After a very tiring drive to Florence on the Motorway, cruizing at 130 km/hr, with only 1.7 km's to go we hit a traffic jam.  Having spent the last 8 or so years working in the Mining industry and therefore not having to contend with traffic, I found this last 40 minutes rediculous to say the least.  Anyway we got there in the end and I flopped into the bed hoping to get a good nights sleep so that I could attack Florence and all she has to offer on the following day.  The none working aircon and the constant sirens from the passing ambulance put pay to that idea.
Florence is THE City if you love Italian Renaissance.  Just like Milan, pretty much every important person in Italian artistic history has called this place home at one point or another and just to prove the point, Florence has numerous museums dedicated to these peoples life works.  When I say museums I mean masterpieces of Architecture with some paintings hanging inside them, or the odd sculpture.  Much like 'David', Michealangelo's (in my opinion ... with is not much when we talk about art) best piece of work, and much larger in the flesh that I'd imagined.  I was actually a little bit overawed by it and can now understand the photo's I've seen of people staring up at this shaped marble.  The Duomo's outside is far better than it's inside, except for above the pulpit, the dome, which is painted with some extraordinary fresco's.  Truth is I don't even know how they did it being up so high.  The fresco thing is what makes all of Florence outstanding.  You walk into almost any building and just look up, something will be there.  And really they are all fascinating.  The other thing about Florence that is a little unique for Towns like this is the competition between rival families, not just for power, but also for prestige.  Florence has had it's fair share of philanthropitic people, notably the Medici family, that gave to the arts and its this reason that Florence is today what it is.  And probably the fact that there were some very talented people throughout this period.
I have come to the conclusion that stairs suck.  Yep, I know that they are important, especially to get up higher and then to come back down, but they take so much out of you.  It doesn't help when you're almost 40, unfit and overweight, but still, they suck.  They are my nemisis.
4 days later it was time to head towards Slovenia.  It was still a bit of driving so we decide to have break at Ferrara.  Funny story how we got here though.  I asked Audrey to input the city's name into the GPS but told her the wrong name, Ferrata.  It looked like it was going in the right direction.  So there I was, driving along, reaching Bologna, blindly following the direction giving by the nice man from the GPS.  With still 43 km's to go, I noticed a sign that said "next exit FERRARA".  So I quickly turned off and somehow managed to find the place that I was after.  Thanks heavens that Ferrata wasn't in the complete opposite direction ...  Anyway Ferrara was a pleasant surprise.  It's UNESCO listed for it's 'Outstanding Renaissance City Planning', or something like that.  We had our lunch on a park bench and then went for a walk through the narrow streets, coming across the 'Flag Throwing' Championships of Northern Italy.  Watching this for 15 minutes I came to understand Audrey's beweildings looks that she gives me when I watch the footy or the cricket.  The crowd were all holding theirs breaths as the performer was throwing the flags around, catching 2 with 1 hand, tossing another up with his feet, all the while the accompaning drummers were bashing away to keep in time with the throwing.  And then it was over and the crowd went wild, the performers family and friends crowded the main man giving high fives and kisses to the cheeks.  Audrey and I stood there scrathing our heads.  But it was good to see.  We ended the day in Padova, another UNESCO listed town for 'something' and went for a stroll there.  Same thing as before, some places that you visit that you have never heard of before turn out to be a real surprise.  I really shouldn't be surprise by now should I !!!