florence-city of noise

3-hour train ride from venice to florence, 2 beers on the train and we are on clouds but florence knows how to slam you down to earth. ahhh all the soul rejuvenation and unbearable lightness of being immediately flees the scene leaving you with a heavy rock tied to your leg as you are slowly heading down to the bottom of the ocean.

our hotel is the cheapest in florence because rates are unbelievably expensive. it looks kind of like a hostel with mold on the walls but it's huge and the bed sheets are fresh as spring flowers. this is all i care. clean and big room with a friendly italian receptionist who looks kind of like keanu revees.

as we head out to attack florence, one thing is obvious.. this is no city to relax. cars, scooters, motorbikes, bicycles, flood of tourists coming from every direction at all costs. they are not kidding with you, they are going to devour you if you stand in their way. itsy bitsy sidewalks. we find ourselves running for our lives as the huge busses, scooters speed in the narrow, people flooded streets going 60 mph.

first things first, the famous brunelleschi’s dome. the sight is beyond amazing. after seeing so many cathedrals, churches, i imagine this one being as one of those, but it is not. this is the most impressive church i have ever seen in my life. it’s huge and majestic. words come short to describe the feeling. it’s worth abusing your soul and your body in this nightmarish town. the dome designed by brunelleschi started the renaissance. he even came up with all the materials needed to build it. as we start heading to the top of the dome, it hits you that this climb ain’t gonna be an easy one. 463 steps later with shaky legs, we are on top of florence. what an incredible sight. we have 20 minutes till the dome closes so there are no crowds to hinder our pleasant experience on brunelleschi’s dome as the sun is getting ready to descend, washing the hills and houses with soft yellow.

the frescos inside the dome are humongous and 3-dimensional. the legs of the men dangling from the very top as the angels are trying to hold the façade while the ugly creatures of hell are feeding the sinners into the inferno of hell.

next step, head to the piazza signoria to capture a shot of David’s balls. Don’t get too excited people.. it is not the real deal, it is an exact replica placed in a spot where the original was, but it’ll do just fine.

we eat dinner outside of a restaurant on a busy street, glass window separating us from that thin line of getting clipped. across the street is a huge medieval building with a cool plaza. 10 euro for lasagna and glass of merlot leaves my taste buds and pockets happy.

next day, we head to check out the medici palace, to see how the richest of the rich family lived. they were so rich that they decided to make their son the pope. we only see a couple of rooms, not the whole thing because it’s closed to public. it’s expensive for 7 euros just to see a couple of rooms. i am not that impressed. compared to dolmabahce palace in istanbul, this is nothing.

florence, a medieval town invaded by designer stores. there is gucci, channel, dolce & gabanna, fendi, louis vuitton all lined up across old buildings. certainly not a town for the faint of heart. lots of noise, people, traffic but worth the dome. go at your own risk!

venice bellisimo

Venice Trip from lolafly on Vimeo.

on a sleeper train from vienna to venice. 12 hour ride. we get our own comportment; it’s surprisingly very comfortable. clean sheets, sink with water and soap, some snacks, and outlet for my computer to catch up with my blog.

after a well-rested night on the train, right out of the station, the bright morning sun in venice, glistening on the grand canal greats us. what a feeling! no cars, bikes, buses... just water. we take the water bus to our hotel. it’s a 20-minute ride on the grand canal. it feels as if i am in fantasy-land. venetian style; moldy, old buildings. lots of boats and gondolas pass us by. it seems like hectic water traffic on the canal but somehow they all maneuver just fine. we arrive at our stop. san marco square.

yet another great selection of hotel. it’s right on the canal and by the san marco square. location cannot get any better than this. our room is unfortunately not overlooking the canal. but no problemo. it has a huge balcony, at the very top overlooking the many other rooftops and balconies of buildings. it’s also on the corner; down below is a street café. on the right is the campanile di san marco tower looking down at us. the street is very narrow; i can definitely jump to the garden like balcony of the house across.
the room is charming with hard wood floors, venetian glass sconces, wallpaper, and furniture. but enough of the hotel, let’s talk some venice now.

venice, amazing, different, bellisimo, amusement land for grown-ups, a must-see before it’s claimed by the adriatic see. lots and lots of tourists on certain parts but like rick steves says; venice is 80% not touristic. believe it or not, it’s true. we veer of to the non-touristic parts of venice to get a glimpse of the lives of venetians living on this magical land. we walk along the grand canal, come across a huge park with green grass, tall pine trees; kids swinging and playing, joggers running.then we sit on the bench by the water and enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and sun; burning into our skin. such a different view than san marco square. then we go deep into the narrow streets. our goal: to get lost.

