Day 38 (Tuesday) Riomaggiore to Florence

No doubt - the WOW! factor today has been Michelangelo's "David" - but more on that later!

Sadly left David and Julie and Riomaggiore and Cinque terra this morning per train and headed via Pisa to Florence. We decided that finding the leaning tower was not worth the time and effort involved - after all its only a belltower and we've done enough belltowers!

The train trip down the Arno River valley was very scenic. Especially interesting were the marble quarries and cutting workshops around Carerra - the high mountains are almost pure marble so huge quarries scar the sides of the mountains revealing pure white marble cliffs. Huge cubes of marble are stored in yards around the cutting works where massive cranes lift and then the cut slabs of all thicknesses can be seen.

Arrived in Florence about midday and easily found our B&B (La Residenza dell'Orafo) where a lovely Italian lady (as you would expect) explained all the things to do in Florence. Fortunately, most of it is within easy walking didtance so should be no problems. "Booking.com" has again not failed us - it is a lovely apartment in a central location and the staff are terrific. We were booked in to see "David" at 2.30 so headed for the "Accademia" where he is housed, collected the tickets and headed in.

No doubt about it, this is one of the most incredible man-made objects in existence. How someone can create something like this statue from a block of marble is incredible. The massive size takes you by surprise - much bigger than pictures suggest. The detail is also amazing. You can't take photos unfortunately (although phones and pads seem to manage)
(note: If David Henderson is reading this blog, we think David's hand is in proportion, and if you stand right at the end of the room it is definitely all in proportion)

Did some serious leather shopping and we each ended up with a new wallet. The leather salesman here are very similar to the carpet sellers of Istanbul - very hard to escape and desperate to do deals. Refused numerous beautiful leather jackets! - only 900 euros!!!

The world roadbike championships have just finished here so all the shops are still decorated with bikes, gear, jerseys etc. Unfortunately there are no reductions on jerseys as yet but we did buy the T-shirts!

Found (as usual) a great little ristorante down a side street - the Tuscany area is famous for beef cattle so I had roast beef and roast tomatoes and Elizabeth had a tuna salad - both beautiful as usual - chocolate pannacotta for sweets. mmmmm. Cheers all - let you know how our day of exploration in Florence goes - first impressions of Florence??? Absolutely beautiful

Trivia: The Guild of Woolmerchants commissioned Michelangelo to create "David" in 1501. It was finished in 1504

pictures:
*the narrow strets of old Florence (actually its nearly all VERY old!)
*the cathedral - known as "The Dome" - a most extraordinary building - will visit it tomorrow
*for the bikers - World roadracing championship display in the cafe where we enjoyed a'noon      tea