Category: Florence - A Cottage by the Sea

Random observations from Florence

9/24/2019

• This morning I climbed Duomo. It was at least my 25th climb. I wasn’t the fastest, but I could keep up.
• Half the tourists here are Asian. Good thing, because they SHOP.
• Cyclists are the number one hazard in Il Centro.
• Women are still writing in journals. The woman next to me at the cafe has been writing in small notebook for at least thirty minutes. She has 12 Rules for Life, by Jordan B. Peterson on the table next to her coffee. Maybe she writing her rules. I wanted to strike up a conversation with her, but one of my rules is to honor people’s privacy, and that what I sense she wants. Thus, also no photograph.
• The Ponte Vecchio is less crowded with tourists in the fall than in the spring.
• Locks of Love are still being attached to the fence around the statue of Cellini on the Ponte Vecchio.

An afternoon at Il Museo del Duomo

9/22/2019

Yesterday the rain came and went, as it does in Florence. I was able to plan around it and NOT buy an umbrella. I spent about two hours in the Museo del Duomo, which was completely refurbished a few years ago. On the first floor is an amazing display of sculpture laid out as it might have been during the 14th and 15th century before Archduke Francis I demolished the facade for a high Renaissance one. Appropriate music throughout encouraged visitors to be calm and subdued as they might be in a church. The second floor is dedicated to the building of the dome, as well as displaying the original sculpture from the bell tower.

(Having trouble again posting pictures. Will try later._

Apple surprise

9/20/2019

     Each day in Florence I’m looking for a surprise, the unexpected. Two days ago it was the “Ai Piedi Nudi” art exhibit in the cloister of SS. Annunziata. The cloister is usually not open to the public; the priest-artist, Nicolo Santamarina, was there to welcome people.
      Yesterday it was that I couldn’t post photos onto the blog. Unfortunately that pretty much continues, although this morning I snuck one on. Something freezes…no picture. It may be that my blog is too loaded after ten years of posting pretty much every other day. I’ve contacted my web site builder.
     This morning, therefore, I considered stopping by the Apple Store for help. But there it was, with my surprise of the day. At 7:15 a line had formed in front, a kiosk with juice and water was set up for those in line, and fifteen men were stationed guarding the store,. There must have been twenty people waiting for the store’s ten o’clock opening, waiting for the launch of iPhone 11.
    I just was able to post this picture. Very grateful. I'm going to check back in to see how the iPhone 11 is selling. Will back on line, hopefully with more pictures.

Seizing the moment in Florence

9/18/2019

I am happy to be in Renaissance Florence after six days in Ancient and Counter-Reformation Rome. Tomorrow I look forward to stepping into a Renaissance church. Oh, I love Rome, its vastness, bus system, the Tiber, and ruins popping up everywhere. I prayed for peace in 36 of its 900 churches, so there is still work to do there, unless peace comes soon. I hope to return.
Here in Florence I will continue to pray for peace; the city is small and compact, so I will come upon churches with ease. My goal for the eight nights I’m here, however, is to wander about and seize the moment. I have a favorite places to visit for each of the seven days: The Uffizi, Bargello, San Marco, climb the Duomo, Duomo Museo, Fiesole, Santa Maria Novella. That’s one a day, giving plenty of time to wander. Oh dear, I just added another, San Miniato al Monte.
Here’s what I mean by wander and seize the moment. Just this afternoon I discovered that the cloister of SS. Annunziata was open to the public. It is always closed unless there is an art exhibit, Ai piedi nudi” (in bare feet) . The priest-artist, Nicolo Santamarina, was there to greet us.

Final morning walk in Florence~

4/18/2019

With family in Florence~

4/14/2019

The only solitude I’ve had during these past two days has been my early morning walks while Em and Abby sleep in and catch up on jet lag. This is so fine with me. We have having a wonderful time walking the city, seeing the sights and doing some shopping.
Yesterday we wandered around in the rain, did some preliminary shopping, enjoyed a couple of delicious meals, and took a tour of the Piazza della Signoria. We made reservations to visit the Uffizi and Academia on Tuesday and climb the Duomo on Wednesday.
It is sunny and warm this morning as I sit at one of my go-to cafes and write. Abby repaired my IPhoto program which had somehow failed, but I notice this morning that yesterday’s photos didn’t transferred from my camera to computer. So please accept this blog as my meager way of letting you all know that life is good in Florence. These pictures of last nights dinner ought to suffice.

Wonder # 3 Spring bursting forth in Florence

4/10/2019

Bardini Gardens

Boboli Gardens

Financial report from Florence~

4/10/2019

A random financial report from Florence.
A few years ago I reported:
• Fewer gypsies begging on the streets: they are back!
• Fewer Africans selling pictures, gadgets, and umbrellas: they are back.
• Cappuccino still costing 1.20 euro: standard price now,1.30.

What else:
• Across the board, fees for all museums and churches have gone up.
• All restaurants now add a cover or service charge to the bill.
• The charge for food hasn’t gone up. AND, as they say, “You can’t get a bad meal in Italy.” I agree.

Wonder # 2 The San Miniato al Monte Cemetery

4/9/2019

Cemeteries have always been a wonder of mine. I recall growing up and playing in one right on the road at the corner of a friend’s house. We made up all kinds of signals to attract cars going by and then would run and hide behind a old tombstone and watch to see if we were noticed.
     If I were a kid now, I’d be playing hide-and-seek in the HUGE cemetery that surrounds three sides of San Miniato al Monte. It is no exaggeration to estimate that 100,000, yes, one hundred thousand souls have found their burial rest there. I say rest because from the reverence inscribed on the stones and the uniqueness of the statuary there is no doubt that family members believe it important to give their loved ones a place of eternal, loving rest.
       The cemetery opened around 1864 and continues to offer rest in 2019. Family members come to tend the family graves. Whether they leave fresh, or artificial flowers (its difficult to tell the difference) their intention to show their love bursting forth.
     I’ve wandered this cemetery on every visit I’ve made to Florence, in all seasons. My sense of wonder never ends; I could take 100,000 pictures and each would be a wonder.

The Expanse

The Inscriptions

The Monuments

Wonder # 1 Garbage collection in Florence

4/8/2019

This trip I’m taking a friends suggestion and picking a word to guide my days. My word is Wonder. Since I’ve been to Florence so often in the last ten years, I feel a need to change my focus so that my current visit stays vibrant and novel. New wonders to go along with the old wonders.
Today’s Wonder involved garbage collection on the streets of Florence, where no garbage is to be seen. Instead, subterranean containers are available throughout the city, each labeled to indicate where to deposit organic, recyclable plastics and cardboard, and non-recyclable items. What a wonder to watch the garbage trucks come through and pick up a container, dump it in the truck, return the container, and then move on to the next. Most trucks pick up only one kind of garbage, but I’ve seen bigger ones with separate sections for each.
I took these pictures in the morning when delivery and service trucks of all sorts come to prepare the historic center for the tourists. But I imagine that these trucks are busy all over the city throughout day.