Florence!

We're back on our travels, although this time only for a week! We're out in Italy, and have been enjoying a few days in Florence.

Florence is a beautiful city (although rather too many American tourists for our liking!). We've spent our time visiting numerous galleries including the Uffizi, Academia and Bargello, where we have seen some wonderful works of art such as Michelangelo's David, Boticelli's Birth of Venus, and more Donatello sculptures than you can shake a stick at. Sharon has done very well, maintaining her enthusiasm for art for hours at a time (although by the end of each day she has been known to say "oh, another masterpiece of the Renaissance, big deal!").

We've also visited the cathedral and climbed the dome (no small feat for Craig with a dodgy ankle), and seen the wonderful Byzantine Baptistry. Florence has no shortage of churches, all of which seem to contain yet more amazing works of art, and tombs of important people. We've visited the tombs of most of 16th Century Europe over the last couple of days.

The food has been a bit disappointing - it seems to be mass produced for tourists, and isn't what we'd hoped for given Italy's reputation for food. Still, we have found a nice Chinese, so that makes up for it!

We're off to Pisa next, to give Craig's ankle another workout climbing the leaning tower.