It's big, it's hot and it leans ...

Our only full day in Florence. We had a lot to fit in. The first thing was to try our luck at getting into the gallery where 'The David' is. The line was already massive so we paid a little extra and got into a guided tour. 

We were glad. No big lines, no fussing over tickets, no audio guides. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and we learnt so much about the art and the artists. We also could go around the gallery once we were finished our tour.

This piece was amazing. It was by Jean de Boulogne. It was actually the plaster cast, not the real thing. When artists created their works they created a plaster cast first then the actual statue. Usually, they get destroyed but Jean didn't because he liked it so much, he kept it for himself. 

This is one of the prisoners. They were created by Michaelangelo (photographed below) and were supposed to be unfinished. They were stunning and we loved hearing about their background. m

But the real highlight was this. It is incredible. 5 meters high, from his feet, not the base. He is perfect. Michaelangelo created him when he was only 26 years old and it took him around 3 years. You could stand and look at him for hours. The photos don't do it justice.

After a look around the rest of the Galleria, we headed to the train station for our next stop, Pisa.

Gelato - Hannah's fav! (They are actually squishies)

Some countryside - wine!

We arrived in 40-degree heat and had a 20-minute walk, but who cares, it was Pisa.

Pisa was a bit rougher than Florence and more like a regular town than we had found Venice or Florence. I think we half expected to spot a Mitre 10 around the corner. 

But alas, we only found this ...

The point of coming was to take a bunch of selfies with it so count yourself warned.

The water fountain that Asher went to use instead of taking cheesy selfies with us.

We did have to do a bit of a google, as the signs didn't explain why it actually leaned. 

Thanks Google!

We headed around the tower and discovered that there were all sorts of other interesting things alongside it. 

Grass. There was also lots of green grass. Ahhhh, nothing like sitting on green grass looking at beautiful and old buildings.

Really old Roman wall in the background.

Time to head back to the train station for our next appointment at 6:30pm (yes, we actually had one) but first ...

It was a bit of a fast walk, Ruth styles, to our next stop the Uffizi Galleria. We had reserved tickets to speed up the wait, so it was only 10/15 minutes to get them and get into the Galleria. 

Once in, we knew we had a few key things to see. Most of the masters were here, I think all four teenage mutant ninja turtles actually plus Botticelli. The Birth of Venus ... I was confident it would be wonderful. It is quite a big Gallery and it is filled with many, many beautiful statues and paintings. You do start to feel quite overwhelmed. Here are some highlights for us. 

This story came up a few times, Saint Judith cuts off a general's head and takes it back to her village. Ah the violence of a determined woman.

There was a percussion guy who was playing music in response to Botechilli's paintings. He was renowned apparently. We heard much squeaking of plastic bowls on a cymbal. Very creative. Dan informs me it was very, very clever and precise. He is more than happy to talk to you about the pitch, tone ... blah, blah. Me, I just wanted to see the paintings.

And here she is.

Ahhhhhh.

If you got close you could see incredible workmanship. It wasn't surrounded like the Mona Lisa but you couldn't stand there for hours either. 

Ahhhhhhh.

There was also this view from the cafe rooftop.

And we are back from our commercial break to see more art. 

Leonardo Da Vinci

Rembrandt painted this. It is called Portrait of an Old Man.

What a day. We finally finished feeling very full of the art but not so full of the tummy, so it was time to find dinner and then go to bed ready for tomorrow's next adventure of discovery.