Florence

I had travelled to Siena with a group of friends. The group was planning two

trips to Florence six days apart; I decided to take my bags on the first trip and

return with the group to Siena on their second visit. I felt that Florence probably

deserved more than two days. When we arrived at the railway station in Siena

we were running late (the group I was with was always frustratingly late) so I

caught the train by myself and arranged to meet everyone after I had checked

into the hotel. My little adventure began on a train by myself travelling through

the Tuscan countryside. Not being used to group travel I was very happy.

The outer suburbs of Florence looked very dowdy, industrial and depressed.

The Grand Hotel Baglioni was very close to the station so lugging the luggage

was very easy. My room had a view but was incredibly small: I complained and

was shifted to a larger room. The hotel had a fabulous roof top restaurant and

garden that overlooked Florence 360 degrees. At four-stories it was one of the

tallest buildings in Florence so the views were great. Even if you are not staying

here I would recommend having dinner on the roof.

I met up with the group and we walked down to the main square with the Cathedral,

Bell-tower and Baptistery. There were queues to get into every building. Tourist central.

I had thought Siena was fabulous but Florence was spectacular.

The use of multi-coloured marble made the square look like a giant ice-cream cake.

The detailing of the facades would take months to document.

One pair of doors to the Baptistery was by Ghiberti, “The Gates Of Paradise”.

I’d studied these in Art History at High School. The fineness of the detail is

exquisite. History coming alive.

The richness of the exteriors was matched by the ornateness of the interior

decorations. I was fascinated by the ornamentation and illustrative

qualities of the ceilings and walls of the major buildings. The craftsmanship

is exquisite. I found these more interesting than the ‘must see’ pieces of art.

 Florence is a walker friendly city and is laid out so that it is very easy to

see the major attractions, although just meandering had its own rewards.

There are fountains and statues everywhere.

 The Ponte Vecchio was full of small jewellery shops selling very gaudy items and I

resisted temptation to add to my collection. Although I was to later find some really interesting earring shops and succumbed to the lure of pearls, rubies and emeralds.

A lot of the pieces are replicas of the Medici collection.

The legacy of the Medici Dynasty has made Florence a monument to art and culture.

The Medici Chapel is a superb example of the art of lapidary; the walls and altars

glowed with lapis lazuli, carnelians and other semi-precious stones and marble.

But along with all the history Florence has a needy underclass.

 On my days alone I wandered around spending a lot longer at the major attractions.

The most important one being the Uffizi Gallery. I was a little disappointed with it

as I feel it needed a better curator. Not all old art is good art but this gallery seemed

to display everything with pride and without prejudice. It needed a good culling so

that the gems could really sparkle.

 It was great to be able to get up close and personal with the religious art. The

books that I have at home don’t show the finer techniques and different materials

that were used to build up the density of the gilding. You couldn’t take shots so I

busily took notes on everything. No-one commented on me waving a pencil inches

from the paintings. The gallery has a wonderful collection of Botticellis and it was interesting to see the originals that I have been using for inspiration for years.

The hotel was directly opposite Santa Maria Novella with all its stunning murals

by Andrea Buonaiuto

Like all other Italian towns that I had seen there were Madonnas on nearly all

street corners. Lots of Kodak moments. I decided to get my film developed

and found a local chemist who quickly decided that I was mad with the amount

of film that I was getting processed. 

The major public gardens in Florence are the Boboli Gardens behind the Pitti Palace.

The gardens were wonderfully laid out with various outdoor “rooms”. It was

obviously a place for the locals to chill-out on a hot weekend with families having 

picnics and couples wandering around.

On my last day in Florence I went to see David. A giant, impressive piece of marble.

I prefer the unfinished sculptures of Michelangelo as they have more energy and

humanity. No photography was allowed so I went and photographed a lot of false

Davids. Florence is well populated with them.

I found a lot of attractive restaurants and had a grand time pretending that I was

Italian. The general shopping in Florence was very stylish but I was bemused to

see that people take their dogs into department stores. I also visited the Palazzo

Vecchio built between the 13th and 14th century. Parts of it had been modified

by Michaelangelo. The interiors are magnificent.

