Tuesday Seth and I finally got to meet our landlady, Nicla, a motherly single woman in her early 60s. She lives a few towns away and often comes to Florence to visit her step-mother, but has been stuck at home since August with an injured back. However, she came to town for a few days to see a doctor, so we got to meet her at the other end of town (Porta Romana), at her step-mom's apartment. I must say that it is a BIG relief to have a kind landlady! Being in an unfamiliar place with different customs can really put a person in a position to be taken advantage of, but we got lucky with Nicla.
Unfortunately, Nicla didn't have much advice for how to deal with Rita, the crazy woman who lives downstairs from us. Her problem is that she INSISTS that we pay her 20euro a month to clean the stairs. If she were the landlady, or if we had signed some contract, or if it were not so costly, it would be a different story. This would be something like $300 for the year! We could eat out once a month for that price! Apparently the previous occupants (also Americans) also fought with Rita. The wife of one was unemployed and tried cleaning the stairs herself, but Rita fought back and won. Myke, the I Tatti Fellow who was here last, also tried cleaning the stairs and splitting the cost with Rita, but once again he failed. Now with us, Seth (who is the most stubborn person in the world, especially when he thinks someone is trying to take advantage of him) insisted on cleaning the stairs himself and still paying her 10euro a month for doing nothing, but once again she fought back. She is totally crazy.
Nicla told us to just pay her the money to maintain 'good relations', so we agreed to pay half and Nicla pay half... we still don't think she should get paid anything... At least I feel like Rita can be the craziest person in the world, and I wouldn't care; I'm just happy to have a nice and caring landlady!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Autumnal Market
The markets in Sant'Ambrogio have been slowly shifting into their 'fall line'. Melons and grapes are becoming more rare (even I Tatti's vendemmia, or grape harvest, was a week or two ago), and the peaches and plums are not quite as good as they used to be. Sadly, too, figs seem to have been short-lived and are now extremely expensive.
Fall veggies are shining through, of course--we have been seeing more pumpkin, citrus fruits, apples, exotic-looking mushrooms, several varieties of nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, and chestnuts), leeks and fennel bulbs. The star of show, in my opinion, is persimmon--aka cachi. Growing up in California we had a persimmon tree that produced soft fruit, and in Australia we got hooked on the crunchy variety. They have both types here :o)
The combination of the season and taking college courses has been making me really nostalgic--not only do I feel like a student at UNC again, but I also think about New England and how we are missing the Fall foliage, Halloween, and sweet potatoes. Though it has certainly been getting gray and cool here (which is exacerbated by our freezing cold apartment), the leaves are not quite as colorful, and the mosquitoes still have not yet disappeared...
A slice of castagnaccio, made with chestnut flour, pine nuts, rosemary, and sugar. Ignore the sideways view.
Persimmons/Diosperi/Cachi/Kaki
The soft variety (my favorite!)
The crunchy variety (sweet and with a texture like a hard pear)
The fungus!
Fall veggies are shining through, of course--we have been seeing more pumpkin, citrus fruits, apples, exotic-looking mushrooms, several varieties of nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, and chestnuts), leeks and fennel bulbs. The star of show, in my opinion, is persimmon--aka cachi. Growing up in California we had a persimmon tree that produced soft fruit, and in Australia we got hooked on the crunchy variety. They have both types here :o)
The combination of the season and taking college courses has been making me really nostalgic--not only do I feel like a student at UNC again, but I also think about New England and how we are missing the Fall foliage, Halloween, and sweet potatoes. Though it has certainly been getting gray and cool here (which is exacerbated by our freezing cold apartment), the leaves are not quite as colorful, and the mosquitoes still have not yet disappeared...
Fennel bulbs! Great in a soup with honey, white wine, and goat cheese (capra)
A slice of castagnaccio, made with chestnut flour, pine nuts, rosemary, and sugar. Ignore the sideways view.
Persimmons/Diosperi/Cachi/Kaki
The soft variety (my favorite!)
