![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cheatingbulldogs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Tuscany-3.jpg\" "\\"It")
<\/a><\/p>\nHopping back on the train it wasn\u2019t long before I was in Florence, which in Italian is the much more interesting to say Firenze. Home of the Medici, birthplace of the renaissance and giant art storehouse, it was immediately much more to my taste. Just walking to my hostel I passed several cathedrals (including the epic Duomo,) multiple museums and enough beautiful architecture to keep me staring upward for a week. My hostel turned out to be perched on the 3rd<\/sup> floor of a gorgeous old building directly between Il Duomo and the Accademia where Michelangelo\u2019s David is displayed and all of a 2 minute walk from either. Unfortunately I had reached the laundry crisis point again and if I didn\u2019t find somewhere to do my clothes I\u2019d be wearing fairly heavy polo shirt in hot humid temps the next day. As seems to be usual this turned into more of an adventure than it should have been. The laundry was nearby, near empty and very clean but it wasn\u2019t until my load finished that I realized the machine hadn\u2019t used water. Trying again in a different machine brought the same result and I was left 7 euro poorer with a machine full of stank clothes that had just been spun around a lot. Luckily as the second load was finishing a woman came in and tried a machine, got the same result and had a cellphone to call the manager. After a bit of a rigmarole things were put right but it had still taken enough time that I had to ditch trying to see David from my plans for that day. Instead I did an architecture and market tour, grabbed dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hostel guy (Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli in a black truffle cream sauce that was simply incredible for all of $10 cdn) and had a gelato while watching the carousel in one of the piazzas.<\/p>\n The next morning I got up reasonably early, sobbed at another lukewarm no pressure shower and got in line for the Accademia. By getting there soon after it opened I managed to beat most of the cruise ship groups. It\u2019s actually quite a small museum but it really makes up for it in quality. Every piece of marble in there seems to be a masterpiece and Michelangelo\u2019s David itself is breathtaking. Photos really do not do it justice. The size, the detail and the capture of the pose are just amazing. It has been installed in a gallery with several unfinished Michelangelo works to really reinforce that it was carved out of a solid chunk of marble. Of course, on the way out I saw some Americans buying a pair of boxer shorts modelled after David\u2019s nether regions.\u00a0 Classy!<\/p>\n The Uffizi gallery was unfortunately a bit of a letdown of an experience. I was well aware that I\u2019d be waiting a while since I wasn\u2019t going to pay the extra for a reservation but I wasn\u2019t expecting them to only let the line move once every thirty minutes or so. The non-reserved line waits for the reserved line to be mostly empty, for any cruise ship or tour bus groups, passing clouds and the return of Halley\u2019s Comet before moving. \u00a0Honestly it feels like they\u2019re trying to drive you into paying the reservation fee for the next day or buying onto one of the guided tours with a third party company at 3x the price. I\u2019m not cheap, but when you\u2019re planning to see somewhere around 8 museums in the next 4 days at minimum $15 cdn a pop you kind of want to save where you can. I waited about 2:15, apparently it can be more like 4 hours at the height of summer… I\u2019d probably give in in that case. Once you get to the ticket desk they bark at you for exact change (which I didn\u2019t have) but the guy refused to let me just pay with a 20 until I scoured my pockets and found a 1euro coin so he could give me a tenner in change. Way to save time there bub. The rudeness continues upstairs where you are shushed in the most patronizing manner possible if speak, even by non-museum tour guides (who shout at the top of their lungs unless they\u2019re with a group with the whisper things.) Being by myself I wasn\u2019t talking but if I\u2019d been shushed by a non-museum employee I certainly would have told her where to stick it. Museum wise I wasn\u2019t too impressed by the layout either, perhaps Stephanie will correct me but it seemed really archaic and badly lit. (Yes I realize it\u2019s been a gallery longer than Canada\u2019s been a country, but you can change things to some extent.) Many canvasses suffered from massive glare problems no matter where you stood and often made worse by badly installed glass protection, several rooms had very popular pieces converging in one corner to form a massive crush of people. On top of this, the exterior corridor had beautiful statues and busts, but the traffic flow design seemed to try and force you to miss large chunks of them. If you aren\u2019t careful the exit also funnels you out before you see the last few rooms and the signage makes no note of this. That said, they have some beautiful pieces. I finally got to see several Bronzino pieces in person, admired Botticelli\u2019s The Birth of Venus and between the statues outside and the works inside managed to see art by all four Ninja Turtles.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n