Florence 2024 - Day 4

Friday, 05 July 2024 – Day 4

At 7 the sun greets me, so I go out onto the terrace for my first session of colour and sweating. The dew glistens on the grass, birds chirp, just pure nature.

Off into the city of Florence, we still have culture ahead of us. But first we'll have breakfast at Cibrèo Caffè . We've booked a climb up the dome of the cathedral and will meet at the side entrance without having to queue.

Brunelleschi's dome is a technical masterpiece of the Renaissance: 55 m in diameter, 60 m above the ground, 37,000 tons with 4 million bricks built by 60 workers in 16 years. The total height is 116.5 m and we get there via 463 steps.

The view is truly impressive, not only of Giotto's Campanile with a height of 84.7 m, but also the view back to the Rinascente.

Because of the heat, we cancel the planned museum visits (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Museo Leonardo da Vinci) and end the topic of culture for this time. So we head straight down a side street from the cathedral to Eataly and Lisa goes on a pasta shopping spree. We eat excellently in the Eataly restaurant, but we lose points for the dirty toilet.

Times are also changing for the Carabinieri, who are now only allowed to drive Seats; the days of the Alfa 159 are over. Then a little shopping trip including cannolo and coffee at the white-spotted Argentinian and off home, as always in flowing traffic.

All the people here in Florence and the surrounding area are extremely nice and friendly and it is sooo beautiful here, off to the pool . The bell rings at 6 o'clock, which means it's time to take a shower and head to Terrazza45 in Fiesole .

Fantastic view of Florence in the evening sun and of the Italian traffic here in the second to last bend before the main square. Plus gin and tonic, spicy tartar and tagliata di manzo and a real steak knife.

A quick coffee and tiramisu and then over to the Teatro Romano di Fiesole . Today they're performing "The Pilgrims' Choir and the Trio Le Signorine" - a wonderful atmosphere and backdrop and a wonderful singing performance.

The car, which is parked in a small no-parking zone, is surrounded at the front and back and all the way up the street by countless other parked cars in specially signposted no-parking zones – Viva Italia!

At midnight, wearing shorts and still sitting on the terrace staring up at the sky in pleasant temperatures, there is no ISS space station and no fireflies either, but the Big Dipper is still there.

Life is beautiful.