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Published: June 14th 2017
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Geo: 43.1418, 11.6596
Happy Birthday, Mum!
OK – so much to see in Florence, so little time – and the energy levels are low as well. But we'd slept well in air-conditioning, and we were ready to see some more. We walked along the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti, to walk into another international incident! Tickets were E12 each, and the woman was unwilling/unable to give the kids a discount ticket because we didn't have passports to prove that they were children. (OK, to be fair, there was only a discount for European children – children of the rest of the world are not at a discount rate.) And I'd left our Italian passports in the suitcase, figuring we only needed to carry one set of documentation at a time! Bugger!
I'd suggested we go to the Pitti Palace, to see the Royal Apartments and the Boboli Gardens. Again, due to a stupid idea, there are currently 2 tickets on sale for the Pitti Palace, as they have divided the Palace into a number of different museums. So, without buying a second lot of tickets for another E60, we had to choose between the Royal rooms and the gardens. We chose the Rooms,
and the ticket also included entry to a Caravaggio exhibition. We just hadn't appreciated how many rooms, all filled with great art (both the exhibition rooms and the general rooms of the Palace) – by the 50th room, we were all exhausted, and struggling to scan the room to even bother to notice the priceless works by great masters! Then the Royal apartments, with their gold and silk…very opulent, but we were tired.
We walked back to Santa Croce, where the kids and I went to see the church (in the paid patron's queue, this time) whilst Steven went to buy lunchtime picnic supplies and to get the car from the hotel car park. Can't believe it – having paid to go in, the fresco that the kids were most keen to see (by Giotto – they have a book about Giotto's frescoes, that I bought in Padua at the Scrovegni Chapel) was under renovation, but there were some other very good frescoes. We also saw the tombs of Michaelangelo and of Gallileo (NOT Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thomas!).
We met Steven at the hotel – there was a short tense moment when we thought the GPS had been stolen from the
car – and then we headed off to Tuscany, stopping to enjoy the marvelous views of Florence from the Piazzale Michaelangelo – a fabulous, cool mountain park, with the most amazing views over the whole of Florence. We were thrilled at the view – Matthew was thrilled when the American guide of a group of tourists driving Cinquecento's (Fiat 500s) asked him if he'd like to sit inside one of the cars!
The kids all dozed on the highway down from Florence to Castelmuzio, the little village where we have rented an apartment for a fortnight. We found the village without problem, but there was a little bit of stress when we couldn't find the apartment – who would have thought to address a place as number 4, but then put number 78 (i.e. Between 7 and 8!) on the wall! Luckily, Paolo from the town bar came to open up for us, and we were thrilled with the apartment.
The village of Castelmuzio (population would be lucky to reach 100 within the walls) is tiny, but dates back to Etruscan times, and is built on a hilltop overlooking the fabulous Val d'Orcia. Most of the buildings in the walled
town date back to the 13th century, when a castle was built here. The town has a playground, directly opposite our apartment, and has the most amazing view over the olive groves and across to St Anna in Camprese, where the movie "An English Patient" was filmed – the playground is perfect place to have an aperitif whilst the kids play! By that night, when we put the kids to bed, we were well and truly seduced by the Tuscan dream…..
….until……
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