Firenze, more of it, thank goodness

Dear all,

Have to relate another story about Ryanair from Ms. Georgina Esch of mainly Southern France these days, I think.

One of our female friends, a 5 foot 10 redhead, was pushed by a Ryanair official in the Perpignan airport.  So she decked him.  And was arrested.   Wonderful.  She dined out on it for months.

Good for her, I say. I think that would be a very appropriate use for our $100 fine. Though perhaps, being American, I am jumping to the conclusion that she sued Ryanair. Perhaps she had her meals paid for by people who appreciated a good story and sympathized with her more than they sympathized with Ryanair.

As I mentioned, we have no internet in our apartment, so we are forced to go to this cafe every morning and sometimes during other times of the day and have cappuccini.

Lots of museum hopping. We are definitely up for it. Went to the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo (History of the Duomo), which was our main reason for coming to Florence. Don is doing research for a project. Took tons of pictures, which they do allow.


Part of the research, getting a sense of scale. This picture serves a dual purpose: Always make note of the toilet location.


Era at Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, sitting under a Donatello choir balcony - young boys frolicking. Not on a cell phone; listening to the Museo's spiel. We heard how various seriously wealthy people, like the Medici, would have different pieces torn out of the Duomo to update it for their son's wedding, or bar mitzvah, or some such event.

Then went to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi which has a lovely 360 degree fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli (photos not allowed), and a couple of the most incredible ceilings. Fantastic. One of many Medici palaces in Florence and its surrounds.





































Through the Looking Glass at Palazzo Medici Riccardi.





































Room with a Ceiling

 
Another room with a ceiling at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi

Today we went to a new museum, Museo Galileo, or the Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (history of Science). Absolutely fantastic. We loved it. So inspiring. Beautiful old instruments and equipment, almost all Italian, so they were exquisitely beautiful. Little movies throughout which explained the different inventions, their basic science and how they worked. Everything was explained visually with very minimal subtitles in Italian and English. Very cleverly done. The exhibits and the inventions and machinery itself were beautifully presented. We spent the whole day there, except for a break for soup (Ribollita), salad, porcini mushrooms, grilled vegetables and shrimp pasta, wine, of course. They wouldn't let us take photos, but they did have beautiful catalogs for sale. We bought half a dozen very heavy ones. Now must find FedEx.

Living around the corner from the Duomo you begin to notice certain things. Do you see how the sky shining through the rosettes is so enamel blue? When I first saw them, even though I knew better, I thought the rosettes were enameled. Also, almost all the elements in the building are not identically matching. The windows are all different, the decorative elements in the archways at the top of the building, under the rosettes are all different. The four petalled rosettes to the right of the picture are pretty similar, but the similarity is an oddity in this building.

While enjoying a glass of wine yesterday at a neighborhood cafe with wireless (same cafe as first photo of this blog), Don spoke to an artist friend on his cell phone (using Skype), as the friend was speeding on a  train to Virginia (sounds like a math problem). So, Don was in Florence, using Skype, and speaking to someone who was traveling to Virginia. Sorry to repeat myself, but I just can't get over these newfangled ways. The down side - a supplier called Don's cell in the middle of the night to inquire about an overlooked/unpaid Magnolia bill ($100) - oops.

More coming up.

Ciao, ciao,

Era and Aldo