I want to go back there!

I have been writing for a while about Florence. This was one of the best holidays I have had, most educating at least. I already wrote about living in a palazzo, about Santo Spirito, about Florentine men and values of Florentines (each time I write the word an image of biscuits comes to mind).

I will make Florentines on my return to Sydney

I have been impressed by so many things about Florence and now thinking, reading and learning about the place and its treasures I just realised that I need to go back there. I had been like many tourists unaware of what actually one can see there, even if I knew about Uffizi, The Doumo and Academia.  About Giotto, Fillippo Lippi, Donatello and Michael Angelo. Even about Brunelleschi.  I knew  that Florence is the place for Renaissance art. I heard that 3-4 days is enough to see the place. I, myself thought that two weeks will be plenty. And it was in some ways. It was enough to get the taste of the place. To get confused, enchanted, spellbound and fall in love with the place.

I have been a fan of galleries for many, many years but I thought that Italian Renaissance was not my cup of tea. I love Impressionists and Dutch XVII century paintings with Vermeer my absolute favourite. I was not all that keen on religious scenes of earlier paintings and I would say Florence is mostly about that. At the same time I wanted to see it, not expecting that I will develop a deeper interest. I was wrong. Coming back to my Polish home, impressed by what I had seen, I started to read books about Italian art and Florence in particular. And I realised that would so much like to go back there and see it all again.

Andrea della Robbia - ceramic sculpture in Santa Croce

Many things made an unexpectedly big impression on me and some I expected to take my breath away did not do it. So, what was the biggest joy for me to see? Very difficult to think of only one. San Lorenzo, Santa Croce, Boboli Gardens, Brancacci Chapel, Niobe room in the Uffizi (number 42) with marble sculptures of  scared Niobe’s children being chased to their death, Della Robbia pottery sculptures among others.

Brancacci Chapel 

I know that the seventeen sculptures in the room 42 are not the most notable pieces in the gallery but the atmosphere in the room made me shiver with fright as if I was myself chased by jealous gods. The Venus and Primavera of Botticelli  made me merely think – pretty. Everybody is, of course entitled to their own impressions and they are a function of the mood we are in. I also think that inflated expectations may be a cause of some disappointment. On reflection, I think that the most important thing for me is what is actually happening in the room. Making my way through pushy crowds makes it very difficult for me to appreciate art. Typically the rooms with the most famous pieces of art are very crowded and this is not the best environment for art appreciation. This strongly coloured my perception. By the way, the room 42 was, perhaps understandably, not full of people so I could take in the mood of the sculptures.

This only small example of sculptures form room 42

                 

I know that one of the things I want to put on my bucket list is another visit to Florence. Maybe another two weeks? This time I will know exactly what I want to see.  I already have a list which will grow no doubt. 

They have time

I am still reminiscing Florence, I have experienced and observed so much that the town and the way of its people influenced me.

I have bee traveling with my young niece, Martyna, who has friends living in Florence. One of the first days of our holidays the young women were talking about Florentine men. It happened to be a fashion week in Florence and we were passing many very well and interestingly dressed people. What surprised me was that men caught my eye the same way as women. I appreciate beauty and I notice good looking people when I see them. For some reason men rarely catch my attention when in Australia or in Poland. Women do. Not so in Florence. I wondered what the reason was and then I realized that in Florence more men take care of themselves in similar way women do. They must spend some time in front of the mirror to achieve this nonchalant look which is appealing. I was told by my young fashion guides that a Florentine man who wants to be noticed, and many of them do, take care of their weight, skin, outfit and hair. He is dressed according to a new fashion, the colours are bright and he typically wears a scarf. On hot summer days as well. At times he wants to make an impression of a totally relaxed and seemingly not caring how he looks and in such cases his beard is very well shaped or his two day stub is carefully modeled. He looks at you as if saying – this is how I am, I do not care really. But he cares and a lot. I was told that when you talk to such a men, the depth of conversation is not impressive. Still they look very ornamental.

                                                   

One day we were in Santo Spirito for a drink, we were served and ready to move away to sit down with our wine on steps in front of the Brunelleschi’s church. I wanted to pay and stretched my hand with a note but the man who already served us the drinks was so engaged in conversation that he did not care about accepting the money. It took a while. Paula, the girl who lives in Florence, said “They have time”. She took the note from my hand, made an impatient gesture in front of the waiter’s nose and the financial transaction was completed with a smile and without further delay.  

