After Rome we had a beautiful train journey north to Florence. The colours of Autumn were all around and it was so lovely just to sit and watch them blend into each other as we moved by.
Florence was by far my favourite city we visited. It reminded me a lot of Cambridge, with a pretty river and lots of bridges, not to mention bikes everywhere! We didn’t really have a plan for Florence, except to maybe eat some gelato, so we really had the chance to explore and do things on a whim.
The water was really still that day
Florence was the city of art for us. On our first day we stumbled upon ‘The Masks of Prof. Agostino Dessi’ – doesn’t it just sound like something from a film? The shop was filled with masks of all kinds, and the Professor himself was at the back of the shop making a mask. He showed us his favourite, a leaf mask he made for Helena Bonham Carter. He gave us all a postcard with a picture of his store on the front. The weird thing was that it was a painting, but it matched exactly what the shop looked like when we were there, down to the young girl there for a mask making workshop wearing similar clothes…
He also gave us a card for another exhibition in Florence, so we wandered over there (probably via a pasticceria). I can’t remember this artist’s name but she did lots of delicate drawings made up of thousands of tiny circles, so the finished product looked like lace. She also did a series of works on Absalom, David’s son in the Old Testament, whose hair is definitely his downfall. It was strange because she talked about this, and her hair was really thick and past her hips!
Because we had so much time in Florence, we took a day trip out to Greve in Chianti. It was so beautiful and a completely different pace to what we were used to. After wandering round some amazing little shops and being confused by the maps being printed the wrong way round, we climbed to the top of the hill overlooking the village and sat for hours on the edge of the vineyard, eating pizza, sipping some local wine and listening to the roosters. It was lovely to just stop and appreciate everything that was there for us to look at, smell, see, taste, touch and hear. (Just did 2 lessons on the senses, might be the reason for that list)
First impression of Milan
After the leisurely, getting-to-know-you period in Florence, Milan came as a bit of a shock. Though our hotel was affectionately nicknamed ‘the dungeon’ the city was big and vibrant. The streets were wide and sprawling, filled with traffic and fog. Thanks to a friend of a friend’s recommendations we were able to sample apparently the best ice cream in the world (I had salted caramel and crema come una volta, which was their speciality flavour and resembled a lemon custard). We tried to see the Last Supper but they had sold out tickets (who knew you could do that to art?) and we spent some time window shopping, as Milan has all the big names.This is how we stumbled upon our next accidental gem, which was the ring which broke the world record for having the most diamonds in it. We also saw some sculptures made with precious jewels, including a massive Topaz one (November’s birthstone, hint hint – though I think it would weigh me down as a piece of jewellery, to be honest).
That was the end of a lovely, whirlwind tour of Italy. The places were amazing but the company definitely made the trip as memorable as it was.
Next entry will be about the weekend away with the GBU, which was much needed and appreciated!
One More Step Along The World I Go... 