Florence

 The Savoy is our hotel for three nights, and it is perfectly located on the main plaza, the hub from which we can reach just about anything of interest in the city with 15-20 minutes walking. A small and lovely room, helpful staff (DB handles all our logistics now, THB stands around looking alert and awake), as we prepare for our primary activity: wading through the huge masses of people to get to our next destination. It is a weekend, warm weather, and even the locals appear to be out and about en masse. To add to the mix, cars, scooters, bikers, etc., share the roads with pedestrians. Best times to see Florence: start at 9pm and be back in your hotel room by 9am. 

The rest of this post are pics with a few comments. 

Hotel Savoy lobby art 

view of main plaza from our room; double paned window keeps the noise below from entering the room

the churches and towers have unique exterior design, this is a shot of a modest crowd of visitors

note cars sharing road with pedestrians, no lines drawn on the streets to separate them

THB and DB have porchetta sandwiches on the second floor of the central market, share a draft beer. They like their sandwiches served dry on flavorless, salt free, rolls. In general, eating out costs about  70-75% of dining out in California. Every retail business accepts VISA with a tap or Apple Pay app. THB and DB had to work at paying with euros as we got near the end of our trip.

It's a thing: large ancient towers with modern clocks. Since everyone has the time on ubiquitous smart phones, THB should start a movement to have the clocks removed.  

We visit a galley run by a jewelry artist. We're late: we can't find the place even though we are on the right street. Turns out Florence has two street numbers, one in white and one in blue. It took a while to find someone who explained what each means. THB is still confused.  

Two ceramicists are sharing the exhibition 

THB and DB were enamored with these twins. They were sold separately and the gallerist made us a very tempting offer if we bought both. We held to our vow (already broken) tat we are not buying more art...alas

beige tile on left, blue lettering on right...they mean two different things. 

Ponte Vecchio bridge, full of heavy gold and silver jewelry shops

in the plaza below our room at Savoy there are always street artists performing

DB found this unique restaurant; we share a table with a couple from Austria. They bring around the one paper menu on a music stand. The waiters explain how to order and what is on the menu for the night. You then take a picture of the menu and when the waiter returns you open the pic on your phone  and point to what you want for dinner. 

deep-fried tortellini 

out by 8am; few pedestrians and cars

how to fool tourists: cover scaffolding with drop cloths made to look like the real building

a graffiti artist has been decorating the Do Not Enter signs. This was pointed out to us by our art guide for the morning, Leticia 

Window shopping for a scooter made of LV trunks? 

Apparently a well-known photo op spot for Asian couples

Leticia knows nothing about contemporary art. However, she knows one big thing: there is a near empty private collection on display, and the Director is there and gave us aa private tour.

Leticia om right, Director on left; this collection reminded THB of Bud Selig's house: lots of famous artists and not the pieces that they are well known for

Pistoletto

Kiefer

Sol LeWitt

Keith Haring

Tony Cragg

Nam June Paik (note TV in pic, Paik is known mostly for videos playing on TV sets

Pierre Fernandes Arman: this was THB's fave of the collezione and he is not familiar with this artist's work. There is a distorted figured behind tar-like blotchings on plastic (or plexiglass) on top of a deformed cello. There is a youtube showing many of his pies 

Boetti diptych, two different "coded" paintings with hidden messages   

Penone, known for his "fragrant" works

a well known tourist spot, the food is quite good. This is Florence steak, excellent. Note: you keen-eyed followers may note that THB has not been supplying info like the name of places or the cost of meals. Strong correlation between beer at lunch...probably

THB has been having a  beer with lunch more frequently on the trip, and it has always been well-made

Sunset over Florence

Note: and wine or a cocktail (or both) at dinner

Another DB find: upscale and highly popular spot. Huge crowds in the street in front of the entrance, many of them smoking and drink in hand.  Gotta have a rezzie to get in. Place full shortly after opening at 6:30. Name? Gosh, THB had drinks with dinner. 

Food and drinks are terrific

The next morning, up early and out to a terrific show at a former monastery. We' are there at opening and very few people are taking in the art...Fra Angelico did much of the following along with what must have been a cast of 50-100 helpers.

Here is an article from the NYT on Fra Angelico

void of live humans

there are a series of small rooms (too big to be cells) where monks lived, and there is a picture in each one, remarkable preserved and/or touched up

A suite! two adjoining rooms...

there are layers of floors below this level; not easy to tell depth from pics

inner courtyard, exit not well-marked

Outside pics

there is a modern tram system that (at least) runs from the airport to near city center

family strung out trying to catch the tram

fakes of the famous works (some of which aren't in Florence right now)

fake

Best meal of the trip at Cibreo Ristorante 

amuse bouche, more like a tapenade and great spread on bread

DB and THB share soup and some sort of baked tortoni timbale; neither of us wanted to give back our dishes after being passed over; the woman that came over to clear our dishes would not tell us what was the secret ingredient in the soup

THB has Osos Bucco (baked and fied?) with mashed potatoes 

Eggplant 

terrific glass of wine

THB thinks you have to buy the cookbook to discover the secret to the soup, lunch with wine is around $100

We don't order dessert at the ristorante. Instead DB sees a gelatoria where the cans are covered (meaning the gelato is colder when served) and they are making gelato is the "back room". Great discovery, THB has coffee flavor with slivers of dark chocolate and DB has pistachio...about $6 for the two. 

maybe the Florence airport?