On steps of Santa Spirito (not in a gutter!) having the wine I had problems paying for

Few days later when I was sitting in a restaurant wanting to make my order, the waiters hearing music played in the neighbourhood started to dance ignoring their customer. My first reaction was impatience, but then I thought “they have time”. It was pleasant to look at happy dancing people so  I turned my attention to the performance in front of me. It was fun. A couple of minutes later smiling, happy waitress came up to take my order in the most polite and courteous way. It perhaps never occurred to her that the order of a client may be more important than a moment of joy.

When I was telling the story to my coaching friend with whom I practice centering she said: “You know, they really live in the moment, they are present to joy of life”. And then I though: Hmm… this is something to think about. And maybe learn?

Reminiscing Florence - Santo Spirito

I did  lot of sightseeing in Florence. One does, of course. This, in fact, was the whole purpose of going there but when I think about my Florentine holiday I think about other things as well if not most of all. Like food, or our evening walks to Santo Spirito.

Our spunky hostess, the lucky owner of the apartment in the palazzo, suggested that the best, the most original food in Florence is at Santo Spirito Piazza. We were told that this is a fun place, the food is good, not too expensive and not that touristy. So, after the first evening meal which we had on the “better” side of Arno we decided to see what one finds on the other side of the river – in the quarter of Florence called Oltrarno. Oltrarno means beyond the Arno. It is the part of the town we could see from our window. It wasn’t really all that far from our place, walking there we passed many interesting, if not historically or artistically important, places. Like this one. 

This was just a garden behind a beautiful ornate gate. To me it looked romantic and a bit mysterious. I imagined stories about life behind the gate, in the beautiful garden. They must have been romantic. This was a busy street but behind the gate I imagined secrets, romance and mysteries.

Santo Spirito is a church, another master piece of Brunelleschi, the big square in front of the church  is called the same name. Around the square there are restaurants with tables outside which are typically booked out after 7:00 pm but one can always find a table inside which is obviously not the best when the weather is hot. Still OK, as we discovered. There are something like 7 or 8 restaurants around the square. We have not visited all of them but we made a good progress. I think it was one or two restaurants left unattended. The menu in them was not to our liking.

Each meal started with while bread and olive oil or black olives tapenade. The olive oil typically was so fragrant, tasting wonderful that all intentions of not overeating were very difficult to live up to. But this post is not about Italian food it is about Santo Spirito.

A lot happens there. One late evening, when we left the restaurant and were on our way home, suddenly loud, rock music started. One could hear it from each far corner of the square. Couples were coming out to the centre of what became suddenly a dance floor. We stopped, transfixed, watching unexpected performance. An this was dancing of a very high rock and roll level. Those people could earn money for their show. I have no idea who the people were, they were most likely locals but I spotted an older couple who I decided must be American. The gentleman looked to me like Hemingway in his later years. We heard them speak and it was obvious that they were indeed an American couple. They also must have liked the place as we were dining at the same restaurant with them the next evening. 

The American couple is dancing in the background

We never stayed long enough to find out when the parties finish at Santo Spirito, but I suspect that it is very late. From a friend of my niece, Paula, who lives in Florence, we heard that weekend parties finish in the morning. Through open window, I heard happy people returning home at 5 – 6 in the morning. Florence is a place for having fun and live a relaxed life.

If you ever go to Florence, please make your way to Santo Spirito in an evening. They have super gelato there as well. I am not sure if I will not remember this place more fondly and longer than Uffizi with its treasures. 

I lived in a palazzo !

It has been a while since I posted. I was in Florence. Actually I planned to write something from there but the events and Renaissance art took over. It was all fantastic. Florence, its art, architecture, food, great company and the place we stayed at. Wow!

One evening  a friend of my niece who I was travelling with, came to visit  us. She lives in Florence and she was amazed that any tourist can live as a place we stayed at. Apparently it was a district for rich people. Rich people do not rent rooms to tourists. But we were lucky and out hostess did. Not only that she did but she is down to earth, great, helpful person, full of energy and fun who even seems to like her guests.  Not some stuck up, unfriendly lady.  I like her very much.

I found the place on AirB&B and the pictures of the place looked promising. The reality delivered all that the pictures promised and more.

                                              

There were old portraits, antique furniture, marble floors, spacious room and the view! I was looking forward to see Brunelleschi copula of the Duomo, I had read about it and I thought that it was going to be the biggest attraction of Florence for me. I looked through the window, the view was wonderful and there was a church with an attractive copula. Would it be IT? It did not seem to be in a right place though, and I was confused. Will I be able to wake up each morning, open my window, look at the church and shout – Thank you Brunelleschi! I read a story that one the citizens of Florence who had a view on the famous Duomo church followed her morning ritual of opening her window and shouting “Thank you Brunelleschi!” every day. I thought that if this was the right church I would not have a choice but to disturb everybody around by loudly expressing my gratitude for the creator of the famous dome. To keep the tradition.

