Whine & Cheese

The Madonnas of Echo Park (#18)

After a string of  so-so books, I am happy to report that (at least) next 3 books are good ones!

We kick off the "good" streak with a debut novel, Brando Skyhorse's The Madonnas of Echo Park.  I mentioned I liked funky titled books and here, even the author's name plays along as well!

While I have already given away that I liked this book, I will say that it reminded me, mostly favorably, of a few other novels I have read in the fairly recent past.  I know that if you haven't read them, the comparisons won't mean much, but I suspect the books all orbit in the same "if you liked this, read this" universe, so if you haven't read them, maybe you plan to or will, but just don't know it yet!

So anyhow.. the coincidental (or magical) intersecting of lives recalled Let The Great World Spin... the authentic ethnic voice and edge was quite reminiscent of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao... and the nostalgia factor of the 1980s and a very particular place (also from a non-white perspective) made me think of Sag Harbor.   (For the record, I'd give Great World the edge over Madonnas, but on-par/better than Oscar Wao, and much, much better than Sag Harbor).

But before any of that, Skyhorse brilliantly kicks things off with an author's note, recalling an episode for his youth that inspired, or perhaps more accurately haunted, him into writing this debut novel.  The result is not only a love letter (though not often a pretty one) to his home, the ever-evolving and largely Mexican Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park, but an attempt at some personal redemption. If that doesn't do it for you, it is hard not to be wow'd, particularly with the current contentiousness re: immigration, by the novel's opening line: "We slipped into this country like thieves, onto the land that once was ours."  From there, we jump in out out of the lives of the Mexican-Americans and American-Mexicans... btw, Skyhorse is of Mexican descent, born and raised in Echo Park, his last name coming from a Native American stepfather.

As for (mild) criticism, and with books/novels of this nature in general, a consistent quality from story to story is pretty much impossible to maintain. I thought many of the stories were truly great, while others were merely "good."  As with Great World, a lot also rides on one's tolerance of happenstance, with Skyhorse tending to throw a twist at the end story/chapter.  It's a bit of a literary tightrope walk and while I never felt he faltered, there were a few balance checks along the way. Lastly, since you don't have the full (or at least a more complete) picture until the end, this novel certainly would benefit from a re-reading, but who has time for that!  But overall, a quite compelling and impressive debut.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (#17)

While I certainly do judge a book by its cover (even while on my Kindle), I like quirky titles...

... and while I think the cover art on this one is quite good, there is little doubt that the title, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (by Aimee Bender), is what drew me in... joining the pantheon of books that my other half would say "sound like something you would read," haha!

While I try not to know too much about a book beforehand, I was also intrigued by the premise... a young girl who is a "food psychic" of sorts and can "feel" the emotions of the person who prepared the food she eats and even detect the way (and where) the food was raised (i.e. organic is better).  So I knew from the start that this would be one of those books where keeping an open mind was key (not that I generally have a problem with that, given my penchant for books about vampires).  Later, while reading reviews of the book on GoodReads, the phrase "magical realism" kept coming up.  I don't know if that's an official literary genre, but it does help to classify it... a quite "real" family melodrama with the addition of some very "unreal" elements.

For the most part, I enjoyed the book.  It was interesting watching young Rose struggle with/try to harness this special skill/gift which all started when she learned (spoiler alert) of her mother's particular sadness while eating a piece of her lemon cake.  But along the way, secrets are exposed and other family mysteries unfold.  

If you had not noticed, above I did say "for the most part" which means there's a big 'ole BUT... that being, the book totally crumbled for me in the end.  It is difficult to explain while without given away some serious plot points, but I will try to keep this spoiler-free and say it had to do with the resolution to Rose's brother Joseph's storyline which I found to be not only far too jolting but very inconsistent with some of those "family mysteries" that I coyly mentioned above.

I knew this book and author were fairly well-received, so upon finishing it I quickly headed over to GoodReads to see if I was alone with my WTF? reaction.  There are two types of "don't get it" books... the "good" kind where you suspect there really is something more going on that your mind can't quite process it... and the other kind, where your gut just really tells you that you are not missing anything.  Fortunately, through quite a few good (and even some glowing) reviews for this book, there were and undercurrent of reviews that certainly supported my opinion, which was a relief.

I gave the book 2.5 of 5 stars ... bumped it up to 3 stars on GoodReads whole-number system, since I thought it was a quite good book pretty much 90% of the way.   So while I can't personally recommend this one, I'd still love to have someone else read it that I know to get their reaction!