no traffic of any kind, so very pleasant experience to walk on the narrow, cobble stoned, quiet streets. old people; walking slowly, possibly coming from church, old lady staring out the window, young girl opening the shutters of the window to chit chat with her possible love interest right across the street. another lady watering the flowers on her windowsill while the other hanging more pants above our heads on the laundry rope that stretches across the street. there is lots of laundry drying on the streets. socks, pants, coats, bed sheets, underwear (i even spotted thongs) drying and swinging carelessly by the gentle breeze, emanating flowery aromas.

we walk like crazy again trying to cover as much Venice as we can. some parts are very crowded, hard to move especially on narrow streets. we come across a pizza place, get 2 huge slices and coke. then find a perfect location to enjoy our out of this world pizzas. we sit and dangle our feet on the canal by the rialto bridge. (rialto bridge is very touristic and crowded but our spot is perfect, away from the crowds). sea gulls around us along with many gondolas passing by, accordion music playing in the background, sun shining on our faces. such a happy day!
pizza is to dye for. i don’t think i will ever be able to eat pizza again after tasting this great piece of art. it is the art of dough. it’s thin, crunchy yet soft and not greasy at all. you can eat with your hands and it won’t leave any traces of grease on your fingers. now time for gelato. do I need to say that gelato is out of this world too?

walk miles and miles... many narrow, old streets with shops, cafes, restaurants, all connected with cute little bridges. it would be a shame to come this far and not to ride the gondola. eddie and i hop into it and enjoy together the once in a lifetime experience as we quietly glide though the narrow canals. atmosphere is so peaceful, so quiet, so lovely, so surreal. as i step out of the gondola, i feel my soul light as a feather; cleansed and rejuvenated. (tip: ride the gondola that goes through the narrow and quiet streets, instead of the grand canal, if you prefer peacefulness with your experience).

for dinner, another great pizza accompanied with great red wine as we sit outside on a busy street of a cute restaurant.

nighttime in venice is as quiet as it can get except the lovely band playing in the square. all the cruise people, millions of tourists desert this island to the people who really savor it. as i am standing in the dimly lit san marco square under the black starry sky, feasting my ears with sounds of violin; venetian night lands a kiss on my cheek.

paris-- day 3

another early start. remember that hairy bakery, by now that place has become our breakfast provider. i learned my lesson not to eat brushetta from there. instead do as the french do. eat croissants. yummy. soft yet crunchy and warm.

this is going to be another busy day.
-visit the cluny museum which is only a block away from our hotel. medieval museum with large high ceiling and stone walls.
-walk around sorbonne university to get to luxembourg gardens. it is such a sunny day. people sitting around the big circular fountain and sun tanning.
all this time we were in the left bank section of paris, now we need to cross to the right bank to go to sacre coeur, mont martre. we walk to the metro stop only to be redirected by riot police to another station. something serious must be going on. there are so many heavily armed police standing in a closed-off street. we have no idea as to what it is. we see 15 people at the most, holding some kind of a flag but the ratio of the 15 people to the 120 police is remarkable. we need to get to our stop so I ask a french girl passing by where metro is. my french speaking of "excuse mua" is short-lived. she understands that we don’t speak french so she starts speaking english. what a nice, helpful and chic girl! she says she can take us to the stop since she is also heading that direction. during our walk, we talk. the crowd, she informs us is foreigners wanting legalized paperwork. she says “it siz too much poliz for very few people” with her french accent.

we are in finally sacre coeur, on top of the hill looking down on paris. inside the cathedral are nuns chanting repetitive words. very elaborate, ornate cathedral with lots of stained glass windows.

curling down the narrow and hilly streets of mont martre, we stop by a very cute café to replenish ourselves with coffee.

we make our way to Pompidou; colorful piped building with stravinski fountain outside. climbing through the escalators covered with glass on the outside of the building rewards you with interesting city views. it’s a flood of red chimneys on the rooftops of the buildings. inside is a great modern art exhibit with bizarre, cool installations, photos, furniture, art etc. i love this museum.

then the miles long walk begins to cross to the other side of the town to visit rodin garden. what a lovely, peaceful garden filled with rodin’s sculptures. the thinker. yes you got it. he is still thinking about that. i have him all to myself, no one around. click! picture perfect frame of my smiling face underneath his buttocks.