To my disappointment but lucky for my niece and other people living in the apartment, it turned out to be San Frediano in Cestello. Not a Brunelleschi’s master piece but still very beautiful to look at. I felt impressed and grateful for my lesser experience of beauty but beauty nevertheless. 

This is the view from our window

My Florence adventure started very nicely. I might write more about it especially that without planning I seem to write about my sightseeing impressions. Somebody said that it would make a tourist guide. Hmm... This is not my intention but I have been lucky lately to explore beautiful European sites and they were the strongest impressions and observation I have made lately. So I write about it.

The last day of my stay in Florence our hostess booked a taxi for me and she said “a taxi will come at 11 sharp and it will wait for you in front of the palazzo”.  It was all official then, it was a palazzo I lived two weeks in. Lucky me.

And this what our palazzo looks like. We did not stay on the real palatial floor, I must confess

Thank you Poland!

This is how the president  Obama closed his speech  he gave in Warsaw the last week. It was in front of the Royal Castle on the 25^th anniversary of Poland’s Freedom Day. It was a very special speech for many Poles and it includes me. The celebrations were broadcasted almost the whole day. I watched and listen and wondered if I heard Obama right. I never expected so many positive words being addressed to Poland and her people. Suddenly the nation bacame better than sliced bread. Not that I think it was not deserved. I always thought that Solidarity had not got enough credit for demise of communism in Europe.  I think what Obama said was sincere even if political in its nature. But what else could have been coming from a politician. The speech was really well written with deep understanding of Polish psyche and history. Every word of Obama resonated with sensitivity of Poles. Mine as well. Poles are sentimental and emotional (among other more practical characteristics). The speech pleased those sentiments. Watching the event and seeing President Komorowski visibly moved and teary I thought about my father who was a very strong and practical man but he would most likely cry a bit if he could here Obama. Tears were definitely in the Polish president eyes even if discrete. It was even more evident in the case of the president’s wife.

                           

                                  

                             

Back to the speech. It started here! Obama said. Yes, I always thought that abolishing of Communism started in Poland, specifically in my newly adopted home town, Gdansk. But the Berlin Wall is better known and became a symbol of the new political beginning. Now, Obama gave Poland credit. It may not be long remembered by the world, but for me it was important to hear such words from the American president. There was an event in Polish history called Miracle at the Vistula. It was when Poland defeated the Red Army at the Battle of Warsaw, an event that have halted the advance of the Communism into Europe and forced Lenin to revise his expansive plans. Obama referred to it and called the events of 25 years back another Miracle at the Vistula. Vistula is the main Polish river running from very south of Poland to Gdansk at the north.

Obama’s command of Polish accent was impressive. You would not say about Polish the same as someone unjustly said about Danish - is not a language it’s a throat disease. But you cannot accuse Polish to have easy pronunciation. Mr Obama said many Polish words in his speech with impressive correctness.

It was a very emotional and happy day for many Poles not only because of the speech but...

Thank you President Obama!

Day 3 of sightseeing in the Tricity - Sopot

My Aussie friend and I had two days of sightseeing in Gdansk. One concentrating on the Hanseatic past of Poland and the other learning the modern history of Poland with Gdansk as focal point of the political changes. To create a more complete picture of Poland and what she is all about we still were missing many points. I was aware that I will not be able to show my friend all I consider important, good, interesting and characteristic to complete the picture. I had to put aside Polish literature, music, art, nature, our complicated history over the centuries. There was no time for that and we would have to explore as well other towns than the Tricity.

Sopot and Gdynia are the remaining two towns forming the Tricity. I had to chose one of the two as my friend had to continue her European trip further and leave Poland the next day. My choice was Sopot.

Lately I came across a comparison Sopot – Polish Monte Carlo. Hmm... I think that comparisons like Stockholm - Paris of the North or similar make it rather difficult for the pretenders to a higher standard. They simply do not measure up! The same is with Sopot but I thought that this comparison may help in understanding the flavour  of the place. Of course this is not Monte Carlo but it is an elegant town, with elegant society people walking down the main street and promenade – Monte Casino which is affectionately called Monty (in polish Monciak). And it has a casino situated next to  the sea shore like in Monte Carlo. So much for similarities.

the Monty

Crooked House

The town is ranked as #1 town in Poland with population only 38,000. During the holiday season, July – August, the population significantly increases. This is Polish  ultimate place for summer holidays. Walking down the Monty one sees VIPs passing by, beautiful people and aspiring personalities of the future. Quite fun. It has always been that way, even in the communistic times. Not that I ever saw the Polish Prime Minister walking down Monty even if he lives in Sopot so I hope I might one day. He may remember Palme's demise. 

