Theological, Cultural and Educational Reflections

Wednesday 5th August

Today we are having a lay day! We have been well aware what a cold and difficult winter it has been in Melbourne. As I write I see it is only 5 degrees in Melbourne and I am feeling guiIty for whingeing about the 40 degree days we had in Florence. I am grateful to the many patient  folk who faithfully wade through the waffle I send out over the airwaves. The truth is that if I didn’t write the blog every evening the whole exercise would become a blur and I would be struggling to remember where  we travelled and what we had seen and done or even who I am!

Today we slept in and provided our own breakfast as we have each day at the Ghent Marriot. It is a wonderful hotel but we have provided four breakfasts from the supermarket for less than the cost of one breakfast for us both in the hotel! It was good to answer emails at length, laze around and not feel any pressure to be anywhere in particular, face time family and eat chocolate!

We eventually emerged to wander the streets of old town Ghent again. It is full of winding lanes, substantial squares, exceptionally well preserved old homes, grand old churches, beautiful canals and not too many tourists.

This photo from the bridge over the canal highlights the carefully planned architectural relationships seen in Ghent old town.

In all of the European towns we have visited we have enjoyed wonderful  music from street musicians both solo and in groups including violinists on the Acropolis, male voice choirs in Venice,  funky folk groups in Strasbourg, exceptionally talented classical music water glass players, two classical clarinetists in Basel, a tuba ensemble in Florence and today a real first, a violumpet player  who played magnified classical music of a very high order.

Ghent not only has an impressive breifmarken shop but also as I found today, an exceptional vintage toy shop run by a young man selling his father’s collection! It contains the largest collection of vintage toys I have ever come across including a collection of over 800+ Dinky Toys, both English and French. I have been collecting these little cars/trucks/vans/buses all my life but I have never seen anything like this, not even in the substantial collection in the Camberwell Antique toy shop. Unlike Camberwell, the shop was somewhat chaotic but that made the treasure hunt even more exciting. It is probably a good thing we are leaving Ghent tomorrow.

Tuesday 4th August

Today we took the local train from Ghent to the popular historic canal city of Bruges, just 20 minutes away on our coolest day in Europe so far, just 23 degrees!

Bruges has a remarkable history. in the C5th coastal region around Bruges was invaded by the flooding waters of the North Sea which took two centuries to recede, leaving behind it a fertile clay plain criss-crossed with estuaries and channels. Bruges came into being as a castle defence against the Vikings in the early C9th. It became a major trade centre and the capital of Flanders and like Ghent gained substantial power until its river access to the sea silted up and its importance decreased. Today it is a UNESCO world heritage site because of the remarkable antiquity and preservation of its guild houses and public buildings and is one of Europe’s most visited cities.

The huge Markt Square is dominated by three remarkable buildings,  the Palais Provincial, the Town Hall with an impressive Gothic interior, and, dwarfing both, the Market Halls and very tall belfry. All of these buildings are joined by a series of very well preserved guild halls, now houses and restaurants.  Bruges is a shopper’s paradise with some remarkable tapestry, porcelain, antique,  chocolate and waffle shops!  A Belgian waffle and cream is to die for!

On the artistic front, the absolute highlight is Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child, one of the very few works of Michelangelo outside Italy. Like many European art icons it has had a chequered history. Originally purchased by a merchant in Bruges it was bequeathed to the Bruges Notre Dame Church  (Onze-Lievre-Vrouwkerk), then taken to Paris after French revolutionaries defeated Netherlands forces until returned in 1816. The sculpture was stolen again by Nazi Germans who hid it deep in salt mines in Austria. It was rescued in a race with Russia after intervention by American General Eisenhower in a story told in the recent film The Monuments Men. Like The Pieta in St Peter’s the sculpture makes a big impact on me..it speaks peacefulness, determination, assurance and hope. It was smaller than I expected, and like The Pieta, it is now protected by bullet proof glass.

Close by is the former St John’s Hospital building which now houses an excellent museum of hospital instrumentation and medical work but also an impressive collection of Mediaeval Flemish art works amongst which the stand out is Memling’s Altarpiece of St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist.

Bruges is a brilliant city and a week spent in the city would not be wasted. We only gave it one day but we will remember it always.

