Holy Smokes!

We went to the Vatican City a couple of days ago, and it was well worth it. We headed there in the morning and were accosted by a guy selling tours. After a bit of discussion we decided to join the tour, and it was great! There was a pretty big group going, but it meant we could skip the massive queue, and the guide, an Irishman named Ian, was really informative in a funny way (not like a boring nerd). We saw all the great works, the Pieta by Michaelangelo, works by Da Vinci, Raphael, and the Sistine Chapel, which you aren't allowed to take photos of because the Vatican sold the rights of imagery to some Japanese company for the next 25 years (for an undisclosed amount). We had a look around St Peter's Basilica, which is hard to describe. The inside was so enormous and opulent it's bizzare. There are giant marble statues all over the place and a giant altar thingy in the middle made of the bronze stripped from the Pantheon from ages ago. They also have quiet No-Tourist areas where people can go specifically to pray and be religious, which is ace. We climbed up the cupola to the top of the basilica, and the view was brilliant. Looking over the piazza was just like looking at a postcard!







Yesterday we caught the morning train to Florence, and this town is so cute!!!! Our hostel is really neat, it's really close to the train station, but not noisy, and we have a private room with ensuite. AND IT'S CLEAN!! It's called Ostello Archi Rossi if anyone's planning on a visit to florence. It's also within walking distance of everything, so it's perfect. When we got here we unpacked everything and went for a walk around town. As it was raining we thought we'd head to the Uffizi Gallery, where famous works like 'The Birth of Venus' by Boticelli, 'Annunciation' 'The Adoration of the Magi' and 'The Baptism of Christ' by Da Vinci are kept. They also had a show all about Caravaggio on. It's interesting seeing all the different styles of painting... there are some really beautiful pictures, but also some really minging ones, like where they haven't gotten the proportions right, so everyone looks like they have alien heads and stuff. We went to the Duomo as well, and it wasn't too busy! Probably because of the rain.







Today we're planning on taking a walking tour that the hostel provides (it's FREE!) and then seeing the David by Michaelangelo (wherever he may be), and checking out the Jewish Quarter which mum has on good authority is the shizz. Hopefully it stays nice and cold for the next few days - not raining, but cooler - it's not so easy reading a map in the rain!!

til next time!
xx Laura