The crunchy variety (sweet and with a texture like a hard pear)
The fungus!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Drama and the Opera
We kicked off a little culture week by going to the Uffizi for the first time on Tuesday. We were extremely lucky to be able to use our passes to 'jump the queue'--the very, very long queue. (According to Rick Steves the Uffizi books up weeks in advance, even during the winter months!). Our motivation to fight the crowds was to catch the end of the Caravaggio exhibit. Being fans of Caravaggio, it was a big disappointment that the exhibit displayed only one Caravaggio, but at least we got to spend a little time poking around the first few rooms of the main gallery (Middle Ages through Leonardo). Even the early Renaissance works were totally amazing! The trip to the museum was followed by a concert of French Baroque music at I Tatti Thursday night (also so-so). Not only was it cold, but I was also horribly under-dressed.
We were looking forward all week to seeing the opera Salome last night. We wanted to leave I Tatti a little early to have enough time to get ready, but when we were offered a ride home with friends we bypassed an early bus home. However, as we were pulling out of the parking lot the car broke down. We left the car and friends (poor guys!) to catch the next bus, 40min later than we were originally planning. At least the car died right away instead of in some unfamiliar part of Florence where it would be hard to get home.
When we finally made it home we quickly started whipping up dinner, and in the middle of this we blew a fuse, stranding us in the dark. We tried clicking the power back on but it didn't work, so as we were considering how annoying it would be to have to call an electrician (we had tried calling a plumber a few weeks ago and he never showed up--apparently a common thing with plumbers and electricians in Italy) luck would have it that our landlady called us at that very moment. She lives a 30min train ride away but wanted to tell us that her son was in town for the day and asked if we could meet him to give him rent money. We weren't able to because we were going to the opera, but she then informed us of an additional fuse box to switch the power back on.
Certainly in a hurry by now, we rushed out the door and as soon as it closed behind us Seth let out a rare four-letter expletive. We had left our keys in the apartment and the door locks automatically! This had been one of our biggest worries since we arrived, especially since we don't have a spare set to stash somewhere in case this very thing were to happen. At least we remembered that the landlady's son was in town and he might be able to help, but of course we didn't have the landlady's phone number on us. As Seth fought with the door, I resigned to talk to the crazy woman downstairs who would have her number. (More on her later, but bear in mind she is crazy). It was a bit of a time-consuming ordeal, but we eventually made arrangements to meet the son at the theater.
Especially late, we hopped on a short bus to cross town. This was amazingly efficient, and we arrived just in time for the 8:30pm show. Seth offered to wait for the son, who had to bike across town to deliver his set of keys, and I went inside. I was just late enough to not have an usher help me to my seat and was told to sit anywhere. Seth came in some time later and was sent to the opposite side of the theater, where there were no available seats. He had to stand, then sat on the steps. I met him after the show, which was actually really good and worth at least some of the horrible ups and downs of the evening. It was a modern staging of the somewhat modern opera (1905) on the ancient story of Salome. In this version, Salome was so fascinated by (actually infatuated with) St John the Baptist ('Giovanni') that she asked for his head to be delivered on a silver platter so she could finally kiss it.
On our way out of the theater the evening got even better when we realized the bus had stopped running at a certain hour and it was raining pretty steadily. Of course we didn't have umbrellas, but after a brisk--and wet--35min walk home, it never felt so good to have keys in our hands and be able to step in through the door!
We were looking forward all week to seeing the opera Salome last night. We wanted to leave I Tatti a little early to have enough time to get ready, but when we were offered a ride home with friends we bypassed an early bus home. However, as we were pulling out of the parking lot the car broke down. We left the car and friends (poor guys!) to catch the next bus, 40min later than we were originally planning. At least the car died right away instead of in some unfamiliar part of Florence where it would be hard to get home.
When we finally made it home we quickly started whipping up dinner, and in the middle of this we blew a fuse, stranding us in the dark. We tried clicking the power back on but it didn't work, so as we were considering how annoying it would be to have to call an electrician (we had tried calling a plumber a few weeks ago and he never showed up--apparently a common thing with plumbers and electricians in Italy) luck would have it that our landlady called us at that very moment. She lives a 30min train ride away but wanted to tell us that her son was in town for the day and asked if we could meet him to give him rent money. We weren't able to because we were going to the opera, but she then informed us of an additional fuse box to switch the power back on.
