Gateway to Florence

Livorno is the dock for traveling to Florence and Pisa, sort of the gateway from your cruise ship to these two cities. We awoke on day one of a two day stopover in Livorno with intentions of joining our traveling companions, renting a van of some sort and traveling to Florence. Finding the van much too small for the 7 of us Ed and I opted (with our newfound confidence in the rail system in Italy due to the ease of travel to Rome) to find the train station and go it on our own. We walked the streets of Livorno (a straight shot from the dock to the train station) finding this McDonald's to be our halfway point from dock to train. If you really want to eat economically in Europe, there's a McDonald's or Burger King in almost every major town, not that you'll get the real flavor of the food of that city by eating there, but it's kinda neat to see the slight European differences in their menu and in our case we knew there were extravagant meals back aboard the cruise ship at night. No need to stuff ourselves before we walked. As we passed the shops of Livorno we saw some interesting items in the windows and in the street vendors shops but at the time we were too busy hoofing it to the train station to shop. After the trip was over that was one of our regrets. The prices and selection had we wanted to shop was excellent in Livorno. We'd spend more time and money there should we return. The shops seemed to be geared more for the locals and the local economy than to the tourists.

Once we arrived at the train station we bought a ticket to Pisa with the intention of changing trains there to get to Florence. There was really no need. You can go straight to Florence but even with that mistake and an hour long wait for the train to Florence from Pisa, we arrived in plenty of time to walk the streets of Florence. Here you see some fellow Americans during that hour long wait puzzling over the maps in preparation for their journeys.

Once aboard the trains you'll find them very accommodating with tiny but useful restrooms, clean but not spic and span seats and train cabins, possibly because everybody and their dogs uses the trains. (See the picture below). They are convenient, mostly on time, and make for easy traveling. Plus it's a great way to meet the locals. We found everyone from the train station attendant to the daily commuter to be most friendly and helpful. And never once did I fear for my life like I might on regular American public transport.

In Florence, not only will you find shopping (that we actually avoided like the plague - remember we were on a strict budget) but you'll find the town to be bursting to overflowing with art and artists. On almost every street you'll find either an art gallery, art supply store, or street artist like the one I painted in the piece below. This is another of the pieces that I have in the April show at Gallery 56. I had two paintings of street artists in Florence in my show and they both sold.

Everywhere in Florence things are old, old, old. And whats so really cool is imagining the generations of peoples that have walked these same streets, people like Michaelangelo, Botticelli, Da Vinci. Imagine, as my husband is doing right here, that their hands may have touched the same railings and doors that you can just walk right up to and touch yourself hundreds of years later.

One of the oddest things about all of Europe is the graffiti on the walls. Though the walls themselves may be thousands of years old, every now and then there's an odd spot of spray paint. This picture of an art gallery has an odd patch of graffiti that pointed directly to my husband. The shops behind him were very upscale art and antique shops.

Since I really wasn't looking for the shopping in Florence (due to the valuation of the dollar we could get cheaper leather jackets and stuff in America than in Europe) I explored the outskirts of Florence on the map (still within walking distance) and found that with some winding up and down the narrow streets of Florence, I could actually find the home of Michaelangelo. For me as an artist, this meant way more to me than any leather jacket or purse.

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With plenty of time to stroll the streets we found fascinating people, places and things and always there was an atmosphere of "love" in the air, whether person to person, person to city, or person to art. I painted two such lovers in this piece I titled "Amore II". Enjoy.

Ah, Roma

It's day 6 of the cruise and we dock in Civitavecchia which is about an hour from Rome. Now we weren't budgeting shore excursions into our trip. I was relying on internet info and our courage to get around Europe on our own whenever and wherever possible. This time there was going to be a lot to see and very little time for mistakes. We docked at 6am and had to be back on board by 8pm. And this was Rome for goodness sake. You could spend a whole week in Rome. How were we supposed to see everything? Well, here's Jane's Perspective again. There was no way to see it all so we were determined to just see what we could, savor the moments and make promises to return.

