Rain Leads to Shoes
Monday was a rainy, dismal day in Florence. We walked around for as long as we could stand it, visited Santa Croce, and then Tim and I decided we’d be happier dealing with the crappy weather in our own way. He ducked into more churches; I shopped for a sweater. But wound up with these shoes – always had a soft spot for patent.
Hello, new shoes. Your life will be spent in the very close company of my feet, but rest assured you’re in good hands. If you get wet, I’ll only use a soft towel to dry you, and you’re definitely worth regular changes of socks. So, no worries there.
(Do you talk to your shoes? If so, I’d love to know about it. Shoe communicators like company.)
I delighted in my shoes all day yesterday, especially as we made the pilgrimage to Michaelangelo’s David on our last morning in Florence. The new shoe shine has not lessened today as I took doggie for his morning walk around Ferrara, our home for the next two weeks.
Ferrara – “The City of Bicycles”
They aren’t kidding. They’s everywhere. I will have to hoist myself and my new shoes upon a bike while we’re here. If it weren’t for the cars and buses and bicycle riders far more confident than myself, I’d be more excited about this. As it stands, I’m a little on edge about riding helmetless on cobbled streets amidst traffic. But, I’ll get over the edge and the nerves and peddle with joy around this lovely town…when the day comes.
The apartment we’ve rented in Ferrara was once a hospital. Until a few years ago, the building was a wreck but has since been converted into apartments, offices and swanky shops. I’ve uploaded a couple of pics to Flickr, including one that shows the original beams on the ceilings. More photos in the days ahead.
“One of the secrets of a happy life is continuous small treats.” – Iris Murdoch
My fingers are having a typo figary, producing “Irish” whenever I want to type “Iris”…
At any rate, with the exception of a nice, long afternoon walk if the rain holds off, we’re taking it easy today. Even though we’re very excited about where we are. Because we’ve been hither and thither for the past four weeks and have caught colds and need a little non-sightseeing time..
Plus – and it’s a jim-dandy of a “plus “- we have an EXCELLENT broadband connection which means we can send emails with 21st century speed, upload photos, make phone calls, have multiple tabs running in Firefox. Finally!
AND – this is a jim-dandy of an “and “- there’s enough juice in the ADSL that I can listen to a live stream of RTE 1. This morning I heard an interview of and some poetry read by Paul Durcan on the Pat Kenny show which is followed by the ringing of the Angelus bells at noon. I love Irish radio. I also love Spanish Radio 3 and Radio Clásica.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be cooling my jets in one country while listening to live radio from another – station hopping between the stations of two different countries to be more exact – within the four walls of a very, very old building with old ceiling beams but new plumbing. Small treats. Big happy.
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Side note: If you’re more into the touristy side our travels, mosy to my other blog, Flying Ready for that kind of commentary and photos. So far, I’ve only covered the Tuscany leg, but the Lake Como/Florence stint is next.










