We all love Florence ...

We've all agreed we could stay here for a month. It's compact and easy to get around and everytime you turn a corner you find something that has been standing there since the 14th century.

The designer label shopping is extreme or just appears so because if the concentration in such a small space. There is high Street shopping and there is shopping in Florence. And at Christmas time the streets are magnifico.

This too with with the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) in the background. Literally, at the gaps between so many streets loons the apex of this cathedral. Such a landmark.

Shopping well no, this is your meat selection at so many restaurants. Mostly Chianina beef, Italy's own breed of beef cattle; the giant breed that stands at 6 feet tall at the shoulder. (We even noticed McDonalds advertising Chianina rather than our Angus burgers). This is a selection of T-Bone steak to choose from the whole standing rib 

Ai WeiWei was in town with this exhibition. Life boat rafts stuck to the outside of the museum clearly advertise where its being held.

And you can't go past the Ponte Vecchio. The place to buy jewellery in Florence. 

Mode of transport either a scooter (Vespa, the scooter of choice mostly) or, get a load of this car (term is loose). It's a two seater, one behind the other and enough room for the shopping. Italy, the land where a Nissan Micra is made look like a family sedan. 

And after shopping why wouldn't you then spend some time seeing the plethora of art available either on offer for free viewing 

Of course a visit to Florence isn't complete without seeing the famous "David". This us the replica but still awe-inspiring

Or visit the Uffizi for some more refined masterpieces. The Home of the Medici family a few hundred years ago. 

  The Day wouldn't be complete without visiting the Official Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella

The frescoes are simply amazing and to think they've been here and they've been making perfumes and herbal lotions and potions since the the year 1200. 

 

Nice is bloody nice, but there is forever a dark side ...

We made it to Nice after a full day travel. Three trains and a bus through Pisa, Genoa and Monaco. We have the most delightful apartment just a spit from the Promenade des Anglaise. More to come over the next few days. If you're following the blog you might like to track back as I have been updating past posts. Talk a bit later but this is our view ...

Right at the end of our street is the Promenade des Anglais which is of course the site of the tragic terrorist attack in April this year. In fact, when you read of the attack you get to understand that so many lost their lives just on our corner, literally. The famous Negresco Hotel is a block to the right and the casino to the left; between which many of the 86 people died. Many of those being children. We walked the Promenade this evening which would have been similar to that fateful night; just families walking, people socialising, kids playing, runners, cyclists. Except it was Bastille Day and the Promenade was flooded with thousands of revellers.

What really brought the magnitude home is the public shrine the exists within and around a large rotunda further toward the old town. People are still, today, leaving flowers, pot plants, cards, posters, poems and soft toys. The toys, thousands of them, really remind you of the volume of children that were killed that night. 

At first I was taken aback with the toys around the rotunda; it has been a moving gesture by so many. Then, when you walk the stairs of the rotunda and witness the mountain of soft toys intermingled with photos of those who lost their lives, you are rather floored by the enormity of this act. I was compelled to write in the condolence book available and took a few minutes to reflect on what a horrid, despicable and purely evil atrocity this individual has caused. And it is all in the name of religion!!

But, as they say this should not and must not stop us from living our lives and just around the corner is this ...

Day trip to Pisa

The last time I came to Pisa (when Melinda was 25 weeks pregnant with Oliver) I thought it was a dirty, uninteresting City that had nothing to really offer other than some lop-sided Tower and a big cathedral.

How things can change. This time, not only can you get into the Tower (it was being renovated last time) it has been cleaned and the City (away from the stazione) is charming, full of beautiful laneways, old (as is Italy) and interesting in terms of history and architecture and design. Well, much more than I remember anyway.

Inside the baptistry 

The ceiling inside the cathedral displays more Gold. Acres of the stuff.








And the Tower, quite impressive and quite a lean!!!  It's all so very clean compared to all those years ago

Beautiful Firenze

We've made it to Firenze (Florence). Travelling at 224 km/hr the trip seemed to take no time at all. We had a short walk to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella where our gorgeous apartment is situated overlooking the Piazza. The snap is the view from the main bedroom. The apartment is perfect for us and spacious by Italian standards. We're about to set off and stock the larder with essentials before we start exploring a little further in this pocket sized City. 

