Florence - Day 4

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You know its not a good sign when you get out of bed and your feet are already tired!

Today I set a much slower pace. Only two sites visited. The first was the Uffizi gallery. My main aim was to see Bottocelli's The Birth of Venus. Its an enormous gallery and I don't know where they had that bad boy hidden but I completely missed it. I'm gonna say it wasn't on display, sometimes they do that. Not to mind there was plenty of other art work to see, and I'm glad to say it wasn't all religious. There were hundreds of sculptures, which really fascinated me. Lots of busks but plenty of statues, of both genders unlike the Medici Ricardo Museum which mainly had ladies. Reliable sources tell me that the franks and beans on the male nudes were intentionally carved, shall we say, in a less flattering light, as anything too large was considered offensive. This certainly makes sense for the franks (ain't nothing to see here....literally, some of them have nothing) but I'm not so sure about the beans, they were huge. And apparently they were big into waxing back then, as there is very little representation of hair.

As I stepped outside the Uffizi a glorious sunny day had appeared. This made for a very pleasant lunch by the Arno river, followed by a stroll across the Ponte Vecchio. You can only stroll across the Ponte Vecchio because the crowds are so thick there is zero chance of brisk walk. It is quite picturesque, but don't look at the jewellery stores that line the sides of the street. The prices will only make you cry.

On reaching the other side of the river I headed for the Palazzo Pitti, which is an enormous structure, once the home of the Florentine Duchy (including the Medici family) it now hosts several galleries and the marvellous Boboli gardens. They have extensive collections of art but also a few interesting museums, alluding to the lifestyle of the wealthy renaissance families. One gallery was dedicated to precious jewellery which was quite beautiful. Another (right up the back of the gardens) was dedicated to the porcelain. Beautiful dinner sets, serving sets, plates, jugs etc. absolutely gorgeous. The last gallery I went to was the costume gallery. Up five million flights of stairs, I did see a lift as I entered the stairwell but I figured I'd be all right with a few stairs. Had I known how long I'd be climbing I would have taken it. By far the best part of the palace was the Boboli gardens. Beautifully manicured gardens out the back of the palace, they were the perfect place for lying in the sun and relaxing. Which is exactly what I did.

Tomorrow, Venezia!

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[Jo]

Tanning time.