firenze

prego, prego

its been 7 weeks since i left Adelaide. its so hard to believe. almost two months without a home, living out of a backpack. not even a mug to call my own, to make myself a cup of tea. I have reached a point where i have ogled so many monuments and feel like I have become almost complacent about what it is i am seeing. I ave lost the "wonder" that the continent previously inspired in me. The only good thing about this is that we have reached Italia now and i have already ogled these monuments on my previous trip.

Venice was inspiring from a modern/contemporary art point of view (OMG PEGGY GUGGENHEIM). Firenze held a particular memory of having a lovely atmosphere and a pretty amazing market. I made no plans while i was there to see anything in particular (no David, no icons, don't even bother with the Uffutzi- i have seen it before and maybe I can go back when i am old!). Instead i spent my  time wandering, taking which ever street took my fancy. The first day i wandered aimlessly and (shock horror) did not see a single monument that i cared to take a photo of. 

The second day I walked to the produce market in the morning and looked at all the amazing Italian produce. There were whole giant rabbits, disgusting bits of insides and delights from the bottom of the ocean. The vegies were so fresh and there were lots of amazing different things. The zucchini's looked so good and they had "roman zucchini's" that are a slightly lighter colour baby zucchinis with the flower attached. I tried some cheese and had an espresso at the bar and then continued to walk in a vague direction towards the river. I passed by the piazza outside the Uffutzi by chance, catching a quick happy snap of the fake David. I crossed over the golden bridge and climbed up to a lookout that had been regarded as particularly picturesque. 

The view from the top did not disappoint. The rolling hills of Tuscany met the edge of the city at a large wall surrounded by olive trees and vegie patches. Inside the walls of the city the red shingled roofs shimmered under the hot sun. and the mountains on the other side were shrouded in soft clouds affording an ever changing view. 

 

After I wandered back to the park near our hostel and spent the afternoon in the company of sparrows while reading my book.