Firenze on Monday

I found another lovely "local" pasticceria this morning and had a delicious Florentine pastry for breakfast. Then I found the Bargello using my guidebook (which like an idiot I then managed to abandon somewhere nearby!) and made the fortunate discovery that entry was free. (I overheard someone talking about a Cultural Week when all museums are free. That might be a fortunate thing if true!)

The Bargello had quite an interesting history as a building. After a glorious beginning it had a period as a terrible prison, but has been restored for some time. There were early and later works there by Michelangelo. There was a lot of work by Cellini. And a lot of glazed terracotta work by della Robbia that I find particularly attractive. The figures tend to be white and the background blue. Often there is a border with green leaves and yellow lemons. You see quite a bit of this on buildings around town as well.

My next stop was to Santa Croce and the entry fee of 5 Euro came as a bit of a surprise, but they are restoring it big time. The tomb of Michelangelo is in there - relatively simple sculptures for this famous son compared to what he himself did in his lifetime. Everyone was making a bee-line to this particular tomb. Right near it was the tomb for Dante which had a suitably sombre version of Dante looming large upon it. Outside the cloister by Brunelleschi was lovely. There was something about the harmony of the arches and the square in the middle that was instantly peace-giving. A Renaissance gift. The overgrown lawns were not mown: I wish I could spread this lovely European custom of delighting in spring growth back to New Zealand!

For lunch I again found a "local" place and got some vegetables I could afford. Am eating a heap of fruit to chase away a cold I got in Prague.

Later this afternoon I joined the long queue at the train station to get some train tickets for Roma via Assisi on Thursday. Very nice helpful man at the train station, but now I see I have got return tickets back to Firenze instead! At the hostel they have suggested changing them at Assisi, but I think I would rather be sure of my times, so it is back to the queue! (You need to factor in queue times to lots of the things you plan in Firenze!)

Ciao tutti!