Sunday morning the Eurostar was late, but we still managed to get to Florence by 10:30AM. After a short walk we were confronted with the Duomo (The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore) which is an amazing structure built with green, pink and white marble. Since the Duomo was not open yet, we went over to the Uffizi Museum which (thankfully) was not plagued with the long lines we were warned about. Seeing the Birth of Venus and several other famous works was sort of surreal. I didn't realize how huge the original painting is, so I sort of had a scale shock (the opposite of my experience seeing the tiny Mona Lisa portrait in Paris). From the Uffizi we had a light lunch and walked back over to the Duomo. Like many things in Italy on Sundays, the top of the Cathedral was not open for the view, but we got to see the ground floor which, in itself, was enormously beautiful. Since we were determined to get a complete panorama of Florence, we climbed the circuitous 413 steps of Giotto's Bell Tower which was exhausting, but so worth it.
At this point our legs were sore and we were wiped out but determined to cross the Ponte Vecchio and see Pitti Palace. The Ponte Vecchio was not as impressive as the Ponte Rialto in Venice, but we slowed our pace to window shop at the many jewelry stores on the bridge. We arrived at Pitti Palace a couple of hours before closing, so the museum was practically empty. I prefer it this way, since you really get a chance to look closely at your favorite pieces without other tourists breathing down your neck. Pitti Palace was definitely a visual overload--from the ceilings to the amazing gold frames around the paintings to the gorgeous brocade wallpaper. At one point I lay down on a bench in the center of one of the many rooms and just stared at the ceiling for a while. I tried to take in all the different carvings and the allegories in the paintings, but with the level of detail it was almost impossible. By the time we reached the last few rooms of the museum we were so visually overstimulated we had no desire to run over to the Accademia to see the original sculpture of David. Its impossible to see Florence in a day, so I don't feel guilty leaving David behind for a future visit.
At this point our legs were sore and we were wiped out but determined to cross the Ponte Vecchio and see Pitti Palace. The Ponte Vecchio was not as impressive as the Ponte Rialto in Venice, but we slowed our pace to window shop at the many jewelry stores on the bridge. We arrived at Pitti Palace a couple of hours before closing, so the museum was practically empty. I prefer it this way, since you really get a chance to look closely at your favorite pieces without other tourists breathing down your neck. Pitti Palace was definitely a visual overload--from the ceilings to the amazing gold frames around the paintings to the gorgeous brocade wallpaper. At one point I lay down on a bench in the center of one of the many rooms and just stared at the ceiling for a while. I tried to take in all the different carvings and the allegories in the paintings, but with the level of detail it was almost impossible. By the time we reached the last few rooms of the museum we were so visually overstimulated we had no desire to run over to the Accademia to see the original sculpture of David. Its impossible to see Florence in a day, so I don't feel guilty leaving David behind for a future visit. 
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