Florence

6th & 7th April, Florence.

Plan at the ready, we set off first thing to go into Florence. Our campsite was only 3.5km outside of the old centre so it was an easy cycle to our first stop "Ponte Vecchio" which is now lined with very expensive jewellery shops. During WWII the Germans, while on the retreat, managed to blow up all the bridges in Florence but this one, and it also survived the great flood of 1966. Obviously built to last.  We then moved on to the Galleria Uffizi to buy our tickets (30 Euros) for tomorrow's visit. This is the home to the worlds greatest collection of Italian Renaissance art and Italy's biggest and most popular gallery.
 
I waited with the bikes in the Palazzo Vecchio and ogled at all the statues, notably the copy of Michelangelo's David, Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women and Agnolo Gaddi's Seven Virtues while Jacqui queued for our tickets. This Square was absolutely heaving with people. Florence, has by far been the busiest place we have visited and we were glad that we came here early in the year.  It must be impossible in the summer.

Back onto the bikes and round to the Bargello and onto the Santa Croce which is located in a very pretty Piazza where we had lunch (our sandwiches) accompanied by three excellent jazz musicians. Jacqui thought of Chris and gave herself a mental reminder to ask him if he likes (and more importantly plays) 'Swing' music.  After lunch we picked off our first day sites one by one, which reads like an architectural whos' who. The best was undoubtedly

Florence's Duomo. One of the worlds largest cathedrals famous for its cupola, which we went up of course (over 400 steps). Finally we ended up on the other side of town cycling to one of my loves, fortress walls. These belonged to the Fortezza da Basso. After cycling round these we stopped for tea and coffee at a small pasticcheria before making our way back to camp.








 7th April,

Jacqui had bought the earliest tickets she could get for today's main visit, Galleria Uffizi. We had to be there, in the queue for 8.30am. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. With bikes all locked up we split up and agreed, so Jacqui told me later, to meet at the main exit in two and a half hours. So engrossed was I that after four hours Jacqui had to come and find me. The gallery highlights include. Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"and "Allegory of Spring", Leonardo da Vinci's "Annunciation", Michelangelo's "Holy Family" and Titan's "Venus of Urbino". Once removed from the Galleria we set off to the Palazzo  Pitti and most importantly their gardens.
But after blowing our budget we decided another 20 euros was a step too far and we had probably had our fill of museums for that day. So we set off to the Piazzale Michelangelo which is a square set up on the hill overlooking Florence and offers the best city views and and of course other copy of Michelangelo's David. There we had lunch and afterwards we headed back to the van to catch up on work etc.