Ahh, Siena.

Here is another of our side trips from Florence to the beautiful town of Siena. If I had it to do again I would have stayed in Siena and gone to Florence on a side trip. Siena was much less touristy/ crowded and soooo picturesque. It would have been worth the extra hour train ride on regional busses from Rome (although I don't know if I would have said that two weeks ago...).
















Cat on a Hot Terra Cotta Roof... wait a sec!



























Some ancient Gregorian hymn books. Neat!











A great view from the roof of the museum.












And another steep, wind-y staircase.















No, your eyes do not deceive you. This is St. Catherine's thumb in a jar. I had to work hard while being fairly inconspicuous for this shot, but I don't think it qualifies as sneaky.
















This Donatello Madonna del Perdono from 1457, however... definitely sneaky!

Piece of Pisa

We took a little day trip to Pisa, because you can't go to Italy without seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It's actually kind of amazing the things they have done to try and slow the descent and fix the lean on the tower- but Mike and I found our own way to help...































Just push it back up. (So we're a little nerdy. What's your point?)












And after all that hard work- you must eat some Pizza in Pisa. (Kind of a gross picture- I can't believe I posted it. Oh well.)

Florence: The saga continues.

If you haven't read the previous post, please scroll down and read.
Assuming you have read about the shenanigans described in the previous post- please read on:

So there we were in Florence. Dog poopie ground into my pants. It was night and Mike and I were tired. Lo and behold there was a laundromat (The Wash and Dry Lavenderia) located mere steps away from our hotel. We loaded up the washer with all, I repeat ALL of our clothing... ok- we were wearing pajamas! Anyway- We watched our clothes spin around all the wash and rinse cycles, imagining how good it would feel to wear freshly laundered clothing (we had been washing our clothes in the sink with a little bottle of hand wash detergent). Also- I was happy the doggie doo doo was coming out of my jeans without me personally having to touch them. The spin cycle ended... then started again... then slowed... and started again. It kept going and going and going. 10:30 PM and no one had come to close the Wash & Dry that is supposed to close at 10. Mike went to call and 1-800 maintenance number while I stayed to protect the goods. I swear not two minutes after Mike left a young Italian lad walked in. My nightmare of two minutes had come true. He spoke no english and he was trying to throw me out of the laundromat.

After floundering for a few minutes- me attempting to tell the guy that "Mi...esposo...speaks Italian! He'll be right back!". Yeah- the guy didn't get it and didn't care. I tried to tell him the machine was broken. Didn't care. Just wanted to close down the laundromat. Long story short I ended up nearly in tears. Picture me crouched by the side of a malfunctioning washer, breaking down- with an Italian girl who speaks english trying to help me force the washer open. Imagine me almost yelling "I AM NOT LEAVING MY CLOTHING! I am halfway across the world with only these clothes and I WILL NOT LEAVE until it's OPEN!" Apparently the guy didn't understand that every pair of underwear I brought was in that washer. How do you say that in Italian?

Finally calmed down- I resigned myself to the fact that in Italy, being a demanding, fit throwing American does not get you your way. Also- anything can wait til morning in Italy... and with a hot Brioche and some of that awesome breakfast cheese, somehow everything will be fine. We left a note on the laundromat door and in the morning we went in to find the door of the washer mysteriously open. And nothing had been stolen ( I think because my clothing would swallow any Italian woman).

So that's my story about Florence (which has nothing to do with these pictures). Nevertheless- Florence was a beautiful and fun city. I don't hold it accountable for the actions of it's laundromats.



































































Hiking up these steps to get to the alleged "Casa di Michelangelo", a neat church and excellent view.















We found this sculpture in an old church. We went inside when the sun was setting and there weren't any lights in the church (at least not that we could see). This is Abele with his offering.












A spooky little graveyard outside the spooky little church.













Hands down- the most fabulous grapes I have ever eaten. No wonder the wine is so good here... not that I know... or anything....
















You didn't think I would post pictures of Florence without sneaky pictures of the David, did you? And I thought you guys knew me...

