Florence, Italy

We visited Florence during our Venice trip and were glad we did. The city doesn't hold the charm of Venice but it is strikingly Italian and it was great to see the area where so many great minds including Michelangelo and Da Vinci came from. The city is built around their large cathedral called the Duomo. From the outside it is massive and built of white and green marble. You can see from the pictures that it just towers above the rest of the city. Inside it is surprisingly small. There is a large river (where we actually saw an otter swimming) that separates the main part of town from the hills where the old city wall is still visible. The main bridge, Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), is lined with jewelry shops. We hiked up the hill overlooking the city with a copper replica of Michelangelo's David standing atop it. The views of the city were amazing.

There are no shortage of museums to visit there either. The first we went to was the History of Science museum. Unfortunately much of is was under construction so we could wander around one floor. There they had several of the first models of the solar system and the telescopes used through history. It even had Galileo's Finger! We visited the famous Uffizi Gallery which contains the largest collection of the Renaissance art. The highlight of Florence was without question going to the Accademia gallery and seeing Michelangelo's David. The gallery contains a few other works including some unfinished statues by Michelangelo where were neat to see how they came to be from a block of marble. The David was breathtaking. His sheer size is impressive enough but the detail in the facial expression and even the veins in his arm are amazing. I haven't seen anything else like it and of course we couldn't take any photos. As Dana says, it shows what a mockery the "modern art" movement really is when compared with true artistic genius.

Florence is a must visit simply for its historical significance. I think Venice will beckon us back some day just because the city is such a wonder in and of itself. Hope you enjoy the pictures.