Florence

City of the Renaissance... or something like that. I've begun to realize that being artistically ignornant I'm missing the significance of a lot of the stuff I'm seeing. I think when I'm a lot more interested in talking Ottawa vs. Buffalo with the Australian girl from my hostel (who may just be the biggest ice hockey fan I know) over visiting the Uffizi, some building with a massive collection of Art from the Renaissance I'm probably commiting some heinous act to an art historian. To this I say meh.

Despite not being able to tell the top from the bottom of most of the stuff I really did enjoy my Florence stop. Getting to see David (one piece of art I actually knew about!) in real life was great. It was cultural week, so all the state run museums had free admittance. While great for my wallet this was rather trying on my patience as the queues were for the most part massive. Also explains the museum hang-over I experienced from this part of the trip! The church or duomo here is the third largest in the world - trailing only Saint Peter's and Saint Paul's in Rome and London respectively. I actually thought it rather plain in comparison to many of the churches I had seen in Rome; but the architecture of the building was nonetheless very impressive.

Oh and I discovered that Italians really know how to make a mean pesto. Surprisingly enough, pizza has been rather hit or miss so far.

This was my first stop back on the 'backpacker' circuit. Initial impression is good though theres a couple things that I've noticed. It appears that your typical backpacker in Europe is a bit different than some of the other places I've visited. It really seems to lend itself to those on a three week jaunt with a rolly-bag over your long-term traveller - even at hostels. I'll have to give this some more time however as I am in a very touristy part of Europe still and other areas may be different. The other thing was that I had a mini-stress attack after realizing that the better hostels can fill up pretty quickly even though it is not yet peak tourist season. This has led me to have to book ahead about a week in advance - while this guarantees me a bed at a decent spot it does take some of the spontaniety out of it.

Unfortunately I'll have to wait a couple of days before I can post pictures - the only internet point in the town I'm in doesn't have any program to compress images and I have an upload limit. Oh and when I do get around to posting the pictures sorry about all the scenery shots, hopefully I'll remember that photos with people in them are just as interesting!

Ciao,

Jon