Italians are still in thick jackets and jumpers but we’re hardy northern Brits and 23C is summer for us. So it’s officially shorts and sun tan lotion weather, woo hoo!
Yesterday after a leisurely breakfast, determined to make the most of our hop on hop off bus ticket we decided to get the bus to Piazzale Michelangelo to take in the view in the sunshine, retake the video accidentally deleted (did I really let that cat out of the bag?) and then walk down the hill to the meeting point for our trip. A nice relaxed day, clearly not my planning!
The bus stop was literally 50m from our hotel and other tourists were waiting. There was no sign, but they confirmed this is where they got off yesterday. We’d all arrived in good time for the first bus of the day, but 30 minutes after it should have arrived and some time after the second bus should have arrived we were all concerned. A nice elderly Italian gentleman confirmed with an ordinary bus driver that we were in the right spot. “No signs, no buses, that’s Italy for you” he said as he got on his bus. Not to be defeated again by Italy (football joke) tour guide Steven led us all to the station which was the next stop. There was method to his madness as bizarrely despite being stop 8, it was the start of the route so all the operatives were there. Traffic was blamed for the hour delay.
Still we got to the Piazza eventually and enjoyed the view (and retook the video🤣), walked down leisurely through the rose garden and managed to get a drink before meeting our guide for our pizza and gelato making trip.
I’m not going to describe this in detail, there are videos and photos to do that. I’m just going to say “do it”. The wine and humour flowed, the scenery was beautiful, we made the best pizza we’d ever had (with a lot of help) and the group consumed the 7kg of gelato we’d made! Both recipes may be put to good use for the Isaacs BBQ season . . . .
Watch Steven making the gelato here
Watch how pizza dough should be shaped here
Watch how we shaped our pizza dough here
An added bonus is I made my cousin Amir happy as we shared our table with Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. I will say that I was glad we booked for 14:30 not 17:00 as it’s a 5 hour experience. This meant we were in the right place at the right time to see some glorious colours from the setting sun and we managed to wheedle our way to the front of the bridge to catch them.
Today was a day of culture and history. We are very similar in that we can appreciate art, but we need to know the story behind it to bring it alive. We can’t just stand in front of endless renaissance paintings etc. So whilst we have deliberately not been to the Uffizi, our walking tour today made what we did see very real. Not only about Michelangelo’s David but Michelangelo and Da Vinci’s lives and relationship, the history of the Cathedral and the visible change in architecture pre and post plague (1348), the relationship between Florence, Pisa and Sienna, Florence and the Medici family and why by law only jewellery shops are allowed on the Ponte Vecchio. We also had an insight into the food – the tripe and the Florentine steak, not that its applicable to us. But at least it explains why we see so many hunks of raw meat in restaurant windows. The 3 hours flew by. Whilst we appreciated the nuances of Michelangelo’s David’s face and hands to allegedly try and answer the question “Is he pre or post killing Goliath?” we understand that his face is not his most famous body part. Never has a man’s genitalia been exploited so mercilessly. We have not bought the t-shirt, hat, fridge magnet, bottle opener or key ring. Btw, we think he’s “pre killing Goliath” and I make no apologies for posting pictures from all sides.
We’ve enjoyed our time in Florence, and tonight completes our fourth stop and the eleventh night of twenty one so we are half way through our trip. If I could describe where we’ve been by sounds then birds were the sound of Lake Garda, rain was the sound of Verona, “Gondola ride” was the sound of Venice then police and ambulance sirens have been the sound of Florence – not that we’ve seen any accidents or incidents but heard loads of sirens and seen the flashing lights in the small streets on a frequent basis. We’ve paced ourselves well – a mixture of walking tours, boat trips and experiences whilst leaving ourselves suitable times to mooch or just sit and drink. Italy is as wonderful as people have said and as Steven said when I asked him for a quote “It’s very Italian”
Whilst we planned to go from north to south, it’s also worked out well starting and finishing with the countryside/coast with the cities in the middle. Florence, whilst full of tourists is quiet by comparison to Venice. Having said that, tomorrow we are off to Rome . . . .
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So funny