Certainly in a hurry by now, we rushed out the door and as soon as it closed behind us Seth let out a rare four-letter expletive. We had left our keys in the apartment and the door locks automatically! This had been one of our biggest worries since we arrived, especially since we don't have a spare set to stash somewhere in case this very thing were to happen. At least we remembered that the landlady's son was in town and he might be able to help, but of course we didn't have the landlady's phone number on us. As Seth fought with the door, I resigned to talk to the crazy woman downstairs who would have her number. (More on her later, but bear in mind she is crazy). It was a bit of a time-consuming ordeal, but we eventually made arrangements to meet the son at the theater.
Especially late, we hopped on a short bus to cross town. This was amazingly efficient, and we arrived just in time for the 8:30pm show. Seth offered to wait for the son, who had to bike across town to deliver his set of keys, and I went inside. I was just late enough to not have an usher help me to my seat and was told to sit anywhere. Seth came in some time later and was sent to the opposite side of the theater, where there were no available seats. He had to stand, then sat on the steps. I met him after the show, which was actually really good and worth at least some of the horrible ups and downs of the evening. It was a modern staging of the somewhat modern opera (1905) on the ancient story of Salome. In this version, Salome was so fascinated by (actually infatuated with) St John the Baptist ('Giovanni') that she asked for his head to be delivered on a silver platter so she could finally kiss it.
On our way out of the theater the evening got even better when we realized the bus had stopped running at a certain hour and it was raining pretty steadily. Of course we didn't have umbrellas, but after a brisk--and wet--35min walk home, it never felt so good to have keys in our hands and be able to step in through the door!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
South Florence Hills
Yesterday Seth and I took a nice long walk (7.5miles from our apartment) around one of the larger hills just south of Florence (Monitici). I had picked up a walking map from the tourist office and thought this would be the perfect way to celebrate autumn. It was a great day to be out and the walk was very scenic, but what the tourist office failed to mention was that the roads were abominable. Winding through the hills they were extremely narrow and curvy, there were no sidewalks or walking/biking paths, and in fact the roads we were led through were barely wide enough for one car--yet most were two-way! Cars had to give out warning honks every few seconds as they drove, and in the unfortunate event that two met head on, one would have to go in reverse until it found a spot in the road wide enough to let the other car pass. Unbelievable! Clearly the tourist office doesn't care much for tourists. Also, it was ironic that the map gave descriptions of the numerous villas along the way, yet almost all the villas were concealed by high walls or fences and impossible to peek into. We still had a good time--and a good laugh--though it did seem rather dangerous...
One must be patient to dial the telephone number for this 'Faive Star Villa'
These are two-way roads. We became very good at hugging the walls.
And to the right you'll see a reconstructed 15th century villa
The most rewarding part of the walk: stumbling upon a fig tree!
Looking for a suitable place to stop for our packed lunch
About 6miles into the walk, the road temporarily widened, though not enough for a sidewalk. Could have used a bit of Chianti at this point...
One must be patient to dial the telephone number for this 'Faive Star Villa'
These are two-way roads. We became very good at hugging the walls.
And to the right you'll see a reconstructed 15th century villa
The most rewarding part of the walk: stumbling upon a fig tree!
Looking for a suitable place to stop for our packed lunch
About 6miles into the walk, the road temporarily widened, though not enough for a sidewalk. Could have used a bit of Chianti at this point...
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Six hours in Siena
Yesterday we left Florence and its suburbs for the first time. Not to say Florence isn't beautiful and entertaining, but I was really looking forward to stretching our legs a little outside the city, so we chose medieval Siena as a start. We hit some minor bumps, though, but after missing the past several weekends to rainy weather, I was determined to go this time! To begin, Seth has a nasty cold to compliment his achy jaw, I have a mild version of what he has, and I soon realized I was underdressed for the chilly weather. At least it wasn't raining!
The next inconvenience was that after we boarded the late-morning bus we soon noticed that they don't let the bus sell out of tickets, so once the seats were filled in front of our eyes we were left STANDING the 1hr and 15min ride to Siena. This wasn't as bad as we thought it would be--we were able to lean a little on the occupied seats, but with about 30min left we both felt a bit ill from going up and down all the hills and making the tight turns.
Upon arriving we left the bus (thank goodness!), then followed the tourist trail to Il Campo, Siena's famous main square, from which the rest of the city spirals outward. This square is divided into nine sections representing the city's nine districts, which compete annually in their horse race, Il Palio. We got nice and chilly eating our bagged lunch here, so we hustled to the Duomo.
