view of the arno from our hotel balcony.
acutally our car isn't the gray car. we watched it later on the laptop and think that our car is in front of the white car that is in front of the red car that was in front of the car we thought was ours. so sorry for the misinformation:)
saturday morning i woke and took some early morning pictures from our balcony of the river arno. after a quick shower i left for chiesa called santa maria oggnisanti which sat adjacent to our hotel on the piazza oggnisanti- which the bellhop so graciously told us meant "all saints". after mass we had breakfast in the hotel ristorante. it was super delicious! alpen jogurt. miele di acacia on a croissant with buerre. smoked salmon. grapefruit. blood orange juice. cappuccino. spinaci cubes:) grilled pomodoro---mmmmm. we needed the energy for we were facing a morning climb of 463 escalas to the famous duomo of firenze. on the way to the duomo chris bought some white adidas shoes- his italian transformation was nearly complete.
we waited in line to get in under the duomo. the frescoes under the duomo were interesting- it looked like judgement or something. 
there were bodies and demons etc everywhere. i could only get very grainy pictures.
the climb up was a bit tight-and i'm glad i'm not claustraphobic. every now and again there was a little tiny window letting fresh brisk breezes in on us- the sweaty climbers. at the top i took many pictures. the terra cota tiled roofs just made the whole city shine a pink reddish color in the morning light.
i call this pic "due duomo"
the way down was harder than the way up- it always is for me. my knees were glad to reach the bottom. on the way we met a couple from san francisco. they were finishing firenze and moving on to cinque terra(chink-way terra- which means "five earths") a grouping of fishing towns on the north west coast of italy. they meant to hike the trails that link the towns together. they helped us out by pointing out the way to the academia- the museo where michelangelo's david is housed. we walked the streets window shopping for shoes- for me this time. no luck.
david was astonishing! i took a sneaky video of him. i caught myself gaping a couple of times but felt better when i caught quite a few other people gaping as well. the detail. his knowledge of the lay of the body. the proportion- juxtaposition. just masterful.
i took a few pics of nursing madonna art-
just so in love with the italian way- why can't america respect the breast? instead of lust after it?
maybe it was the puritans. maybe it's because a whole generation was denied the breast and so has some freudian disorder.
whatever it is- italians have it right.
none of the nursing madonna's featured her in the bathroom nursing or under a giant sized bib- secreted away and ashamed of the whole affair.
we left for uffizi- yet another museo. uffizi's line was SO long we decided to head back to the car- in hopes of getting to venezia. chris made a reservation last night for a hotel and we'd like to get there at a respectable hour- after hours check in isn't what italians do- at least at the small family run hotels.
we walked along the river arno towards amerigo vespucci bridge where our car was parked. on the way we stopped at amici ai lungarini focacciaria & pizzeria- for some trip food. i got a vegetable sauceless pizza- something between a foccacia and a pizza and some water. while we waited for our host to heat up our food we stood at the counter and each had a plastic cup of rosso de la casa that came out of a ceramic keg.
we took our food to-go, which is probably a cardinal sin in italy, and headed onward. sitting in the car and stuffing our faces like true american's, we mapped out our escape route. outside of firenze we sat in traffic for 30 minutes on autostrada a1 due to an accident. i saw a car with the family stickers on the back and names. a family with four kids! wow! what a gaggle of children! the most i'd seen in italy so far.
there were many tunnels and it was flat again between bologna and padova. we stopped at an autogrill- they are awesome by the way. serving local salomi and fromaggio- often within 50 miles of the place. but chris decided to get pringles. they are HOT in italy! i'm talking in more of an economic way than a tempurature guaging way. at one autogrill i got a killer caprese panini. mmmm. just deliscioso
we decided to stop in padova (edited to. add that we JUST got a ticket from budget autonoleggio italia- seems our parking job broke some law) and visit the basilica of st. anthony- which houses his grave, his tongue, his jaw, his vocal chords, his tunic- all incorrupt(except for his grave- that wouldn't make sense). i didn't take a picture of it. it was kind of under watch so i wasn't sure it was "legal". but i got this pic off google images.
he was such an eloquent speaker- hence the incorrupt items related to speech. we parked in a parking lot and had a bit of a walk to get to the shrine, but i was happy- most of it was through an outdoor market. and the kids! finally! i see kids in italy. strollers and strollers of them. this must be where italians swim upstream to spawn and raise offspring! back on the road and it was late. i'm still reading driving directions in italian at this point- i have been since leaving firenze. the only thing in english on my direction sheet was "this route includes a ferry". thanks.
it was dark by the time we reached venezia. we parked at tronchetto and after i took a picture of chris' italian duds
(sweater bought in assisi and shoes bought in venice) followed the signs for the people mover. we rode back and forth on that- with no one. i thought it strange. a saturday. in venice. hmmm.
so back on tronchetto we found a ferry. we rode on that to another ferry. at least these things had people on them! the second ferry stopped alot on the grand canal. it stopped so much i had time to play with my new free sketch app. i did an old pic of mary jane in the sink when she was a roly poly little one.
here is a map of venezia- the white bridge on the upper left is where the people mover shuttled us to and fro tronchetto and venezia. lido is the long strip of land at the bottom- where all the people who work and cater to tourists in venezia live.
the vaporetto finally ended up on an island called lido- where we found our hotel after a walk of a block or two. it was a cheap place- called hotel cristallo, reminding me of a college dorm- except ALOT cleaner. we stowed our stuff in the room and headed for a late dinner- not late at all by italian standards. chris wanted to focus on seafood as is his m.o. whenever he is anywhere near a coast. we ate at a ristorante on grand viale called roxy. i ordered some spaghetti dinner with veggies, shrimp and a creamy curry sauce. and for second course i had fish and salad. chris had seafood spaghetti and a mixed fried seafood platter. we headed down grand viale in the direction of venezia and ended up at a bar for some drinks. why don't these people EVER have karaoke?
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