Tuesday was our designated "outlet shopping" day. Since we expected to get back into town around 8:00 pm we took a quick walk up to Conad and picked up a few "easy to prepare" things to eat later. Then we took our time making our way along past the Duomo to the tour starting point near the main train station. Arriving a bit early we sat at a sidewalk cafe for a cappucino. At about the annointed time we walked over to the meeting place. Turned out to be a slow day and our late registration was enough to hit the minimum number. There were 6 of us. Anyway, nice day for a drive through the country. First stop was the Prada Space Outlet where we came away empty handed. Next stop the optional Fashion Valley which none of us were interested in and lastly The Mall where Kris picked up a beautiful Ferragamo scarf. The interesting thing that stands out is the huge number of Asian folks at these malls and these folks are here for one reason: "Power Shopping" and they clearly want the big brands. Since the last time we were here, 2 years ago, The Mall has expanded and has added a large Prada store. In this store we looked at the checkout lines. There were 8 or 9 lines each at least 10 shoppers deep and every single person was Asian and they weren't there to buy just one thing. These folks have cash to spend and they are leaving happy, happy, happy!
Another thing. Now that The Mall has a large Prada store there really is no reason, for us anyway, to go to the Prada Space outlet AND there is now a direct commuter like bus service between Florence and The Mall. Direct bus: 10 euro/each return with at least 2 buses per hour. Our tour: 35 euro/each wth fixed times. Hmmm seems a no brainer for future visits.
Got back around 7:30 pm, stopped in at a sidewalk bar for a bit of refreshment during which time it started to rain. We drank slowly and eventually the rain gave up... but not before giving our, by now dry, laundry a re-wetting. Oh well, haul it inside to be dry by morning.
Wednesday morning we checked out the nearby CO-OP grocery store and the Saint Ambrogio daily market both not far from our apartment. Fabulous meats, seafood, veggies etc, but unfortunately for us, the apartment we chose is not set up for major culinary experiences. We are only here for a short period so larger lunches out and evening snacks is our strategy for now. If we were to come to Florence for an extended stay we would opt for an apartment with much more robust culinary capabilities. In any event we did pick up some basics and had a good walk over there and through the markets.
After dropping off the goods we headed off into the center, stopping at Ristorante I Ghibellini in Piazza di San Pier Maggiore for lunch where we had an excellent salad and rigatoni with ragu. After lunch we headed off past the Piazza Republica to the Palazzo Strozzi where we spent a couple of hours going through the Pontormo & Rosso: Diverging Paths of Mannerism special art exhibit currently on (note, the url link for this show might be short lived as the exhibit ends July 20, 2014). Needing a bit of a rest after the exhibit we stopped at a sidewalk cafe, on the Piazza Republica, for a couple of cappucini while we sat and watched the activities going on in the piazza. Then it was time for a visit to Grom where we joined the line for the ever excellent ice cream these folks dish out. For the evening we wandered back over to near the CO-OP where we had noticed a few "bars" earlier in the day, picked one at random, had some wine and excellent munchies before heading home for the night.
Thursday was an out of town day. After a quick coffee in the apartment we walked over to the Santa Maria Novella (SMN) train station, bought tickets for the next train to Prato and hoped aboard. Twenty minutes later, there we were getting off the train at Prato Centrale. Objective for the day was the Prato Textile Museum. Since we had been here before we thought we remembered the way but we managed to get turned around and must have ended up walking several extra kms to get there in a most circular route!
Oh well... excellent museum. For centuries, Prato was the centre of textile production in Italy and the museum reflects much of that history. However, the main attraction at this time was a special exhibit honouring the life and work of fashion designer Gianfranco Ferre, specifically his couture designs featuring his signature "white shirts". Stunning...
... more pics from the museum are in the new La Camicia Bianco Secondo Me photo album we set up specifically for this exhibit.
After leaving the museum we wandered over to near the Duomo and stopped in at Le Barrique enoteca/wine bar for lunch. Kris ordered a sausage and spinach plate, Brian ordered lasagne and, to share, we ordered a "central Italy" sampler plate which was to come first. The "mains" came first and were excellent. Later the sampler plate came. We took one look at it and both said something like "... we'll never get through that!". Well, not too many minutes later that delicious plate of meats and cheese was picked clean!
