Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 02:17:41 -0800 (PST)
Subject: When in Florence....

I'm not yet doing as the Florentines do. The train from Rome to here was 1.5
hours -- Eurostar Italia. Couldnt really see too much out the window; it was
still dark for most of the ride. Sunrise was at around 0730am or so... Got in
to Firenze's "Stazione Centrale di Santa Maria Novella" at 0810 AM (i can't
find the colon key on this keyboard!) .. The hotel was a short 100m walk from
the train station, just like in Rome. And no, I did not plan it that way!

When I got in the room wasn't ready yet, and they said it'll be ready at 1300.
i have a train to catch to Pisa at 1300. I checked in my big bag at the hotel
front desk and went to Galleria dell Accademia -- home of Michaelangelo's
David. That was about the only piece of art in the whole museum that I actually
liked. There are hundreds of other paintings dating from 1300-1500 AD -- most
of them christian paintings on wood (not canvas) that used to be in various
churches all around the country, now all of them assembled in this one museum.
All those paintings are badly in need of restoration. Most of them are dark...
not too many vibrant colors as in the Vatican museums paintings. So I wasn't
too impressed.

Even the statue of David -- it's ok.... I've seen better sculptures before
though... like the ones in the Louvre. Funny, i always keep comparing whatever
I see here to the pieces in the Louvre. But then, this statue is supposed to be
elegant and showing the strength of the human body, which it does. And compared
to other renaissance sculptures, it's pretty good.

There was also ONE other painting in the museum that I liked. It's called
"Depostion" by Filippino, Lippi, and Perugino and shows Christ being taken down
from the cross. Raphael posed for this painting when he was still learning art
and it shows his face on one of the people in the foreground... but what i
liked was the background - showing some hills and the air in the back....
giving the painting some depth. And best of all, great colors in this one! I
think it was the only one like that.

Well, I had expected this gallery to take longer... since I wasn't too
impressed with I basically walked through the whole museum in about an hour. So
now I'm just waiting for the train to Pisa -- really no time to go anywhere
else and i dont feel like walking more. There'll be plenty of that to do later
today! Wish i had a good map of Pisa though -- the one i have in a book doesn't
show too many details. The maps of Rome and Florence ("Streetwise Rome"...
"Streetwise Florence") are both excellent -- they show every detail, every tiny
passageway connecting every street!

I think my time is expiring here... need to buy more time.

Ciao,
-me.
(p.s. .... found the colon key : !!!!!! argh...... every keyboard is
different!)

Date: Thu, 2 Jan 2003 10:16:30 -0800 (PST)
Subject: No pizzas in Pisa.

I learned a lot today about eurorail! I got to the Florence Santa Maria Novella
train station at around noon, for a 1pm departure. And found out there's
another train leaving for Pisa at 12:25. So I went to the ticket counter and
asked if i could switch my ticket to that one. Well, seems like I did not need
to do that at all... my ticket is good for all day. so i just got on the 12:25
train, and waited for it to leave.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The train never left the station!!!!

12:50 PM - everybody in my coach started leaving for the 1:00 PM train. So I
left too. Ran to the other platform to catch that train.... and waited for it
to leave.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The train left at 1:40pm. And then stopped at every tiny little village from
here to Pisa. Fortunately the stops were not that long, but it still took
almost 2 hours to reach Pisa!

From the train station there, it was about a mile walk to the Duomo/Leaning
Tower area - i forget the official name of the piazza now. along the way i had
my lunch (again a panini sandwhich) to-go and ate it while walking.

When I got to the piazza, all tickets (tours only allowed) to the top of the
leaning tower were sold out. So I had to make do with the views from outside
only. That was ok...

Went inside the cathedral... it's a beautiful church from the inside! The
ceiling is all gold... a lot of paintings all along the walls (much better than
the ones in Galleria Accademia this morning)... the altar had gold-plated dome
above it.... it was just gorgeous!

And that was about it. The museum was closed today (dont know why)... so I
walked back to the train station around 4:20 pm, stopping by to have a gelato
veluccio - hazelnut ice cream - along the way.

Second Eurorail experience today: From Pisa train station, there are trains to
Florence almost continuously throughout the day. And there are TV's everywhere
in the main ticket hall area showing arrival/departure platforms for the
trains. I saw there was one train leaving at 4:25 pm from platform 2, another
train at 4:38 pm from platform 6. Okay, great!

Hmmm... not that great.

I got to platform 2, and there was nobody there! There are also electronic
signs above all the platforms which show where the next train is coming from
and going to.... and this platform had NOTHING! imagine that.... there's
supposed to be a train to Florence in 5 minutes, and no people waiting on the
platfrom, nothing showing on the signs... absolutely nothing anywhere!

So i went to platform 6.

Then there was an announcement on the intercom (thankfully also in english)
that a train to Firenze is now arriving on Platfrom 2.

So i ran back to platform 2.

One train came in on platform 3. Nothing on 2.

So i went back to platfrom 6. After that a train came in on Platform 2 and left
-- I saw it but did not bother going back. Just waited on Platform 6.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally the train came in on platform 6. I boarded that one.

This was an express train - only stopped in 3 of the larger-size villages along
the way, and was in Florence just a little after 5:30pm.. The landscape between
the two cities is primarily rural... lot of vineyards... i saw a couple of
factories, but mostly all farmland - and mostly growing grapes.

Then checked into the hotel ... I've got a private balcony in this one - 5th
floor room! Unfortunately the balcony is facing the WRONG WAY! if it were
facing in the opposite direction, there would be a view of the entire city from
up there (and the room would probably cost 2 or 3 times more). Still, I can see
some hills in the distance, so that's pretty nice..

Tonight dinner at a gelateria next to the hotel -- for some more delicious
desserts. This morning I ate a "Napoleon" again on the way to the Galleria
Accademia. I hadn't had one of those since April 1995 at the Epcot Center in
Florida! As soon as I saw it in the display there today I knew I wanted it!

Tomorrow off to Venice for a day-trip.

Ciao e buona notte.

Pisa:

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January 3: Venice