Well here I am in Florence. I got here fine and had no trouble finding the street of the pensione I was staying but had troubles finding the number. I forgot that Florence can have the same number for both a residence and business so there could be two properties with the same number potentially at different ends of the street. After remembering this out I then found the place easily enough.

I quickly dumped my bags and headed out to 'do' everything relating to the Duomo - including climbing to the top of the dome. Last time I was in Florence we only saw the outside (which is something to behold) so I was keen to do everything else. I climbed to the top after much huffing and puffing and the view was great but it also gave me a very close up view of the fresco on the inside of the dome. It was great and definitely worthy of the steps.

I came down and then started wandering around Florence because by this time it was late in the afternoon and things were starting to shut. I had some dinner in the end then headed back to the hotel as I was feeling a bit weary from the steps. Oh by the way the hotel I am staying in only has three beds per room and a TV in it. I was very excited until I realised that they didnt have cable so I could only watch really cheesy american shows with Italian dubbed over them.

The next day I got up early because I had decided I wanted to see the Uffizi gallery. Word to the wise for anyone if you are only a small group eg less than 5 you can make a reservation the day before at the ticket office (I read that it was three days before so hadnt bothered). Anyway I got there early knowing full well I would have to wait and thought an hour would be all since I was there fairly early. Well THREE hours later I still wasnt quite near the front - I hadnt had brekkie, it was raining (I was undercover though), it was cold and I after three hours I desparately needed to find a toilet. Because of all the above and the snot nosed school kids who wouldnt get out of my personal space I then started to feel claustraphobic - I was not a happy camper to say the very least. I ended up talking to an Italian tour guide (I was still probably 30 minutes away from getting in at this stage) and told her my situation and she kindly went up to the guy at the front and arranged for me to be let in. That still didnt end my saga though because I had to line up to go through a metal dectector, they then made me put my bag in the cloakroom and finally buy a ticket. It was only after this further excrutiating 15 minutes I was allowed anywhere near a toilet. By this time you could say i was well and truly pissed off with everything and everyone - I was very down on Italy by this stage!!

After finding the loo I headed off with my trusty audio guide (at the usual bargain price of €5.50) to see the Uffizi (still hungry and thirsty since I wasnt allowed liquids into the gallery and I wasnt game to drink anymore outside since I didnt know when I might make it into the gallery). The audio guide turned out to be somewhat OK but rather than go in any sort of order once you got to the specified room I felt like it jumped from one wall to the other so more often than not I completely lost track of what they were refering to and when some of the paintings were under restoration and there was a replacement there it further confounded me.

Finally I got around to the point where there was a cafeteria. As with all art galleries they know they have a captive audience so I knew I was going to get shafted before going in there but as with everything that day I underestimated it yet again - I was too hungry to care since it was already 1.45pm. All I wanted was a sandwich and I pointed out what I wanted. Instead they said salami - I thought that they meant did I want one with salami or ham along with the tomato and cheese but no they really meant salami and only salami (three whole slices) on a bread roll and with the hot chocolate I ordered it came to a total of €6. When I saw the sandwich I asked is that it and the girl said of course - I must have had one of my patented if looks could kill faces on because she backed right off and said you pay there and pointed then went to the next person in line.

Irrespective of all the guff I had to deal with I can honestly say the Uffizi didnt do it for me. I dont know what I was expecting but it didnt deliver. There was some beautiful paintings but the usual roll call of religious art followed by more religious art starts to really get up your nose after awhile. Even I can recognise a painting of the 'adoration of the magi' now - irrespective of who painted it. That tells me I have probably seen more than enough religious art over the last month.

After exiting the Uffizi I planned to go to the Museo de Accademia which houses the statue of David. Along the way I stopped and checked out some markets and churches but when I got to the museum there was another line so I decided no way was I going to line up - especially since it had started to rain again and this line had no covering. I saw this as a sign that my day should end before I killed someone for looking sideways at me and found a restaurant for dinner and spoke with an Aussie couple in the next table so it was nice to talk of things back home. Overall this was by far the worst day I had in Italy but I figured I got through it and in the general scheme of things it wasnt that bad!!

The next day saw me get up early yet again but this time to go to Museo de Accademia. I got there before the ticket office opened and was near the front of the line so only waited about 30 minutes max but this time I had come prepared with food, a book to read and water to drink. The museo itself is only quite small since its centrepiece is David but the statue did not disappoint. It is quite magnificent and its definitely worth the price of the ticket. After that I headed off to have a chat with the family via Skype (anyone going overseas invest some time in getting a skype profile - it will save you a packet in phone costs).

After catching up with the family and Megan and Jim (hey Canberra) I headed over the river via the Ponte Vecchio (famous bridge seen on virtually all postcards) I went to the Palazzo Pitti which was the last palace for the Medici's. I got a ticket to see the royal apartments and various other exhibits and it all was great and I enjoyed it immensely. The Palazzo has two areas though you can buy tickets for. Through poor navigation on my part I landed at one of the exhibits I didnt have a ticket for but the girl let me out the back door to the gardens which I also didnt have a ticket for. Gawd I lucked out here - my original plan was to give the gardens a miss but if I had of known how great they were I would have put them at the top of my list. The gardens are formal gardens with statues in open places and in places that you wouldnt expect. The gardens go on forever and I didnt get to see them all either because it had started to rain and I was starting to get tired. Irrespective of the rain though I kept going and every turn I made bought something else just as beautiful. To my mind this and David has been the highlight of Florence by far.

This brings me up to today. My original plan was to go to Siena for two nights but I decided to stay those two nights in Florence since I already had a decent place to stay and do Siena as a day trip which is my plan for tomorrow. As for today its been one of those days when I slept in and just wandered around the streets, bought my bus ticket to Siena and train ticket to Rome, bought postcards and posted them off and generally acheived not much of anything. I will shortly be heading back to the hotel (maybe 50m from here), having a shower and early night. All this lot of nothing is making me very tired.

Dont know if I will get the chance to blog before going to Turkey - only three days away now - but Italy has definitely been great overall with the usual hiccups that you expect when travelling outside of a tour group. I dont know how I will go with the tour group going through the middle east since I am used to setting my own timetable now but time will tell but it will be nice to see familiar faces more than two days in a row. Best go now since its coming up to 9pm.

Ciao Toni