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Florence

And the Machine, am I right??

But seriously, if you want jokes, that's cool. I'm gonna tell you about the city of Florence real quick, and it's one of my favorite cities in Europe/the world (which really only consists of Europe and like 1/8 of the US because that's all I've seen).

Florence, more-so than London, New York, Paris, or anywhere, is the city of art. Oh, you "don't like art"? There are still museums full of stuff you'd like in Florence - it's out of control. According to Tripadvisor there are 83 museums in Florence, and the majority are in an area of about 1 square mile. It's crazy.

We skipped out on the Uffizi Gallery, known as one of the world's best (and home of the Birth of Venus by Botticelli), because of the long lines and because I'd been there before and was overwhelmed by the size and underwhelmed by the variety for long stretches. We opted for a trip to the Bargello Museum, which was about 5 euro and had works by several ninja turtles, notably Donatello's version of the David. It was quite nice. It also had an extensive collection of ivory carvings, Roman feats of Hercules, a weird menagerie of sculptures, and a bust of...someone enormous. Photos from Bargello below.



The loveliest of the public spaces is the Piazza della Signoria, right in the center of the city, about 100 feet from the entrance of the Uffizi Gallery. This area also has the Palazzo Vecchio, which was a royal palace from medieval times but is now an art museum. It also has statues galore, including in a little nook on the square. This nook is my favorite place in the city. (Aside, the front of the Palazzo Vecchio has a replica of the statue of David, which we'll get to. It's exactly the same as the real one, so it's rather beautiful, but it doesn't wow you. It's actually the original location of Michelangelo's David, but they moved it inside eventually)

Some of the highlights of the view from the sculpture-nook I mentioned above.




Next, sunsets in Florence are beautiful. Along the Arno River are several bridges, so if you get the right position and the right light...wowzer.


Two more things: The church and the David. The church is famous for being one of the finest in Italy, and I agree. The duomo of Florence is wonderful. It's ornate, it's huge, it's colorful, it has one of the largest brick domes in the world (despite being built 600 years ago), and the painting of the inside of the dome is nearly as impressive as the stuff on the outside. It's impossible to miss if you visit Florence, but it's hard to find a good place to take a photo of it, due to the Baptistry directly in front of it, taking up most of the otherwise open piazza.


 detail of the door
 At night!

And the last thing, the David. Michelangelo's masterpiece is widely considered to be the finest piece of art in the world, so it makes sense that it's in Florence. Summertime features lines that queue for hours to get into the museum and reservation-tickets (so you have a set time to visit) sell out weeks in advance. We were there on a January weekend and arrived at the museum at 8:15 a.m. when it opened and we were the 3rd and 4th people in line.

The only way to describe the David is by saying that you become OK with the general consensus that it's the best. It might not actually be the best, but it's good enough that you wouldn't argue.

The thing is incredible. It's at the end of a hallway in an alcove specifically designed to fit it. It's 17 feet tall. It's gorgeous. You've already seen the identical replica from Palazzo Vecchio and know exactly what it looks like, but you're somehow unprepared for the real thing. It freezes you. You walk around it for a solid 30 minutes, admiring and noticing everything. You struggle to see if there are actually slingshot rocks in his hand or if the hand is just cupped. You stare at his eyes, waiting for them to meet yours, but they continue their gaze high above your head. You wonder how much the original chunk of marble must have weighed. You notice the sling over his back. You notice the smashed toes that turned out to be from a psycho who attacked it with a hammer in the 90s. You eventually notice that there's other stuff in the museum, but you don't really care.

This is David. He's beautiful.



Finally, as an added bonus, you can go up across the river to the top of a plaza (Piazza Michelangelo) and stare across at Tuscany's biggest city in all its Tuscan glory. If you look off the other sides, it's hills and rivers, but this view is the best.

Duomo on the left, Santa Croce in the middle

Florence is wonderful. 

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