Autostrada to Firenza

We rented a car in Venice (a Fiat 500L diesel with a stick, which has only become available in the States recently - spacious but not as cute as the original 500 - which Italy is covered with).  I digress.  We took our first wrong turn in Venice - getting on the right highway but in the wrong direction - OK - we needed gas anyway. 

The Italian autostrada is a comfortable place to be because it seems familiar - much like a toll road in the US.  Venice to Bologna is across the Venician plain - so pretty flat and straight.  The only surprise is the vast difference in speeds between the slow cars and the fast ones.  Bologna to Florence is up a spectacular valley, through some pass tunnels, and then back down another spectacular valley.  Higher than the Ozarks, not as high as Colorado - more like the Smokies - but with the trees you would see in a painting of Italy. 

Another wrong turn in (correct highway, wrong direction - we have a theme) and we eventually found our intended parking spot and took the tram into Florence.  Our hotel is near the train station.  We checked in and headed out immediately to pick up our vouchers for the Accademia Galleria.  Our hotel is on the west side, vouchers on the south side, Accademia on the north side.  Florence is a beautiful old town with narrow streets for blocks in every direction - the Duomo at the center.  Exactly 1 billion people decided to tour here today, or so it seemed - but through the crowds we got our vouchers, found the museum, picked up our audio guides and proceeded on the tour. (The "reserved line" into the museum was hundreds of people long - but we got in in about 30 minutes - no reservations?  5 hours, if at all).   

Of course, the focal point of this tour is the original statue of David by Michelangelo.   Two impressions - at 17 ft tall this is a huge work of art.  Secondly, how did anyone carve so much realism into a piece of marble?  The tension in the muscles is just amazing. 

After the Accademia we returned to the Duomo and just wandered the streets - eventually returning to our hotel for a nap.  In the late evening we went out for dinner.  Florence has dozens of outdoor restaurants, and we chose one in the Palazo della Signoria, where David was originally placed before being moved indoors to the Galleria.  There is a replica there now as well as replicas of several other amazing works. 

It all took me back to a year of Wester Civ humanities at LSSC.  We're back at the hotel watching USA vs Belgium.