Last weekend in Florence

Yesterday   I just pottered around my apartment  apart from 3 trips , early coffee and croissant, then second coffee and some food shopping, then , in the early evening, I went to a local bar for an aperol spritz. I quite like sitting quietly in a corner reading and occassionally watching other people..  

Today i went to the museum of the Convent of San Marco. . It was built in the 13th century but enlarged significantly in 1437, paid for by one of the Cosmo s. It is quite plain with lots of small rooms, but lots and lots of frescoes by Fra Angelico. I think of convent  for nuns, but in those days  a convent could be  for men, this one specifically for Domenican monks.  I wandered along some new streets , as per usual, but I am running out  and , as I get closer to my apartment,  I have to go past places I am quite familiar with.

Friday Fiesole

yesterday, Friday, I caught a bus, 30 minute, to Fiesole, a town  north of Florence.. It was founded by the Etruscans in the 9th century BC, then it became an important  Roman town. The large Roman amphitheatre date back to Ist C BCE.  Next to the amphitheatre were some baths and other Roman bits and piece. Their was an intesting museum. I walked back into Florence, stopping at some of the views, but it was overcast or  threatening rain or raining all day. It was not a particula pleasant walk , mainly because the road was quite narrow, and cars were very close when the passed me.   About 1/3 of the walk was quite pleasant, a country lane with high stone walls either side of the road but with occasional views of the large villas  in the grounds behind. The guide book described a particular small church down  a small road. I started walking and passed  a large newish building with a high barbed wire topped fence and a big sign telling visitors what to do. Non EU visitors  had quite a few extras. I went a bit further, then saw  a whole row of flagpoles. More new fences . I decided i did not need to see the church and retraced my steps.

On my way back to my apartment I chanced upon a good place to eat. Spaghetti with a huge amount of seafood. On the edges of the built up part of Florence, not the centre where I am staying. I had walked 14km ,,so i allowed myself a dessert.

Thursday.

After a slow start I walked down to my usual bar for my cappuccino and cornetto and, once again, greeted another regular couple who I see most days. I spent time this morning going through my notes and the guise book to see what else I particularly want to see. 

Lunch was in a place I have been meaning to try for ages. It is small and has always been fill when imhave walked past. So I got there at opening time. There were 5 tables of 4 or they could be split with no more than 1 inch between them for 2 lots of 2. So I was wedged in with mid 4o's man on my left and who I think was his father opposite him. The lady of the house could not get to me  without passing my plate through  my neighbours. They all appeared to be locals. Many diners knew other diners. It was very noisy. Choice of 3 primi s and 3 seconds.  Delicious food. Chestnuts through the soup.   At the end of the meal somehow i started to talk to my neighbours.  i have given up bothering and try and talk in italian but if french comes out, which if often does, too bad. I can usually get my message across.  They wanted to know how I got there and could not understand why I would want to go somewhere that took 4 planes to get to. (it could have been 3 if I went through the middle east )

I pottered in the afternoon and then went to my breakfast bar for an aperol spritz. As I went out I saw the couple that I see most mornings were there too, sitting in a different place to where they sit in the mornings. Small things make me smile.

Wednesday Santi Apostoli

I felt a bit pleased with myself for a short time today. On 2 occassions I was mistaken for Italian. It rained all night and was raining intermittently  all morning. First thing this morning  I was walking back to my apartment after my early morning  cornetto ( croissant not icecream) and coffee. I stopped at a pedestrian crossing as did a man with a dog. A car failed to stop for us ( not uncommon) and he turned and spoke to me in Italian. I hesitated, opened my mouth and spoke and he said in English  Sorry, I thought you were Italian. I was wearing my good ( well, it is almost 20 years old) thickish  gortex knee-length purple  all weather jacket. We chatted for a block . Later I was on my way to the oldest, supposedly, church in Firenze,  Santi Apostoli.  I think I rather rudely once a few weeks ago called a group of tourists on a tour swarming down the street like nasty insects. Well, when they all have their umbrellas up, there are more like wasps. Quite dangerous to the eyes if you are not protected with your own umbrella, even with your hood up. I was waiting to cross a street and an Italian gentleman started to talk to me in Italian. I understood and replied in Italian, but he again said he thought I was Italian. I was quite chuffed, pottered on and realised it was the knee length coat. Most local women had knee length coats on, the vast majority  , by far, of tourists have an umbrella and waist or hip length at most light weight rain jacket.  Ah well.

Santi Apostoli was built in the 11th century, but  there is evidence that it could have been earlier.   Apparently it is the only  Catholic church in Florence that has 1 service a week in English. It is quite a small church building but is apparently ( from the notice board  )  an active parish. I was the only visitor, but there were 8 people fiddling with the lighting in the church, checking some of the spots, changing the direction of some  of the lights. At any one time about half were doing nothing, while the others turned off and on some lights.  I was reminded of the " How many ... does it take to change a light globe" joke. The apparent boss of the group  was the only woman.  I read the details  in an  interesting  pamphlet about the church and I took my time looking at and reading about the paintings in the few side chapels.  That was it for the day. I wandered back along streets I had been along, stopped for another coffee ( actually , as usual late morning,  the coffee is the price I pay to use the loo) . I stopped in a park for a while and read my book. 

