Florence! Where do I start with Florence. I had been wanting to go to Florence for sometime. Ever since I saw a documentary on the Medici Florence seemed to be the one Italy city that had everything for me.
We arrived in to Florence on the 31st July 2008 and made our way from the train station to our small but cute hotel, the Hotel Dali. Located in the best spot possible 50 meters down the street from the massive Duomo. We arrived at about 12.00pm which was way to early to check in so after dropping off our bags we made for the best view in all of Florence, Michelangelo square. The streets of Florence still seem to be stuck in the 16th century. Cobblestone streets, quaint lamp posts, yellow rendered buildings atop with orange tiled roofs. Beautiful! After snapping a billion photos and taking six hours worth of video we headed back down the hill to the Florences most famous bridge (also the only on to be spared during WWII) Ponte Vecchio. This bridge just comes to life under the Tuscan sun. Today it is still covered with the jewellery shops and gold sellers just like it was in the 15th century. Just walking across the bridge feels like a real treat itself. Almost like walking in the footsteps of the Medici.
Day 2:
On day two we decided to get up really and que for one of FLorence most famous sights. Michelangelos "David". We arrived at 8.00am, 15minutes before they were scheduled to open. At this time in the morning there was only 15 people in line so we headed for the back of the que. Just as we reached the end we saw a sign that said "we are having a staff meeting this morning so we will not be opening until 9.45am. Bugger! We thought about hanging around for another 1.5 hours but decided the time could be better spent at another attraction, so we headed for the Uffizi. Though none of the morning really went to plan as we turned up to the Uffizi only to be at the back of a 200 person line which ment about a 2 hour wait. Eventually we got in and the wait was well worth it. The Uffizi is home to the worlds best Renaissance collection. And so it should be, they started the movement. We spent quite a bit of time in here seeing such works as "The Birth of Venus, The Duke and Dutchess of Urbino, a few Rembrandts and of course a few unfinished works by a young Leonardo Da Vinci.
That afternoon we decided to try our luck back at the Accademia to try and see the "David". Finally we had some luck with the lines in Florence and managed to walk in after only waiting 5 minutes. The Accademia isn't that big and the only real big draw card is the David. As you enter the buldings you come across a few works by Michelangelo that differ quite a bit from his other masterpieces. There are a series of sculptures that look unfinished but they are called the four prisoners. Because they look as though the people are trying to escape from the marble.
At the end of the first room you can see it. The "David". It's as big as everyone says and some how it just captures you. Mel and I grabbed a could of seats and before too long we realised we had just been staring at the statue for 45 minutes. If you only see one thing it probably has to be the David.
Day 3:
The next day we check out a few of the lessor known museums like the Bargello and after that we found out why they really are the lesser known museums. They claim to have a Michelangelo room which was the draw card for us but when we got there they only had 4 statues of Michelangelos and 3 of them had been taken away for restoration.
That afternoon we checked out the famous Duomo and the remarkable roof by bruneschelli. It was extremely hot in Florence during our stay with the temp generally up around 40*C, but we decided to climb to the top anyway. After 30 minues, 417 steps and a whole load of sweat we made it. The view is one of Florences best. endless views in each directio is a good reward for the hard work.
The next day we had to do the unfortunate and plan the rest of our trip. We still hadn't decided where we were going in Greece, Turkey and Egypt and they were only a two weeks away. That evening we grabbed some of the expensive but delicious ice cream that seems to be on sale everywhere in Florence and just took a evening walk along the river passing by Ponte Vecchio once again.
We left Florence on the 4th of August which also happened to be Mels birthday. We were off to Rome with a stop in Pisa for the day.