Day 25 Tues 9th July Venice to Florence

Today is going to be a photo free day.  I am over blogging and taking photos so its a bit of a rest day for me.  We left Venice after another sensational breakfast in a sensational location and travelled to Florence.  We stopped for half an hour on the way (compulsory for the driver) and arrived in Florence just after lunch.  It was horrendously HOT and the crowds had to be seen to be believed.  We went to see David but by the time we fought through the crowds, heat, pickpockets and beggars with our VERY DETAILED guide along the way we were over it all.  To top it off we had to wait in the searing heat for 15 mins instead of getting straight in and with no warning had to go through a very rough scanner - no trays, arrogant operators, we had headsets and equipment, hats, tickets  and all our gear to just be thrown through the scanner (some lost along the way) not to mention Paul's knees!! The scanner operators were SO RUDE. That did it for even very patient me.

 The guide then proceeded to tell us about every part of every painting along the way to David.  I interrupted her and said I felt ill from the heat (not quite a lie) and that we needed to go back to the hotel.  So Paul and I then pushed our way quickly through the crowds, had a quick look at David and back through the crowds, heat, beggars and pickpockets to the hotel and collapsed on the bed.  On the way back we saw massive queues waiting to get in to David (they hadn't pre booked)  They must have been mad standing in that heat for a tleast 2 hours. In hindsight I think we should have just Googled about him and stayed in our cool hotel room.  Our first day in Florence wasn't a good experience. After a quiet meal at the hotel we were relieved the day was over.