These Boots Are Made For Walkin . . .

We woke to a bit of a gray day, had a nice breakfast at our B & B, and decided that this morning would be Duomo day. Off we went in a direction we had only seen at night. Lo and behold, right across the street was an art store. “Look, an art store,” I cried. “Want to go in?” my dear husband asked. “Nah, I don’t need to,” I replied. “Of course you do,” said Howard. And in we went. Besides the usual art supplies, they had a couple displays of Stabilo pencils and pens. For my art friends, you will recognize the name Stabilo because they make the wonderful pencil we like to use in our art projects. And in addition to the Stabilo pencils, there was a whole display of pens! I didn’t even know that Stabilo made pens. I treated myself to 12 . . . .

Then, while at the art store, "we" decided to purchase a permanent marker, in red, from now on referred to as "our" Wand of Destruction. Peshe dropped the suggestion of leaving our own graffiti (I’ve been snapping photos of graffiti since we landed in Rome . . . more on that in another post). I’ve decided on red ink and I plan to draw a flaming red heart – somewhere in Firenze (Howard said not to use "we" in reference to leaving graffiti . . . he would probably be representing me when I needed to get bailed out of jail).

Onward to the Duomo. After entering, Howard started chanting “o-v-e-r-r-a-t-e-d” in a singsong voice as if he were at a high school basketball game. It was a nice duomo, but as I said, “I’ve seen better.” I guess we’ve been in Italy too long!

While out in front of the Duomo, we saw a couple using some sort of Polaroid camera. Knowing that Polaroid is discontinuing the manufacture of their camera and film (I've stocked up on film), we walked over to see what they were using. It was a Fuji camera of some sort and the instant photos were smaller and more rectangular than Polaroid. When the couple saw us looking, the young woman gathered us together, had her boyfriend snap our photo, then she handed us the photo, using hand motions to let us know a photo would emerge. Here’s a photo of the photo:

The Duomo Museum, located across the street from the Duomo, was a great find. It was filled with sculpture pieces AND you could take photos. Some pretty nice art in that building.

This is a late Michelangelo Pieta intended for his own use . . .

The top figure is Nicodemus, with a self-portrait of Michelangeo for his face, although I swear he looks like my brother-in-law, John . . .

This is Donatello's carved wood Mary Magdalene, but I was thinking of using it to say Happy Halloween to everyone . . .

A great street find: parts of a broken piano. Howard took apart the wooden piece that had two brass pedals (we couldn’t take the pedals, however, because we didn’t have a screwdriver with us - what's wrong with us? Joni gave me a going-away travel kit, but it didn't have a screwdriver in it). Howard managed to pull off two wooden nuts and a coiled wire used to hold one of the nuts in place. In a bag, we found all of the keys – we took two white ivory keys and one black for a nifty little trifecta of musical joy.

After a bite of lunch, we set out for the Museo di Storia della Scienza, or Science Museum. According to Rick, the second floor has medicine displays, “which some find macabre.” I LOVE medical history and I LOVE macabre. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we were greeted with a sign telling us that the second and third floors were closed due to renovation. Damn (or maybe I should have said, “Golly gee whiz, darn it.”

Not having a backup plan, and not really wanting to see more art, I decided that I needed to complete my Italian ensemble; I had my boots, now I needed a leather purse. I have sort of gotten away from leather (I’ve been carrying a hemp bag on this trip), but seeing all of the beautiful and sumptuous leather handbags, I just had to have one. I knew what I wanted: a fun color, one with a long strap so it could drape across my body, and one that was loose and supple leather. I found just what I was looking for in a very strange color of green. The shopkeeper even offered Howard a job; he is to report to work on Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. for an 8-hour shift. And because of Howard’s help, she gave us a 5 Euro discount on the purse.

Boots-check. Purse-check. Hey, where’s my Italian scarf? Oh, got it. Check. One final stop, for stockings. I found some pretty fun covers for my legs: black knee-his with red polka dots, black lace tights, even leggings with black leather trim. The Italian transformation of Dayna was complete.

For dinner, Howard and I both wanted to steer clear of Italian so we chose an Asian fusion restaurant we had first seen a couple of nights ago: Buddakan. It was great. Good food (tofu and vegetables for me), and they were playing Steve Miller Band in the background!

Erratica: Poking About in Firenze

No color commentary from Howard today - he is fast asleep.

Our plans for tomorrow? Don't have any.