Day 65, Wednesday November 8, 2017

The train to Pisa takes about an hour and Bob is happy to relax and watch the scenery instead of concentrating on driving. We cross the Arno River walking into the old town.While trying to decide which way we needed to go I looked up and figured it out. We could just see the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa over the roof tops.It really does lean a lot! It is interesting to see how one side of the tower has sunk into the ground.On our way to get tickets we pass this very large sculpture called The Fallen Angel by Igor Mitoraj. There are windows in the tower as we climb and it is rather disorienting to see pillars at a slant.The marble steps have worn away with more than seven centuries of use.251 steps later and we are at the top of the Tower with the seven bells that chime in the morning and at noon every day.The views from the top of the tower are wonderful.  We spend quite a bit of time up here, just enjoying the views and the fact that we are sitting on top of the ‘Leaning tower of Pisa.’ I remember feeling like I was more tilted when we were here so many years ago and I just realized why. The tower was still tilted at 10 degrees off vertical then and now it is only 5 degrees. The lean was decreased by 14 inches in 2010 so that it was once more safe for the public to climb. We were here in 1981 when it had more of a tilt.
Follow the horizon line along the fence grid and you can see how much of a tilt the tower has.I am surprised that I don’t feel at all uncomfortable even standing so close to the edge of the tower!Here are the steps leading down from the top, just 251 of them!The Pisa Duomo is very impressive as well.This shadow on the pillar caught Bob’s attention…
and I once more marvel at stone pillars that have are polished smooth and shiny from countless hands over the centuries.The church walls are lined with enormous old paintings. The big image of Jesus is actually a covering for an area where restoration work is taking place. It is a replica of the real image that it covers.We always need to remember to look up, and here we are rewarded with a view of this incredible ceiling.I needed to take at least one photo of some of the tourists getting their picture taken “holding” up or “pushing over” the tower. They do look quite comical. We were way up at the railing just at the base of the narrower area where the bells are located.
There is a shop near here called Il Papiro, that sells marbled paper and hand made books. Their paper is pretty but the marbled paper my friends and I make is really just as nice. That was a bit of a surprise and made me feel pretty good.It is starting to get dark as we head back over the Arno towards the train station for our trip back to Firenze.  

We take a bus home from the train station but somehow managed to get on one going the wrong direction!  So the ride home that should have taken a half hour took almost two hours!  We are blaming our mistake on all the construction around the train station, but we really have to be more careful checking we have the correct bus direction before it is too late. Oh well, if that it the worse thing that happens on our holidays I guess I won’t complain.

Day 64, Tuesday, November 7, 2017

There is so much to see in Florence that we are only going to scratch the surface with the week that we have here. Today we visit the Firenze Duomo, the Santa Maria del Fiore. It is the fourth largest church in Italy and the outside is highly decorated. Our first view of it  is quite spectacular, rising above the narrow street.It is impossible to get a photo of the front of this church as there isn’t room to get far enough back because of other buildings. So here are two photos of the front of the Duomo… and  one of the side.We  are actually a bit underwhelmed by the interior. Many of the areas are roped off and there isn’t a lot to see other than the dome by Brunelleschi which was finished in 1463, the tiled floor and the massive pillars. The dome is quite magnificent and of course the photos don’t do it justice. We find a bench to have our lunch and watch men high up on the crane inspecting the tower.
It rained a lot last night and there are puddles on the paving stones that reflect the church.  I loved the reflections…and Bob took this one of me and the cathedral.We walk behind the Duomo and find this view.Nearby is a little purse shop flanked by these two huge statues.On our way to check out ticket information for visiting the Uffizi we come across this sculpture and capture our strange reflections, and…Bob is not impressed with this modern sculpture called Big Clay #4. Thiere is a copy of David near the Uffizi. We should  see the real one sometime in the next few days.In the Uffizi courtyard the military stand guard. There is a fairly strong military presence in the Italian cities we have visited and in light of some of the things that have happened lately I find it rather reassuring.We walk along the  Arno river and see the Ponte Vecchio and in the other direction is the hill top terrace that we remember from our first visit to Florence 40 years ago. 

We walk to the Public Library, the Biblioteca Nazionale, only to discover that we are not allowed inside!  Hopefully if we can return Saturday morning we will be allowed in. We are not having much luck visiting libraries this trip.Construction on the Santa Croce Cathedral began in 1294 and it contains the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Rossini.This is Michelangelo’s tomb.This is a beautiful cathedral. I particularly like the ceiling above the altar with its dark background. there is a set of stairs and a walkway all around the church high above us.There are so many beautiful details everywhere, including this carved door.There are many other rooms to visit besides the main cathedral, several chapels, the refectory,  a museum and a beautiful cloister. We spent at least a couple of hours here, and did see a Last Supper by Giorgio Vasari. This impressive painting was badly damaged by the flood of 1966 and was just restored and returned to the church in 2006.There is even entrance to a leather workshop from the church grounds and we watch craftsmen making purses and wallets. I liked looking at their tools and patterns.
When we finally finish our visit the sun is setting.
On our way to catch our bus home we pass this little studio with the artist at work and an older man sleeping in a chair. The link is in Italian but it is still interesting.This living wall is on the outside of a car parking lot right next to the bus stop.

