Friday, November 03, 2006

Florence

What I'll remember most from my time in Florence is standing in ridiculously long lines for museums, being asked over and over again to buy fake purses on the street, some art stuff and a big dome.

To clarify, the art stuff was fantastic. I got to see the Birth of Venus at the Uffizi (2 hour queue just to get in) and the David at Academia (1 hour queue). They said no photography was allowed inside the museums, but how could I see the most famous naked guy in the world and not snap his pic?



And as for the big dome, I'm referring to the Duomo, which had to be one of the coolest cathedrals I have ever seen.



Some particular areas in the city were sectioned off for pedestrians and hosted booth after booth of street vendors, selling everything from fine Italian leather goods, jewelry, cashmere scarves and fake purses (although I wouldn't call the latter vendors, more like guys with purses spread on top of a white bed sheet over the ground, moving from street corner to street corner depending on where the police were).



And there was the river with its picturesque bridges. The one in the foreground is Ponte Vecchio, with shops built along both sides and is the only bridge in Florence not destroyed during World War II.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Spaghetti in clam sauce for 10 Euro.
Spaghetti in tomato sauce and bacon for 7 Euro.
One slice of pizza for 2 Euro.
We just couldn’t resist such great deals after living in Switzerland for a month.

Anonymous said...

Tuscany cuisine is unique and outstanding. We did find some very reasonable restaurants during our visit. As for David, do you know that it is a copy, just like those fake purses selling all over.

Anonymous said...

Oh, no no the David in Academia Gallery is the original. The David in Signoria Plaza is a replica.

sai pak said...

Waverly, there is a picture that showed you were shopping around. Did you buy any fine leather goods or 18 carat gold designer jewellery?