Mighty erections

Well Florence (or Firenze in local speak) is hot, and the sun doesn't set till after 8:30, but thats OK, cause it's a pretty cool place (haha, I make a funny!). Lots of tiny streets, churches, leather-goods shops, ristorantes, trattorias... etc. Lucy has resisted the urge to buy stuff so far, but I'm not sure how long she can hold on. It's only a city of about 375000 people, but apparently it used to be quite powerful back in the day, but now it seems to be mostly tourists. Maybe that's because we've only really been in the historical centre. For a town/city of it's size, it seems to have a large amount of enormous churches and cathedrals... I think there used to be an ongoing competition between the surrounding cities to see who could erect the largest one.

Here in Florence we checked out the local Duomo, built around the 1300's on top of another church built around 5th or 6th century. It is a huge building indeed, filled with lots of old sculptures and paintings... there seems to be a recurring theme here. Next to it is a very tall bell tower which you can climb to the top of. 414 steps to be precise. No lift. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and the view from the top was worth it. Looking down you'd think you were in the 1500's... apart from all the scooters zipping around. Also next to the Duomo is a Baptistry which is actually a converted Pagan Temple, and still has the original zodiac symbols on the floor, and pagan designs on the walls.

Yesterday we did a day trip out to Siena, which is about an hour and 20 minutes away by bus. A city of only 50 000 people, once again, has churches that could easily fit the entire population plus more inside them. Now I thought that the streets were tiny in Florence, but they're nothing compared to Siena. Cars literally wouldn't fit in some of them, and most of the old town is walking zone only. We checked out a church that holds the disembodied head of St Catherine, which unfortunately is not viewable, but there is a cabinet that holds one of her fingers! Very Indiana Jonesey.

Also checked out the Duomo in Siena... what was inside you may ask? More awesome paintings and sculptures, elaborately ornamented pillars and ceilings, and for some reason a bunch of motorcycle helmets attached to one wall. Never worked that one out, but I'm assuming it was a recent addition.

Apparently according to legend, Siena was founded by Senius, son of Remus, who was in turn the brother of Romulus, after whom Rome was named. Legend has it that Romulus and Remus were raised by a wolf, and there are lots of decorations depicting the two with the wolf that raised them in, on, and around this Duomo.


Today we went to the Uffizi Gallery. This holds a collection of paintings/scupltures/drawings that used to be privately owned by an old/rich family over here called the Medici's. It's got everyone from Da Vinci to Bottecelli to Rembrandt and everyone in between. It's one of those 'must do' things in Florence, and we only lined up for just over an hour... but we got there 45 minutes before it opened, and were pretty close to the front.

Well we're off to Cinque Terre tomorrow for some sun and swimming. Oh yeah.

I'll upload some pics soon.

J