A Funny Thing Happened in Firenze

With Rome behind us, and only a few museums and some chill out stuff ahead, Mike and I made our way to Florence (Firenze). We arrived in the city, found a hotel, left our stuff and hit one of the museums on our agenda. We were examining some sculptures in the Bargello Gallery when I caught a whiff of something that smelled like it just crawled out from under a moist, musty rotting something or other. Mike had been complaining about his shoes being stinky from about Venice on- so I wondered if this was the source of the foul odor. Mike was too far away (I hoped) for the smell to reach my sensory organs. Another couple was lingering nearby. I wondered to myself why Europeans were so stinky. The museum closed and Mike and I could hear our stomachs rumbling. We found a bar with calzones as big as my head for a good price and stopped inside (said calzone is pictured above). The nice man behind the counter heated up our food and Mike and I sat down at the bar to enjoy some fizzy water before our meal. My nose fizzled delightfully- until I caught a wiff of the offensive odor that had attacked my olfactory nerves earlier.

B: Is that your feet??
M: What? Can you smell them?
B: Well, I don't know if it's them, but it smells like dog crap in here.
M: I think it smells kind of like old parmesan cheese.
B: I'm never eating parmesan cheese again.
Do you think you could wash your shoes??
M: I don't know, I think that might make it worse...

Just then I looked down and noticed a large piece of animal (I hope) fecal matter attatched to the outer arch of my shoe. It was not only ground into the treads on my shoe, but now lovingly spread on the bottom rung of the bar stool I was sitting on. Also- it was slathered peanut butter style on the side of my left pant leg. Needless to say- I bolted from the resturaunt, let Mike pay, and stood by the curb madly pounding the bottom of my shoe on the sidewalk. Crazy American. And yes, that is ketchup on the side of my plate.












Bella Toscana. I loved seeing the vineyards from the train. If only I had known what Tuscany had in store for me...












Forcing a smile post defecation humiliation at the Arno River (Ponte Vecchio in the background).












The River, Ponte Vecchio, and town from up a little higher.













The tart I bought to console myself after the aformentioned incident. Don't worry- I washed my hands first.















Donatello's David at the Bargello Museum. Strikingly more femenine than Bernini's or Michelangelo's. I guess the severed head by his feet makes him seem more "manly".















The courtyard at the Bargello Museum.
















Dante's House (you know- The Divine Comedy?? What's so funny about it?)
















The colorful Duomo at Firenze. (Probably where I stepped in dog crap).











Tiny cars weren't enough. We had to find a three wheeled tiny car. At least it doesn't poop. (Am I overdoing the whole stepping in poop thing?)

Phew!

Zoom in on these pictures and you will find some sneaky pictures of the Sistine Chapel taken from my camera bag! I almost feel as relieved to have all of the Rome pictures posted to my blog as I did when we were on the train from Rome to Florence. Rome was big and there was a lot to see. It was a little harder to get from place to place. I think that's one thing that made it more frustrating than other places. We almost missed seeing one of our favorite museums, the Borghese, because we had to walk so far from the subway. I threw down my little museum card like a 2 year old and threw a fit. Then Mike and I ran about 2 blocks at full sprint to try and make it (we finally did make it- between temper tantrums). Unfortunately we weren't able to take pictures, but the Bernini statues at the Borghese were soooo amazing. Our favorites were the Apollo and Daphne and David. It was worth acting like a baby to see them.




























Pretending to sleep at our hotel room in Rome. This was probably the nicest place we stayed.
















Mike filling up our water bottle in the fountain outside the Borghese. It's weird that you can drink right out of the fountain, but we never got the 'reah's- so I guess it was safe.













Now I know where my nickname came from! (Barberini subway stop).













Missionaries! It was almost as good as seeing nuns:) The funny thing is- this wasn't even the first set we ran into (nor was it the last).












I can't remember what this building is. It was one of the temples near the Roman forums (Athena's Temple??).












Mike! Help!! This statue is famous, but I don't remember what it is.












A Bernini fountain in one of the Piazza's- The Sinking Ship.
















Sphinx (Vatican Museum)! Not to be confused with the one I used to carry in my pocket for luck on dates:)

More Roman stuff.

Gladiators!












And me showing off some gladiator muscle! Look at those guns!












The Coloseum inside- note the cross on the right-hand side. Slightly sacreligious. Wouldn't you say?
























Doing the Ceasar shuffle on the Via Sacra (Sacred Way). These are the Roman forums near the place where Augusta :) Ceasar was murdered.
















A palace on Palatine hill. The little lincoln logs in the middle are remains of marble columns.












Via Sacra by the Arch of Constantine. Supposedly these walkways still have ruts in some of the stone from chariots that traveled on them. Pretty dang awesome, no?












Resting on a Corinthian column (or is it Doric, Ionic... I can't remember!)












Spanish steps. Why they're spanish?? I don't know. They don't look Spanish...













A flock of nuns!! I told you I was obsessed.