Another rainy day in Tuscany but it takes more than inclement weather to keep us down!! We drove to Castiglion Fiorentino (15 minutes from our cottage) to catch a train to Florence - about an hour journey.
Florence was teeming with people and rain! But, we had our raincoats and umbrellas and were ready to go! Our first destination was Via Tornabuoni - "THE" shopping street in Florence. Gucci, Prada, Dior, Cartier and other the top designers make the street their home. Even with the rain, people were going in and out and obviously spending money! I kept waiting to be charged just for walking down the street! Not much can be bought there for less than 100 euros! 
I had booked tickets to Galleria dell' Accademia before I left home and was very glad I had. There was a long line of people standing in the rain waiting for tickets. We got into a much shorter line and were inside within minutes! It does pay to be organized and think ahead!
Despite having seen countless pictures, nothing quite prepares one for seeing The David. It is displayed in a long room with under a domed roof and is an imposing sight even from a distance! The aisle leading to David is flanked with other statues by Michaelangelo - some unfinished - giving a real sense of "stone to masterpiece"!
The other floors in the gallery had pre-Renaissance and Renaissance paintings and religious artifacts and triptychs. Some interesting impressions of Biblical events!
It continued to rain and we continued to walk! We passed the Duomo but there were other intrepid souls like us lined up to go in so we kept moving. It is an enormous building and it was hard to get a photograph of the entire structure! Very elaborate!
Down to the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio. It is the oldest bridge (1354) in Florence and the only one to escape bombing during the war. It is lined on both sides with jewellery shops - gold and silver predominantly. Sorry, no souvenirs from there!!
I could have spent the whole day photographing umbrellas and probably not found the same one twice! Navigating the streets was even trickier than usual!
I had also booked tickets for the Uffizi Gallery. This gallery features collections of some of the great Italian painters - Giotto, Rubens, Raphael, Michaelangelo. There was a room dedicated to Botticelli including his "Birth of Venus". Leonardo Da Vinci's "Annunciation" (1472-1475) was also on display. It is a real thrill to be standing in a room with original masterpieces and see the brushstrokes and marvel at the detail and talent. It is almost overwhelming to walk through room after room of these great works.
It was a bit of a whirlwind day but we went to see the galleries and left feeling we had accomplished a great deal in such a short space of time! We caught an early evening train back to Castiglion Fiorentino and got back to our cottage before dark. The road to the cottage is narrow and winding and nerve wracking to drive in daylight so I was glad to arrive before the sun went down!
