Pieta Rondanini

6-11-2010
Originally uploaded by cspatrick

From the restaurant we walked up to the Castello Sforza, which we had neglected to go into yesterday. There were a total of seven museums in the castle for a single entry fee of three Euros - not a bad deal. But we were only able to cover a couple of the museums. We went first for the Museum of Ancient Art where we saw Michelangelo’s Pieta Rondanini. This was the last sculpture he did and it remains in a rough state, having been worked on until his dying days. From there we went into the Decorative Arts Museum, but I was already dragging by this time and did not fully enjoy the museum. We left and took the subway back to the central station and home to the hotel. Christian checked into his room and took a shower and a nap. I napped as well while Roger read. Before I laid down, I took off my pedometer and noted we had already walked 18,000+ steps. No wonder I was so tired! At 4:30, we woke Christian and chatted a bit, the left a little after 5:00 to walk some more and seek pizza for supper. We asked the desk clerk for a recommendation and he gave us a card for a restaurant, told us to ask for Osama, and said to tell him that Angelo sent us. We arrived at the restaurant about 5:40 and were told they did not open until 7:00. Sigh.

We walked from there to the train station and bought our tickets for Pisa tomorrow. Christian checked out a Tabac for post cards and bought a couple, while I indulged in chocolate bar for the train trip. Then we left the station and walked down Via Piscini, retracing our steps from the past two evenings. We returned to the restaurant after a short detour to kill time, and it was a couple of minutes before 7:00 when we entered the restaurant. We ordered a pizza each and the guys shared a bottle of wine. We had failed to note the prices when we entered, but the pizza prices were fine. The wine, however, was 20 Euros, more than they had wanted to pay. Christian failed to specify that he only wanted a glass, and Roger mumbled that he wanted water, which the waiter misunderstood and poured him wine as well. Ah, well . . . Tuition. The pizza was good and the guys got a little high. We shared a tiramisu, then the waiter brought us three small glasses, told us he was giving us something off the bill and poured each of us a glass of lemoncello each. Not too bad if there wasn’t so much alcohol taste in it!

We were pooped when we got back to the hotel. I checked my pedometer and found that I had walked 26,000+ steps, so my fatigue was justified! Roger read a bit while I worked a bit online and checked the Saints game play-by-play. When we went to bed, the Saints were ahead thirty or so to three for Carolina, so we were pretty sure they had another win under their belts. I had to go downstairs to print our hotel information and a map to the hotel in Florence from the train station. Roger was already asleep by the time I got back, so I showered and was in bed before 11:00.