Day 32 – May 17 Tuesday
A 6.30am wakeup call, brekkie at 7am then off by 7.45am. Off with our local guide Rosa to the Academy of Art to see the statue of David by Michelangelo. We were the second tour group there & (because we are a tour group) jumped the queue of people without tickets, about 200m long, waiting to see David. He is magnificent, around 5 metres tall & weighing around 5 tonne, he is an amazing sculpture – the attention to detail is amazing. Veins on the hand stand out, tendons in the arm, veins in the neck, the look on the face, the stance – he comes to life – the photos don’t do him justice. We left as the Academy started to get crowded, it was shut yesterday so it was especially busy today. We continued our walking tour of Florence, looking at the 4th largest church in the world, in magnificent marble of green, white & red colours, very impressive. Next off to the Piazza del Seniora & an outdoor display of more magnificent statues, all originals (apart from the copy of David), including some 2,000 year old Roman statues.
We then walked to the main town square & another great church, before heading into a gold shop & looking at a demonstration of all the different types of gold jewellery on display – it really good with some very nice pieces. Next it was into a leather factory called Peruzzi where we got an explanation of leather manufacture plus a demonstration of gold embossing, before being shown some very nice leather jackets. Some of the women in the group modelled some & they did look good. Time for a wander then off to San Gimignano with another tour group as there wasn’t enough people from our group that wanted to go.. We met the group at 12.30 & off we went in a spanking new Mercedes bus.
The drive out to San Gimignano was great through the Tuscany countryside, it is really beautiful, old restored stone farmhouses with manicured grape vines & olive groves. Then San Gimignano itself from a distance, a fortified walled town from the 14th century with stone 6 story skyscrapers – it is an amazing sight. We walked through one of the two city gates into the old town – straight into history. This medieval town is just as it was built – stone buildings, cobble stone streets, amazing stone towers (built by the rich as a status symbol). Every few metres was a steel ring in the wall for tying the horse or the donkey to. Again we managed to get in before the crowds – there were the passengers from 3 cruise ships arriving in Florence today – about 6,000 people. A few hours wandering the streets of San Gimignano & it was back on the bus for the short trip back to Florence.
We walked down to the Ponte Vechio when the bus dropped us off. This is a famous Florence stone bridge over the River Arno with shops built out over the sides of it (the only bridge around here that didn’t get bombed). The shops are all gold & jewellery & again are medieval – it looks great – apart from the crowds. Back to the hotel for a shower & change before dinner at 6.30pm. Dinner was at a restaurant close to our hotel recommended by our driver Luigi, the Baroncelli. Again the meal was superb – some antipasto, pasta, pork with potatoes, a sweet desert all washed down with some chianti – followed by an Italian espresso. Our tour group dinner companions were great & we had a wonderful time over dinner. Back to the hotel to try if we can connect to the free hotel internet. (there is supposed to be free internet but it’s not working).
Trekkin 