Palaces and piazzas

---

Geo: 43.6577, 11.4546

This morning I walked to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see the famous statue of David. Only had to wait 20 minutes in line. After walking a few rooms full of paintings, I came to the hall with David at the end. On the way to see David there were his four unfinished statues of the slaves. His David is huge and was carved out of one huge block of marble. Then went to the Palazzo del Bargello, at the palace there is the Museum of Bargello. The building was owned by the chief magistrate. The museum has many sculptures and statues.
Then I was hungry, so I went to the fresh food market and bought some cheese, prosciutto and fruit. Went back to the hostel and ate my lunch. Then continued doing the tourist thing. Walked over Ponte Vecchio and came to the Palazzo Pitti, which was owned by the Medici family. Here there are five museums and I went to three of them. First the Galleria Palatina, which has many paintings in beautiful, over the top decorated rooms. From here I could see the gardens, which were an extra cost that I was going to pay. Then I went into their Royal Apartments- again very lavishly decorated rooms and ceilings. In here there were many paintings by big name artists, Rubens, Van Dyck, Raphael, Botticelli and Caravaggio. Last museum was the Modern Art Gallery which had Tuscan artists from the last 200 years. The palace has an artificial grotto with cute little sculptures in the water.
Walked along the river to Piazzale Michelangelo. It was a short steep walk, but with a fantastic view of Florence and a fake David statue. I continued walking up the hill to the Church of Miniato al Monte. Inside the walls were covered in 13th century frescoes. Had an early dinner at one of the bars up here and then caught the bus back to the hostel.
Later that night, Anna (Brazilian girl from my room) and I went for a night walk in Florence, there were heaps of people around, walking and eating ice-cream.

---

Photos

01 Bargello Museum
Some of the statues at this museum.

02 Courtyard
Looking down into the courtyard.

03 Bikes and bikes galore
Motorbikes and push bikes galore.

04 Yum! Yum!
Lots of parma ham- my favourite!

05 Arno river
The river and some of the many bridges that cross it.

06 Palace
Part of the outside of the Palazzo Pitti which is owned by the Medici family and too big to fit into one photo!

07 Palace gardens
Part of the huge palace gardens.

08 View
View #1 from the palace window.

09 View
View #2 from the palace window.

10 View
View #3 from the palace window.

11 Road under house
Corner shop with a road under a house.

12 On the way up
View of Florence on the way up to the lookout.

13 Third
This is the third statue of David in Florence- at the lookout.

14 View
View from the lookout.

15 Three in one
Bridges, palace and the cathedral.

16 Church of Miniato al Monte
Front of the church near the lookout.

17 From the church
View of Florence from the church.

18 Along the river
A church along the river.

19 Fountain
The fountain of Neptune.

20 Cathedral
The cathedral at night.