April 31-May 2, 2018 - A Tour of Italy with the Griners - Florence & Venice

On April 30th, Derek and Jaclyn Griner came to visit us for about 10 days.  Derek works with Mark at BYU, and the Griners are very good friends.  Derek and Mark made a professional presentation at Sapienza University in Rome on the last full day the Griners were in Italy (more about that later), but before the presentation, we got to take a whirlwind tour of Italy together.  We had a fantastic time and saw some amazing things!

The picture above is the front door (portone) of our apartment building. We wasted no time in getting to some sightseeing. We basically dropped their bags in our apartment and headed out on the town, walking by San Giovanni in Laterano. It is a very important Catholic Church, which is less than a block away from our apartment.  Apparently, for the last few years, every May 1st for Italian Labor Day, the city sets up a huge rock concert right in front of the church.  For about a week before the concert, we got to hear the pounding beat of the music they were using to test the sound. The police tape in front of our building was there to block parking for the concert. We went with Derek and Jaclyn to catch a bus right in front of it all, and Derek caught the following video.  It does a nice job of showing our diverse reactions to the odd juxtaposition of a place of religious worship and significance, mixed with very loud and in-your-face rock concert preparations (with music and words on giant screens on either side of the stage repeating, "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat!").  We particularly like how the video shows Hannah's natural, fun-loving nature coming out.

Within a couple of hours, we took a bus that showed the Griners the Colosseum and many Roman ruins, and then we saw Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.  Not bad for a first night!

The next morning we rented a car and headed for Florence.  We had tickets that afternoon for both the Galeria dell'Accademia (where "The David" is) and the Gallerie degli Uffizi (where many famous works of art are).  When we got to the Accademia, they told us that they were going on strike and that we could either get our money back or have only 1/2 hour to tour the museum.  We chose the latter, and it worked out just fine.  We were all quite struck by the beauty of the David!

After the Accademia, we checked into our apartment, which was very close to the Duomo (the main cathedral) and the center of town, and then toured the Uffizi.

By the end of the Uffizi, we were art'ed out for the day!

A little rain didn't stop us from really enjoying the beauties of Florence!  As we were walking along, we happened upon this parade.  It was impressive, even in the rain!

Gelato always seems to revive the spirit, and we enjoyed seeing the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio (literally, "Old Bridge").

Topping off the day with some good pizza and calzoni was fantastic!

As we mentioned, we were able to use AirBnB to rent a unique and very interesting apartment right in the center of Florence's sightseeing district.  The apartment dated back to the 1200s and was originally the bottom floor of a medieval tower, the upper part of which is now gone.  Despite the low ceilings, we loved the arches, the unique artistic touches, and the preserved history of the place.

Living and staying in these old buildings, we are getting quite used to having 2 foot thick walls and floors that cut out noise from other rooms and the outdoors, and that don't squeak or make any noise when you walk on them. The solid marble and tile floors are cold but beautiful.

The next morning, it was off to Venice! We listened to Rick Steves as we took a vaporetto (waterbus) down the Grand Canal to St. Mark's Square.  It was a great way to get a good feel for Venice without ever leaving our seats!

We spent the rest of the day exploring the city of water and canals. 

The Bridge of Sighs is a sad stop, remembering all of those who passed over it, taking their last look out of those small, grated windows, as they headed from prison to their own executions.

Mark liked St. Mark's Basilica, in St. Mark's Square. It has lots of interesting things on the roof.

Venice has lots of beautiful shops with incredible glass art and plenty of tourist "treasures."

It seemed like every turn down a new alley or walkway had another picturesque scene.

After exploring the small walkways and bridges, we decided we really should try a gondola ride. Nicola was more than happy to accommodate us (at least we think that was his name). He said that he grew up in Venice and that they try to train only locals as gondoliers. He said that it was his grandfather's boat that he was using. He shared stories, history, and interesting facts as we took an early evening ride through the city. And yes, he did sing a bit for us, and had a beautiful voice. Mark said that he could hardly understand his Italian (which he used with other passing gondoliers) due to his use of a Venetian dialect. It was all really pretty dreamy.

 

We explored the city until dark. It was very beautiful as the lights came up and reflected in the water.

We stayed in a beautiful and comfy home (Airbnb) about 25 minutes outside of Venice.

Stay tuned for future posts about the Dolomites, the Ligurian Coast, etc.!!!