We stayed a week with Pete's family: aunty is an artist, uncle is a photographer, and their son is a piano extraordinaire. In a house on a hill overlooking Florence, we had an incredible time having good food, drink, and absorbing the deliciousness of Florence city. Every morning we awoke to Leo (Pete's cousin) playing a Chopin piece in preparation for his exam in the autumn. A lovely way to be gently woken up, until it got to the more dramatic crescendos and chromatics which, although rather violent, made me miss playing and practising very much.
We toured the grand Uffizzi Gallery as well as the Academia, and after that we were completely pooped and culture-filled. Michealangelo's 'David' was just wonderful though; humongous and truly impressive.
We did a lot of wandering - more of which I think I enjoyed. I ventured in on my own and did slow paced wandering as I can never keep up with Pete and his long strides. We also ate a lot of gelato. We were steered away from the touristy spots where overpriced nondescript gelato is served, and pointed towards Grom…and others which I can't remember the name of. Useless. FYI though, Grom's hazelnut is unbeatable.
Next we were heading to the Cinque Terre next - a group of 5 small villages almost balanced upon the cliff edges of the coast. The whole area is a huge national park. When I asked Pete's Italian uncle for advice on campsites, he swiftly corrected me from pronouncing Cinque Terre as 'sank tehr' - French-stylee, to 'chinkweh terreh': Italian. Oops.
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