The Purple Penguin

Of course the past two days we’ve had cloud, some spitting rain but not much, and a few sunny spells. So last night we got ready to go to dinner and walked out to a downpour. Got to the restaurant and had a lovely meal despite the party going on at the next table. And ran back to the hotel in the room.

For the last day I had planned a nice walk – over the Ponto Vecchio, along to the fort on the hill overlooking the city, then along to San Miniato al Monte then down to Piazzale Michelangelo. Mainly for views over the city and Joe could get some photos. So woke up this morning to the sound of rain hitting tiles. And it didn’t get any better. We stayed in bed pretending it wasn’t rain we were hearing but finally had to give up, get our showers and get breakfast. Dragged that out, packed the bags slowly, then checked out. Still raining. So we gave up and headed for Santa Croce. Spent a good hour or so in the church looking at frescos and tombs. The rain was slowing down so we headed out only to get more rain so we ducked into Museo Nazionale del Bargello which we were walking past. Looked at all the sculptures; unfortunately Donatello’s David is being restored, however, it is being restored in the gallery. So you can see the statue lying down on the table. Better than not there at all! As we left the Bargello the rain was slowing down and Joe was statued out.

We started heading for the Duomo – the museum behind the church has the Pieta that Michelangelo had designed for his tomb, and as we’d seen the tomb in the morning we thought we’d have a look at the Pieta. However, we ended up outside the Palazzo Vecchio and remembered we’d said we’d go in there for a look, especially as we had that view from the hotel! So in we went. By this time we were a bit overcome by all the art so the Palazzo is a bit of a blur. A lot of ceilings. Lots of ceilings. And huge empty rooms.

When we left the Palazzo we decided we needed to eat so headed for a little coffee bar we’d been passing. Lots of people hanging out as it was ‘free wi-fi’ – if you had your passport. We skipped on the wi-fi but had a nice lunch instead. Service was chaotic but the food was good.

When we left the coffee bar the rain had stopped so we headed over the river and started up the hill. It kept threatening rain but when we got to the top the sun came out and we had lovely views over the city and Joe took hundreds of photos. Or it certainly felt like it. There was a Monster Ducati show on as well! We only made it as far as Piazzale Michelangelo but the views from there, past the tour bus crowds, are lovely. Having made it to the top of the hill we headed back to the hotel to get our bags, have a cup of coffee and update the blog!

We are off to the train station shortly and soon back home.