Italy Trip: Rome Random Thoughts II

I didn't forget that my random Rome ramblings were not done, so here's some more:

Particularly on a first trip to Rome, I would definitely recommend getting a Roma Pass.  I think it cost 25 Euros (each person needs their own card) which gives you, over the course of 3 days, two entries into participating museum or archeological sites (discounted admissions beyond those two) and all public transportation.  We earned our money back with entry to the Colosseum (12 Euros?) and later the Baths of Caracalla (6 Euros), plus more than a handful of subway rides (2 Euros a pop?).   It would have been worth the price of the entire cost of the card alone, just as we were able to use the special/designated Roma Pass line at the Colosseum... which we pretty much walked right into, passed hundreds of people queued up and I'm guessing at least an hour's wait.  The hard part was finding where they sold the passes.  We heard they were on-sale at the Termini train station (where we came into Rome), so we were looking for a Roma Pass kiosk, but it ended up just being sold at an ordinary newsstand.  Also, it was great being able to just hop on and off the subway.  We did A LOT of walking in Rome (and Italy in general), so it was hitch a ride whenever we could...

Speaking of the subway, it is a not a very extensive system (I imagine it is a archeological nightmare digging anywhere in Rome!)... or confusing... just two lines, crossing at Termini, which good for us was right near out hotel.  But a lot of the major sites are at subway stops... Colosseum, Spanish Steps (Trevi is nearby), and the Vatican.  But as with most subway systems, it is very well utilized, I think we only were able to sit down one or two times.  

The craziest place we visited on our entire Italy trip?!  The Vatican.  Before our trip, my friend Jen had warned me that the Vatican was ironically the worst area for pickpockets... for us, unless we are missing something we haven't realized yet, it was the craziest place just for the masses of tourists that were loud and somewhat pushy.  While the long line moved fairly quickly to get into St. Peter's Basilica, it was still crazy... and my enjoyment of the famed Vatican Museum was seriously inhibited by the crowds as at times it felt like we were being herded through it like cattle (and we were there mid-/late afternoon which allegedly to our guide book said was the better time to go).  The capper was being all corralled into the highlight of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel.  There were so many people in there that it was really hard to move without much elbow room.  There was supposed to be respectful silence in the chapel, but that was hard to accomplish with the rumble of thousands (??) of people and then above the guards having to yell over that rumble to "keep moving" or "no photo!" ... occasionally interspersing loudly "ssshhh!!" shushing.  Again crazy, but a bit comical as well.   That said, still a recommended/necessary stop while in Rome... and I would definitely recommend this be one of the place where you get an advanced ticket.  We did and once again, were able to skip a pretty long line for same-day entry and they have it set-up to deal with even longer lines than what we saw.  BTW, there is no entry fee for St. Peter's Basilica (just to climb the dome or go to the crypts and maybe some other stuff that we didn't have time for... next time!), the Museum cost about 14 Euro (+ service charges if you order online beforehand, but again well worth the shorter wait time).

The strangest thing we saw in Rome (and probably our entire Italy trip) was not something we particularly set out to look for... but while in Piazza Navona (which is a must see) was going inside Sant' Agnese in Agone church... back in the sacristy (the "sacra testa" according to the guidebook) is "chimpanzee sized skull of St. Agnes, martyred here in the 4th century."  It was really odd and personally I find it hard to believe it human skull as it could easily fit in the palm of one's hand ... or do skulls shrink?  Anyhow, very odd ... very Ripley's Believe It or Not (maybe I'll get pummeled by a lighting strike, but I am more the latter).

Finally, had a pretty cool Italy experience thanks to this very blog. Shortly before I left, I wrote up a blog entry for Paula Butturini's memoir that I read largely because it took place in Rome (though that was not the point of it, neither a travelogue or a "life in Rome" book)... and while we were at the Philly airport waiting for our flight to Venice, I checked my email and there was a comment left on that post by... Paula Butturini!  I kind of write this blog in a void, knowing it'll be read by some of my regulars and perhaps a "drive-by," so it is always a bit embarrassing to hear from the person your post is about!  While I knew I was complimentary of the book, I still worried about what I wrote and while there was cringe-y thing here and there, overall it was not too bad.  Anyhow, Paula recommended a gelato shop Trastevere, one of the neighborhoods she lived in while in Rome.  We did find it (it kind of felt like an Amazing Race challenge), but unfortunately it was closed for renovations.  After we got back, I did email her back to thank her for her comment and tell her of our attempt to find the shop and she very kindly (and quickly) replied back to that email.  So a very cool moment that would have never happened if not for this blog... 

and that's probably a good way to end this random Rome ramblings, unless I get some crazy brainstorm (probably as soon as I hit upload, I'll think of something else), but if you have any specific questions or asking about a particular place, I'd be happy to respond!  Grazie, ciao!

