Firenze (Florence), Italy

Florence (Firenze), Italy is the city where the Renaissance began.  Over a one hundred year period, Florence produced a succession of artistic geniuses:  Brunelleschi (1377),  Ghiberti (1381),  Donatello (1386),  Fra Angelico (1395), DaVinci (1452) and Michelangelo (1475).  Combined with Florence's powerful political family, the Medici's, Florence became renowned for its art treasures.  That reputation survives today.

As with any good medieval town, Florence has a piazza which contains their major cathedral.  In Florence, it's not one building, but a series of buildings including the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, the corresponding Baptistery, and the Giotto Campanile (bell tower).  These buildings were begun in 1296 and completed in 1436.  They were 'faced' with elaborately carved marble panels in the 18th century.  Also in the piazza is the modern Duomo Museum which hold treasures that have been brought indoors to preserve them.  Replicas have replaced the originals.

Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore)
one of buildings in the Duomo Piazza

The cathedral and attached dome was designed by Fillipo Brunelleschi, the founding father of Renaissance architecture, and the originator of modern construction techniques.  Brunelleschi's dome started construction in 1420, and was so innovative his building techniques were copied by other architects for the next one hundred years.

Model of Brunelleschi's dome in the Duomo Museum

The entire Duomo Plaza is a UNESCO Heritage Site.  Our hotel in Florence was on the Plaza, so we walked past these famous buildings every day.

There's the dome peeping out behind the cathedral

Every inch of the plaza is decorated.  We saw something different every time we passed by the various buildings.

Not only did saints decorate the exterior of the cathedral, but some statues or busts were of famous, rich Florencians who paid to be included.

The Medici family ruled the city state of Florence, and over the decades of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods were major art patrons for some of the most famous artists the world has ever known.  Today, their art collection is called The Uffizi Museum, and it contains iconic paintings and statues.  Here's one of its most famous.

Boticelli's Venus

Contemporary with the building of the famous Duomo buildings, and during the rule of the Medici's, a humble Dominican friar, Fra Angelica, was creating world famous frescoes for the cells of his fellow monks.  His most famous fresco is called, "The Annunciation"

Fra Angelica's "The Annunciation"

Before Michelangelo, the most famous Italian sculptor was Donatello who cast the first full size bronze statue since the first century.  His "David", cast in 1430, was carefully studied by Michelangelo prior to the creation of his David.  Today, Donatello's famous statue is part of the collection at the Bargello Art Museum in Florence.

Donatello's 'David'

Seventy years later, Michelangelo produced his idea of "David"

Michelangelo's "David"

This statue was originally designed to be in a niche on the cathedral, but it was so magnificent, the city fathers decided to put it on a pedestal in the heart of political Florence, the Piazza del Signoria.  He stood there until 1873 when he was moved indoors to the Academia Museum.  Michelangelo was only 25 years old when he sculpted 'David'.  This sculpture represented the emerging Renaissance philosophy of humanism.

Over the centuries, pollution and weather began degradation of Florence's outdoor art work.  The solution was to create the Duomo Museum to preserve the outdoor artworks from the Duomo Piazza. Gradually, many of the outdoor decorations on the cathedral and baptistery were moved indoors and replaced with replicas.  The Duomo Museum now contains the originals.  The most famous of these are the doors to the Baptistery designed by Ghiberti.  When Michelangelo saw them for the first time, he commented they looked like the Gate to Paradise.  They've been known by that title ever since.

 Me in front of the Gate to Paradise

The doors are designed like French doors.  Instead of window panes, Ghiberti sculpted brass pictures of biblical scenes.  He also included his own self portrait on the doors.  Many art historians consider the doors the first great Renaissance art work.  Ghiberti is buried in Santa Croce, another famous Florence Cathedral.

Ghiberti's self portrait on the Gate to Paradise doors

Florence was Drake's favorite city on our Italian tour.  It was compact, extremely walkable, and at every turn there was some magnificent piece of art to admire, a pastry and coffee to linger over, or a lovely meal to eat.  We took a break from churches and art museums and went to the Galileo Museum of Science.  It was there we discovered Galileo's original telescopes.  

