ALERT!!...ALERT!!... The numerous highly reputable vendors whom just moments ago had their,"finest quality in the world", "Louis Vuitton" and "Gucci" products proudly displayed on the sidewalks along the Tiber have now, for some unknown reason, all gathered up their stock of "luxury" products in a tarp and are all running helter-skelter down the street... It appears that the notorious Guardia Finanzia (Financial Police) are making a bust on these decent and law abiding handbag knock off vendors... This ill-executed raid has apparently netted only one tarp of goods, as I think the Guardia may have given away their intentions by commencing this daring daylight raid using a single auto with blue flashing lights and "Guardia Finanzia" emblazoned on the side while having to sit in a traffic jam as they approached the vendors....

After a rest this afternoon (I am still not recovered from my cold), we went in search of dinner and headed toward the Pantheon area in the ancient center. We had decided on a Chinese restaurant that we ate at when we were last here - we found it and it was closed, although from the hours posted, it should have been open. Then, it finally dawned on us (Markus, actually) that the time had changed yesterday and we were still operating on old time. We filled in the time until the restaurant opened by strolling one last time through the Pantheon and walking through the cobble stone streets around the area. We finished our day with a walk down the Imperial Way to the Forum, which is simply magical at night.

November 1, 2005
A travel day once again, but not before a last glimpse of the Flavian Ampitheater (the Colosseum) on the way out of the city. Our parting thought was that if all roads lead to Roma, then where do all of the roads out of Roma lead? Bet you never thought about that!

We covered about 310 kilometers between the airport in Rome (where we picked up a rental car) and Florence. The journey should have taken just about three hours, but ultimately took over four because of traffic delays. We also had quite a bit of difficulty finding our hotel. We found the general area and Markus went into a nearby hotel to ask for directions. Our navigational skills weren't too bad as we were just 2 blocks away!

We settled into our room - which is very nice (once again tripadvisor.com comes through) and we have to note that this is the first room we have ever stayed in that offers a pillow menu - and went down to the bar for a refreshment. There was another American couple at the bar and they asked the bartender for a restaurant recommendation. He said that many stores, cafes, etc. were closed today for the holiday (All Saint's Day, I think) and then it hit us - the holiday weekend was the reason that Rome was so busy and also the motorway on our drive to Florence. However, the bartender was able to recommend a pizzeria just about 5 minutes walk from the hotel. We took his suggestion and it turned out to be a good one - the pizzas were excellent. Buon Appetito!

November 2, 2005
After breakfast in the hotel this morning and properly armed with our Rick Steve's Guidebook and a map, we went out to explore the sights of Firenze. Our first stop was the Galleria dell' Accademia to see Michelangelo's David as well as several other sculptures. The 14-foot David, of course is the ultimate masterpiece. And, I must say, he is truly magnificent. Sadly, no photography is permitted in the museum, so we had to be content with photos of a replica in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (more about that later).

Next up on the tour was the Duomo, Florence's Cathedral. It is simply huge - initially built in the Middle Ages and remaining unfinished until the 1400's when the architect Brunelleschi completed the dome. The very ornate neo-Gothic front of the church dates from the 1870's and according to our guidebook is generally ridiculed as "the cathedral in pajamas". We both thought it was a bit overdone.

There is a small octagonal building in front of the cathedral that is Florence's Baptistery. It is Florence's oldest building, dating from the 10th century. In the early 1400's, a competition was held for the commission of doors for the north side of the Baptistery. The commission was won by Lorenzo Ghiberti - he was also given another commission for a second set of doors on the east side, which he took 27 years to complete in bronze.

From the Baptistery, we strolled down the pedestrian-only Via dei Calzaiuoli to the Palazzo Vecchio. This was city hall during the era of the Medici's (the 15th and 16th centuries). The courtyard at the entrance is really quite beautifully decorated - amazing to think that all of this artwork was lavished on a civic center!

Now, back to Michelangelo's David - the statue was commissioned to go on top of the church, but the Florentines loved it so much, they put it next to the Palazzo Vecchio on the main square. It stood here from its completion in 1504 until 1873 when it was moved to a purpose built, perfectly lit tribune within the Accademia.

After pausing to appreciate the replica David a bit more, we continued our tour of Firenze at the Mercato Nuovo (new market) in San Lorenzo. It is basically a flea market, catering predominantly to tourists. We were not impressed. And, thus endeth our first day in Florence.

November 3, 2005
We started out this morning with the aim of spending the afternoon at the Uffizi. We got there and were standing in line with an estimated waiting time of 45 minutes. As we were queuing, I was reading my trusty Rick Steve's guidebook and I began to have doubts about how much we would enjoy the museum. Its not a very large museum and the collection is predominantly Italian Renaissance paintings (with a single gallery of Italian sculptures). Mark and I aren't all that enthused with Renaissance art - we have seen so much of it in other museums. Not that it isn't beautiful, but come on, how many different paintings of Madonna and Child can you look at before they all start to look just the same? Anyway, we decided to give the gallery a skip and instead strolled down to the River Arno.

We stopped to enjoy a view of Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) at the narrowest part of the river. A bridge has likely stood in this spot for millennia, but the current one dates only from 1345 - a veritable infant! It is crowded with goldsmiths' shop, which make for very interesting window-shopping as you cross over. The view up the river is also lovely - particularly today as the weather was bright and sunny and warm. The rest of the afternoon simply faded away as we walked among the back streets and alleyways of Renaissance Florence without being offered a single carpet!

November 4, 2005
Today, we covered nearly 500 kilometers between Florence and Naples. Once we were near Naples, we attempted to follow the signs to the city center - I say attempted because the signs weren't distinctive enough and weren't plentiful enough and we went in the wrong direction. We turned around and found the city center, from which we thought we could follow the directions to the hotel (the directions were downloaded from their website). But, the directions ended before we even got within sight of the hotel! So, we stopped at the Mercure Hotel and they gave us a map and drew the route to the Renaissance.

We were within a few blocks, but there is so much construction and many of the roads are closed and we took a wrong turn - this put us literally on the side of a mountain with a maze of one-way streets, barely wide enough for our little Fiat rental to pass through. It was dusk by now and we both were getting a little nervous as it wasn't the best of neighborhoods. We were particularly worried when we saw two men walking up the road toward the car - once we saw that they were carrying huge sacks full of knock-off designer hand bags, we felt a little more relaxed. These individuals are everywhere and they are much too concerned about staying safe from the Financial Police (no kidding!) to cause trouble for us. Markus had to negotiate a 5-point turn just to get around a corner onto an alley way that led out of the labyrinth.

But, we did eventually get out and got to a point where Markus left me in the double parked car and he got out to figure the way on foot. We finally pulled up in front of the hotel after 6 hours on the road. We got to our room and wanted to check our email to confirm our booking for the villa on the Amalfi Coast but the hotel had only dial-up access (we don't have a modem). Luckily, there was a Mail Boxes etc. across the street with internet access. The company that we had booked the villa with had tried to send us a fax at the hotel, which we hadn't received. I sent a quick email back and we returned to our room where the phone was ringing just as we were coming in. It was the villa company. We were able to get confirmation and directions to the villa over the phone and then we were able to rest well for the night knowing that we had somewhere to sleep tomorrow!