As with most things in my life this story begins with a glass of wine. I had poured a glass and was looking at the bottle when I noticed it was from a city in Chianti that Spencer (my son) and I had driven a 1950’s something Fiat to visit in 2016. I was not able to get that thought out of my head.
Over the months it developed into another trip to Florence, Italy for an extended stay to study silver smithing at the ART925 studio on Via Guelfa in Florence, Italy.
I will explain more about the silver smithing part of this trip later on.
After all of the apprentice and living arrangements were made and locked in I spent quite a bit of time working on a design book to bring with me. I then needed to organize silver and stones to support the projects I wanted to work on, not to mention the tools I would need. When it was piled in one stack it looked like a formidable amount of material to get inside an airline carry-on bag and 1 personal piece of luggage.
When I finally got to the week before departure the cat was staying closer and closer until she was all but in the bag. I had visions of a “feline Sherpa” to help me get all my stuff through the airports but she did not seem as interested as I had hoped.
My itinerary called for me to fly from Portland, Oregon to Amsterdam. I did not realize Amsterdam is a little more than halfway to the moon from PDX.
I did not get the hoped for upgrade to a first class pod but I did the get the coveted empty seat next to me. You would think with double the space to occupy one could find a way to get comfortable. If I looked half as contorted as the guy at the other end of the row it must have been quite a show to watch. No sleep came my way but I did have my eyes closed for a long time hoping sleep would come.
My son Spencer and his wife Abbie are coming to join me on Sunday but had left Minnesota early to spend a couple of days in Madrid before Florence.
After a few text messages we realized we were all in the Amsterdam airport. We caught up for a few minutes in Terminal B. What a nice surprise to see than walk out of the humanity. A cup of coffee and then we all went our own directions before having next week together.
At this point I am about 26 hours into my journey to the moon and still needed to get to Florence, Italy. My KLM flight is as close to on-time as can be expected. The good news is this flight is staffed by their Italia crew. A great way to start the Italian portion of the trip. They just presume you want wine with whatever they pass out for snacks and if you want water you have to ask for it.
After arriving in Florence I took the bus from the airport to the train station. Sounds odd but that is the the way it is. From the Train/bus station I took a cab to Piazza Santa Croce and was met by the lovely Antonella and her husband Massimo from whom I have rented my apartment. The apartment fronts on the Piazza and the side street Via Verrazano. As soon as you enter off the piazza you are confronted with a stone plaque.
My Italian is rough but I think the plaque says:
“In this house, on April 5th in the year 1568, he was born, Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini, who ascended to the Pontifical Throne in the year 1623, with the name of Urbano VIII.”
My apartment is up the stairs to the left 2 flights.
I got here just in time to open the windows of the apartment and hear the church bells ringing this evening. I will take you on a tour of the apartment on a rainy day here.
I think this is all I can do today. I have tried to add up the hours of travel but did not come up with a total I trusted.
Buona Notte
/Scott