The Home of the Renaissance

Trip Start Aug 29, 2007

Trip End Oct 01, 2007

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Where I stayed

Hotel Machiavelli Palace Florence

(Florence hotels)

Flag of Italy Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Sunday, September 23, 2007

I left Venice with a heavy heart - I was really starting to enjoy the city immensely and I had to leave again. That is a problem with having a time line - you have to be be somewhere else. I have to change that eventually but for know I will enjoy these trips with time lines. I really need to learn to get to the stations a bit earlier - all of this Amazing Race type departures are starting to become tiresome.This time I got the station, only to end up in the longest line ever.Miraculously I got my ticket with about five minutes to spare and I was off to Florence. I ended up in a compartment with three people - a couple from Singapore (the less said about them, the better) and a magnificent red-headed lady from Seattle, Washington called Heather. The couple from Singapore had been occupying the compartment illegally so they were eventually kicked out - they spent some time with me in Florence and from them I learned that you reap what you sow. Heather and I spent the next five hours chatting on the train (about life, love and everything else) and it turned out that we were very like minded in our reason's for travel

The Replica of David

. I gave her a couple ideas to as to where she could spend some spare days in her trip and promised that we would see each other in those cities that our paths crossed. I had got my first travel buddy :)

I got Florence late in the afternoon and had to make a choice regarding my activities for the next couple of days. I decided that I would have to go to the Pitti Palace and the Gardens of Baboli, the statue of David and the Uffizi museum.Problems that faced me, the long waiting times (3 weeks) if I did this on my own or I could book a place on a tour and I could get in the next day. I chose the tour. I still had the afternoon so I was off to the Pitti Palace. Firstly I stopped off in the Piazza della Signoria, were I saw the replica of the statue of David and other beautiful pieces of art like the "Rape of the Sabine woman". The later was intense and upon first glance the entwined bodies looked like they were dancing. I guess the artist managed to convey a horrific act perfectly. The Medici family who ruled Florence were patrons of the Renaissance
and Florence is littered with articles from their treasure trove, a great deal of which can be found in the Pitti Palace.I enjoyed the Pitti Palace immensely and I am left with a memory of painting of a lady in a white dress. I was convinced that her eyes were able to follow me around the room. I was on the last people to leave the Palace and as the echo of the door slammed behind - I was disappointed that I was unable to see the gardens of Baboli. As the sun set over Florence, I walked passed the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo, I pondered over the difference between Florence and Venice - each beautiful but so different in character. The basis of mankind's search for knowledge - the move from the dark ages to an age of enlightenment started in Florence - and the Renaissance has definitely left its mark on Florence

Ponte Vecchio

.

My last day in Florence was rather busy. A walking tour of the city followed by tours of the Academia (which houses the Statue of David) and the Uffizi. This was a day of true wonderment. I learned that the Ponte Vecchio was initially a road on which you could only purchase meat but the smell bothered the rulers so it was decreed that only gold and jewellery can be sold on this road. Alot less smelly and a better choice for all the ladies out there. The Duomo has a Latin meridian clock in it - one that measures time from 6pm not midnight. I saw the ancient homes of the wealthy which had bath rooms ( no running water but they had running slaves - my tour guides joke). I went into the Duomo and marvelled at both the architecture and the beauty of the church. The highlights though were nestled inside the Academia and the Uffizi. The statue of David was magnificent - and it boggles the mind that he was single piece of marble. The perfect proportions and the distant loving look in his eyes (his pupils are actually hearts ;) ) confirms that Michaelangelo was a superstar. After the tour was over, I took some time to sit in the hall and admire the statue that has become a iconic but you can't take any pictures. I guess it is a symbol that has to remain a part of your memory. Finally the day ended in Uffizt, with a tour of the development of art. I got to see the Sandro Botticelli's "The birth of Venus" and works of art that have made the Uffizi world famous. As I try to explain to everyone the majesty that is enclosed in the walls of the museum, I become acutely aware that I am unable to justly convey this.I would like to go back to wander those halls again but this time unhurriedly so that I am truly able to savor the beauty that is there.