Show No Fear! DIS Exclusive Viva Italia+DLP TR Sept 2014*COMPLETE* New TR link added 7/3

[Joyciemc]

Every post is so beautiful! Really enjoyingmreading about your trip!

 

[khertz]

I think we kept asking ourselves "what the heck did we do in the Vatican to deserve the plagues. I was waiting for day to turn to night, frogs, or the Grand Canal to turn red. :-X

(Then i remembered Dustin in the Sistine Chapel)

And the Duomo!

The Westin hotel in Florence was voted one of the top 50 hotels in the world by Conde Nast magazine.

That's very cool, and doesn't surprise me at all. It was the picture of luxury!!

Yay for more time in Florence. It looks like a beautiful city. That's crazy about the hail storm. I'm glad you guys missed it and weren't in the middle of it. The pictures are gorgeous!

Florence was beautiful, and probably the most relaxed of the three cities we visited. There was a lot to do, but we had so much time to spread it all out that it didn't feel rushed at all.

I'm glad to see you guys spent some quality time in Florence. This is really how all the ABD's to Florence should run. Maybe with ABD's new Tuscan adventure coming on board giving them more time in the smaller towns, they will concentrate just on Florence like you did in their Viva Italia adventure.

That would be a GREAT change to the regular Viva trips! Kevin said it best, that Florence is too beautiful of a city to have your time there measured in hours.

I hadn't actually thought about that but it is an extra bonus of doing a DIS exclusive trip! Plus I bet that means you both wound up in more pictures/video (at least together) than you would have been alone

It's like a very special memory maker!

It IS just like Memory Maker!! Great observation! I don't think I mentioned it, but each guide had a camera as well, so it was like having a Photopass photographer to travel with us. And while they got some good photos, it just couldn't measure up to the quality of everyone with the "big boy" cameras.

Hi Kristy!! Sorry I got so far behind, school/work/dance/life got in the way of my DIS time. But I'm here now because YOU'RE IN FLORENCE!!! AKA MY FAVORITE!!!

The toy shop looks beautiful and Giuseppe sounds super interesting, but I would have done the same thing as you and snuck out

Definitely a bummer that the stores were closed when you got there…but at the same time, I would love if I could leave work for a few hours to take a nap

The picture of you two laughing after the kiss is ADORABLE!!

Those Italian truck stops were so interesting to me…just huge blocks of cheese and bottles of wine…

PIAZZALE MICHELANGELO!!!! Actually my favorite memory of my trip. We climbed it at night and it was unreal. Such an amazing view of the Duomo.

Really glad you got more than a day in Florence. I was there for half my trip and STILL wish I had more time there.

I had a really similar beef and potato dish when I was there, looks delicious! And that dessert looks unreal

Absolutely gorgeous night pictures of the city!!

No worries, life unfortunately gets in the way of DIS time occasionally. I am all too familiar with that!

Orvieto was great, and I would love to adopt that lifestyle. Go to work in the morning, leave for a few hours for lunch and a nap, then go back to work for a bit. Sounds great!

I bet Piazzale Michelangelo at night is GORGEOUS! Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine that view all lit up.

Florence is such a big city with so much going on. Like Rome, we felt like even with a few days we only barely scratched the surface.

Every post is so beautiful! Really enjoyingmreading about your trip!

Thanks, Joyce!

 

[MEK]

Although I wasn’t watching the movie, I did note that there was a not-so-Disney friendly sex scene, but Marco made sure our virgin sensibilities were protected.

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I laughed out loud at this!!! Too funny!

Wow - Florence is gorgeous. How cool that you arrived in the aftermath of a freak hail storm. It must have been crazy to see all that ice on the ground, and very appropriate for the whole frozen theme!

The hotel is gorgeous! What a beautiful lobby!

Dinner looks fun even though it sounds like it was not your favorite meal. I would have been totally on board for that wine tasting!

