Well, we have had our three days in Florence in quite a nice hotel with a (small) lift and air conditioning - what more could you want? None of the significant sights and sites are far in Florence so it was an easy but quite expensive couple of days (52 euro/84 Australian dollars to see two galleries!).
One of the major attractions is the Duomo or cathedral - this was about 120 metres from the front door of our hotel. While this is the fourth largest cathedral in the world, to us it is almost an "inside-out" cathedral - all of the decoration and splendour is on the outside and inside it is very restrained for European Roman Catholic cathedrals.
Our first gallery visit was to the Uffizi on the edge of the Arno river. This is a fantastic gallery with a staggering collection of renaissance paintings. We were thrilled to see Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" and "Spring", and two Canalettis of the Doges' Palace and Grand Canal in Venice.
No trip to Florence could miss the goldsmiths' area on the Ponte Vecchio. However, while the bridge on the Arno was a picturesque sight, we were particularly underwhelmed by the experience due to the incredible number of traditional jewellers stores, the over-abundance of gold jewellery almost cascading out of the windows and the ever-present wall-to-wall river of tourists!
Our last gallery visit was to the Galleria Accademia largely to see Michaelangelo's statue of David. This was quite inspiring and we were both very impressed and appropriately awed. There is a life-sized facsimile in the nearby piazza but it is nothing compared to the real thing.
My eye was caught during a last minute stroll by a gift shop almost next to our hotel. I think it very fitting to finish this entry with a photo of what caught my eye. Yes, it is a small figurine of a middle-aged David - Michaelangelo is probably still rolling over in his grave. And, yes, the figurine is still there and not in either of our suitcases!
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