Posting a day late! We were so tired when we arrived to our hotel I didn't write anything. So here is yesterday activities;
Yet another amazing day. Though it has had a few stressful moments, starting early this morning. Our train was at 8:32am, Pisa to Florence. We got up in plenty of time and left the hotel around 7:30am. It was about a 15 min walk to the station and as it was a beautiful morning and there was no one around we took some photos of the piazza. It was so peaceful at that hour of the morning. But, time got away from us quickly and before we realised it was 8am. We quickly started walking to the station and got there at 8:15am I had pre-booked all train tickets but the one from Pisa to Florence we needed to print and validate our ticket. I tried to do this and it wouldn't work. I went to the customer service who were brilliant and came out to help me. The lady took her time going through everything and I was stressing out as it was now 8:30am. I pointed this out and she said no, it's only 7:30am. Huh? So apparently Italy also has daylight saving and the clocks were turned back last night!!!! Crisis averted, we now had an hour up our sleeves.
We arrived in Florence at 9:40am and left our luggage at the station for the day. I had booked a tour of the Academe gallery at 11:30 and Uffizi at 4:30pm so we had a bit of time to explore before our first tour. We went and had a look around The Duoma or The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore which is the main church of Florence. It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style. This is an incredible sight as it takes up almost the entire piazza. It is very extravagant on the outside but surprisingly simple on the inside. It was now time to head to the Galleria Academia were we met our guide.
There were many things to see in this Gallery but of course the main attraction is Michelangelo's 'David'. There is no doubt that Michelangelo was a genius. This sculpture is beautiful. It stands at 17 ft tall and is just perfect. Listening to our guide explain the history of David was so valuable. She pointed out and described features from every angle not missing a single element. It really is breathtaking. The room in which David is located was specifically built for him. It is shaped like a cross, with David at the top section. A huge dome was created above him that lets natural light fall on him from all angles. It really is something spectacular. Walking towards David, you go past some of Michelangelo's unfinished work. You can really I see what he did. Our guide told us that Michelangelo saw the sculpture within the block of marble and carved to release the sculpture. This was really evident in his unfinished work where the sculptures look like they are trying to break free from the marble.
Reluctantly we left Galleria Academia and headed towards a stop for the 'hop on hop off' bus. As we only had a day in Florence we thought this would be the best way to take in as much of the city as possible. The first bus to go past was going in the opposite direction to what was recorded on the map. This confused us a little so we headed to the next stop. Once again the bus was going in the opposite direction and didn't stop. Now I was frustrated. Then I read the little print along the bottom that had the date on it. Guess what? They change direction when daylight saving ends!!! Unfortunately we didn't pick up that map so we decided to head back to the train station to get on a bus there. However, along the way we stopped at the baptistry and Duoma and went inside. We lost track of time and before we knew it we had no time to get a bus so we headed straight to Uffizi gallery.
Here we saw the fabulous work of Botticelli. What I learned here was that I was born 500 years too late! All the women he painted had my figure! Ha ha
From Uffizi we went back to the station, collected our bags and checked the departures schedule. Our 6:15pm train was running 5 min late so we had plenty of time. It then went to 15 min, then 30 min, then 60 min then finally to a 90 min delay!! I went to the service desk to find out what was going on and he said to get on the next train (7:30) it was now 7:25pm! I ran to tell Gaz and we grabbed our bags to get on the train. We had seats booked in first class on the 6:15pm train but of course people where in these seats now. We found two empty seats and hoped for the best. Fortunately no one claimed them so finally, we were on our way to Venice.
We arrive at Venice San Lucia at 9:35pm. From here we caught a water taxi to our hotel, which is located just 100mt from the St Maks square stop. Perfect. We arrived at our hotel at 10:15pm - 15 1/2 hours after getting up! Needless to say we were exhausted. Quick shower and straight to sleep.
