An initially cooler start to the day, has changed into unbroken sunshine this campervan morning. The early morning covering has gone, replaced by gossamer thin cirrus and the temperature has soared. And so the dipping of the proverbial toe into full on, balls out, take no prisoners, ultra tourism comes to an end. Three days of crowd surfing, art loving, traffic dodging, Florentine museum hunting comes to an end. And not before time, finishing with once more, one of my favourite past times, people watching and then touring the Cathedral of Santa Marie del Fiore.
So much I could have seen, but so little time, but two were an absolute must ‘David’ and another bucket list the cathedral ticked off yesterday. When I went to college, one of the first modules I had to undertake was The Renaissance. Now I was 20, a little annoying, brash, full of energy and struggled with elements of it. The lecturer was a lovely, genuine, authentic man, and very much to my regret I have forgotten his name. He was in his 70’s ( And I am now in my 60’s ) and his passion for the Medici, Florence, the Renaissance and the central characters ran through his lectures. He had fought his way through Italy during the war and since then every year he and his wife returned to Florence for a month holiday. His whole aim throughout the year was to save hard to realise the trip. And they did every year. There is nothing he did not know, had not visited, touched, seen, sat inside or studied. For my own actions all I can say is the folly of youth.
The last couple of days have put perspective on that and made all the more painful for not remembering his name. However today was the crown on that the visit to the Doume and Brunelleschi’s dome. The words have resonated around my head since a young 20 year old. Now I saw it, stood outside it, underneath it, gazed in utter wonder at its Frescos. I am transported back to the lecture room and his words of reverence around the building and the dome, I am momentarily twenty again ( I wish ). I can hear his words, see him pace gently up and down gently espousing his love and knowledge of Florence, it’s politics, it’s infighting and it’s architecture. What an experience, my own personal enlightenment. I wonder how much of this part of the trip was laying old ghosts to rest. To be able to say that I get it, I am here, I hear you, perhaps to let myself off the hook a little bit. That said it is utterly magnificent. So perhaps not so much an exercise in tourism, but laying an old ghost to rest and paying my respects to a passionate lecturer and witnessing someones love for a subject.
“ There are three things in life which are real : God, human folly, and laughter. The first two are beyond our comprehension so we must do what we can with the third “. Indian Proverb.
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