Living Dead in Dallas (#15) / Eclipse (#16)

Welcome to a double book post.  Prior to our Italy trip, I wanted to read something mindless or at least something that could likely be dropped for a week+ and picked back up again without missing a step.  But given that there was some serious travel time... and thus lots of potential reading time... so I downloaded two books to my Kindle... both with one of my literary guilty pleasures at its core... vampires!

First up was Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris, which is the second book in the Sookie Stackhouse series and the basis for the HBO series True Blood.  I had not been overly impressed with the first book, but it was good enough and was the type of book I was looking for.  I think part of the reason for my so-so feelings about the first book is that is so closely followed the first season of True Blood.  I realize that this was not Harris' fault, if anything, she should be applauded for providing the inspiration, but still it kind of felt to me like watching a sport event that I already knew the result of. 

I had thought this second book might be different as I knew the TV series took a "going rogue" approach with the book, using it as an outline of sorts but doing its own thing (i.e. one of the characters that was killed at the end of the first book lives on in the current Season 3 of the show).  But alas, while there were differences it still was a bit too close to each other and again I was finding it wasn't holding my interest as there was no tension in what would happen next.  Again, I can hardly blame Harris or the book for this...

... but that said, this book only confirmed that I prefer the TV series to the books.  While the books are light and entertaining, I can't say that it would be the fine writing that would bring me back to them... though again, they're not meant to fine literature.  So I do not see myself continuing on with this series.  While again I hear rumors that the show is detouring more and more from the books, at least in these early volumes the plots seem close enough that (a) I wouldn't want to read the book beforehand to have the TV series spoiled or (b) the situation that I found myself in with the first two book of reading a re-hash of what I already know.  I have plenty of other easy read/cleanse the palate fall-backs that I think I would think would be a better use of my reading time.  So while not a totally irredeemable read, it does get as low a I tend to go with book ratings... 2 out of 5 stars.

So it probably seems odd that my next book would be yet another vampire-centric one, but one where I have a history of being critical of the previous book and writing style.  While I didn't finish Living Dead until after our return for Italy, when it was time for a new book shortly thereafter I still wasn't feeling I had the mental capacity for a "serious" book, so since Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer was handy, I decided to just roll with it.

Unless you been living under that proverbial rock, I am sure everyone is familiar with the continuing saga of high school heroine Bella and her love for vampire Edward, which has been under threat from the increased challenge of werewolf Jacob.  So while I haven't been kind to earlier books (here are links to my posts to Twilight and New Moon), just from a pure pop culture phenomenon standpoint I have remained committed to reading the books ... and tend to do so just prior to release of movie versions (so I guess don't look for me to put a wrap on the books until 2011)... and truthfully, it has not been a burden on me, the books are certainly entertaining enough.

The good news here is that I maybe I am softening up in my old age... or else Meyer and/or the Twi-hards are wearing me down as I think this was easily the best book of the series.  Meyer's writing has definitely improved from book-to-book and the better news is that I did not find Bella to be anywhere as annoying in this one.  That's a big deal as my feelings for her really weighed down my opinion of the earlier books.  Also, while I was reading this one I finally watched the first movie (airing on Showtime) and I have to admit I started to "get" what all the fuss was about.  Granted it wasn't a great film or certainly award-winning acting, but could see what the Team Edward (RPatz) fuss was about... and obviously thanks the media the next two films have received, I certainly know what the fuss is all about with Jacob (and Mr. Lautner).

But before you think I have officially converted, I thought the book dragged on for far too long.  While I thought some of the back-stories were interesting, particularly the vampire ones (I am not good enough to rattle off/keep straight the Cullen clan), it just kept on postponing the big showdown... and by the time I got to it, I found it to be a bit anti-climatic.  Overall though a big improvement.  I gave the first two books 3 out of 5 stars, my standard "good"/a'ight rating... so grading on that curve, I gave Eclipse the bump up to 3.5 stars... though certainly it's the proverbial apples and oranges, not to be compared with other books that I give out 3/3.5 star ratings.

So that's your vampire update.  I have/had yet another vampire book on my to-be-read list... Justin Cronin's The Passage, which is the hot/"it" book of the summer... so while it is quite a different take on vampires (not objects of love/affection), I just don't see myself reading it for a bit longer until I let these books get out of my system!

Italy Trip: Rome Random Thoughts

Well, it just doesn't seem right that I posted fairly rambling babbling detailed daily accounts of our visits to Venice and Florence and pretty much felt like I ran out of gas by the time I had the time to get to Rome.  So, now that I have some time (a window that may stay open), I figured I'd at least share some of our experiences.  Just will make it bit more informal and random, then my day-to-day accounts.

