75 - Florence, Italy
Florence, Italy
With Lucy's Mum wanting to celebrate the big 75 in Florence, we slowly walked up to Milan station before jumping on our train. Being the kind of guy that I am, and also seeing that I booked my trip so late, I managed to get very cheap business class seats !!! Well for myself that is !!!
Florence
Back down to earth I came, my hotel was one star whilst Brenda had a five star. It was alright for a cheapie, but the girl who took my details had a mullet and was in a dire need of a shower, she was pretty smelly !!!
We met up at the Duomo where we had a late lunch before we walked the streets. We hadn't been here in a few years and nothing had changed. It was still full of tourists and mega expensive !!! Still it was nice to reacquaint myself with the city. And as we were near the Duomo, we entered but as Lucy was dressed inappropriately, they denied her !!! So I wandered around with Brenda instead.
During dinner, we did tell her that we had a surprise for her, and then a crazy Italian man turned up, dropped his pants and ran around naked !!! We did try telling her that he was her stripper/surprise, but she wouldn't have any of it !!!
After dinner, we dropped Brenda back before we hit the sack
Up early, we picked up Brenda before we headed over to the Uffizi gallery. One of Italy's must sees and as we had never seen it, I had pre-booked tickets for us all but as we weren't entering until 12:15, Brenda suggested visiting the Bargello museum. There are various bits of works including a David who was meant to have been modeled by a young Michelangelo, but it was very effeminate looking !!!
Then it was time for the Uffizi
There were works of arts by many famous Italian artists, but they were all a bit to religious for me. I walked around, taking them in, joining in and taking a few sneaky shots here and there, I had seen some at other exhibitions but they started to do my head in. At the da Vinci site, people were going on and on about how wonderful they were and all I could think was, wow, I've seen those hands used on this and that painting !!! The same thing happened at the Michelangelo painting, and my head said, to bright, looks like a collage of coloured paper stuck on a board !!!
So I went to the cafe, bought a coffee, stood outside and was surrounded by Italian chain smokers, so I threw my coffee down and went back in.
Next up was the Raffaello's, they were ok, and then came the Caravagelo paintings. They were good, but there was an Aussie tour guide going on about how wonderful they were and how he was inspired by Freud with all the sexual innuendos !!! But come on, this was painted over 300 years before Freud was alive, so I walked off before I called him a tosser !!!
Once outside, I was asked my thoughts, and I told them that, it was ok, but not my favourite gallery.
The following morning we blew up some balloons as it was Brenda's birthday. We had a coffee before we bought a day ticket to visit various sites. First up was the Duomo museum. It was interesting seeing a Michelangelo statue that was unfinished and based on himself. The Baptistry doors were impressive and so was the restoration of them that they showed. We then decided to climb to the top of the dome for the murals and the view. Sadly there was now a screen so it was harder to take photos.
Once down, we had a coffee before we visited the baptistry. That was impressive. Next up was the crypts beneath the Duomo, they were also good, and then it was time to leave. We only had the tower to visit, and as Brenda was dead from climbing up to the top of the Duomo, we took her back to hers for a rest.
And then we climbed the tower, the views were good. Once back at the bottom, we went and packed Lucy's bag as she was now going to stay five star with her Mum.
It was now time for the big birthday dinner, and she wanted to eat it in a restaurant called David. I wasn't going to argue with that, especially as the prosecco and wine were flowing, and the food was quite good, and for a 75 year old, Brenda can put it away !!!
The following morning, I packed up my room and checked out. We had time to visit the Santa Croce, a huge church with murals and the Santa Maria Novella, another church with murals !!! And then it was time to say goodbye. I had a train to Milan and then a flight to London to catch whilst Lucy and Brenda were traveling southwards into Italy.