Florence Day 2 - All the Museums

After getting our bearings during our first day in Florence, it was time to hit the museum circuit.

Our first stop was the Uffizi which focuses (generally) on paintings during the Renaissance period. Now, I'm going to try and throw some art history your way as I understand it... so take this with a grain of salt, but you should know that Rick (Steves) taught me everything I know.

Basically, Florence was a very successful city in the late 1300s and a handful of events in that decade had precipitated changes towards a society of humanism (basically a "we can do it!" attitude) and artistic realism.  Large amounts of wealth in the city also led to people looking for leisure items, in particular the Medici family.  So your art went from things like this in 13th century (don't remember what it's called):

You can see that it's:  

1.  Super religious.  

2.  Not very detailed.  

3.  Has little depth (no background, foreground, etc.)

To paintings that looked like this in the 1400s (this is La Primavera by Botticelli)

This painting is supposedly an allegory to the coming of Spring.  So here things are a lot less religious and even have some mythology/sexuality thrown in (Venus is in this painting and the three women's intertwined fingers on the left had some dirty meaning according to Rick).  One of the more important parts is that the figures are anatomically accurate.  More details here if you want to hear from a pro.

In general, we liked the Uffizi.  There wasn't one piece of art that really stuck out, but our tour did a good job of demonstrating the difference in the times (the start of the Renaissance) and got us talking about what art means to society (which was continued over wine).  

We did get to look at a lot of art from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and these jokes are officially not old yet (will keep you updated).

After the Uffizi, we grabbed some lunch (pizza? probably) and went to the Galileo History of Science Museum.  I will admit, I was pumped for science museum and... a little disappointed when it became clear this was history of science museum.  Nonetheless, we saw some very cool old maps (cartography) and instrumentation tools (history of forceps was not my (anybody's?) favorite)

Our last museum for the day was the Accademia which is code for the "the place David is".  Michelangelo sculpted David in the early 1500s and at 14 feet tall, all the hype was warranted for David.  It's hard to explain why David seemed inspirational, but I think Michelangelo nailed it.

We finished our day with an upscale (for-us) dinner at Antica Trattoria da Tito.  A very worthwhile restaurant with great (loud) music in Florence.  Here's Shannon digging into the best gnocchi of our lives.

Italy- Florence- Day 1

From Bern, we headed south via train to Italy!  We even got to ride on our first high-speed train. Scott was pretty excited when the train got to 300 km/hr.  Like this excited:

We arrived in Florence in the evening. Our AirBnb place was conveniently located within walking distance of all of the major Florence sights, so the next morning, we set off to discover them. Our first stop was the Duomo, also known as the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Construction on this incredible building began in 1296.  I particularly loved the facade, which is white, green, and pinkish- very colorful compared to the mostly brown stone buildings all around it.

The dome itself (duomo) was intended in the design, but they left a giant hole in the ceiling for a while until they figured out the best way to design it.  Eventually, a man named Brunelleschi decided to take on the task.  Using the Pantheon in Rome as a model, he completed the dome in 1436.  He innovated a lot about architecture in ways that I don't completely understand.  But it was a pretty big deal and is still the largest masonry dome in the world.

The inside of this cathedral is less impressive than the exterior, but there is a beautiful mural painted on the inside of the dome. It is called The Last Judgment and was painted in the 1500s.

 
From here we took a break and did some laundry.  Yup, we've finally re-worn the clothes enough.

Later we took a "Renaissance Walk" with (our best friend) Rick Steves Audio Tour.  The Renaissance began in Florence, and it was pretty cool to see how art reflected the changes that were going on in society.  Our next stop was a church called Orsanmichele.  I liked this church, because it was quieter and seemed more like a church than a building stuffed with tour groups.  It was peaceful and beautiful.

Our walk ended on the Ponte Vecchio, a stone bridge built in the 14th century that goes over the Arno River.  It is full of gold and silver jewelry shops and beautiful views up and down the river at Florence.  During World War 2, all of the bridges in Florence were destroyed by the Nazis, but legend has it that even a nazi soldier saw the historical significance of this bridge and thus spared it.  In 2014, Scott and Shannon took a selfie on it. :)

Final notes on Switzerland

Here are a few of our final thoughts from our time in Switzerland:

[Disclaimer: These are just thoughts from 10 days in a small area of a country. We are by no means experts on Swiss culture. Since we are visiting many countries, we are hoping this will serve to help us remember our time in each country.]

--Cheese...and its Effects.  Since cheese is so integral to most Swiss food, this can cause some unwanted digestive issues.  Lactose intolerants beware of Switzerland.

--Speaking of the food, Scott and I often compared Swiss food to Midwestern food. I'm sure the Swiss would be insulted by this comparison but come on-- lots of cheese, lots of potatoes....sounds like some good down home Illinois cookin' to me.

--Cleanliness is of a high priority.  Never was I grossed out by any bathroom, which is a fairly regular occurrence in the U.S.  Notably, even their mountain-type restrooms were spotless.  I'm used to dealing with a pit toilet at a trailhead.  These mountain toilets were impeccably clean.  As cities go, Bern was probably one of the cleanest I've been to.

--Expensive.  This may be reflected in their wealth and high quality of life.

--Neutrality.  As we were going through the Bern Historical Museum, there were several references to Switzerland's notorious (and long-lasting) stand for neutrality.  One thing that we noted was how their neutrality has subsequently (sort of unintentionally) contributed to their success.  While the rest of Europe was literally picking up the pieces from various wars, they were able to carry on relatively unscathed, and perhaps even better off.  The feeling we got from the museum was that Swiss people today have mixed feelings regarding their lack of involvement, especially in WW2.