Love all the night time shots. They are simply gorgeous!

Too funny about Paxton's bug bite. And to think you posted that on the family friendly DIS boards!

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

That truck stop was where I made the wise decision to buy olives and eat about 5000 of them on our bus ride! The olives were yummy and really cheap but I will not be doing that again!

Laurie

 

[sayhello]

That truck stop was where I made the wise decision to buy olives and eat about 5000 of them on our bus ride! The olives were yummy and really cheap but I will not be doing that again!

Laurie

Sayhello

 

[khertz]

I laughed out loud at this!!! Too funny!

Wow - Florence is gorgeous. How cool that you arrived in the aftermath of a freak hail storm. It must have been crazy to see all that ice on the ground, and very appropriate for the whole frozen theme!

The hotel is gorgeous! What a beautiful lobby!

Dinner looks fun even though it sounds like it was not your favorite meal. I would have been totally on board for that wine tasting!

Love all the night time shots. They are simply gorgeous!

Too funny about Paxton's bug bite. And to think you posted that on the family friendly DIS boards!

Our guides always kept us in line, but they also kept us laughing!

It was pretty crazy to roll in after an ice storm, especially considering how HOT it had been every day we were in Rome.

The Westin was AMAZING! My favorite hotel of the whole Italy stay. Not only was it beautiful, it was the American comforts we are used to in a hotel room.

Everyone that did the wine tasting seemed to enjoy all of the selections. I forgot to mention in the post, but there was a sommelier there to tell us about each wine and what it is best paired with, which was interesting even if I wasn't partaking.

It was just too perfect not to screen shot it! And as soon as I took it, I knew it would be perfect for the TR. The innocence of little ones!

That truck stop was where I made the wise decision to buy olives and eat about 5000 of them on our bus ride! The olives were yummy and really cheap but I will not be doing that again!

Laurie

Yeah, I did remember you leaving with a LOT of olives!!

 

[khertz]

First off, I hope everyone, including my Viva Italia family, had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I think I am STILL stuffed from all of the eating I did yesterday! Now, on to the updates...
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Day 6: Saturday September 20th

Our first day in Florence started early at 7:30 am when our alarms went off so we could get ready and head down to the lobby for breakfast. We got a table rather quickly, and DH got an omelet from a made-to-order omelet station. I noticed on a sign nearby to the station that they had French toast, so I asked the guy serving the omelets about it and he said it was something I needed to order from the waitress. I did that, but they must have forgotten about me or the kitchen was slammed because it took FOREVER to get my food. So from then on, I didn’t bother ordering anything special.

After breakfast, we gathered up our stuff for the day and met up with everyone in the lobby for 9 am to start our walking tour. We met our local guide for the day, Elena, and she led us out of the hotel and down to the Arno River.

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We got to a corner where we had to stop for the light, and Dusty handed Elena the paddle and ran out to take a photo of us all together. Elena was so cute because she didn’t understand at first what he was trying to do and said in her accent, “What is my function with this?” Probably a “you had to be there” moment, but it was pretty funny. Eventually she figured it out!

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As we walked, Elena pointed out a lot of the high end stores we were passing, but the price tags were way out of our range. We prefer the artwork and architecture!

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This building was, I believe, home to an art exhibit now, though I don’t remember what she said it was originally. It became a point of interest because of the large, iron rings on the outside of it that she explained were for tying up horses.

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We crossed under the arch into the Piazza della Repubblica, a piazza that was first the site of the forum.

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The forum was built over and became the site of the Jewish ghetto. Eventually, it became so overpopulated and unsanitary that the city demolished a lot of the buildings to widen the square and return it to a place of community and commerce. The arch with the inscription was built in 1895.

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It translates to, “The ancient centre of the city / restored from age-old squalor / to new life.”


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After a few minutes there while everyone had their family photos taken in the piazza, we walked over to the Duomo. Unfortunately, as seemed to be a theme throughout our trip, the entire baptistery was under scrims and scaffolding for a cleaning in preparation for a visit from the pope planned for next November.

