Florence...Duomo Museum, April 22

It was supposed to be a rainy day, but it was mostly sunny with two showery interludes, but never a soaking rain, so we had a lovely day walking around.

We started with the Duomo Museum, opting out of the long dome climb, partly (mostly due to knees), partly due to long lines.  But, the museum (€6) was great.  The first real highlight was Michelangelo's last Pieta, which he sculpted on his 80s, intending it for his grave.  He put his face on that of Nicodemus.  He never finished it, and actually took a hammer to it as the stone would not cooperate.  We saw wonderful works by Donatello, both early and late. He added realism, furrowed brows, frowns...
.  One highlight was his one wooden carving, Mary Magdelene in intense mourning and suffering.  Haunting.  We saw the restored golden doors, The Gates of Paradise, by Ghiberti.  Amazing that the scenes are only fingertip deep,but so full of perspective and depth and detail.  They took him an astonishing 50 years!  The choir stalls by Donatello and Della Robbia were also impressive.  The Florentines appreciated the joy of children and saw children as individuals.  Finally, we saw the models and tools used to build the dome.  Brunelleschi invented many techniques  to build the dome that spans 180 feet, including the use of chains to encircle it.  we went into the Duomo And looked up at the dome, saw the famous portrait of Dante.
From there we walked to the big Mercato  Centrale Market where we bought freshly made spinach ravioli, asparagus and tomatoes

   we got take out delicious hamburgers at a tiny restaurant nearby and ate at home.

Then, we walked along the river and across to Oltrarno where we walked to the Pitti Palace, had a gelato and looked across at the hotel Balestre where we stayed 29 years ago.  Then, we strolled the Ponte Vecchio with its dazzling jewelry stalls.  We also found a grocery store, hurray. Mark made the ravioli, asparagus with prosciutto and fresh tomatoes for dinner.  Yum.

          We are "over" beating ourselves up for the dual renting