Monday and Tuesday

I am getting a bit tired and havenot done much over the past 2 days, but I am not unhappy.

On Monday I had a slow start and went to the main church in FLorence, the Duomo,  Santa Marie del Fiore to see how long the queue was.  I went to the head of the queue, the people I spoke to had been there  over 1 hour. The church opened while I was there and the queue did move quite smartly.  But they must limit people because I went past today at 12 ish and the door was shut and the queue, a similar length was stationary. No, it does not close routinely for lunch. 

Back to yesterday.  I have never used my debit card to pay  on a tram  ( i.e tap on a machine on the bus and the software works out how much to charge you.) or bus like a ticket.  Like you can do in many parts of Australia, even Canberra.  My debit card, ( which never has much on it, I top it up every few days) on my phone, is more accessible than my debit card in my pocket.  I got the tram to the airport to see if the process of not having an actual,paper ticket  would work.  When I checked, about 10 inutes  after I sat down it had debited my card with 1 euro which sat all day in pending , then this morning 2 euros ( the cost of the fare) had gone through and the 1 Euro was not there. So it worked. So that is one less thing to worry about Thursday week, when I go to Paris. 

Today I went went to the Medici Chapel  where some of the Medicis were buried in very elaborate tombs.

I have been reading some books , not high class literature, light holiday reading,  set in Florence. I was waiting for my lunch to come this afternoon  reading the current book ( an aside  -  the Italian word for a whodunit is giallo  which is also the word for yellow. There is a connection, but i cannot remember it ) Anyway,, I  read that the main character was walking down Borgo Pinti , (a street)  .  I was sitting at 56 Borgo Pinti which is a bit over 200m from my apartment. Borgo Pinti is not a main street. It is 1 way with very narrow footpaths, it is very hard to pass someone without stepping onto the road .   What are the chances of that?  I hope the book has a happy ending.

I also spend some time each afternoon reading a   book written by some Mayo clinic doctors about degenerative  brain issues.

Sunday, a day of rest

I pottered around my local area all day. When I went out for my second cup of coffee I almost bumped into a well dressed older lady ( in her 80's)  walking slowly, helping her wobbly-walking partner.  She said Buongiorno to me and I replied Buon Domenica ( I think I wrote about this last Sunday - an old fashioned greeting and parting, but old people seem to like it. ) She certainly  beamed  widely  at me, and very smartly said Grazie, grazie e  Buon Dominica a Lei .  So , I did the right thing. 

I bought a new pair of black travelling pants before this trip. My old ones didnot fit.  They , the new ones, are a good weight, look sort of OK, have lots of pockets, are sort of water repellent ( i could brush off half a cup of accidentally  spilt coffee), but, most importantly, dry overnight. So I wear them every day, I alternate 2 shirts, even though they both dry overnight. Absolutely  no thought or decision is required. 

Some thoughts and recommendations for future trips.

Do not assume bicycles on the road  comply with One- way direction signs

In the past you may have been good at looking at a map and thinking 3rd left into street A , then 2nd right into Street B. Donot  assume you still can,.

With reference to point above, if you think you are going the wrong way ( ie, there are less people in the street than you would have expected if you were correct in your directions and heading towards busier places) then stop and look at the map. Donot keep walking.

With reference to a point a few weeks ago about the increasing with age difficulty of managing fluid input and fluid output, it is very stupid to stubbornly think  " i'm not paying €1" and walk on. 

Remember, electric  cars make no noise!

If you do decide to have a glass of wine with a nice meal, and choose something you have not ever heard of and want to remember, write it down before the menu is taken away.

If you have ordered a glass of wine , particularly at lunch where you are probably a way from 'home', and you get a generous  amount of wine, you donot actually have to drink it all. 

In Florence many footpaths are narrow and the paving is very uneven. Passing people is hazardous. 

Many of the older buildings have windows on the ground floor . The sill is often about 5ft above the ground and sticks out over the crowded narrow footpath.. So not only do you have to have eyes looking towards the uneven footpath, you need to look out for head height concrete sills, and unexpected bicycles and unheard electric cars. This is at the same time as dodging all  the other people on the path.

Belated Wednesday and Thursday

Yesterday I had a slow start then went to the Basilica of Santa Maria right next door to the main train station in Florence. It is about 2km from where i am staying. It was quite pleasant standing in the line in the nice garden  to get a ticket.  Some people were being asked for their identity cards /passports other were not. I was idly trying to work out which category I would be in.  For some reason I was not asked.

Yet another amazing space. Several cloisters. I have yet to see a bench or anywhere for someone to sit in any cloister. In this church I  found a stone wall that i sat on for a while and nobody asked me to move. Probably thought I was an old lady who needed a rest ( how perceptive). I will be catching a tram from the station to the airport on Thursday week and thought I would check out where the tram left from. Which i did, but several crowded trains must have just disgorged their passengers . There were hordes of people , all with huge suitcases, all in a desperate struggle to get somewhere fast. I  very quickly moved off.