Rome is just a museum!

It doesn't matter where you turn, or where you go, in this magnificent City it's just one big ongoing museum. Every corner brings another gasp or cry "look at that!". The Roman numerals weren't a lot of use either; I must say that we got our Cs and Ms and Ds a bit confused. Suffice to say there is very little that would be considered as current or modern.

Case in point is the via Quatre Fontaines. Aptly named because of the fountains on each corner of one intersection. You don't need a museum pass to enjoy this city. There is enough art in the churches, cathedrals and Basilicas which are free and the statues, architecture and shops to keep you busy for days.

 These are the Four Fountains
 that look at each other to
create Quatre Fontaines.

You can see the white line that indicates the pedestrian access. Clearly being a pedestrian in Roma us a bit like taking your life in your own hands. Even at, what we know as, zebra crossings you're never quite sure if traffic will stop.

Then of course there is the must see Fontana di Trevi. It is quite remarkable to wander through the narrow trattoria lined streets that hardly seem to see any direct sunlight and bang, there you are in Piazza di Trevi and the monumental cascades endlessly pouring out of the Palazzo Poli. We all threw our obligatory coins in the fountain to ensure our return. In fact it is reported that upbto 3000 Euros us cleared daily from the Fontana and us used to fund a grocery store for the poor.

Who knew ...

Panettone heaven. Amazing glace fruits. 

Too many varieties to name

We weren't even looking. But never ones to pass up a taste test we were spell bound by this one. Who knew there was so much to the world of panettone? What the Italians don't do with their panettone us clearly not worth it. There were chocolate, pistachio, citrus of all persuasions, chestnut, iced, frosted, plain, dried fruits, fresh fruits; unbelievable concoctions and combinations of flavours. It makes the selection at Mediterranean Wholesalers on Sydney Road look insignificant. We grazed for half an hour but could have stayed for much longer. I wonder if any of them export. Truly magnificent and I can see that those at home who say they don't like panettone may be simply tainted by the, now considered to be bland, plain varieties we seem to be plied with each festive season.

And, to boot, it was held in the most magnificent palladium Style temple that gas been in existence for centuries. Probably even longer being Rome.

This is just a façade but panettone heaven lay behind

Even though we were full as googs on sweet luscious sticky panettone we were still on the lookout for a famous hole in the wall that sells Porchetta rolls and has been doing so, apparently, since 1870. Not one to get in the way of a good story, or good Porchetta roll, perseverance pays off. We found it! Only as wide as a doorway this tiny establishment, with its table seating for all of six, was mostly taken up with a covered bench that contained a whole boned and seasoned pig that is the famous Porchetta complete with crackling. Expertly carved by a guy who looked as if he grew up carving Porchetta. Slabs of meat between crusty panini with its obligatory piece of crunchy crackle seasoned with the nuances of pepper, fennel and salt. Bloody magnificent.

Er Buchetto. A doorway wide but a flavour the has lasted centuries

Opulence on a grand scale

The sheer scale of religious antiquity and artefact and wealth us astounding. All across this museum of a city is an opulence on a scale not replicated anywhere that I've seen. Even the Basilicas of Paris or the cathedrals if London don't compare. The wealth is poignantly contrast to the level of corresponding poverty though and so often right at the door. Such religious wealth seems obscene when there are, what seem to be supporters of the faith, with nothing, that appear to be actively discouraged from taking shelter or solice within the confines of the church. What of Rome does the church own? Or rather easier to answer what of Rome not held by the church? The City is one that is at odds with itself. The wealth and opulence and yet the machinations of the city almost seem to be at breaking point. The escalators only just work. The buses sound like the wheels are about to fall off. The Parks are unkempt. It's one big handyman's nightmare. And yet the church has so much and there is so much of it.

There is more to this opulence when you scratch the surface. The below shots are within St Peter's Basilica inside the Vatican.  

 

Then there is the Pantheon where select matyrs are buried such as Raphael the artist and the last Queen of Italy-Catherine Savoie, or was it Marguerite, whatever!!