exhaustion and sleep deprivation cannot stop me from our next and final sight. musee d’orsay. again more walking and we are there. woowww what an impressive building. it used to be a train station. those days they really invested in train stations, you can tell. after sponging in all the paintings by renoir, monet, manet, van gogh, picasso, toulouse-lautrec then we check and make sure that our feet and legs are still operating like humans do. however, we realize that they are no longer willing to cooperate so we check them into metro and head to our hotel.

there is no energy left to walk even 5 feet so we eat at the japanese restaurant right next to our hotel. ironically enough, this is the second best food and service we had in paris after the greeks. go figure.

paris: city of stylish frowning women and men, perfume, excellent wine and croissants, cool window-shopping, amazing architecture and art, bad food and really bad attitude.

au revoir paris!

paris--day 2

our hotel's location is excellent. everything major is in a walking distance. day 2 and 3 are the most walking we have ever done. possibly 25 miles or more. if blisters could talk.

-start the day at 6 am.

-walk to notre dame. inside is huge with lots of stained glass windows. elaborate carved woodwork.

-pass through the bridge and wander around the isle of saint louis. cute, narrow streets with lots of shops, cafes.

- buy 2-day museum pass from the cluny museum. pass lets you see a lot of major museums and beats the crowds by not waiting in line.

-saint chappelle. gothic chapel with rich colored stained glass windows.

-right next to it, is the execution building, conciergerie. eerie place where they held the prisoners before they were executed. marie antoinette was imprisoned here.

-go take a look at one of the originals of metro station that was built and it is still being used.

-gather all your energy and start walking to the louvre museum. my eagle eye from afar reads the sign "efes" on a red owning. boom; we are already there. let's get some good old turkish doner into our bellies before we tackle the louvre. they are all turks. the waiter is nice. brings us 2 doner sandwiches. omg is it bad or what? how could this be? in fact it's horrific. cold, some blob of meat god knows what, i spit it out and again french fries come to my rescue. eddie on the other hand, eats it like it's no one's business. poor guy!

-we are in louvre. yes it's big. when we arrive, it's not that crowded. we tour the sculptures section, napoleon apartments then head out to find the turkish bath painting. as we are looking for it, there it is; the sign that says "ancient city smyrna exhibit". wooww what a coincidence. my hometown city: one and only, adorable izmir is being exhibited in louvre??? that day is the last day of the exhibit. we immediately dart in, see a huge panoramic photo of symrna. see lots of ancient artifacts, sculptures, statues, utensils, coffins (you name it, smyrna had it) brought to daylight from bc times.

-see 2 vermeers. since vermeer had less than 40 paintings, these are rare beauties.

-next room is covered with rembrandts.

-we locate the turkish bath painting; soft plump women and their boobies sticking out.

-i know the moment you have all been waiting for is finally here my friends. mona lisa. don’t get your hopes too high though. from a far far away and small galaxy, there she is, looking confused like i am. not only she is caged in a glass shell but also she is roped off 3 meters away. crowds in front of it are foaming at the mouth to capture an eternal moment of her so they could proudly say, been there done that. i am one of those. as i cut through the crowd, i hit the shutter button 5 times hoping that one of it will turn out ok.

-then walk miles through the enormous huge tuileries gardens from the louvre to champs-elysees.

-pass through palace de concorde.

-walk through champs-elysees. wide open street with lots of shops, etc. not my favorite.

-arrive at arc de triomphe. napeleon’s gift to greet you after managing to walk that far from louvre.

-that’s not enough exercise, so take the very narrow, winding and never ending stairs all the way to the top. thank goodness i have been doing stairmaster at the gym. arc is at the center of the city so all the roads lead to the arc in paris. good views of paris.

-from there walk all the way to the eiffel tower. yes i know we were there the first day but it was raining and cold now it’s great and sunny so take advantage of that and begin climbing the eiffel tower through the stairs. you heard me right. on foot. climb all the way to the second level and soak in the views. there is only an elevator access to the third and last level so skip it. we need more exercise hahah.

