Twas the day before Christmas. . .

. . .and you really couldn't tell. Commercialism hasn't overwhelmed the season here like in one particular country I know of. And the weather is not giving much away either. Yesterday wasn't exactly balmy but pretty darn close. Today, not so much nice as yesterday. Colder and overcast and a bit of fog in the air, too. Of course, I spent most of my time indoors looking at works of art, masterpieces and souvenir kitch so I didn't mind too much. My first stop was the dome of the Duome and yes, I climbed to the top. Well, it was early and nothing else was open yet! It was still a bit early when I came back down so I pulled out my cheapo MP3 that I had loaded with a walking tour of Florence and started the tour which started with a discussion about Renaissance Florence and the exterior of the Duomo. Talk about your timing. That discussion ended just about the time the Duomo and its associated museum opened so I paused my tour and visited indoors. The combo ticket I purchased also included the Baptistry so I toured that as well. Between the dome, the cathedral and that baptistry I spent a considerable part of my morning staring up at ceilings which were way the h... up there.

Working the crick out of my neck, I then continued my walking tour which included the pedestrian only street that sure did have an awful lot of vehicular traffic in it for something called a pedestrian only street. I visited a wee small church but one that is exactly as it was in the Early Renaissance, peered down into the Arno river and heard about its flooding issues and strolled along the the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge/shopping mall if you are into jewelery. Back in the day the shoppes all housed butchers and tanners.

As I was in the high rent district, so to speak, lunch was just a step above a street vendor (pizza) and then I doubled back on my tour and wandered through the Uffizi. I had another downloaded audio guide for my walk thru there and it was a bit more relaxed than the official one that I had used for the museum yesterday and I actually sort of paid attention to the info. I saw works by Raphael, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Leonardo-all of the Ninja Turtles! I saw lots of versions of Madonna and Bambino beginning with Early Medieval, the Late Medieval and ending with Early Renaissance and noted the different styles of the paintings. I saw some early and unfinished Da Vinci's and Michaelanglo's Piata and Botticelli's Birth of Venus. I mention that one because it is one of those images that gets a lot of popular play like Da Vinci's Vetruvian Man.

The Uffizi is another one of those museums that the building itself is worth the visit. The guide books and audio guides (at least the ones I've used) discuss the pieces standing on plinthes and hanging on the walls. I'd like to see the one that tells some info on the ceilings of the main halls which were covered with hundreds of small works (frescoes, maybe) based on painting found on one of the previous buildings that occupied the site where the Uffizi now stands. The ceilings were all vaulted, too and the ribs were even decorated with either carvings or inlaid enameled tile.

Not too sure what tomorrow will bring. The weather is supposed to get wetter but I can't complain considering the good turns I have been having in that regard. It's time to seek out food groups. Maybe it'll be rigatoni or canneloni or tortellini, fettucini, lunguini, lamborghini. Heck any 'ini' will do!