Plus Florence

Tonight is my last night in Florence.  My days have been spent ogling the riches of the Medicis and my nights have been handled by my Florentine travel advisor, Mathias.  Mathias and I were introduced by our mutual friends, Matt and Kate.  Both Matt and Mathias are lawyers, so here is how Mathias describes it to Matt:


Hey Matt and Kate,

so here are my hours spent with YOUR friend Monica.

Three evenings out:

1st night after rowing workout....took her to authentic Pizzeria with friends: 3 hours
2nd night took her to my favourite restaurant and then on to a party with view onto Arno and Duomo: 8.5 hours (yes, we had loads of fun and some drinks)
3rd night invited her home for dinner: 3 hours

My hourly billing rate is: $250
You do the math!!!!



Mathias is obviously a trooper - putting up with me and even introducing me to his friends who have been both lovely and informative (they are all working on PhDs at the European Institute here in Florence).



But you can't eat pizza and hang with the rowing club all day long, so I have seen some of what Florence offers to the eager museum-goer. I need to emphasize the "some" because there are so many museums and churches...well, let's just say I'm on crucifix overload.


Some observations:

Michelangiolo's David is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay bigger than I realized. Someone who isn't paying 1€ for 15 minutes at a computer can tell me the exact height, but the statue has to be at least 12' tall, not including the base.  And it is a masterwork.

The Medicis were not afraid of acquiring.  These people owned 100 of everything so far as I can tell, but bless Anna Luisa, the last Medici, to give it all to the city of Firenze upon her death.

The Uffizi is the Italian Ikea.  You know how Ikea stores have the path that you must follow?  So it is with the Uffizi.  Do not try to reverse course!  You will be rejected, no matter that the staircase is rightthere.  Dude does not care.  Go the long way, tourist.

All in all, Florence has been a delight.  I even got another room with 8 beds and no roomies again, so the lodging hasn't been too much of a shock to the system. I'm back on the slow train to Rome tomorrow (the difference between the slow and the fast trains?  Three hours and 28€ each way!), and then to Morocco on Monday, where the acclimation period officially ends.  I've had rumblings from my devoted cult following that my posting is too light in frequency and photo content.  Please be patient.  I am the woman who has never brought herself to update her facebook page.