As the next day dawned, I was in no mood to leave the comfortable hotel room but as I had reservations at the world famous Uffizi gallery at 9, I grudgingly got ready and headed down to breakfast. At the breakfast hall I finally had the chance to meet the charming owner of the hotel, Patricia. She is an American from Texas who came to Italy to study, fell in love with the country (and a resident in particular) and stayed on here since then. She speaks four languages fluently and is a veritable gold mine of information about Florence. After a quick chat and a delicious breakfast - bread, jam, butter, yogurt, cake and the most delicious cup of cappuccino I have ever tasted, I was on my way. Now, according to Google maps, it would take 40 mins to walk from my hotel to the museum so I set out sufficiently early. It was bitterly cold outside and I spent some time trying to adjust to the weather (the perils of staying in a tropical country with summer all year around). Armed with my trusted map, I made my way towards the museum while watching the city come to life in the morning. A few twists and turns later, I was on the banks of the Arno - one of the most important rivers of central Italy. The phrase 'looks can be deceptive' can be perfectly applied to this river. As calm and benign the river looks, it almost wiped out the city in a devastating flood in 1966 and damaged thousands of priceless artworks.
I was so engrossed in looking at the river and the beautiful bridges that spanned it that I didn't realize that I had arrived at the Uffizi. I looked at my watch and realized that it had just taken me just 20 minutes to walk from the hotel (in spite of stopping numerous times to take photos). So, either Google maps misjudged my walking speed or it simply showed a longer route than the actual one. This taught me a valuable lesson - however advanced technology gets, you should never trust it blindly. Anyways, the museum would not open for another 45 mins so I had no option but to wait there. A little bit of background won't be amiss here for people wondering what is so special about the Uffizi. The Uffizi was built as an office for the magistrates in the courts of the illustrious Medici family (the word Uffizi means office in Italian) and over time has become an museum holding one of the most fantastic collection of renaissance art and sculpture in the world. A quick tip for visitors - in the peak seasons, there is a huge queue for the museum with waiting times of up to five hours. To save time, you can either make an reservation online or through phone. I would recommend the phone reservation as it's much easier as you do not need to make a payment right away. You are given a serial number and time slot for entry. If you fail to turn up or do not want to visit that time, your reservation is automatically cancelled and you do not lose any money. It does cost 4 euros more than the actual ticket but it is much more convenient than a web booking. Anyways, since I had some time to kill I decided to wander about for a bit. As I came out of the museum compound, I observed an interesting looking bridge just in front and realized that I was looking upon the famous Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge).
This is one of the most famous bridges of Florence and is the only bridge to be spared during the second world war bombings. The box like structures propped up on stilts along the edges of the bridge are actually shops that are lined across the bridge. Now if you observe carefully, there is an elevated corridor running along the top of the bridge. There is an interesting story behind this passage. The members of the royal Medici family of Florence needed a way to travel from their offices in the Uffizi and their royal residences on the other side of the river without having to walk among the common people (for safety and snobbery reasons) . So, they commissioned a passageway that stretched all the way from the palace to the office buildings (dozing through several houses in the process) that was designated as an exclusive road for the royals. At its time of construction, the bridge was populated by butchers. But since the stench of meat and blood was hardly considered befitting as a backdrop to a royal jaunt, they were promptly evacuated and replaced by something more elegant - goldsmiths. The tradition has still continued and all the shops you see in the bridges are goldsmiths containing some of the most extravagant jewellery (both in terms of looks as well as prices) in town. The corridor is only opened for limited periods every year and sadly it wasn't open when I was visiting. Nevertheless, I decided to pretend to be a noble for sometime and strutted along royally along the bridge for some time (ignoring the stares from the onlookers). This is a peculiar habit of mine - whenever I visit a palace or any place connected with royalty, I get into the spirit of the place totally and behave like royalty. The views from the bridge were beautiful and presented numerous photo opportunities.
The majority of the crowd on the bridge comprised of couples with the ladies gazing rapturously at the jewellery on show in the window displays of the goldsmiths and the gentlemen shuffling around anxiously looking at the price tags. As my allotted time at the museum was now approaching, I decided to go and collect my tickets. As I was walking along the road, I saw an unusual sight dotting the railings. There were tons of locks attached to the chain link fences and each had a date written on them. Since I had no idea what they were there for, I just took some photos and later asked my hotel manager what purpose they served. As it turned out, these locks are placed there by couples as a symbol of their everlasting love and the fact that they are "locked" together forever. Nobody knows how this tradition started but the local council is having a tough time with these lock lovers and hundreds of euros are being spent to remove them.
Anyways, coming back to the museum I went and collected my ticket and waited in the reserved tickets queue while looking around at the building.The building is not very spectacular from outside but contains numerous statues of famous Tuscan people including Michelangelo, Dante and many others.It is connected to the old palace (the Palazzo Vecchio) at the other end. After a few minutes wait, the gates opened and we were whisked into a security hold reminiscent of an airport and a short security check later, I was inside the Uffizi gallery. Sadly, photography is strictly prohibited inside the gallery so I can't share with you the wonders that were inside. Then again, photos cannot do justice to the works of the Renaissance masters like Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. Trust me, it is an experience to stand in front of these masterpieces and just marvel at the genius of the human mind (if put to good use). I was particularly enamored by "The birth of Venus" and "Primavera" by Botticelli which to me represent the finest examples of Renaissance art. However, the experience of watching these marvelous works of art was somewhat marred by the fact the organizational facilities of the museum left a lot to be desired. The lack of proper lighting and poor signage are not expected in a museum, especially one that holds such an important collection of Renaissance art. After wandering around the museum for around 2 hours (which included running back to the Botticelli room to see the paintings again and again), my brain, legs and stomach all started to protest simultaneously. I decided to say goodbye to the Uffizi and head back for lunch.
After a quick lunch, I started to think about how to spend the remaining part of the day. I had originally planned to explore the interiors of the Duomo (cathedral) along with its accompanying museum, but as the day was bright and sunny, I decided to make most of the weather and visit an outdoor location. After a quick consultation with my itinerary, I zeroed in on going to the Pitti palace and spend time in the adjoining Boboli gardens. I figured that it would be a good antidote to all the heavy duty art that my brain was subjected in the morning. As I looked at the map to find the Pitti palace, it appeared to be across the river and I needed to cross the Ponte Vecchio again to get there. So, in spite of the sleepiness creeping up on me (thanks to the pasta and gelato lunch), I strolled off again to explore the Pitti palace and Boboli gardens (to be continued).
After a quick lunch, I started to think about how to spend the remaining part of the day. I had originally planned to explore the interiors of the Duomo (cathedral) along with its accompanying museum, but as the day was bright and sunny, I decided to make most of the weather and visit an outdoor location. After a quick consultation with my itinerary, I zeroed in on going to the Pitti palace and spend time in the adjoining Boboli gardens. I figured that it would be a good antidote to all the heavy duty art that my brain was subjected in the morning. As I looked at the map to find the Pitti palace, it appeared to be across the river and I needed to cross the Ponte Vecchio again to get there. So, in spite of the sleepiness creeping up on me (thanks to the pasta and gelato lunch), I strolled off again to explore the Pitti palace and Boboli gardens (to be continued).
