Dachs Thoughts

My next big travel adventure was my first ever trip to Italy, which lasted more than 3 weeks. This trip was built around my second Femme Nue photography retreat of the year, which was based in a group of villas in the countryside in Tuscany. I extended my trip by coming to Florence (Firenze) a week before the retreat, and staying in Florence another week after. During the week prior to the trip I was able to meet up with a friend who lives in Vienna for a few days of tourist exploration around town. After the retreat, I connected up with my friend Maddy, who was recovering from a recent hospitalization, for some more low-key tourist fun of exploring and eating. We also managed a day trip to Venice (Venezia). The tourist throngs were huge in Florence, and I skipped waiting in line to go inside most venues, but I felt like I was able to see the most impressive things, including the beautiful architecture and the public art and sculpture. Of particular note was the beautiful multicolored marble work on the church and Domo of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Had the lines not been so horrendous I might have tried to get inside. The parts for which you needed tickets needed to have been bought weeks before.

Before the Retreat

I flew into Florence, changing planes in Paris. Conveniently, there is a cheap tram from the Florence airport to the center of town, which was within walking distance to my hotel. Unfortunately, I arrived during a vigorous afternoon downpour. I managed to get my camera bag covered and put on a rain jacket and was able to navigate my way to the hotel. I was pretty wet when I arrived.

The hotel was nicely located, close to the Mercado, and about 3/4 mile from the center of the major tourist venues. This gave me lots of exercise walking back and forth. The day after I arrived, my friend from Vienna arrived for a weekend visit. Her hotel was about 1 mile from mine, and in the couple of days she was here, I ended up walking 11-12 miles each day. She was trying to find some specific gardens, so we did a lot of walking around. We also had a few nice meals. By the time I got in bed my legs were burning after all the walking. After moving through all the crowds, by the time she left I felt like I was catching a bit of a cold. When she got home she felt sick and tested positive for Covid. I did a test, but fortunately was negative.

I spent a few days just resting up and trying to adjust more to the timezone. Later in the week I waited in line and visited the Galleia dell’Accademie di Firenze, which houses the original of Michelangelo’s sculpture of David. It really is quite impressive in person. One of the great pieces of Renaissance art, 17′ tall set in its own gallery. I was a little disappointed to encounter some crass behavior from what I took to be American tourists. But that aside, I’m glad I did go inside that museum.

I did a lot of walking around and eating good and healthy food during the days before the retreat.

Femme Nue — Tuscany

On my 9th day in town, I checked out of my hotel and headed over for the meet-up luncheon for our photo retreat. It was held at a 2-star Michelin restaurant in the middle of the town, and our luncheon consisted of multiple small, delicious courses. We met most of the group, which was big. Overall there were 8 models and ultimately 10 photographers. We then walked over to meet our bus. Driving the bus out of town on the very narrow streets of Florence turned out to be a bit of a challenge. We traveled out into the Tuscan countryside to our home base, Villa Nemora (a collection of three farmhouse/villas, built in the 19th century by Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany). The retreat was spread across 3 villas which were spread across 3/4 mile. That ended up resulting in plenty of exercise during the course of the retreat. I enjoyed having so many different models to work with, but it also meant less down time.

[More pictures on my Photo Blog]

At the end of the retreat, we were again bussed back into Florence. After our farewell luncheon, I made my way to my new lodging for the remainder of the trip, a nice Airbnb space across the Arno river in the Pointe Vecchio area.

After the Retreat

After the retreat, I got settled in to my new residence and rested up a bit. My friend Maddy arrived the following evening, so I went to the airport to collect her and start the final portion of the trip. Due to her recent illness I tried to take it easy and keep the walking to a minimum. Nevertheless, we managed to see a lot of beautiful sights. We also enjoyed a lot of nice dining experiences, including the discovery of Limoncello and Aperol. While I had pretty much abandoned my low-carb diet (which is pretty much impossible in Italy), we did get some nice steaks and fish. One evening, after climbing up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to photograph the sunset over the city, we had a late dinner and split what was the biggest steak I’d ever seen. They served a 1.4 kg hunk of meat, which turned out to be delicious, and which I was amazed we finished.

We also took a day trip via train to Venice. This was a nice way to see the countryside as well as a nice place to visit for one day of walking around and experiencing this unique city. After a very enjoyable week of relaxed tourism, Maddy headed back home (suffering a bit of a check-in challenge with one of the airlines, ultimately getting back after some stress). I had one more full day in town, so I visited the Giardino Bardini (Bardini Gardens) which was a beautiful terraced garden and estate running up the hillside. It had beautiful landscaping, gardens, and sculpture, and provided some beautiful elevated views of the city. I hadn’t realized until this last day, but the entrance was almost just across the road from my Airbnb. During most of my visit, the temperatures had been relatively mild, ranging from roughly 65-80 °F, but on my final day, and while climbing up the hill, the temperature reached 97 °F. I guess this was my final indicator that it was a good time to head home.

When the time came to go home, I was ready. I probably exhausted my stay in the one city of Florence, but with the different segments of the trip I never got bored. The one change I might have made was that if I had realized earlier how convenient and easy the trains were to navigate, I might have planned more day trips during my visit seeing a few other Italian cities. While I pretty much blew off my diet and enjoyed the food and drink, I also walked a lot, covering 120 miles in my 3+ weeks there. As a result, my weight didn’t really change during the trip. On my final day, I caught a taxi at 3:30 am to the airport (which included a bit of a wild ride). I again changed planes in Paris, with a relatively short (too short) layover, having to rush after waiting in long passport control lines. I finally made it back home by mid-afternoon. This was another enjoyable adventure, experiencing my second western European country.