Day whatever in Firenze

Thursday 9 October 2008

I am getting quite adept at popping in to bars for my morning caffè. Mostly people are helpful and friendly. The Friends of the Uffizi membership has been a fantastic bonus - it has saved me heaps of money already.

Boboli Gardens

Was I complaining about it being cold? Yesterday and today are hot, hot, hot and humid. I just spent about 3 hours wandering around the Giardino Boboli and Bardini - magnificent and beautiful and although I can imagine that they must be stunning in summer and spring there are just a few dying roses now.

Mask at Boboli Gardens

Yesterday I took the bus to Siena, which reminded me in some ways of Aghios Nikolaos – that is, very, very hilly and hard to work out street signs. As I entered, I popped into the famous Nannini's for coffee. I had a cappuccino and ciambella (donut), and got told off because I didn’t know how to order, pay and then collect my coffee and donut – oh well. 

I visited the Duomo, museum, baptistery, crypt and the civil public museums - all were amazing, with wonderful artwork but I found taking photos was impossible, particularly of the Duomo as everything was so massive with too many beautiful things and I couldn’t capture it all. The floors of the Duomo were uncovered in parts which was amazing and fantastic. Crowds not too bad but it is hard walking around in the heat – would hate to be here in July or August. I found a gelataria and had a piccola coppa di limone - perfetto.

Floor Siena Duomo

Siena Duomo

Piazza del Campo Siena

 Last night I went to dinner at Da Ginone (Florence). I booked in Italian!! Food was very good last night. I had chicken breast in a cream sauce with porcini mushrooms and fried zucchini flowers (rather deep fried) as the contorni. I also had a glass of rosso di Montalcini wine. After dinner I went to the tiny Chiesa di Santa Monaca to hear some arias from various operas. The singer was quite good. She was a contralto, I think. The pianist was also very good.

I have traipsed around Florence but still haven't seen one third of it - don't know how people manage in one day. On Tuesday I went to the Accademia to see David - in for free and beat queue due to my wonder Friends of Uffizi card. The queues were very long but inside it wasn’t too crowded. Apart from the magnificent David I saw some absolutely wonderful sculptures and paintings.

Ponte Vecchio - view from Uffizi

The day I went to the Uffizi I saw 10 quillion Madonna and child mostly with the ugliest babies ever seen. One fantastic painting - don't know artist - of the annunciation. The look on Mary's face had to be seen to be believed as the angel told her she was pregnant - "In these shoes? I don't think so"!

The days are running into each other. Tuesday, I think, I had lunch at Mossace - a teeny weeny trattoria in the city – when I entered the place was filled with men and they all ordered without a menu - I got the menu. Lunch was reasonable but not fantastic and it was so very, very crowded.