Florence - 2-4 September

Day 1: When we got to Florence we did the afternoon free Medici walking tour however the guide wasn't particularly informative so we ended up leaving the tour halfway through when we got to the cathedral as we wanted to go in. The inside was a bit of a disappointment as we were expecting spectacular and it was felt quite empty. We then wandered down to the main square where we found a replica of David as well as a number of other impressive statue. That afternoon we wandered past Palazza Pitti and the Pont Vecchia before heading into the Palazza Vecchia museum. Here we learnt about the Renaissance in Florence and also managed to sneak onto a tour that went right around the battlements and museum. From the battlements we had a great view of the city, while the tour of the rest of the building showed us where all the courts and decisions used to be made during the Medici era and also where the governors had lived. We ended the night with Gusta pizza (best and freshest pizza I've ever had) that we ate on Pont Vecchia. We had had a great first day in Florence and were falling in love with the city already.

Day 2: Our second day in Florence was a museum day. We had booked ourselves skip the line tickets the day before so we turned up to the Uffizi early in the morning and got straight in. The Uffizi was an amazing museum, full of art and sculpture mostly from the Renaissance. It was a really well set out museum and we spent a good four hours or so exploring the whole collection. This includes works from Da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo as well as the likes of Botticelli and Caravaggio, the final two being names that I did not know before but loved after. Some of the detail in the works was amazing and it really looked like they were staring out at you. After the Uffizi we had a bit of time before we needed to be at the Galleria dell'Academia and so we stopped by the central markets. Here we found some amazing food including bruschetta, sundried tomato and fruits, pesto pasta and the most amazing roast beef sandwich. At 2.30 we arrived at the Academia ready for more art. Here the highlights were the Medici musical collection and the uncompleted prisoner statues by Michelangelo. And of course David. The statue of David by Michelangelo was absolutely incredible. The detail and naturalism is amazing, and when you hear how it was made out of a scrap piece of marble you are stunned by how perfect it looks. We went back and looked at it more than 4 times, each time noticing something else that had escaped up the times before. When we had finally had our fill we wandered up to Michelangelo piazza on the hill overlooking the city and watched the sunset before ending the night with more Gusta pizza on the bridge.

While we had only spent two days in Florence it had been long enough to fall in love with the city. The art and architecture, the laid back atmosphere and the amazing food made this a city I have a lot of time for and hope to visit again sometime soon.