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As we had found in Orvieto, the façade of the cathedral was just absolutely stunning. There was something to see over every inch of the enormous façade. Pretty incredible to see!

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Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

Day 6 Continued: Saturday September 20th

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Although the baptistery was mostly covered, we were still able to see the famous Gates of Paradise, notably featured in the Dan Brown book Inferno. The door panels were designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti. It took him 21 years to complete the doors for the north side of the baptistery which featured 28 panels, 20 of them depicting Christ’s life from the New Testament. Then he began work on the east doors, which depict scenes from the Old Testament and took 27 years to complete. These are the doors that became known as the Gates of Paradise. The nickname was adopted when Michelangelo referred to them as such.

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Unfortunately, we found out that we were looking at replica doors. The originals are being cleaned and preserved after being exposed to the elements for over 500 years. But it was still pretty cool to see!

On the side of the church, there was a large medical exhibit going on, which looked to be a sort of health fair for the Italian equivalent of the Red Cross. Along with booths for getting health information, they also had a bunch of old ambulance vehicles on display. It was interesting to see how the idea of an ambulance has changed over time!

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Then we got photobombed by Karen & Pete, but we had to wait until we got the ABD photos from the guides before we could see what they did.

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After some silly pics, we wanted to walk around and check out the old time ambulances.

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The baptistery under scrims​

UP NEXT: The Ponte Vecchio

 

[carpenta]

Wonderful pictures again. You can barter prices down in those shops and get some pretty good prices. My wife bought a great Italian leather jacket for a reasonable price (well sort of.......anything more than $100. to me is too much). The store owner was also the designer and sells in high end U.S. stores. Really a nice guy. Also there is a set of the Baptistery doors already conserved and on display in the Duomo museum in Florence. I guess since they are made of gold I would suspect it would be too tempting for someone to break one of the commandments and make off with an irreplaceable artifact.

 

[sayhello]

Oh! That's too bad the baptistery was behind scrims! It's really quite nice, although it's really just more of what you see all over the Duomo, in a hexagonal shape. And it was my understanding back in 2010 that the Gates of Paradise had been "permanently" replaced by the reproductions after the originals had been damaged in a flood. (Which I guess would require some cleaning an restoration). But it didn't sound like they planned on putting them back afterwards...

That Duomo is quite special, and quite spectacular!

And I didn't know that background about the Piazza della Repubblica. Cool! I liked the looks of that area.

Sayhello

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Ugh yeah that French Toast does take a while to prepare...

I can't lie. Every time I see that "Adventures By Disney" sign leading the way, I chuckle a little. Disney Payback!

Horse tying stations. Wow. You know you're in an old city when...

I see a carousel!!!!

Hey you're all Disney folks. You should be used to scrims.

 

[MEK]

That cathedral is outstanding! You have posted some beautiful cathedrals, but the facade on that one is simply amazing.

And those doors. Wow. 21 and 27 years to complete. That truly is a labor of love! Just amazing.

 

[Dugette]

Looks like a great hotel. Nice that you ended up getting the in-room wifi included too.

That’s weird about the chicken – maybe they thought people would only be hungry enough for the first piece and the second was a decorative filler. Your dessert sounds amazing, though! Yum!

Those nighttime shots of Florence are beautiful!

