07/06/2022
This morning we were very casual getting packed, so much so it was a mad scramble to get to our 10:00 train. Once we had convinced Lachnado to stop chewing the wheel off our suitcase it was a mad sprint to the train station, luckily it was cooler. We feel like we had thrown all we had at Rome, it was now time to head North to the home of Pinocchio.
The good news was that our Florence hotel had a lift, the bad news was that it was a lift for ants. Lachlan was not impressed.
Once Eloise had woken up and we managed to get the Batmobile back down the stairs we were out to explore the streets of Florence. After not having much breakfast we were starving, we found the best lasagne we have ever had.
Our first impression of Florence was that it was a very welcoming and friendly city. It was nice to be out of rapid Rome. We dawdled past Basilica of San Lorenzo and then turned the corner to the unique Florence Baptistery and Florence Cathedral, one of Soph’s favourite buildings.
Every corner we turned it kept getting larger and larger.
Florence Cathedral, formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore in English Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower), is the cathedral of Florence, Italy. It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio and was structurally completed by 1436, with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink, bordered by white, and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.
In Rome and Florence, there certainly has been a lot of Ferrari merch.
Eloise’s eyes lit up when she spotted another carousel, this one was a bit more old school. they are pretty cheap and put a spring in her step for the rest of the day.
And then… Eloise spotted the Porcellino.
Il Porcellino (Italian “piglet”) is the local Florentine nickname for the bronze fountain of a boar. The fountain figure was sculpted and cast by Baroque master Pietro Tacca (1577–1640) shortly before 1634, following a marble Italian copy of a Hellenistic marble original, at the time in the Grand Ducal collections and today on display in the classical section of the Uffizi Museum. The original, which was found in Rome and removed to Florence in the mid-16th century by the Medici, was associated from the time of its rediscovery with the Calydonian Boar of Greek myth… Visitors to Il Porcellino put a coin into the boar’s gaping jaws, with the intent to let it fall through the underlying grating for good luck, and they rub the boar’s snout to ensure a return to Florence, a tradition that the Scottish literary traveller Tobias Smollett already noted in 1766, which has kept the snout in a state of polished sheen while the rest of the boar’s body has patinated to a dull brownish-green.
We zig zagged our way to Piazza della Signoria. The Italians sure do love a good Piazza.
Eloise and Lachlan then played their wild card for the day and found an amazing gelatissimo.
We checked out the shops on Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River
The girls then haggled their way to a new bags and purse.
It was the perfect day exploring the friendly city. There was impressive street art.
The great thing about being in the heart of the city is that it is always easy to pop back to let Lachnado free for a while before heading back out for dinner.
We were back where it all started near Soph’s favourite building for dinner. We might have to see if we can go in.
In Scotland, “the winner of Scotland’s Home of the Year 2022 has been revealed as an early 20th Century croft house in the Western Isles”. We need to get involved with this show, apparently, it is fantastic. “Prime Minister Boris Johnson has won the backing of a majority of Tory MPs in a confidence vote despite a significant revolt against his leadership”, and while we are here, the “AFP [is] targeting Italian mafia figures in next phase of AN0M probe”. Don’t worry AFP we will get Lachnado to sort them out.
The Socceroos with no lifelines remaining managed to win their must-win match again Doha to reach the final stage of this extended qualifying campaign. They now turn their attention to a one-off winner-takes-all game against Peru.
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