Florence and Pisa, Italy by Kev.

19.7.2025. We got to Florence in the afternoon. On our way to our new apartment, I noticed how much cleaner Florence seems compared to Genova. There's still cigarette butts here and there, people in Europe smoke so much. If it's not smoking, it's vapes. We found our new stay. No keys for this one, two codes. We dumped all our gear on the floor and sorted ourselves out. By the decree of dad, kids get the futon. Mel and I had the futon once I think, never again. We unpacked a little and I sorted out the coffee situation. After a little rest, we headed out into the city. There's a church right there, 50m from the apartment. A big one too, that'll be our first visit tomorrow. We walked around and had a bit of a look, then stopped at a small supermarket for some supplies. Eating at a restaurant is great, hurts the bank account big time tho. We have breakfast and dinner sorted for a few days. Back to the apartment, put stuff away and start dinner. Gremlins fed and cleaned, time for bed.
20.7.2025. We visited the chapel that was nice and close. The Basilica di San Lorenzo. It was closed, it's Sunday. We'll visit it another day. We visited the Medici chapel, right next to it. On the smaller side for Italy, still pretty big tho. As usual the Italians are over the top with the churches. Paintings, stained glass windows, sculptures and carvings. After that visit we walked towards more monuments, Mel had made a list of them things to see last night. We came across another Basilica. This one is huge, with a massive bell tower beside it. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Made from white, pink and green marble. We only saw the outside today, as the chapel is closed on Sundays. The outside is spectacular. Lots of statues and carvings. The use of different coloured marble. It's really a wonderful chapel to see. We'll have a look inside tomorrow. We walked and walked, then walked some more. Taking in the city, coming across more statues. There is art everywhere here. Once we had seen our fill for the day, we headed back. Because we'd seen heaps, not because our feet were sore and we were exhausted or anything like that. We made dinner, pasta with chicken and veges. While I was cooking, the kids blogged and Mel planned some more. We are away from family here, so we are having earlier nights. If I had to choose, we'd still be with family of course. It is working for us right now, as some of these museums open pretty early. It's a good idea to get in early to beat the crowds. Anyway off to bed as we have an early start tomorrow!
21.7.2025. We're off to Pisa today. Up early to catch a train. After a short walk, we came out of between some buildings into an open area, and there it was. The tower of Pisa. Leaning. Apparently it's only a 5° lean, it looks a lot more. They didn't realise at the time of building it, but an old river used to run through there. So the ground has a high sand content and not the best base for building a massive tower. During construction it started to lean, so construction paused while they assessed. Later they continued to build, adding three more floors. Much, much later, 1990 to be exact, major stabilisation works were carried out. Reducing the lean from 5.5° to 5°, 46cm at the top. When you’re inside you can really see it. Mel, who is not one for heights or boats or bouncy car rides even, struggled with the tower. Not that that stopped them. Even at the bottom, the uneven floor threw them off. After the tower we had a look at the baptistry. Every 30 minutes someone comes in and sings a few notes, letting you hear how the place echos. We had a look at the museum and inside the chapel. We noticed that one corner of the chapel looked like it had sunk somewhat as well. That didn't stop them, they just corrected for it by adding more stone and kept right on building. We grabbed some lunch, pizza this time, then headed back to the train station and back to Florence. a walk back to the apartment, then the usual afternoon/evening.
22.7.2025. We visited the Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore again today. This time we're going inside. It is truly a spectacular cathedral on the outside, what's it going to be like on the inside? It's not what we expected. The walls and ceiling are far more plain than we have seen in all the other cathedrals we've visited. There are some paintings and some nice stained glass windows, but that's about it. Until you notice the floor. Inlaid patterns everywhere. We're so used to looking up, my neck is sore. The work that has gone into the floor is something else. Then we noticed the clock above the main entrance. Looks different to what we're used to. Mel Googled it. It's not your usual clock, it's a Duomo clock and the only working one left of its kind. It has Roman numerals, with XXIIII at the bottom. It also spins anti-clockwise. The 24, or XXIIII, starts at sunset and ends at sunset. Letting you know how much time is left in the day. Because the sunset constantly changes throughout the year, the clock is reset on a weekly basis. Truly fascinating, and it makes sense. They didn't care when midnight was centuries ago, they cared when the sun would go down. After that we visited the Ufuzi Galleries. Lots of paintings and sculptures. I don't know a lot about this sort of thing, but I do know when something is more renowned than other things. There's people all around it. I saw so much today, and while I may not be able to truly appreciate it as others would, I am happy to be able to witness it at least once in my lifetime. By the time we had made our way through the whole museum, and we were rushing a bit at the end, we'd been in there for a little over 4 hours, and it was after 4pm. Everyone was starving, so we found somewhere to eat. Then afterwards we headed back to the apartment, stopping briefly to grab some beer. My feet were not happy with me and it was nice to take my shoes off and relax. Dinner, shower, bed, that's it.
23.7.2025. Today we have the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze booked for 8:15. So up early and off. Naturally we got there early, that's what we do. Through security and into the museum. What's so special about this museum? The main attraction is Michaelangelo’s David. I knew it was big, I knew it was gonna be impressive. It did not let me down. Standing at a bit over 5m(517cm) and sitting on a pedestal, you see this monument as soon as you walk into the corridor, even above all the other people. The sheer size of it, coupled with the fact it is carved from a single piece of marble is amazing. Since we got there early, there was bugger all people walking around, and we got a pretty good look at the bloke. Once we'd had enough, we visited the rest of the museum. It was smaller than previous museums we'd been to, but the art was no less impressive. I am getting a bit over religious stuff tho, but that's what you're gonna get here. After that we found some lunch, the kids had proper Italian lasagna. According to them it was really good. Must have been, I didn't get any leftovers. We then visited the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore again, this time to go underneath the cathedral. There the remains of the old cathedral, the Santa Reparata, which was demolished to make way for the newer, much larger cathedral that now stands there. It was interesting. The original cathedral dates back to the 5th century, and stood until it was demolished in 1379. We then visited the Baptistery of St. John Battistero di San Giovanni, and then the Opera del Duomo Museum. We finished our day with Giotto's Bell Tower, Campanile di Giotto. A massive bell tower that we got to climb all the way to the top of. I kept waving at the people on the dome of the cathedral, but nobody would wave back. We made our way back down and walked back to our apartment. Tonight we are packing again, as tomorrow we're off to Rome!
KevRead more