La Specola

Up front warning that there are some realistic-looking dissected body images in this video.

This video was shot after two of four visits that Jules and Ben made to La Specola Museo in Firenze. He completely got over his fear of stuffed lions. And developed a keen interest in crabs.
Mark

Firenze and Siena

I made a big mistake in our travel plans and booked us into Firenze one week later than I thought. In order to make our non-existent reservation, we raced across Spain, France and part of Italy in two and a half days.

The trip included great evening and overnight stops, fog filled valleys and one return for a left behind item. The highlight for me was a life-like, 3D video game drive along the Italian coast. This path is part way up the steep hills along the ocean. It alternates between tunnels, bridges and cliff-hugging blind curves. It seems like the Italians had to better their Roman ancestors by showing off how to really build a road.

It was made more amazing by the speed and proximity that is Italian driving. There are no roadway shoulders. The speeds start at 130 km/hr or about 80 mph. And the drivers often snuggle up next to you as they pass. Maybe they are drafting off our behemoth of a van or just sucked in by its vortex. In any case, it required lots of calming breaths.

We made it into Firenze at dusk with just a few Euros in our prepaid Spanish phone accounts. We had some abbreviated conversations with Marushka, the flat coordinator, that drained our accounts. We finally got the van parked. It was then that she told us the flat was occupied and must have been double-booked. This was all done through text messaging as we didn’t have enough money left to talk. And you can’t recharge an out of country phone account. We had all of our stuff in our hands and no place to stay. This was the Saturday night before New Year’s eve and the city was packed.

Marushka rescued us by coming to where we were and leading us to a beautiful apartment in the hillside. In a winery and olive oil pressing villa. As she looked at our paperwork, she laughed at how the dates were for the following week. I tried to laugh too. We’ll see if I make that mistake again during the next 8 months!
The flat was great and so were the three days we went to Siena. It’s a small, medieval town. Pedestrian friendly with incredible architecture and religious artwork. The pictures show us on a tower of the Duomo and Ben in its stone spiral stairway.

We also toured the bapistery like a Pope. By that I mean we used mirrors to look at the ceiling frescos. It keeps you from looking like a starving baby bird calling “wow, wow, wow”.

We’re now in our flat in Firenze. It’s at Via dei Calzaioli 2, Firenze Italy. Google Earth shows a nice image of it. Next weekend is the Pitti Fair. Some sort of international fashion show. Oh no.... this town will be filled with models even more stylish than the natives!

Mark

Ben's Iberian Experiences

Here's Ben's summary of the prior two weks.......

Lisbon

We surprised ourselves by camping in Lisbon. We expected to need a room, but it was sunny and warm during the day. Nice cafe weather. At night, we ran both heaters in the van. We spent six nights in a huge campground with few people around.

People in Portugal were incredibly friendly and polite. The food, especially the seafood and cheese was great. I’m embarrassed to say I only had one glass of port.

We took some cab rides as they were cheap, easy and quick. Perhaps a little too quick. Kind of like a 3D video game with realistic effects. The busses seemed to travel in packs. Three an hour, all within ten minutes.

A highlight of our stay was the Star Wars exhibition in the old electrical plant. They had hundreds of models, props and costumes used in all six episodes. They showed a lot of out-take footage of green screens and miniature sets. Very inspiring for the videographer looking to understand how to do special effects. My favorite part was seeing the colored Q tips that stood in for people in the arena shots.

As I listened to Jules and Ben name all of the items and places I thought I was in another archeological museum. “This is where the blleters defeated the fringers” “look, it’s an etheriena fighter”. We all loved it......

We also enjoyed the Oceanarium and its huge interior tank. That’s where Ben and this bird met. Can you identify its species Homeschoolers?

Somehow we ran out of time. Sure could have stayed longer...
BTW, we have to recommend the downtown Heritage Hotel. They had free wifi in the lobby. They served us drinks while we caught up on mail and downloads. It also looked like a great place to stay (if you can spend 400+ euros a night). Oh, and the Hard Rock Cafe is worth a visit if you need a dose of good old American commercialism.
Off to Madrid...