Italy ~ Florence ~ Venice ~ D8

It’s time to say bye bye to Florence. We spent a few hours in the world of Michelangelo’s David. The facade of the Accademia Gallery, David’s home, is so ordinary that one might not notice it if not for the snaking queue outside its door. The contrast : one cannot miss David’s giant statue (more than 5m) the moment you enter the door; one will be captivated by his soulful eyes and ahem, magnificant body 😛 As usual no photography was allowed although many tried their luck to capture David on digital camera in spite of the gallery attendants’ watchful eyes….

We left the original David behind in the Accademia Gallery and headed to its replica in the Palazzo della Signoria. On the way, we took pictures of the duomo, tower and batistry (if you have read my earlier post, we did not managed to take pictures because of the wet weather on our first day in Florence).

  

The Palazzo della Signoria was very crowded that day. At the Loggia, we saw the marble version of Rape of the Sabines (a version was the centre piece of a salon in the Academia Gallery). For me, the beauty of a sculpture has always been in its ability to appreciate it at all angles – front, back, left, right, up, down.

Palazzo della Signoria

With David at its original position

Rapes of the Sabines has a story I cannot recall

The Loggia is like an open gallery

The next David was a bronze statue at Piazzale Michelangelo.  Quite a walk (or climb :P) from the city centre but the view of Florence was beautiful from the top of the hill.

 

With this, we bid farewell to Florence and our lovely hotel…

I really like the back of the painting

And head to Venice….

A rare shot at the train station. Still on high alert for some reasons. Haha.

We reached Venice in the evening. Going to the hotel = taking the waterbus, + crossing a few streets + 1 bridge with our lugguage. Lugging the luggage on board the waterbus was easier than I thought. Lugging them over bridges was more challenging. But we managed to conquer them all.

Very different from the hotel room in Florence

I call it venetician style 🙂

Venice is cold and beautiful. Will share more in my next press. Phew!