A record of wanderings
Super effort today by EQ.
On a chilly morning she ran the line distance in the beautiful surroundings of Florence.
Mum and dad went from one part of the course to another in order to offer cheer and encouragement. Shaz almost lost her voice from all the encouragement of the runners, while both of us had sore hands from clapping!
The atmosphere was great and the city is a fine backdrop to an event.
A trip to the Uffizi gallery today to see part of a huge collection of art.
There is so much to see and appreciate but in reality it is so difficult to absorb so much.
Medieval art with clearly religious themes-recurrent. So good and so easy to admire. The nature of the art does change through the centuries. Plus the Roman sculptures. A selection:
After a longer than expected journey yesterday we arrived in Florence.
EQ is doing the marathon tomorrow. Well cool.👍
A lovely weekend being shown the sites. Different restaurants and museums. Lovely walks including to the top of the hill to see Mary.
I did not put these up at the right time. Better late than never.
We found the New Zealand memorial and the nearby cemetery.
We then moved onto Thiepval.
A long drive but we have arrived and to the main square after eating.
A tour of the headquarters of cricket. So a chance to go in the pavilion, see the changing rooms and admire the collection of players’ pictures. Also to see the successful Kiwis.
Another trip but this time to Tate Modern along with Joe. An option to use the membership again!
Plus some good photos from a Czech including from the Soviet invasion of Prague.
The one on the right is the same event I believe from which there is an iconic picture of a woman Pitt a flower in the barrel of a tank. Plus echoes of Tiananmen Square image.
Plus some other notables:
I have been to the cycle track on my bike before but this weekend Shaz and I went for a walk along the Hilvern. A calm, peaceful environment with plenty of shade. The latter aspect being very much appreciated on a bright and hit day.
While the race is still on, it did pass through the village, but a little bit ago.
So better late than never.
The village was, of course,busy. A good atmosphere and great to see so much going on. We decided to find ourselves a spot on the vallée road in order to give ourselves a long view of the lads as they came through. We arrived in good time and prepared:
Even the ‘gina’ is branded with the Tour:
The more entertaining aspect was the arrival of the caravan- that is the promotional floats that threw out merchandise to spectators. We were avid collectors.
And then the race came through:
So we saw the racers. Others came through in bunches and slowly. We did not appreciate until we watched the tv highlights that there had been a crash just up the road, out of our view, on exiting the village.
We collected our goodies and walked home and watched the rest of the race on the highlights. The finish up the hill just outside Mûr de Bretagne looked impressive. Maybe next time we will go there. See you in three years?