Vasari, Pisa, and Lucca

Monday, January 13, 2014
Well, my cold is sticking around, and it always does.   However, I did manage to go on a guided tour of that Vasari Corridor I told you about.   Here are some pictures:

This is the Piazza de la Signoria (means government), and the gentleman
on horse is Cosimo I de Medici.

Palazzo Vecchio, part of Piazza de la signoria, now a lovely museum.

Perseus, holding the head of Medusa.  No pun intended
but sorry I cut off half her head and that bad-hair-day!

Lovely, lit background of one of the bridges.   This is from inside the
Palazzo Vecchio.

These are the windows by which the Medicis, the Orsinis, the Strozzis,
and all the privileged few could "spy" on the merchants below.  However,
nobody could see them!

This is the altar of the church that the corridor runs right
through.  You can't see it, but it has a balcony so the Medicis,
et al, could attend Mass without being seen by the
"lower" class.

My Brazilian friend, Ian, who was on the tour with his partner,
another man.

I couldn't resist the incredible Italian design of these bowls.  Notice
how the spoon fits into the handle of the bowl, and then the lovely
red color of fresh strawberries!   Very unique.

And, now a few pictures of Pisa..... before the camera died on me.

This is just about it, I mean all there is to see.  In the front, the baptistery,
behind it, the Cathedral, and you guess it!  The learning tower of Pisa!
Throughout these pictures, try to picture something they have in common.....

They are beautiful buildings, very ornate, very white, and so ornate.

The Baptistry is beautiful

Here's the trio of buildings again.

I'm also leaning, to the left, like my political views.

The beautiful facade of the Cathedral

Just check out the ceiling made of wood and 24-karat gold
plating.  The upper gallery you notice is where the woman
were allowed to worship.  Notice the pillars.   There's 68 of them and
they were brought here, by boat, from Sardinia and they
were all made from ONE piece of stone.

This is inside the Cathedral, the pulpit.... it is so absolutely
beautiful.   Notice the incredible ornamentation.  Of course,
every little figure has a meaning.   For example, in one of those panels,
is the story of how the Virgin Mary had to hide the baby Jesus
from Herod... and there's a soldier holding a dead baby and the
Virgin sort of walking off with the covered baby.  I believe all
these monuments were the medieval "picture books", because
they were meant to teach the bible and history to
people who couldn't read or write because they always tell a
story or an event.

Any guesses on those three buildings?   About what they have in common?   If you look very carefully, you can probably figure it out.   If not, I'll tell you at the end.
Our guide, Andrea, who happened to be a Spaniard living in Italy, told us that the leaning tower dates to the 12th century, and that it started to lean as soon as the first architect built the first tier.   Interestingly, no one has ever been able to find out who that architect was....   He did not leave his name on any sort of documents, he never signed anything....  would YOU?   To be remembered forever and ever for that huge mistake? The second architect, brave soul, who built the rest of it tried really hard to straighten it by using bigger pillars on the other side to see if more weight would help.  He also did the top part.  His name is Verranzano... like the bridge in New York.
We walked around a little bit and then departed for Lucca, where Puccini (the composer) was born and still revered.  His house is a lovely museum with his piano, music, furniture, etc.  Then, our guide gave us all a map to go to the town center, walled town center, and find several lovely piazzas.   I particularly like a round one, where all the buildings form a perfect circle with a statue in the middle.
The walking was very pleasant and I paired up with a couple from Australia, Robert and Stefanie, who were recently married and were on their honeymoon.  We had lunch together, ravioli a la burro (with butter sauce), and after our walk we went and got a nice big cone of gelato, of course?   Mine was vanilla with Nutella, which gets sort of hard in the gelato, and it was truly delicious!   I haven't met a flavor I didn't like.
On the way to Florence, we went by a bunch of those little post-card towns perched on the sides of rolling hills and remnants of Roman aqueducts, etc.etc.etc.   I would love to rent a car and just ride around and stop at every single one of them.  But, I figure I don't need the stress of driving, nor the expense of the "petrol".  Oh, we went by a town named Collodi where the author of Pinocchio was born.   It seems that, at least in this area of Italy, every single toy is Pinocchio.  There is a whole store for Pinocchio, and I am sure there are many more that I haven't seen.  But, he's everywhere.
So, on Sunday, a lovely day, sunny and bright, I just went for a lovely walk down the Arno River, the way I always go and then went to eat sushi because it was the only place that was opened that had food!
Came back around 5:00 pm and watched a little tennis.   Then, the social hour came at 6:30.  But, do you  know what?   There were NO friendly people.  I said hello to everybody and I don't think anybody answered me!   How RUDE!  I miss my happy friends from Venezuela and from Russia.
So, on this Monday, after this, I am going to the corner "deli", or rosticceria, but much more better than our idea of deli, to buy something for lunch and then a walk.  I might as well buy something for tomorrow, if it's going to be an indoor day.   Good day to learn more about the tablet.
Tomorrow is supposed to be raining all day.   Thank God for the Australian Open and that 24/7 tennis channel they have here at the hotel.  My next move is to find a class to learn to make home-made pasta, and tiramisu (even though it's not my favorite.   There is another class that teaches you how to make gelato.... now we're talking!
I'll keep you posted!
Cecilia
P.S.   Did you guess?   Okay, okay.... Andrea says that all three buildings are leaning!   There is a river that flows underneath the ground and it made this area very unstable.... no kidding!  :)