Bill has posted the following videos, so you can get an idea what the choir's been up to when they're not shopping, sight-seeing or snacking:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wednesday night dinner
Here are pictures taken (mostly, Holly) during the main course at Porcospino 'the porcupine'. And as a reminder, you can click on any picture to see the larger view -
Wednesday in Florence
Today was our first full day in Florence (or as the locals refer to it, Firenze) and we enjoyed every minute. First, we are still up to our ears in beautiful weather - while it was a tiny bit windy & cool (~65) today, it was still sunny & clear. A good thing considering our outdoor plans.
We started the day at 7AM with breakfast at our new hotel - the basement space is a little bit small, but we're able to all fit in & eat together (barely!). Then a quick bus ride brought us to Firenze city centre about 9AM, for an appointment with a local tour guide to view Michelangelo's David in the Accademia Museum, followed by a walking tour. We saw the Piazza della Signoria, Piazza della Repubblica, Ponte Vecchio, and wandered around the Duomo and Uffizi Gallery. Our tour wound up in the Piazza della Repubblica, and we got the luxury of several free hours to do...what else? Shop, snack & sight-see. The weather truly is unbelievable, so sight-seeing was a popular option (some went inside the Uffizi gallery to view the beautiful renaissance & historical art & sculpture, which had a long waiting line for entry).
We met up again at the Piazza to walk over to Il Porcospino (the porcupine) trattoria where we had an excellent dinner together -- salad already waiting when we arrived, followed by Tuscan fare of ribolita (re-boiled soup) and Tuscan stew, and a dessert of Creme caramel. Yum!
Finally back at the hotel by 10 and to bed, because tomorrow is an early start. We've had a small change of plans from our original schedule, and rather than sing a mass at the Siena Duomo, we'll tour Siena and then travel to San Gimignano (a picturesque Tuscan village) for a full-on concert performance at the Collegiata. This is an amazing medieval church with amazing frescos & wonderful acoustics, and we're lucky we got to add it to our tour.
Here's some pictures from today's fun:
We started the day at 7AM with breakfast at our new hotel - the basement space is a little bit small, but we're able to all fit in & eat together (barely!). Then a quick bus ride brought us to Firenze city centre about 9AM, for an appointment with a local tour guide to view Michelangelo's David in the Accademia Museum, followed by a walking tour. We saw the Piazza della Signoria, Piazza della Repubblica, Ponte Vecchio, and wandered around the Duomo and Uffizi Gallery. Our tour wound up in the Piazza della Repubblica, and we got the luxury of several free hours to do...what else? Shop, snack & sight-see. The weather truly is unbelievable, so sight-seeing was a popular option (some went inside the Uffizi gallery to view the beautiful renaissance & historical art & sculpture, which had a long waiting line for entry).
We met up again at the Piazza to walk over to Il Porcospino (the porcupine) trattoria where we had an excellent dinner together -- salad already waiting when we arrived, followed by Tuscan fare of ribolita (re-boiled soup) and Tuscan stew, and a dessert of Creme caramel. Yum!
Finally back at the hotel by 10 and to bed, because tomorrow is an early start. We've had a small change of plans from our original schedule, and rather than sing a mass at the Siena Duomo, we'll tour Siena and then travel to San Gimignano (a picturesque Tuscan village) for a full-on concert performance at the Collegiata. This is an amazing medieval church with amazing frescos & wonderful acoustics, and we're lucky we got to add it to our tour.
Here's some pictures from today's fun:
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Tuesday night dinner in Florence
Tonight I took pictures during the pasta course, tomorrow I'll do it during the main course. Holly, did you think I wasn't reading the comments? :^)
As always you can click on any picture to enlarge it...
As always you can click on any picture to enlarge it...
Tuesday travel from Rome to Florence
Today was a relaxed day - no concerts, no tours, no rehearsals. Only lots of time spent sitting on the bus (sleeping, mostly) and visits to a couple of beautiful Tuscan towns.
The weather is still holding - beautiful & clear. We really are lucky! We left Rome at about 8AM, and arrived in Montepulciano around 11. It's a hilltop village south of Florence, and for some reason there were almost no other tourists. Not sure why, as it was a perfectly beautiful day. We explored Montepulciano for couple hours, including a lunch break, and then headed to Pienza - another beautiful Tuscan hilltop village (but much smaller than Montepulciano). Lunch having been eaten earlier, this became a search for the perfect gelato and/or espresso (I prefer combining them into the affogato, the pinnacle of coffee/ice cream technology). And shopping, always shopping. This region is known for its leather especially, and lots of items were on display.
