A:

On Friday we were due at the Uffiizi at 9am with our pre- booked tickets and Rick Steve's audio tour, and after going through security and up the four flights of stairs we were in for a real treat of Renaissance art. Rick Steves had lots of explanations and historical information eg regarding the development of art in the Renaissance from 2-D into more realistic and 3-D images. We wandered from room to room with lots of tour groups and once again realised how lucky we are to be here at this time of year and not in July. After about two hours our tour was done so we made our way up to the roof top cafe but decided it had nothing special to recommend it ( and the coffee was 5 Euros to sit!) so went to find coffee elsewhere. We have decided to mail some items home as we will not be able to carry everything so made some investigations about the Italian postal service and gathered items to mail back.

After lunch at home we decided to go to see an evening session of a movie of a concert by an Italian singer called Ligabue, which is being widely hyped here, and is in 3D. After a lovely 25 minute walk- entirely on a car free shopping street - we realised it was not in 3D and only in 2D at that cinema, so we gave it a miss and returned to the flat for a home cooked omelette. (M: After all, the Renascimento brought 3D to Florence, so that cinema seemed a bit slow!)

M:

Saturday: We are still finding it difficult to come to terms with the calm and good order on the streets here. There are lots of pedestrian zones - and not all right at the centre. People very rarely park on footpaths, drivers stop for you on crossings, horns are rarely heard, and bicycles seem to be the biggest hazard! Well actually, there is one other danger on the streets - the cigar smoker! People in Italy generally smoke more than in Australia, to our estimation. But Florence has a different twist. It is extremely common to see men, young and old, with a filthy stogey going full blast. You can usually smell them before you can see them. And you know, they still somehow manage to look cool! Not fair, is it?

Our gamble on not pre-booking the Accademia paid off. After some calls home, we walked pretty much straight into the museum without waiting, and headed (again guided by the Rick Steves audio - no we are not being sponsored!) right up to the David. This is the third time I have seen it - and each time it just leaves me awestruck. How could anyone have so completely mastered not just the anatomy, but the craft of sculpture, the science of perspective and the psychology of the human being - and all by a man who was only 26 (fresh off the Pieta') when he got the contract to carve The Giant - a block of marble that no-one else wanted. That right hand is a masterpiece in its own right! The unfinished Prisoners are nearly as impressive in terms of the insight they give into the process which Michelangelo described as allowing the figures to emerge from the stone. (And of course, he didn't do a bad painting as the Sistine demonstrated - even if it was his first go at fresco!)

Next stop was going to be a tour of the secret passages in the Palazzo Vecchio but this time the lack of a booking told against us. No vacancies for a couple of days, so we decided to embark on the Palazzo Pitti - which is actually a complex of several museums and gardens. For me the star of the visit was the building itself - the ornamentation on the walls and ceilings is staggering in its complexity, and our old friend trompe l'oeil was working overtime. (A: I'm glad we had read the guide book and didn't miss the Raphaels in the Saturn Room including the Madonna of the Chair- 1511.)

The thing that is inescapable is the connection between the flourishing of the arts and the role of religion and the Church in this flourishing. 80% of the works on display seem to be religiously inspired, with about 15% of classical origins and 5% portraits and landscapes. (OK - don't hold me to the numbers!). It seems that the influence did not only flow from religion to art but also in the other direction, as people like Michelangelo instilled real human attributes in Mary, Christ and the saints - bringing them closer to us, and perhaps removing some of the mystery. Getting the understanding of anatomy that was required to praise God this way involved processes that were both illegal and sinful (not much difference in those days), so ambiguities of conscience are nothing new.

A:

Of course the highlight of today has to be the anniversary celebrations- thirty four years today and we got married on a Saturday. We had a very nice lunch in the place near the Pitti Palace where we'd been before and then dinner about 7.30- we were the first customers but it filled quickly- at a place strongly recommended by Trip Advisor, La Padellacia (refers to a large frying pan we think ) I had panzanella ( a bread, cucumber and tomoato salad) and ravioli with sage and ricotta, while Mick had pasta with wild boar and local sausage with potatoes and capsicum.Some house red, and then an icecream on the walk home topped off a lovely day. We think we will dine at a really good Italian restaurant next December 10th!

Sunday

Mass at the Duomo at 10. There were probably about 80 of us in a side chapel which was bigger than many parish churches. (M: We had my Uncle Tony very much in our prayers after his recent stroke). We walked past the farmers' market in the Piazza Repubblica and explored the Rinascente department store, then had coffee on the rooftop terrace with nice views (see pictures) of Florence as the mist burned off. This got the day off to a good start, although my comment that Sunday may be a day of rest for the beggars who constantly approach you in this area was found to be untrue- and right at the door of the Duomo!

After that we returned to the Pitti as we had bought a three day pass. First activity was a walk through the huge Boboli Gardens. Unlike the Borghese gardens in the middle of Rome, these ones are not free - which we thought a shame in terms of local patronage, although it would take some funds to maintain these formal Tuscan gardens. There is a grotto at one end of it which I thought was really unattractive. The costume gallery, another part of the Pitti Palace was our final destination. Among other things, this houses some well preserved burial clothing recovered from the tombs of Cosimo I and his wife and son who lived in the palace in the fourteen hundreds. (M: They made clothes to last in those days!) Very late lunch at the flat capped off the sightseeing for day with Mick able to catch up with more work in preparation for January course up until an equally late dinner.