9 September 2011- Florence/Siena

Today we woke up at the incredibly early hour of 6:30 am because we made reservations for the Uffizi Gallery for 8:15 am. (Note: Booking a spot for major museums like the Uffizi and Accademia is a smart thing to do if you ever come to Florence, because it means that you get priority entry and don’t waste two hours queuing up- just ask your hotel to do it for you, or do it yourself).

We were pretty tired from yesterday’s day trip, but as we walking through Florence, with the city empty of tourists and the sun starting its rise high into the sky, we were able to appreciate the town and its incredible monuments in the quiet of the early morning.

[Early morning in Florence:]

We walked down to the famous and enormous Uffizi Gallery (built in the 16 Century and containing the greatest collection of Italian paintings in the world) and wandered slowly from room to room - admiring works such as Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Titian’s Venus of Urbino.The art works are incredible, many dating back to the 15^th Century and the ceiling of the gallery is also enchanting. Needless to say, given the number of works, the size of the gallery, and the heat and lack of air conditioning in some of the rooms, doing a thorough job of each room is a challenge and three hours later, our feet were pretty numb.

[In the Uffizi:]

Afterwards, we went into the Palazzio Vecchio courtyard for a baguette. We sat on the steps and had our lunch before going in search for the best gelato—ultimately going back to place where we got our baguettes. Man from Mars requested my flavours of choice- Bacio and almond—but he accidentally asked for the MEGA GELATO (pointing to the 30 cm waffle cone instead of the 12 cm one) and the lady served us up with the most mammoth gelato you’ve ever seen. It weighed about a kilo and was literally the size of my head. Man from Mars got a cup and we split it, but by the end of it we both struggled to keep our heads up and our eyes open. Talk about a Gelato overdose!

[As big as my head!]

The extra sugar held us in good stead as we then took on the Accademia. In contrast to the Uffizi, all the artworks are very close together and the highlight had to be Michelangelo’s David. In Italy, they’re quite particular about taking pictures of artwork and the giant David (who conquered Goliath) was no exception. Still, I couldn’t resist and snuck this picture in, because in all seriousness, it is such an amazing sculpture.

After the Accademia, Man from Mars bought a cool leather briefcase for 100 Euros before we took the train to Siena.

[Twilight in Siena:]

We had a lovely dinner in a little lane way before coming back to our room at the Hotel Italia (great hotel- so homey). What a long day! Tomorrow, we explore Siena J