What’s happening in my world, this week:
- Work: writing M&B #83 (cardiac unit, marriage of convenience book); updating my website one backlist book per day; and faffing about with my Big Book
- Reading: haven’t had time to read, this week!
- Looking forward to: picking Archie up from kennels today; Jon Richardson at Norwich Theatre Royal (comedy)
- Workouts: probably no time for gym this week, but I did walk 130,000 steps in Tuscany last week, including climbing the towers of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Campanile and the Duomo itself, and the leaning tower of Pisa…
- Planet Kate last week: Florence. What a city. So much beautiful art and architecture. We had a wonderful time in the art galleries and museums, chilling out in cafes and having dinner in gorgeous little trattorias. And we had a bonus when we spent our last day in Pisa, because we managed to get tickets for the tower (which was a very strange experience – as you walk round, you can feel the ‘lean’ changing). And also it was our son’s 21st birthday at the weekend. Where did that time go? Great that we actually got to see him on the day and took him out for lunch.
- Top tip from me for Florence: buy the Firenze card (72 museums, access for 72 hours – and most importantly you get priority queuing, so it saves time – it more than pays for itself in admission fees, too). Get to the Uffizi for about 8.30 to avoid the massive queues. And if you want to climb the Duomo, book your tickets on the first day (and if you’re going to be there at a weekend, probably pre book from England, because places are limited and tickets sell really fast – we booked on Tuesday morning and the first ticket available was Thursday lunchtime.)
- My fave bits of Florence: the library at the San Lorenzo complex; climbing the Duomo (and the crypt in the cathedral, which has the most gorgeous Roman mosaic pavement); seeing the Botticellis at the Uffizi; and the modern art gallery at the Pitti (only in Florence does ‘modern’ mean 1750 to about 1920! That’s the one with the Macchiaioi paintings, which is what the book I’m about to start writing features quite heavily).
- Favourite church in Florence: torn between Santa Maria Novella (for the camera obscura meridian, and the frescoes in the cloisters) and Santa Croce (tombs of Michelangelo, Dante and Galileo).
- Fave pic from the last week: Bearing in mind I took rather a lot… The San Lorenzo library, the peacock in the crypt at Santa Mara, the inside of the Duomo, cathedral complex, the Botticelli that made me cry because it was so beautiful, the leaning tower of Pisa and a quick shot of the four of us on Chris’s 21st. (Large, because it came out upside down on a WordPress gallery and I couldn’t work out how to change it!)
