2nd December 2005 (Friday) - Firenze

We woke up at 0515hrs. We had our bath and left for Termini Station at 0615hrs. We boarded the train at 0708hrs to SMA Firenze train station, Coach 260, Seats 41 and 43. Ticket cost E24.95 per person for this trip.

We reached Firenze at 0914hrs. We walked to Hotel Medici which we had made prior reservations from the train station. The room was not ready yet. We left our backpacks at the hotel and went off to Uffizi. Before that, we had gone up to the roof top and took some very nice pictures.

We stupidly paid E3 per person for reservations for the tickets at Uffizi. There was not a queue at all. The museum was not fantastic. We saw Birth of Venus – Botticelli. We also sent another postcard (David – E0.80, postage – E0.82) back to Singapore.

Galleria Degli Uffizi – E19
- Birth of Venus by Botticelli

We walked to Guicciardini across the bridge (Ponte Vecchio). At the bridge, there were a lot of goldsmith shops. There was a statue on the centre of the bridge which had a lot of locks attached to it. We bought a Leonardo da Vinci pin for E1.60. We also bought a postcard of Creation of Man (0.20) and Birth of Venus (0.25).

Then we made our way back to Plaza Signoria. I bought a beeftripe burger (E2.50). There were a lot of locals queuing for the burger. It was very spicy (pecan). Dac bought himself a hotdog pizza. We then went back to the hotel and got a BIG SHOCK. The hotel did not have a room for us even though we had prior reservations. They got us another room at another hotel near Plaza Signoria – Hotel (Albergo) Santa Maria (E40). We walked to the hotel to check out the place. The owner was a nice old lady who spoke limited English. We walked back to Hotel Medici to pick up our backpacks. We checked in at Albergo and went to Duomo.

After that we went to Galleria dell Accademia to see David by Michaelangelo. David was majestic. We sat in front of David to admire this majestic masterpiece for 20mins. It was a very big statue.

Galleria dell Accademia – E13
- David by Michaelangelo

We walked around and saw a lot of painted cows around the streets. It was the Cow Parade. We went to San Lorenzo leather market. We bought a belt for Daddy for E15. The market sells a wide range of leather products.

We bought a slice of pizza and a piece of cake (E3.55) from a pastry shop. We went back to the hotel and cooked instant noodles and ate them with hotdogs. I ate the pizza with pork floss. We slept at 2200hrs.