Alright - I promised to explain why Italy turned out to be the low point of my trip. I got several horrified messages from friends aghast that my opinion of Italy was low. Sorry - just because it is "Italy" doesn't mean that it floats on some magic cloud. I hate that it wasn't what I had wanted it to be and I hate that those couple weeks weren't spent in Croatia or some other magical place, but that is the way the cookie crumbled. As some of you saw from my Facebook postings, I just couldn't seem to get any forward momentum and when I finally did, my efforts were thwarted. But, it wasn't all bad (just most of it) - so, here is a recap of Italy in 2 parts...Florence (not bad at all) and Venice - "She Can Leave".
Arrived in Fiumicino which is a outside Rome. I knew I didn't want to bother going into Rome b/c I have seen it and I knew it would still be crowded. One night in a hotel turned into two because - as mentioned above - I couldn't get the proverbial car into drive. However, things finally clicked into place and I had a tentative itinerary in place....Florence for a couple days, over to Venice (which I was REALLY excited to see), a couple nights in Bologna while I waited to pick up my rental car, 3 nights in the Italian Lakes - perched on Como and then 4 more nights in the Piedmont/Lombardy region at an Eco-Agriculture place I had seen in Budget Travel. Sounds good, right??
Well, Florence was pretty good, I'll admit. Nice hostel close to the train station with lots of amenities - rooftop deck with a gorgeous view of the Duomo lit up at night, a swimming pool, a sauna, a "help" desk that could book you into the Academia and the Uffizi so you could skip the lines and a Top 10 list of things to see in Florence.
I spent my first day just wandering around and immersing myself in Florence. Stopped here and there for a glass of wine, a bit to eat or a gelato. Sorry to say, only so-so. Perhaps my expectations were too high. That evening, I discovered a wonderful little tradition called "Apertivo" where for only 7 or 8 Euro, you get a glass of wine (or a drink) and access to an All You Can Eat Buffet. I indulged in this a couple of nights and whereas the value is good, I found the food not all that wonderful. One dish had cut up hot-dogs in it. No thank you. And no, I was not at a tourist place. I asked for recommendations from locals. However, I enjoyed the experience and the ability to try many different things...even if I didn't like most of them :)
Next day - I pre-purchased my tickets to the Academia and the Uffizi each a day apart. First up, the Academia where the famous "The David" is housed. I still had to wait in line, although it was the "special ticket holder" line...the people made it sound like you just strolled in. Not so. AND, at 20 Euro, you SHOULD just be able to stroll in. The Academia is lovely and I was fortunate to be able to see a Bertolini exhibit as well; otherwise, I would have felt a bit ripped off. I mean, The David is cool and everything - it is considered to be "The Greatest Sculpture in the World"...but it is only ONE sculpture...and for 20 Euro, I want my money's worth of the place. The rest of the Academia is comprised of Religious Art. Not my ball of wax. It all looks the same to me and - clearly - it only has one subject matter. One can only look at so many Virgin Marys and weird looking little Jesuses. I was about to feel irritated when I saw there was a 2nd floor. Even though it said it was more Religious Art, I figured I better go up there. Definitely glad I did. I saw a video that described the process that makes "Panel Painting" possible. I suppose I thought the people just grabbed a piece of wood and went to work. Oh no no no no no. The process is LONG and absolutely fascinating. Never will I look at painted panels the same again. Reprieve for the Academia.
Here is a brief lesson on how to paint a gorgeous panel....
1. Cut the wood - Poplar is preferred
2. Melt down some goat skin until it is a liquid and apply several coats
3. Lay linen over the sticky wood
4. Apply Gesso - a white paint mixture that acts as a binder
5. Make your drawing and then lay it on the panel and re-trace it with charcoal dust
6. For all your halos and what-nots...poke holes
7. Re-trace the charcoal lines with ink
8. Draw all your folds and note where shading will occur
9. Incise the outline for your Gilding
10. Apply your Bole - a dark red clay mixed with egg
11. Apply the leaf - re-moisten your Bole as needed and lay leaf onto it
12. Remove excess leaf and polish
13. Re-Punch your Halos
14. Assemble all your painting materials - i.e. create your paints
15. Paint the clothes first and then the bodies
Now you have a panel painting. This simplified explanation does the actual process no justice whatsoever and I was dumbstruck at the end of the video. I enjoy looking at painted panels now that I can appreciate the labor involved in creating one. Now, I just need to feel that way about the rest of the oeuvre of Religious Art!
I exited the Academia and managed to quell the urge to buy a pair of boxer shorts and an apron with a picture of David's most famous bits on them. The ultimate in tourist "trash" - as Mom would say ;) Ambled around a little more and found myself in the San Marco leather market....Well, hello there, Leather Porn!! This looked promising. I scouted some things out and decided to save purchases for the next day...once I could think about what I really wanted and what was just an impulse "want". Well, sure enough - the email came in from my brother that instead of a brown leather belt (which I had been on the lookout for), he now wanted a briefcase/computer bag. The gauntlet had been laid down. It is difficult to find the perfect gift for someone - especially Bill - but I was up to the challenge. The next day, I must have looked at EVERY leather bag they sold in Florence!! But not before I went to the Uffizi, the Gold Market and the Ponte Vecchio.
