Diary Florence

Diary Firenze
We had some exploring time before dinner when we arrived so we walked until we discovered the most enormous colourful church. Went to dinner via a lookout point where we could see Florence spread out below us. Beautiful all creams and ochres. Ate at a restaurant owned by a scotsman right on one of main piazzas. Drank a lot of the free Chianti Classico which is lovely. - am converted to reds now.
First morning went with local guide Andrea to see museum with Michael Angelo statues including the David. Then walked to piazza with Baptistry with gold gates of paradise doors and Cathedral so huge and colourful on outside with different white green and pink marbles and mosasic paintings and niched statues.
Town hall piazza has loggia like veranda with open air statues. In front of the town hall is the copy ofthe David put there when they moved him to museum we went to. Also neptune fountain, Hercules, Perseus and Medusa.
Next Santa Croce Cathedral square which is in leather district. Largest Francescan Church. St Francis had stigmata so this church is dedicated to the Holy Cross Santa Croce. Full of tombs of famous Italians in side niches. Galileo is here he was born in piza but spent most of his life working for Medicis in Florence. Born same year Michael Angelo died. He is also entombed here. Also Dante has a memorial here, the poet who basically invented the Italian language. He is actually buried in Ravenna.
Next we walked through the leather district to a factory shop where first we listened to a woman (from Melbourne originally) explaining about the gols jewellery famous in Florence. We handled several lovely necklaces and bracelets then moved around corner to leather area and had entertaining time as 4 of our group modelled jackets and a dapper gay italian man described all the leather types. Paul was the first model in a goat skin jacket that looked and felt like fabric. Very light and thin but he was still hot.
We had the afternoon free so we walked about half a hour to get to a bank and then returned to have pizza and buy some leather belts and got initials in silver gilt pressed in, a wallet and a small flat travelling purse. The leather comes from NZ! It is the way they work with it that makes it special - apparently.
Then we followed the map to find the covered bridge, Ponte Vecchio and the Pitti Palace which was big but not pretty being made of large tofi rough brown volcanic bricks. Bought a gelato on bridge and walked across past all the goldsmith shops.
That evening we went on the optional dinner in the countryside outside in the garden of a Tuscan villa. Had a good time again as most of our group came. 4 courses. Plenty of red wine and grappa to finish. Grappa wasnt quite as mouth stinging as Aldos home made stuff in our kitchen cupboard. In Rome one night we were served free Limoncello after our meal which I liked better. The red wines here have to have low sulphate levels by law so no headaches or sinus problems.