First order of business, was getting to Rome without paying for a shore excursion. Online at PortReview.com I found the port of Civitavecchia with detailed (color pictures and everything) of exactly what the port looked like, how to get out of the dock area to the street area, how to get to the train station (with pictures of what the building would look like) and exactly what ticket to buy. Our train tickets for 2 people was 1.80 Euros and we got to Rome way ahead of the tour buses from the ship.

Ready for traction, we took off in our tennis shoes and it was a good thing too. This is an example of many of the sidewalks in Rome. We saw Roman women in extremely high heeled boots clicking along these uneven stones without a flinch. I would have broken my neck so gladly the tennis shoes did me just fine. We hit the ground running once we got out of the train. Even though I knew I couldn't see everything in one day I was determined to see at least two things, the Sistine Chapel and the Coliseum. They were at opposite ends of town but I had maps and we were going to try. Our first snag came when we took a wrong turn to get into the entrance to the Vatican. We practically ran around an entire block before we found the entrance. Once there we had been told that the line to get in could take as long as a couple of hours. BUT because our cruise had been scheduled for early November we practically walked right in.

There are so many wonderful things to see in the Vatican and again you could take a whole day just wandering through the beautiful rooms there but I knew I had to limit my viewing if we were to get across town to the Coliseum and back to the boat by departure time. SO I found signs that led to "The Sistine Chapel" and followed them hurried through room after room of gorgeous tapestries, ancient maps, statues, and artwork covering the walls, halls, floors and ceilings. At each one my husband (not one for knowing what great work of art is what) would stop and admire and say "Is this it?". "Nope", I would answer and grab his arm to head down the next hall following the next sign to "The Sistine Chapel". The picture below is just one of the many rooms we "flew" through.

Then all of a sudden we were there. "The Sistine Chapel" was right through the next door. We stopped, I took a breath (for I knew I was about to have my breath taken away) and we walked through. No need to tell me not to take a photo. I was too much in awe to do much but walk around admiring what I had studied so long in art school. What was truly amazing was the lack of crowds. I had been told that they pack you in like sardines and shuffle you in and out. Not so when we were there. We actually sat, leaning against the walls that Michelangelo himself had touched and took in every detail at our leisure.

Having reached the chapel so much sooner than we thought we would, we had time to wander through the Vatican just a little more so we wound our way down halls and passageways only to find ourselves winding down a huge spiral staircase.

At the bottom of the staircase was the exit. HUH? What happened to the rest of the building? Not knowing what it would take to wind our way back into the Vatican, we chose to go ahead and start our trek across town to the coliseum. Who knew how long that would take? I had a rough estimate but that was all it was, a rough estimate of a foreign town with a color coded map.

Before we left the area, however I ran across a site that I photographed and later painted with palette knife. It was a monk, leaning on a railing between two columns, looking out over the Vatican.

I used this painting as one of the starting points to the creation of 28 pieces for a one man art show in Memphis for April 2010 and decided to "give it back". My Jane's Perspective always tells me to give back to the people and the community that supports my artwork so this piece will be silent auctioned during the show with all proceeds going to MIFA's food bank program.

Leaving the Vatican and heading across town we found the beauty of Rome to be slightly marred here and there by the beggers in the streets. What I found particularly heart breaking was the position of the beggers, often children or women, who would actually prostrate themselves on the streets, hands outstetched with donation cups in hand. If you go, please be mentally prepared for this.

But the beauty of Rome is still never ending. As we kept a good pace up following our map to the Coliseum, at every opening between the buildings we found beautiful artwork. Paintings and statues adorn even the smallest niche or courtyard. This picture is just one of many that led to nothing more than an parking garage.

As we walked closer to the Roman Forum we were feeling not only the mystery of the ancients who walked it before us but also the hustle and bustle of a vibrant active city. Ruins of the ancient city surrounded us until "gasp" there it was in all it's glory - The Coliseum. And to our utter amazement, the rain that threatened our day not only stayed away but created a fabulous cloud formation that inspired the focal piece of my art show. The colors in this painting that I titled "Clouds over Rome" are just as we found them with the sun peaking through to add even more beauty to the day.

Amazingly we strolled through the Coliseum and wandered our way leisurely back to the train station with time to spare, feeling successful, fulfilled, and pleasantly exhausted for what we saw, not what we might have missed.