More Florence

I made my way to the Uffizi this morning, and waited in the queue for about an hour and a half to get in. The Uffizi holds many works of art from a variety of regions, time periods and styles, and artists. It is A LOT to take in, if you really want to know what everything is. For example, in the hallways that connect all the themed rooms, are more sculptures and paintings. The ceilings themselves are art. There are paintings of a number of people (whether they were rich, famous, or whatever) at the tops of the walls down all the hallways, so there are a number of eyes staring down at you! My favorite room was the Niobe room, where the ceiling and parts of the walls are covered with gold gilded roses and other designs (it had a lot more in it than just that though). Of course, probably my favorite painting is by Botticelli, The Birth of Venus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_Venus_(Botticelli)]. I spent about 2 hours here, as I had to leave to get ready for my wine tasting in the afternoon. You could spend all day here though, and they have either guided tours or audio guides for rent as well. Reservations are highly recommended, as you do not want to do what I did (though, I had no choice due to what happened). Again, no pictures were allowed. It was great actually seeing the paintings and sculptures up close, instead of just in pictures in a book or copies. I headed back to my hostel and showered, went to the meeting spot for the wine tasting bus, and headed off to the Chianti region to visit a castle and taste wine. I met an Irish couple on their honeymoon, they were very nice. We got three wines, and some cheese and bread. I didn't buy any wine, as I have to worry about the weight of my luggage, and I had about €6 on me. We were then bused to a piazza for shopping, and a church for the view of the valley. Unfortunately, it was raining, so there really wasn't a view. We went to dinner, and it was pretty good, we got all the wine and water we could want, pasta (one with wild boar sauce, and another unidentified one, but very good as well), and pork with beans and sausage. Dessert was a scoop of lemon gelato and a cake-like thing...also unidentified.

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