These are the telescopes Galileo used to discover four of the moons of Jupiter and to study Saturn

 
Close up view of Gallileo's 20X telescope.  The camera I used to take this picture has a magnification of 35X. 

By far the creepiest object in the science museum was the reliquary (sealed container) containing Galileo's actual finger. 

This contains the middle finger of Galileo's right hand

I don't know what genius thought this up, but really?  This was the first of many reliquaries we saw in Italy.  There are preserved pieces of people (saints usually) in decorative jars and boxes all over the place in Italy.  Gallileo's finger was just the kick off.  Almost every church we visited had a little 'nook' where they kept their grizzly items. 

In Florence I began to study the huge variety of what I call 'Mary' art.  Catholicism reveres Mary.   Artists generally portray Mary in four ways: The Annunciation (when the angel tells her she is pregnant with Jesus), the Nativity, (Jesus' birth in the stable), the Madonna and Child, and Jesus crowning her as the Queen of Heaven.  Here is a marble statue of Mary and Jesus in a niche on the front of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in the Duomo Plaza

When you head to the famous Uffizi Museum (part of the art collection of the Medici family) you arrive at the Piazza della Signoria where "David" stood for hundreds of years.  (Today a fake David (a perfect replica stands there).  There's still a collection of original statuary underneath a portico just before turning into the street where the Uffizi is located.  During the 'high season', you can wait in the piazza and the street for several hours in order to enter the museum.  In December, we just walked in.

Piazza della Signoria

The building with the tower in the Piazza della Signoria was the center of Florencian government during the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque era when the Medici family ruled the city.  Today, this is another museum which is mainly weapons and armor.  We skipped this one.  Can you believe there was actually a museum we missed?

One of the most famous statues in this piazza is by another famous sculptor, Cellini.

Cellini's sculpture of Perseus holding head of Medusa - 1545

Arriving at the Uffizi Museum, you climb four flights of stairs and enter the museum to see some of the most iconic pictures and statues ever produced.

Here's one of the most famous paintings in the Uffizi.

Venus by Botticelli 

The Uffizi, as well as the other Florencian museums, hold multiple versions of the Madonna and Child.  Here is Fillipo Lippi's version 

Lippi's version includes Angels holding the Christ child

     Raphael's version is called the Madonna of the Goldfinch

Raphael's Madonna includes John the Baptist

 handing a goldfinch to Jesus

Another artist Florence introduced me to was actually a family of artists.  The Della Robbia family produced ceramics for four generations beginning with Luca della Robbia.  Here's are some examples of their ceramic work which are four portraits of Mary:  The top is the Annunciation.  The bottom left is the Nativity.  The center bottom is crowing of Mary in heaven, and the bottom right is the Madonna and Child

The Medici family loved luxury.  They furnished the Pitti Palace with their decorative art collection as well as their lesser paintings which didn't make the cut to hang in the Uffizi.  When Napoleon conquered Italy, the Pitti Palace was his headquarters.  We walked through room after room  sumptuously decorated with inlaid tables, ceramics, clocks, paintings, statuary, and furnishings.  There were intensely decorated ceilings which were so lavish they were overwhelming.

This is only a small portion of one lavishly decorated ceiling in the
Medici Pitti Palace 

The impetus for the Italian trip was the Art History class I took last spring at an Arizona community college.  I arrived in Italy with a 'list' of iconic paintings and sculptures which I wanted to see in person thanks to that class.  Some works were obvious:  Michelangelo's works for example.  However, in Florence one particular art piece I was looking for was the fresco that started the idea of using perspective in paintings.  The name of this artist is almost unknown today.  He's Masaccio, and here's his fresco that started it all.

Masaccio's "Holy Trinity" - with Mary looking at the viewer
& inviting them to Christianity over the dead body of Adam - a cautionary that death comes to every human being

As always, I took tons and tons of pictures.  I split them up into separate albums, so they wouldn't be so overwhelming.  Pick and choose as you wish.  My pictures of Florence include museums, cathedrals, monasteries, and the Gallileo Science Museum.

