Going to see Dave

After the Cinque Terre I had decided I needed to make a side trip to Florence.

I had set aside 2 days before my departure as "free days" just in case I needed extra time in the Cinque Terre. In the end though I got nervous about not having accommodation booked. The thought that I was in the most catholic country of the world in the lead up to Easter weighed too heavily on me. So instead of booking more time in Nowhere Italy I decided to return to Florence.

The hostel I stayed in was a revelation. It had an absolutely awesome view.


Or maybe it was just the 3 euro bottle of wine special they had one night that I liked.... Nope, it was definitely the view.

In general going back to Florence did go against one of my general traveling concepts. Not visiting the same place twice. But then the decision was made as in reality the first time I was on a Contiki trip in which not everything was achieved. After all I had never gotten to see the Statue of David.

It made even more sense to go see the Statue of David as I had just been in France seeing my cousin Mick. The younger brother of cousin David.

But when I finally got to see Dave I realised this wasn't the Mick's brother. Nothing like him in fact. Or well I imagine so. I've not seen my cousin Dave naked. I'm sure Sarah, his girlfriend would argue there are some similarities.

Sorry no photos of David were allowed.

Aside of seeing Dave I spent the next day avoiding Florence. Why? Because I was sick of the flocks of tourist in Florence. I spent an hour waiting to see Dave the day before. I wasn't going to repeat that again. Some places in Florence were just never meant to be seen by me.

Instead of Florence I thought to make a short side trip to Siena for the day. Sienna is a very important town in the Italian history, and quite the famous town centre. Historians and religious folks know the town for it being the home of the Dominican Church. The monks were there way before I got to Siena.

The rest of us people know Siena for being a medieval town which holds a crazy horse race (The Palio") around its town square every year. Interestingly thee horse race is sanctioned as religious.