First off, a quick rundown of all we did. Warning: it was fairly ambitious/lots of walking... so if you like to take things more leisurely, you'll definitely need more time... especially since I don't include all the stops for gelato and walking into random, but consistently jaw-droppping, churches:

Day 1:  Arrival by train, lunch near Repubblica, walked down to Vittoriano monument... ruins of Ancient Rome and Colosseum (my urge to see something that immediately says "We're here!")

Day 2:  Toured Colosseum, Palantine Hill, and Roman Forum.  Walked over to Trastevere in search of recommended gelato shop over to Campo de Fiori, Piazza Novona, Pantheon.

Day 3: Piazza del Popolo, Pincio steps overlooking Rome, walk along the Tiber, across the Tiber at Ponte Sant'Angelo... Vatican City (St. Peter's Square and Basilica, Vatican Museum incl. the Sistine Chapel).

Day 4: Circus Maximus, Baths of Caracalla (ruins), Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, nighttime visit back to Colosseum and Ancient Rome

If I needed a sign that "Toto, we're not in Florence or Venice anymore" that first lunch was a very good indication.  It was clear that Rome was already much bigger and brash than our previous two destinations, a true major city of the world!  When we grabbing our outdoor seats, the waiter said something to us that I didn't understand... a bit lagging from our trip from Florence earlier in the morning and a tad overwhelmed by it all... I thought he was asking for drinks, so I did the "hand to mouth" drink? gesture... which was incredibly stupid/naive of me, because in Italy they will never ask you about food and drink that early.  Anyhow, the waiter brings over a drink menu... and when we say we're interested in food/lunch, he gets pretty ticked citing my "drink?" gesture... and rightfully so.  It all went fine after that, but again a rough start and forgetting we were not in America, where dining is pretty much a timed event.

To get the negative out of the way, a day or so later we had what I think was truly our only tourist trap of entire trip, or at least the most obvious one.  Though first it started when we went to a restaurant that was recommended by our guide book as a local favorite, and when we arrived there it very much looked true... so when we asked for a table, they asked if we had reservations and then told us it would be a 45 minute-1 hour wait, kind of surprising given the number of empty tables.  Granted it could very well have been true, but I suspect this was more of a tourist deterrence measure.  So we ended up at a cafe just up the corner from our hotel.  The waiter kind of had this bumbling with tourists attitude from the start, so when I ordered the ricotta and spinach ravioli I even made the effort of pointing it out on the menu.  When our order arrived, Todd go what he order (pasta and a caprese salad I think) and I got my ravioli... along with a parmesan and arugula salad.  I told him I didn't order that, so he took it back. But promptly came back saying I had ordered it, showing me his note pad. I still made a bit of a fuss, then a very stern woman owner/waitress came over and explained the situation to her, but again she inferred it was my mistake and siding with what was on the waiter's notepad.  Not terribly comfortable with situation, we just dropped it and were charged the 12 Euros for the salad.  So while I felt we were rooked, it was not until I came home and looked up the place on Trip Advisor to see many tales of being misled/taken advantage of.  So definitely a tourist scam place... which reminds me I should add my tale to it, though it is definitely  drop-in/"this looks good" place, not one of the places you'll look up prior to a trip, so not sure it will help others from falling victim as well... but maybe do a review for our hotel and mention it there, since I am sure many of the hotel guests may do the same thing we did.

Okay, that's enough rambling for one post... to be continued (I hope!) and absolutely less negative, now that those two stories are out of the way!

The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag (#14)

Okay, time to get back to book reviews.  The last one I did was pre-Italy way back at the end of May, so we have a lot of catching up to do!   Having wrapped up one last night, I am now 5 books behind... but (spoiler alert!) many of these post will likely be on the short side as the next 4 books have not quite been stellar...

... starting with The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag, the second book by Alan Bradley in the Flavia de Luce Mystery series. You may recall I quite enjoyed the sparkling debut in this series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, but this one falls into the sophomore slump category.

I was surprised I enjoyed Flavia as much as I did in the first book as precocious 11-year old girls are not exactly my cup of tea, but while still quite charming in this adventure I have to admit it did start wearing thin (along with an increased focus on her chemistry skills).  But more of an issue than the well-developed Flavia, was a "mystery" that was not anywhere near engaging or well-paced as the first book.  I put mystery in quotes as, much like the Alexander McCall Smith No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, while their is something to be "solved," it tends to be on the tad convoluted side with the "why" being more important than the "who" or "what."   

