If what you see here makes you envious, I would not be surprised.
I have recently revealed some ups and downs of my recent times. Today, I take you to a purely pleasurable a couple of days.
I have the enormous good luck of owning an apartment in the historic center of Florence. The chain of random events that had to have happened to bring me to this reality boggles my mind. The odds were all against me. But here I am. Let me show you what my first day and a half here have been like.
It is my habit, immediately on arriving, to have a meal at my favorite restaurant in the entire world: La Buca dell'Orafo, five minutes from home. After being served inedible airplane dreck for my previous two meals, I was too hungry to photograph the first and second courses. Here are the desserts from Saturday's lunch. The pears have an impossibly thin but crunchy sugar glaze.
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Just at dawn Sunday, from the window in my room:
Snapshots of a stroll on a gorgeous sunny Sunday morning:
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| The Arno, taken from the Ponte Vecchio |
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| Rowing machine, Florentine style. |
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Ponte alle Grazie. The 1397 bridge, along with several medieval palazzi along the shoreline were blown up by the Nazis in August of 1944. The original bridge had no strategic value. As far as I know, it was destroyed out of spite.
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| The church of San Frediano |
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| Ognisanti |
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| A lovely place for a coffee, a January Sunday morning warm enough to enjoy it outside. |
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| Santa Maria Novella |
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| Piazza Santa Maria Novella looking across from the church. |
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| Piazza del Duomo |
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| Piazza dell Signoria |
Sunday lunch at La Cantinetta da Verazzano:
A souvenir of a memorable day gone by, with Leighton, without whom there would be no Murder is Everywhere:
Annamaria - In her element on Monday
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Absolutely beautiful! You have successfully brightened my cold and gloomy Monday.
ReplyDeleteJono, I am so glad to have sent some of my sunshine your way.
DeleteI also want to take this opportunity to tell everyone how much I enjoyed the blogs and comments of the past few days. I was in on everything all along, but because I cannot convince my phone to let me participate, I was forced to stay mum--NOT an easy thing for me!
Divine. You are a lucky woman.
ReplyDeleteI fully admit that there is no other explanation than luck for this, Diana. I will take all of it that I can!
Deletelovely pictures. Yes, indeed, I am envious. I just want to book a flight. Alas, I depend on you guys to take me traveling. The food looks scrumpious.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to have you along, Lil. A lot of the old culture is still intact here, who knows for how long. It is wonderful to be able to partake of it.
DeleteAi, mamma mia! How are you EVER going to get any writing done???
ReplyDeleteMy goal has been 1000 words per day, EvKa. So far I have made it. Another crime writer, Vince Zandri also has an apartment in Florence. I have had a chance to work here before, but not for so long as this time. Vince and I discussed what it is like to work here. He agrees with me. There is no place like this atmosphere, imbued as it is with creativity, to get one's own juices flowing.
DeleteWe're interested to hear more about "the chain of random events". T.J. Straw in Manhattan
ReplyDeleteThelma, I would have to write my autobiography and biographies of several other people to do justice to your request. What I can say is that I get to have this place seems magical to me.
DeleteOkay. I'm officially jealous.
ReplyDeleteOf course I'm writing this from San Diego CA, which is, er, not half-bad. :D
Not bad at all, Lisa. Not at all.
DeleteI'm writing this from the end of 1/4 mile driveway coated with a 3-inch thick layer of ice in the middle of nowhere. I'M BEYOND JEALOUS. But so very happy it's you, my love, experiencing the joys of Firenze. Just don't forget to bring me back an Italian tarte.
ReplyDeleteJeff, the ice is there to keep you writing your next book. Get to work. We're waiting. We're waiting.
DeleteBecause it is you, I am not jealous. If we weren't going off to the Caribbean in a few days, I would book a flight and surprise you! How clean Florence looks in your pictures. It wasn't when we were there and no one curbed a dog. But looking at Michelangelo's four unfinished prisoners was worth the trip. And walking with my head down in case. . . . You are giving me a wanderlust I haven't felt in ages.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, let's plan a trip To!
DeleteWonderful! Next year?
ReplyDeleteYes!
ReplyDelete