While Sopot's architecture today is a mixture of  modern and 19^th century buildings it was mentioned in historical documents as a village in the 13^th century. From the 16^th century it started to operate as a spa. So much for history of Sopot today.

We started our Sopot walk from the top of the Monty passing the Crooked House, and many coffee places. We stopped for a while in at E.Wedel coffee place where we indulged in the speciality – drinking chocolate. It was not the most healthy or slimming stop but Wedel is considered the best Polish national candy brand so it was a must to have experience even if in fact it is Cadbury-E.Wedel now. Times change.

We continued along rather empty promenade, the season has not started yet, to the longest wooden pier in Europe – 650m. I remember few years ago I dragged my other Aussie friends to show them the pier and the reaction was not that of admiration but rather annoyance – we have piers in Australia you know! True, I did not realise that I was overly Tricity patriotic and my friends were already tired of sightseeing.  This time I was more lucky and we walked to the end of the pier admiring Grand Hotel which presents itself best from from the end of the pier called Molo.

                                            

Then it was time for a walk down another promenade stretching from Gdansk to Gdynia. It runs along the beach parallel to bicycle path and it is divided from the sea by dunes.  One has water views only when passing gates to the beach. Every 100 meters of so. Great walk and I plan many of them while in Gdansk

That what it looks like, the beach is 20 meters to the right. Difficult to believe looking at the picture

Day 2 of sightseeing in the Tricity

After the Old Town in Gdansk it was a time show my Aussie friend recent history of the town. I heard of a new museum Roads to Freedom and that it was a must to see. For some reason I had not seen it before. I was not even sure how to get there even if I knew that is was not far away from the shipyard. I must have passed it in my walks to the green market or the Old Town but somehow never saw an entrance to the museum. In my role of a tourist guide, which I played not all that brilliantly, I was supposed to know how to get there without any  hiccups. So I checked the situation in internet. I knew the street but why didn’t I see the entrance when passing the place? When we were near the museum I understood.  Not a salubrious entrance but communistic times were not salubrious times and this is what the museum shows. The museum is going to move in the near future to the still being build European Solidarity Center. I pass this impressive building often and it grows fast. Next time I come to Gdansk it will be most likely ready. I cannot wait.

But back to The Roads to Freedom. We walked down the stairs leading old shabby environment showing us how it was before Poland re-gained its freedom. We bought our tickets looking like old fashion cards from the time of martial law in 1981-83.  I believe that the ration cards were used for longer than this period. The first exhibits show typical Polish shop of the times. Not much there, vinegar and mustard were on the shelves, other things may have been available for the chosen ones but they were under the counter rather than displayed.

This is how the typical shop looked like. The men on the left just managed to buy toilet paper and this was the way to carry an unexpected purchase.

                                  

The museum covers the modern history of Poland, the events I was not aware of even if I lived in Poland in the 70ties.  I was in Gdansk in January 1971 learning about programming in Cobol and PLAN, the ICL assembly language. Memories, memories... That aside, December 1970 was a tragic time for Gdansk and its shipyard workers who protested against sudden increase of food and other everyday items. As the result of riots which were brutally put down 42 people were killed and over 1,000 wounded.

The events were not covered by news, they were the times the government could hide such things. Not to people of Gdansk, of course, they were involved themselves and saw things happening. My Polish neighbour, who worked at the time in a pharmacy, remembers the panic and how she was helping to sterilise surgical instruments in a great hurry. One month later nobody wanted to talk to me, a girl from Warsaw, about what happened. It was not safe to talk. I knew that something horrible did happen but it was only when visiting the museum I put the pieces of the puzzle together. If you are surprised at my ignorance I left Poland in 1976 and now I am catching up with my Polish history knowledge.

The museum has a multimedia tour covering events from 1956 to 1989. I would recommend using the audio tour and sit for a while at the computers reading the stories of the times. It is all both in English and Polish. And very inexpensive.

I like one of the last exhibits, domino of abolishing communism, with Poland starting the chain of changes.

                                        

I got carried away writing more than planned so the second part of the sightseeing day 2 – lunch in Polish style will be a subject of my next post.