Oh-bla-di Oh-bla-da (Florence)

Today's title, courtesy of the Beatles, was chosen in honour of the 'barrows' in the market place bellow our window. I don't know if anyone is named Desmond, although I think it unlikely. Even as I tap a way at the keys they are backing them up to wheel away for the evening.

Now you see them

There was no doubt, dear reader, that Jayne was excited by the endless stalls and stores of leather hand bags, gloves and jackets. This could not match the squeal of delight when she discovered double glazed windows with internal black out shutters and curtains. If you are searching for an image, try a school girl clapping her hands together, jumping up and down, shrieking with a mixture of pure happiness and excitement. Given my love of the light I was not so enthused and began negotiations, at the highest level of government, to allow some light to permeate the room next door. Needless to say I was not given the carriage of closing and locking down the windows in the bedroom. That was an error of judgement.

Now you don't

At the end of the evening we watched as the all the stalls were packed up and stowed a way for the night. The entire street was empty and the street sweepers moved in and by 10:30pm it looked like a different scene. This temporarily halted the anticipated bliss of a blacked out room until I suggested that the market would not be opening for business very early given how late they closed and the double glazing should minimise the noise.

Imagine my surprise when I was awoken at 5:30am by the sound of metal poles being dropped on the cobble stones, accompanied by loud discussions in Italian. I could also see light. It appeared that one of the shutters had not been locked in place and the early morning sun had found a way to welcome me to the new day. The sounds of Florence's market being restored to chaotic glory continued with little regard for anyone in the area trying to sleep.

I succumbed and went to take a photo of the street scape as it was being transformed. It was then I noted the offending shutter. Not only had it not been latched to the window. The window frame itself had not been bolted down and had come open in the night. Our precious sleep had been shattered because one of the double-glazed windows had not been locked correctly. No dear reader I did not snigger quietly to myself, nor could one see the faintest flicker of a grin of satisfaction move across my face - it was too dark in the room and Jayne's eyes remained glued shut.

With the unexpected early beginning to the day we had time to detour for breakfast. There were two places to choose from in our street, but only one served coffee. No contest. It had the usual display of Italian pastries, as in things I would not normally classify as breakfast food (unless my name was Cait). Selecting a pastry that didn't contain too much sugar was no easy thing; just about everything was loaded with chocolate or a custard of some description. Pastries selected, we ordered coffee, espresso, not doppio today we had a timeline. Three time we had to verify our order. I assume, since we are in the heart of tourist area it is not common for English-speakers to drink coffee, the correct way. The pastries and coffee were both good but were ridiculously priced. It cost 14€. We will be walking further a field tomorrow away from the Americano hotels - that should halve the cost.

The David

Today was our half-day walking tour of Florence, taking in 'the David', the Duomo and other sights. We spent probably an hour in the Academy with our guide, Omar. He is a local, with a great knowledge of Florence and its attractions - as you would expect. The queue for 'the David' is nowhere near as long as that to get into the Vatican or the crush to see 'winged victory' or 'La Giaconda' at the Louvre. In fact, it is quite civilised.

The first room contains a series of paintings that chart the shift in style from the middle ages to renaissance art, featuring the work of Lippi. There is a statue placed in the centre of the room depicting the "Rape of the Sabines" by Giambologna. It is interesting to look at the evolution of art and how experts and critics view the changes.

The next room is T-shaped and contains 7 'unfinished' statues by Michelangelo as well as 'the David' as Omar constantly referred to Michelangelo's seminal work. If you've ever joined the foot-race to be first to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre only to be disappointed by it's unexpectedly small size, David does not disappoint. It is huge. Over 5 metres tall and it dominates the space with its size and, je ne sais quoi, its calm collectedness in the face of battle. Apparently the marble used was inferior but it adds this sense of reality because it lacks the perfect shine of the Bernini works we saw in Rome. I was harsh on Michelangelo's paintings in Rome, but this, this sculpture is a masterpiece and really reflects Michelangelo's dominance in the artistic psyche of this place.  By his own admission he did not consider himself a painter and only reluctantly completed the Sistine Chapel under threat by the pope. It also seems that he and Leonardo did not see eye to eye as Leo did not consider sculptors to be truly artists; more artisans since they were usually messy and covered in dust from their work.  He referred to them as "bakers" covered in flour which for some reason upset Michelangelo who himself was not renown as a person very easy to get along with.

I'll finish it next week

After marvelling at David we returned to view the unfinished sculptures that were intended for some egomaniacal Pope's tomb. They never made it. They are supposed to depict the 'human condition' and the struggle of humanity according to the art experts, which is why they were left unfinished. If the stories about Michelangleo are to be believed, I think it more likely he was suffering from CBF, gave the Pope the finger and said, "Bugger you, I'm not finishing the statues," and then walked away.

Once outside the Accademia we made our way toward the Cathedral and the Duomo, however, Omar sensibly provided the option of standing in the queue for 30 minutes or more or continuing on our walking tour. With memories of the Vatican still fresh in our minds, we opted to continue walking. We stumbled across a protest outside the former Medicci palace. We are still not sure what they were protesting about but what they lacked in number, they compensated with enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the protesters posed some kind of perceived threat and so the legions of bored police, assigned to stand and monitor the protest, had decided to close the doors of the palace just in case something went down. Omar had hoped for us to be able to look inside but that was not possible so we moved on after a discussion about the exterior of the palace and its geometric architectural features.

The Cathedral is stunning. It is like nothing I have ever seen before. It is neo-Gothic in style and was commenced in 1296 but the facade is covered in marble and it wasn't completed until the 19th century. White, green and red marble, the colour of the Italian flag. The bell tower and the baptistry are separated from the main body of the church.






Omar deftly guided us through the narrow streets of Florence, past a restoration workshop where they were working to repair and/or replace parts of the Cathedral. We visited the Piazza della Repubblica which is now surrounded by designer brand stores. I guess that is the price of freedom. We then moved from the birthplace of Florentine democracy to its death bed, the Piazza della Signoria. Not as grand as Repubblica but it is adjacent the Uffizi Gallery and its walk of significant Italian renaissance men. The piazza itself contains the town hall with a huge bell tower (penis envy) which later became the Medicci palace as democracy gave way to a benevolent dictatorship. Outside the palace is a replica of the statue of David and there are other replicas of famous statues nearby, all signalling the death of democracy. At least they did it with culture.

Ponte Vecchio

The Uffizi empties onto a narrow road with views of the Ponte Vecchio. This is where we left Omar

and we made our way to towards the Piazza Santo Spirito for lunch at the aptly named Osteria Santo Spirito. It was recommended by Santo. The service was fairly pedestrian but the food was great. We sat in the outdoor section as the temperature reached 33°, surrounded by tourists from an unnamed country, listening to them pontificate about their supremacy as they explained the situation in China.

Random fresco near Piazza Santo Spiritio

Re-hydrated and sated we decided to meander our way back to the apartment. Although we had been on our feet for a long time we hadn't really covered a lot of ground, but the walk back revealed some amazing pieces of architecture as well as some surprising frescoes.

Whose feet smell?