from the Vatican, St. Peter’s, and getting into the Coliseum. At the end of our conversation she asked me, “Is there any place we can just get a snack? Like, just some chips.” In my head I thought, “Just chips?! Are you crazy woman? Get some gelato, a Panini, pizza, spaghetti, YOU ARE IN ROME. Chips. Pffffff.” What I said to her was this, “There are Panini shops around just about every corner and they are great. I am also pretty sure I saw a can of Pringles at the convenient store on the corner.” She said, “Perfect,” and had a relieved smile on her face. I think the smile and relief was for the Pringles. Sometimes I guess you just need a taste of home. (Earlier today we ran into this woman again at our hotel in Rome. She found the Vatican, visited the coliseum, and seemed to be in much better spirits. I hope she found some joy in a Panini somewhere…)

We just finished a lovely evening stroll down the Arno (the major river flowing through Florence). Our timing was just right and we watched a beautiful sunset from the Ponte Vecchio (a cool bridge). We headed towards the Palazzo Vecchio where we stumbled upon two live music events. First we listened to a well-dressed symphony orchestra where the women wore floor length red dresses and the men white tuxedo coats. * After listening to what we are pretty sure was one of Mozart’s symphonies, but can’t figure out which one exactly, we moved on and ran into a men’s choir. They were great. We uploaded a short video of the choir singing “Go Tell It On the Mountain” with a beautiful Italian accent. Nice.

Thankfully this was a much shorter day than yesterday. Both of us were pretty tired after all the walking in Rome and needed a slightly less strenuous day. Tomorrow we head to the Medici Chapels and possibly a day trip to Pisa. I don’t know if we’ll have time, it’s looking like a pretty busy little Tuesday.

Love,
Beth and Jesse

* I say well dressed because as a young middle school girl I had to wear a tuxedo shirt, red bow tie and a floor length skirt when I was in orchestra and the symphony. Not pretty or cool especially in middle school. I also love white tuxedo jackets—the groom and grooms men at my good friends Amanda and Fred’s wedding wore white coats and they looked great. A classy touch Florence orchestra; well done (1 point for Europe).