Stressed Nape - Courtesy of the Ceilings and Paintings

Florence is the land of artwork – must see for the art enthusiasts out there. You will get dizzy with the art your eyes can feast on in this city.

Museo di Palazzo Vecchio

Cost of ticket: €4,50.

The PaIazzo Vecchio is the town hall of Florence, Italy. I read about this but I didn’t plan going to the Museo because there’s just so much to do in Florence. However, I wandered off from the Duomo and found this brick fortress-palace. It was quite interesting for my eyesight as we do not have a variety of brick structures in the Philippines.

They have this fake statue of David outside. I repeat. It is a fake. A FAKE.

The purple camera case with a fake David

It only costs €4,50 to see the place and it is open until midnight when I visited in September. It would be good to explore the place because I had time and it was quite cheap.

What amazed me were the ceilings. Each room has a work of art shining from above.

Every time I enter a room, I was greeted by these ceilings. Very impressive.

I spent three hours looking. My nape was so stressed from looking at all those ceilings. When I walk, I don’t watch where my feet goes, I look up above. I'd love to live here and wake up each morning and be greeted my these wonderful ceilings.

The ceilings are gorgeous even in the staircases. Walang patawad.

 The town hall.

Uffizi and Accademia

I tried booking ticket for the two main museums in Florence: Uffizi Gallery and Galleria Academy. I’ve seen pictures of how lines can be torturously long and I have no plans of baking myself under the sun. Since I wasn’t able to buy a ticket online before leaving home, I had to buy one online. The official websites of both museums reflect that the tickets were sold out for all the days that I was in Florence. I had no choice to buy from these tourist websites at an extremely exorbitant price of € 40.49 for both tickets. Ouch ouch. 

A warning to all the camwhores and photo enthusiasts out there: I believe the guards in both museums just bark “No foto” all day long. I guess they have a point. Most visitors use flash when taking pictures – and some do not want (or do not know?) how to turn the flash off. Exposure to all that unnecessary flash may ruin the art pieces. I didn’t see anyone get kicked out when they were caught taking pictures. But a roommate shared that two guards tackled someone who took a picture of David.

I spent my morning in Uffizi and the afternoon in Accademia. If you are an art enthusiast, I think you have to budget an entire day to experience one museum. There's just too many paintings and sculptures to appreciate. 

Galleria degli Uffizi

Real cost of ticket if bought online directly from the website: €6,50 + € 4,00 reservation fee = €10,50

The Uffizi houses works by reputable artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. I did stare at a couple of paintings for quite some time, but I do not have that much enthusiasm about its history, its style or how it got in Uffizi. I wasn't able to snap pictures of all those artwork that I found worth sharing.

Trying to find where the heck is the entrance of Uffizi

 Here's my pic of the Uffizi, a small-scale model of the gallery.

Galleria dell’ Accademia

Real cost of ticket if bought online directly from the website: €6,50 + € 4,00 reservation fee = €10,5. The lines were not as long as the Uffizi, but it is still a line nonetheless. Everyone wants to see the David.

I strayed from the ground and found a special music exhibit. Spent some time tinkering the computer presentation and looking at different musical instruments there.

Finally, I was in the floor of David. I snapped a picture  David before the lady guard designated to scream “No Foto” got to me. I had to navigate my way amidst all the people to see the David closer. I mentioned before that I am not a museum fan, or an art fan. But seeing David, I can understand the buzz over this famous sculpture by Michaelangelo. It reeks of beauty and grace. Perhaps its beauty lies in the sheer simplicity of the statue's pose.

You probably read about the elegance of this statue. I've read about it. But I never really got what it was all about until it was right in my face.

It is quite hard to be discreet when there are guards all over the place. I didn’t want to be caught for I fear that I might be thrown out or as my imagination would let me – get deported. 

I had this feeling of extreme happiness  and gratitude as I drifted back to my hostel. Seeing the works TMNT artists is sublime. Again, I was struck with this "I-can't-believe-I-am-in-Europe" feeling. I'm sounding like a broken record now but it is surreal. I got to experience art that survived hundreds of years. They are not just jpeg, textbook pictures or postcard images. They are now a part of my experience.

Back at the hostel, I shared with my roommate from China how I really liked the statue of David. It eventually led to how I bought my tickets and how infinitely pricey it is from its real cost. She said she got her tickets by calling the office of these museums the day before her visit to these museums. What??? So I guess phone reservations still work. I rely on online internet bookings too much. Lesson learned.