Fabulous Firenze!

Yes, I love a bit of alliteration - sorry about that!  But Florence really has been fabulous.  We all felt that one day in Venice was enough, so we were happy to get on the road again to Florence.  It rained most of the way, but cleared up as we approached Florence.  It was a reasonably quick trip on the freeway - although it cost us 18 euro for the privilege.  The cost of tolls here makes the vignettes in Austria and Czech republic seem like good value!!  The roads are pretty good for a bankrupt country though.  This time we are staying in a one bedroom apartment - Bed & Breakfast Leopoldo it's called, but no breakfast is included, as it turns out the apartment is in a separate building!  However, its in walking distance of the old city which is important.  They didn't have any parking, but we were able to find free parking at the local COOP supermarket.  You have to be a customer to park there, so Greg happily bought up on gorgeous produce!
Yesterday afternoon we spent wandering around the city.  We realised when we arrived that it was a Sunday, which meant all the galleries would be closed on the following day - Monday (so annoying when you are travelling to have to remember what day it is!!) so quickly squeezed in a visit to the Galleria dell Accademia, to see the statue of the David.  That is really all that is there, aside from some highly stylized and decorated religious iconography. I sneaked a photo of the David which is ABSOLUTELY against the rules, but I saw heaps of other tourists risking it.  It wasn't easy let me tell you, with two guards on patrol!!  Hence the funny angle.  Still it is such an awe-inspiring statue, carved out of one solid block of flawed marble - Michelangelo did an amazing job.
We were hoping to catch up with Ainslie who is in Florence on her Contiki tour, but sadly she is still not ready to see me :-( The B&B manager had recommended a little restaurant close by - we were grateful that she did, as in Venice Mestre there didn't seem to be many trattorias in walking distance.  And, as a bonus, it was absolutely fabulous food and wine for very good prices.   I needed plenty of wine as I was feeling quite sad.
However, today was a new day, and we were thrilled to see a blue sky!  Greg was feeling the pressure of the never-ending report he's working on, so once again the intrepid trio set off to do some exploring without him.  We took the bus into town (3 minutes!) and walked through the city, across the Ponte Vecchio and up, up, up to Piazza Michelangelo which has superb views of the city.  We'd taken a picnic lunch (kindly prepared for us by Greg!) and found a spot out of the wind and in the sunshine to enjoy our lunch.  Despite the sun, the wind (straight off the snow capped mountains!) was quite fierce and cold. Back in the city proper, Bella decided she was keen to have a caricature drawn, and negotiated a price of 10 euro.  Unfortunately the artist she'd chosen was set up in the shade and wind of the Duomo, Liam and I were freezing our arses off waiting for her. I was impelled to buy us all very expensive hot chocolates to ward off the cold.  Liam said he understood me making the basic mistake of not asking the price first - my head was befuddled by the cold! Bella wasn't thrilled with the result.  It's a good caricature but not as flattering as she'd been hoping for! We had been planning to take a push bike tour but it didn't leave until 3.30pm.  We ran into Greg on our way to the rendezvous point and decided to forfeit our 10 euro deposit. It was just too cold and windy to get on a bike!!  Instead we walked back across the river to Palazzo Pitti, only to discover it too is closed on a Monday.... honestly, would it hurt to space out these closed days??
On the way back to the bus station I asked Liam if Europe had lived up to his expectations.  "No", he said, "I didn't think there would be this much walking, I thought we'd drive everywhere".  He also complained that the car was full of "stuff" - which it is, but I reminded him that he is the most prolific souvenir buyer of us all, and a lot of the stuff is his.  We need to find a post office and get some sent back!!  Tonight Greg is cooking, using up just some of his COOP shopping expedition :-)  Smells delicious!