ITALY
Arrived safely in Florence, the doors of the train opened and closed successful, well with a bit of help from the locals. The B & B is really closeto the centre of town and only moments from the Uffizi Gallery. Armed with a map that I could read with my glasses and a guide book that my friend loaned meI have been able to find my way around to some of the beautiful spots. The architecture is different again from Venezia and the stone cottages of Passignano. Alfredo whoowns the B& B is an architect with the government and we spent breakfast discussing his restoration of the property which used to be a factory for dyeing textiles and some ofthe projects he works on. Three hours at the Uffizi Gallery yesterday was fabulous, the standouts (and it is hard to pick as there were so many) were the Botticellis, my favouriteof these was the Madonna and child holding a pomegranite. Superb. It is wonderful to see Botticellis up close. They are so beautiful. Booked in to the Academy of Art on Wednesdayto see David of course but I am sure there are a couple of other works of art there. Today I am off to look for an English language book shop that has an exchange. I don’t want to part with my Harlan Coben book that I bought from Shakespeares and Company in Paris but then I think of all those steps in Vernazza and you know which one wins.
Well better sign off now, 4 chapters and over 10,000 words and still counting. No success with attaching photos at this point but I will keep trying
posted Monday October 2024