As you can tell by the titles of these books, there is a lot of creativity put into these books and having sounded much harsher about this book that I intended, there were really many quite enjoyable aspects in this book.  So I do not know if this one will just an anomaly for me or perhaps it was just the wrong book at the wrong time, but back to the harshness I do feel it will take some convincing for me to continue on with this series.  I have read plenty of book series where things grow a little tired/stale after awhile, but seems ominous to hit a speed bump in just the second installment.  Again, not a disaster... but 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Italy Trip Day 6.5/7: Wrapping Up Florence

Well, here we are almost two weeks since my last Italy post... and my last blog post period!  It's not that I have not wanted to continue writing about our Italy adventures, but work has really taken over all my time.. so no time to blog and even when I am wrapped with work, don't have the mental capacity to write or sit in front on the computer (play on my iPhone, well that's another thing... have to stay connected somehow!).

Anyhow, I will wrap up our final night in Florence here and say I am not sure if or optimistically when I will get around to our last stop of the trip, 4 days in Rome.  I just feel that I have lost so much momentum on these posts... and probably need to freshen things up with book posts (have finished 4 book since my last book post!) or just some other kind of my normal minutia!

So picking up where we left off, we were still in the midst of our 24 hours of great Italian food.  It started at Francescovini with a wonderful dinner after sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo and overall a particularly physical day... continued with lunch at the Central Market's Nerbone with heavenly boiled beef (now there's a phrase you don't see every day) sandwiches... and then we just decided to pick a restaurant out of our guide book and decided upon Le Fonticine described in our guide book as "Silvano Bruci's trattoria is the place to go for Italian soul food, based on his wife's Bolognese family recipes." 

We thought we were doing well, holding off on dinner until nearly 8pm.  While checking out the menu on the window, there was a guy waiting in the door... he seemed like he was waiting for someone, but after we decided to go for it, it ended up being what we would later guess was the son of the owner ... and oddly in communication he seemed to morph between American, French, and Italian.... though if related to the owners, he was obviously Italian ... we did see an older gentleman during our meal, who almost certainly was Silvano.

Anyhow, this guy brought us to a really cool back room of the restaurant... and walking through the kitchen, which was kind of funny since it reminded me of the Italian chain restaurant here, Bucca di Beppo which makes such a fuss to walk you "through" the kitchen before seating you... here it was certainly not a gimmick!   Anyhow, as we were walking through we realized we were the first people in the restaurant... which was kind of embarrassing but funny since we thought we were doing so well holding off to a later time.  Fortunately, it did start filling up very shortly thereafter.

Anyhow, the meal was wonderful and I made sure I hit all things Italian that were on the menu... so we opened with bruschetta, ordered a bottle of wine... and I had some kind of pasta as my first dish and a herbed grilled chicken (fresh herbs!) as my second dish.  It still amazes how different in Italy is and that pasta is considered the start of the meal and not the "be all, end all"... but the difference is the portion sizes are respectable that you can have an enjoyable meal spread out over the course of a couple of hours (again, something Europeans do right!). I finished up with a cappuccino and tiramisu.  Can't get more Italian than that!

One of our lasting memories was observing another table of two older couples from America.  It's really no wonder America gets the reputation that we do!  First, they were hashing over what wine to order... there was this big discussion of who preferred red or white... that continued on when the waiter arrived. These waiters were old skool older guys too, who had clearly been doing this job for decades... and while these folks couldn't make up their minds, the waiter just wrapped it all up saying he would bring one bottle each of the red and white house wine.  The couples seemed baffled by the decision that just had been made on their behalf, but it was pretty amusing... and one thing we learned on this trip was to never hesitate to get the house wine (though we didn't at this place).

The best thing was when the salads were ordered (or arrived?) and one of the women asked if they had a "creamy Italian" dressing... the waiter appeared a bit nonplussed... I think "Italian" dressing is a hard concept for them to understand, let alone a "creamy" version of it.  With that discussion off the table, she then asked if she could have the dressing "on the side"... another head-slap!  What we had learned with our own meal and what occurred there, was that salads were simply drizzled with oil and vinegar by the waiter at a central table... I think the waiter ended up bringing her the bottles of each, but again... it's really no wonder Americans get the eye-rolls when away from home.

Although there were a few exceptions, we ended up kind of thinking that this back room was where they put the tourists as the room largely ended being English or Asian speaking diners... and on the way out the front room seemed quite Italian.  Really quite amusing, but I can't say I blame 'em!

With a midday train to Rome the next day, we headed back wound our way slowly back to the hotel via the Duomo... and the next day didn't do all that much except make sure to use our remaining gelato festival tickets and I even popped into an bookstore... so much fun to try and figure out titles and see the covers of American novelists in Italian.