Duomo Plaza, Cathedral, San Lorenzo Church & Santa Maria Novella Church  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9bGQXm7nC8Dm2A537

Galileo Museum
https://photos.app.goo.gl/GTrp9AYNSDZMdrXv8

Museum of San Marco (Fra Angelica's Monastery)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/RvPqxjD8zdm1HSXG6

Academia Musuem (home of David & other Michelangelo sculptures)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/E3oSkLo8R3Z3N2zT7

Uffizi Musuem (Medici art collection)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ckmqax2JBsSi6WP88

Bargello Museum (Donatello sculptures)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KrY49PbtCrrVtFLWA

Pitti Palace & Boboli Gardens (Decorative arts)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/odz7WAd9UeXLc8bC7

Roma

Roma was fascinating.  I've always wanted to see this city.  It took the Roman Empire 200 years to rise to be the dominant power in the world which they then maintained for 500 years.  The Roman decline and fall took 200 to 300 years.  The influence of their culture and language is embedded in our culture today.  For example, about 60% of the words in English have a Greek or Latin root.  It rises to 90% for scientific and technical words.  Architecture, city design, military organization, and a myriad of other aspects of our culture can be directly linked to the Romans. 

By 500 ACE, the Christians, (Catholics) were in firm control of central Italy and Western civilization.  The Pope was the most powerful ruler in Europe with the most money and the biggest armies.  The territory of the 'Vatican' was actually the entire center section of Italy.  With the fall of the Romans, the Catholics rejected most Roman customs (including bathing) and ushered in the Middle Ages.  The Pope was the new Emperor.

The buildings of Rome fell to ruin and some of the building material was taken by the Pope to build the new monuments to Christianity.  For instance, marble was taken from the Pantheon (the most complete Roman temple in existence today) and used to build St. Peter's Basilica.  Gradually, over 1000 years, even the Forum filled up with silt and rubbish.  It was excavated and restored beginning in the early 1800's.  There's still archaeological work taking place in both the Forum and The Colosseum.

The Colosseum was super impressive.  The pictures I'd seen didn't convey the massive presence of this A.D. 80 building.  It took a decade to built it - from A.D. 70 - 80.  As a tourist today, it was easy to imagine the spectacles staged there in Roman times.  It was built by Vespasian on Nero's razed palace as a gift to the people of Rome.  In the first opening week, 9000 animals and people were killed.  The stench of blood hovered over the Colosseum during the grand opening.   To attend an event in the Colosseum, you purchased (or were given) a broken shard of pottery which was your 'ticket'. Scratched on the shard was your row, seat, and section number.  (Sound familiar?)  You entered and exited the arena based on that pottery shard.  It was said, the Colosseum could be cleared of people in 15 minutes.  Having seen the immense size of the arena, I'm skeptical.

The spectacles were massive theatrical performances in which death just happened to play a part.  It wasn't just gladiators fighting or animals killing people.  Today, it's hard to understand how killing people and animals could be 'entertainment'.  The best explanation is the Romans were conquerors.  Military campaigns were constantly being waged as they gobbled up territory and the wealth that came with it.  People in captured territories were considered less than human because they weren't Romans.  Deaths were considered a by-product of Roman conquests.  In a world in which the Romans dominated, Roman citizenship was a serious benefit and highly sought after. 

A captured high ranking prisoner could be the star of a play staged at the Colosseum; however, the play's ending always resulted in his death.   Under the 'floor' of the arena was a twisting labyrinth of tunnels, chambers, and staging areas to prepare the spectacles.  The arena floor could even be flooded, and 'naval battles' could be fought.  This area is still being excavated today in a massive archaeological dig.  The entire arena seating area was 'faced' in white marble. 

(This was prime building material, and was quickly looted.)  There's a small section that has been re-faced to give visitors the feel for what it must have looked like during its heyday.

       

Every novel of Rome I've ever read references the 'hills'.  Well, they're really there and there's lots of them.  You're always walking either uphill or down constantly.  I discovered
The older the street, the harder it is to walk on.  The most famous 'uphill' is the Spanish Steps.  That's exactly what they are - a magnificent staircase that starts at the
Piazza Spagna and goes up to the Triesti Monti Church.  Oh, that's  it's 170 steps UP.  I know.  I counted them.

The Coliseum, The Forum and the Pantheon are more impressive in real life than in pictures.  There are beautiful fountains and sculptures all over Rome.  The Trevi Fountain (sculpted in the 1700's) was unbelievably gorgeous - even surrounded by a few hundred people.

