Janine&Chris'GeriatricGapYear: 27/11 Paintings, flag throwing and marathons

Sunday 27 November Florence 2

The supermarkets here are weird in the extreme. If you were looking for a Big W type frontage you would never find one. What you get is a 5m wide single shop frontage with some grocery type items visible inside. If you accept the clue and wander in, you will find that the shop gradually unfolds like a series of short corridors, none of which ever open out into a room. Must make surveillance damn difficult. We haven’t been out into the suburbs, where conventional supermarkets no doubt exist, but the mini-maze is all we have found here in the inner city.

Last night we wandered into a square where one corner was taken up by a few dozen 2 man tents, each raised on a wooden pallet. A handpainted sign revealed that this was the Florentine equivalent of Occupy Wall Street. Nearby about 20 people were sitting in a square circle, engaged in earnest discussion. I imagined them endlessly preparing strongly worded declarations and memoranda, rather like Monty Python’s Popular Liberation Front of Judea. There were no police present and they seemed to be equally harmless and irrelevant. You have to give them credit for staying out in the cold because we were very glad to be rugged up out there.

We had noticed clumps of police, including one small gathering of some special squad, in various locations around Rome, and it seemed that they were watching some groups or locations, but there were no signs of demonstrations or unrest relating to the dissatisfaction with the budget cuts and benefit reductions that are being applied all along the Mediterranean coast because of the latest financial crisis. Good that Australia is still awash with money but sad that such huge amounts are being squandered on empty symbolic gestures to appease a handful of hysterical Greens and opportunistic independents who suddenly found themselves on the cusp of being Relevant.

We headed off this morning at 10 but got sidetracked by activity along the edge of the nearby square. A section along the edge was roped off as though for an event track passing through and then a bunch of drummers and flagthrowers appeared, decked out in Mediaeval Tuscan finery. There was a lot of quite intricate and skilful flag twirling and heaving up into the air and every now and then a disabled athlete would race along the track on a lying down cycle. We hung around in anticipation that they were about to hurl the flags between the drummers but it wasn’t happening so we left.

This was tough going slightly uphill

Saw this team and chased through streets to get pic

not sure who they are or where they are going, but they were off ..

Tracked back to where I left Chris to find this team ... doing it...

Flag twisting, twirling and tossing all to the beat of the drums.

That was when the Florence Marathon raced through the square. All but one of the first half dozen looked like Ethiopians and were flying along at great pace so the field must have been competitive. We crossed the Ponte Vecchia and they were still coming in a steady stream. There was also a Fun Run on a separate parallel track. Very well attended and a range of fascinating costumes, including a Berlusconi mask surrounded by busty, wigged men in Gstrings playing Carla Bruni.

We found the church that was supposed to have been where Michelangelo first learned to paint ceiling frescoes at the age of 15, and were admiring the frescoes in the side chapel next to the main altar when the noon mass started. We weren’t in position to see the people filing in so we made a low profile departure while the priest was getting into his rhythm. Turned out to be the wrong Santa Maria anyway. But it was where Michelangelo’s teacher painted the frescoes.

Next stop was the Pitti palace, home of the Medici family – not the nicest of people but well connected and one of them did become a Pope. Quite expensive at E13 each for the basic entry – the full package including the Bobboli Gardens was another E10. Quite quickly we both succumbed to Gallery Gout – frozen shoulder from carrying a bag, stiff neck from looking upwards and general fatigue from standing up. We took time out on a bench we eventually found – all the beautiful seats were roped off – and checked our guide book against the gallery map. Thus reinforced and redirected, we headed off again and found all the best artworks that were mentioned in the Lonely Planet. No blockbusters but many serious works by some major artists including Rubens, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, van Dyck etc. The Palace itself was an eye-opener and the furniture seemed to be just as it was when the last Medici member died and left the lot to the people of Tuscany. Sumptuous wallpapers over 200 years old, original carpets and drapes. Many of the rooms had more than 1 enormous chandelier. Very grand furnishings. They certainly were far from short of a crust.

Front of Palace

Wing inside courtyard - no photos inside

We circumvented the (not very good) bagpipe player outside and noticed he was bereft of tartan, although he was playing a highland song. Maybe the instrument has Italian background? The marathon tailenders were still coming through and a sad lot they were. Must be very hard on the feet running constantly over pretty rough cobblestones. We veered off to the station, intending to buy the remaining tickets to Venice but it was very busy and we thought we would scan the net first and see what was available. We then passed the real Santa Maria but found they now charged an admission price and decided it wasn’t that important. Tomorrow most of the galleries are closed so we will have to try something else. (Churches *wink*)