Italy, part XXIII - Florence (v): The Uffizi Gallery, more Piazzale Michelangelo, some more Duomo di Firenze, and more Ponte Vecchio

Once again I'm up at the crack of dawn and I'm not sure why I do this to myself but yet here we are. Tuning coffee, as you do, and drinking it out of my square IKEA mug which reminds me of the turquoise mug I drank out of, many moons ago in Hammersmith. And sleepy.

Last entry proper on Florence. I'm racing through the Italy entries because I can't wait to get to the Balkan ones. I have some absolutely gorgeous pictures of the former Yugoslavia. Even though I hurt my foot there and all that. Well, hurt isn't exactly the correct word - over-exerted it would be more accurate.

This was the third day, and I'd been walking around the city taking photos as you do. And then I decided it would be a good idea to go and visit the Uffizi Gallery, which was the last museum on my checklist for Florence. The Uffizi Gallery is known for being the housing place of most of Botticelli's works, as well as his most celebrated painting, The Birth of Venus, painted in the late mid-15th century.

The Uffizi is huge and after I was done with viewing Botticelli's finest, as well as my personal favourite Caraveggio, I was ready to go home and eat and drink and sleep. Not so, though - the Uffizi makes it really hard for you to actually find your way out, and the building's been designed so that you actually have to walk your way through all of their magnificent offerings before you're allowed to leave.

Suffice it to say that my feet were aching by the time I got back to the hostel and flopped back gladly onto the hostel sofa in the kitchen. And then about half an hour later I went downstairs to the hostel bar and met people, and talked about the sweet and the sour, as you do, whilst sipping hilariously overpriced cocktails. All in a day's work.

Medusa

Yes, it's the Birth of Venus

View from the Uffizi

This gorgeous sunset though

Laocoon

Piazzale Michelangelo

View from Piazzale Michelangelo

Descent from the Piazzale Michelangelo

This was the view from that coffee place the Italian dude took me to

Into the Uffizi

Italy, part XXII - Florence (iv): All'Antico Vinaio (yes more panini), Piazzale Michelangelo, more Duomo di Firenze and Ponte Vecchio

Wide angle shot from the Piazzale Michelangelo. Click to enlargen - but you should know that

I decided that the weather was nice that day, so walked from the hostel to Piazzale Michelangelo, which was a 50 minute walk I think? I took it slowly though, stopping for coffee and photos and taking detours whenever I saw something that caught my attention, and ended up taking considerably longer than that.

I had yet more panini for lunch, this time at a place called All'Antico Vinaio that was very highly rated by google and tripadvisor. I had to queue for about ten minutes, too. It was cheap though and huge, like most paninis here, so you get good value, but good grief I was really tired of paninis by the time I left Italy. Note to self: will branch out and eat other sorts of Italian food next time I'm in the country, not just the neverending panini.

Lital, don't you think the middle guy kind of looks like Alex from Spin?

Piazzale Michelangelo was a slightly steep walk up and I had to take off my puffy winter coat when I got to the top. I was highly tempted to buy some icy sparkling water from the Indian and Pakistani vendors milling about up there, but the water cost about 3 times what they did back in the city centre and I honestly couldn't buy it in good faith. I walked around, took photos, and enjoyed the sun and the wind, had a look at the David facsimile, and then began my descent back down, this time taking a different path. On the one hand it's always nice to explore new roads not taken; on the other hand I'd been waylaid by some people claiming that they were collecting funds for a rehab charity, and they had been so incredibly insistent that even I'd had trouble shaking them off. Needless to say I was not anxious to see them again in a hurry. 

I was thinking of enjoying my nice, quiet and idyllic long walk back to the hostel - the key word here being quiet - but alas, it was not meant to be. I was waylaid by a local Florentine man who was probably in his early to mid thirties, and he insisted on walking with me and talking to me. He did take me to a pretty nice rooftop bar and buy me coffee and show me some pretty interesting places around the town, but it still felt a bit weird, especially since I wasn't really in that talkative of a mood. The experience was partly ruined because my head kept ringing with Italian tourist scams I'd read online, and I was convinced that he was going to end up charging me 100 euros or something equally exorbitant, for 'tour guide' fees. He didn't, but I do tend to err on the side of caution, especially when I'm on my own. He kept talking about wanting to take me out for dinner later, and I laughed weakly and said that I'd see. Later on that night he kept texting me asking if I'd come out with him for dinner, and I told him I had an early bus to catch the next day and couldn't. He just wouldn't take no for an answer and I eventually just stopped responding, which I probably should have done in the first place, but I was paranoid that he was a mafia boss and would send hitmen after me if I was too rude. In any case, he's been texting me on and off ever since then, and ...... I suppose he was just a harmless local dude who decided that he liked me. Thanks, but no thanks. 

And now for pictures.