Again, the whole train situation was a breeze... we got to the station about an hour early, but again I think we could have arrived their 10 minutes before, climbed aboard and been on our way to Rome... again it is such an efficient, seemingly on-time and certainly no stress situation.

Okay, that finally ends Florence... again, no promises on Rome stories... but if you check out my Rome Flickr photo gallery (which, as of this writing, is still in-progress but almost done) you'll get some stories there and see that we did and saw pretty much hit all the expected spots!   

Italy Trip Day 6: Florence

Well, I thought for sure I would be well wrapped up on all these Italy vacation posts by now, but have really been pummeled with work in the last week and half.  I would guess this was perhaps the busiest I had been work-wise in well over a year, so while it is frustrating to have lost momentum on these posts (as well as my picture posting), I have to say it is a good thing to be busy with work ... as that is what makes these kind of trips possible!

So, Day 6 of our trip was our second and last full day in Florence.  We had contemplated taking a Tuscany side trip during our stay in Florence.  Originally we were thinking Pisa but had switched to Bologna on the solid advice of my friend Jen... but alas, our time seemed so short in Florence and with a scheduled time to visit the Accademia Gallery to see Michelangelo's David in the afternoon... and really loving the city, there was no reason for us to leave Florence.  Next time!

This is perhaps the hardest day for me to have had to recreate in my head as there were so few pictures of it.  I had done a good job of photographing most of the city in the first day and half, that I think I shot less than a dozen shots the entire day... and given I shot close to 1,000 over the course of the entire vacation, you can see how strange a day this way.  But I have to remind myself sometimes, that I need to "see"... experience!... these places for myself and not soley through a camera lens.

After yet another high-carb, protein challenged breakfast we walked over to the Palazzo Pitti.  A Medici palace, but now of course a museum!  Knowing we really didn't have time to do the museum, I thought we'd at least get to walk around it and check out another panoramic view of the city, but alas that did not happen.  The gardens were closed, so I don't know if that is what would have provided us "free" access but again just didn't happen.  Would probably go inside... next time!   And ditto, I guess for the Uffuzi... if you haven't figure it out, museums tend not to be high on my to-do list.

We walked back towards the duomo and picked up our tickets for the weekend gelato festival.  I have kind of lost track what I have and have not mentioned... but Italy is just gelato crazy.  I really don't know how all the shops survive, but given the number of folks eating it maybe it is not such a stretch (just wonder what happens when it's cold and/or rainy?).   Anyhow, we each got a combo ticket that allowed us 6 gelato tastings for 4 Euros, not a bad deal... though I thought there would be more sampling booths all around the city than there were, but we did just fine at the booths around the centrally located duomo.

So while the gelato samples contributed to the best 24 hours of food we had on our vacation, it was really dinner the previous night and then a trip over to the Mercato Centrale for lunch.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this was the Central Market and just a great collection of stalls (indoors) with every type of meat, fish, vegetable, etc. you can imagine... and definitely a (pardon the pun) taste of local life, though certainly there were plenty of foodie-gift type shops trying to lure tourists as well.

Our primary reason to go there was to go to Nerbone for bagnato, a boiled beef sandwich.  It was kind of intimidating... just a walk-up counter that had the bustle and attitude of a NYC deli.. you needed to know what you wanted and move right along from some very serious old school Italian guys. Fortunately, "beef sandwich" is universal and we were on our way to wait for it to be prepared right before our eyes.  I opted to get both the green (pesto-y) and spicy red sauce... and let me tell you, it was a little bit of heaven.   It may not have looked like anything special .. but a perfect roll to soak up all the juices , tender beef that just melted in your mouth with a nice kick from the flavorful sauces... and 2 sandwiches for under 10 Euros, which likely made it probably the most inexpensive meal of the entire trip.  It's only too bad that we "found" it (another Jen recommendation, plus highlighted in our guide book) a bit late as we would have likely had it everyday for lunch... or we even joked that we would have gone back the same day for dinner!

Then it was off to the Accademia Gallery to see David.  While I didn't seem like the same-day, walk-up ticket line was too bad, it did save some time to buy the tickets in advance via the Internet and we walked right in just before our assigned time.  It is in fact a "gallery" vs. a museum, so not a whole lot there... but what is there is pretty amazing, The Rape of the Sabine Woman, Michelangelo's unfinished Slaves... and then, David.  Now we had seen plenty of David recreations in Florence... and certainly seen the Vegas versions of it, but let me say the original was simply stunning! 

