July 22 – Florence, Italy

36 degrees, overcast, humid, sweltery

We are up bright and early for a day I’ve been looking forward to since we booked this vacation. It was a looooong day (8:00-6:30) but it was worth every sweltery minute.

Today we drove 90 minutes to Florence from our port in Livorno to visit Florence's two main museums, Uffizi and Accademia. The last excursion I ever want to book includes a long bus ride, but these museums were worth it. Just before we got to the city we of course made a comfort stop and we bought our first Italian espresso that we drunk right at the bar…we think we’re very Italian now!

Once we get off the bus we have to walk a bit through Florence’s streets where we are reminded of the heat and crowds that are big European cities in the summer. Today is all about the Renaissance…art, Michelangelo and the Medicis.

Our first stop is the Accademia which is a gallery all about sculpture. The main event is Michelangelo's statue of David. – he is something! It was one of those buildings or pieces of art, or animal that you’ve seen pictures of a thousand times, but to see in person almost took my breath away. The location he’s in is at the end of a long room which begins with 6 other Michelangelo sculptures. You are so struck by these ‘prisoners’ (sculptures he left unfinished) that you don’t even realize David is at the end of the room – then it hits you…there he is. The sculpture is raised so that he can be seen from far away and despite the hoards of people around him. Once you get close there is space around him so that you can see the sculpture from all sides.  The photo of the sculpture alone doesn’t give a very good idea of the size of him…with people it is a bit more

clear.

Next, after a short walk, we are on to the Uffizi gallery. This place is all about Renaissance paintings. We don’t see all there is to see here as the place is huge, I’m fine with that. The guide highlights to important paintings for us – we spend about an hour here.

Lunch is in a hotel and is pretty amazing…pasta, lasagne, chicken, cake, wine and espresso – AND air conditioning. Apparently, a woman in our group ordered a small bottle of ginger ale that she paid 15.00 for! WOW! Non-stop wine, but 15.00 ginger ale – nice.

The rest of the afternoon we are on our own. Chris and I decide to visit a church – Santa Croche…Sacred Cross. Here there are crypts of Dante, Galileo, Donatello,

Michelangelo, Rossini, Machiavelli to name just a few…super interesting. There is also a modern art exhibit going on. We hoped the church would give a bit of a heat reprieve, but no luck…all the church does is still the thick air.

We finish our trip to Florence with a church beer, bought for 3.00 and sit on the curb across from the church and savour.