Monday 3rd August

This morning we trained for an hour from Aachen to Brussels on the amazingly quiet Paris Nord super train and another 30 minutes in an extremely crowded local train on to the well preserved and war protected mediaeval city of Ghent, birthplace of the Emperor Charles V and until 1500 the largest city in Europe except for Paris. We are using Ghent as our Belgian base for three nights and have landed in the Mariott Hotel right on the canal. I have to say this hotel has not been typical of our pre-booked trip but (thanks again Moranda from Helloworld Belgrave), we are certainly enjoying the large room and high tech facilities.

Of particular interest to me, apart from the sensational and very large old town and the briefmarken shop is of course the mediaeval painting by Hubert and Jan Eyk entitled The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,  (1432) , a complex and very beautiful altar piece which is kept in the late Renaissance Gothic cathedral of St Bavo. Panels of the painting are currently being restored. The painting has attained iconic status because of its intrinsic beauty, especially the face of the Virgin Mary, its interesting theological centre painting Christ as an actual lamb, the diversity of the groups who come to worship the lamb and last but not least because it is just about the most stolen of all major art works. It survived Protestant iconoclasm, was taken to France by Napoleon and then returned, requisitioned by Hitler during WW11  but one section “the Just Judges” panel was stolen in 1934 before the war and has never been returned.  Photography was very difficult because of the crowd but the painting is readily found in books.

St Bavo’s Cathedral itself is, in my view, an impossibly tragic mix up.  A noble austere and plain Gothic church with a beautiful frescoed crypt  has been “baroqued”  or “rococoed” beyond belief. The extraordinary  white marble pulpit representing the triumph of truth over error (C18th) and the C18th high altar with candlesticks donated by Napoleon to me destroy the architectural unity of the interior. The exterior is swathed in scaffolding so no pics.

St Nicholas’ church, not far from the Cathedral has been similarly “Baroqued” but in a bizarre twist, one half of the church has been left untouched Gothic and the other (in my view) ruined by Baroque.  Others will need to be the judge of the value of Baroque religious architecture.

Ghent is a friendly city where many people have English alongside their Flemish/German/Dutch/French whatever else. It is highly ordered, has lots of high tech and modern art, is  elegant, has loads of chocolate and other sweet things and the people who live and work here are, I think, very lucky to do so.

Sunday 2 August

This morning we had an early start leaving Strasbourg in the Audi by 6.15am to reach Aachen, 400kms away only to get to Aachen and find that, contrary to all our advice from Europcar they had a 24hour service so we needn’t have got going quite so quickly. It was an excellent excuse nevertheless to put the foot down on some of the best engineered roads in Europe.  The autobahn from Strasbourg to Paris passes through beautiful Moselle and Saar cropping countryside and far vistas with wonderful little villages, each with their proud church. Half way along this highway we turned off back to Germany and enjoyed the Saarbruck countryside and green fir forests and felt the land becoming increasingly urbanised as we approached Aachen.

The German engineering keeping the autobahn relatively flat through some very deep valleys is exceptional and it is certainly the most pleasurable driving experience I have had matching exactly the Cote d’Azure freeway from Provence to Genoa with gorgeous green fields and mountain vistas matching the blue Mediterranean.  The Audi was a little slower with all our luggage on board but still sat comfortably on 150kms/hr which was standing still alongside the Maseratis and large Audis and Volvos that zipped past us.

Nevertheless driving at such pace with unfamiliar language and many freeway interchanges is tiring and we were grateful to our hotel Leonardo  in Aachen for allowing us early access after we dropped off our car with the usual “trouble finding the depot” routine.

After a good rest we taxied to the old centre of Aachen, once again a university city (popn 400 000 and 50000 of them students! )  and once again a world heritage cathedral site. Aachen is the ancient Aix -en-Chapelle and the seat of power for C9th Warrior king Charlemagne who in a way can be said to have created the first “court” of Europe and together with the scholar Alcuin created centres of learning and culture which set a pattern for future European leaders. The throne on which he was crowned king/emperor still exists on the second floor of Aachen Cathedral and was the humble place in which Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were crowned for six centuries.

The Cathedral itself is a place I have longed to vist for many years but never achieved until now. It confronts the viewer, already amazed by the impressive mediaeval rathaus, itself carved with a great number of religious statues on the exterior.  The confrontation is about the sheer vertical height of the cathedral  structure.  Most Gothic cathedrals start wide at the base and eventually narrow towards the tower. The bulk of Aachen is vertically straight to a very significant height with complex sculptural decoration.  From the side view there is the triangular V shaped section, the amazing octagonal ‘dome’ and the inevitable Gothic tower.

