su·per·cil·i·ous

It has been a very busy week and today was the last part of the conference. When it was over, I was able to get on with a little bit of sightseeing across the city and a couple of days ago I booked tickets on one of those City Sightseeing tours as a way of orienting ourselves to the city before going and checking out particular sights.

We did a single loop of Line A around the city before jumping off at Galleria dell' Accademia to see David and a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition. We had to queue for more for an hour but it never really seemed that long and I figured it would be well worth it.

I had to have a laugh at one American woman who audibly gasped and said 'woah' when she came across one of Maplethorpe's characteristic big penised black man photos. I chuckled and she was really embarrassed. The rest of the gallery was good but we were there just to see David which was pretty amazing. Michelangelo was particularly good at sculpting human muscle as is evidenced by this statue. I was just disappointed that you couldn't take any photos inside.

From there we jumped back on the bus and headed up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo on the other side of the Arno for the magnificent view of the city and to take photos of the bronze replica of David there in tribute to the master.

From there we headed down the hill and joined the second tour bus which took us out to the ancient town of Fiesole which sits in the hills outside Firenze. Loads of Renaissance style villas and olive groves it was home to loads of artists and the British expats. Originally the city was more important than Florence, having been established in 7th century BC, but Florence gradually took over.

From there our next major stop was the Uffizi which houses the famous Botticelli The Birth of Venus amongst other amazing Renaissance works. A total ramble of works it was hard to navigate and I eventually I decided on buying the gallery catalogue so I wouldn't miss anything.

We headed around the back of the gallery to Piazza di Santa Cecilia before heading over the Ponte Vecchio to Palazzo Pitti before heading back to UNA Hotel Vittoria to shower and moisturise (I managed a bit of sunburn today).

After about an hour to vege out we headed off to find ourselves some dinner. After wandering around the south bank for a while we headed over the Ponte alla Carraia to find a reataurant. But this point I have to say I am a little over the same Tuscan menu and unfortunately tonights trattoria choice (Tira..Baralla) was not the best (not by a long shot).

We drank our way through the awful meal and eventually wandered our way back to the hotel having had a very productive day. Very cool.

Up very early this AM and grabbed a taxi from UNA Hotel Vittoria to Stazione de Santa Maria Novella before heading back out to Prato. From there we headed to the the Monash campus and I was really interested in a couple of talks on simulation which gave me some real food for thought on innovations that we could implement in the future.

For lunch we ducked off to a local restaurant and I had one of the best lasange that I have had in a bloody long time. Very personable host who did lots of suggestive sell too.

After the conference finished my colleague headed off to do some shopping and I went for a nap before we headed on out for the last dinner with the boss. Tonight was at Buca Mario which I have to say was my least favourite of the three meals I had organised. It was also the most expensive and some of us even had a fourth course.

After dinner I took the opportunity to go for a wander and take some photos at night. First at Piazza di Santa Maria Novella before I found the Mandarina Duck store and how cheap things are in Italy compared to Rushfaster. We then wandered up to Piazza del Duomo which was surprisingly lively for that time of night. After a few photos we jumped in a cab and headed back to the hotel to turn in.

Time for the holiday to begin properly.