The good and bad in Florence

What's good in Florence? San Marco. here, in a place where art doesn't seem to have a beginning or an end, where on any given day you can announce, without having looked to the left or the right, that you've seen a Ghirlandaio, several Della Robbias, plenty of Vasari, San Marco stands out. The repository of the Greatest of the Great-Beato Angelico works intended only as inspiration for meditation by the monks who lived here, one of whom was Savonarola. Even Cosimo dei Medici came here on retreat (he got the good rooms). The most stunning illuminations I've ever seen, case after case of images that leap out of their confines. Having been there, I now have to wonder why, when San Marco is mentioned, it's always Venice that comes to mind - but that's no longer so for me. What else is good? In this city, you can probably walk to anything you need or want to see or do in the course of your ordinary life, taking a bus only when required to avoid terrible weather from time to time. It is so compact, stores are small so you can find things on every corner instead of needing to travel to a central place (except for the fresh food market - but you wouldn't need to go there every day, anyway, and when you do you'll be looking at another good think about Florence). May is good here. We arrived April 27, and had one afternoon rain. There were night storms. Nothing else. People here are patient with my terrible Italian. On my first trip they responded to questions in English. This time, almost all the time, they respond first by correcting my grammar, then by answering in clear Italian. This is very good progress!

What's bad in Florence? Certainly not enough to overcome the good. The computer keyboards. The dogshit on the street (but not as bad as Paris), the same stale sandwiches in every caffe, the exchange rate. Crowds, sometimes. My children and friends are not here. I looked forward to meeting my friend, Angela, in her hometown of Modena, but her husband's mother is very sick, and we had to cancel. I', so disappointed, but what can we do?