Caffe Rivoire, Firenze: Tales of Tourists Walking Around Aimlessly

Tales of Tourists Walking Around Aimlessly: Florence, Italy


Ah, beautiful Florence Italy. Nestled in the hills of Tuscany, this one time medieval colossus thrives today as a mecca for tourists, students, and artists. Home to Renaissance superstars such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Giotto, and Botticelli. Does the world’s next great artist walk these streets today, disguised as an unsuspecting tourist? Only posterity can know, next time on TALES OF TOURISTS WALKING AROUND AIMLESSLY!

Would not want an overdue book from here

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Hemingway in Paris

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Ernest Hemingway came to Paris in the 1920s on Sherwood Anderson’s advice to go to Paris and meet Gertrude Stein. The advice began one of the most influential careers in the history of literature. Today, we fashioned a Hemingway Literary walk that began with his first apartment on Rue Notre Dame de les Champs and finished on the Left Bank at Shakespeare and Co., the bookstore that took its name from Sylvia Beach’s store of the same name. Here was our itinerary:

Hemingway in Paris Tour

171 boulevard du montparnasse Closerie des Lilias-Cafe featured in “The Sun Also Rises”
113 rue Notre dame des champs-Hemingway’s first apartment in Paris
74 Cardinal Lemoine-2nd apartment, where he lived longest, where Hadley had Bumby
Rue Mouffetard-Market streets which he described as “a cesspool.”
27 Rue des Fleurus-Gertrude Stein’s apartment & salon, featured in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris.” It was here that young Hemingway met, and began to disdain, the ex-pat American literary society.
Luxembourg Gardens–Park where Hemingway caught a pigeon to eat
Les Deux Magots–Cafe where older Hemingway hung out after WWII
Shakespeare & co (rue odeon)–Original site of Sylvia Beach’s bookstore, now gone. Beach published James Joyces Ulysses which made her ground zero for the Lost Generation literary movement. When they weren’t drunk (and sometimes when they were), ex-pat American writers such as Fitzgerald and Hemingway were often found here. Interestingly, the site also features a plaque to American pamphleteer Thomas Paine, who lived there after the French Revolution.
Shakespeare & Co. (Left Bank)–Across from Notre Dame, bookstore that took its name from the original. Home to backpackers and writer wanna-be’s, the store stamps as books as proof that pilgrims have made the last stop on their Hemingway journey.

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Featured Video: Ken Jennings. Maphead. MarcoNaut!

Hey MarcoNauts! Check out this exclusive interview Marco had with MANY time Jeopardy winner, Ken Jennings!

Ken-clips will be featured here all week!

Featured Video: Louis XVI Takes a Selfie

MarcoNaut, Matt, telling us about his experience at Versailles!

http://youtu.be/CvMSYV_acpE

Florence, Italy Photosynth

Kids! How to tell if your flight’s on time!

Featured Video: The Wall of Mirrors, Versailles

Here’s an update from MarcoNaut, Siena!

http://youtu.be/u-vIwmcxpY0

MarcoNauts Abroad: The AP European History Tour in France & Germany

OK, MarcoNauts! Summer abroad is here! American teens and MarcoNauts Matt and Siena will be taking to the air, rails, and internets to keep you posted on the latest in boring churches, soporific museums, and lifeless palaces now filled with curious, cloying, portly, petulant tourists. Can’t wait! Just look for “sienajeakle” or “mattjeakle” in the byline to see who wrote the post. You’ll notice Siena writing a lot about food and fashion, while Matt is likely to focus on comedy. Both Matt and Siena are high school students preparing for AP European History courses next year, so you can learn along with them.

And let us know about your own travels as we shrink this Big Blue Marble down small enough to marvel at it and have a laugh or two.

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