The interior is literally breathtaking… I felt immediately at first that I was back in San Vitale Ravenna with the octagonal shape; then I felt I was in a Russian church with all the colour and the quite dark mosaics; this is a quite unique worship space after the four “traditional” massive Gothic churches we have seen in recent days.

The interior is full of colour, mosaic ceilings, a huge circular bronze chandelier (c.1165..a gift of Emperor Frederick 1 Barbarossa), the unique octagonal core (the most original ‘Charlemagnic’ remnant c800) and then the late Gothic choir ..very high with vertical stained glass reminiscent of San Chapelle in Paris. The windows were bombed out during WW11 so the glass is gleaming, relatively new and sensational.  I won’t comment on the presence of vast gold reliquaries front and centre between the two sections…except to say again it is a part of mediaeval church life I least understand. The Cathedral treasury contains many significant and spectacular artworks but we left them for another day? and simply wandered around the old town enjoying the relaxed student atmosphere, many musical entertainers and just a very laid back and pleasant place to be on lazy Summer Sunday afternoon.

We had  a wonderful dinner in the square and went  home for an early night to get ready for the Belgian chocolatefest tomorrow!

Saturday 1 August

This morning’s first activities could only happen in modern Europe. We had to return our much loved French Renault and take a taxi to Kehl in Germany to hire a German Audi because tomorrow we want to drive the car to Aachen in Germany and leave it there.  There is no agreement between France and Germany in relation to sharing hire car drop off destinations so that’s what we had to do!  I do recall in the past hiring a car in France and dropping it off at the Rome airport. Perhaps France and Italy have a deal or else it was a problem with Enterprise, our hire car company in Strasbourg France. Who knows?  It means at least that I could drive on the German autobahn in a German Audi and that was fun (mostly) since it was a five on the floor manual vehicle. We had some anxious moments trying to start in 3rd gear while my head got around a manual wrong side of the road driving experience in a large unfamiliar German town!

That solved we got away from the big city of Strasbourg/Kehl for a while and drove the autobahn to  the gorgeous university town of churches,  Speyer, again not far from the Rhine. In fact we crossed the Rhine at least three times in the course of today.  Speyer’s imperial cathedral is a world heritage site and was in some periods the central cathedral of the Holy Roman Emperor although today it does not have a Archbishop’s seat.  It is an unusual Romanesque style with however four towers and a central dome, not of course all built at once.  Inside it is remarkable for its austerity and size.  No stained glass at all and only a series of very well preserved frescoes from the C19th  high above the nave. The statuary is very minimalist and the vast area of the apse and sanctuary is divided into two modern communion tables with moveable chairs and much space. The ceilings and walls are otherwise unpainted and unadorned. The massive cathedral sits in the midst of a beautiful treed parkland.

There are many other churches  in Speyer, each one quite historic and spectacular in their own way.  In addition the major part of the town has retained its “old town” feel with brightly painted wooden homes and some very impressive classical stone architecture. Speyer rightly attracts many tourists and getting a park was a challenge.

After lunch we completed the very short autobahn run to another University and huge industrial city of Heidelberg to see the impressive Renaissance ruined schloss or castle, resplendent in red stone and high on an unpronounceable hill above the beautiful bridge across the Neckar river and looking out over the beautiful houses of Heidelberg’s old town. The Castle has a complex history, belonging mostly to Hohenstauffen rulers including Frederick 11 and suffering from the same problem of often being in conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor and therefore having powerful enemies who kept attacking the castle and eventually disabling it. It sits in glorious and still formidable disarray and the height of its keep from wall to the bottom of the dungeon is dizzying and not for those with vertigo. The Schloss is a rich treasure and it is good to see it being well maintained. A funicular railway connects it to the town and is very popular.

The weather was again kind to us and we had another very happy day in the Rhineland.

Strasbourg in Alsace, now in France..for many years in Germany, is a stately and gracious city with wide streets, effective trams and very polite drivers …even with those who drive the wrong way in one way streets and occasionally hesitate in the midst of quite heavy traffic!  Our “Couvent Franciscan” hotel is not, as we imagined an out of town quiet retreat but a mid-town hotel right in the thick of things. So this morning after brekky we were able to walk quite easily from our hotel room directly to the bridge over the river Ill (that’s capital I as in eye  and two “ls” as in lake), a tributary of the Rhine and directly three blocks further to the old town (where we found a wonderful Lalique shop)  and of course to Strasbourg Cathedral.

