Italy Wrap

Again, I want to apologize for the dearth of content on this blog, but trust that we are truly having the time of our lives - and the lack of time spent sending emails, or writing blog posts is indicative of that.

We have been in Italy for just about 3 weeks and it has been an incredible mix of stunning vistas, ancient cathedrals and breath taking art. That said, after a bit of discussion yesterday morning we decided that instead of spending a few more days driving through the countryside or walking along the Cinque Terre that we would instead take a train to Milan (tomorrow - Thursday) and catch a cheap flight to Zagreb, Croatia; shortening the time we planned to spend in Italy by about 3 days.

Perhaps we've gazed upon one too many 13th century castle or 15th century depiction of the Last Supper, but the soundness of our decision was truly crystallized later yesterday as the sun began to set over the Boboli Gardens. We had finally found a bit of peace in Florence, a frenetic city awash in priceless art, stunning architecture and swarms of tourists. But just as the sky began to glow a fluorescent orange an announcement came over an intercom - intercoms that we quickly realized were placed all over the gardens - indicating in at least 5 different languages that the gardens were to close.

In typical Italian state run museum style (the Boboli Gardens and adjacent Pitti Palace are run by the government) the announcement did not stop after a few cycles through the five different languages but instead continued to pollute what had just moments earlier been such a peaceful environment, likely long after we had left. I can't say for sure though as we were quickly ushered away from our sunset vista by a whistle blowing park official.

The contrast between the genuine friendliness we felt in places like Positano and Montepulciano with the entitlement that eminates from museum and monument attendents, hotel receptions, taxi drivers.... sigh, I could go on... in the more popular cities like Rome, Florence and sadly, even highly recommended Siena has left a bit of a sour taste in our mouths. Stunningly, the state museums only accept cash to book tickets, despite inflated prices charged to non-EU citizens. Yesterday's walk through the Boboli Gardens cost a combined $25 or so for the two of us - had we wanted to included some of the art housed inside of the Pitti Palace, we would have had to shell out nearly $50 for the afternoon.

Over the past few days, I've needed to remind myself that we are still appreciably under budget so far on this trip - but perhaps that sour taste I mentioned above is still lingering from the 12 Euros spent on "two small gelatos" on our first day in Florence.