Now, photography was not allowed inside the gallery... I knew that going in... and they have many staff members around the David statue to prevent the photos... though in our short visit, there were a handful of folks who got a couple of photos off with either their phone or small camera.  While I was usually respectful of the "no photography" rules in places, I just had to try and get something... so I snuck behind a pillar and managed to get this shot off with my iPhone:

Not bad, huh?!! I felt a little guilty, but got over it.

Okay, given how long it took me just to get this entry out I think I will stop it here and do the dinner wrap-up (another good one) and our farewell to Florence in the next post (but can't/won't promise when that'll be)!

Italy Trip Day 5: Florence Part II

Apologies that Part II of the Day 5 has taken so long to post... unfortunately the reality of work came crashing down, making me only wish I was back in Florence and having a day like this!

Anyhow, when I last left you, we were enjoying a peaceful late afternoon in front of San Miniato church high above Florence waiting for the sun to set.  I mentioned that I have tried to have these quiet moments during our trips, which go against my genetic make-up, but after a couple of hours and still no sunset, I was getting a bit restless so decided we should walk back down to Piazzale Michelangelo...

... and as mentioned in the previous post, it was a lot more people down there... but there was definitely a buzz as folks gathered on the steps to take in the Florence sunset.

And these folks came prepared! People were munching on sandwiches and crackers and cheese... and there was plenty of wine flowing too!  So a good, fun atmosphere... until I started to get a little crabby as it many, many hours from our 10 Euro lunch and our long-ish hike to the piazzale... and it got even more annoying when this group right in back of us were cooing of how good all their food was!  I almost felt like turning around and asking if they'd like to share!  

By the time the sunset, I was ready to get out of there... and while I think there is no such thing as a bad sunset, this one didn't quite have "the moment" due to some low clouds that didn't get those good sun streaks. 

As we walked back into town, we passed many hopping bars and restaurants that looked to be mostly locals, but they were so jammed and a bit intimidating to think of making our way in.  I was pretty hungry, but really didn't want to do the "tourist menu" thing again... and fortunately, just in the nick of time, we found this small outdoor cafe (maybe 8 tables, with 1 open table) that looked like the vibe I was going for... as we checked out the menu, still a bit unsure... an American guy yelled out to us that this was his first night in Florence and that we should absolutely come in that the food and wine were great.  Later I kind of figured out he was there on business and some other Americans who work in Italy had brought him there.  Any kind of positive reinforcement was all I needed at that point... so we scooped up the last table... and had our best meal of our entire Italy trip and the start of what was the best 24 hour of food.

I had some kind of ravioli with a side spinach salad... we also had some fried pasta dough to start (forget what it's real name was)... and Todd has some incredible steak and a caprese salad... and we could not turn down 9 Euros for a litre of house wine (we figured that's about 1.25 of a bottle), which was as good as any wine we had during the entire trip... and an amount of vino, we would learn was enough to make us very happy.

Fortunately, we got a business card with our check, otherwise I would have never even known the name of the restaurant!  So while I don't know if it was just the right time/right place, lightning strike but, if you find yourself in Florence, I would certainly recommend Francescovini (now that's Italian) on a nice pedestrian only street, Borgo de Greci, between Piazza Santa Croce and Piazza della Signoria/Palazzo Vecchi (closer to Santa Croce).

On our way back, we had yet another surprise as there was this light projection show going on in the Piazza della Signoria.  It made me very happy (well, okay the half litre of wine was making me very happy), and I exclaimed it was "Just like Vegas!"

I don't if this is a regularly scheduled thing or what, but we went on the next night (this was on a Thursday night) at around the same time and nothing was going on like this, so who knows... but it was a happy accident and I am glad we stumbled onto it.

But an end to a really terrific day and one had started to slip/be threatened by some punchiness (hunger / tiredness) on my part, but it saved in spectacular fashion... wine is good!

Italy Trip Day 5: Florence

Onto our first full day in Florence, I can honestly say that at the start I am not sure if I intended it be a marathon day, but that's what it ended being.  I remembered that at the time (I'll admit to getting a bit punchy at one point), and I certainly remember it now as it has taken me days just to get through uploading pictures to Flickr from this day.

Our first planned stop of the day was Santa Croce.  In our day-by-day guidebook, it listed a trip to Santa Croce as something to do on Day 3, but when you are talking about a visit to the final resting places of the likes of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machievelli, and Dante Alighieri (though his tomb area was being restored)... well, you think it would be higher on the priority list, but I guess that's really saying something about Florence! Anyhow, with a line-up like that it is no surprise that Santa Croce is called the Westminster Abbey of Italy.  Now, it's not as big or impressive as Westminster (tho that's relative as every church we went into in Italy was impressive), but also it is also not as crowded and certainly easy to find all the major players. 

