Florence day 3: The Uffizi

The day after the social dinner is always the same. Everyone's a bit bleary eyed - not because of drink or anything(or not usually), but more because you are networking and basically remaining working from 9am until about midnight. It makes the days a little slower.

We have a session to run in the conference, but it's mainly pulling people together and then fielding questions afterwards. Our audience isn't that big, but we get some good discussions and contacts after it.

Eventually, I have done my work for the week and I can escape. My boss is heading home, so I'm back to appreciating travelling with only my iPod for companionship.

It doesn't take me long to decide that I'm heading for the Uffizi:



It also doesn't take me long to decide that the Downward spiral is going top remove the conference brain from my head. Before long I'm wandering along corridors and through rooms of old antiquities while Trent Reznor provides the atmosphere:




Here's some of the highlights:
Botticelli:



Michaelangelo(Notice how the men in the background are naked and almost perfectly studied, yet the woman could get a job as popeye's stunt double if she drew anchors on those biceps):



Caravaggio:



I quite enjoy it, but the period of art is not quite my thing. I much prefer the Musee D'Orsay in Paris. I used up most of my energy on all the Religious works, which are beautiful, but after the 200th, they all look a bit samey. It's still a very nice museum, and beats sitting in meetings.

I'm glad when I get to the bar, not for the reason's you'd expect, but because you can get out on a terrace and look at Florence from a good height. I hang around here for a while getting some photos:









Outside, I have a wander round the statues of famous painters. My knowledge of Italian renaissance painters doesn't stretch far beyond the teenage mutant hero turtles.....



So I take photos of the four of them.(Or try to, but I think Gallileo would have made a good replacement if Raphael couldn't turn up):









By the time I make it back to my hotel, I'm foot weary and knackered, so I settle down to a few DVD's for an hour or so and then set out to seek a Pizza before retiring early:



I'm ready for home, and only need to buy a few presents and send a few postcards before heading off home....

Good night.

Florence Day 2: Social Dinner

Another good breakfast and we head off for our morning walk to the venue. Florence is a bit like Paris,the city looks different in every light, and I think I take as many photos of the Arno this morning as well:



We are far more active at the conference and I give a few presentations.

Tonight is the social dinner, so we escape early and get freshened up and relaxed before we head off for a few beers for dutch courage - you spend a whole day talking to the same people and then you have to talk to them at night as well. Luckily the Social dinner is in a Medici hunting lodge out of Florence, so I have more things to put in my blog.

My boss has opted to avoid the social dinner and head off to visit some Italian friends who have come over from Venice.

I catch the bus at the venue, and it's then about an hour away. The description told us 15Km, but we should have taken it with a pinch of salt. It's closer to 40km. I can't see anything out of the window other than that it's a very clear night and you can see the stars really shining.

Eventually we arrive. The dinner is in the Castelllo Mediceo di Cafaggiolo. It's in Mugello where the Medici family originated:






We get a description of the history of the castle by two women in period dress. After 20 minutes, I realise that one of them is speaking Italian and the other is speaking English, but her accent is so heavy that she's impossible to understand.

We head up to the banquet room, and have good big Italian feed, with some very good red wine. We get carpaccio, pasta then beef filet and it's rounded off with Tiramisu and espresso - you can't help but love this lifestyle!!!

I doze on and off during the long bus trip home. I can't help thinking there could have been a venue nearer to Florence. When I get to the station, I walk a friend to a hotel, and then manage to walk in the wrong direction for my hotel from the Duomo. Damn big churches - they look the same from all angles. I end up with a longer walk than I'd planned along the Arno - but I keep my spirits from thinking of my blistered feet by enjoying a little BloodSugarSexMajik:



This album just keeps giving, and keeps my feet tapping along to the beat.

Eventually, I get home close to 2am, and head to bed ready for another day of presentations tomorrow....

Florence Day 1: Back to Work

I meet my boss over breakfast, and luckily the breakfast is pretty good. He's not looking in a much better state than my ragged bones. He was meant to arrive late last night, but his plane had engine trouble and he had to land in Bologna. His bus pulled into Florence after 2am.

Imagine that... You are on an Italian plane, and you understand Italian pretty well. You're sure they just announced that they were taking the plane down due to engine trouble, but you have to wait for the English to be sure...

How Ironic - It's Saint Andrews day, and it's the first day in about 5 days that I'm not wearing a kilt:



"desidera la Scozia in tensione"

We make our way slowly to the conference venue on foot. This is pretty much my first conscious look at Florence. Even though it's a cold breazy morning. The views of the buildings on the other side of the Arno are pretty amazing:



The conference venue is about a 15 minute walk away, so I recall all my stories of Leipzig and Prague(well mostly Prague), and my boss tells me about Florence(He used to live in Italy)

The first day of the conference in uneventful, we say hello to various project partners, and generally try to make it through the day on less sleep than we would have liked. I've travelling, so haven't had time to prepare my presentations yet, so I find a quiet corner and knock out a few of Keynote's finest. The wifi isn't working which makes things worse. What did we do before, wireless internet came as standard during conferences. Did we actually listen during presentations when they got boring.

Eventually day one is over and we head for the centre. I get to see various sites, :



The Duomo:



Michaelangelo's David:



And all the little streets:



We head for dinner at a small Restaurant. It;s a nice local place that tourists probably couldn't find. We start with a prawn salad, then I have a wild boar pasta which is wonderful. This is followed by a fillet steak which is rounded off by espresso and a limoncello. It is all wonderful and makes up for last night's crap food. The Italians know how to do things in style.

Normally, we would head for a few beers, but the food's heavy and we're tired, so I'm glad of another early night.

I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I don't think I've recovered from Prague yet, and I suspect I have a cold....