Day 23 - Morning in Florence

For a top tourist spot, Florence is quite a city. I normally hate the tourist traps with throngs of people mulling about .... first I can't handle the people since most are ignorant and don't have even the slightest sense bit of manners, second I like taking pictures and with tourists in every picture you don't get the best shots. On this trip I've waited 20 minutes sometimes for a scene to vacate so that I can get a clear shot. And just as I'm about to shoot someone jumps or walks in front of me. But Florence with its throngs of people seemed to be a bit different. For one thing a lot of the best sites are looking up at something rather than across at something. And by looking up you can lose the visuals of the tourists mulling about. Florence also has some indeed lots of great renaissance art starting with the statures. Even the reproductions are worth seeing. For instance there is a reproduction of Michaelangelo's David in front of the Medici palace and it was nearly as good as the real thing which I would have had to pay to see and stand in line for hours. Not my cup of tea. And many of the statues and other vistas are so spectacular that it is worth while putting up with the tourists. 

The other thing about Florence is that you can find authentic stuff to buy. I mentioned this earlier but you really get sick and tired of knock offs and tourist crap which you find in most places. Florence has its fair share of this stuff as well but there are a lot of affordable and I stress affordable shops that sell the real authentic goods. The fellow I bought some leather goods from spent about and hour of more chatting with me about his trade and showing me how he did his work. Needless to say I bought more from him than I would have from a tourist trap store.

 Anyway I've posted some of the sites and will move on to my next blog. I'm about 5 days behind.