Florence, Italy

After a couple of days relaxing in Umbria, we were recharged and keen as mustard (or should that be pizza) to get back into things, having the worst behind us - or so we thought. Florence had more tourists than Rome, and there was little escaping them, or the inflated prices that inevitably followed. Those tour guides must have some pretty strong arm muscles as they stride through the city at a pace of knots, holding up whatever umbrella, bread stick, or flag they happened to find, trailing sweaty, crazed looking tourists in their wake...


We arrived on their Saint's Day, which was effectively a statutory holiday. We didn't manage to get tickets to the medieval football in the town square, disappointing at the time, but less so as we realised how much money we would have handed over in the heat of the moment. We did however catch the half hour fireworks display, which went off with a bang!


Florence hooked us quickly back onto the museum trail - discovering all sorts of queues. One tour that had no queue though was for the secret passages tour of Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall. It was surprisingly fascinating as we walked up stairwells inside walls and through doors that looked liked walls and cupboards. It was then up to the Duomo to look at the ceiling frescos up close and then onto the dome to get a view of the city, spectacular!!!


After another night at our brilliant campsite right in the middle of town (ok, not so brilliant after walking up all the steps to get to it at night, wonderful in the morning on the way down), we got up at the crack of dawn to get a glimpse at da Vinci's 'David', which is actually worth the hype. They also show about half a dozen half finished creations that lead up to the finished product, so you really see what geniuses these masters were to get such creations out of a block of stone. David is also surrounded by many other fine pieces of work which don't get given the justice that perhaps they deserve (seasoned art critics that we are).


From here it was off to the Uffizi Gallery, to see room after room (that was not closed for the restoration), of famous and amazing artwork - more works by Botticelli, da Vinci, Titian, and Tintoretto (to name a few) than you could shake a stick at. Even trying to pace ourselves it was impossible to retain much enthusiasm towards the end, but as it was our last classical art gallery until Paris we did our best! Commenting on the styles of the various tour guides was an interesting diversion (there was one Australian girl who spoke at her group like a strangled duck and was so agressive in her questioning (was it perhaps an oral exam for these poor, unwitting tourists?) she had spit flying in every direction...).

After another night of overpriced pasta, and a luxury sleep in the tent now that we had found a second thermarest to sleep on, we bade farewell to Florence and headed off to Pisa.

No photos yet, we'll all hang out together in anticipation of disposable camera #2!