Last day florence

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Nov. 5- first to answer some queries, will b spending the big 50 bday in a place in northern umbria called Citta de Castello where I going on a truffle hunt! Carmelita, the lady that took us on the Bologna walking tour laughed her head off when I told her this & asked did I knowledge anything about truffle hunting! She said"I hope u have good hiking shoes & if the hunter offers u a hiking stick take it cause its hard work"
God what have I got us in to! Forgot to say, she also asked a couple of the deli/gourmet food shops ifs we could have a look and smell of their truffles & explained to us how the Alba truffles frm the Piedmont region r highly prized & some truffles r marketed as frm this region as they can command a higher price for them. She was getting cranky when she was looking at some of the truffle oils, butters etc. for sale as on reading the ingredients labels hardly any of them contained any actual truffles or they were the cheaper variety but the prices they were asking for products was high. Most were a rip off apparently. at one place she showed us the oil she buys, the only one that actually contains a piece of white truffle u can see. Any guess I learn all bout it in a few days!
For all our fellow conniseurs of the amber ale, Max is enjoying the beer very much. Not knowing the local brews very well, he started with stubbies of heiniken for 3 euro but alas 330 ml was not quenching the thirst! He then ventured to long necks or as my bro calls them, tallies, which were 660 mls, which were quite tasty and only 2.40 euro. He then changed to the local brews of Peroni & Nastro Azzurro for 1.1 euro! This is good. At restaurants they give u draught of whatever they stock and this in biggggg handles often 500 ml. These r dearer of course at about 5 euro each.
Today had another early start to visit the duomo. We climbed to the very top of the dome on top of the actual building, a total of 463 steps made of stone, narrow in places and windey but not dark and with handrails to most sections. A bit more than half way, u access a circular path with perspex in front to above head height. From here u can walk all around the circular area below the dome and view the wonderful frrscoes that fill the ceiling of the dome. U look down into the interior of the building ; the interior was not open to the public until later as mass was being held. When u r about 2/3rd up, u again access the same type of circular viewing path but u r so close to the frescoes that the bottom row of them could b touched except for the perspex panels that protect them.
This was really good to get such a close view of lovely artworks without getting a sore neck frm looking up! Then on to the top where steps narrower but well worth it when u saw the views of Florence & surrounding countryside. Was places to sit and max really enjoyed this. He could look at the tile work on the dome & was even watching tradies replacing an asbestos roof on a building far below! He is in awe at how they built these massive churches etc. back in the 1200's and earlier. Duomo took 150 yrs to build.
We did more today but have to fill u in later , we goin out to dinner!

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