We bought a combo ticket that let us into the main cathedral sites, so we started with the large, black and white stripped Duomo.
Siena's Duomo (13th century, Gothic)
Pretty intense facade
I love the stripes, though they remind me of the legs of mosquitoes
The floor took 200 years and 40 artists to complete and is usually covered, but lucky for us they unveil it for a couple weeks every year. It is described by Vasari as "the most beautiful, great and magnificent pavement ever made" (1568). Unfortunately this was hard to capture with a camera so we only took a couple pictures of the marble panels.
Pisano's Pulpit (1268)
Piccolomini Library. The 550 year old frescoes have never been restored, but look as vibrant as ever!
After gawking over the cathedral, we headed to the Duomo Museum and we waited in our first tourist line since arriving in Italy--50min to walk up a swirly staircase for a panoramic view of the city. That was worth the wait! Plus, it was nice to have a seat for a little while and get re-organized before seeing the rest of the museum.
It was very bright
Though already content, we decided to make the most of our ticket and hopped into the crypt (not as impressive as you'd think) and finally the Baptistery.
Hungry, we grabbed a couple slices of pizza and strolled around the city for our final hour before boarding the 6:20pm bus home (we were planning to stay in the city for a real dinner but we think this was the last bus of the evening... ergh). This bus was much nicer, AND we got seats! The problem, however, came when the radiator blew out and the bus broke down, stranding us on the side of the highway for 30min as we waited to be picked up by a replacement bus. At least there seemed to be mostly other tourists on the bus, so everyone seemed to have a good laugh over it, despite the annoyance.
San Domenico and the Duomo resting on the next hill over
A nice night to wait by the broken-down bus on the side of the highway.
Overall, Siena was extremely picturesque, packing its steep hills with strange outcroppings of old buildings and tiny little streets and parks. It would have been nice to do lots more wandering around, but that will have to wait until next time! However, with negative impressions from 2 out of our 2 bus rides so far, I must question the reliability of Italian intercity buses for future trips...
The next inconvenience was that after we boarded the late-morning bus we soon noticed that they don't let the bus sell out of tickets, so once the seats were filled in front of our eyes we were left STANDING the 1hr and 15min ride to Siena. This wasn't as bad as we thought it would be--we were able to lean a little on the occupied seats, but with about 30min left we both felt a bit ill from going up and down all the hills and making the tight turns.
Upon arriving we left the bus (thank goodness!), then followed the tourist trail to Il Campo, Siena's famous main square, from which the rest of the city spirals outward. This square is divided into nine sections representing the city's nine districts, which compete annually in their horse race, Il Palio. We got nice and chilly eating our bagged lunch here, so we hustled to the Duomo.
Il Campo
We bought a combo ticket that let us into the main cathedral sites, so we started with the large, black and white stripped Duomo.
Siena's Duomo (13th century, Gothic)
Pretty intense facade
I love the stripes, though they remind me of the legs of mosquitoes
The floor took 200 years and 40 artists to complete and is usually covered, but lucky for us they unveil it for a couple weeks every year. It is described by Vasari as "the most beautiful, great and magnificent pavement ever made" (1568). Unfortunately this was hard to capture with a camera so we only took a couple pictures of the marble panels.
Pisano's Pulpit (1268)
Piccolomini Library. The 550 year old frescoes have never been restored, but look as vibrant as ever!
After gawking over the cathedral, we headed to the Duomo Museum and we waited in our first tourist line since arriving in Italy--50min to walk up a swirly staircase for a panoramic view of the city. That was worth the wait! Plus, it was nice to have a seat for a little while and get re-organized before seeing the rest of the museum.
It was very bright
Though already content, we decided to make the most of our ticket and hopped into the crypt (not as impressive as you'd think) and finally the Baptistery.
The Baptistery, also in stripes!
There was an Oktoberfest behind these thick stone walls!
San Domenico and the Duomo resting on the next hill over
A nice night to wait by the broken-down bus on the side of the highway.
