Five flights of stairs...

Today was museums… firstly the Horne museum – another Englishman who liked collecting things. In this case, coffers or trousseaus traditionally given to newlyweds… an entire collection of the things! Most were inlaid wood, some were carved, and some had elaborate stories painted on them…

Then to a ‘traditional Florentine villa’ with extensive painted frescoes… the villa was enormous, being on 5 floors in the centre of Florence, and apparently was kept warm with wallcoverings made entirely out of squirrel skins sewn together. That would certainly keep our heating bills down, and I shall arm Guy with an air rifle when we get home. But not before he has repainted the kitchen with some amazing fresco – he’s got an art degree, after all, and having seen the trees, birds, landscapes, mock curtains and elaborate borders of archways and animals painted on to the walls, there’s no way a simple coat of Dulux yellow is going to do it now…

Yet again there has been nothing in the way of training here in Florence (unless the five flights of stairs and a complete lack of ice-cream counts) although I have been thinking about everybody entered into the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday – good luck to Sian, Sarah and Mark. We’ll be the ones standing in the farmer’s market cheering you on!