Firenze

Town hall
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Florence

We reached our 2nd destination after a 60min train ride from Pisa. We both grabbed some much needed zzsssss on the train.  Our hotel was only a 5min walk from the station so that was handy. We checked in then headed straight out. Another 5min walk and we were right in the heart of Florence. Once again i was struck by the graffitti! I had seen alot in Milan and Rome but didnt expect to see so much in what is suppose to be Italy and Europes most beautiful city!!!  On the otherhand it is a lovely city. Numerous  decorative churches and alleyways and the amazing Duomo, Baptistry and Campinele. It was fun just wandering around and stumbling across sight after sight. At on point we were standing on the famous Ponte vecchio bridge and didnt even realise we were on a bridge until we were half way across! The bridge is famous for its jewellery shops.Lots of "bling" in thme windows! the bridge shape reminds me on the Japanese bridge in Hoi an Vietnam. After wandering around for a few hours we headed back to get changed then went out for an Italian meal. Luckily there are loads of restaurants in Florence and we went to one 2mins from our hotel. It was very authentic. I had some yummy gnocchi. We had an early night as were both knackered!

Renaissance

Ponte Vecchio bridge
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Next day we went out in a mission to cover as much of Florence as we could in one day, and that we did!!! We were on the road by 930am. Since it was a nice day we decided to go climb the hill that overlooks Florence first incase it clouded over later. Good way to work off breakfast!We headed across the one of the other bridges to the south side and then trekked up the hill. Took us half an hour in all.  Amazing views from the top and nice and cool too(was like a beetroot!)This is another "must do" The were not many tourists at the top which was fab. We took lots of snaps then climbed more steps up to the San Minato Monte on a steep hillside on the Oltrarno. Its a gorgeous marble church and a former monastry. More superb views from here and once again hardly any tourists, though we did go off season which is the best time to go.

yummy Italian
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Once back down the hill we crossed back over another bridge and towards the library where Michealangelos staircase is. However when we got there we were not allowed in!! Thats not what the guide books say!Bugger!!Librarys are normally free to get into for all the public but maybe they get fed up of tourists going in to see the staircase all the time!  Oh well where to next.......Santa Croce,this is one of Florences most lavish churches. Over 270 tombstones pave the floor of the church!! After a quick stop here we strolled across to the town square. Its so unline any other town sqaure ive been to. It's bloody colossal!!! The Palazzo Vecchio is florence's fortress like town hall!!The Piazza della Signoria(the square in which it stands) is crammed full of staue after statue. There is even a replica of Michealangelos "David" which used to stand in the square until it was moved to its present location in the Galleria dell Accademia as it was being vandalised! More click clicking of the Camera then went to have a look at the Uffizi Galleria. It is supposedly the greatest picture gallery in Italy but Nicky and i are not big art fans and we though it would be wasted on us and decided to go do some more exercising and climb the Duomo!It was engineered by the architect and sculptor Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446),The Duomo is made from white,green and red marble bricks which makes it stand out from any other cathedral ive seen! The vast interior boasts frescoes by Renaissance masters such as Paolo Uccello and Andrea del Castagno, as well as a monument to the poet Dante and his Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy). We climbed the 463 steps up to the top of the dome. Our legs are getting a right good work out!! We were greeted with amazing, sweeping views of Florence and the Campinele(Tower) which we could practically reach out and touch!!Fantastic!! You can also get up close to the frescos inside the Duomo by the viewing gallery. The gallery skirts along the walls of the Duomo high above. Superb! another "must do".

Cocktails
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We were pretty pooped by the time we got back to earth so we went and grabbed a bite to eat then set off once again. We thought we'd best do at leats one museum so we opted for the Galleria dell Accademia (Europes 1st Academy of drwaing). Why here? well it houses Michaelangelos "David". It's one piece of art ive heard about haha! I must say it was a pretty interestign museum full of maily sculptures. I much prefer this to paintings. I thought Michaelangelos unfinished "slaves" were fascinating. It's amazing to see how he carved his sculptures from huge blocks of marble! the 6 slaves are at various stages of completion. the man was definetly a huge talent and genious. I was so engrossed in these sculptures that i failed to notice "david"(well seeing it wasn't david Coulthard haha)!! !! When i did notice him i was like "WOW!!" I'd seen the replica of him at the town square and also in the Louvre in Paris but they were nothing like the real thing! He is massive! Double the size of a human!! Dam impressive!! We spent abnout an hour in there then decided to call it a day as we'd been on our feet for 7hours and were pretty wabbit!!!!! We had a catnap then went for a few drinks in an irish bar then for dinner. Dinner was fab. Gusto Leos gustoleo.com  (defo go) Great value for money and speedy service.  Afterwards we went to an argentina bar for some cocktails then headed home. However on our way back we got a wee bit lost and a 10min walk took us an hour!We kept up ending up at the Duomo!!At one point we saw our waiter closing the restaurant up and we both just looked at each other an burst out laughin when we realised we were back where we started! oops haha!! Least we walked off our dinner an drinks!! So all in all a great day out!!