The Italians could learn something about toilets from the Japanese.  All Italian toilets outside your hotel room are smaller than 1940 telephone booths.  Nine out of ten of womens' toilets will have no seat.  Man, is that porcelain cold in December.  There are no paper towels in Italian bathrooms.  There's plenty of soap, but you have to play, "Search for the water turn on".  Could be automatic under the faucet, could be automatic above the faucet, could be a handle, could be a pedal on the floor.  This persisted every place we went in Italy.

If it's not a church, there's a cloak room - except they won't check your coat.  We got around the 'system' by Drake carrying our backpack practically empty and then, we stuffed our coats, scarves, gloves and hats in it.  Cloak rooms will always check your backpack.

The concept of 'refill' or 'go cup' does not exist in Italy.  Each drink, especially the coffee/expresso drinks are individually crafted and served in china cups with saucers, and small metal spoons.  I quickly learned there are spoons to eat food, and spoons you stir coffee, and a different sized spoon you stir espresso.  Every food product, even 'fast food' was individually made when you ordered it.  The only food this did not apply to was pizza - there are shops with ten different types of pizza slices ready to be picked up, taken out, and eaten standing up as you walk to your next destination.

We loved the food everywhere we went whether it was a sandwich or a multi-course sit down restaurant.  We must have eaten pasta fifteen times, and each time the pasta was perfect.  I also ate a lot of seafood in my pasta.  Another little difference is when you order a pizza - and they are all individually ordered in a restaurant and already designated as to type and ingredients - it comes uncut.  The diner is expected to cut up his own pizza.

We struggled to eat at 'correct' times.  In Italy, people traditionally eat dinner after 7:30 pm, and most restaurants close after 4 pm and don't re-open until 7:00 pm.  Many times, we would be the only people in a restaurant at 7:00 pm.  Evening meals in restaurants typically last two hours or more.  Getting a check is like finding hens' teeth.  The concept of 'turning the table' hasn't caught on in Italy.  Public televisions are limited to sports bars.  Most restaurants, even casual ones, didn't feature televisions, or even much music.  You can linger as long as you like.

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about Vatican City.  It's a postage stamp of a country surrounded by a 15 foot high brick wall with a few openings (or gates) to get in.  Inside is the most famous Christian church in the world:  St. Peter's Basilica.  St. Peter is supposedly buried under the altar.  The church was designed by Michelangelo and finished by Bernini.  It took decades to build and was designed and re-designed.  The Pope's 'chapel' is rather famous since Michelangelo painted the ceiling and 30 years later he painted the fresco covering the back wall.   The ceiling is pure Renaissance, and the back wall is veering into the Baroque.  The Catholics protect images of 'The Sistine Chapel' with the same ferocity Disney protects images of Mickey Mouse.

We bought 'early bird' tickets to see the chapel - we actually were there with about 20 people, and we got to see this magnificent work of art before the rest of the building was even open.  You aren't allowed to take any pictures of the Chapel.  Even in December, you can easily be one of 300 seeing the chapel.  I can't imagine the lines in July.

St. Peter's Basilica is a work of art which holds works of art.  Everywhere you look, there is something awe inspiring. 

The famous 'horse shoe' colonnade studded with statues surrounding three sides of the piazza where the faithful hear the Pope's addresses was designed and built by the famous sculptor Bernini.  He also designed the structure over the altar called a Baldachin.

The most famous work of art at St. Peter's is Michelangelo's "Pieta".  Works of art were not signed during this time period (1500).  However, he was only 19 years old when he carved the work, and he overheard other artists saying he couldn't

possibly be the artist since he was so young.  Michelangelo promptly carved' "Michelangelo made this" across a marble strap on Mary's gown.

The patronage of the Catholic church financed great works of art revered today.  Michelangelo was the favorite artist of Pope Julian II.  The Cardinal from the Borgia family was Bernini's great patron.  Today, the subject matter of the art seems restrictive, but the great talent which created it can't be denied.  It was in Rome when I realized how much I'd learned in my Art History class last spring.  I had a mental checklist of Renaissance and Baroque art which I wanted to see, and it was all so amazing in person.  Pictures just call up the memory of the actual piece.

