Florence

Florence is the kind of city you expect to see when you think about Italy. The streets are narrow and filled with scooters, the buildings are all old and have a historic air to them, and there is a church on every street. A river divides the city in half and bridges cross over it every hundred meters or so. It is home to a plethora of museums, but only two that people really go to: the Accademia and the Uffizi.

The Accademia is built around Michelangelo's David. Literally. You walk into an entry room and there are some paintings, enter a hall with some unfinished Michelangelo sculptures, and then wham! there he is at the end of the hall. And that's the end of the museum. Most people spend less than an hour here. But David is all the museum needs. I had high expectations of it, and even those were blown away. His knees have all the ligaments and his limbs have veins. I had a reservation to get in, but the reservation line was actually longer than the non-reservation line so I didn't use it. Stupid tours.

The Uffizi gallery doesn't have a stunning centerpiece, but instead has a variety of high-tier work including Boticelli's Venus and pieces from each of the ninja turtles. They stretch this collection through a very long museum bordered by a hallway containing busts of every Roman emperor from Julius to the last Constantine. Florence is definitely a city I could have spent more time in as there are so many museums, palaces, and churches to visit. But of course they each charge an exorbitant amount for entry. Fortunately they each have their own unique character, so it doesn't end up blurring all together.

Next stop: Verona, the setting for Romeo and Juliet and some other stuff.