Me being bored on the plane. Pretty huh? More boredom pictures here, some are not so good. I was playing with ISO and other fun settings because I was bored.
Clearly I’ve been remiss yet again. But I should do slightly better from here on out as I am back in Mafia land for the foreseeable future. I left NoVA (Northern Virginia for those of you not in the know) last Tuesday night and got into Naples on Wednesday. I went to sleep obscenely early on Wednesday night (like 1900 early. No joke.) and slept like the dead for the next 18 hours. That happens when you don’t sleep for almost 2 days because you can’t sleep on the plane. I sat next to a lovely German lady who was afraid of flying. So every time the plane dipped, banked, did anything abnormal, she freaked out and I had to spend 10-15 minutes at a time assuring her that it was okay. And when the captain turned the lights out so people could sleep? Goodness. You’d have thought it was time for Armageddon. Yes it’s perfectly normal that there are no lights on during a night flight and no you are not going to die and yes I am pretty sure it’s fine. Do I look worried? I didn’t think so. Please relax.
What? I can’t even eat my snacks because you don’t know if you’re allergic to them? Awesome. More wine please!
Friday we drove up to the lovely and scenic town of Montecatini, in Tuscany. Let me just say now that if Naples were ANYTHING like Tuscany, I would be content to live here for the rest of my life. It was absolutely STUNNING. You know those mental images that “Italy” conjures up for you? The rolling hills, vineyards, mountains in the distance? That’s Tuscany. I’d even go so far as to call it the REAL Italy. I am sure they have their own host of problems and quite likely have their own wing of the Camorra up there but hey, what place is perfect?
So we got there late Friday night after driving through the scenic country side and got to the B&B in Montecatini Terme, Villa Maria, where we met our landlord and were shown to the room Since we got there around 2100, we were just in time for dinner! (Ugh. I despise that they eat so freaking late here.) We drove up to Montecatini Alto and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant where Goose decided to go out on a limb and try some wild boar. I went for the plain old Prociutto e melone and then a veal cutlet. Yum! Then, back to the hotel and crashed. Where we promptly discovered that the bed was HORRIBLE. I mean awful. I’m pretty sure the stone floor would have been more comfortable because at least it was flat. Oh well, can’t complain too much since our stay was on our landlord. Free lodging = win.
Saturday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, and took the train to Firenze. An hour later and we were there.
And there’s the basilica peeking through! Goose was very impressed and even overwhelmed by it all. Me, not so much. But I do tend to take it all for granted – this is not the first cathedral or historic city I’ve been to. The only other cathedral he’s been to is the Strasbourg, France one. Which, while absolutely stunning in it’s own way with the mind blowing astrological clock, is nothing compared to the Duomo. I’ve been to Rome, Pisa, Istanbul, Paris, etc. so I’ve seen more than my fair share of old churches and cathedrals. This is his second. And quite an impressive second one it is. Instead of taking up huge amounts of space with pictures here, I’ve put the rest up here for viewing pleasure.
After walking around the piazza and touring the cathedral, we then got in line (an actual line! Not a free for all! NOVELTY!) and climbed the stairs to the top of the cupola. HOLY SMOKES! 460-some odd steps later for this view:
Simply amazing. Painful but amazing. Once around the top to see the 360 degree panorama and then we had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. There’s only one ladder well that serves as both up and down to the cupola. And people kept coming up without letting some of us go DOWN. We were getting close to max capacity on the top of the dome and Goose was impatiently muttering, “Just yell DOWN LADDER and go down! They’ll make room for you because the’ll have to!” Apparently boat etiquette is universally known. Or so he likes to think. 
The worst part about climbing all those stairs? You have to go back DOWN all those stairs which can be worse than climbing sometimes. But it was oh so very worth it. Speaking of worth it, lunch in the piazza? So NOT worth it. But that’s okay, I got a delicious bellini and hey, we’re tourists and you gotta do the touristy thing at least once, right?
We decided to wander around, walked through a couple of other piazzas and ended up at the Piazza Della Signorina. Where we saw The David. Goose was slightly confused and was insisting that there was NO WAY that was THE David because it was just…there. And people were walking by without a second glance sometimes so clearly, not the right statue. He finally came around and was suitably awed by the sculpture.
Then we headed into The Palazzo where there was some more awe inspiring work. Including this bizarre work of art by artist Damien Hirst. It was dazzling but not quite my style. There are lots of pictures at the Palazzo in that photobucket link. Again, not going to link them all because we’d all be here all day so there they are. Sadly, we didn’t get a chance to get to the Uffizi so that is something we will have to go back to do. Darn.
Sunday we took it easy and headed back up to Montecatini Alto for lunch at one of the little trattorias in the main square and then decided we were tired and ready for a good night’s sleep and decided to check out a day early. The bed was THAT uncomfortable. So we packed up the car and started the gorgeous drive home. And Monday, we got to pick up this guy, who was VERY happy to be home.
(Excuse the dog toys. He was very excited to find his toy box had “new” toys in it and it was full. They are now all over the place.)
There. An update, and a fairly long one at that! Now I can go to zumba and prepare for the Game Night without worry! 