Day 61, Saturday November 4, 2017

Manarola is one of the five Cinque Terre villages and it has a population of only 400. We stop here and decide where I will park myself for the afternoon while Bob goes for a hike from here to Corniglia. This is Manarola from the top of the steep 20 minute climb at the beginning of the walk.The coastal trail has been closed for five years because of a land slide that injured four tourists, so the only way to walk between these villages is by a longer route with great views. Way in the distance is Monterosso, which was the first village we visited on Tuesday.This is a view of Corniglia and the train station, along with some terraced vineyards.On the way down to Corniglia Bob had to descend these steps for 20 minutes. He was pretty tired by the time he finished and caught the train back to Manarola.I spent the 3 hours that Bob was gone sitting in a little restaurant in Manarola, drinking lots of tea, drawing in my journal and chatting with some of the other restaurant patrons. It was a very enjoyable afternoon. In the bottom of this photo you can see the ramp that is used to haul boats up to the village because…although there are no cars in the village there are lots of boats parked everywhere.This little fountain sculpture was tucked into a nook. The head is sliced into 4 with the ear on the other side of the textured rock .We catch the train to Riomaggiore. This is an interesting train station as most of it is inside a tunnel because there is no room for it anyplace else.I have no idea how anyone reaches the pots on the ledge in the middle of this photo!There is another long tunnel that goes from the train station into the village of Riomaggiore.It is larger than the other villages with a population of 1700, but it is already 5:00 pm and a lot of the shops are closed.Even though I had a relatively quiet day I still managed to log 39 flights of stairs on my Fitbit.  This is why.There are stairs everywhere!This is part of an interesting mural on a municipal building we pass. We decide not to climb up to the castle on the very top of the hill, we have both had enough stairs for today.But, of course there are several more flights of stairs down to the marina and then up again. We wait for the train home standing in the station tunnel. Here you can see the little bit of flat land between where we were standing and the entrance to the next tunnel. This is photo shows how the machine I mentioned in a previous post is used to transport crops up and down the mountainsides.  I think it would be like riding a crazy roller coaster!

Day 60, Friday November 3, 2017

Bob called me to come look out our window and this is what he wanted to show me. We thought the driver was crazy to attempt going into this narrow side street but a few minutes later he disappeared around the corner! When we went out to catch our bus we saw the truck coming the other direction. I told Bob never to complain again about driving our little rental car on street that are too narrow!

We are going to Portovenere, but we miss our stop to transfer buses. We go for a 45 minute ride to the far side of La Spezia before the bus starts its return trip to where we needed to be. We finally catch the right bus and Bob is very thankful he is not driving the narrow twisting road to Portovenere. The bus takes up both lanes on the corners, so the driver just honks to let oncoming cars know there is no room for them on the road!  Portovenere is a UNESCO world Heritage Site, as are the five villages of Cinque Terre.The old town gate opens up onto the main street with lots of little shops.We walk through town towards the stone promontory and the black and white 13th century church of San Pietro.The sunlight on the water was beautiful.This is called Byron’s Grotto because it was here that the English poet Byron swam across the Gulf of La Spezia to visit fellow poet Shelley in 1822. The grotto cave collapsed in 1930.There are lots of rugged black rocks and big waves. The waters look too dangerous for swimming.We walk up to San Pietro Church. It is easy to miss the beautiful small details when visiting these churches.These windows give a great view of the coastline. On a clear day it is possible to see the Cinque Terre villages.

On the way to the Castle high above the town we pass these stone walls. The old doorways have been filled in with stone.One of the streets we pass on our way to the castle.We climb all the way up to visit the Castle of Doria and discover that it is only open on Saturday and Sunday!
A view of the promontory and San Pietro Church from beside the castle.There is a cemetery at the base of the castle walls. Yesterday was a day in Italy when families visit cemeteries and leave flowers for the departed so there were lots of flowers on all the graves.
We climb down a very narrow staircase beside the 12th century San Lorenzo church… and find this interesting area just as the church bells start to ring the hour. I thought the huge candle holders beside the door were interesting.On our way back to the Main Street we hear lots and lots of sirens. We wonder if there has been some sort of disaster, or even if it is a tsunami warning. However when we turn the corner we see that it is a funeral procession. There are over thirty ambulances and emergency vehicles parked nearby and several hundred mourners including many paramedics. This street had a very little door at the end of it.I wonder who lives in a house with a door this small?Here are a couple of views of the ‘fortress houses’ that were built side by side to help defend the town. Too bad the sun wasn’t shining.

These narrow tunnels connect the waterfront to the Main Street behind the fortress houses.There are no cars in town but there are boats parked along the streets.
This wreck a building on the waterfront as just been purchased for €6,000,000! It is to be restored as a luxury hotel. I can’t imagine how much the will cost! The roof and many of the floors have caved in and it is in very bad shape, but how wonderful for the town the it will be restored to its former glory.We stopped to say hi to this huge dog sitting on a step…before leaving through the town gate and catching the bus home.