it has been a really inspiring day. it’s beginning to turn into my favorite time; dusk. we need to satisfy the monsters that have been roaring in our stomachs during these rigorous exercises in the name of paris exploring. that means time to eat. this time, let's follow rick steve's suggestion.(rick steve’s book of "best of europe 2010" helped us lot in most of the situations so i would like to take this brief moment to send my thanks to him)and eat at cafe du marche.
we take a look at the english menu. it's a menu for americans. everything seems so boring. like chicken, pasta etc. nothing that suggests a french culinary adventure and besides there are no prices listed. i guess they charge according to their bowel movements that day. let's hope that everything went smooth. Oo la la! so we skip it and wander around more looking for menus of different cafes. everything is french, we have no idea of what these foods might be. finally we go to “cafe central”, ready to settle until this menacing garson appears. he orders us to sit at a small, cramped two seat table. it makes sense since we are only two people but when i look around, i see all the french couples spread like american eagles in 4-seat tables. at where we sit, it's cold so i point to the menacing garson that we are moving to a warmer table, he yells again; “not to 4, to 2”. “ok rest assured dingle berry”, i say to myself, “2 it is.” so we move to a 2-seat table. but one of the french highness's purse is also enjoying the pleasant evening on one of our cramped 2-seat chair. so we kindly ask her to take her purse and gently shove it. she doesn't seem to like the idea at all.

the food that i am drown to is a two lined french food. the only words that make sense are salmon and baguette, so i dare ask the menacing garson who starts us by saying "YES". i ask what that 2 lined french food is, he goes salmon. i go “OK salmon but what? a baguette?, like a sandwich? and he insists on saying "no salmon". i say on plate? he says "yes on plate", yes but with what??? he goes “lettuce”. on top of his voluntary lack of information, add his rectum demeanor; that can only mean one thing in gulem’s book. “come on darling, we are not eating here”.

what blows me away is that this is rue cler: one of the most famous and touristic streets. there are billions of tourists in paris and let me tell you, paris ain’t cheap at all, especially for tourists. they milk you in any way they can. so a friendly advice to them would be at least show some respect to your bread providers.

ok i still have faith in french humanity; i want to believe in them. we scout out rue cler a little bit more and come to a small but cute crepes place. we are immediately greeted with friendly and smiling face welcoming us to the restaurant. the woman speaks french but we communicate just fine. we sit outside. another smiling, friendly man appears. maybe her husband or brother. it’s apparent that this is a family-run business. i order veggie crepe; feta, mozzarella, green peppers, tomatoes with mediterranean herbs and to wash it down; carafe of red wine. woowie, woovie, wooww. red wine; divine, crepes; divine. am i dreaming? we are on rue cler, sitting outside, dusk time, perfect weather, with divine wine and crepes, nice hosts, watching people pass by. And the prices are not expensive at all. embarrassed with earlier thoughts, i restore my faith in french again.

ohhhhh what’s that? hold onnnn. wait a minute. stop there. what do i see on that chalk panel written down? greek food? as soon as i see that, i hear them talk greek among themselves. woow. so they are not french after all. how very disappointing. they are warm blooded, fun-loving, hospitable greeks just like their arch nemesis; turks. i feel so comfortable and at home. we order a second carafe of wine and the greek guy gives us more wine on the house and charges us less than the money we owe. hey maybe french could learn a thing or two or nine from the hospitable greeks. (later we read that rick steves also suggested this place)

all right now the night time is upon us. time to take the glass boat trip. sliding through the seine river underneath the starry sky with soft french music in the background, i close my eyes and make a wish as we pass under the "make-a wish-bridge". What a day!

with ♥ from paris

yes with love from paris, but whose love? certainly not the french's. we are greeted by the stuffy, stinky, outdated, falling apart, urine smelling airport that is charles du gaulle. really........ is this the major airport of paris? i guess so.

we wait patiently for what seems like an eternity to retrieve our bags from the again stopping, starting, stopping, starting carousel. after 30 minutes of successful luggage battle, our real battle begins with the parisian public transport system. yes you guessed it, there are no signs of anything english, so we find ourselves running around like chickens with their heads cut off. first we take the train from the airport (outskirts) of paris to the gare du nord. i am in shock. the view form the train window looks like a 3rd world country. extremely hideous buildings with graffiti every square inch as far as the eye can see. after arriving to gare du nord, this time the struggle with metro begins. we finally manage to get to our stop. (tip: metro in paris is really outdated and old so when it stops, you have to manually flip the handle to kindly let yourself out)

i crawl out of the metro hole and voila! i am in paris. i look around and feel the instant connection. this is love at first sight. i am blown away with paris already without seeing anything. the grandeur, the aestheticism and the elegant presence of the buildings that surround me are just enough reasons to come visit paris, i realize with joy. and these are just apartment buildings people reside in. they remind me of my collage bogazici university in istanbul. lots of ornaments, details, ironwork in each and every building on the streets. one can't stop but wonder how they had the patience to construct all these unique and detailed beauties. they never went and said "ohhhh enough is enough, lets just build this one plain and simple. put some cement and erect some floors on it, we don't have time to deal with this anymore???"

