31st October Rome & Florence

Today the weather forecast said rain...and they did not get it wrong. We went from the Lazio region, through Umbria and into the picturesque Tuscany. We arrived at the lookout overlooking Florence, luckily the rain held off, I bought another umbrella just in case, this one has the 'Creation of Man' depicted on it...lets hope it gets to see more than two rain showers, which seems to be my umbrella average! We took a few photo's of the beautiful city with its terracotta coloured rooves and then headed into town to meet our guide. 

I picked the optional extra of seeing Michelangelo's "David" at the Accademia, I mean how could you not want to see one of the most magnificent specimens of man!! This masterpiece was begun by Michelangelo in 1501 and represents the biblical figure of David, who killed the giant Goliath with a stone from his slingshot. We learnt that David was fashioned from a piece of poor quality marble that another artist had started but given up. We heard of all dramas surrounding this statue including when in 1527 during an uprising, someone threw a chair out of a window in Palazzo Vecchio breaking David's left arm in three places and the restoration work and preservation attempts that they have tried to ensure the survival of this magnificent sculpture. David was moved to the Accademia in 1872, it took 3 days to move him. After seeing David we went to Signoria Square and saw the Medici palaces. The Medici family were bankers for the Pope and liked to display their wealth and power for all to see!After that we walked up to see the Vecchio Bridge. The current Ponte Vecchio was built in the 14th century and it is the only bridge in the city to have survived World War II intact. It is the first example in the western world of a bridge using segmental arches (arches less than a semi-circle) to reduce both span-to-rise ratio and the number of pillars to allow lesser encumberance in the riverbed. Next we briefly stopped outside the marble Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, so we could establish our meeting point, and then we headed to the leather factory. There, they demonstrated how they emboss their leather with gold leaf and then they let us loose in the leather shop. I tried on a pair of boots but they were too narrow, I checked out the handbags, but nothing caught my eye (sorry Mum), I thought about some leather belts but wasn't sure of size (sorry Brenton and Dad)...BUT...I did buy myself a pair of leather gloves, I've always wanted a pair of leather gloves, so these should keep me warm with my puffy coat in Scotland and New York. I could have been in the shop for longer but I was keen to get to the Basilica and see where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried. We were also told to try the best 'Stracciatella' gelato in Florence, it's a vanilla ice-cream with fine shavings of chocolate integrated into the gelato (very fine chocolate chip), now normally I would ALWAYS buy chocolate, but I may have just been converted...it was sublime! Then Mary (my sister from another mother) and I headed for the Basilica to view the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo, among others. After standing waiting in the rain for all the group to return we finally headed to the hotel for dinner. I think given more time and better weather, I probably would have loved Florence, but after a day of rain, we just wanted to get to the hotel!