As I said above, I pre-purchased my ticket to the Uffizi so I could slip in. This one worked a little better - although it definitely took me while to find the actual entrance. A cappuccino - well, perhaps two - helped me along the way. Oh, alright...a croissant as well. The hostel had a breakfast you could purchase for 6 Euro, but it was some bread, some cereal and an "English" style breakfast - i.e. powdered scrambled eggs, canned sliced mushrooms, limp, barely cooked bacon swimming in grease and beans. I CANNOT figure out the English obsession with beans in the morning. Gross. AND the coffee/cappuccino came out of a machine. No thanks, my 6 Euro can go farther in a cafe...and it did.
The Uffizi is considered to be the seminal collection of Renaissance Art in the world. Just so you know...."Renaissance Art" is mostly another name for "Religious Art". Not all of it - but 60% of it. 25% might be mythological themes....still with religious figures in them and 15% are portraits. The real beauty of the Uffizi, in my opinion, is all the sculpture lining the U-shaped hallways of the building. Marble busts of Caesar, Cicero, Agrippa, Augustus, Alexander, Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, Constantine and tons of other "famous" guys line the walls. Interestingly, the layout is the same as it was in the 16th-century when the Medici's laid it out - A full statue followed by 2 busts (statues of heads, not boobs).
Saw all the famous stuff in the books - Fillipo Lippi (all religious motifs), Portraits of Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Pieroges Della Francesca, Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and "Spring", Portrait of Martin Luther by Lucas Cranach (funny thing about this one is that this is the picture that is in ALL of the history books...ALL of them), really liked "An Open Book" by Scuola Tedesca - it was gorgeously detailed, enjoyed the Jan Brueghels and Albrecht Durers, and got lost in my own mind contemplating the 2 different sets of Adam and Eves that I saw. Funny how we will NEVER know what they actually looked like and IF they ACTUALLY existed. There are no representations of them...I guess they did not find themselves attractive enough to draw?? Or maybe God hadn't created pencils or paintbrushes yet (Sorry to offend religious folks).
There are beautiful views from the Uffizi but there are no unobstructed views in Europe...or very few. Cranes and scaffolding are everywhere...being old has its drawbacks.
Saw Vecello's "Venus of Urbino" and continued to find it hard to get excited about "Portrait of a Man/Woman"...no matter who the painter is...even if it is Tintoretto. If I don't know who it is, why should I really care about them? Saw a cool portrait of Henry Moore - of King Henry VIII fame. Unfortunately, the artist painted him with his eyes crossed. Even if they were, couldn't he have cut the guy a break? Saw the El Grecos - glad to say I can spot those a mile away. Continue to like the paintings with "lots going on in them"- i.e.fruits, vegetables, activities, the little details make you feel like you have discovered something unique that not everybody sees.
LOVED this huge portrait of a nude dwarf from the front and from behind (both sides of the canvas were painted)...too funny considering I am reading a story where one of the main characters is a randy dwarf named Tyrion!! Apparently the artist, Bronzino, painted this picture to prove that painting is superior to sculpture as ONLY painting can convey both the present as well as the passage of time concurrently. Therefore, it is "the nobler art". Why he chose a nude dwarf to illustrate this very "deep" point is beyond me. But hundreds of years later, it made me laugh.
Liked the 3 Rembrandts, they showed the artist as young, middle aged and old. And finally, the Italian Masters - Canaletto, Guardi, Tiepolo and Longhi. That concludes the Uffizi. Been There and definitely Done That. I liked it, but it wasn't the "transcendental" experience that I had at the Neue National Galerie in Berlin or what I was about to experience in Venice at the Ca'Pescarro.
Off to the Gold Shops and the Ponte Vecchio.
Silly me, I actually thought I might find something in the Gold area to buy - a nice little reminder of my time in Florence. Well, I saw a couple of things and went in to check them out...wouldn't you know it - I liked the most expensive things in the window. One necklace was over eighteen THOUSAND Euro....Ba-Hahahahahaha. Well, the old saying still rings true....If you have to ask how much something costs, you can't afford it. No gold for Bethy. Snapped my pics of the Ponte Vecchio and went off in search of Bill's bag.
Bill's Bag - with a capital "B", took the rest of the day and several gelatos. I hit up numerous stores and two different markets before finding the one that "felt" right. I debated between 2 of them but at the end of the day, decided on the more expensive, more adult looking one. Bargained appropriately - walked away twice upon not getting the price I wanted - had a glass of wine to think it over - went back and struck a compromise. Bag bought. A beaut if I do say so myself (since he has already received it upon the writing of this....Bill loved it too!)
Did some more walking around - snapped pics of the Duomo and milled around outside it - the line is ridiculous morning, noon and night to go inside so I skipped that (sorry, Mom) - ambled about until dinner time - had some more sub-par food (ok, terrible actually....had to send the "meat" back) - and went to bed since I had a train to Venice in the morning and needed to visit the "Post" to send my loot home.
Next up, Venice...."She Can Leave"
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