It was a bit of lazy morning, as I stayed at the apartment for most of the morning packing and getting our affairs in order. David attended the second session of talks at the conference, and I came up not long after that for the poster session. I did manage to find a few interesting posters, though not directly related to my current work, and chatted with some friendly presenters before finding a quiet corner to wait for the other NU folk to finish. The two faculty from NU (my advisor and David’s advisor) had arranged to take us all out for a celebratory drink nearby.

Mercifully, we both got a decent night’s sleep at long last. I was up relatively early, as I had conference on the brain. The first sessions of talks at the conference were not very relevant for me, so I opted to stay at the apartment and prepare for my poster presentation.

We were again somewhat slow getting started, as David was still not getting a good night’s sleep. Our plan for the day was to grab a bit of lunch in New Town and then check out Edinburgh Castle before heading over to the conference. We took a meandering walk through the Meadows and chanced to pass Machina Espresso, a delightful little coffee shop where David was eager to get his jolt of high-quality espresso (which was lovely).

Our flight was mercifully uneventful, though we both could’ve used a couple of hours more sleep. It was a bright and early 7 am when we landed in Edinburgh, and it wasn’t long before we were whizzing towards the city centre on the newly-opened tram. We entertained ourselves with eavesdropping on the surrounding Scottish accents and were tickled at how accurate Robin Williams’ impression of them was (at least our inability to understand them without some serious effort; be forewarned, it’s a rather expletive-laden impression).

A sadly abbreviated post, but at least something for the record! My last day in Florence was a relaxing one, as I made my way around the gorgeous Palazzo Vecchio. It was just a never-ending parade of gorgeous ceilings, painted with scenes of mythological figures such as the trials of Hercules. They even had a map room, where all the walls were lined with historical maps of places all over the world. From there, I waited in a nice long line to see the inside of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. I decided to forego climbing up inside the Duomo, as I’d already had a number of fantastic views of the city.

As I'm horrible at keeping up with things, this will be a highly abbreviated summary of the day's events. Today was the day for the Uffizi Gallery, and I had tickets booked for the afternoon. Before I went, I popped into the Bargello National Museum, which is primarily devoted to sculptures (one of my favourite art forms). After perusing its extensive sculpture collection, I headed to the Uffizi. Its collection was massive, though I was a bit sad that several sections were closed for renovations. I was able to glimpse at Botticelli's famous work "The Birth of Venus", amongst others.

It was to be a relatively relaxing day, as the only "cultural" activity I had planned was visiting the Galleria dell'Accademia to see David (the other one) in the late afternoon. I did plan to get in all of my shopping, so I made my way across the river mid-morning to do some browsing. My first stop was back at the Mercato Centrale, as I had a few requests from back home for silk scarves and tasty balsamic vinegar. I perused a few stalls and ended up settling on a couple pretty scarves, including one for myself.

I had a fairly leisurely start, rolling out the door mid-morning. The only thing on my agenda was the extensive Pitti Pallace and Boboli Gardens. Housed within various wings of the palace were several museums, including the Palatine Gallery, Costume Gallery, Silver Museum, among others, as well as the Royal Apartments. Luckily my apartment was only a brief walk away, so it wasn't long before I had two tickets in hand (bizarrely, you bought one ticket for the Gardens and the a couple of the museums, and a different ticket for the Palatine Gallery and Royal Apartments).

When traveling alone, I used to get very early starts–eager to pound the pavement and take in the sights. I remember buzzing around Tokyo for a solid 10 hours. Perhaps it’s age or just my deteriorating stamina, but I find it increasingly harder to do a full 8 or 9 hours of walking around, particularly alone. It also doesn’t help that Italians eat fairly late, starting around 8 pm–ironically, that isn’t actually late for me, as David and I usually eat around then, but it means you’ve got a fair bit of time until dinner. So I’ve taken to more leisurely starts, lounging until mid-morning, that way I’m not completely knackered by the time dinner rolls around. I had a few things on my list of things to see today, including the Galleria dell’Accademia, best known for housing the statue of David.

Florence is apparently a walking city, as most of the highlights are concentrated in a relatively small area. I started my journey walking through the Piazza Santo Spirito, which was just a few blocks from the apartment, which my host recommended as a good place to find restaurants. As the place is located in the Oltrarno area, across the Arno river, I crossed one of Florence's many bridges and took in a splendid view of the city and of Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge lined with shops perched on stilts.