I loved Florence and want to return sometime with Omar.

Hogmanay in Edinburgh

We had gone to Canada for Christmas and decided to go to Scotland on the way

back to Australia. For no other reason than to experience Hogmanay in the land

of my distant ancestors

We arrived in Edinburgh on the first day of Hogmanay.
It was to be a three-day party.

The weather was cold and night came very early. Our hotel, The Scotsman,
was a fabulous old building that had been the headquarters of The Scotsman,
a major daily newspaper. It still had all the stained glass and wooden panels

of its original manifestation.

We looked down on Princes Street with its festival feeling of rides and lights.

The Scots are a hardy bunch to venture out in the cold.

The main event of the first night of Hogmanay was a torch parade through

the main street up to Calton Hill lead by a band of Scottish soldiers and a

band of Vikings. The Vikings hauled a longship behind them. At the top of the

hill there was a mock battle to the sounds of bagpipes and was it was meant to

end with the longship being thrown on a bonfire. The longship got bogged and

the cart broke an axle so the bonfire proceeded without it.

The snow was flurrying and there was something really primitive about the fire,

the torchbearers and the pipes in the night.

There were the inevitable street mimes trying to look scary in the dark.

And during the day there were plenty of Bravehearts to be photograph with

For a fee of course.

The next day we just meandered around the central shopping area and went into

Jenners, one of the oldest department stores in the United Kingdom.

We walked the Royal Mile, taking in Edinburgh castle and visited a weaving museum.

We arrived at St Giles Cathedral just as a wedding party was coming out.

Everyone looked so cold.

St Giles Cathedral dates mainly from the 14th and 15th centuries. There has been

a church on this site since the 9th century. It was here that John Knox struggled

to establish Presbyterianism.

 At the bottom of the Royal Mile we found a shop selling wonderful clothes from

young designers from all over Scotland. Omar encouraged me to over spend.

And how could I resist a label called ‘Angels Don’t Trudge’.

 

The bars were welcoming havens of warmth with Omar delighted to find that

fresh salmon and vegetables were a fixture of all bar menus. I tried all sorts of

Haggis. The wine was mainly Australian and the beer came by the pint.

The second night of Hogmanay involved a giant street party in George Street.

They were trying to get into the Guinness Book of Records with the most

people performing a Scottish reel at the same time. There were a couple of

training runs and I even got Omar dancing.

As part of the celebrations we came upon a Belgium street performance group

who were just setting out. The troupe consisted of a ringmaster, a diva, a clown

and a herd of three-story high red giraffes. The music was ethereal and the entire
effect was spectacular although a little odd.

To get down town we passed through the wonderful Waverley Station and wistfully watched all the trains leaving on other adventures.

The next day we walked through the New Town mainly looking at the architecture.

The area comprises a great example of Georgian Town Planning. In 1767 James Craig

won a competition to design a New Town. Robert Adam was responsible for many of  

the wonderful facades. The area was remained residential and has been lovingly

cared for. A wonderful place for meandering.

 We also visited the gallery at Holyrood Palace where there was a fabulous exhibition

of the Queen Elizabeth collection of Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings, mainly characters

and caricatures. We took a tour of the Palace and were surprised at the thickness of the walls and the smallness of the rooms in the original section of the Palace. We visited

the room that Mary Queen of Scots slept in and where her Italian lover was executed.

The third night of Hogmanay was New Years Eve. We over-indulged in the hotel

and didn’t go out until quite late to catch the fire-works that exploded from the

hills of Edinburgh.

The next day was another long walk to Stockbridge. We had been told that there

were a lot of antique shops and cosy little eateries there. It is not a tourist location.

 Because of the time of year there weren’t many tourists in Scotland anyway.

We found a great shop that was run by a flamboyant gay couple who were
shutting their shop down and we bought a couple of 1950’s broaches designed
by Jacque Cocteau in Bakelite.

We also walked down to the docks to see the Royal Yacht Britannia.
Unfortunately because it was the off-season it was closed.

This was a pattern that we would find all across Scotland. We need to come back
when the weather is warmer.