Firenze Frenzy

Here's a great thing to do while staying in Rome.

Go to Firenze (Florence). 

Firenze was one of my favourite cities on my first trip to Europe. It was the cultural centre of much of the renaissance, and home of the Duomo of Florence, a fabulous 13th century cathedral, and the Uffizi Gallery, my favourite art gallery in Italy, Europe, the world, the solar system, the galaxy*.

We took the Fressciarosso, the high speed train from Rome to Frenze. It leaves from Termini Station, and in classic Italian style was running late. Forty minutes later we board. Ah, well, it's not like we're in a rush.

We selected the Premium Economy option, which offers roomy leather seats and a visit from the catering car offering free drinks and snacks. So we're kicking back in comfort, watching the countryside race past at 250 kph.

I manage to get us lost at the other end, until we manage to steal a map and head in the opposite direction.

The Duomo is as magnificent as I remembered. Building commenced in the late 13th century, but took 140 years to complete. Significant parts of the design done by the famous architect Filippo Brunelleschi, including the dome (duomo), which the largest in the world at the time it was built. The interior is massive, and far more understated than the churches we've seen in Rome and Venice, which I find gives the cathedral a much more refined and peaceful character. 

After a quick lunch it was on tho the Uffizi. Basically it was originally the private collection of the Medici family, and is jammed full of Roman and Greek sculpture, with the core of the gallery room after room of paintings from around the mid-thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. Pretty much a who's who of painters are represented: Botticelli, da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Dürer, and more.

The building is like a giant U, and after a couple of hours we'd finished the top floor and had coffee in the rooftop cafe, with great views of the city. I thought I remembered more to the museum, and as we headed down, sure enough, we'd skipped an entire floor. Despite my fatigue I pressed on. So much art goodness, so little time and energy.

Post-Uffizi we crossed the Ponte Vecchio, the jewellery store centre of Firenze. Emma surprised me by not going onto any of them, although she did manage to look into every window. Every. Single. One.

We wanted to see Michelangelo's statue of David , but it was late by the time we arrived at the Accademia Gallery. If we had a couple of hours to spend we'd have gone in, but paying eleven Euros each just to look at a stone guy's dick was a bit pricey.

The train home was on time, ruining my stereotypes of Italian rail inefficiency. Bugger.

Tomorrow's our last day in Italy, then home. As much as I love Italy, I am at the ready-to-go-home stage. I like our home, and I'm really missing our cats.

But we do have one last day of adventures. I haven't hit my quota of Pope-iness yet. To the Vatican!

* There is an awesome antimatter art gallery in the Andromeda Galaxy which is slightly better.