Really cool things you saw on your walking tour. Plus, the bonus of Italian ambulance history. Don’t see any of those things every day.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Bummer about the French Toast taking so long - might have just been anything "extra" gets pushed to the end of the line and takes longer

Sounds like a good start to the tour and I found the history behind the Piazza to be very interesting

I really enjoyed Dan Brown's Inferno so getting to see the Gates of Paradise would be really cool. too bad just the replicas but still cool

The outside of the cathedral is pretty darn impressive

Those old ambulances are pretty cool too - I like the motorcycle side car one - wouldn't think it would make for a very smooth ride though ... guess better than nothing though

 

[khertz]

Wonderful pictures again. You can barter prices down in those shops and get some pretty good prices. My wife bought a great Italian leather jacket for a reasonable price (well sort of.......anything more than $100. to me is too much). The store owner was also the designer and sells in high end U.S. stores. Really a nice guy. Also there is a set of the Baptistery doors already conserved and on display in the Duomo museum in Florence. I guess since they are made of gold I would suspect it would be too tempting for someone to break one of the commandments and make off with an irreplaceable artifact.

Thanks!

While it would be really cool to see all of the original works out as they had been long ago, it's totally understandable why they don't. Aside from the elements, theft is definitely a worry!

Oh! That's too bad the baptistery was behind scrims! It's really quite nice, although it's really just more of what you see all over the Duomo, in a hexagonal shape. And it was my understanding back in 2010 that the Gates of Paradise had been "permanently" replaced by the reproductions after the originals had been damaged in a flood. (Which I guess would require some cleaning an restoration). But it didn't sound like they planned on putting them back afterwards...

That Duomo is quite special, and quite spectacular!

And I didn't know that background about the Piazza della Repubblica. Cool! I liked the looks of that area.

Sayhello

Unfortunately, we saw a LOT of scrims and scaffolding on this trip, so it really wasn't a big surprise to see it at the cathedral also. It would have been nice to see a whole city without some major building or monument under cover!

The piazza was very cool. Lots of old architecture but modern looking with the carousel in the middle.

Ugh yeah that French Toast does take a while to prepare...

I can't lie. Every time I see that "Adventures By Disney" sign leading the way, I chuckle a little. Disney Payback!

Horse tying stations. Wow. You know you're in an old city when...

I see a carousel!!!!

Hey you're all Disney folks. You should be used to scrims.

I was SO annoyed at breakfast that morning so I just stuck with the food they had out and visible instead of making that mistake again.

Dusty told us originally, they had wanted everyone to wear Mickey ears to keep the family together instead of using the paddles to guide them. I love Mickey ears as much as the next girl, but I think I'd feel pretty silly wearing them through Rome and Florence.

Sadly, you are so right about the scrims. We should be used to that by now! I haven't seen the Disney parks unaltered by scrims and constructions walls in a LONG time!

That cathedral is outstanding! You have posted some beautiful cathedrals, but the facade on that one is simply amazing.

And those doors. Wow. 21 and 27 years to complete. That truly is a labor of love! Just amazing.

It's beyond comprehension to think of how much work must have gone into these churches considering they didn't have the modern tools we have now. Really makes you appreciate them even more thinking of it that way.

It's crazy to think how long some of these incredible works of art took.

Looks like a great hotel. Nice that you ended up getting the in-room wifi included too.

That’s weird about the chicken – maybe they thought people would only be hungry enough for the first piece and the second was a decorative filler. Your dessert sounds amazing, though! Yum!

Those nighttime shots of Florence are beautiful!

Really cool things you saw on your walking tour. Plus, the bonus of Italian ambulance history. Don’t see any of those things every day.

That was a great surprise considering we were staying there for a few nights and using the wifi in common areas wasn't the best for Skyping with Paxton back home.

We couldn't figure out what the deal with that chicken was. So bizarre! The dessert more than made up for it though, that's for certain. I would do many questionable things right now to get my hands on a piece!

While it made the square a little crazy, it was very cool to see some of the history of the medical life in Florence.

Bummer about the French Toast taking so long - might have just been anything "extra" gets pushed to the end of the line and takes longer

Sounds like a good start to the tour and I found the history behind the Piazza to be very interesting

I really enjoyed Dan Brown's Inferno so getting to see the Gates of Paradise would be really cool. too bad just the replicas but still cool

The outside of the cathedral is pretty darn impressive

Those old ambulances are pretty cool too - I like the motorcycle side car one - wouldn't think it would make for a very smooth ride though ... guess better than nothing though

Breakfast there was kind of a bummer compared to the other hotels, as there wasn't much selection out on the buffet.

