Day 5: Da Vinci, David, Duomo, Anh Do

Second Day in Florence went a whole lot better than the first day (thank goodness) - the alarm went off at the scheduled time. Breakfast was difficult to find, nothing is open early nor late in Florence (it's like they don't like tourists) but when I did grab a few pastries they were totally amazing. Definitely worth the effort to find a place that was open.

The first stop of the day was the Leonardo Da Vinci Gallery. It was a wonderful thing to have a look at - as an engineer. I had to admire the way Leonardo took existing inventions and studied how to optimise their performance. My favourite invention was the self-turning spit roast. It utilized the hot air rising from the fire to turn the meat, which I thought was hilarious (mostly because it is incredibly lazy). However, there were a lot of interactive exhibits of different forms of bearings, differentials and pulley systems.

Self-turning spit roast

The next stop was a tour of the Academia Gallery. It isn't as fancy as the Uffuzi, but it does contain a LOT of sculptures, mostly importantly the statue of David. David is a very impressive statue, particularly because of the detail that it contains. The veins that are visible, carved into the marble even though it was supposed to be sitting on a church (a long way up in the air), are incredible to see. It is clear that Michelangelo was dedicated to his art beyond the necessary detail. It's also structurally interesting. At the back of the statue is a tree stump that David is half standing on. This exists to hold the statue up.

David

A tree stump for structural integrity

The other part about David that is really cool is that his pupils are love heart shapes. A bit of an obscure detail to have, given that he is over 7ft tall and wasn't even supposed to be at ground level. 

I had a bit of a gap between the gallery tour and my climb of the Duomo, so I decided to go find myself some lunch. During the walk, I was ushered off the sidewalk by a man carrying a boom mike. When the crowd dissipated, I saw that they were filming none other than Anh Do. He was so nice, signed my map and then told me to "stick around for a selfie" - which wasn't actually a selfie, but never mind. It was so great to see him!

Me and Anh Do in Florence!

So after that high, and some gelato for lunch, it was time to check out the Florentine Cathedral, climb the Duomo and visit the Baptistery. The view was amazing! No words. 

Look at how pretty the building is!

Gorgeous no?

Screw the rules! 

Some of the dome's fresco

Me and the view

360 Florence

So we then had a quick squiz at the Baptistery. The doors, as shown below, aren't the originals, which were badly damaged during a flood (something that happens a bit in Florence). But still, they are amazing. Bronze with gold plating. We concluded the tour at a gelato shop and then I had to go back to the Monastery, grab my bags and get on the train to Venice.

Those gorgeous doors!

Part of the roof - medieval art on gold

The front of the Baptistery - inside

The train trip was awesome and the monastery I am staying at was really easy to find (although google kept trying to send me through shifty, dark alleyways). There's a quiet little restaurant just around the corner too which was quite cheap and the food was good. Will probably go there again.