Pienza had even more dramatic views of Tuscany than did Montepulciano, if possible. Our visit was brief, and then we walked back down the hill to our buses and headed off for Florence, which we reached around 5PM and checked into the Gabriel D'Annunzio hotel. It's very nice, not luxurious but homey & clean. Most importantly (to me, of course) the WiFi is not only working, but free. Yay! so now it's 1:30 in the morning and I can finish this blog from my room - no more sneaking out to poach a connection from the other side of a garden wall, or having to barge into a hotel office and use the desktop PC.
Of course, the first thing every kid in our group (and some adults) did upon arrival was to turn on their laptop/iPhone/iPod wireless devices and we promptly crashed the DHCP server from the request overload. Oh well. It was working fine when we got back from dinner, at least.
Speaking of dinner, I think we had the best we've ever had on a choir trip - salad, then a pasta course ("pici", a local variety of noodle that is thick and served in a noodle sauce); a delicious roast chicken, and an orange marmalade dessert. It was delicious, and we got back to the hotel around 11PM and headed for bed.
Tomorrow we tour Florence and have some free time in the afternoon; once again, no singing or rehearsal a bit of a break for the kids.
I have been collecting photos from the other chaperones so that the blog doesn't show all the same kids all the time (mine & Linda's, that is) and hope to get more faces in. Tonight we were pretty tired and got a start, but tomorrow I really hope to get lots of kids' pictures out there.
Ciao
The weather is still holding - beautiful & clear. We really are lucky! We left Rome at about 8AM, and arrived in Montepulciano around 11. It's a hilltop village south of Florence, and for some reason there were almost no other tourists. Not sure why, as it was a perfectly beautiful day. We explored Montepulciano for couple hours, including a lunch break, and then headed to Pienza - another beautiful Tuscan hilltop village (but much smaller than Montepulciano). Lunch having been eaten earlier, this became a search for the perfect gelato and/or espresso (I prefer combining them into the affogato, the pinnacle of coffee/ice cream technology). And shopping, always shopping. This region is known for its leather especially, and lots of items were on display.
Pienza had even more dramatic views of Tuscany than did Montepulciano, if possible. Our visit was brief, and then we walked back down the hill to our buses and headed off for Florence, which we reached around 5PM and checked into the Gabriel D'Annunzio hotel. It's very nice, not luxurious but homey & clean. Most importantly (to me, of course) the WiFi is not only working, but free. Yay! so now it's 1:30 in the morning and I can finish this blog from my room - no more sneaking out to poach a connection from the other side of a garden wall, or having to barge into a hotel office and use the desktop PC.
Of course, the first thing every kid in our group (and some adults) did upon arrival was to turn on their laptop/iPhone/iPod wireless devices and we promptly crashed the DHCP server from the request overload. Oh well. It was working fine when we got back from dinner, at least.
Speaking of dinner, I think we had the best we've ever had on a choir trip - salad, then a pasta course ("pici", a local variety of noodle that is thick and served in a noodle sauce); a delicious roast chicken, and an orange marmalade dessert. It was delicious, and we got back to the hotel around 11PM and headed for bed.
Tomorrow we tour Florence and have some free time in the afternoon; once again, no singing or rehearsal a bit of a break for the kids.
I have been collecting photos from the other chaperones so that the blog doesn't show all the same kids all the time (mine & Linda's, that is) and hope to get more faces in. Tonight we were pretty tired and got a start, but tomorrow I really hope to get lots of kids' pictures out there.
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| Farewell to the Princess Hotel |
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| On the road to Florence... |
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| ... and time for a nap |
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| Rest Stop |
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| Hanging out in Montepulciano |
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| This is our crew heading down the Corso in Montepulciano... |
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| ... and this ... |
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| ... and this ... |
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| ... and this ... |
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| ... and this. We make a pretty long line. |
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| As Karen said...'Somebody done poisoned the well" |
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| Tuscany, from Pienza |
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| Gabriel D'Annunzio Hotel in Florence, with our kids popping in & out of the windows |
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| The view of Florence from our dinner location tonight |
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| Dinner at 'Le Lance' |
Ciao
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