Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1926-02-04
organ County McConnelsv1e February 1926

packed. People going to Rome
i for holy year The man with our
| baggage did not want us to try to
get on, but we managed to crowd
into the train with difficulty. Very
lucky for us, two people, beside
whose seat we were standing, dis
| covered they were in the wrong
train, so got up and left. Their
seat was to be ours, thank fortune!
The place was just packed. Never
anything much worse. The trip
was very pleasant however. Though
we had had our dinner only short
while before, ate lot. That al
ways makes time fly. Peaches,
grapes and nice ice cream brought
to the train before it pulled out.
The scenery between Bologna
and Florence was perfectly wonder
ful. Such lovely hills lined with
tall cypress trees. The little viii
lagos nestled at their feet. / was
never so delighted with scenery
before There were many vine
yards. The effect of warmer eli
mate was shown in the agriculture,
and the many groves of olive trees.
There were SO many tunnels i
did not like them because they
made us miss some of the wonderful
views. 1t took such short time,
| only five hours, to make the trip.
Could hardly believe our eyes when
we saw ourselves in Florence. The
| trip was very satisfactory, and /
think that the more / travel in
Italy the better l shall like it--a
beautiful country.
Florence Wonderful Place
| Florence: There is no place
like Florence. l can't imagine lik-
! ing any place as we'll. Pensione
Bancha is a very nice place to live.
That is perhaps why I find Florence
such comfortable place to live in.
Then it is not large, SO one can get
around very easily. There are some
English ladies at our pensione, and
an American lady, as well as some
French, Italians and Germans. The
place is very nice. We have a cute
| little table for two. Just next to us
is an Irishman who talks to us but
talks SO low you can hardly under
stand anything he says.
I Our room is right on the piazza.
The beds are very comfortable We
have three mirrors and a little re-
ception room. | am very happy.
One of the incest things is a table
can pile my things on. In reading
/ Ea ic+o Of r
more than surprised to find how
many famous people lived here:
/ Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Angelo,
Dante, Savonarola, Andrea del Sar-
to, Boccaccio. Browning, Gallileo.
and Raphael. The first five of
these, as we'll as many great artists,
/ were born here. 1t is such a wonder
full place The history is also very
interesting The Medici family
ruled here. Thanks to them, all
these wonderful pictures have been
gathered here. The last of the
Medici willed everything to Flor
ence on condition that nothing was
ever to leave Florence and nothing
was to be sold.
Being Sunday, the galleries were
free, SO we went to see the UffiZzi
and Pitti. My first walk down to
the Piazza Vecchio was very inter
esting to me. / was deeply i'm
pressed. We went through the
Palazzo Vecchio. The court yard is
most glorious. The wonderful old
pillars, built in the 14th century
The palace, designed as meeting
hall for the Signoria, was later used
by Duke Cosimo | as residence. 1t
is the only palace have ever seen in
which l could imagine anyone liv
ing. Beautiful tapestries and tables.
All of the palaces have such beauti-
full desks and sets of drawers. The
great hall is very interesting. 1t
was built by the city for the Great
Council that met after the Medicis
were expelled.
Next to the Palazzo Vecchio is the
Ufizzi. I was never SO bewildered
by so many beautiful paintings be-
FORE There is simply no way of
describing them. Everyone must
go and see them. I liked especially
well those of Andrea del Sarto, Bot
ticelli, Raphael, Rembrandt, Van
Dyk, and Titan. / never was more
deeply impressed.
We then went to the Pitti There
! is a corridor connecting the two.
The gallery is not quite so large,
but every room has many famous
things. | was so pleased. 1t is
such a wonderful feeling to see the
things you have always longed to
see, the originals of pictures that
/ you have only seen prints or copies
of. We planned to buy some prints.
A rainy afternoon gave me
chance to do little breathing. I
| got to write and read. We then
went to call on lady, an acquaint-
ance. l am not very mad about her.
She talked about life not being very
happy or interesting. The Irishman
talked lot at supper.
Monday morning: We wanted to
get an early start at sightseeing,
so got off right after breakfast Took
nice walk. 1t is so much fun to
exchange money. The Ira has gone
up again. We went to the market
very interesting, but did not
think any Of the baskets or hats
nice. The linen was very lovely, but
far from cheap. Then we went to
the Ponte Vecchio, an old covered
bridge built in the 18th century,