Florence & Home Sweet Reggio

Two Sundays ago we took a day trip to Florence. It is a simple hour and a half train ride from Reggio. Due to another late night, we spent a majority of the train ride sleeping. Thankfully, we had a row to ourselves and, unlike our train ride to Venice, did not have a foul-smelling neighbor. The train ride began with a bit of humor...Because we were cutting it close to departure time, we jumped on the train prior to our assigned train car (car 2). It was easier to leisurely walk through connecting cars than to run up to car 2 before the train departed. To open the automated doors between connecting trains, you push a green button. With Taber leading the way, it became his job to push the green buttons. Which he successfully did for the first 4 connecting cars. At the fifth car, the green buttons became too enticing for me to resist. Taber pushed the green button and the door opened, for some reason I HAD to push the green button right next to the green button Taber had already pushed (even though I saw the door was already opening). I pushed my green button and, to our surprise, a door to the left of the connecting door opened. Curious to where that door lead, we all peered in. Standing in the corner was a little old man...going to the bathroom. That little green button I could not resist was the button to open the bathroom. Not knowing what to do we all stared, probably for a lot longer than was appropriate. I am still not sure if it was as hilarious as we thought it was, or our lack of sleep that caused the giggles. Either way, we had a good laugh and I lost my chances at ever being the green button pusher.
While in Florence, we admired most of the museums and beautiful churches from the outside. Because it was Sunday, a majority of them were closed, had limited hours, or cost too many euros. Instead of paying to go into every museum, we choose our top three.We came up with a fancy trick that enabled us to peer inside the museums that did not make our top three list. ... pretending to be a dumb tourist. Rather than following signs to purchase tickets we walked straight to the museum entrance. Once inside,and while an employee was asking us for our tickets, we glanced around at what the museum had to offer. After a quick glance of the museums interior, we admitted to the employee we were unaware you had to buy a ticket. Little did the employee know that while she was giving us directions to the ticket booth, we were still gazing at the astonishing artistic creations not listening to anything she had to say.
We went into Bargello and Santa Croce Church. Bargello, an unappreciated sculpture museum, is located in a former prison. Judging by the beautifully constructed building, we assume prisoners did not object to being locked up here. Santa Croce Church was, like all churches we have seen, gorgeous. Between the Bargello and Santa Croce we wondered through Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, The straw market, and many more historical sights. Our last stop before heading home was at Accademia, where the statue of David lives. Having no reservations we had prepared ourselves to stand in line for at least 45 minutes. To our pleasant surprise, it only took 15 minutes of waiting in line before the statue of David was looming over us. David is a very very large man. His size and structure captivating . No photos were allowed of David, but of course Taber managed to take two. Taking two pictures was minimal compared to the amount other tourist were taking. The poor museum attendant sounded like a broken record " NO PHOTOS"..."NO VIDEO"..."NO,NO,NO". Besides the David, the Accademia had many beautiful statues, all with a different story.
The walk back to the train station lead us through Mercato Nuovo. A piazza crowed with street vendors. The vendors were very aggressive and eager to sell. We stopped to look at hats and after trying a few on decided we were not interested. Once the vendor became aware we were no longer potential buys he said "If you are not buying you cannot play with them". His customer service skills were a little on the weak side. He would not last long as a Nordstroms employee:)
After a busy day of sightseeing we were excited to return to Reggio. Both Florence and Venice have made us appreciate the city we call home. There are no tourist in Reggio which allows us to completely emerge ourselves in the Italian culture. It is large enough to have the feeling of a city yet small enough to feel part of the community. Because waiters, waitresses, baritas, and clothing store employees do not deal with tourist all day the quality of service is notably higher. People are friendlier and have more patience. Not only are the employees more pleasant, but also the food. The region of Reggio is known to have the best cuisine in all of Italy. It maintains this prestigious honor by taking time preparing the dishes. Not having a line of hungry tourist out the door permits the time needed.In big touristy cities the demand appears too high to guarantee an amazing meal. Not to say there are no good meals in big cities, but from our experience they are harder to come by. In Reggio every cafe, pizza place, bistro, or four star restaurant will serve you a meal worthy of a plate licking. Little did we know that when Taber signed the dotted line on his Reggio baseball contract that we had won the lottery. If Reggio had a beach closer than 45 minutes away, it would be like winning the lottery twice (we are happy with winning it once).
Valene and Gary arrived last week. It has been great having them here... we will post a new entry soon regarding our adventures since their arrival. They involve lots of Gelato, exploring Reggio, Parma, driving down the Italian hooker row, Notte Bianca, and doctor visits...plus many more.
Ciao Ciao