I am happy to report that after a slightly poor start, with the Pisa trip, Florence has been a wonderful place.
We are staying at Hotel David, which is a bus ride from the main historical centre, and is a really lovely hotel. Free internet, happy hour, large room…all v good. We haven’t really done as many sites as in other places, partly because of an increasing case of museum fatigue, but also because a lot of what we wanted to see was in one place – the Ufizzi. To explain a little, when I studied art history at school, I particularly loved the Italian renaissance period. We had a huge heavy book that was so expensive we shared one copy between two students, and it was just page after page of completely fabulous paintings. And it seemed that almost every second one was at the Ufizzi. So I’ve always thought, one day I’ll go to the Ufizzi and see these paintings in person.
The Florentines are very organised about their museums, and you can book ahead to avoid a long queue. But you can also just turn up and queue, thank goodness, because that is what we did.
We got there at 7.45am and the queue was already quite long, but not as bad as when it opened at 8.15, and actually we only queued until 8.45. The whole queueing/booking thing means that once you are inside, there are no huge crowds, and you have a lot of space to move around and actually see things up close and take your time. So I had a completely wonderful time wandering around in awe, seeing all these fabulous paintings in person at last. Andrew enjoyed it too, but it would be fair to say I got the most out of it! I bought the Ufizzi catalogue too, which is a beautiful book. They have gone all out on the shops at the exit of the Ufizzi, you have to walk through about 6 to leave the place, so all your shoppings are well catered for!
The shopping here in Florence is great. More leather than you could poke a stick at, and the salesmen are very good. Before you know it you’re trying on a coat (“just for fun!”) and they are telling you what a great price you can get…just for you. Very amusing but I have
not bought a great deal yet. I did try to, in one shop, but needed photo ID to use a credit card. And being all security conscious had left passport etc in hotel safe. This is a good handbrake on spending.
Speaking of safety, Andrew met a hapless American couple at the laudromat who were having a terrible trip. They had decided to stay in Naples for three days (!! they had not heard about the rubbish! or the crime! Actually as an aside, when we passed through Naples on a train up to Siena from Sorrento, we tried very hard to spy a big pile of rubbish, but we didn’t see anything at all. We were, however, sitting opposite a man I am sure was junior mafioso, he looked very mean and menacing. But actually not as mean and menacing as his girlfriend. Each time she woke up she glared at me, and I don’t know why. Italians can be scary somethimes). The first day the American man had his wallet stolen, then their car was broken into, and the car broke down (this is questionable, there was something “wrong” with the car, you had to depress the clutch to change gear…) at 2am in middle of nowhere, and now they were in Florence and couldn’t find a park anywhere, so hadn’t done anything. Oh dear. And next they are going to Venice, so god knows what they will do with the car…Anyway, they really were the perfect lesson in how not to be tourists, so after that I actually felt we are doing extremely well.
Andrew has caught a cold and is all warm and feverish, so he spent the last 24 hours in Florence feeling being very low key, resting up, while I pounded the streets making sure I had covered everything (ie shop) I wanted to. Expect to see me wearing scarves this winter, for I have bought a few. So chic. So Italian. Lets hope I can pull it off in Wellington.
We got into a good little routine in Florence, popping out first thing to get the paper from the local paper man (he just handed it to me this morning, without me even asking), having breakfast, and jumping on the bus for the day’s touring around. Then at lunch time today we got the train to Venice, and headed out of town.
Must say I am relieved to have our last train trip behind us. They are all well and good, but kind of dirty and tiring too. Why IS sitting on your arse for several hours so tiring? There must be a good reason. Also Europeans are frightfully bossy about having their proper allocated seat. Today a German couple were bossing around a couple of young ladies, insisting one move so the man could sit in his allocated seat. Then the woman tried to get the other young lady to move, so that a woman and her (adult) daughter could sit closer to each other! I was completely fed up with their bossiness by this stage, and the young ladies were actually looking quite distressed, so I pointed out there were seats for everyone, and told them all to just sit down. They were shocked into silence and did sit down. Honestly. Turned out the two girls were from Timaru! But currently living in Ireland. We had a nice long conversation while the German couple recovered and occasionally tried to glare at me, but you know me, no-one gets the better of me in a glaring competition!!
Was feeling bossy all round today. Was waiting in queue for a loo and there was a man in one having a long telephone conversation! Was a little desperate so rapped loudly on the door. The man waiting in line in front of me (yes, unisex toilets) nearly had an attack of the vapours. Am not sure what was so controversial about telling someone to hurry up, seems odder to me to carry on a conversation in a loo. Ahh Europeans, such interesting people.
And on that note I will leave this blog entry. We have arrived in Venice, and I LOVE it. We are in another sensational hotel, and the city is again absolutely wonderful, but I will leave my ravings for another day. Ciao!!