The Church of Notre Dame de Strasbourg is currently celebrating its millennial year, being created in 1015 with of course many additions since.  This is really one of the world’s “great” cathedrals. I hate to use that word ever since being told in year 7 that it is a pretty ordinary adjective and surely I could think of something more explicit! But “great” this Gothic cathedral is as well as monstrous in a photograph defying sense.  What ecclesiastical grandeur can compare with Strasbourg?…well certainly of course the other wonderful French Gothic cathedrals (Chartres, Amiens, Rouen, Rheims, Notre Dame de Paris; of course St Peter’s in Rome and St Paul’s in London, Lincoln? Seville?Cologne?.St Patricks New York?.not many more I think.

The stained glass is exquisite..high, everywhere, complete; the decoration and statuary subdued (during the Reformation a great many statues and other decoration was destroyed); It’s astronomical clock incomparable! The external bulk and complexity defies our little iPhone photographic skills. It was a  privilege to be quietly in this sacred space this morning.

We had a a wander in old town Strasbourg then came back to town and took off in the Renault Capture for the Rhineland towns of Colmar in France and Freiburg in Germany.  Colmar is to Strasbourg what Olinda is to Melbourne.  About 90kms by easy freeway to a picture perfect town with a wonderful market and lots of unusual shops as well as all the normal tourist stuff.

But art lovers come to Colmar for one reason only…the Isenheim altar piece in the Unterlinden Museum. Somehow this C16th masterpiece by an artist  known as Grunewald (actual name Mathis Gotthart Nithard and a sculptor named Nicolas de Hagenau. It is a complex work physically with three levels of openings.  Currently Underlinden Museum is closed for renovation so the Isenheim altarpiece is on display in the local ancient Dominican monastery church which has its own stained glass quiet beauty. I am sure greater art critics than I can explain the popularity of this altarpiece. To me the resurrection scene does not ring true and the connection made between St Anthony and St Paul and Christ  is not helpful. Nevertheless there is a richness in the colour  and drama of the whole display that is compelling and I saw people quite moved to sit and look at the crucifixion depiction in particular

After a simple lunch we drove the short distance from Colmar across the mighty Rhine with its cruiser boats busy,  into Germany to the Minster city of Freiburg.  Everything is an anticlimax after Strasbourg but Freiburg Minster has its own charm with its deep red stone, high towers, and again some impressive stained glass;  the flying buttresses with their fleeing “demons” are exciting and as in Strasbourg folk seem to love just sitting in these vast worship spaces, overwhelmed by the sense of ancient piety, scope and strength of architecture and exquisite beauty of the glasswork in the windows.

The journey home to Strasbourg was even quicker owing to the superior German highway engineering on their side of the Rhine. It was a very quiet and happy day in beautiful sunshine.

Thursday 30th July

We had only a  morning to wander the relatively quiet and ordered streets of Basel in Switzerland after the tourist chaos, blistering sun and sheer noise of Florence.  The contrast was quite remarkable.  Virtually no tourists, a cool 23 degrees,  a much more homogeneous and “older” society, (vast numbers of European tourists are under 40) and the sort of architecture that makes you feel like you have landed in Disneyland with everything manicured, everything sweet, chocolate and cherries everywhere and everything carefully painted and finished.

Our soul goal was to visit the Basel Cathedral and honour Erasmus, whose tomb is found there. Erasmus has always been a hero of mine and his “In Praise of Folly” should be compulsory reading for all Christians. His achievement of editing and having published an accurate copy of the Greek New Testament kick started Luther and Tyndale and in a way made the Reformation possible by providing authority and trust in the text of God’s Word written. After the cathedral will visit we wandered the streets of Basel and had a carefully negotiated lunch,  as Switzerland will only deal in Swiss Francs or Euro notes, not coins so we had to judge our Euro costs to the closet Euro note!

We then travelled the short distance by train from Basel to Strasbourg through flat well cropped fields, picked up a hire car, a Renault Capture in Strasbourg and spent far too much time working out where to park it cheaply as our hotel has no serious car park.

Wednesday 28th July

Today, as a final attempt to see the Renaissance through Florentine eyes we ventured just down the street from our hotel to San Lorenzo church, the parish church of the Medici family which also contains as an ‘add on’ the extraordinary tombs of the Medici leaders.

