Si's Year Out! (Plus Europe! Plus Morocco!): Florence

The Tuscany region of Italy is said to be one of the most beautiful, with rolling hills, lush green countryside and great wine! So far it has definitely lived up to expectations! The first place we wanted to visit was Florence, home of Michelangelo and others, with its beautiful buildings, art galleries and busy shops. We managed to find a campsite right in the middle of Florence but it was scarily expensive so we decided to stay for one night, see the city and get out to the country sharpish!

Walking into Florence, after taking in the stunning view of the city from Piazza Michelangelo, the first thing you have to do is cross the river. As we made our way down the hill towards the bridge on the horizon we noticed that it had bits sticking out of it which looked like little houses. As we got closer we could see that there were actually buildings built onto the bridge (although they looked like they could fall off the side at any time!) and upon turning the corner to cross the bridge, we found that the buildings were all upmarket jewellery shops (very very very expensive ones too!).

Next we came to Piazza della Signoria which is full of some very impressive statues made from stone and metal. Actually, although they are very impressive, they all seem to involve naked people draped all over each other.....but its OK because its art!

After that we went inside a gigantic church filled with huge paintings, gold ornaments and an extremely impressive painted domed ceiling. There was also a silver box about 5 feet long that looked like it had a very beautiful and detailed pattern on the outside. I moved in for a closer look and was more than slightly surprised when I noticed that there was a full skeleton wearing a crown inside!!! I never did find out who it was (hopefully someone more cultured than me will point out the answer) but it must have been someone important.