July 18-20: Florence

After an overnight stay in mega-touristy Pisa (yes, the Leaning Tower, possibly the most overpriced engineering mishap ever), we ended up in Florence. For some reason, possibly due to a Europe-wide heat wave, Florence was unbearably hot. Almost Egyptian hot. And also extremely full of tourists, almost all of whom seemed to be American and sweaty.

How original.

Florence is all about the Renaissance, and we took in two of its most famous galleries. The Galleria dell’Academia is home to “the world’s most famous statue”, Michelangelo’s David. Although it was quite awe-inspiring to see it (him?) for the first time in all its/his glory, it was somewhat more fun to sit and watch the dozens of tourists hoping to outfox the security guards and try to sneak a photo of the statue. The security guards were ruthlessly harsh on anyone with an exposed camera, accusing all and sundry of photographic piracy. We also visited the Uffizi, Florence’s largest and most lavish collection of Renaissance art, which was both a marathon venture as well as being outrageously expensive.

Vicky with replica of David.

Modesty police.

The architectural jewel of Florence is the Duomo, a large cathedral with an impressively huge dome. We would have glossed over this if not for the free tours led by expat Brits who gave the talks with such over-the-top passion that we did it three times (we were pre-empting the jokes and surprises at the end).

The Duomo.

Despite all of these visual treats, the greatest excitement came upon leaving Florence, when Vicky picked up her reserved copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Limmy picked up the hire car, and we hit the road for our totally-improptu 7 day road trip through Tuscany.

Our hire car (joke).