Flouncing around Florence

We took a bus trip to Florence yesterday that was organized by the campsite. Karen and I very much enjoyed being on an air conditioned bus and letting someone else do all the driving and thinking about where we were going! It did not cost us much more than going by public transport from here, and miles easier. There was no tour – just drop us off and pick us up in the afternoon which suited us well.

Karen had a big list of things to do, so we set off at a brisk pace. The first thing to see was the Florence Cathedral, known as the Duomo. We had our doubts about how good it was going to be, and whether it would live up to the guide book’s claim that it was third on the list of Italy’s top three (after the Colloseum and the Leaning Tower). It did live up to our expectations as the enormous structure is made out of marble. We climbed the 400+ steps to the top and got within arms reach of the fresco painted in the largest dome. It was worth the climb and the view from the top on the outside was fantastic.

Next stop after the Duomo was the Uffuzzi gallery. We’d pre-booked tickets with a scheduled entry time which helped us reduce the queuing time. The extra Euros were worth the expense given the size of the monster general admission queue. The Uffuzzi was interesting with lots of world-renowned paintings in it but it didn’t quite hit the mark for us; perhaps given our French and London gallery experiences?

From the Uffizzi we ate lunch and spent a good 45 minutes trying to catch our breath and recover from the heat. We planned to make a made dash to the Academia gallery in the afternoon before the 5:15 bus home. The kids didn’t have the energy for it and it was a reasonable distance from where we were so we decided to give it a miss. Apparently the only thing of note (according to Karen) is the statue of David which we saw a replica of in one of the main piazzas. Completely sapped of any energy we dragged ourselves to the famous Florence bridge to have a look and then we opted for a gelati.

From there we went to another church where Galileo and DaVinci were buried. Josh and Karen went in and Caleb, Daniel and I stayed outside in the shade. Both boys fell asleep on my lap as we were sprawled out on the pavement in the shade. We received many laughs from other tourists because of two young boys asleep on their ‘sylvester’ on the pavement. One found it so amusing that they even took a photograph of us. From the church we dragged ourselves back to the station via a number of interesting streets and shops. We arrived early and decided to replenish our liquids in McDonalds and take advantage of the free toilets. It was an exhausting day and we opted for a meal out at one of the park’s restaurants. We collapsed into bed early thoroughly worn out from our day. Florence was a great place to visit and it has similarities to Paris. One day was probably enough for me but I’m sure Karen could have spent more time there.

Today we spent the day by the pool after home school. I went from a swim and to the gym in the morning and the kids spent 5 hours at the pool which they love. Karen and Josh are up watching Invictus on the big screen while the other two are fast asleep.