OK, detour time... if you enter a church, you will inevitably fine beggar woman seemingly in the midst of an emotional breakdown asking for money.  I have grown to be very good at ignoring them, avoiding eye contact and not feeling the least bit guilty.  While I've been doing that all my life (back to being a kid and visiting NYC when Times Square was filled with porn shops), my indifference all was confirmed in Venice when I watched a beggar woman reposition herself outside a Venice church and turn on the fake tears and soft wailing like a light switch.  The only time I caved was in Rome, when the woman actually opened the doors for us.

We made our way back to the Piazza della Signoria and it was kind of around lunch time.  But one thing you'll read in the guidebooks is not to eat at high traffic tourist areas (high prices) and avoid "tourist menus" (not good food).  But after a bunch of $40 lunches (that's US) and double that on dinners (if we were lucky!), it was hard not to pass up a 10 Euro ($13-ish) "tourist menu" combo of a pizza (or pasta), drink (which could be beer or wine), and coffee beverage (or gelato).  In the end, it all worked out great and since you are never ever rushed out of a restaurant in Europe, we were able to enjoy a nice afternoon lunch and this view:

With something in our stomachs, we next decided to tackle the duomo and climb to the top.  I had read that there was rarely a line/wait to climb the 463 steps... and there wasn't any as we passed by on our way to Santa Croce, but sure enough we had about a half-hour wait.  One thing I've learned in climbing up to all these domes is a deep respect for how these things ever got built without modern technology... or if they were built today how much money it would cost.  It is really quite staggering... and sometimes quite literally!  But the trip to the "cupola" was definitely worth the physical exertion for some amazing views of Florence and Tuscany... though there was a bit of a jam near the top as there was only one-way up and down as there kind of needed to be a traffic cop at the top to let one direction go, then the other. 

After climbing back down, we went into the duomo for the first time... though oddly enough, while the stairs led us back down to the church we had to exit and re-enter, which was fine as there was no charge for entry to the duomo (officially called Santa Maria del Fiore), the climb up I think cost 6 Euros per person.  But again, just massive and impressive... as one would expect for what is still the 4th largest cathedral in the world.  While Brunelleschi's dome is an architectural wonder, the artwork that was needed to fill all that space was also quite incredible and looking good (guessing a restoration wasn't too long ago):

After that we headed right across the piazza to the Battistero San Giovanni, which pre-dates even the duomo (we're talking 11th/12th-century), where all Florentine Catholics were baptized through the 19th including its more famous residents like Dante. This cost 3 Euros per person for what was maybe a 15 minute visit, but again an extremely impressive ceiling.

Next, it was back to the hotel for some rest before gearing up for a long walk across the Arno River and up to the Piazzale Michelangelo for a panoramic view of Florence.  In retrospect, it was probably not smart to do the duomo climb and then add a 2 mile way (each way and including a some altitude!) at the end of the day.  But we only had one more full day in Florence and had an afternoon appointment to see David, so what the heck, right?

On the way, we walked along the Arno to the Ponte Vecchio where we made the cross-over then it was up some pretty steep steps to the Piazzale.  As a combo bribe and thank you, I immediately bought Todd (and myself, of course!) some gelato as it was a bit warm too.  But the view, as seen in many guide books, was pretty cool.  The area was very touristy with a lot of folks and tourist buses and vendors of all kind, but to be expected. 

The intention had been to stay for sunset, but it was still hours off even at 5pm-ish... the sun set maybe around 9pm and it certainly stayed light out beyond even that.  So we climbed up further to San Miniato al Monte, according to our guide book, one of Florence's oldest places (construction began in 1018!) and they said "most spiritual" and that was certainly the case as we accidentally stumbled onto the Benedictine monks celebrating Vespers (evening prayer) with Gregorian chant.  Now, I lost my religion a long, long time ago... but it still gives me goosebumps to think of walking through that darkened (and mostly empty) church with the peaceful chanting bouncing off the marble walls.

We spent a few hours just sitting and hanging out in front of the church and enjoying this view:

Being the proverbial "Energizer Bunny" on these vacations, I've been trying to be better about just taking some time to sit down, breathe, and enjoy the place we're at... and our afternoon/evening up here, not doing much of anything (well, a diversion of a very cute guy, perhaps Australian was quite entertaining) will be one of the things I remember most from not only our stay in Florence, but our entire Italy trip.

Hmmm, that seems like a good place to stop... there is still a bit more from this very busy day, but let's just put it as "to be continued..." for now.