Florence - Renaissance Glory

Trip Start Dec 06, 2005

Trip End Jun 17, 2006

Loading Map

Map your own trip!

Map Options

Show trip route

Hide lines

Flag of Italy Firenze, Italy
Tuesday, May 9, 2006

Spent one day and two nights in Florence (Firenze), and unfortunately the day was a Monday - which is the holiday for all of Italy. So we didn't get to see Michaelangelo's 'David' or a bunch of stuff in the Uffizi gallery, but there was still heaps to do. Checked out the impressive colourful Duomo cathedral, a street market with cheap "Italian silk" ties, and then found a sign to a Da Vinci's Machines exhibition. Being keen ex-mechatronics students, Brooks and I found ourselves drawn to this, and we loved it - basically about 40 of Da Vinci's machine concepts that had been found in his manuscripts had been realised by modern day engineers/craftsmen, such that the public could actually touch and use them. Great idea, and there were some useful and ahead-of-his-time machines there - much respect to Mr. Da Vinci.

Possibly the most "Italian" meal we have had was at a small place called Il Fratellini - a hole-in-the-wall serving delicious panini and red wine, the idea being that you sit outside on the street and put your empty wine glasses in one of two wooden cabinets outside the place

01 Duomo cathedral

.

Checked out a fake 'David', and a bunch of other enormous Renaissance-era statues in a Piazza with some fountain of Neptune in the middle. The Italians really love their fountains and statues. After this we walked over a ridiculous idea - a bridge filled from end to end with 2-storey jewellery shops, called Ponte Vecchio. Apparently this was the only bridge in Florence that survived WWII. It kinda looks cool, but I don't really see the point. Finished the day off with our 3rd gelati (of the day, a record for us so far) and a superb dinner of tagliatelli al rag� (the predecessor of spag bol) and beef stew with cracked pepper and red wine...mmmmm....

Despite the immense quantity of tourists in Florence, I really enjoyed it - lots of stuff to see and do, a friendly vibe, and excellent, excellent gelati.