Florence

Half the reason people come: the Duomo.

Where else do you get 1.5 rostered days off per month, 6 weeks annual leave, and, not sure exactly, but a lot of public holidays? They talk about holiday projects all the time. Holidaying is such an art that you need a day off just to plan it all. One guy at work says that's not true, you can spend the time between 12 and 2pm calling up. Then it's time for a coffee, then maybe a chat, and it'll be close to time to go home.

The river looks ok in parts.. A bit overgrown or brown elsewhere.

No entry, unless you have a saw.

Aaron, Ollie, Marie, Louis, Fred, Fiona, Rafael, me, Wei Ching.

That's not a door.

Thursday 17th May was Ascension Thursday, a public holiday, and the site was shut for Friday, so it was a mandatory rostered day off. We went to Florence, which is 5 hours away.

Marie found a 3 bedroom apartment with a kitchen right near the Ponte Vecchio, in town. From there, you can walk wherever. The old town is not that big.


A work buddy from Australia, Wei Ching, was here for 2 weeks, so came along as well. Plus a work buddy, Fred, a French citizen, who worked in Australia for 5 years, now in France for 2 years, and now going back to Oz again in 2 weeks, was also there with his family.

The historic centre is closed to cars. There are heaps of pedestrians, and...bikes! Thousands of them parked all over the place, racks and racks of them. Marie was thoroughly sick of me taking photos (about 520 all up). Everyone was immaculately dressed and getting around on the most stylish vintage machines I'd ever seen. A leather bag, jacket or colourful scarf is mandatory. Stop where you want for a chat, or park outside the grocer with a big basket mounted and ready.