Where we've been

Alf

Top Veteran
Again there, but trainless courtesy of a delay - so it's Florence by car for us!
After the mayhem we head straight to Alinari Cafe (named after the photographer brothers, a local institution) for the necessary refreshments and the start of much needed debauchery.

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Not alone of course
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And with a friend too
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They just spotted something nice in a shop window and we enter Negotiation Mode
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After quite a long time and words aplenty, I marvel once more as my dearest manages to resurrect expired discounts, invokes arcane offers only reserved for parents of deceased royals, and graciously accepts Owners' Family Customer status after it emerges that a previous review she wrote earned the staff the benevolence of the Mother Ship.
(This explains why, on the day we reached Isfahan years ago, the legendary bazaar went on three day of unprecedented strike - a very sensible approach)

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We emerge poorer but more adequately clothed, or so she says - and time for lunch it is.
There's a little place mixing local and Chinese and it's good. Red tea for us.
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Then a walk towards Santa Croce and the show
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Quite happy!

Then it's dark:
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Time to retrieve our car from the Deep, and head home in the fog where the feline contingent await, and Pizza.

Most pics with E-M10 with the faithful 20&45mm, PP on iPhone mostly in Hipstamatic
 
Oh yes. Great fun images and a fun write-up.

Did you Uffizi...?
We've been living here for years without getting there - it's near enough to think we can get there next time, inconvenient enough to require a little effort to do it.
But this year a little bird told me the Vasarian Corridor is going to close for a much required, technically almost impossible functional renovation - and visiting without it is not the same.
So we booked for the corridor visit, woke up very very early, got on the first train and...
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We were outside the Uffizi at the break of day with our guide, visited the almost empty spaces,
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and entered the corridor with five people guarding us. It's worth the wait, the lost sleep, and the cost
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- I didn't know they were still adding new art to the corridor.
 
Just let me know when you are nearby or plan to be.
Our travel budget is much reduced, and now that our kids are settled adults and my wife and I are retired, most of our travel revolves around seeing them. Long way of saying we may not make it back to Italy or elsewhere away from North America anytime soon. But, if I ever do get back over there...

I'm not much for art museums generally, but I have to say I spent nearly a whole day in the Uffizi and was absolutely enthralled by the place. That was over 35 years ago, but I've probably changed more than it has. And when I've been back to Florence since, it was high tourist season and just too crazy to try to get back there. An amazing treasure!

-Ray
 
Love the Uffizi, but I find Florence over run with tourist, much prefer other towns in Tuscany, On our trip this year fell completely in love with Bologna, great mix of tourists and locals, great place to wonder and the food is amazing
 
Always a pleasure to see the photos but your narrative always brings them to life. We were in Florence at the end of September but even pre booked tours took around 45mins to actually get inside the building so we gave the Uffizi a miss this time.
 
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