The church itself is another huge classical Renaissance effort, Gothic in general style, with an unfinished front in spite of the Medici “wealth” (which like modern governments was often an illusion..artists were  often commissioned, delivered, and then not paid…princes often paid debts with borrowed money only to have to go into debt again when their own debts were required of them.  There is evidence that the Medicis were not so much patrons of Renassance art as encouragers and supporters but did not actually have the money to commission.

All this fits with the chapels which, although in part richly decorated, some would say garishly decorated, were never finished. In fact the beautifully inlaid polished stone floors were not completed until Medici descendants paid for them in the late C20th.  Whatever happened to the Medici wealth seems to be unknown but it disappeared as did most of the quite famous jewellery. In addition the exorbitant decoration of walls with inlaid polished stone and and oversized tombs themselves in the Capella dei Principe have all been stripped of their greater than life-size images except two of them.

The other sad part of these Medici chapels, and the museum set up to attract fee-paying tourists is the rather horrific cabinet after cabinet of expensive pure silver monstrances, pyxes and other reliquaries holding bits of mouldy bones and other doubtful historical oddities. They seem to reflect in my mind a complete rejection of the simple moral simplicities of the Gospel and an objective visitor in my view can only come away from these chapels with a sense, if not of horror,  at least a sense of the complete inappropriateness of the attempted elevation of Medici significance and power in some future arena when “first shall be last and the last shall be last”. There is more meaning to be found I think in the much smaller “New Sacristy” which contains Michelangelo sculptures in memory of the Duke of Urbino, grandson of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the simple tomb of Lorenzo the Magnificent himself.

As to the church of San Lorenzo it is one of the earliest and in a way, most straightforward of Florence’s Renaissance churches. The decoration is subdued, mainly massive early devotional works of art.  The side chapels are also subdued and the central altar is beautifully marbled but not excessive. Donatello’s bronze  pulpits in the nave are not excessive and the only major fresco is a large work by Bronzino depicting the martyrdom of St Lawrence. A striking painting by C20th Pietro Annigoni showing a young Jesus in his father’s workshop is certainly one of the best things I have seen in Florence.

The marbled highly polished altar in San Lorenzo church.

We left Florence in mid-afternoon with the temperature again rising to 34 degrees and the unrelenting humidity and crowds still swelling.

Our journey took us by super-fast frecciarosso train from Florence through Bologna to Milan with a quick change of trains to an inter-city express through the tranquil lake district of Lakes Maggiore and Com0 into the still snow-clad alps and mountain towns of northern Italy through the Simplon Pass and down through  a very long tunnel into the wooden chalets and red shuttered dwellings of Switzerland. We travelled through Berne at 10.00pm and arrived at Basel at 1o.45pm and happy to see our hotel and be asleep by midnight after quite a long day!

Tuesday 27 July

This morning we woke to a perfect Summer day, not to hot just fresh and perfect..our last full day in Florence.

After brekky we set our sites on the Bargello,  Florence’s National Museum of Applied Arts and Sculpture. Built as the Palazzo of the City Official in the late C15th the building later became a prison for 300 years before being returned to its true status on the Piazza della Signora in the C19th.

Some of the world’s most amazing sculptures are here including Michelangelo’s Bacchus and Madonna and Child with young John the Baptist, David – Apollo and a bust of Brutus.  Among many major works by Cellini the  Museum includes Narcissus, Ganymede,Danae and her Son Perseus, and the base of the real Perseus. The actual huge bronze of Perseus holding the head of the Hydra he had cut off takes pride of place on a copy of the base in the Piazza Signora. Reading Cellini’s biography on the plane on the way to Europe it seems that Perseus occupied Celini’s mind for just about all of the last nine years of his life. Perhaps the star of this collection is the fine Mannerist bronze of Mercury by Giambologna.

On the second floor are  many examples of Donatello’s sculptural genius including his rather effete or even androgynous bronze David,  and a second marble David. Here also is Donatello’s original St George, the one on the exterior of the Orsanmichele Church being a copy The third floor was closed but we still had plenty of choice with rooms full of maiolica, small bronzes and mediaeval artworks.

After lunch we tracked out to the massive Santa Croce church which contains the tombs of Michelangelo (by Vasari), Galileo, Machiavelli and Bruni along with a giant memorial to Da Vinci and of course many hundreds of tombs of lesser known Italians. Once again the size and scope of this vast edifice defies iPhone photography.  The Renaissance Church has a Neo-Gothic facade and campanile both of which were added in the mid C19th, resulting in a very complex architectural structure with a great many chapels, cloisters and a colonnaded verandah by Brunelleschi. The very high Gothic Sanctuary is completely covered in frescoes as are nearly all the other chapels. The Capella Bardi next to the Sanctuary has frescoes by Giotto , somewhat damaged but an excellent fresco of friends comforting the dying St Francis.