--Many advancements in science and technology have occurred here. Bern is particularly proud of the fact that Einstein developed the beginnings of his Theory of Relativity while he lived there.  Other examples:  Goldfish (yep, the crackers), fancy knives, watches, etc.  We presume their ability to innovate may also be related to their uninvolvement in foreign affairs.

--Tranportation. Incredible.  They have trams, cable cars, chairlifts, trains that go through mountains.  Anywhere you want to get, there's probably a way to get there without walking.  AND it will be on time.

--Mountain huts.  Scott and I wondered if we would miss backpacking and the "real" wilderness experience we have when we throw up a tent wherever we want.  The truth is, we really did feel like we had a true mountain experience, even when we were staying in a mountain hut.  They have managed to maintain some sort of "wilderness" despite putting buildings in incredibly remote places.

---STEEP TRAILS.  We can finally feel our calves again.

Auf wiedersehen, Schweiz!

Bern!

On Sunday, Scott and I had a whole day to explore the Swiss capital, Bern.  It is quite a beautiful city. Most of the center of Bern is located on a peninsula that juts out into a bend in the Aare River.  

Part of exploration of Bern involved going to the Bern Historical Museum.  Here, we learned the history of Bern throughout the ages.  According to local legend, the city's name is derived from the German word for bear (bar) because when people first came to settle this area, they hunted and captured a bear.  Therefore the land was deemed suitable for habitation.  The city still uses a bear as sort of a mascot, even having a live bear located in a park near the river. Today, there are no remaining wild bears in Switzerland.  Because of my bearphobia, I was pretty grateful for this while hiking.  Although, it's a little sad for nature in general.

The Old City of Bern was built during medieval times and is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  We really enjoyed walking up and down the old cobblestone streets and enjoying the architecture.

The highlight of Old Town is the Zytglogge, a clock tower that has existed since the 13th Century.  On the hour, the little men on it move and the bells mark the hour.

Overall, we had a great day learning about history in the capital of Switzerland!

Swiss Alps - Day 9 - Headed for the city

Our last day in the Swiss Alps revealed clear skies... pretty nice after an evening of fog and rain the night before.  We were headed down out of the mountains for Murren and got one last look at the Alpine Cows as we headed down

Once we reached Murren, we decided to go out with a bang and ride the tram system up to the top of the Schilthorn a nearly 10,000 foot mountain with a revolving restaurant and skydeck on top for one last view of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau.

The revolving restaurant (called Piz Gloria) is famous for being in a 1960s James Bond movie.  There was a lot of James Bond stuff all over and I took this pretty seriously.

We had a great lunch-with-a-view in the revolving restaurant and reluctantly headed back down to Murren...

And after a small army of trains, eventually made it to Bern where we've been the last day or so.  Quite a change in scenery for one day!

Swiss Alps- Day 8- Obersteinberg to Rotstock Hutte

 As we headed away from Obersteinberg, the clouds started playing games with us - giving us glimpses of blue sky and then socking us in.  The good news was that it wasn't raining, and for the most part, visibility was good.  In this picture, you can see the trail we walked, with the clouds dancing around in the valley.

This hike was another one of those cruel Alps hikes where we hiked all the way down to the river valley, only to hike all the way back up the other side.  One nuance of Swiss trails is that they have marks to follow the trails, often painted on rocks or trees are white-red-white stripes that signify the trail.  This is extremely helpful when trails get a little hard to see or if visibility is bad.  These marks, in addition to the very well-signed trail junctions, make the Swiss trails pretty easy to follow.

After seven days of hiking, our legs had maybe become a little accustomed to the steepness of the trails and we actually made it to our next hut a little early.  This was a good thing, as it started raining right when we got there!  This is Rotstockhutte, another very rustic mountain hut experience--

In case you are wondering what mountain hut accommodations look like, this is an example of the dorm style.  In some places, you can pay for your own private room (those are more like hotels)...but most of the time, this is what you get.  Absolutely one hundred times better than sleeping in a wet, cold tent.

One cool thing that happened at Rotstock, is that Scott got to witness the helicopter dropping off goods and picking up trash.  They get a food delivery once a week, and also have trash taken away once a week.  It's a pretty quick operation, the helicopter comes in, hovers with a net of food on a rope, the people detach that and attach the trash net and off he goes.  Scott even also helped them unload our week's supply of food into the cellar!

Since it was Friday night, this hut was a little more full of people than our last few had been.  We had a great time chatting over dinner with a couple from the UK, and 3 gentlemen from The Netherlands. We also got in our time of beers and mappin', which has become part of our hut life routine. :)

Swiss Alps Day 7 - Stechelberg to Obersteinberg

After our train filled rest day, we felt pretty relaxed and ready to get back to hiking.  We had moved from the Grindelwald Region into the Lauterbrunnen region and discovered this to be much wilder... less people out hiking,  narrow, rocky trails... and we had to carry our own lunch (the horror!).

The first half of our day was mostly working our way up the valley and along various rivers/streams.  It was a beautiful morning and we enjoyed the views.

We worked higher and higher and finally made our way to the alpine.  With extra time before heading to the hut we went to Oberhornsee a lake high up in the alpine.

We were a little surprised that the Lake was... well... tiny.  It turns out it used to be fed by the glaciers above but they're retreating and left the lake without a source.  We learned a bit about the glacial retreat in the Alps... a little scary.  Anyway, here's a lake that's little more than a tarn really.

Now we moved on to our hut for the night, Obersteinberg.  Great evening views capped a nice hike.

Like the hiking trails, the huts near Lauterbrunnen are a little more rustic than the Grindelwald side .  In particular, we didn't have electricity.  Fortunately, this would only lead to a romantic, candlelight dinner... maybe electricity is over-rated...