Florence

Deciding it was time for some more culture we headed to Florence for the weekend. We left early on Saturday morning and a few hours later we were lost in the back streets. After sorting ourselves out we dropped our bags at the hotel, parked the car and started to look around.

I had just finished reading a book on the history of Medici family. It covered the shared history of the town and family and also their architectural and artistic legacy. So I found the whole place fascinating. Highlights were the Palazzo Vecchio (fantastic building from the outside and interesting inside), the Uffizi Gallery (many of the artists and subjects were significant), the Duomo Museum (featuring the original panels from the Gates of Paradise - Ghiberti’s famous brass doors from the baptistery) and of course Michelangelo’s statue of David.

The copy in the main square is not so impressive but the original housed in a museum is stunning. It is one of those things you have seen many photos of but when I looked up and saw it at the end of the gallery I was stopped in my tracks. Fantastic!

Also the overall city itself was great – the old town centre is well preserved and is a great place to wonder around. Add all the history these streets have seen and you get a place I could wander around for hours.

The bridges were also very scenic – a great view to watch the sun set over. There were a lot of tourists in town and it is important to book ahead where you can. Late planning saw us have to get up early on Sunday morning to queue for an hour to get into the Uffizi. But we had managed to book the Academia (where the statue of David is) and we were glad to avoid the long queue in the rain.