I have returned!

Church of San Frediano in Cestello

Sorry for no contact in the last couple of days - I am still studying for my masters whilst away and the deadline of an assignment needed my attention! That one has now been submitted and I have another due Friday! As a consequence, that and the weather, it was 38C here the other day, have conspired to kept us inside and so there has been no news or views to share.

Ponte Vecchio

Taken standing on the centre of Ponte Vecchio

Other side view from Ponte Vecchio

If you look closely you will see all the wooden beams supporting the buildings as they hang off the side of the bridge.

The weather got a bit warm the other day, but this place stayed quite reasonable until about 3pm when I shut the front window to stop the hot breeze. Closing that one window brought the place back to manageable again. Admittedly I was in a singlet and the boys only in their underwear and the fan was on - put still we weren't sweaty hot. The worst thing here is the humidity - as it is anywhere - it tends to be low during the day, but rises as the sun sets - making the most unbearably muggy time around 9-12pm, before the temperature drops to about 20C making it a rather peasant evening. Not so great for the boys going to bed though - their shutters need to be closed to stop the light (as I type at 2045 it is still light outside) so they are in a room still warm from the day and muggy to boot. I had a real battle with them to sleep without a shirt (they aren't used to that! just turn on the aircon Mum!), but since they have started they have been sleeping much better.

Looking across Ponte Vecchio

Looking into the courtyard in the centre of the Uffizi Gallery

View along the River from in front of Uffizi looking up to the hills

We did go back to St Mark's yesterday for the sung mass again. They welcomed a new minister - after almost 12mths without one. We also escaped this afternoon for a walk to a new bit of the city we haven't seen yet. My map is slowly being filled up with pen markings of the routes we have taken! Anyway, at the beginning of our walk the last part of the garbage mystery was solved. We happened upon a garbage truck that was clearing the rubbish (coincidently at the same place I took pics of the garbage boxes last time) - there you go - but there is no tip and flick action on these - they raise straight up and are somehow triggered to release the garbage through the bottom and then straight back down again!

Mystery solved!

The walkway of arches

After the garbage truck we continued on walking down the Arno river towards Ponte Vecchio. We then went across, looking at all the jewellery shops on the way - don't worry husband I have picked out the pieces I would like! We had a quick look around the other side and then came back across. The boys were a little disappointed t find shops as they thought is was houses! We continued from their down the river a little further, through a walk way covered in arches to the Uffizi Gallery. The building is a U shape and the courtyard has statues of a variety of people as well as modern day artists plying their trade by selling us tourists wonderful watercolour pictures of the Duomo and Ponte Vecchio - or you can always sit for a portrait! We plan to visit the Uffizi tomorrow evening as they are open on Tues nights and the crowds are less.

Inside the Uffizi courtyard with modern artists plying their trade

Looking down the courtyard towards the River

Two of the many statues in the courtyard. This is Galileo (left) and  Micheli (right)

Duomo from the 'rear'

The Duomo Campanile - over 400 steps to climb it!

We stopped by Palazzo Vecchio with its wonderful courtyard - to find that it is open until midnight each night! There is also a children's museum there so we will visit there in the late afternoon one day next week. From here we continued on the Duomo, which has scaffolding on its back end as you can see in the photographs - I think they are cleaning it as it looks pretty filthy! The museum that holds all the original sculptures from the Duomo is also open late, with no crowds, so have pencilled that in as well!

Palazzo Vecchio taken from the Uffizi courtyard

Main courtyard inside the Palazzo Vecchio

Frescos on the walls in the palace courtyard.