Florence

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We left Ischia at 9am on Thursday, After a ferry and a taxi ride we boarded the fast train to Florence. The Eurocity trains stop at all major stations, if you travel in first and second class, which we did, you are required to prepay your tickets, we each purchased 3 train travel passes, and all up our tickets cost each of us $284 AUS.

We arrived in Florence early in the afternoon and checked into our accommodation. We booked 2 rooms one with a double and another with a double and a single and for 2 nights for the 2 rooms we paid a total of 74 euro each, which is pretty damn good for a hotel in Central Florence. And with the markets right out side the door, that was a first stop of the day, shopping!!!!.

I never thought Italian leather smelt so good, we all purchased a bag, with one person, whom shall remain nameless is up to her 5th handbag, along with a new bigger and lighter suitcase purchased in Ischia (and Kevin it is not me), I will inform you of how we go getting on our easy jet flight to London in a few days.

At about 9:30pm we realized, we had not eaten yet, and decided we had better fill the tummy. We were all craving basic food meat and veg, and trying to find this in Italy is very difficult. We found a restaurant that served, wait for it…chicken and chips, yes chicken and chips, as usual dinner was beautiful.

Friday morning we slept in for the first time since leaving Australia, and didn’t get up until 7am. We had a quick breakfast and left the hotel to tackle Florence. Mary headed off the the Uffizi gallery, and Jo, Cath, Suz and I headed to the Duomo or the Santa Maria del Fiore. The Duomo is the Cathedral of Florence and rises above the city, with its orange tiled dome it is not hard to find. Inside the Dome of the cathedral is frescoes showing the last judgment. We then decided to be very energetic and climb the 463 steps up to the top of dome, this is a fairly strenuous climb but the reward is the spectacular views over the city. After meeting back up with Mary at the Piazza della Signoria, we all had lunch.

Batteries recharged, Michelangelo’s David was next on the list of have to see things. We headed off to the Galleria dell Accademia, planning to wait the minimal required time in the queues about 1 hour (if you are organized you can pre purchase your tickets the day before), but luck and my bladder was on our side, Jo and I went to the top of the pre purchased tickets queue and asked to use the toilets, after a bit of convincing the guard let us enter the lobby and head to the toilets, we then realised we could collect our pre purchased tickets inside We rang the other girls outside in the queue to go to the same guard and ask to use the toilets, we then entered the gallery after only waiting about 10min.

David is a 5.2 meter nude sculpture of the biblical hero who killed the giant Goliath, and seeing the fake David is not the same as the real one.

After David we decide to spend the rest of the afternoon just wandering the streets of Florence.

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