There is often only a few euros differn3ce  in price between an average , perfectly acceptable meal and a slightly better, nicer meal, usually in a far quieter place. So I am now, as of yesterday, spending a bit more on my main meal which is always out.  Bread and cheese is fine for my evening meal.

Today I went to the Pizzi Palace, the 3rd in my combined ticket bought last week. It has yet another amazing collection of art, but it is quite confusing. A long line of small rooms with paintings over all the walls, with very little space between them. Yet another gallery that does not have a printed map that they can hand out to people who like to know  where different paintings are and  where the exits are.  The map in my very old guide book had different names to all the rooms. I did find what I was looking for with the aid of one of the many museum staff that were loitering around, watching nobody did the wrong thing.

In the same building there was an exhibition of costumes over the centuries . Quite interesting. Then I hurried back here  for my regular 8.30pm  Cbr time Zoom with whichever of my 3 children are free for. 

Tomorrow I will only got out out for my morning coffee and my main meal. At my local shops, san Ambroglio,  (about 400m away from where i am staying,)  are several cafes, a supermarket,  a church, several bars, shoe shop , a book shop,  2 nicer restaurants and 100m further on is  the second largest market in Florence. I might have a potter inside tomorrow. I hardly ever hear English spoken. Stuff is quite cheap. And about 100m further on is an icecream shop ,supposedly one of the best in Florence. 

Wednesday

Alive and well, but tired.  Details tomorrow

Basilica of San Lorenzo

This  was the parish church of the Medici and they were very very rich, but the church itself was not overly crowded with adornments.  The entry fee came with a link to an audio guide that you could download and listen to as you went around. It took me a while tosort myself out, not having a wireles  earpiece, just an old fashioned cord. Just as well, the day before I had increased my download data allowance.  The Cloisters were lovely, very peaceful. There was a second story on the buildings  around the  courtyard. It had been designed so the you could see the roofs behind the church, which somehow made the Cloister feel more peaceful.

In 1524 Michelangelo designed and had built a library to house all the manuscripts the Medicis had accumulated.  If you can imagine a church with wooden pews each side of a central aisle (i pew per row) . Then the back of the pew in front was extended upwards to support a large manuscript. The manuscripts were stored there and read where they were stored. It's hard to explain, but I thought interesting. Hopefully photos  coming  soon.

I slept in this morning, so that was about all  I did today. I walked along different streets , but didnot want to overdo it after yesterday's exertions.

So,  I have  seen lots of restaurants/ trattorias/ etc lots of names which are often partly interchangeable. Many say Tuscany specialists , but I have seen quite a few Sicilian restaurants.  No other provinces.  This afternoon I  asked  Ms Google  if there was a connection between florence and Sicily. Sure enough : in the 13th century poets in Palermo's royal court wrote in the Sicilian vernacular rather than Latin and invented the sonnet. These poems travelled to Florence, heavily inspiring Dante Alighieri, who later used the Tuscan dialect to shape the standardised Italian language. I knew that the modern Italian was based on the Tuscan dialect, but not the before that.

Sunday and Monday Boboli Gardens

Yesterday  I stayed in for the day, with only a few excursions to the local bar for my morning coffee,  and to a trattoria for lunch. I was able to organise come of my photos.

Today I walked to the other side of the river, then up and up again to the main (I thought it was the main one, but maybe not.)entrance to the Boboloi Gardens. These were started for the Medici family in the mid 1500s  According to the guide book they are a ' perfect example of stylised Renaissance gardening' .  I was not overly impressed but maybe I was just having an off day. There is a cafe in the map on my guide book , and there are signs in the gardens to it. I found the building but it is clearly not in use  as a cafe and has not been for a while ( the signs should be fixed) . There are lots of meandering paths, particularly up the top, where I started. And  lots of quite big  stone stairs you can use . But no hand rail anywhere. Maybe that is just my problem  at the moment. Some interesting plants. A long avenue of cypress tress with many, many  classical statues along it, but most were quite gungy looking ( green moss? Alge? Changing stone colour? The Neptune fountain, one of the main attractions, was being repaired and there were temporary opaque fence things all around it  so that was out too. When I left a French couple were struggling at the exit/ entrance  with the attendant who had no English or French.  They were asking her how much walking was there , were there things to see. I was able to quickly glance at my watch to see my steps, convert that to km, describe how much of the park I had covered, said the views were OK but told them where I had been a few days ago which had better views, about No Neptune  and No cafe etc.  They saved themselves 10 euro each. 

Then I walked back, As soon as possible i  stopped at a small local bar, and sat for my coffee. Usually toilets in smal bars in my experience are small and uninviting. However this one was quite new and there was a white, real cyclamen ( mind you, I saw cyclamens in the markets for 5 euros each the other day) . On the way out i said in French  -  Good bye, thank you and I like your flower. The barman had been polite, but bordering on abrupt , but he was busy. When I mentioned the flower , he gave me a great big smile and looked  really pleased.  Such a small thing for me to do, but clearly he appreciated it.

Having deliberately  had no pasta for a few days, and  having walked 13 km today  I think I will go to  1 of the local places for a plate of pasta and an aperol spritz.