Later, in the evening back in Florence, we walked down the street the 3 blocks to Piazza Santa Croce where we sat at the Tasty Toscano sidewalk cafe for wine and munchies. Being "happy hour", the wine entitled us to their "buffet" and what an excellent little buffet it is... no dinner required after that. We did have some entertainment though. Our table abutted a main pedestrian thoroughfare for large tour groups. One such group was mainly teenagers and as will often happen at least one young lad has to show off, in this case attempting to leap frog over a relatively high stanchion in the roadway. From the sounds he made and the subsequent howls of laughter from the group of girls he was with, we can only surmise that he may have left at least part of one testicle on the stanchion!
Oh, before we forget. In Florence they have installed many "in ground" garbage and recycling containers. You walk up to these things, step on a lever, a mouth opens, you drop in your stuff, the mouth closes and your stuff disappears into the earth....
... Quite slick actually, but we didn't really have any idea of what happens. Do they compact? How does it get collected? etc, etc... Walking to the train station this morning we happened upon "the emptying". A big truck comes along, a mechanical arm reaches out and hooks onto the top of the container then lifts this very large box out of the ground and swings it over the top of the truck; the bottom of the box opens up and all the trash falls into the truck. The large box container is then reinserted into the ground....
Also Thursday we tried to use a BNL ATM to get some cash. The machine spit out our card while displaying an onscreen message "we have been instructed to return your card!". Crap... we'll try a different one in the morning.
Friday morning we tried a different BNL branch ATM. Same result. Double crap! Not having a local phone we asked the fellow at Infinity leather if we could borrow his phone No problem. Nice. Using Canada Direct, Brian called ScotiaBank only to learn there was no problem with our account or card. No indication of a rejected transactions in the last two days. Must be just a BNL glitch of some kind. This took quite a while and since we had thought we might buy something in his shop anyway, we ended up with a new shoulder bag for Brian and a new "dumper" for Kris. Absolutely beautiful leather and workmanship. This is one of our favorite local small independent leather shop/workshop places in Florence.
Leaving Infinity we went over to a different BNL and had better luck this time. Then it was off to the large San Lorenzo market for a look through the marketplace...
... followed by lunch at one of the several little snack bars in the market.
For the afternoon we decided to just do some wandering. We stopped in for a cappucino break at the Gran Caffe San Marco then walked past the very long line of hopefuls waiting patiently for a chance to enter the Accademia to get a glimpse of "David". Lucky we've been there a couple of times before so no need to join that crowd! After another break, for ice cream at Grom, we wandered down Via dei Calzaiuoli stopping in at Geronico Pelletterie where Kris picked up a very nice classic Fiorentina style hand bag of finest leather. Enough bags for this day!
Saturday and Sunday were Florence wrap up days, going for revisits to some of our favorite places starting with San Marco museum. This is a fabulous place. The simplicity of it compared to the massive cathedrals is really what makes it so neat, especially the upper floor where each of the monk's cells contains an exceptional religious fresco by Fra Angelico. There are no photos allowed but the nice little gift shop sells postcards illustrating some of the frescoes... here's a collage of 5 of them...
Later Saturday we went to Trattoria Marione for lunch. Excellent lunch but unfortunately Brian's ended up being, what one might call, "fast food" if you catch the drift! No other negative side effects though. Later we sat for awhile at a sidewalk cafe at the Piazza della Repubblica where people watching is always fun...
Sunday we strolled around the Duomo...
... and along the river and across the Ponte Vecchio...
Late afternoon we walked back up near the Duomo for an ice cream at Grom then back over to the Piazza della Repubblica for a glass of wine and more people watching. This time it was a young couple who chose the very public carousel as a place for wedding pictures. Very sweet...
While we get ready to bid Italy adieu we can reflect on some of the graffiti we have seen here. Some might call it "urban art", "political expression", "gang tagging", or just an ugly defacement of property. In any event it definitely varies. Here's a small collection...
In Naples most of the historic centre area where we stayed is covered with this type...
... while this artist might need a regular reminder of where he/she is...
In Rome the metro, in particular the B-Line cars, are covered in what appears to be gang tagging thus providing a moving glimpse...
... whereas this wall offers an example of a more artistic attempt...
In Florence we didn't see as much but somebody was apparently trying to make a statement...
... and, if you zoom in on the photo you can see where it appears that a second person/artist added an addional comment. We are not sure if it is meant as an endorsement of, or a rebuttal against, the initial statement!
In any event, time to move on...
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