smile

And it's the last of Italy.

Got up early to go to the Uffizi Gallery. Seeing as I already had tickets for 9am there wasn't much of a wait.

One problem. A ton of Japanese tour groups were going in at the same time as well. So I had to time myself well to get closer to the paintings as the tours tend to crowd round the painting. And since I'm not exactly tall I could barely see anything.

I spent a little over two hours there. Which I felt was too much yet not enough. It's like in each room I probably only looked at a select few paintings but yet it still took me so long. The Birth of Venus by Botticelli was a little disappointing. Didn't give me the same 'wow' factor as when I first saw The Last Supper. Though I did like one of his earliest works which was the Virtues (Faith, Hope, Charity, Temperence, Prudence, Fortitude and Justice). Da Vinci's Annunciation just reaffirmed the fact that he was a master.

Wandered around Florence for a bit before heading to catch the bus to go up to the NYU campus.

Pretty right? That was in the sort of hidden garden of one of the main villas. 

Grabbed some lunch and headed back down into the city for me to catch my train. The thing is I bought a cheap train ticket so I had to make my way to another train station. Bought my ticket to that train station only to realize that train was delayed by 10minutes which meant I had to find another way to the train station. And quickly. 

Ended up in a taxi and running to the platform. But as it was Italy, my train was late as well. Gah. All this inefficiency. 

Back in Milan. Went to the hotel and dropped my stuff off before heading out to wander around. Oh how I love wandering. 

Final two scoops. Earl grey tea and pick guava. 

Really liked the earl grey flavour. 

Spent my last night just walking around the park and people watching. 

And that was the end of my week in Italy. 

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take.

Florence. The birthplace of the Renaissance.

First thing was to go and check out my hostel. First time ever staying in a hostel. First time staying alone as well. Overall I would say I enjoyed my hostel experience. The place just has this energy about it where everyone is quite gungho about everything. And the stories you hear. Makes you feel like you haven't seen enough of the world at all, haven't really experienced life. 

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page" ~St. Augustine. 

Second two scoops. Strawberry cheesecake and fondent(dark chocolate like)

After that it was a slight trek up to Piazza Michelangelo. Supposedly the best view of Florence, it did not disappoint. Kinda wished you could have a picnic up there. Haha. 

The view. 

Had a stroll around Florence for a bit only to realise that it isn't very big. You could walk from one end of the city to the other in almost no time at all. Quite a crowd as it was the start of the tourist season. Can't imagine what it must be like during summer. Gonna have to give up a lot of personal space I suppose. 

A full day of exploring the city alone was next.

Got to the Uffizi Gallery at 9.30am only to see this super duper long line outside for people who didn't reserve tickets. When I asked the guy manning the line what is the earliest time I could expect to go in looking at the length of the line he told be 12.30pm. What!? A three hour wait. No way. So I just went to buy a ticket for Thursday in which they charge you an extra 4euros for 'reservation'. Lesson learnt. ALWAYS prebuy tickets. Otherwise half your holiday will be spent waiting in line. 

So with the change of plans I ended up going to the Boboli Gardens instead. Also went to check out the Silver Museum and Costume Gallery since it was included together with the entry ticket to Boboli Gardens for 7euros. Quite interesting I would say. 

Not much of a chess player.

But I think I would like to own a pretty chess set. 

Wish I could buy that ring. 

Tons of accessories in the Silver Museum I wish I could buy. 

All I thought of when I was in the costume gallery was whether the dresses would make a nice Latin or Ballroom dress. Dancing is consuming my thoughts. Haha. 

Part of the Boboli Gardens. 

The garden was pretty huge. In my two hours there barely managed to cover half of it. 

Wanted to go see the statue of David at the Accademia after that only to be greeted by yet another wonderfully long line. Thought I'd just chance it since I had nothing else to do and after an hour of standing under the hot sun only made it halfway through the line. Gave up and just went to meet Caroline for lunch. 

After lunch went to the Basilica of Santa Croce where some pretty famous people are buried. How famous? Well Michelangelo, Niccolo Machiavelli and Galileo Galilei are buried there. 

Galileo's tomb. 

Dropped by the Accademia and was surprised to see almost no line. So I suppose if you don't want to prebuy tickets then going later during the day is another option. Got to see David who is a lot bigger than I imagined. Seriously. Definitely a sculpture you should go and see as well. 

Not much else to see in Florence so went to chill at a park for a bit. Wanted to check out the synagogue but it was closed =(. 

Dinner! Nothing too special I suppose. Except...

How is this soup??? SOMEONE *coughcarolinecough* told me it was spinach soup. 

That is totally not what normal people consider soup. 

Some pretty good crepes after that before some more walking around. I swear the amount of food I ate and the amount of wine I drank over in Italy. Was pretty sure I put on weight. Haha. 

Two more posts till the end of my Italy trip. Then it's on to blogging about Amsterdam. 

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