Singing in the rain in Florence

If I wasn't singing I'd be crying. When we left Venice we thought the rain could not get any worse - how wrong were we!

Apparently the river Arno floods in every double digit year - like 1933, 1966 etc - well it looks like 2011 could be bad news.

 

The train from Venice was really nice. The scenery was quite different from Sicily. The hills here in Tuscany are all green.

Our hotel was also great. Unlike in Canada, you can't just stick extra people in your room. So I got a room all to myself - lucky me!

Last night it stopped raining long enough for us to walk along the Arno river and see a famous bridge called the Ponte Vecchio.


There seems to be a communication problem. The sign says "It is not allowed to hang locks on the railing, as it is ruled by the rule of the Municipal Police. Fine 160 Euros to trasgressors." 

Doesn't look like people pay attention to this sign. The padlocks have names on them. It looks as if they have locked their hearts in Florence.

Today we went round Il Duomo, which is the big cathedral of Florence. A quick description of Il Duomo - big and covered in marble.

Before that I ate Cookie Dough ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. It was delicious. Who needs Gelato, when there's Ben and Jerry's?

We also lined up for hours to get into the Uffizi art museum. The good news was that we were out of the pouring rain. Among my favorite pictures was the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. 

My Dad liked the Medusa by Carravaggio, because it reminded him of me on a bad hair day. 

I also liked this Michelangelo painting. 

I heard a guide saying that it was his only painting apart from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, which we will see soon.

There were so many paintings to see, I didn't know where to start.

All this art has made me curious about Leonardo da Vinci. I am reading one of the Horrible Histories - "Da Vinci and his Super Brain". So I am doing my Horrible homework! I am learning a lot. 

For example, did you know that in the painting there were two stone pillars on either side of Mona Lisa, which were part of the window she was sitting at. For some reason someone sawed about 6 centimetres from each side of the painting so that the pillars disappeared. These pillars have never been seen since.

Next stop Pisa - let's hope it's not raining there!