Took this photo a couple of years ago when in Florence. Reckon it was late November 2009 (not late December back in '63? - music ed). A flight had been booked to attend a wedding in Siena, and the nearest airport was, and still is, though that last Italian earthquake might have moved it a little, Florence, or as the Italians more romantically call it Aeroporto Di Firenze. Sounds so much better than the English version.
Makes you wonder if Luton Airport (or London Luton Airport as it is known to many - international transport ed) would sound better in Italian, somehow I think changing the language just wouldn't help it (how dare you, how dare you denigrate Luton airport in such a cavalier fashion - resident of Luton ed).
Anyhow back to the point, due to paperwork issues the wedding was postponed, a little late in the day, to February 2010, and the plane tickets were non-refundable. Oh my word, I hear you cry (that is your Alaskan reader, really, someone from Alaska appears to be reading this blog... wonder if they will comment sometime or drop me an email? - ed) So in a situation like that what do you do, naturally go to Florence anyway.
Now the Aeroporto Di Firenze is a number of miles (kilometers anyone? - metric ed) outside of the city, and you have to take a bus into the city proper. This was very straightforward, as neither of us is particularly fluent in Italian. This worked swimmingly well, and before long we were dropped out in the centre of Florence.
Surprisingly, the weather wasn't too bad. It didn't rain and the temperature was that of a pleasantly warm southern UK autumnal day (early Septemberish if you were wondering - 12-14C). We (Bridget and I) ended up wandering around a gloriously autumnal Florence when there were many fewer tourists then is usual, which made it so much pleasanter. But the strangest thing was that we didn't need to go inside any of the buildings (well apart from the hotel, bars, restaurants, buses, trains etc - pedant ed). We even sat outside for lunch on a couple of times, which worked as long as we were in direct sunlight.
It being our first visit to not only Florence, but Italy, we were just astounded (how low did your jaws go - ed) at how much could be seen by just wandering the streets. I would like to say that we didn't pay a single Euro (whatever happened to, dear old Lira - it got an ice pick that made its ears burn - music ed), to see anything, but we did pay to go into the Boboli Gardens where Bridget assures me this status resides.
So why is the post named, lost his mind? Well you look at the statue and spot what is missing?
Afterthought
I do have quite a large number of photos of Florence (and he does take some mean photos, much like his largesse at the bar - ed), which if you write a comment stalwart reader, I might, just might, put up a link to. This will be done without further ado, if my Alaskan reader would be so kind as to post a comment. A simple, 'Florence photos, please', will be enough to prove to me that you are human and not some bit of software (they will most certainly be wetware - technology ed).
Most, if not all, of my photos of everything, but not the kitchen sink (that is easily rectified - photography ed), are on dropbox, so are easily made visible if I get a link to them.
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