Arrivederci Firenze

On the road again – or rails, anyway. Again, I’m starting this in the middle of the day while on the train that demarcates our stay in Florence from our next destination.

After our full day outing yesterday, plus extra sightseeing that included far more exercise than we want to expend these days, we had an early night and slept like logs. It was another early start, but Stephen was up before the alarm, which was lucky because although I noticed my phone buzzing after I woke up, the alarm was virtually inaudible.

Outside Museo Vecchio

And the early start was our own choice; there was nothing more riding on it than mere convenience. We wanted to get into town early to avoid long lines at the museum we intended to visit on our final morning. The Museo Vecchio had had an interesting write-up somewhere, and we had seen where it was, so it was easy to get to. That was our first destination, and then we’d play it by ear, depending on time, until 12. The tram into town at 8.30 was fairly crowded but the very back carriage had seats available, so that was good. Then we just wanted to use the same tickets to go two more stops on a bus line (they have these tiny little cute wee buses for the inner city: the size of a mini-van but with bus seating inside) to save us the one-kilometre walk to the museum. But it took a while to figure out exactly where the bus stop was, and then after waiting a while for no bus I realized I’d lost my ticket – it must have come out of my pocket when I pulled out my phone a while before – so rather than muck about trying to buy another ticket when the bus was late anyway, we figured that we were fated to walk today.

Meeting Hall, Museo Vecchio

 

We arrived at the Museo Vecchio, and again there were crowds milling about (because it’s next to the Uffizi, and has a copy of the David outside, because that was David’s original location) but we couldn’t see a line. How are you supposed to find the entrance when there is no line? So we tentatively went through the door, and followed the route, and found a ticket counter, and there was never a line! But maybe that was because other people knew that this was pretty dull even for a museum, and certainly not worth 10 Euros entry. We know that now, of course, but we didn’t know it then.  The museum was of the municipal government rooms: the mayor still has his office in the building, although that is not open to the public, and the main hall is still used for major ceremonial events.  But other rooms, although having ceilings that were sumptuously decorated by order of, and to honour, various popes and other Medicis, were mostly empty and not exciting at all.

So we walked through the rooms, then left and went for a coffee.

Armillary sphere

We now had time for one of the other “small” visits that we had been intending, or hoping, to do since we arrived in Florence. This was the Galileo Museum, a collection of historical scientific instruments and including some of Galileo’s own fingers. This was finally fascinating, and I would have liked a little more time there. Also, I liked that instead of an audio-guide, they gave you free wi-fi and suggested you download their free app, which had audio explanations about many of the main exhibits, as well as some animations to explain how they worked.

Some of Galileo's fingers

We planned to leave the city centre at 12 and go back to the flat, getting lunch on the way, and get a taxi back to the station at 1, for our train which was to leave at 13.54. We left the museum a little early to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the bus-stop and buy a ticket (often there is no ticket machine, so you have to find a shop nearby that sells tickets. You can’t buy them on the bus) and during that time we didn’t see a bus go past. We were at the bus-stop until 12.20, by which time two buses should have gone past, but we hadn’t yet seen one. So we gave up and went to the taxi rank nearby. Even if a bus had come by at that stage, we would only be home in time to leave, and wouldn’t be able to have lunch. The taxi dropped us near the flat, at some shops where we could buy some slices of pizza and some other bread-based snacks, which we took back to the flat to eat. We had about 20 minutes for lunch, a final wipe-down and check of the flat, to call a taxi (the AirBnB hosts had declined to do that for us) and get out to the street to await the taxi.

We’re now more than half-way through the trip, so it’s fair that our luggage has increased in number, by one. The last train trip we did, it was really difficult to lift our bags (especially mine) up onto the overhead luggage racks, and I realized that I have bought a few books and some slightly heavy souvenirs, so for this trip I decided to split it a little. We both brought extra bags inside our suitcases, so the count now for each embarkation (and disembarkation) is six: a handbag, two backpacks, two suitcases, and an overnight bag. It’s still not too much to cope with.

 …

 It’s so nice to come in in the evening and have the blog half-written! So, where are we now? Welcome to Verona, a lovely small city with plenty of greenery through the modern outer area. Our B & B is right on the edge of the Historic Centre. Why are we here? I’m not particularly interested in Shakespeare, and Romeo and Juliet is a bit too much of a cliché for me, even though it’s the play I know best, thanks to the Zeferelli version that I saw when I was in high school. (It’s the only time I’ve ever picked up on Shakespearean jokes.) I could pretend to be here for “Two Gentlemen of Verona” but I have no idea about that one. And I didn’t even know that Verona is famous for its opera festivals, or that it had a fully functioning Roman amphitheatre (hence the staging of operas, especially Aida.) We are here because we didn’t want to stay in Venice. We’ll take a day trip, and looking at the map and at guidebooks etc, Verona seemed a pleasant place to base ourselves instead of Venice. That's why we're here, and first impressions bear this out.

Our room at B&B Filarmonico

We got in at about 3.30, in order to give ourselves a bit of time to see the town, and the B & B isn’t far from the station, so we were in our room at around 4. A bit of a relax to settle down, and, oh bugger, wake up, it’s 6 o’clock. But it was still light and warm outside (we’ve been so lucky with the weather! Nothing worse than overcast, and that only for a short time in the mornings) so we went out to see exactly what it means to be “on the edge” of the Storico Centro. 

Verona Arena

It means about half a block away. We turned the corner, and almost immediately went through some old stone gates, and were in a huge piazza with the amphitheatre on the far side. It’s smaller than the Coliseum, sure, but in much better nick. Since there were people at the ticket office, it seemed as though it was still open, so we went in, just a few minutes before the admission closed for the day, (and it was 25% cheaper too.) There were some information panels on the walls that we read, then we went up the steps into the Arena itself. Fewer stairs than in Rome, and not as steep, but emerging to the inside, we saw an actual working theatre. There is permanent

Arena stage

seating on the flat in the middle, steel steps and seating to halfway up, then the original stone seating thereafter. There are sound and lighting gantries at intervals around the top, and a big stage. We watched for about 20 minutes, but we still don’t know if the crew were setting up the stage or breaking it down. There were things going up and down ropes, there were boxes being brought in and taken away, but was it the beginning or the end of a production? No idea.

It was a lovely site. The stone was pink and white, in different shades. Through the centuries, since it was built in the 1^st century AD, a few decades before the Coliseum, some of its stone had been pilfered, officially and unofficially, and there are now just four pillars left of the entire outer ring. From the inside, we thought the arched were built on top of the seating wall, but no, the whole perimeter has been taken – to reinforce city walls, for houses, and it looks like some of the paving of the Storico Centro might have come from there too.

A piazza

From there we started walking through the pedestrian area. Very upmarket, lots of designer names again. We both felt like a plate of something hot for dinner: not panini, not pizza; and we soon found a nice place with some pasts dishes that weren’t too expensive. After dinner we kept walking, to see how far it might be to “Juliet’s house.” This was a house designated as such by the city fathers in the 1930’s, who then built an appropriate balcony. On the map, there is also a “Romeo’s House,” a street or two away around the block, no doubt with a similarly trumped-up history. The city is playing up to the renown of the play, pushing the romantic angle for all its worth. There is no mention of the other two gentlemen.

Having found the house – sealed up from the street by a gate, and with lovers’ graffiti all over walls along the street – we started back, having some dessert along the way. We’ve seen some very elegant piazzas, lots of pretty streets, many houses with balconies and window boxes, and relatively smooth cobble stones and paving stones. Verona: what’s not to like?