our hotel is on a quiet street with a lovely receptionist woman who is very friendly and speaks 3 languages. french, english and portuguese. unfortunately the room is not ready yet so she advises us to walk around and visit the bazaar nearby where they sell fresh fruits, cheese, flowers, jewelry etc. we happen to come across a mini bakery, where i get brushetta champignon. first bite: spongy and greasy and second bite: big thick black piece of human hair staring at me sarcastically as if foreshadowing all the food nightmares to come in this so called fine food capital of the world. i throw the whole thing into dumpster. ok, let's keep moving. now i have to quench my thirst, then maybe i will erase the memory of this hairy situation. there it is. bottles of water in a fridge. i go inside and get one and proceed to pay however the woman comes at us yelling, "no outside service." what??? and she says "it's 2.5 euro." whatt??? for a tiny bottle of water???? here we go. our first rip-off. at that moment, i visualize myself slamming the bottle on her face multiple times and find myself grinning at the idea. ohhhh

after getting some much needed sleep (2 hours), we throw ourselves into the arms of paris.. well more like into the arms of public buss #63. sitting at the very back, soaking all the scenery, watching the landmarks (eiffel tower, louvre, muse d'orsay) through the rainy bus window, we decide to get off at the heaviest rainfall around the eiffel tower and hop into the first cafe we see. we are seated among the many americans that inhabit the cafe. some cheery, happy, young american girls to our right and slightly subdued young american girls to our left, we almost feel at home. boy are we wrong.

15 euro for 3 courses; hard boiled eggs with mayo, grilled steak with fries and cream caramel. that's what we order. seems to good to be true. right? and it IS. first, it takes the server 15 minutes to bring hard boiled cold eggs to our table. ok that's devoured hence we are starving. then the steak proudly announces its presence after 20 minutes following the cold eggs. fries look real good, yes they are yummy after all they are called french fries. how can they screw them? (they are called french fries but of originality belongs to belgians. just a friendly reminder.) let's move to the grilled steak. one bite and i am in hell. imagine your cheap ass, made in china leather shoe (yes, we all have them). cut the tip of that shoe, put it in your mouth and then start chewing. now roll it from the left side of your canine to the right side and keep repeating until further notice. realize that there is no swallowing that can possibly be done and just roll it out of your mouth and spit it on the side of your plate. faux pas? hmmm some might say so. wait for half an hour for the garson to notice that you barely touched your food and finally have the courage and say "garson bakar misin kardes? take this thing away please and bless me with your cream caramel." garson takes the plate away. good.. that's what i call progress. wait for another 20 minutes for the cream caramel to show up, by the time you taste it, you are physically and emotionally done. wait for another 15 minutes to pay your bill and get the hell out of there as soon as you can. mourn for the 2 hours of your wasted time in paris that you will never get back and get on with your life with an empty stomach.

this is the name and the address of this almost sit-com like place that you should avoid at all times if you happen to be in paris and in that area. you are welcome!


here it is the eiffel tower. big and humongous, it hits you like a ton of.... well steel. it's chilly, cloudy and damp. get some pictures and decide to walk back to our hotel instead of taking the bus. ohh wooww what is that? the sun is coming out with all its glory, ripping the clouds apart and replacing it with blue clear parisian spring like sky. we walk, walk, walk. it's 2 miles to our hotel from the eiffel tower. we pass by all these lovely neighborhoods. one theme that repeats itself at every 5 feet is the abundance of cafes. people sitting outside drinking coffee, wine and enjoying life. so many cafes, all of them so cute, so different and so busy with people. don't these people have to be at work? it's so lively, so happy, so much hustle and bustle. it feels like a big great city and it's a big great city and i feel at home. this is what a city should feel like.

we sit outside in one of the corner cafes, i order a glass of rose wine. omg i am in heaven. i have been released of the steak devil of hell and blessed with the angel of rose de Provence. this is good living at its best. after people watching and enjoying the warmth of the sun on our skin, we continue to walk. walk in those narrow streets filled with many little shops, boutiques, bakeries, art galleries, all with incredibly creative and cute displays. the sun sets around 8:20 pm in paris this time of year. my favorite time of the day: dusk. we walk and walk until the city is lit and finally we close the day.

this is only the first day people. 2 more days in paris to come.