Florence - The Duomo and more wandering

Monday morning and I am excited to see David, Steph, Al and Chris.  David and Steph are coming from Greece and Al and Chris from Normandy and Venice.  We haven't seen them since the wedding so have lots to catch up on.  I head down to the market to get some fresh bread, cheese and meat for a quick snack before we head out to check out Florence.  What great timing as I walk back from the market their taxi is just pulling up to our apartment door.  Yes I teared up, imagine my David a married man and looking very happy and well rested.  :)

First stop was the Piazza della Signoria, for a glass of wine.  There is a huge construction project going on to repair the "Fountain of Neptune", peeking behind the screens gave us an idea of the size, may have to return to see it when it is finished.  In the centre of the courtyard right alongside all these ancient pieces is a piece of modern art, which to me looks like a gigantic piece of gelato.  

This is called "Big Clay 4", lots of controversy over putting it up in Palazzo Vecchio home to so many historical works of art.  Too me it looks like a large blob of gelato.   

 This is supposedly the best gelato in Florence. We had to give it a try.  No complaints from any of us.

 The Florence Duomo - the Santa Maria del Fiore is visible from many parts of Florence, Jim and I had decided to wait to see it with everyone else.  Impressive from a distance, awestruck close up.    The building is on top of the 7th century Church of Santa Reparata and the construction for the Duomo started in the 13th century.  It took them 2 centuries to figure out how to build the actual dome.

When I return from every holiday I have a "regret".  In Florence it was "why didn't I climb these 463 stairs".  The sign saying don't even think of it if you suffer from claustrophobia, vertigo, have a heart condition kinda turned me off.  And yes now I regret it.  The door below is the entrance to those 463 steps up and 463 back down.  The lovely things about these old cities are there aren't any skyscrapers so I gather the view from the top is amazing.  Next time :) (I better not wait too long)

The clock in this picture was built in 1443.  It is a 24 hour clock where the 24th hour of the day ended at sunset.  Not sure how that worked between the seasons.  And in 2017 it is still keeping time.  

Imagine looking out your bedroom window, or walking to work and seeing the Duomo looking down on you every day.

While in Florence you must try the famous Chianina beef with a glass of Chianti.  David and Steph met a couple in Greece who recommended that we try Giostra for the best food in Florence.  It was amazing. 

After dinner a nice walk back along the Ponte Vecchio, the jewelry was competing with the stars. 

The Crazy Cat Lady becomes the Nutty Nannie

It's true, It's all true.  I cried, I cried and I cried again.  Everytime I open my phone, I cry - there is a picture of my 1st grandson (and I am sure this feeling will be the same for all my grandchildren).  But Ethan James George Fyfe will always have the honour of being my first.  

It's true he is the cutest baby every born (sorry Andrew, David and Rachel), but it is true.

It’s true that my heart burst with pride as I watched Rachel and Jay be so generous with their son and patiently and maybe a little tensely watch Jim, Andrew, David and myself hold this precious gift.  Watching the men in my life tear up as they looked at their little sister and their first nephew was only one of many magical moments we shared today. 

It's true that I didn't like not being the one holding my daughters hand through all of this, but I couldn't have asked for a better replacement, Jay you will always be my favourite son-in-law.  After this week and watching how loving, dedicated and patient you were with my daughter I know that both of them will be truly spoiled and loved deeply for the rest of their lives.  Thank you for letting me share in the magic of watching your love grow as your family has. 

It's true, that your voice changes when talking to a baby.  What I didn't realize was that my "cat voice" was also my "baby voice".  "look at you what a big strong fella you are" is a common phrase I use when talking to Ollie and yes exactly what I said to Ethan today.  And yes it is an octave higher than my normal voice - pretty scary.  

It’s true my husband is putty in Ethan’s hands.  Not only did he hold him at 7:30, only 2+ hours after he was born, he snuck up to the hospital while I was sleeping at 11 to try and get another cuddle.  Unfortunately Jay’s parents had claimed the Ethan cuddle time so Jim had to come home, quite disappointed.  At 2 he says to me, when do you think we should go back up.  Luckily Rachel needed a few things so off we went at 5.  Thank goodness he has to go back to work.  Btw I took about 50 pictures that 1st day, and Jim was holding the baby in about 35 of them.  

It’s true, I am probably going to become one of those "Nannies" who are showing pictures and telling stories of their grandchildren, I may need to ask Santa for a video camera J

On November 23, 2017, my life changed and I added a new bullet onto my list of things to be thankful for.

·        My 1st grandson - Ethan James George Fyfe, born at 5:05 and weighing 7 lbs 15 ounces

·        My Husband

·        My family, Andrew, David, Rachel, Jay, Stephanie and Melissa

·        My Cats

·        My extended family, very lucky in that there are too many too count.

·        My friends who are family

·        My Tribbling Ladies and their families

·        My family who I can no longer touch, but still surround us with their love and support and who taught me that people, and memories are more important than things. 

Florence - what treasure will we find today - Piazzale Michelangelo

It's cappuccino time, where should we have it today.   Pull out our little map and we see a landmark just down the road from us so off we head.  Wonderful, having a coffee looking up at the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi.  Built for Cosimo the Eldest (have to keep our Cosimo's straight) around 1450.  In 1540 Cosimo de Medici moved to the Palazzo de Vecchio when he became Grand Duke of Florence.  The other family members stayed in this palace.  The picture above is a view from one of the many windows in the palace.  Now it is a museum.  An interesting section of the palace was turned into a costume museum, showing designs and material from different eras.

LOL next to the David, this might be one of my favourite statues.

There were magnificent tiered gardens rising up the hill.  They must have been in great shape back then, especially the workers carrying all the pieces of marble and rocks up for the artists as they built their statues and fountains.

 After a busy few days we thought we would take it easy today.   How perfect that right at the bottom of the Palace is a new favourite pizza restaurant.  After some good carbs it is time to start wandering again.

If you like seafood, Italy is definitely the place to be.  There were fresh fish in every restaurant.  Love taking pictures of them, but not in a hurry to eat one.  I was more than happy to settle for pasta and pizza.

This is definitely going to be worth a visit on the way back

The river Arno might be one of the quietest rivers I have ever seen, it could be called Glass or Mirror River, the reflections all along it were magnificent.

A wandering type of day sometimes means following the people.  River on the left, beautiful villas and houses on the right.  We come to this little road and people start to turn up it, so we do too.  We have no idea where we are going but what the heck.  What a find, other than the fact that I felt like we had just climbed up the equivalent of Mt Everest, we happened upon the Piazzale Michelangelo with just an amazing view of the city of Florence, along with another beautiful statue of the David and an open air market. 

After catching our breath as we wander around the square we realize we aren't at the top yet.  Just a we bit further up is the Church of San Salvatore, referred to by Michelangelo as "La bella Villanella".  As we walked around it there were the cries of babies and laughter of their parents reverberating around the church as today was a celebration of baptism.

So much for our relaxing day, looks like a new step record is going to be hit, as we start wandering back down the hill.  Looking forward to that glass of wine looking over the Arno.  Tomorrow the newlyweds and Al and Chris Graham arrive.  Lots to talk about, lots to do.