The “Chapter House” alongside the church which was severely flooded in 1966 now again holds the significant crucifix by Cimabue which has been restored but still shows signs of damage. It is probably the first painting of the crucifixion which shows the “human” Christ as opposed to the regal glory of Byzantine representations of Christ.

Standing alongside this vast church is Brunelleschi’s domed chapel (the Capella de’ Pazzi) with “perfect” classical proportions, and simple decoration of glazed roundels of the apostles by C15th sculptor Robbia. This was a chapel of significant peace and reflection.

Beneath the church is a basement area which includes an excellent historical survey of the 1966 flood and the restoration work which followed. The five meter deep flood was in fact the fifth and not the deepest flood of the Fiume River since the C14tth. The church is one of the lowest-lying areas of Florence. The vast crypt area of the Church now contains an elegant modern worship centre with modern furniture. This area appears to be the “worshipping heart” of the church.

Finally further halls attached to the Church contain additional frescoes including an impressive fresco of the Last Supper by Taddeo (14th) still in an excellent state of preservation.

There appears to be no end to the artistic treasures of Florence..even walking to the above we came across the Dante study centre office which is now housed in a disused convent but the first two rooms of offices you come to are alive with Renaissance scriptural frescoes.  Scratch a wall in Florence and you will find a fresco!

Monday 27th July

We woke to our first cooler day since we came to Italy with the temperature around 30 degrees. The papers here are saying 2015 is shaping to be southern Europe’s hottest summer for 30 years so we picked it! After a slow start as both of us had a restless night with noisy neighbours we mooched off to the southern end of Florence again to track down the Brancacci Chapel.

On the way we visited the Orsanmichele Church in the Via de Calzaioli which was formerly a grain market but in the C14th was converted to a Church. The arcades of the former market were bricked up but in 14 niches around the exterior sculptors were commissioned by guilds of the day to add some class to the external appearance.  Donatello, Verrochio and Ghiberti were among those who contributed sculptures. The internal appearance is simple with some impressive stained glass and an elaborate high altar with works by C14th and C16th artists.

The Brancacci Chapel is part of the Carmelite convent church of Santa Maria del Carmine in a working class and residential area of Florence south of the Pitti Palace. Entry into the large church is not permitted but the Capella Brancacci chapel which  is open to visitors and is frescoed largely by Massachio, having been begun by Masolino and in the way of these things finished off by Filipino Lippi.  The major frescoes tell a complicated story of the life of Peter following the resurrection but the sequence is not coherent although the frescoes have been well preserved .

The major interest is two facing relatively small panels of Adam and Eve on the edge of the chapel, On the right hand side facing the altar is a healthy and happy pair of humans but a bit edgy about the tempting offering  coming between them in the form of a serpent.  The facing panel on the left has Adam and Eve leaving the garden in complete despair having earned God’s displeasure by their disobedience.  Their  powerfully graphic expression of sorrow and anguish was unique in its day and it is said that both Da Vinci and Michelangelo came to see these frescoes and to learn from Massachio’s technique. They still have great power to communicate after all this time but they are certainly overwhelmed by the surrounding Peter frescoes.

In the afternoon we walked the streets and lanes of Florence along the Fiume River and into the high end shopping centre of the Via De’ Tourabuoni which would give 5th Avenue New York more than a run for its money.  There were some seriously amazing shops including a porcelain shop with its own internal rooms and garden, more like a palace than a shop. It was siesta time so two vast churches were passed over…San Trinita and a huge church next to the equally huge Palazzo Strozzi. Each floor of this vast palace is about 3 times the height of a normal floor in a building.   One church which was open was the even larger Church of St Maria Novella with its own equally large frescoed Chapter House and other now museum buildings. The original Romanesque church was doubled in size by Alberti with a Gothic addition and contains two frescoed Strozzi chapels and many other impressive chapels and paintings. Massachio’s fading but still impressive Trinity is here with its carefully hidden Holy Spirit dove looking a bit like the Father’s collar!

This was a long walking day for us and we were happy to seek refuge in the air conditioned comfort of our room.