Day 5: Florence
We were surprisingly productive today after the amount of vino that was consumed the night before for the football game. We arrived in town early so that we could get in the massive line for the Uffizi art museum, Florence's best collection. Luckily, we made reservations for 3:30pm later in the day.
Since we had the time to kill, we walked through the gorgeous Piazza della Signoria and over to the impressive Duomo, which has the world's 3rd largest dome behind St. Paul's and St. Peter's. The marble and intricate adornments on the outside of the church were incredible. Unfortunately, the dome was being restored so there was some scaffolding.
We then waited in line for about an hour to get into the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David...definately worth it. I will post my illegal picture I snapped of David when I get the chance (no pics allowed in the museum but like everything else in Italy they are very lax when it comes to enforcing it).
Next, we made it over to the leather district to shop a little and to see the Chiesa de Santa Croce, where many famous Florentines are buried (Galileo, Michelangelo, Macchiavelli). While we managed to escape the damned pigeons in Venice of all places, them fellers got us in Florence aka we were pooped on. But just as the Ponte Veccio in Florence escaped the Nazi bombs of WWII, we were unscathed by their attacks and continued on to...the Ponte Veccio!
This bridge is incredible and right now ranks as Italy's most impressive in our books (with the Rialto in a close second). After strolling around the bridge area, it was time to visit the Uffizi.
We spent about two hours walking around the Uffizi. We saw Bottichelli's The Birth of Venus, many of Da Vinci's original drawings and sculptures and Rafael's angels. I almost snapped pictures of all 4 ninja turtles (the actual guys, not the turtles) in the Uffizi corridor, but couldn't track down Donatello (he was always the least impressive anyways).
We then went to the Piazza Michelangelo to watch a magnificent sunset. I hope the pictures turn out and many of you may get a blown up and framed one for xmas so watch out. Pics will be up as soon as I can get them up.
Since we had the time to kill, we walked through the gorgeous Piazza della Signoria and over to the impressive Duomo, which has the world's 3rd largest dome behind St. Paul's and St. Peter's. The marble and intricate adornments on the outside of the church were incredible. Unfortunately, the dome was being restored so there was some scaffolding.
We then waited in line for about an hour to get into the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David...definately worth it. I will post my illegal picture I snapped of David when I get the chance (no pics allowed in the museum but like everything else in Italy they are very lax when it comes to enforcing it).
Next, we made it over to the leather district to shop a little and to see the Chiesa de Santa Croce, where many famous Florentines are buried (Galileo, Michelangelo, Macchiavelli). While we managed to escape the damned pigeons in Venice of all places, them fellers got us in Florence aka we were pooped on. But just as the Ponte Veccio in Florence escaped the Nazi bombs of WWII, we were unscathed by their attacks and continued on to...the Ponte Veccio!
This bridge is incredible and right now ranks as Italy's most impressive in our books (with the Rialto in a close second). After strolling around the bridge area, it was time to visit the Uffizi.
We spent about two hours walking around the Uffizi. We saw Bottichelli's The Birth of Venus, many of Da Vinci's original drawings and sculptures and Rafael's angels. I almost snapped pictures of all 4 ninja turtles (the actual guys, not the turtles) in the Uffizi corridor, but couldn't track down Donatello (he was always the least impressive anyways).
We then went to the Piazza Michelangelo to watch a magnificent sunset. I hope the pictures turn out and many of you may get a blown up and framed one for xmas so watch out. Pics will be up as soon as I can get them up.
posted by mattdoeseurope at 1:03 PM
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