The tour was pretty cool, although since I had been so excited to see so many of the sights in Rome but didn't know a lot about Florence, it seemed a little slower than Rome had been. But it was pretty cool seeing the Gates, and that was only just the beginning of the Dan Brown fun we would have that day!

Yeah, some of those ambulances didn't seem like they would get patients to a hospital safely or quickly, but it was still cool to see the evolution. Thank God for modern ambulances, though, really.

 

[sayhello]

Dusty told us originally, they had wanted everyone to wear Mickey ears to keep the family together instead of using the paddles to guide them. I love Mickey ears as much as the next girl, but I think I'd feel pretty silly wearing them through Rome and Florence.

I don't think so!!!

We couldn't figure out what the deal with that chicken was. So bizarre! The dessert more than made up for it though, that's for certain. I would do many questionable things right now to get my hands on a piece!

Did anyone ask what the deal was with the chicken? Maybe it was deliberately chicken prepared two different ways? (Albeit one nicer than the other...)

Sayhello

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow... I'm sorry that you missed out on so much due to refurbs. What you were able to see was still pretty impressive though. The amount of detail that they put into the exterior of some of the buildings is just absolutely mind blowing! Whether the Gates of Paradise are originals or replicas, they're still pretty impressive! I'd rather see replicas knowing that the originals are being preserved for generations to come!

 

[missangelalexis]

So many great pics!!

 

[KelleyK75]

Thats too bad that the french toast took so long. How did it taste once we finally got it?

The horse posts are great! Too bad there weren't any horses out there tied to one.

Wow, that cathedral is beautiful!! It seems like you could stand there a really long time looking at all of the details!

How cool you were able to see the ambulances. They sure have changed over the years, haven't they.

 

[khertz]

I don't think so!!!

Did anyone ask what the deal was with the chicken? Maybe it was deliberately chicken prepared two different ways? (Albeit one nicer than the other...)

Sayhello

No, I don't think anyone did, and someone probably should have. But I think everyone was just having too good of a time to think about saying anything!

Wow... I'm sorry that you missed out on so much due to refurbs. What you were able to see was still pretty impressive though. The amount of detail that they put into the exterior of some of the buildings is just absolutely mind blowing! Whether the Gates of Paradise are originals or replicas, they're still pretty impressive! I'd rather see replicas knowing that the originals are being preserved for generations to come!

The detail on the cathedrals is just something you don't really see here in the US on buildings, so it was definitely a treat to get to see so many intricate details. And I totally agree about preservation. I felt the same way about the Pieta being behind glass. While it would have been amazing to see it up close and unobstructed, you never know when another madman will go at it with a hammer and damage it. We learned later on that they are starting to allow photos of the David because they don't know how much longer it will be around, which makes me incredibly sad to think about the world losing such an amazing piece of artwork!

So many great pics!!

Thanks!

Thats too bad that the french toast took so long. How did it taste once we finally got it?

The horse posts are great! Too bad there weren't any horses out there tied to one.

Wow, that cathedral is beautiful!! It seems like you could stand there a really long time looking at all of the details!

How cool you were able to see the ambulances. They sure have changed over the years, haven't they.

It probably would have tasted better without the long wait. Honestly, though, it was okay but not the same French toast we are used to. It was kind of a loaf shape with raisins or something in it?

That would have been cool to see! I kept thinking that everywhere we went, how cool it would be to see it all as it was in the very beginning.

There was just SO much detail to take in. Your eyes were constantly going to something different, and DH was going crazy trying to capture it all in photos.

It was so cool to see how they have changed! Gotta say, we are pretty lucky to live in modern times when it comes to ambulances, though. Some of those were pretty sketchy.