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Thursday, August 21, Florence/Rome
We left with Alberto after breakfast (which some of us have truly tired of by this time, especially the eggs which are inedible - we won't miss breakfast in Europe) for our day trip to Florence. As we drive north along the A1, we see picturesque Italian villages right out of a novel. Some appear to be high walled cities from 1000 years ago, high atop an isolated hill. The drive takes about 3 hours. In Florence, we make our way to the Academie where Michelangelo's David resides. But Nancy has been trying to reach Iberia Airlines all morning without success to reconfirm our flights! Landlines, cell phones, and three different phone numbers and she still can't get through. So when everyone gets in line for tickets, Nancy and Elliot ask a street vendor for an internet café. He tells us it's 3 blocks down, and 200 meters on the left. We follow his directions, but it's much, much farther. We've walked over a mile and asked 3 more people before we find it. We spend 20 minutes online, navigating Iberia's crappy website, finally resorting to their contact form to email them that we want to reconfirm the flights, but noooooo, we get an error that the email cannot go through. Nancy is very frustrated but manages not to put her foot through the computer monitor. The young lady managing the internet café is sympathetic as Nancy thanks her while explaining the entire exercise was futile. This girl offers to help. After calling the Florence phone number for Iberia, and being unable to get connected, she calls the airport in Rome, gets connected to Iberia, and after telling off the Iberia agent for their lack of customer service, confirms our flights for us! Nancy is relieved and she and Elliot double-time it back to the museum, realizing they've been gone 4 times longer than expected. To top it off, they turn one street too soon, and have to stop and ask directions, but eventually make it back to the museum. Of course, Jacob is standing at the entrance and Harvey and Marcus are in 2 different directions looking for Nancy and Elliot! We regroup and enter the museum. Harvey has already taken photos of the imposing, larger-than-life statue. David is quite impressive indeed. We have some good Tuscan food at a little café and then head over to the church, the exterior of which is solid white and green marble, totally Gothic. It looks like white gingerbread. The doors are interesting but the interiors are not compared to Chartres, Notre Dame, or St. Peter's. We drive to a loggia of more statues and they're starting to look alike. We head over to Ponte Vecchio. As we're on the bridge, a man is taking a photo. Nancy offers to take picture for them so they call all be in it. Then the younger man says to Jacob, "you're Mr. Brodzki"; it was Morris Berger, from Plantation, Temple Beth Israel member, and his family. We visit for a while, and after 2 full weeks away, it is especially heartwarming to speak English with other Americans. Not the first time, of course, there was a family from Wisconsin that we kept running into all over Rome, once on the way to our first dinner, again on Wednesday at Castel Gandolfo, and last at the Colosseum where Nancy changed $10 for them into euros. But it was particularly cool to run into fellow South Florida Jews. We leave Ponte Vecchio and head over to a street recommended by Alberto's friend Charo, the tour guide familiar with Florence. We find the store called the Gold Corner, and who is helping Nancy? An American who used to live in Miami, graduated from Florida State (oh well) and now living and working in Florence. Nancy has no trouble making a purchase, only trouble making a decision! We've all had enough and we head back to Rome along the same scenic highway. We see a fire on a hillside, and right before our eyes we see a fire fighting plane douse the fire with water! We had seen the same type of plane at Lake Albano in Castel Gandolfo, filling up for fire fighting! We drive through a South Florida style thunderstorm, only the second real rain we've seen during our entire trip. Alberto gets us back just before 7, in time for Nancy to exchange a dress that Harvey had purchased. We change clothes and rest a bit, trying to locate another restaurant for dinner. The first 4 places were closed for vacation. Finally, we found Gusto open, not too far by taxi, and serving Italian/Pacific Rim cuisine. Nancy had duck with asian slaw and onion for an appetizer that was delicious. We left the restaurant and waited for a taxi while watching the police search a car with a german shepherd. We walk a ways and finally find one taxi. We send Jacob, Elliot and Marcus back to the hotel, and Nancy and Harvey continue walking about half a mile all the way to the Spanish Steps, where we find a taxi (right next to a red Ferrari) and ask the driver to take us past the Colosseum, which is fabulously lit at night, and actually much more dramatic. The ruins are all lit everywhere, and the Forum and Temples, Columns and Arches, and the Colosseum, are hauntingly beautiful by night. Back to the hotel to pack up for our early wake up. We found out tonight before dinner that Israel has killed a Hamas leader and that the US has captured Chemical Ali: A good day for the good guys. |
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