Not only was I interested in Michelangelo, but also Caravaggio, who actually invented the Baroque style of painting, and is one of the most famous artists of the era.  Artists were

"The Calling of St. Matthew" by Caravaggio

commissioned by rich patrons, many of whom were high church officials.  We found priceless paintings in church after church.  To view this painting in the church where it's located, we actually had to deposit three euros in a locked box, so flood lights would come on.  Then we were able to view the painting.             

English is everywhere, and most people working with tourists speak more than enough.  I did find my app'translator' helpful at times.  Our main obsession, not only in Rome, but in every city, was getting our laundry done.  We did drop off/pick up 'wash and fold' in every city.  It was adequate especially when hotels charge $8 euros for a single shirt.  Our usual laundry bill was about $20 euros for a full washer load.

Drake was so clever.  He actually found an electronic device he rented for a pittance which created our own personal wi-fi network.  We kept our phones on airplane mode, turned off 'cellular data', and used the wi-fi network device.  It was the size of a cassette and created a secured network which we were the only users.  It was great to have the internet when we were on the move.

I honestly can't say I really 'know Rome'.  What I know is the tourist Rome as we went from attraction to attraction.  I've been spoiled by how we've traveled over the past ten years - spending months in a single place.  This vacation to Italy was just skimming over the top and cherry picking the obvious.  Even so, we had a wonderful time in each of the four cities we visited.  Each experience was different.

Everyone will be completely surprised that I took oodles of pictures.  Click on as many or as few as you wish

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uZDVWZBQDSL5G8NH7

     

   

Vote!

Tune in; turn on; and don't drop out - instead VOTE.  All of us of a 'certain age' remember the 60's counterculture mantra which suggested:  get politically active; don't be afraid to experiment with those alluring mind altering substances; and for pete's sake, don't just accept you have to do the same old same old represented by your parents' humdrum, hypocritical lives.

Getting politically active meant protests to the political boomers of the '60's and '70's.  Today, the radical move is to VOTE your convictions, and to convince others around you to VOTE.  If you don't like or if you do like your city/state/nation's political stance, well get out there and either endorse it or insist that it change by using your vote.

One of the most dangerous things happening in this country is overt voter suppression.  Never forget 'the poll tax', the 'literacy test' and the other Jim Crow statutes which kept Southern African Americans from voting for almost 100 years.  It makes perfect sense for power mongers afraid of losing that power to suppress the vote either through making it impossible to vote (long lines, few machines, unreasonable documentation), or by using gerrymandering (drawing lines of a Congressional District in such a way to insure the outcome of the vote). 

Voters can topple the most free spending, string pulling, behind the scenes wealthy individual or 'Political Action Committee' pushing an agenda which benefits a very narrow stripe of the electorate.  PAC's and the uber wealthy often think their opinion counts the most because they have money.  So not true.  One voice can change the world.  You don't think so?  The best ideas, the best political movements, the best innovations always start with one voice, and that voice is usually not steeped in wealth.  That's what your vote is:

YOUR VOICE

If you think this country is headed in a direction you don't like or one you do, I'm not willing to have a discussion with you about your views until you pass MY litmus test:

DID YOU VOTE?  

The National Quilt Museum, Paducah, Kentucky

(This blog entry is dedicated to my friend Marjorie Cunningham, the best quilter I know.)

One of the joys of returning to Arizona from the East Coast is you GAIN THREE HOURS since Arizonians do not believe in Daylight Savings Time.  While the rest of the country struggles twice a year to change cyclical body rhythms, Arizonians just laugh.  

It seemed to take forever to get out of the Eastern Daylight Savings Time Zone so I could suck up those free hours, but once we hit Western Kentucky, suddenly there one was.  It took me about five minutes to find The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, to wile away my free hour.  Drake, laughing, said, "You didn't waste any time spending that hour, did you?  As always, he was a good sport and drove me right to the museum.

This sculpture right outside the museum was rather baffling.  Here's the sign which 'explains' it.

