Firenze

Finally managed a good sleep here…must be getting used to the very firm bed and pillows!
We were up early as we were having a day in Florence, so got round to the nearby bus station in good time and the Florence bus soon turned up. Despite the driver immediately closing the door and making himself coffee then putting his feet up for a break, we all waited patiently. Once we were on we waited a while then suddenly realised there was another, faster, bus about to leave and dived off to try and catch it. Of course it pulled off just as we got to it ….d’oh!!
We resigned ourselves to our fate and climbed back on the bus, chatting via Google translate to a young woman from Czech Republic who was in Italy on her first holiday here.
Straightforward trip, with a bonus(!) tour of some surrounding villages and countryside. As soon as we arrived we were assaulted by the huge crowds heading for the Duomo and milling around outside it…we were pleased we’re not spending the whole week here in such a crowded place (despite it being only May and not school holiday time!). We managed to get through the crowds and head for the little local Mercato Di Sant’Ambrogio which was bursting with fresh produce. I couldn’t resist an apricot pastry…..and it was stunning! Wolfed it down to stop it dripping ripe roasted apricots and custard…best thing I’ve had for ages! We wandered around looking at all the stalls and ended up stopping for lunch at the Trattoria da Rocca which was within the market. The menu was random because as we sat down they just rattled off what was available and we had to choose what we could remember! We were sharing a table with a lovely man (living in Germany, grew up in Canada and born in Czech Republic) and got chatting to him as he explained the system. LE ordered a glass of wine and was given a bottle of chianti to help herself to (4€ regardless of how much you drank!). Our pasta dishes (tomato and peppers, and tomato and meat) were very tasty and we enjoyed chatting to our fellow diner as he moved on to trying the local tripe speciality which he declared delicious but we decided not to try. I was very tempted by one of their caramel pears but the apricot pastry had filled me up so, having bought another slice of that for later, we walked over to the Basilica Di Santa Croce. It was beautiful….huge and (relatively) bare walls which helped the stained glass and incredible richly decorated area behind the altar sing out. The burial place of Galileo and Dante (amongst very many others!), and with many Giotto frescoes and altar pieces, it was very lovely. We also enjoyed the outside cloister spaces baking in strong sunshine, and the old monks’ refectory with its ancient tree of life and last supper fresco.
We wandered through narrow streets to go and see a Modigliani exhibition that we saw posters about, but were disappointed when we arrived at the Museo Novecento to find there was only one of his paintings in a broader collection. We did a bit of browsing in some shops (I got a necklace, LE tried a couple of things on but didn’t buy them) but we were starting to fade a bit so stopped at a little bar and sat outside with our mojitos. It was lovely…soaking up the late afternoon sun and enjoying the cocktails. We had been heading for another church to see but decided just to find a little handmade paper shop and head back. We found the shop and I bought some marbled paper whilst LE chatted to some lovely people sitting painting cards and talking about their struggles keeping the business going, Scottish independence and recession (!)
We dragged ourselves to the bus station and managed to get a fast bus home (after a moment’s panic when LE nearly missed the bus getting some drinks for us!).
We decided just to eat at home and I made a frittata with the rest of the asparagus and we ate it with the usual cheese and meats and bread. We watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy on her laptop then I had to go to bed…I was practically asleep on the sofa!