Fabulous Firenze

They predicted rain today and I was conscious of it through the night, though it was actually my best sleep in more than a week. I reset the alarm for another hour and got up at 9. It was dry enough by then to eat breakfast on the terrace looking at the dome of the Duomo. Delightful!  Skipped the shower to get to the 10.30 mass.  Thoroughly enjoyed the simple ten voice choir singing Gregorian chant which I knew and could join in.  Amazing organist played before and after.  It was in the small side chapel but was full from what I could see.  Really glad I went.  

Wandering yesterday I was wondering what the barricades were for.  Had thoughts of  Paris last year and that ended up revealing its self as being for the Paris marathon.  As I walked out of mass, the gathering crowd along the barricades indicated that whatever it was for, was going to happen soon.  I found myself next to a very knowledgeable Aussie woman from Melbourne.  The event, the World Cycling Championship. Her husband had ridden in the amateur event last weekend in Torino.  It is the biggest one day cycling event of the year.  Cadel, according to her, was in with a chance. The wait was probably close to an hour in the end.  During that time the clouds darkened and then dumped!   Even though I shared a borrowed umbrella with the Victorian I got VERY wet.  It must have been unpleasant for the cyclists.  Cobble stones must be bad enough, but wet ones in driving rain ... doesn't sound like fun to me!  It was all over in a blurr but it was an education, having learnt lots about cycling in the chat while we waited.

'Home' for shower, hair wash and warm up.  Headed out again.  My quest to make sure I knew where I need to be tomorrow morning for the Cinque Terra tour pick up.  Found it easily and decided to get out of the rain and have a 3 o'clock lunch.  The weather worsened. Decided that crowds, umbrellas and thunder wasn't really fun and went home for an iPad movie.  At 5 had another go and, though the ground was still wet, it wasn't raining.  Had a little more difficulty finding Tuesday's Sienna tour pick up spot but got it in the end.  Doesn't help that buildings have two sets of numbers, one blue and one red. A gentlemen tried to explain why ... some historical reason. Very confusing when you don't know.

Home for more iPad entertainment. The weather prediction is not great for tomorrow, which is sad but it will only be a taste for the future I'm sure.