Florence Day 5

Today slept in until after 9, getting my first proper night's sleep. Hallelujah. I was still in my tshirt and shorts when Armondo came by to say that they won't be able to replace my air conditioner -- since it's August they can't get anyone to do it until the 24th, at which point I'll be long gone. However, this air conditioner doesn't seem broken to me -- you just have to plug it in when you want it on rather than using a switch, but other than that it seems just fine. Hopefully it'll hold until Saturday! Cuz it's damn hot around here.

My plan was to grab a quick breakfast, then hit the Boboli Gardens, then lunch. I decided to take a different street on my way into town just to get some different scenery, but apparently I stepped into a pedestrian worm hole and ended up on the opposite side of town from where I wanted to be, almost making it back to my old hotel the AC Firenze, but on the other side of the Arno. Fortunately there IS an Arno, so once I came upon it I a) realized my error and b) had no problem finding my way back to where I wanted to be. By the time I got to where I wanted to be it was almost noon, and I still hadn't eated or caffeinated. Found a charming little eatery and had cappucino, a little salami panini (I really like how the panini are so simple and relatively light -- pretty much foccacia with one layer of delicious salami and not a whole lot else), and some much-needed aqua frizzante. I wish I had taken a picture of the place, but alas, I was delirious from walking for two hours. After lunch I was feeling much restored. Headed to the Boboli Gardens and had a most pleasant stroll around the place. It's stunning in terms of the landscape and the magnificent Pitti Palace (which was closed, although I wasn't terribly interested in going inside anyway), but dispointing in terms of the gardening itself -- not super-well kept and no interesting plants. Still a beautiful greenscape which is a nice change from all that stone in the center of Florence.

Pitti Palace -- pity the courtyard is stone:


gardens with the palace in the background:


terrace near the porcelain museum:


cool modern sculpture:


covered walkway along the cedar lane:


Boboli kitty and fountain (lots of potted lemons around the fountain):








After the garden, picked up fixins for spaghetti carbonara at the grocery and headed home. Practiced my cello for awhile, which was a good thing since I hadn't played yesterday at all, and one of my goals on this trip is to improve my celloin' skills.

Then a swim...

... then set about making dinner on my little hotplate. Turned out pretty well - all of the ingredients were SO good, especially the parmigiano. Enjoyed dinner on my tiny patio until the mosquitos told me it was time to go inside and plug in the Vape! skeeter thing.

dinner:


skeeter killer:

After dinner I finished Rule of the Bone, which was a stunning book, then got ready to go back to town. Visited Moyo, the bar with free wi-fi, had a mojito, then headed to the Chiesa di Santa Maria for a free organ concert. On my way there, there was some guy dressed all in black with big dark shades on, sitting on the curb of a quiet street, strumming guitar and singing pop songs -- he sounded exactly like the guy from Blur, and it sounded so good I nearly skipped the organ concert so I could just sit there too and listen to him. But that, of course, would have been wierd. So, on to the chiesa: it was hot as blazes inthere, but it was nice to hear a concert. He did the Bach Toccatta and Fugue, which always rocks my world. Though this organ didn't have the cajones like when I heard the same piece at Westminster Abbey with Syd -- in that place I could feel the bass in my innards. Still, it was a good concert and nice to see some live o see some live music. As I walked home, the streets were really lively with people, restaurants bustling, and it was nice to see so much life after a pretty quiet weekend. Sadly I had forgotten my camera, so no pics of the evening.