Italy Holiday III - Wednesday & Thursday

Wednesday

We discovered this morning that our air conditioning unit, which we love totally, exits the bedroom through an open window. As a result, mosquitoes can get into our room at night and though we have one of those electric burner things going, they are able to inflict considerable damage before they are affected by the burner. So we each have lots of mosquito bites this morning and a purchase of cream is necessary

After a decent sized breakfast were I am cooked fried eggs served with a large amount of pepper on them, we are off to the Piazza Michelangelo again and a walk to the Piazza de Pitti and the Museum there, where we have discovered the Carravagio show is on - or at least half of it, the remainder being at the Uffizi, presumably aimed at making you pay twice? That said, the show is very good. I have recently bought Andrew Graham-Dixon's biography of Carravagio as part of my biography-project research and am now very keen to read it. We also went round the main Galleria though without a guide this was rather overwhelming. Next we wandered round the Boboli Gardens which we may have gone round on our honeymoon - we seem to remember that a wedding was taking place when we were there. But we're not sure

We stayed in the Gardens for quite some time, reading in the shade of some trees by the main fountain. It is incredibly hot again and Linda is finding it quite tough going. We make it to a cafe for pizza for Linda is too hot to eat there, though a large ice cream goes down quite well, as it should do since they cost E12! Then to a supermarket followed by the long walk back to car which is pretty tough when carrying heavy water

We have come to view this walk as like a walking version of a tour de france stage with a mountain finish. The steps up to the Piazza Michelangelo at the end of the hot walk are pretty intense. And once there, the car is typically roasting inside and too hot to drive - that said, this has caused me to think about bike riding again when we get home

I read most of Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius this afternoon - actually quite a light read, but not very interesting in the page after page where he is describing his observations of Jupiter. Still this is one of the all time great books and I so-rarely read primary sources. I also have Kepler's Six-Fingered Snowflake and Bruno's Ash Wednesday Supper if I fancy more primary documents.

Another really interesting read today is the The Time Higher Education magazine which has an article on academics writing for the general public - I should read this very closely

Dinner is outside on the terrace, this time in a quite high wind - and lots of wasps this time

Thursday

Today is our first changeover day in Italy. We have really enjoyed the "Five star villa" even though sightseeing has been very tough. Now for a few days with less driving and more relaxation

On the way down we called in at San Gigminano, one of the places we have been to loads from when we used to stay at the villa in Poggibonsi. This is the first time without Emma though, which seems a bit strange. The town now has two torture museums it seems.

At the Co-op at Poggibonsi we buy 18 bottles of wine and our first olive oil - we have been to this supermarket many times over the years, though that didn't stop us getting lost trying to find it

Past Siena this time (maybe visit later on our trip) to Pasignano and the Hotel Lido. By mid-afternoon we are nicely settled in by the pool for a very relaxing couple of hours in the sun.

Dinner tonight is at Il Molo, a place we went to last time we stayed here. I had the most amazing antipasto di mare followed by spaghetti with clams, while Linda had a really nice looking pork fillet meal with porcini mushrooms. An excellent start to our next part of the trip. Indeed we are thinking about amending the remaining trip - maybe stay here longer and Naples longer, cutting back on Rome which will be hot and sticky and maybe we won't enjoy?

And we finally have internet access, which reveals that Jerome can't put me up when I visit. So I will be sleeping rough that night (as originally intended). While online I try not to look at markets and see how the systems are doing.