M:

One of the advantages of spending a length of time in the same city is that the odd wet day doesn't throw your plans into chaos - and in fact you can plan around predictions of wet weather. The predictions for Wednesday had consistently been for it to be a very wet day - and despite a start that was only moderately damp, it proved the forecasters right.

First task was to take our box of mailing to the post office. I set off about 0805 in order to send it on its way with the early starters at the uffici0 postale. I had done a bit of reading about how to do this, and one had suggested that heavier items needed to be dispatched from the offices at the rear of the building. While the internet has certainly been our friend, it let me down this time. I had to circumnavigate the buidinga and stand with all the other early punters to get in and take a ticket. Maybe the beggar lady had read the forecast - but whatever the reason she wasn't there. I got ticket P005 and waited. But not for too long. I then got a very nice lady who walked me through the labyrinthine process. As well as the normal weighing, and customs declaration - which I was encouraged to devalue a little - there were forms to declare that the leather items were not from rare animals and that the DVDs were not pornographic (At least I hope that is what they said.. between the fact that the forms were faint, third generation copies and the language was somewhat outside my normal vocabulary it could have said the exact opposite. Wait for the raid!) 51 euro saw the box start on its way. As for the rest - in the hands of God. I stopped at our new favourite cafe - Chiosco degli Sportivi- and had a cappuccino on the way back.

You may recall we had missed out on the "Secret passages" tour of the Palazzo Vecchio a few days ago. After breakfast, we went to the museum to book that tour. We got a spot for 4pm, but even better we joined a tour of the palazzo more generally which was starting immediately with a young American student called - Sydney - whose name I happened to have on my hat, so we were off to a good start.

For a more complete treatment of the Palazzo, you may like to use the link to good old wikipedia. In brief, the building began as the headquarters of the guilds who ruled Florence, it became the headquarters of the republic, including a period under Savonarola who came to a flaming end, following the vanities into the bonfire, and then reached its pinnacle under the Medici who first enlarged it and made it their personal residence, before moving into the larger Pitti Palace, to which they connected it with a passage over the Arno.

The thing that really struck both of us in the Medici version which largely survives, is the incredible sense of cosmic order reflected in the art works and ornamentation - with humanity, the arts and sciences, the virtues and divinity all in their proper places and proper relationships on walls and ceilings. A comparison of this sure sense of order with our post-modern relativities is easy as you decipher the certainty all around you.

During our walk with Umberto and Elisabetta the other night, we went into the Piazza around the Church of Santa Croce, which they recommended. We set off in the pouring rain in that direction and had another look at the Christmas markets in the square before visiting the church and its wonderful museum. To give you a break from Wikipedia, have a look at this link to give you an idea of what you might expect to see. The major attraction for us was that the church is the burial site for a great many famous Italians, including Dante, Macchiavelli, Michelangelo, Galileo and Rossini and art works by a further legion - all named in the link.

By the time we did justice to all of this, only the rain was stronger than our hunger pangs. Having considered some of the heavily carnivorous options in the Christmas market (the German influence!) we stepped into an enoteca with the intention of warming up and having a roll. In the end we allowed ourselves to be tempted into a rather expensive meal of salami and cheese with crusty bread and delicious sauces (including mostarda) , accompanied by a half bottle of Tuscan wine. One of the cheeses was the best pecorino of 2011 - a kind of blue vein but a bit harder. Mmmm. As I said, we allowed ourselves to be seduced, and paid what we think was a bit over the odds. Still - another experience to have savoured.

An amble back to the Palazzo through the rain for our secret passages tour with Jan - who despite the name was all Italian and, like Sydney in the morning, was very well informed. The term secret passages does not refer to the fact that no-one knew about them, nor in fact does it really deal a lot with passages - more with rooms. The secrecy was to do with the fact that the Medici - Cosimo and Frederico kept their secrets in these chambers, and no one was allowed to enter their "studiolo". This Youtube clip gives you a bit of a sense of Frederico's. While his father was a reluctant, but great statesman, he was happier pursuing science and alchemy in his windowless cabinet of cupboards.

The final stop was a view of the rafters which hold the (raised by Cosimo) ceiling of the Room of the Five Hundred. A remarkable feat of engineering.

We staggered home after a long day on our feet. It had somewhat taken us by surprise. We started out with very sketchy plans and surrendered to what emerged. Maybe that guy who said yes to everything for a year was onto something!