Florence Thursday 26 May

There's so much to see and do in Florence, so where to start? Well, we started with the Palazzo Vecchio (yes, we're into palaces), and were not disappointed with the lavishness of the residence of various governors of Florence, including the massive ceilings covered in gilt, the numerous rooms (what did they do in them all?) and their artworks, the chapels and so on. We then checked out the famous Duomo, perhaps more awe-inspiring from the outside than inside, but still pretty impressive just the same. We passed up on the tours to climb the hundreds of stairs to the top of the bell tower (Campanile) and to the dome of the Duomo, but I did visit the Museo dell-Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (that is, the Cathedral works museum), in which numerous pieces removed from the Duomo over the years have been placed. This includes numerous statues and marbles from the facade, art works, models of the different cathedral designs, re-created scaffolding and haulage implements from the construction era and much more. We then visited the baptistry, the oldest building in the complex and having wonderful mosaics in the inside of its dome.

 

We then settled for a meal at a casual restaurant overlooking the River Arno, followed by a walk around town. The teeny boppers were dancing to the busker's music on the Ponte Vecchio and the crowds filled the piazzas and laneways of the city with musicians at some of the restaurants. True, they were probably mostly tourits, but this didn't detract from the evening atmosphere.

I reflected on the cost of the meal tonight. It seemed to me to be good value by Australian standards (for what we got). The total of €33 (equals perhaps a little over $A45) included a shared appetizer, a couple of mains (one of which was a salad), bread (€1 each tonight, but other times it is included) and half a litre of red wine (quite drinkable, I might add). We've sometimes eaten for less, and sometimes paid more. I suppose we're benefiting from a relatively good exchange rate, but our impression is that Italy is certainly not “expensive” compared to Australia. The supermarket prices are pretty comparable. Some things are cheaper. This includes fresh fruit and vegetables, and the quality of these is often better than what we accept in Australia. Other things are possibly a little more expensive, athough of course we depend on neighbourhood supermarkets and haven't had the need or opportunity to check the larger stores that presumably exist out of the city centres. In the case of accommodation, it seems to me that you get what you pay for, and the locations we've chosen tend to be the more expensive places! Fuel hasn't been an issue for us, but my understanding is that it is definitely more expensive. It will be interesting to see how prices in Berlin compare.