Very slow train to Florence. Florence is alright, I suppose. I'm sure it's a fascinating place if you're interested in religious renaissance art, but I'm no more enamored of the place than I was 10 years ago. Having said that, by skipping all the boring art galleries we were able to see more of the city itself, which is quite nice in places. The Ponte Vecchio is now famous for its goldsmiths after all the butchers were cleared off it for the visit of some lord or pope. We spent a while looking for rings there, but found that one manufacturer had pretty much bought up all the shop fronts still open so they all sold the same stuff at inflated prices. Although we didn't find anything we liked we did get a few helpful pointers about comfortable fits from one of the few remaining independent goldsmiths.
The duomo is impressive, but near impossible to photograph up close without a decent lens due to the tight space between it and surrounding buildings. We walked up to the Michel Angelo Piazzale on a beautiful sunny day and were rewarded with a lovely view of the city, including the Ponte Vecchio and duomo.
The hostel 'Maison' that we stayed at was OK. I remember having a conversation with a guy who seemed like your average concerned anti-capitalist until it emerged that he genuinely believed that contrails are part of an international plot to tranquilize us all, among other such bizarre conspiracy theories. How do you talk to people like that? I opted for a lot of 'uh-huh's along with a few questions to tease out the weirder theories I'd never heard of. Hostel rule #1: Hostel guests should never open the door for anyone at night. On our last night there around 2-3am someone leaned on the doorbell for about half an hour before a guest eventually let him in. During the shouting match that followed I realized that the drunk making all the noise was the hostel staff.
Hozumi was very excited at the prospect of going shopping at some high fashion outlet mall near Florence, but I think was a bit disappointed when she found everything to be way too expensive even with whatever discounts they were offering. I think the real highlight for Hozumi was our first taste of 'Grom' brand ice cream, intended to be a one-off treat but we actually ended up eating it at nearly every Grom store we found in Italy! Between Grom and a great shop we found in Rome I think we both had the best ice cream of our lives in Italy, and at very reasonable prices too. We miss gelato!
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3 comments:
Ha ha - "boring art galleries?" Clearly we have very different expectations of holidays: the Uffizi was the overriding reason I went to Florence in the first place. A good art gallery is pretty much the first thing I seek out when abroad. ;D
Hey, I like art galleries, I just remember the ones in Florence, specifically, being extremely dull. Not a popular opinion, I know.
Surprising. I'm not generally a fan of endless 'Madonna with Child' either, but I thought the Uffizi was awesome. My Catholic propaganda limit was reached in Rome rather than Florence.
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