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Published: April 23rd 2009
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Jamy and I had the opportunity to head up to Florence for a weekend in April and were struck by the complete contrast to life in Naples. It is amazing to find that there are such significant differences between Naples and a city that is only 5 hours away by train. The food is very different (an emphasis on meat rather than pasta), they have footpaths, no trash problems and all of the cities attractions are set out within easy reach of the city. I guess it is much more of a 'tourist town' than the one we live in!
We have the luxury of being able to park our car at the Navy base here in Naples and catch a bus to the train station which makes life very easy. (Those of you that witness downtown Naples driving will soon see why!). We headed up to Florence on the Friday afternoon as it is only a 5 hour train ride and stayed there until the Sunday afternoon.
Florence is a great city in which to be a tourist. It is incredibly easy to find a cheap hotel in the vicinity of the main train station and all the
The Florence Boar
Rub his nose for good luck....and then buy a handbag!! attractions are only 5 minutes walk away. On the first night I insisted on trying traditional Florentine food and we found a restaurant with chicken liver pate and boar on the menu. The chicken liver disappointingly resembled cat food in both appearance and consistency and unfortunately didn't taste much better. The boar however was a decent feed although it didn't taste tremendously different to meatballs to me!
On the Saturday we did the majority of our 'touristing'. Jamy had assembled a great itinerary and we started by heading to the Accademia to view the 'David'. Lines are short in the off season and we managed to make it into the museum in under 15 minutes (apparently quite a feat.) The David was quite inspirational. I wish I could show you pictures but unfortunately they are not permitted. The statue is over 6 metres tall which really surprised me. I guess I had always seen the pictures and expected it to be life size. It was the dominant feature within the Accademia and you could stare at it for a while. Unfortunately the only seats were situated in a semicircle behind it which meant you spent 30 minutes contemplating the
architectural magnificence of David's buttocks!
After the Accademia we headed to the Uffizi which is one of Italy's most famous art museums. Again the lines were fairly short (an hour wait is apparently amazing) as it was not summer. As we are both fairly uneducated in the Arts, I am sure we did not fully appreciate all the pictures and statues we were viewing. Many of the pictures were 12th century and we had to keep reminding ourselves that they were painted centuries before America and Australia came into existence. Just a few of the highlights included Botticelli's 'Venus', Da Vinci's 'Annuciation' and some of the early Michelangelo and Raphael's. I was particularly struck by the difference in detail between many of the other pieces attributed to the 1400s and 'The Birth of Venus' - Botticelli's talent and eye for detail in painting the human form was very apparent in comparison with his peers.
Florence is a very compact city and we were easily able to walk around and see most of it. The best view was from Piazza Michelangelo which was only a 30 minute walk from downtown. We were able to get a great view out
over the city and the 6 famous bridges including Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio was the first bridge in Florence and used to be lined by meat and vegetable stalls on each side. As many of the stalls were throwing their leftover meat and veggies in the river in the 1300s and the river became a cesspit, the city council decided to change the vendors. The bridge is now lined by jewelry and gold shops. I am not sure how much business they get but there are certainly hordes of tourists that walk past and take photos!
Overall a great weekend and we are looking forward to getting out and seeing a bit more of the country in the next few months. The pressure is on as summer is approaching and we have no desire to be travelling in peak tourist season so we need to fit quite a bit into the next few months!
Hope you are all well - we miss you and think of you often!!
Mel and Jamy
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Jennie
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wow
Just reading your blog, life sure is amazing!! Congrats on the move, finding a great place to live, a wonderful job, and being able to live in such a beautiful city. Hopefully Millie will adjust soon. Give her licks from Molly!