The museum holds between 600 and 700 quilts.  They acquire award winners, think "Best in Show" from the National Quilt Show held in Kentucky each year.  They also acquire other quilts from 'sister' country quilters - usually Japan, where quilting is an art form.  Additionally, the 'Best in Show' at any major quilt show around the country can wind up in the museum.  Most quilters are thrilled and flattered to be asked for their quilts, and wind up either donating them, or allowing them to be hung for an amount of time.  The museum also purchases antique quilts from various sources.  One special  exhibit when we visited included quilts from the 1920's and 1930's.

Artists' quilts are about as far from your grandmother's 'pieced' quilt tops as you can get.  The fabrics and techniques are choices made by true artists.  In that vein,

I thought the above quilt currently hanging in the museum is the most unusual one I've ever seen, and I swear I've seen a real Tiffany wisteria window which was the model and inspiration for the quilt pictured below.

Perhaps, you prefer a more fantastical approach to your quilt.  This should be your cup of tea:

If you can't figure this out, you're looking at a quilt narrating the book, The Hobbit.  The dragon, Smaug, is sitting on his gold in the upper right hand corner.  

Here's Drake's favorite.  It's a quilting artist's rendition of an astronomical event:  The collision of two stars.

Birds were also liberally represented.  Here's my favorite 'bird' quilt:

I could continue to post quilt after quilt each of which is boggling in the colors, the textures, the subject matter, and even the size.  There's an entire nook of 'miniature' quilts.

The traditional quilt is not neglected.  One special exhibition consisted of the quilts based on the Kansas City Star newspaper patterns.  In 1928, in order to encourage women to read the Kansas City Star newspaper, the paper began publishing a quilt pattern in the newspaper.  It was free to anyone who bought a paper.   

Pineapple pattern from 1932

The museum has collected examples of the quilts created based on the free quilt patterns.  The 'sheet' shows what was published in the newspaper. 

Here's one of my favorites a 1929 airplane pattern - three years after 'Lucky Lindy' flew his plane across the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey to Paris.

The 1929 Airplane Quilt

Another exhibition was simply entitled 'Color'.  You can see why from a close up picture of one of the examples.

Another fascinating aspect of this museum were the stories of the quilters explaining their inspirations and artistic processes.

Here's the explanation of the above quilt:

This museum is proof I never know when I'm going to encounter art.  If you want to see the rest of these amazing quilts, click the link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sdWRsG1UToC5eCXs5  

  

Farewell, Saratoga Springs

Our time is coming to an end in this charming upstate, New York town.  We would have stayed longer except for one little hiccup:  Jury Duty.  That's what you get when you get a new driver's license.  It's the invisible lagniappe the Arizona DMV attached to our shiny, new licenses.  I was supposed to report last March (IN SCHOOL), then June (already left the STATE), so finally, now I have to appear on October 15th.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm done my jury duty - about four or five times in Tarrant County, Texas.  You'd think that'd be enough for dismissal.  You'd think being over 65 would be enough for dismissal.  You'd think because I only live in the flippin' state about 6 months each year would be enough for dismissal.  No, they want me to pay their state income tax, and serve on their juries.  SO BE IT.  They just registered a new Democrat eager to turn this state purple and then blue.

Saratoga Springs is about as far away topographically from the desert as one can get.  It's magnificently, brilliantly green instead of brown.  Huge trees of every variety both evergreen and deciduous cover the lovely worn down hills of the Adirondacks.  And water, well, there's water everywhere.  Thanks to glaciers scraping back and forth, there are tiny ponds, a network of creeks, rivers (including The Hudson River) and one huge Lake (Lake Champlain).  The abundance of navigable bodies of water triggered the history of the area.

When we first arrived here, we encountered a sign which read:

History

Health

Horses

The American history of Saratoga Springs is this is the place of a turning point in our favor in the American Revolution:  The Battle of Saratoga.

There's a national battlefield, but I really like the monument

They're pretty serious about Early American History around here.  Meet Ken and his personal cannon.  Yep, Ken owns his own cannon cast from an original one lost in Lake Champlain in the 18th century.  This man is a serious re-enactor.  I said, "Ken, why did you buy a cannon?"  He replied, "I go to a lot of schools, and it's a great way to teach the American history of this place."  Good enough for me, Ken

It didn't take us long to start drinking at the various natural springs dotting Saratoga Springs.  Mostly they are all YUCK - super carbonated, iron tasting, sulphur tasting or some disgusting combination.  Finally, someone tipped us the best tasting water in the area is from Spring #1, and there are four spigots continually running spring water.  There's always three to six people filling everything from personal water bottles to five gallon jugs.  And, I can testify, the water is delish.  Those other springs, not so much.

