Janine&Chris'GeriatricGapYear: 28/11 Discovery stroll of glorious Florence

Monday 28 November Florence 3 – No museums today .....

We have gradually noticed that the cars here (actually the motorists I suppose) are much quieter than we are used to. For a start there are fewer cars, but there is nowhere near the usual amount of peremptory “clear the road I'm coming” hooting, or the mindless “what the flip is holding us all up?” blaring or the retaliatory “where did you get your licence you asshole?” blasts. Combined with the willingness to allow pedestrian to cross at zebra crossings, this makes for one of the most mature and peaceful pedestrian environments we have ever seen.

People are funny. Have you ever noticed that in the early cowboy movies they used to increase the speed of their bullets and extend the range of the guns by “throwing” the gun at the target as they fired? And while we are there, why did the Indians always watch the stagecoach go past then chase it? Have you ever watched people taking photos with phones and cameras that have viewfinders on the back? Noticed how they extend their arms closer to the subject, or raise them high in the air? Yes I can see sometimes how that might be useful, but most of the time it just looks weird.

We started the day buying our train tickets for 2 days time. Cant believe it is all happening so fast. Hell we just cruised 3 continents . . . Twice!! Now we are crossing the Atlantic and the Equator and going to Rio!!

Next stop we wandered round Santa Maria del Fiore, being deeply impressed by the construction of the pillars, arches and domes, which we attended part of a lecture about on the ship. It is quite amazing how cleverly they managed to stop the whole thing from exploding outwards. The whole front half was cordoned off and probably for that reason it felt less of a spiritual place than most of the others. It was built over about 130 years back in the 1300s and has a beautiful exterior of patterned white, pink and green marble.

There are 3 sets of doors on the Baptistry, with these being the most famous. On seeing them Michelangelo said "These doors should be on the gates to paradise."

From there we tried to get into the Basilica de Santa Croce but declined because, like several others, they have introduced fees for visitors in the last year or so. The front façade was highly decorated but the other sides were of plain stone.

After general wandering around, enjoying the increasingly warm weather, we found a delightful little gelataria which sold the most exquisite ice cream at half the price of the others. This took us over the bridge South of the Arno and we climbed the hill leading to the Piazzale Michelangelo. This was the square outside the city wall, looking north over the city and the valley, with the large bronze copy of the David statue, where I (Chris) had freecamped in 1979. We spent some time there, taking panoramic pictures and shots of my death-defying lotus teetering on a wall with a sheer 50’ drop at the back.

David surrounded by 'Night & Day' & 'Dawn & Dusk'

The Florence Lotus

This kind of fits, ship,case, destination.

There was nothing better to do so we wandered down the hill and along the river until we found a little back street shop catering mainly for locals, where we bought a couple of thick pizza bread blocks covered in delicious SDT and salami.

Autumn leaves, so pretty.

Thus fortified, we climbed the hill again and pottered about until sunset, which was interesting if not riveting. The air had been a bit hazy all day. We sauntered back down the hill again and, unbelievably coincidentally, happened to pass by the same gelataria!!! Well, J said it was an accident. We were still dealing with those as we reached the hostel.

We both really enjoyed today, having taken it more laid back after a few days of slaving round galleries. We are not much fussed about paying and queuing to see the original David in a museum, having seen two copies out in the open. There is even another bronze David by Donatello, a contemporary of Michelangelo. This work was apparently the first freestanding nude since Roman times and depicts David in boots and a girly bonnet, carrying a sword. The kindest comment is that it is “narcissistic” – it was also described as a “transvestite’s and fetishist’s dream of alluring ambiguity”. Meooow.