Overall, Siena was extremely picturesque, packing its steep hills with strange outcroppings of old buildings and tiny little streets and parks. It would have been nice to do lots more wandering around, but that will have to wait until next time! However, with negative impressions from 2 out of our 2 bus rides so far, I must question the reliability of Italian intercity buses for future trips...
Friday, October 1, 2010
Happy Anniversary!
I just wanted to mention happy anniversary to Lorenzo! We brought him home one year ago! During his time with us he has become highly cultured (his name is Lorenzo... de' Medici...), well traveled (going to New York, North Carolina, Italy, etc), and very fit (the only time he stops running around like a crazy person is when he is eating banana). We are so proud of him!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Final additions
We acquired our last major addition to the apartment this morning: weights! Luckily there is a store in town that offers free shipping, so they arrived at our doorstep. I'd hate to have to carry all those metal plates across town! Since I haven't been doing much yoga lately (instead, I have managed to run every morning since arriving, though a shorter distance than what I did on Prospect Hill), I am going to start lifting weights a few times a week, too. No more flabby arms :P
I filled in the other important apartment items two weeks ago at Ikea--a dish rack and a shower curtain, which I had not seen ANYWHERE else. Figures I had to go to an 'international' store in order to keep water from flooding out the bathroom!
In addition to keeping water IN the bathtub, the curtain also helps to trap the heat from the water. The past couple weeks have really cooled off to the point where we get the chills really bad, especially after showering. The temperatures have been similar to that of Waltham--I think it was in the mid-40s last night. We could see our breath this morning! I hope this is below average, because if temps continue sinking we will be in bad shape this winter. At least we have a nice big down comforter to wrap up in :o)
You would think that with cool weather the mosquitoes would have subsided. However, they seem to be totally oblivious that it is nearly October and no longer hot outside. We kill several in the apartment every day, and even though we use a mosquito net over the bed they continue to attack. Two nights ago I woke up to buzzing in my ear--the mosquito net was touching my face and the stupid thing bit me in the middle of my cheek! The last thing I wish we could get is screens for the windows, but since Ikea didn't have them this seems doubtful. Ergh...
A bit off topic, but poor Seth has still been having problems with one of his post-wisdom tooth holes. He had them pulled about a month before we left, but now, two and a half months later, he is still having issues with one of the extraction sites. In fact, to our shock, a couple weeks ago he pulled out a fragment of tooth that was left after the operation!! So disgusting!! However, we did get close-up photos of it and he is saving it in a special espresso cup that sits on top of the fridge. He calls it his relic. I have yet to break the news to him that he isn't a dead saint, but I don't want to make this process more painful for him than it needs to be (supposedly when fragments are left behind they can cause pain for months). Poor guy :o(
I filled in the other important apartment items two weeks ago at Ikea--a dish rack and a shower curtain, which I had not seen ANYWHERE else. Figures I had to go to an 'international' store in order to keep water from flooding out the bathroom!
In addition to keeping water IN the bathtub, the curtain also helps to trap the heat from the water. The past couple weeks have really cooled off to the point where we get the chills really bad, especially after showering. The temperatures have been similar to that of Waltham--I think it was in the mid-40s last night. We could see our breath this morning! I hope this is below average, because if temps continue sinking we will be in bad shape this winter. At least we have a nice big down comforter to wrap up in :o)
You would think that with cool weather the mosquitoes would have subsided. However, they seem to be totally oblivious that it is nearly October and no longer hot outside. We kill several in the apartment every day, and even though we use a mosquito net over the bed they continue to attack. Two nights ago I woke up to buzzing in my ear--the mosquito net was touching my face and the stupid thing bit me in the middle of my cheek! The last thing I wish we could get is screens for the windows, but since Ikea didn't have them this seems doubtful. Ergh...
A bit off topic, but poor Seth has still been having problems with one of his post-wisdom tooth holes. He had them pulled about a month before we left, but now, two and a half months later, he is still having issues with one of the extraction sites. In fact, to our shock, a couple weeks ago he pulled out a fragment of tooth that was left after the operation!! So disgusting!! However, we did get close-up photos of it and he is saving it in a special espresso cup that sits on top of the fridge. He calls it his relic. I have yet to break the news to him that he isn't a dead saint, but I don't want to make this process more painful for him than it needs to be (supposedly when fragments are left behind they can cause pain for months). Poor guy :o(
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)