However, those other springs were flowing money in the 19th century.   As soon as the railroads built lines from Boston and New York, 'spas' and hotels appeared.  Entire families arrived for six to eight weeks to take the 'springs cure'.  Saratoga Springs as well as surrounding towns such as Ballston Spa cashed in.

A famous prize fighter with discretionary cash arrived in summer time Saratoga Springs to find bored men accompanying their wives, children, or sisters for the cure.  Not for long.  The prize fighter got together with some heavy hitters in the racing business, and the Saratoga Race Track was born in 1863 one month after the Battle of Gettysburg.  They've been racing thoroughbred horses here ever since.  The big race, named after Henry Travers (one of the racing heaving hitters) is still raced and named the Travers Race.  It's the premiere race of the Saratoga track season.

This cup, named "Man O' War" is presented at the
Travers Race every August

An off-shoot of the race track is that Saratoga Springs is the location of National Racing Museum.  After visiting, I thought the 'national' designation was a little ambitious, but there were lots of interesting artifacts as well as far too many paintings of famous horses by mundane artists.  I was intrigued by the four trophies handed out for the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont.  (Yes, I said four.)  

Kentucky Derby Trophy

Preakness Trophy - isn't this a hoot!

Belmont Plate - kind of boring

Yes, that's only three trophies, BUT when a horse wins all three, he's a Triple Crown winner and there's a special pyramidal trophy awarded - thus, occasionally, the fourth trophy.

Each side represents one of the races in the Triple Crown

By far the most fascinating exhibit was the genealogical exhibit.  Did you know ALL thoroughbred race horses trace back to one of three Arabian stallions and a small variety of 'promising dams' bred in England in the 18th century.  Today, 90% of the thoroughbreds can trace their lineage to one of the three stallions - the one who was 'FAST'.  Look at this chart!

We've discovered there should be a fourth "H" on the sign, and it should read "Heifer".  Surrounding Saratoga Springs are farms, a few horse farms, but lots and lots of dairy farms.

We actually took a 'Cheese Tour' around rural upstate New York.  In my fridge right now, there's about half a dozen types of cheese as well as a pint of maple walnut ice cream.  These farms look like picture postcards.  Many of the barns and houses date back to the late 18th century or early 19th century.  

Notice how the bricks are handmade

I had to laugh.  An older woman at this farm selling doughnuts confided HER house just down the road was twenty five years older.

The fifth "H" on the Saratoga Springs sign should be "Heritage".  There are wonderful houses here.  Some date back to the 18th century.  Mostly, though, the town was built in the 19th century.  We found some wonderful examples of architecture here.

That's Drake with the 'other' Jan Sartor

The house above dates from the 1820's.  Here's another one from the Victorian era in the French Empire style.

And, here's a Federalist house from the late 1700's.  

However, when it's all said and done, Saratoga Springs defines itself by its horses.

We've loved living here.  The apartments have been nice, and Drake's had a garage.  The food has been excellent, especially if you love Italian.  I also perfected a recipe here:  Maine Lobster Rolls.  Maine's version uses no mayo or celery.  The lobster is sauteed in flavored butter and served on those weird hot dog buns which look like a folded piece of white bread.  Yum!  The one food downfall was no matter how many places we tried, there's NO MEXICAN FOOD HERE!!!!  I'm about to die from craving Tex/Mex.

What initially attracted us to this place were the cultural performances.  We've seen five ballet performances by the New York City Ballet.  We've seen four performances by the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and we've seen six performances by the Lincoln Center Chamber Society.  With the exception of one ballet which, as we watched, we realized we've always hated, all the performances were wonderful.    

Time to pull up my galoshes and get ready to leave, and we've so needed them.  It's rained constantly for the past four months with the accompanying high humidity.  Everyone up here has complained loudly about the summer weather.  I just thought I was living in summertime New Orleans.  Otherwise, we are sad to leave especially since we are on countdown:  Just over 30 days to wait, and Lucky will be here!